chookrat

I think the issue is his use of the facepalm followed by this is ridiculous. I wonder if the AFL will withdraw the please explain should the Appeals Board find that the 2 week suspension is in fact ridiculous.

Is it possible the Appeals Board decided it was all to difficult and snuck out the back way.

Does anyone know when the suspension is withdrawn does the AFL pay costs?

I suspect the high impact grading would not likely change due to the potential for serious injury and that a downgrade to medium would still mean a 1 week sanction. We are quite right to argue that the rough conduct provisions do not apply to a legitimate spoil which is protected as per rule 18.3. This defense is clever in that if the AFL uphold the suspension then they are also saying a player could face suspension for marking the ball if he doesn't take reasonable care.

It is really interesting that generally the grey area re suspensions comes down to how rules are interpreted while the JVR case seems to challenge the rules themselves where the tribunal accepts that JVR was only trying to spoil the ball, which is allowed, but because the spoil was reasonably foreseeable to cause harm they are treating it as a strike which falls under rough conduct. The rough conduct provisions specifically cater for bumps (which are deemed a football act that must be executed correctly) and strikes (not a football act) but do not address the need to perform spoils with any degree of care. I'm wondering if we will see a specific provision for spoils to be added under the rough conduct provisions at seasons end. The Lynch and Fogarty cases are particularly relevant and it is difficult for the AFL to apply its flimsy reasonably foreseeable argument to JVR, which opens a can of worms in that it could be applied to any action on the field, without explaining at the same time why the Lynch and Fogarty incidents were not reasonably foreseeable. Also because the AFL specifically looked at the Fogarty incident and that it was a mistake not to award a free, they must have also decided not to report it from an MRP perspective only 3 weeks ago. It is an even flimsier argument that the interpretation has changed in the past week especially given the lack of communication and training to clubs. There is a strong argument that clear communication, training and education are much more effective tools to prevent incidents than waiting for things to go wrong and then sanction employees with vague interpretation changes from week to week.

Does anybody know if the club has managed to track down this so called reasonable person the Tribunal keep referring to. I have a feeling that if we can find him/her they might be able to clear up this matter rather quickly.

Prior to this was the Trengove sling tackle on Dangerfield but at the time we were very much irrelevant so no-one really cared. Dangerfield miraculously recovered from his concussion and was best on ground the following week. The Viney brace was legendary.

I have it on good authority that the appeals board comprise Sportsbet executives and litigation experts. The real test will be when they hear a case involving head contact, concussion and brownlow contender. I suspect the litigators will fall on behind sportsbet.

Interestingly Carlton also used an incident as evidence involving the same Charlie Ballard as the JVR incident.

In fairness I believe the MRO outcomes are largely predictable, consistent and relatively easy to understand and compare. I also don't mind incidents such as the JVR spoil going to the tribunal on appeal as the MRO grades based on what they see and leave it to the club to argue whether JVR was trying to spoil the ball vs strike the player. While interpretations have changed and the panel may have taken the easy way out when it comes to Brownlow eligibility and finals in years past I think the system has been really good for at least 4 or 5 years now, at least to the point where I could not imagine how a better system would operate. For what it's worth I cannot see the JVR suspension being upheld on appeal but if course we will find out tonight.

Jaded, fully agree with this. I was fully comfortable with the two weeks for Kossie but to accept the JVR suspension would mean not backing in our players to play the game in the right way. If we appeal and lose I'd expect the club to issue a statement that we will continue to encourage our players to contest the ball. This approach is consistent with Goody stating the bump is dead in reference to the Kossie bump, where in this case were stating the contest is not dead and if the Tribunal intends to suspend players for this then we will back in our players.

Regardless of whether he took eyes off the ball I think the real test is whether JVR was attempting to spoil vs carelessly or intentionally taking out the player. If you look at Brandon Ellis's response, who would have a good sense of the feel of the incident at the time, its pretty obvious he saw no malice in the incident and it seemed like an attempted spoil. JVR was pretty close to actually spoiling the ball so its probably a test of whether JVR's action was reasonable vs careless.

Agree re this, I think we now place more emphasis on transition and winning critical contests. Look at Collingwood last year and they would routinely lose clearance and contested ball but when it mattered they won the contest and were good in transition. There is no point winning a clearance only to turn the ball over or create a stoppage in a position you cannot score.

There is no way JVR will be suspended for his attempted spoil. He shouldn't even be reported but I can appreciate they may want to have a close look at it given Ballard went off on a stretcher.

Thanks Cyclops, that makes sense.

Assume he flew up in case we lose a key back before the game, standard practice.

I don't like this, last year we were 10-0 before NARRM and struggled from then on. If we put correlation vs causation aside then NARRM is 100% what derailed our 2022 campaign.

Thanks ET, I tried to activate this offer but I have an existing Kayo subscription and it looks to be for new subscriptions only. Does anyone have experience in how to apply this offer for an existing Kayo customer?

AF I had issues logging on to confirm scarf v $25 voucher option - they won't send you anything if you don't complete this step. I called the club the week before the Richmond game and received it within a couple of days. They did say that if I want a physical membership card then it would take a couple of weeks.

OD I stopped reading this from the point you wrote "bomber friend" 🤪

Good news. Nibbler is a very underrated player who would be in the best 22 of pretty much any team. I reckon he's worth a 3 year deal where even if he plays the latter half in the VFL he will drive culture and standards with the young kids coming through.

I reckon the most viable solution is for Golf Coast to relocate to Tassie and to play home games between both stadiums with an investment focus on elite training facilities for AFL, AFLW, State and Junior competition's in both the North and South. Tasmanian's love their grassroot sports and a focus on integrating facilities from elite Juniors through to the National competition would be the most sustainable path.

Larising has to be one of the best words in the english language. I quite like the grubber handball.

I reckon most AFL players don't earn anywhere near enough to be required to move interstate mid year. Personally I wouldn't move interstate for anything less than a $200k relocation fee given the direct and indirect costs along with the disruption to the whole family.

Thanks Demonsaw, very useful. Do you know whether I can have multiple tickets on the same device? E.g. one for me and each of the kids who don't have their own mobile phone. I couldn't find any info re this on the FAQ.