Just now, Dappa Dan said:

Lol. Spoken like a true MFC supporter.

Do you reckon he should have gotten weeks?

I'm not Nasher, but I absolutely do.

I am sick of the AFL focusing on outcome rather than action.

Schofield threw an elbow at a player's jaw and connected. He's lucky it was only a glancing blow and didn't shatter his jaw (which we all know is bad because Jordan Lewis was suspended for fracturing Cripps' jaw).

If you're going to be a weak dog and throw your elbow at someone's face because you can't take a harmless verbal jibe (and there's no evidence anything other than a harmless verbal jibe was put to Schofield), then you absolutely deserve to be suspended. That action is disgusting and should not be a part of our game. 

3 minutes ago, Pates said:

Look the sad part about this is that it will bring Oliver's honour into question, which could overshadow an incredible year from him so far. 

Ultimately I don't think there was enough force to warrant a 1 match ban and certainly not a 2 match ban. I would've thought if they gave him fine they would've just copped it and all parties could save face from it, Clary gets vindicated that he copped a knock, Schofield gets reprimanded and the media moves on. 

This really turned into a circus. 

Media will not move on. Dermie has already said that if Schofield got off then Clarrie would be in trouble.

They will smell blood and the baying will continue.

Yep. Hopeless. 

This is where it's good to have the sainted PJ at the helm. 

He will make sure we will respond in the best way for us. 

Elbowing to the head in a melee is now, according to an official AFL body, all OK as long as it doesn't break a jaw (or presumably is not administered by a MFC player).  

Hogan must be severely pi55ed off that we didn't try out the tribunal, though I guess we now know that he had far more pressing things on his mind at the time.

does that mean that he doesn't even get a fine?

2 minutes ago, Nasher said:

Yes.  He elbowed a player in the mouth.  He clearly did that - surely that has never been in dispute.

So what happened to the absolute no hitting a player in the head from 2 or 3 weeks ago during the jumper punch saga? Went out the window pretty quick.

Media will be on this for a few more days. Then it will stop. I reckon we're lucky it's at the G on Friday. But I also reckon he'll get booed every time he gets a possession. Club will have to be very strong. 

1 minute ago, frankie_d said:

Media will be on this for a few more days. Then it will stop. I reckon we're lucky it's at the G on Friday. But I also reckon he'll get booed every time he gets a possession. Club will have to be very strong. 

Good luck booing him, hands are too quick eh

All the media agencies are running with images like this one:

instead of this one, which actually shows the contact:

2 minutes ago, frankie_d said:

Media will be on this for a few more days. Then it will stop. I reckon we're lucky it's at the G on Friday. But I also reckon he'll get booed every time he gets a possession. Club will have to be very strong. 

We are playing here. There will be more seagulls than Swan fans. I will be cheering him on so loud that my lungs will burst.

2 minutes ago, Nasher said:

Yes.  He elbowed a player in the mouth.  He clearly did that - surely that has never been in dispute.

Noone's disputing that though. Was about impact. Just claiming contact was made and that's enough is oversimplification.

2 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

I'm not Nasher, but I absolutely do.

I am sick of the AFL focusing on outcome rather than action.

Schofield threw an elbow at a player's jaw and connected. He's lucky it was only a glancing blow and didn't shatter his jaw (which we all know is bad because Jordan Lewis was suspended for fracturing Cripps' jaw).

If you're going to be a weak dog and throw your elbow at someone's face because you can't take a harmless verbal jibe (and there's no evidence anything other than a harmless verbal jibe was put to Schofield), then you absolutely deserve to be suspended. That action is disgusting and should not be a part of our game. 

Can't argue with the last sentence. But at the same time, while it is, and while the contact is tiny, then man... players will be missing across every team for weeks. I reckon if they do want to make Schofield's action a 1-2 weeker, which is only 1 week less in result than Hogan's punch to the face miles off the ball, then you have to put out a release and say, right. This Schofield thing. Next time you're gone. you have been warned.

I reckon anyone not a demons supporter thinks this is the right call. And that's parochiality included.

Lets elbow every single swans player and contest everything in the tribunal. Not being serious but just expressing my frustration in the tribunal that is steered by emotion.
F@ck.
 

The more I think about this the more annoyed I get. What a stupid precedent to set! I seriously hope one of our boys does elbow someone this week just to test the consistency of the whole tribunal. We all know how that would end though. 

I haven't read this thread nor contributed to it (and I won't further because it's boring), but clearly the MFC medical evidence has been dismissed, Oliver has been confined to a liar, and even though there was obviously contact to the jaw it's now fair play if the force is deemed low.

A farce all round.  

10 minutes ago, Dappa Dan said:

Lol. Spoken like a true MFC supporter.

Do you reckon he should have gotten weeks? I reckon the fact he didn't go for weeks means Clarry's reputation has been spared.

How has his reputation been spared?  The not guilty verdict has validated the view of Clarry being a stager now.  It has given a green light to every dungle beetle with a twitter account to let rip.

I'm f***ing furious about this.

Just now, ProDee said:

I haven't read this thread nor contributed to it (and I won't further because it's boring), but clearly the MFC medical evidence has been dismissed, Oliver has been confined to a liar, and even though there was obviously contact to the jaw it's now fair play if the force is deemed low.

A farce all round.  

And the umpire too.

1 minute ago, Dappa Dan said:

Noone's disputing that though. Was about impact. Just claiming contact was made and that's enough is oversimplification.

No it isn't. Any deliberate contact with an elbow should be a suspension, no matter how light. Bernie got two weeks last year for a light brush on a NM player's throat, and so he should have. 

Just now, Nasher said:

How has his reputation been spared?  The not guilty verdict has validated the view of Clarry being a stager now.  It has given a green light to every dungle beetle on twitter to let rip.

I'm f***ing furious about this.

I think people get more upset if Schofield misses weeks. Oliver's been strong on it. "Was I hit? Yes. Was it forceful? No. I went down cos of the surprise. In other words... I didn't like it, but it wasn't something he should miss games for. I just don't want to be branded a faker."

Fair enough to be furious.

1 minute ago, Dappa Dan said:

Noone's disputing that though. Was about impact. Just claiming contact was made and that's enough is oversimplification.

Can't argue with the last sentence. But at the same time, while it is, and while the contact is tiny, then man... players will be missing across every team for weeks. I reckon if they do want to make Schofield's action a 1-2 weeker, which is only 1 week less in result than Hogan's punch to the face miles off the ball, then you have to put out a release and say, right. This Schofield thing. Next time you're gone. you have been warned.

I reckon anyone not a demons supporter thinks this is the right call. And that's parochiality included.

No they won't.

This is a dog act at half-time totally divorced from football and the game.

Let's not confuse the action (a dog act) with the incidental contact that regularly happens during games. Even jumper punches have a closer connection to the game than Schofield's dog act.

Players don't routinely throw their elbow at an opponent's jaw. But when they do, they deserve to be suspended.

Might elbow the security guy in the face when he wands me on Friday night. He won't mind will he?

The Melbourne doctor is obviously in on the conspiracy to screw WC.

Next we will see an appeal against the result.

Just now, Chris said:

No it isn't. Any deliberate contact with an elbow should be a suspension, no matter how light. Bernie got two weeks last year for a light brush on a NM player's throat, and so he should have. 

Yes it is. They MRP and everyone else in the game takes force into account. Every week. If it was only contact, there's be 3-4 suspensions every week for every team. You can't pull that kind of action mid-season. They've already done it once with jumper punches. Like I said earlier, if they want to make it that the force doesn't matter, then the MRP has to be informed that force isn't on the MRP table anymore.

In other words. Just saying "he touched him on the chin and should be suspended" is an oversimplification.

Oliver overreacted. Anyone arguing otherwise is just as bad as the MRP/tribunal they're dissing.

If the shoe was on the other foot we would've been screaming to take it to the tribunal as well because there was actually absolutely SFA in it.

 

1 minute ago, Dappa Dan said:

Yes it is. They MRP and everyone else in the game takes force into account. Every week. If it was only contact, there's be 3-4 suspensions every week for every team. You can't pull that kind of action mid-season. They've already done it once with jumper punches. Like I said earlier, if they want to make it that the force doesn't matter, then the MRP has to be informed that force isn't on the MRP table anymore.

In other words. Just saying "he touched him on the chin and should be suspended" is an oversimplification.

Not with an elbow. If you throw an elbow at a player and connect you should be gone. The force of the contact determines the length of suspension. What they have said tonight is elbow everyone and hope you don't hit too hard! It is a joke up there with the AFL drugs case findings. 

I'm furious about tonight's decisions. Oliver and Houli's reputations have both been destroyed by this week's tribunal verdicts. Oliver is now and will forever be a stager in the public eye, and Houli is going to be booed hither thither and yon because the AFL Tribunal wasn't strong enough to give him the 4 weeks he deserved.