It's been an up and down couple of days for both the AFL and Sydney co-captain Dane Rampe, who has been cautioned, cleared, criticised and now copped a suspended fine for scaling a goal post.
Rampe on Tuesday was given a $10,000 fine for telling an umpire he "talks like a little girl" during a round-eight clash at the SCG, with half of the amount suspended.
Rampe was also handed a suspended $1,000 fine for his bizarre acrobatics during a chaotic after-the-siren finish to the same match between Essendon and the Swans.
The key defender, who apologised publicly on Monday in response to both incidents, is embarrassed by the saga for a range of reasons - including the fact it has overshadowed the victory that lifted his club off the bottom of the ladder.
The severity of both punishments has proven a hot topic but it is Rampe's goal-post gaffe, and the league's response, that has left many in AFL circles deeply confused.
On Saturday, AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan praised Andre Gianfagna's "practical" umpiring of the situation.
The whistle-blower ordered Rampe to come down, rather than penalise him for deliberately shaking the post by awarding a free kick in the goal square that would have ensured the Bombers snatched victory.
Match review officer Michael Christian on Saturday opted against charging Rampe, seemingly drawing a curtain on the saga.
On Monday, Christian suggested the issue had been taken out of his hands without offering an explanation as to why.
On Tuesday, Rampe was booked by AFL football operations boss Steve Hocking for 'conduct unbecoming or prejudicial to the interests of the AFL' rather than charged with shaking a post.
Hocking slammed Rampe's verbals, which came while fuming about a call from umpire Jacob Mollison that he didn't hear, but the punishment for his post-siren post climb was a relative slap on the wrist.
"As a senior player in our game, and a captain of his football club, Dane is well aware the derogatory nature of his remarks are completely unacceptable and have no place in our game," Hocking said in a statement.
Rampe and Swans coach John Longmire, speaking on Monday, both acknowledged it was a poor choice of words.
The local product has otherwise been a model, if occasionally mischievous, footballer throughout a 146-game career at the club he supported as a child.
Some of Rampe's umpire backchat in 2018, when he referenced Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson's catch-up with McLachlan, raised eyebrows outside the club but Longmire saw no issue with it.
"That is a ridiculous call. Clarko would be happy with that. Did you have a coffee with him too?" Rampe quipped at the time.
Rampe, speaking last year about that line, described it as an attempt to lighten the mood.
