Very Jaded

He looks like a tinier version of our Gus, which only upsets me more. Glad to see him in good spirits. I'm sure he'll get the best medical care and make a full recovery, although broken jaws and lost teeth is a very nasty long recovery process to endure for anyone, let alone a professional athlete. Not being able to eat solids will no doubt impact negatively on his muscle mass and so forth.

I see what you're suggesting. But in my scenario nobody gets a replacement. You'd have to always carry a spare, like in the days of the sub, on the off chance of a red card.

Correct. Nobody gets to replace a player, not the team who lost a player to the injury (Freo), or the team that lost a player for offending (West Coast).

How so? The player who got hit is out, and the player who hit him, is also out. So each team is a player down.

No substitution. You [censored] up an opposition player, they are out for the game, you are out for the game. Then it's 17 a side, which is fair. My assumption that these red cards will only ever be activated when something extraordinary happens where a player is injured severely enough that there is no doubt they will not return to the field, like in yesterdays game. If someone gets a crude tackle and are getting assessed for concussion, that to me doesn't warrant a red card.

I totally agree with you, and like with anything else, the AFL will [censored] it up no doubt. The tackle on J.Smith is totally different, to someone being hit off the ball. It is an action within a game, and we see that sort of thing happen 100 times a game. If in post match the player is charged with rough conduct, that is a different matter that will need to be analysed by video evidence. I think generally it has to be used for any absolute acts of thuggery which will lead to a suspension beyond any reasonable doubt. So anything that happens off the ball that causes severe injury (not if someone gets a little tummy tap and drops like a sack of [censored] to draw a free), or anything that is done with absolute malice and not within the action of the game. And it should be judged and red cards awarded by the emergency umpire who should have in his/her disposal a monitor where they can view the incident in close up and then make a call. Usually when an incident like this takes place, severe injury occurs and the game stops. This will allow the emergency umpire to review the vision and decide if a red card is required.

He was. When he came to the bench you could see him pointing to it and they almost didn't want to take it out as it was obviously keeping the teeth in place. Makes me feel sick thinking about it!

This incident does raise for me the need for a red card system. It will rarely get used, but when something like this goes down, how is it fair that one team is down a player while the player who took him down is still able to run out the match? It would have made no difference to this actual game, but what if someone did that to Oliver in the first minutes of a GF? Would you want that player to keep playing while we were down one? There has to be some sort of system to deal with these unusually awful incident in game.

I agree, I don't think Gaff went out and thought "I'm gonna smash his jaw and break his teeth coz he's being a pest to me". I think he thought "you're an annoying [censored] I'm gonna hit ya a little because I'm having a brain fade moment and oh [censored] I just smashed you really hard and I am screwed". I feel for both of them, but bloody hell you look at poor Andrew and you just feel sick. To hear his mum was crying in the rooms just breaks your heart, when you think what Gus went through and that she has another kid in the army. I heard on radio this morning that she'd had to take on some counselling to help her deal with the Gus situation, and now this. FFS my heart really breaks for her! This will no doubt have long lasting ramifications on Gaff, his confident, his demeanour, the way he is perceived by the wider footy community, and no doubt his future and asking price. I would still welcome him to our club, but as stated previously, I would hope the club looks into the mental impact this will have on Gaff, on Gus (I'm sure he will be OK with it) and as a general look for our club. We were very hard on Bugg and he has barely played since (although he is a poor player which doesn't help), so how do we proceed should we get Gaff without looking hypocritical?

Look there is no doubt this isn’t a usual act for Gaff. I can’t even remember him being suspended recently. It was highly uncharacteristic. But that doesn’t make it right. He should get a nice long holiday. Brayshaw is having surgery. On a broken jaw and 4 displaced teeth. That’s not a light love tap. That’s a serious assault. Do I want Gaff hung for life? No. Should he come play for the Dees? Sure. Does he deserve 6 weeks? 100%!

That was pathetic from Gaff. Really really bad.

Would anyone here rather keep the cash and wait to see if we can get Kelly?

You dare not. For one, Gaff is a RFA. We don’t need to give West Coast jackshit for him. But I mean if you want to volunteer trading one of the best young forwards in the competition, I’m sure they’ll be all ears ?

I don’t think Gaff will leave West Coast and go to a crap team. He’s a good enough player to command good money and some success.

Watch Hogan when a teammate kicks a goal. Watch him after the game. He has never looked happier than right now. Kinda like how Brent Harvey has never looked less relevant than right now.

Honestly we have done everything right by him, including becoming a good team and letting him play his natural game. If he leaves then so be it, it certainly won’t feel like a case of “if only we did better or did more to keep him”.

His manager is probably waiting for him to crack 40 touches so he can raise the price a bit more. Clever by him to wait to be honest. He's increased his contract a lot since the start of the year when he couldn't get a game.

He's in the side for leadership, yet nobody in the side gives away more goal-costing silly frees. Nobody. We talk about Gawn missing his shot in Round 1, how about Lewis giving away a stupid 50 meter penalty which gifted Geelong a goal? Once he gets his 300th, it's time to stop gifting him games due to reputation.

Need to sign him up

If he somehow manages to get us to beat a good side, I would agree with him. But this is not a bump along the way, more like a bump out of the finals.

Go and get Clarkson

About time. We needed it then when we were in major debt and playing like crap anyway. Now it is impacting our ability to succeed on the field, which is priority #1. Time to go.

Roos like Jackson didn’t leave. He effectively retired, which is very different. I don’t think Melbourne would let another CEO meddle in the footy department. The problem at Collingwood is that everyone felt entitled to get involved in the footy department because their president did. How can a president except the CEO not to get involved when he is so deeply and destructively involved, I don’t know. We have a very different set up and a very different structure. I have no doubt when given the job, Pert was told his KPIs revolve around revenue, membership, sponsorship and finding a permanent united home base.

Whenever someone in a senior position leaves any job, there is always some bad blood somewhere. Otherwise why leave? Anyone who has ever left a job usually feels some animosity towards their former employer and vice versa. I am very comfortable with this appointment and I trust both our board and the AFL. If Pert did a lot wrong they wouldn’t endorse his appointment. We have come too far and they don’t want us to become a basket case again! Trust me, they have enough issues with the likes of GC. Now let’s build a home base, get a better fixture and get rid of the NT deal.

I am far from his biggest fan but he wasn’t even close to our worst today. Our midfield sucked hardcore today. 18 clearances down. Nothing the backline could do, including Lewis. He was ok under enormous pressure. The loss today comes down to the midfield group who couldn’t get it and couldn’t use it. How TMac kicked 6 is amazing to me.