I'm thinking the Media, en masse will have been told to stop, prior to proceedings, the vilification/assassination of Tom B, as a way of ensuring a "just hanging", err, decent sentence that will sit well with their enclave of has been pillocks. Not forgetting Sydney, who have officially committed, and the general riff raff.....

6-7 weeks. Might be more if the AFL want to make a point.

Was looking strait at Mills. Ball a long way off, not even in play. Forceful hit clearly intended for the head. Not tough or courageous at all. Could be the end of Bugg's year, as he'll likely come back through the VFL.

moonie that is manifestly overkill.

4 weeks the precedent was set last week. Houli knocked him out cold on impact. Mills never lost conscousness. ive had enough of the looking straight at him - it means nothing Just because Houli wasnt looking doesn't mean he wasnt aware of exactly what his back seining arm was doing if anything is always going to be a much harder swing and hit than what Bugg could muster with a left cross

Houli had a look before swinging to line him up.

 

Houli was not that far from the play with his back to opponent, both on the run. His hit was forceful. He had a quick look but I don't think he "lined him up". That's bs. Bugg looked straight at Mills, with the ball not in play half the ground away and intently and forcefully punched him in the face almost front on. It could almost not get any more ugly. Whether he was knocked out or not, he was certainly concussed and missed 95% of the game.

Claiming Houli's and Bugg's are similar is nonsensical. 

As a Melbourne supporter it would be good for us if he only got 4. If I take my rose coloured glasses off, it will be 6 minimum.

We will soon find out!

PS. Does the tribunal have extra camera angles to look at or do they see the same vision we have seen? 

He'll get off.  Mills threw his head back like he'd been shot and went down like a sack of potatoes.  Then he faked it to stay off the ground.

Buggy to play next week and Mills to cop a $1000 dollar fine for 'diving'.

From a PR perspective, to help get rid of the negative focus on the club at the moment, I wouldn't mind seeing Bugg make a donation to a charity like Step Back Think or something like that, and to issue a better apology than the one he gave on the night (it's not his fault it wasn't a great apology, he would have had a million thoughts in his head and I don't blame him for not being good with words at that point).

I'd also support the idea someone had earlier in this thread for the club to announce its own sanction of however many weeks to be served concurrently (i.e. if it's shorter, it doesn't make a difference, but if it's longer then he stays suspended after the Tribunal's penalty ends).

Those are purely for PR purposes and to try to show the club genuinely doesn't tolerate what Bugg did and that Bugg has learnt from it and is trying to learn from it.

1 hour ago, Wiseblood said:

He'll get off.  Mills threw his head back like he'd been shot and went down like a sack of potatoes.  Then he faked it to stay off the ground.

Buggy to play next week and Mills to cop a $1000 dollar fine for 'diving'.

...and we're gunna win the flag in 2017

I hope Bugg learns from this. Save a clean hit like that for the GF.

Bugg will get 6 weeks minimum, because as a club we are not one of the chosen ones. That said, he deserves every one of those weeks, and then some. Absolutely gutless and pathetic.

I'd perhaps have more sympathy if he'd actually performed after the incident, but he was basically a garden gnome for the remainder of the game. 

As to his future, who knows? He's not best 22, that much is clear. I don't want us to be known as a club that condones these types of acts, and if it results in Bugg losing his spot on the list, so be it.

 

Where was all this righteous indignation towards Schofield ? 

Hmm  I wonder.

There used to be several players who played for other teams who did "serious things" on the field and went on to help overwhelmingley their selected teams win GF'S as could Houli and Bugg. I'm not gonna be two faced about this. Let's bring this on if we want to walk the walk, which is a bloody expression i hate, because its not OZ

On 01/07/2017 at 3:33 PM, beelzebub said:

Unlike Schofield ...who lined up an unsuspecting player when there was no play actually happening  with and elbow to deliberately hit the victim in the face; Bugg reacted ( albeitly careless and recklessly )to another's action. Mills started it.. Bugg finished it. 

 He would not have thought he'd likely hit Mills anywhere in particular...i.e a wild swing. These often miss entirely. This one, was right on the button. 

This neither excuses the action or mitigates the penalty but it does give a context.

Your's and many other's reaction is quite frankly ridiculously over heated.

There's a lot that could be queried about Bugg's behaviour but I'm not convinced that players who can jump in the air with other players around them and still manage to mark or punch a moving ball should somehow be less precise when swinging their arms towards a player. AFL players have very good hand-eye coordination. It's self-evident or they wouldn't be employed as an AFL player.

This thread is disgusting.

Bugg deserves to go for a decent holiday but he deserves our support. Bugg's actions were wrong but they were not deliberate.

Mills clearly went to bump Bugg and he threw a fist out. Dumb. Even dumber was that it connected flush with Mills cheek. The way some on here are talking is that Bugg lined him up and deliberately tried to knock the guy out.

There is a clear cohort here that don't like Bugg as a player and seek to equate his actions with someone that deliverately went out to smash Mills out of the game. They want him booted out of our football club. What a joke that and the people suggesting that is are frankly pathetic. They are confusing his actions as a general niggler on the field with being a thug of the highest order. They seem to dislike Bugg because he has personality and is seen as a 'mouth'. That is wrong on many levels. The incident should be looked at as an isolated event.

Bugg clearly doesn't get the 'good bloke' discount that Houli 'got'. I wonder why? Nor the sympathy in the media despite the fact that Houli looked at Jed Lamb first and then knocked him out.

Bugg will serve his time but the pack of hyenas in the media and even on this site are a poor reflection of bias of the highest order. Bugg is 24yo FFS. He made a big mistake. Sadly the MRP will bow to that media noise and Bugg is likely to get a worse outcome than Houli.

Houli will no doubt be knighted for servies to football by the media and Waleed Aly while Bugg will be thrown to the wolves.

Morosely, moronically quiet Media. Lost their moral compasses!!!

12 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

This thread is disgusting.

Bugg deserves to go for a decent holiday but he deserves our support. Bugg's actions were wrong but they were not deliberate.

Mills clearly went to bump Bugg and he threw a fist out. Dumb. Even dumber was that it connected flush with Mills cheek. The way some on here are talking is that Bugg lined him up and deliberately tried to knock the guy out.

There is a clear cohort here that don't like Bugg as a player and seek to equate his actions with someone that deliverately went out to smash Mills out of the game. They want him booted out of our football club. What a joke that and the people suggesting that is are frankly pathetic. They are confusing his actions as a general niggler on the field with being a thug of the highest order. They seem to dislike Bugg because he has personality and is seen as a 'mouth'. That is wrong on many levels. The incident should be looked at as an isolated event.

Bugg clearly doesn't get the 'good bloke' discount that Houli 'got'. I wonder why? Nor the sympathy in the media despite the fact that Houli looked at Jed Lamb first and then knocked him out.

Bugg will serve his time but the pack of hyenas in the media and even on this site are a poor reflection of bias of the highest order. Bugg is 24yo FFS. He made a big mistake. Sadly the MRP will bow to that media noise and Bugg is likely to get a worse outcome than Houli.

Houli will no doubt be knighted for servies to football by the media and Waleed Aly while Bugg will be thrown to the wolves.

A week is a long time when it suits....

16 hours ago, chook fowler said:

Can you believe the unbridled hypocrisy of Leigh Matthews arguing for a send off rule - the biggest thug in AFL/VFL history. His frontal lobes must be gone.

Leigh Matthews ought to have been sent off the ground, sent to the remand centre, then Pentridge. And there's a statue at the MCG of this paragon of virtue and arbiter of all things fair and reasonable on the football field. Never even had the courage to look at the person he damn near killed in the eye as he whacked him.

My initial reaction to Bugg's punch was shock and thought he should be suspended for life.  We don't want that on our footy fields.  But Bub and JnrMac amonst others have offered strong defences and they are probably right to a degree.

In reality Bugg will get what he gets - the admittedly inconsistent MRP will make a ruling and that will be that.  You can go round in circles arguing if the hit was less or more serious than Houli and it's hard to divorce emotion from any judgement.  It's also hard to divorce your like or dislike of Bugg from any evaluation of the incident.

I don't like Bugg.  Never warmed to him from the time he showboated against Richmond and his faux tough guy enforcer approach to the game doesn't work for me.  He's certainly no wimp but he's not tough like Viney, Jones or Oliver. But my dislike shouldn't impact on a penalty for his punch on Mills.  Nor should Mills so called provocation be factored in.  Those arguing that defence are arguing a girl who wore the short skirt deserved to be the victim of unwanted physical attention.

Bugg's punch was certainly no lesser crime than Houli and many are arguing it was worse.  I think they are grasping at straws to justify a penalty they want to give him and not one he deserves for the hit.  If Houli got 4 I think Bugg should get 4. I suspect he'll get more.  Amongst other things his timing was terrible.

That's the "justice" system penalty if you like, now for MFC response.  We shouldn't impose a greater penalty in weeks served. We should publicly support him. But in the end MFC have a "brand" or "image" we want to be seen for and I'd imagine this is so far removed from that brand it's almost a deal breaker in terms of ongoing employment.  In any employment arrangement the employer gives up money and opportunity in return for performance and representation.  Bugg has trashed that representation and damaged the brand. To argue otherwise is silly, he has hurt the Club that gives him an AFL career. 

If he is to remain he must perform at a level that justifies that tarnished brand but he doesn't.  In essence he is a limited footballer able to play mediocre AFL footy on a relatively inconsistent basis.  He plays as much poor footy as he does good footy and has to do everything right to stay on a list. Clearly he hasn't.

If I was the MFC I'd leave him at Casey when he returns and I'd not offer him another contract because in the end he is more harm to us than good.  He was a marginal "keep" anyway at seasons end for me.  His one punch effort on Friday KO'd MIlls but also his future at Melbourne and I'd imagine anywhere.

It's a harsh penalty to pay I know but I don't want the Club I support to be represented by a person like Bugg.  This was a mistake but it was a terrible one for both him and us.

Interesting take VP

Think id still have him playing though. That's just my preference  Nothing more.

12 minutes ago, Vogon Poetry said:

My initial reaction to Bugg's punch was shock and thought he should be suspended for life.  We don't want that on our footy fields.  But Bub and JnrMac amonst others have offered strong defences and they are probably right to a degree.

In reality Bugg will get what he gets - the admittedly inconsistent MRP will make a ruling and that will be that.  You can go round in circles arguing if the hit was less or more serious than Houli and it's hard to divorce emotion from any judgement.  It's also hard to divorce your like or dislike of Bugg from any evaluation of the incident.

I don't like Bugg.  Never warmed to him from the time he showboated against Richmond and his faux tough guy enforcer approach to the game doesn't work for me.  He's certainly no wimp but he's not tough like Viney, Jones or Oliver. But my dislike shouldn't impact on a penalty for his punch on Mills.  Nor should Mills so called provocation be factored in.  Those arguing that defence are arguing a girl who wore the short skirt deserved to be the victim of unwanted physical attention.

Thoughtful well argued post. I would say though that this sentence is off the mark. Mills clearly had a go at Bugg and Bugg retaliated. Not an excuse but its way different to your 'girl wearing a short skirt' scenario

1 hour ago, jnrmac said:

This thread is disgusting.

Bugg deserves to go for a decent holiday but he deserves our support. Bugg's actions were wrong but they were not deliberate.

Mills clearly went to bump Bugg and he threw a fist out. Dumb. Even dumber was that it connected flush with Mills cheek. The way some on here are talking is that Bugg lined him up and deliberately tried to knock the guy out.

There is a clear cohort here that don't like Bugg as a player and seek to equate his actions with someone that deliverately went out to smash Mills out of the game. They want him booted out of our football club. What a joke that and the people suggesting that is are frankly pathetic. They are confusing his actions as a general niggler on the field with being a thug of the highest order. They seem to dislike Bugg because he has personality and is seen as a 'mouth'. That is wrong on many levels. The incident should be looked at as an isolated event.

Bugg clearly doesn't get the 'good bloke' discount that Houli 'got'. I wonder why? Nor the sympathy in the media despite the fact that Houli looked at Jed Lamb first and then knocked him out.

Bugg will serve his time but the pack of hyenas in the media and even on this site are a poor reflection of bias of the highest order. Bugg is 24yo FFS. He made a big mistake. Sadly the MRP will bow to that media noise and Bugg is likely to get a worse outcome than Houli.

Houli will no doubt be knighted for servies to football by the media and Waleed Aly while Bugg will be thrown to the wolves.

Well, I suppose we all see what we want to see... but as one who does like Bugg for his niggle value and for his ability to keep key players reasonably quiet, I'm not going to use that as a reason to excuse his action on Friday night.

Yes Mills actually did bump him (no differently to what we see players doing game after game), but Bugg did not simply throw out a fist to fend off an impending bump... it came after the bump was effected and the punch was well aimed (no one is saying he intended to knock him out).  The thing that made Bugg's action more ridiculous and will probably add a week or two to his suspension, is the fact that this occurred in the round immediately following Houli's headline grabbing hit.

I didn't go through the entire thread so it may be there, but I thought it was odd that no one had included the footage in Bugg's defence.

 

pretty stupid of him, best outcome five down to four

12 minutes ago, Vogon Poetry said:

My initial reaction to Bugg's punch was shock and thought he should be suspended for life.  We don't want that on our footy fields.  But Bub and JnrMac amonst others have offered strong defences and they are probably right to a degree.

In reality Bugg will get what he gets - the admittedly inconsistent MRP will make a ruling and that will be that.  You can go round in circles arguing if the hit was less or more serious than Houli and it's hard to divorce emotion from any judgement.  It's also hard to divorce your like or dislike of Bugg from any evaluation of the incident.

I don't like Bugg.  Never warmed to him from the time he showboated against Richmond and his faux tough guy enforcer approach to the game doesn't work for me.  He's certainly no wimp but he's not tough like Viney, Jones or Oliver. But my dislike shouldn't impact on a penalty for his punch on Mills.  Nor should Mills so called provocation be factored in.  Those arguing that defence are arguing a girl who wore the short skirt deserved to be the victim of unwanted physical attention.

Bugg's punch was certainly no lesser crime than Houli and many are arguing it was worse.  I think they are grasping at straws to justify a penalty they want to give him and not one he deserves for the hit.  If Houli got 4 I think Bugg should get 4. I suspect he'll get more.  Amongst other things his timing was terrible.

That's the "justice" system penalty if you like, now for MFC response.  We shouldn't impose a greater penalty in weeks served. We should publicly support him. But in the end MFC have a "brand" or "image" we want to be seen for and I'd imagine this is so far removed from that brand it's almost a deal breaker in terms of ongoing employment.  In any employment arrangement the employer gives up money and opportunity in return for performance and representation.  Bugg has trashed that representation and damaged the brand. To argue otherwise is silly, he has hurt the Club that gives him an AFL career. 

If he is to remain he must perform at a level that justifies that tarnished brand but he doesn't.  In essence he is a limited footballer able to play mediocre AFL footy on a relatively inconsistent basis.  He plays as much poor footy as he does good footy and has to do everything right to stay on a list. Clearly he hasn't.

If I was the MFC I'd leave him at Casey when he returns and I'd not offer him another contract because in the end he is more harm to us than good.  He was a marginal "keep" anyway at seasons end for me.  His one punch effort on Friday KO'd MIlls but also his future at Melbourne and I'd imagine anywhere.

It's a harsh penalty to pay I know but I don't want the Club I support to be represented by a person like Bugg.  This was a mistake but it was a terrible one for both him and us.

Beautifully summed up.

Bugg deserves the same penalty as Houli, although will probably cop it worse because his timing is terrible and the AFL wants to stamp this out, and rightly so.

I don't think Bugg is an awful person, nor do I think he intended to go out and concuss Mills, but he loses his cool too often, and his reaction to the so called "provocation" from Mills, which is something we see 100 times a game, was wrong in every way possible. You firstly don't solve violence with violence, but secondly you don't punch someone in the face because he shoved you in the chest. Anyone trying to justify his reaction, is wrong. No two ways about it. 

That he is an average player, and has a track record of being an arrogant pest who has actually done very little on the field, does not help his cause when it comes to his future at the MFC. 

Firstly we don't want average players on our list, and secondly we don't want average players on our list who lose their cool, and misrepresent the club by physically harming opponents in a completely illegal way. Btw I feel very similar about the idiotic trio of JHK, Kent, and BenKen who went out on the [censored] and got suspended from playing last week. Borderline players, doing dumb things and breaking club rules/ protocols, is not OK. We are better than this as a club! 

Already today I've seen negative media about the club being poorly disciplined. Yes, the media loves jumping on and off bandwagons, but after so much good work done by the team to gain some respect, the behaviours of some of our players of late, has really let the rest of the club down. 

 

OK.

He has done the crime, he will have to do the time.  So much BS in the media dn holier than thou attitudes.  It is a terrible look, and punishment will be due and paid.  Once he has done his time, that should be it.  No need for the moral s police.

Some thoughts:

If Bugg was 80 m off the ball, why was Mills scragging him and why did Bugg turn and throw the punch?

Why did the umpires allow the Swans to attack players like Max and others repeatedly, with no intervention?  The clowns were out of control of the game.

Bugg has been on a roller coaster - the Instagram pic before the dogs game, the Hosier lane pic, now this.  Hope he is getting adequate support from the club.

The AFL are weak and useless.  The whole Jumper punch fiasco, the way penalties at MRP are impossible to predict, the favouritism that seems to ruin decisions.

The media.  The biggest thugs have the biggest mouth on this.  They can all go and get [censored] as far as I'm concerned.

Some other really bad things need MRP scrutiny.  Attacking a fallen player is perhaps a much bigger dog act than Buggs

Bugg has been doing well for us, and has certainly been valuable to the team this year (perhaps he isn't best 22, but he has been in the best that we were able to get onto the park...).  I hope this is not career ending for him, but a bump in the road for a member of the team.

Prediction- 5 to 6 weeks.  I know he doesn't have Waleed Ali, but it was a bad look (negative to his case) but Mills got up straight away (not a knockout like Houli) (positive on his case).

We have had a [censored] few days.  Bring on next weekend.

11 minutes ago, 3Dee said:

pretty stupid of him, best outcome five down to four

It will go straight to the Tribunal, so he won't be given the option of a discount for an early plea. He'll get a fixed penalty which will be a certain number of weeks and that will be it (unless the AFL appeals what it considers to be a lenient penalty as they did last week with Houli).