Lucifers Hero

Follow proceedings here: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-06-27/live-houli-schofield-front-the-afl-tribunal Can't see how Schofield can plead not guilty to striking when his lawyer agrees it was intentional and high contact (but negligible force).

I doubt it. The nearest umpire said he thought it was 'careless'. And, I doubt the AFL would want one of its multicultural ambassador's out for too long.

Houli hit found to be intentional! Now the penalty is to be determined. AFL wants 4 weeks, Defence wants 2. Defence relays character witnesses comments: The Prime Minister says Houli is a great guy. Waleed Aly comment apparently were he is a great guy "in the face of racial abuse, which Aly has seen time and time again." No evidence of the racial abuse appears to have been provided. I think the Aly reference was a general comment not related to the Lamb incident or the game on Sunday. Houli gets 2 weeks. Am really surprised his defence played the 'nice guy who has to put up with racial abuse' card. I thought we were past that. Maybe the Tribunal is in a lenient mood. Wouldn't be surprised if Schofield found to be intentional and get the original 1 week.

It has now dc 41,284 slow increase but increase nonetheless!

Provocative - Clarrie is playing with fire! He should quit while he is ahead! David Neitz is on the Tribunal so no fear of it being a kangaroo court staged by the AFL.

As of this year the AFL does for Etihad tenants. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afls-etihad-stadium-bonuses-for-clubs-20170330-gvaewt.html Not fair in my book. Its not as if Carlton and Essendon or even the Bulldogs need an extra recurring money leg up given they are running record memberships.

Dynamic pricing doesn't really work when there is a low chance of a sell out. It works when Demand is greater than the Supply so they can increase the price and the tickets will still sell. Those that raise prices when that isn't the case have low(er) attendances as my post above has highlighted.

He can't challenge on 'Deliberate' as the umpire who reported him was right there. It was graded 'low impact' so he must be wanting to argue it should have been graded 'insufficient force'. This means calling into question the MFC's doctor reports. That is a slippery slope if the Tribunal overturns the MRP on that. This may be a long bow but I'm beginning to think that all this halabaloo is to unsettle us and we lose a game or two. After all the likes of WCE, and Commentators that are just fan boys for their ex teams have a lot to gain from us dropping a game or two - they are all contenders for the 8!

That is why the recent Nth vs Sk game had only 26,000 and StK had 15,000 at the weekend. Their members won't pay the extra so voted with their feet! And rightly so!

Its somewhat of a dubious honour as 'dynamic pricing' is used when they expect a full house. Which we never do at Home games. We don't have enough supporters to fill the G and the Home games we play there are vs interstate teams or Etihad tenants with low members (Nth. StK. WB) so our Home game attendance is low. I suspect if mfc had the opportunity to use 'dynamic pricing' we would as we can ill afford to give up extra revenue. Having said that, what Essendon did to increase the price of ANZAC day tickets by over 40% was blatant exploitation of footy goers. Completely unethical especially in light of the occassion on which the game is held.

Looks like Eagles may appeal the 1 week for Schofield. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-06-26/eagles-consider-challenging-schofield-ban That is their right but I don't like these comments from Simpson. "I just hope Clayton's OK. I hope he made the flight back," a tongue-in-cheek Simpson told 6PR". "We can't dispute the medical report. Also, I'm one of the people who can't comment on it either, so we'll let it run its course and we'll get on with it. Is he doubting the mfc doctor's report? He also said: "All the commentary around it, you sort of accept it from media outlets, but when players get involved it's probably another issue that we've got to look into". Have any current players commented on Oliver reaction? Or is Simpson grandstanding a bit. I think it is one thing for commentators to say Oliver embellished the impact but it is another thing to not accept his post game explanation, effectively saying he lied. This is becoming quite unpleasant. More so when the coach takes up the narrative instead.

I have no particular knowledge of how many concussions it takes for a club to be really cautious with a young player. But it must put a lot of pressure on the player to keep playing when the coach (Richardson) says: "Paddy would've played this week if he had have pulled up well but the reality is he's still a little bit off and so he won't play this week," http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-06-26/six-and-out-for-concussed-st-kilda-forward-mccartin The kid has had 6 concussions in a 2 years. I hope the AFL doctor's monitor this sort of stuff. I can't help compare how mfc is going about an almost identical situation with Gus. We pulled him out altogether and told him to take his time physically and psychologically. Every week Misson says he is coming along fine but there is no time frame for his return. If I was a parent i know which club I would want my son at

Quote: "...Friday night will be like Roos watching his sons, Dylan and Tyler, playing against each other...When you go to any footy club you make emotional attachments,” Roos said. ... Now I’m very attached to Melbourne. The lack of success is part of it and I’m sympathetic to their plight. It’s exciting for Melbourne, they’ve been kicked for so long. I’m happy for Jack Watts and Nathan Jones and Max Gawn. I’m going for the Demons.” I think he bleeds red and blue!

Goodwin said it will be great to 'see a smile on Jesse's face again' when he returns to play. Clearly, Jesse is itching to get on the park again Friday night is already a huge game. Having Jesse back will make it even bigger!

Not all good news dc - he said Jonesy out for another 5 weeks! That means a return of round 21. But Jonesy being as tough as he is, will be doing his best to get back much earlier!

It seems our doctors may have come to the party! http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/richmond-defender-bachar-houli-referred-directly-to-the-tribunal-for-jed-lamb-hit-20170626-gwyqyy.html "...vision of Schofield making contact with Oliver's jaw, combined with the strong medical report from the Demons, led the MRP to deem the strike as intentional with low impact to the head... The decision to sanction Schofield by definition rules out any possibility for the MRP to claim that Oliver was staging." At last the MRP see sense!

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-06-26/mrp-houli-straight-to-tribunal-eagle-banned-for-oliver-hit The Carlton doctors strike again: "RICHMOND defender Bachar Houli has been sent straight to the Tribunal for his strike on Carlton's Jed Lamb after the Match Review Panel graded the hit as intentional and high impact...with a medical report from Carlton crucial in the finding against the Tigers defender". The hit on Lamb looked pretty serious so the MRP probably reached the right decision. But can't help feel that the Carlton medical reports in this case and those on Hogan and Lewis are sending a message that any opp player that dares touch a blue boy will find themselves out on a limb.

Schofield gets 2 down to 1. Deemed intentional. The right call IMV. So rubbish to all the media who tried to make it a Clayton story!

That may be so but that still image in an AFL article is what the wider public sees, not the video and easily misinterpreted as I did. True, but replays usually sow the actual time/quarter. Overall, I didn't like it. Ch 7 have form - they edited their post game telecast of the Sydney rooms last Friday night to portray them as being uncooperative and disruptive. https://thewest.com.au/sport/afl/swans-hit-back-at-roaming-bt-spray-following-friday-night-controversy-ng-b88517428z Ch7 have their agendas and their favourite teams. We aren't on that list.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-06-25/clayton-oliver-former-test-cricketer-in-twitter-spat-over-dive There is a ch 7 twitter image at the bottom of that article. Is it doctored? The image is a few frames before Schofield hit Oliver (which was at half time siren). It shows the 'Full Time' Final Score. It shows the time clock as 43 seconds to go when in fact we hit the front with 24 seconds left. If it is doctored it is reprehensible by Ch 7 and they have stooped to a new low. Adds weight to my earlier point that Darcy and Richo set out to bait him in their interview. Lets out the real villains in all this - it certainly isn't Oliver! A 'Please Explain' is warranted!

Great post! I had the Lid ajar but now it is off. On a related note - its great to see Roos supporting the Dees vs Sydney: "...Friday night will be like Roos watching his sons, Dylan and Tyler, playing against each other...When you go to any footy club you make emotional attachments,” Roos said. ... Now I’m very attached to Melbourne. The lack of success is part of it and I’m sympathetic to their plight. It’s exciting for Melbourne, they’ve been kicked for so long. I’m happy for Jack Watts and Nathan Jones and Max Gawn. I’m going for the Demons.” http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/paul-roos-says-more-afl-clubs-should-look-at-coaching-succession-plans/news-story/9cf348d7c2b963491e604ff5b0868b70 As you say Roos and Goodwin have cooked up something special. If (when) we win the premiership Roos will have played a key role in two clubs breaking their longest premiership drought of more than half a decade! I like knowing he has a soft spot for us.

Didn't take long for the media to latch on to it http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-06-25/clayton-oliver-former-test-cricketer-in-twitter-spat-over-dive Martyn is from Perth and probable an Eagles supporter. Like you I think Oliver might need to cool his jets. He should lie low and let the club leaders defend him. This will be another week where our great win will be overshadowed by trivial side issues and twitter. Sigh. If there was no post game interview the story would have petered out very quickly. Lesson for the club - don't let a 19 yo be interviewed after a controversial incident during the game. He is cannon fodder to commentators looking for a story. They set out to bait him and have created shiiit storm out of it.

Oh, the irony! Apparently, shot clock countdown was removed for the last 2 minutes of a game when: "North Melbourne’s Mason Wood watched time expire until the final siren as his side held a one-point lead over St Kilda". He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword! Based on that I wouldn't like to see the shot clock come back for the last few minutes. Yesterday, it could have cost us the game!

We were lucky we didn't have the WB vs North umpires. They paid a similar block as an 'illegal shepherd' against Mason Wood and Brown's goal was disallowed in the dying seconds!

The umpires are back on the Bulldogs bandwagon: "LET’S clear this up straight away — the Western Bulldogs aren’t back, they’re just extremely lucky...The premier got the four points against North Melbourne, but also got the rub of the green from the umpires in a drama-packed night under the lights." http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/western-bulldogs/western-bulldogs-get-out-of-jail-with-onepoint-win-against-north-melbourne/news-story/696c77322f24a66e522c5f64e26c9c9b Frees WB 26- North 13, at one stage 15:3. Two of the WB frees directly cost North a goal and maybe a second. Higgins was penalised for not starting run up for goal within the allowed 30 seconds (by the non-officiating umpire no less) - problem is there was no shot clock for him to look at. Now, I loathe Higgins and North with a passion but fair is fair. This time I wouldn't blame Scott for squealing about the umpire - his problem is he is now like the 'boy who cried wolf' - no-one listens. When WB don't get the benefit of umpiring they struggle to play their run on game, very evident this year when free kicks have been more consistent as they had been in the last few weeks. Lots of vested interests want WB to back up in the finals again. Edit: insert not in 3rd para