{"id":18121,"date":"2026-05-25T09:59:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T09:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/18121\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T09:59:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T09:59:19","slug":"brisbane-lions-star-cops-punishment-from-afl-over-widely-despised-act-against-gws-giants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/18121\/","title":{"rendered":"Brisbane Lions star cops punishment from AFL over widely-despised act against GWS Giants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brisbane Lions player Cam Rayner<\/a> has been hit with a $1000 fine from the AFL<\/a> on Monday after he \u2018staged\u2019 for a free kick against GWS on Sunday. But calls are growing for the AFL to start dishing out suspensions over the widely-despised act.<\/p>\n

Josh Rachele<\/a> of the Adelaide Crows copped a $1000 fine for a staging incident against Hawthorn on Thursday night, while Nick Daicos came under fire<\/a> for the same thing against West Coast on Saturday. And on Sunday it was Rayner who found himself in hot water.<\/p>\n

\"Cam<\/p>\n

Cam Rayner appeared to go down way too easily. Image: Getty\/Fox Footy<\/p>\n

Rayner appeared to go to ground a bit too easily against the Giants, winning a free kick that resulted in a goal. GWS coach Adam Kingsley was captured on camera looking exasperated that the umpires paid the free kick.<\/p>\n

On social media, fans were heavy in their condemnation of the act, with one writing: \u201cIt needs to be stamped out. It\u2019s a blight on the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another commented: \u201cThat ruck free was a blatant flop by Rayner. Absolutely no free there.\u201d While a third added: \u201cNeeds to be a fine coming to stamp it out. Umpires need to do better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does the AFL need to start banning players?<\/p>\n

On SEN radio on Monday morning, Kane Cornes said: \u201cWhen did our game become so soft? I’m seeing more diving. Cam Rayner got a free kick in the ruck on the weekend that he kicked a goal from early in the game where it was just a man-on-man contest, eyes on the ball, too strong, Rayner hits the deck and flops, free kick, goal against.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think with Daicos, the overturned one on Ginbey, is a free kick. If we sat down and designed our game and said what should be a free kick and what shouldn’t be, that’s not a free kick. Just to brush past him and Daicos flop and hit the ground and that to be an overturned free kick, goal against at a pivotal moment. That’s not the way that we designed the game to be drawn up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Adam<\/p>\n

Adam Kingsley looked perplexed the umpires paid the free kick. Image: Fox Footy<\/p>\n

The punishment if a player is found to have \u2018staged\u2019 is usually a $1000 fine. But many are calling on the AFL to be stronger because it doesn\u2019t seem to be ridding it from the game.<\/p>\n

Collingwood great Nathan Buckley has previously called<\/a> for flopping to draw an automatic one-week ban. \u201cStaging has always been a part of the game,” Buckley said on SEN radio. \u201cBut I think anyone who accentuates head contact in a tackle and does it so blatantly, I think it should be a week. It should be elevated beyond a normal staging fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rayner incident didn\u2019t end up costing GWS, who produced an incredible 14-goal blitz in the third term to win by 78 points. The Giants held a six-point lead at half-time, but swamped Brisbane in the third quarter, outscoring them 14.2 to 0.3 on their way to a 26.10 (166) to 13.10 (88) win at Engie Stadium.<\/p>\n

It was the Giants\u2019 biggest ever score, going past the 25.12 (162) they posted against Essendon in 2023. It also eclipsed the 13.4 that Essendon kicked in the third term against Footscray in 1982 as the highest-scoring third term in VFL\/AFL history.<\/p>\n

with AA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brisbane Lions player Cam Rayner has been hit with a $1000 fine from the AFL on Monday after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[14247,99,408,17631,17632,5066,17633],"class_list":["post-18121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brisbane","tag-adam-kingsley","tag-brisbane","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-cam-rayner","tag-free-kick","tag-gws","tag-sen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}