What changes have experts called for to the AFL Rising Star award eligibility following suspension-leading candidates Harley Reid and Sam Darcy

AFL Rising Star nominees Harley Reid and Sam Darcy were both suspended in their round-12 games. This makes the two front runners ineligible to receive the award no matter how many votes they receive at the end of the season.

AFL regulations state that players suspended during the regular home and away season are ineligible for the end-of-season awards such as the Brownlow and Rising Star.

Harley Reid slung fellow AFL Rising Star nominee Darcy Wilson backward on his head when the Eagles faced St Kilda on Saturday. Wilson underwent a concussion scan and Reid was handed a two-match ban. This comes days after Sam Darcy of the Western Bulldogs was also handed a two-game suspension for his bump on Collingwood's Brayden Maynard.

Although the Eagles appealed for Reid's tackle to be downgraded from high impact to medium impact, the appeal was rejected by the AFL on Tuesday. With the two front runners of the award disallowed, names like Ollie Dempsey, George Wardlaw, and Colby McKercher are now the leading contenders.

Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes has expressed his opinion on the eligibility criteria for the AFL Rising Star award, saying that the ‘fairness’ clause be reconsidered.

“Do we need to remove the fairness element of the Rising Star? Particularly with so many tiggy touchwood suspensions that we are getting that we wouldn’t have got 5-6 years ago,” Cornes said on Channel 9’s Sunday Footy Show.

“These two players (Reid and Darcy) are ineligible, it’s going to be a bit farcical on the night because of a suspension...maybe if you’ve been suspended for four weeks, then that triggers the threshold.”

AFL coaches join Rising Star award fairness debate

Sam Darcy of the Western Bulldogs

Geelong's coach Chris Scott and Hawthorn's coach Sam Mitchell joined panelists Gerard Whateley and Mark Robinson on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Monday night. The two coaches, who were AFL Rising Star award winners themselves, shared their thoughts on the ruling and how much the AFL has changed.

“What’s fairest back then and what’s fairest now are quite different things.” Mitchell said. “I think there’s a difference between intention and careless (tribunal gradings), so I think if it’s an intentional act then perhaps it shouldn’t be allowed to be won, but if it’s more careless such as that, I think it might be something the AFL look at.”

“I remember it (being the fairest player), because I had an iffy incident in my year that I got off; so I was fortunate that I would’ve been in the same position otherwise," he added.

Although Mark Robinson argued that the AFL must protect the players from head injuries, Chris Scott said that a suspension still shouldn't stop an excellent player from being recognized with any end-of-season award.

“I don’t think that’s a matter of being unaware - if we take your contention through to its fullest extent, you’re saying if players that have played 300 games and get suspended once, they’re not fair players – that’s nonsense," Scott said.

“I think coming out of the game is penalty enough; it’s like the best and fairest – most teams, if you miss four or five games from injury you can’t win the best and fairest, and that doesn’t make any sense to me either, but maybe I’m the outlier.”

“I mean, honestly, to be ruled out because of that; that’s just crazy.…Everyone thinks he should be suspended in the current era, but my point is, when these things were implemented…you could punch a player behind the play and not get suspended. Now because the benchmark for being suspended is so much tighter, and the awards kind of haven’t moved with it," he added.

The Western Bulldogs didn't appeal Darcy's suspension which means he will miss the games against Brisbane and Fremantle. Both Reid and Darcy are expected to return in round 16.