Ben Johnson case to test the AFL's judicial system

[Rolling Stone 156]

A dog of an act.

Now let's see the AFL match review panel and all the rest of them deal with this case as it should.

[Yze_Magic 3]

Ben Johnson is a pathetic Collingwood[edit]

I wanted to jump the fence and knock him out

Absolute gutless [censored]

[dazzledavey36 54,276]

[edit] who deserves 7 weeks for that dog act. next time we play em yze magic bring ya sniper rifle B)

[ General warning to all posters: While it was a miserable act, please ensure your language is within the COC.Thanks]

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

4 to 6 weeks at least even without considering his carry forward points.

The contact is as bad as it can get. AFL needs to make a statement about this.

Johnson should be out until well into 2008.

[Deano74 156]

Edit who deserves 7 weeks for that dog act. next time we play em yze magic bring ya sniper rifle B)

I agree with you on this one dazzle.

[QueenC 74]

He was up before the panel only last week, so he would definitely have points already hanging over his head......

That aside it should be a minimum of six weeks even before you factor that in.

This is exactly the type of awful on-field action that the AFL have been so public in trying to stamp out.

I guess we will finally (and unfortunately) get to see what they are actually made of in this regard.

And I hope that the panel prove my opinion of them wrong, and we don't see this dirty snot until well into next year.

[Brocky 4]

4 to 6 weeks at least even without considering his carry forward points.

The contact is as bad as it can get. AFL needs to make a statement about this.

Johnson should be out until well into 2008.

Couldn't agree more Rhino. Gutless act. What else would we expect from someone who has shown himself to be gutless on and off field. Top notch tool he is.

[praha 11,236]

He'll get two weeks, the panel will get $5,000 each, and Eddie will get to watch Johnson play finals footy.

You heard it here first.

[ashleighn19 0]

does anyone know where i can get video of the incident.. i saw the end of it, but i want to see it again and bloody channel 7 wont show it!!

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

does anyone know where i can get video of the incident.. i saw the end of it, but i want to see it again and bloody channel 7 wont show it!!

Watch the news or scan you tube in a day or so.

[Redleg 40,833]

4 to 6 weeks at least even without considering his carry forward points.

The contact is as bad as it can get. AFL needs to make a statement about this.

Johnson should be out until well into 2008.

Having just watched the 7 news which showed the hit from two angles and replaying it several times, I agree. Bell's head was over the ball and Johnson changed direction and came in to lay a bump to the head. It was clearly deliberate and extremely dangerous. He could have pulled up or run to the side of Bell but chose to lay the bump seeing the players head down. As brave as Bell was Johnson was cowardly in my opinion. If it was Byron it would be 8 weeks. The minimum will have to be 4.

Cant wait to hear Eddie say it was an accident and that in fact it was Bell's fault.

[deestroy08 0]

Speaking of Byron, I was actually a bit disappointed he didn't get more involved in the biff during the match.

I wanted him to clean up ferrel Johnson seeing as nobody else would, but he stood that far away from the comotion it was so strange.

[QueenC 74]

Having just watched the 7 news which showed the hit from two angles and replaying it several times, I agree. Bell's head was over the ball and Johnson changed direction and came in to lay a bump to the head. It was clearly deliberate and extremely dangerous. He could have pulled up or run to the side of Bell but chose to lay the bump seeing the players head down. As brave as Bell was Johnson was cowardly in my opinion. If it was Byron it would be 8 weeks. The minimum will have to be 4.

Cant wait to hear Eddie say it was an accident and that in fact it was Bell's fault.

In all the camera angels and replays there is not one of them that showed that he had his eyes on the ball.

He seemed to intentionally go straight at the player with his head down.

There was no attempt made to play the ball or to manoeuvre himself to the side as to make less dangerous contact.

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

Speaking of Byron, I was actually a bit disappointed he didn't get more involved in the biff during the match.

I wanted him to clean up ferrel Johnson seeing as nobody else would, but he stood that far away from the comotion it was so strange.

Run out of puff and got a stitch!

[Wrecker45 3,378]

If it was Byron it would be 8 weeks. The minimum will have to be 4.

If that was Byron he'd be looking at doing a stint in jail.

[Madness 44]

Watched it on the foxtel replay, gone for 3-4 with an early pleas me thinks...

[deestroy08 0]

Run out of puff and got a stitch!

Very likely!

[grazman 7,406]

I know this won't seem popular... but I feel Sorry for Johnson. As soon as he'd made contact he knew he'd made a serious, serious blue. Those of us that have played enough footy know that sometimes you do things on the spur of the moment and you think "What did I do that for" - it's so completely out of character, you aren't proud of it and you can't explain why. You could see throughout the game that he was really concerned about what he'd done. Dane Swan came up to him and said something to him and Johnson pushed him away and gave him a mouthful, he then went back to Swan and apologised. I'd be very surprised if he didn't seek Belly out afterwards... not that he could offer much by way of explanation.

As far as the tribunal is concerned (even with their lack of consistency) he is in deep poo poo. It looked bad and was bad.

[Ewok 9]

4 weeks.

[CHAMP 347]

Watched it on the foxtel replay, gone for 3-4 with an early pleas me thinks...

Methinks the MRP shall refer the matter directly to the Tribunal in which case no "early plea" is available. The assault on Bell epitomises all that the AFL wishes to eradicate and accordingly the penalty should be extreme upper-end of the scale. The C'wood player seems to have a natural tendency towards violence which should be addressed.

[WonnaJurah 5]

surely his poor record in olympics games will rule him out

[mordiboy 0]

does anyone know where i can get video of the incident.. i saw the end of it, but i want to see it again and bloody channel 7 wont show it!!

It is on youtube

link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTKAaw0iR3Q

[45HG 1,539]

surely his poor record in olympics games will rule him out

so true! he'll get his 70 carry over points, 4 weeks for the hit, and 18 for breaking the drug code, naughty boy!

grazman that is very true, often you do stupid things in the thick of the moment and i'm 100% sure he's not proud of it. just it horrible to watch when he had so much time to stop and pull out, but chose not to

[godees 858]

And while you are checking that hit out on youtube, have a look at Michael Long's one on simmonds in the 2000 gf. He should have been suspended for life - seriously. It makes Johnsons dog act look positively tame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jME5Y6r8E0&NR=1

[Scoop Junior 3,435]

I don't think Johnson's a dirty player and I don't think he tried to knock Bell out.

But certainly it was reckless and he'll go under that classification.