By Nick Creely
AFL South East has confirmed that they are investigating Marc Holt after an incident back on 30 June against Berwick, with the legendary Cranbourne goal kicker set for a date with the tribunal.
The incident occurred at half-time at Edwin Flack Reserve, with a melee ensuing after Wickers forward Harry Money kicked the ball into the man on the mark, sparking the fight.
Video footage appeared to show Marc Holt lash out at Wickers ruckman Matthew Young while being restrained by several players, before being ushered away by his team-mates towards the race.
There was no report by the umpires at the time, and Berwick opted against launching an investigation after closely examining the footage, and confirmed that Young hadn’t sustained any injuries as a result of the incident.
However, the league has launched its own investigation for almost two weeks, and has informed both clubs that Holt will need to sit at the tribunal, meaning he is potentially going to miss a number of weeks.
The Gazette understands that Holt’s advocate is not available this week, meaning the tribunal will likely sit on either Tuesday 24 July or Wednesday 25 July, putting him in doubt for the Eagles’ next game, which is against Officer.
It’s also understood that Holt is currently on nine points, well short of the 16 point threshold, so is not in danger of eventually reaching the historic milestone, which came agonisingly close on Saturday.
Depending on what happens at the tribunal hearing, it will put a cloud over when Holt will kick his 1000th goal after finishing the round on 999 next to his name.
The champion forward was simply sublime in the Eagles’ barnstorming win over Tooradin on Saturday, kicking seven majors to take his tally to 30 for the season (second in the competition).
The Gazette contacted both Berwick and Cranbourne, with both declining to comment on an active investigation.
