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Gold Coast’s Sean Lemmens body slams St Kilda’s Dan Butler in spiteful melee at Metricon Stadium

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Catherine HealeyThe West Australian
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VideoAFL: Tensions were running high between the Suns and the Saints after a wrestling style slam prompted an all-in scuffle at halftime.

Tensions have spilled over after a spiteful first half of football between St Kilda and the Gold Coast Suns.

On the stroke of half time, Saint Paddy Ryder appeared to instigate the melee by pushing his opponent to the turf.

And from there, players came from everywhere.

Sun Sean Lemmens is expected to come under scrutiny for his body slam on Saint Dan Butler as players continued to jostle around them.

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“King’s on the ground, Butler wants to get involved... oh he slammed him, Lemmens. That was a wrestling style move,” shocked commentator Mark Howard said.

“Butler didn’t enjoy that at all.

“Lemmens just got Butler in the air and put him on his back and now they’ve come from everywhere.”

As the emergency umpires made their way onto the field in an attempt to diffuse the situation, the two teams separated before another all-in melee kicked off seconds later.

The madness ended with the Suns heading into a team huddle before making their way from the field.

Sun Touk Miller later told Fox Footy players would take “deep breaths” before re-emerging after half time.

Miller himself faces a nervous wait after his attempted shepherd ended with Saint Nick Coffield down on the turf.

“He didn’t go off the ground and was involved in the play a little bit after that,” Fox commentator Jack Riewoldt said.

All players involved are expected to be fined when the match review panel hands down its verdict on Sunday.

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