Nasher

Why would anyone boo him?

I heard a few whispers late in his time here that some of the players weren't huge fans, but for the first time in hearing stuff like that, I honestly didn't care whether it was true or not. Some supporters said his gameplan was outdated and boring to watch - didn't care about that either. The only thing that mattered from his time here was setting us on the correct path. It wasn't a lone effort (see PJ), but between them they assembled a team that can get us moving forward. A recruiter who hasn't made an error yet, a modern, energetic coach who knows who knows how to motivate, support and develop his players, putting in support staff of appropriate experience around to assist said young coach, and backing and developing existing resources already at the club to deliver what was required (Mahoney et al). To say Roos saved us in my view is unfair to every other member of the club who busted a gut to get us going again, but to me he was worth every cent and we have a lot to thank him for. It was fantastic to hear him referring to the club as 'we'.

For those who saw it, that post and the replies that followed are gone and the offender permanently banned.

Fair enough. The other part that galls me a bit is the fact that you acknowledge that it's a "big if", but are carping on about it as if it's fact. But that's nothing I haven't already said in this thread a dozen times now, and I'm a fan of yours and appreciate the reasonable middle ground approach to your post, so I don't think I'll keep going over it.

It's not without possibility, but it still upsets me though that after all this, the focus is still on how the victim reacted to being punched. It's part of a much broader cultural issue and I thought you would get that. @rpfcdid a good post on this on the very early pages on this thread. I want to be clear. I give Clarry the benefit of the doubt on the dive, but ultimately it's irrelevant. I don't care if Oliver did a triple backflip with pike - Schofield threw an elbow and got away with it purely because everyone decided they weren't happy with the way the victim of the elbow reacted to it. I reckon it stinks to high heaven.

Heh, yeah. Hey, remember when our best ever junior player got punched - twice - and it was his reputation that got soiled? LOL yeah I remember, hilarious stuff!

Occam's Razor says they re-signed him because they think he can play. I think you're over-complicating something that is simple. They wouldn't risk getting stuck with a player they didn't want just so they can salvage something from a trade. Either he's good enough to keep around or he's not, and his trade value is zero regardless of his contract status.

It's especially galling when it's Melbourne "supporters" doing it.

I guess it was more a question of what was keeping him out of at least second tier footy? The name of a club I don't know doesn't help a great deal.

Where was he before he played with Footscray in the VFL? It always surprises me a bit when these players seemingly materialise out of nowhere in their early 20s. For all talent scouting has improved in the last 20 years, there's probably dozens of gems like him kicking about in local footy leagues. He's kicked 17 goals now for the season - fourth on the list behind Garlett, Watts and Petracca, and has kicked 3 goals 3 times. Hopefully will pass 30 before the home and away season is through. Seems to be getting better and looking more comfortable each week. What a great pickup.

Obviously nobody. This thread has added 10 pages in the last hour of pretty heated discussion because nobody cares about it.

This dismal argument has come up a thousand times on this thread and it's just nonsense. If the shoe was on the other foot, I'd take great pleasure in taking the whole thing at face value, laughing at it, heckling the player and ultimately probably be annoyed our player got rubbed out over nothing. I wouldn't spend any longer than 10 seconds analysing it, because I'm not invested. If the shoe was on the other foot, I wouldn't have watched a replay of it 20 times, read up on the opinions of people who spend a lot of time watching sports where this kind of thing is common place, reading the views of brawlers, or applying my own experience when getting clocked by someone unexpectedly. I wouldn't read what the club doctor said or take any notice that the umpire that reported him was literally standing one meter away. I wouldn't consider human behaviour and call in to question why the player would dive when he clearly had nothing to gain from it - a free kick is usually the motivating factor for a dive. Not the case here. All Oliver stood to gain for it was flack, and that's what happened. So yes - Melbourne supporters are going to invest more in defending their own players than they would if the shoe was on the other foot. I own a bunch of stuff with the same logos that Clarry wears on match day - we are part of the same club. Being biased does not make us wrong.

He overreacted, therefore it's absolutely fine. It's not possible that he overreacted *and* it was also a dog act that should be condemned? To be clear - my position is still that we can't be sure if he overreacted or not - that hasn't changed - but ultimately it's irrelevant to whether or not Schofield is guilty.

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.

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

Maybe they can try elbowing him in the mouth to try and put him off his game. Apparently it's legal now. I am bloody ropable about this. I hope the club is too.

Same here, because if I was a WC fan I'd probably also be a boorish oaf.

If what's been put on here are the sum total of the QC's arguments, they're ridiculously flimsy. Hopefully the Tribunal see through them, although I'm not holding my breath.

Look, you can all continue to argue with me and I can close the thread, or we can steer the topic away from the religious aspects of the player in question and continue to discuss the topic of MRP outcomes. I have nothing else to say on the topic.

That's a weird response to a request not to make it about religion. Clearly the result at the tribunal is relevant to the topic at hand.

Because it invites racist garbage like what Petraccattack posted. It's not relevant. See Deestroy All's post as an example of how to discuss what occurred without making it about religion.

Thanks, appreciate it. Let's talk about football instead.

Bans on offer for anyone considering making this about religion.

That's probably an argument for paying more kicking in danger frees rather than an argument against ours. Definitely thought the free was there watching on TV - he kicked the ball out of Oliver's hands via his fingers.

It's an endorsement contract - an acknowledgment that he hasn't done enough yet, but the club still believes he is capable of getting there. It's not what I'd have done, but one of those things where it's pretty hard to argue with our FD, who are professionals with demonstrable good judgement, who see him operate on a daily basis. If they think he'll get there, I'll go with it. He can play the year out now without having to worry about his future. Good luck, hope he is able to take this extra opportunity with both hands.