I am as angry as I have been since the 2012 Prelim final when the Crows were absolutely crucified I must admit I stopped following AFL footy with the same passion for a while I feel likewise over the stupidity re Rory Sloane being suspended over the spoil when he has hit Brad Ebert in the head. A few questions to ponder (also you must watch the incident at normal speed, slow mo always looks worse).
1 Is the ball the object? YES
2 Is his arm straight? YES ( not the old fashioned round arm to the back of the head, earn it )
3 Have there been worse incidents this year which have gone punished? Geez Mitchell, Hodge, Lewis come to mind immediately ( free kick Hawthorn ? )
4 Tom Hawkins gets suspended and Tom Lynch ( Gold Coast ) doesn’t, bewildering to say the least ( effectively did the MRP effectively admit they got it wrong re Hawkins ? ) So Lynch got a free shot ?
5 Did the fact Brad Ebert who bleeds quicker and more profusely than Norman Gunston ruin Sloane ?
6 Did the chance that Ebert may have been slightly concussed in a previous incident with Eddie Betts in which there was nothing malicious in it, but the fact Port are having to be ultra conservative after being fined 20 grand re Hamish Hartlett earlier in the year. So the medical report and correctly being conservative doing the concussion test on Ebert also cooks Sloane ?
7 The guidelines re the MRP were designed by lawyers with the idea of the players accepting their punishment without challenging as they whack another punishment on top, therefore does it lack FOOTBALL COMMON SENSE? IMO YES
8 I discussed the case with a SANFL tribunal advocate who has a bloody good record and he said the Crows in no way could they challenge as it was head high contact and he went off for 20 minutes, so it was always going to be graded as medium impact at best and that none of the extenuating circumstances were covered what so ever.
9 I firmly believe this was a football collision and common sense wise it should have been treated as such and no case to answer, Sloane and the Adelaide FC are dead set filthy on the decision but cannot do any thing, yet again a so called professional sporting body will review at the end of the season. Well you clowns it is too late, a potential flag and Brownlow may have been flushed down the toilet !
Totally Incompetent !
Would I be alone in think they should rename The Charles Brownlow Medal for the fairest & Best The Steven Bradbury Medal for The Bagmen’s Reward? Or for short – The Bradbury Bagman Medal, which I’m sure, in time (About 5 minutes from now – Ed) will become known as The Bagman.
And let it be said, this season’s Bagman Medallist is none other than North Melbourne’s Dusty Martin.
The MRP is a joke.
Tom Hawkins gets one week for a jumper pumch that caused his oppenent no distress. Tom Lynch gets off for his efforts.
Pat Dangerfield gets a week for pinning the arms, no free kick given and Kruzer goes off for the rest of the match.
Shane Burgoyne sends an opponent off on a stretcher, unconscious and gets nothing.
The idea of being penalised if one appeals a decion and the appeal is not upheld, is a joke.
Time the MRP was disbsnded and only reports go to the tribunal
We live in strange footballing times.
Over a year there is endless knuckle and harassment on Fyfe, Sloane, Danger, Johannisen
etc and very few free kicks.
Buddy and Mumford have run over players like Mack trucks and this seems almost fine.
Niggle off the ball which should be a free kick is OK.
Bulldozing opponents is OK.
But better players who make small mistakes, or tackle big players who fall forward on their shoulder and their head can be suspended,
Perhaps we do need to look again at natural justice and whether this is diminished by the double-whammy penalties which arise from an appeal.
Fast forward to 2035:
“The MRP is a joke. Ace Mogfeast of the South Eastern Mammoths gets off for intentionally brushing past Steel Skinner of Shanghai South, and then Bryce McBrushal of Geelong gets a week for the technical foul of being within 3 metres of the player with the ball?”
Life imitating Football again Dips. The Mothers of Melbourne will be pleased.
The MRP has failed it is a unworkable system while they have been dreadfully incompetent and just so inconsistent the guidelines are just to hard designed by a lawyer with a distinct lack of footy nous the Afl have to actually be honest ( I strongly doubt it will happen ) but decisions like Sloane and now Dangerfield wow oh wow footy has lost its soul