It's ironic in this game that a high mark by a player using knees forced on an opponent's spine or head occasionally is applauded - when it goes horizontal in a tangle of legs it's deplorable.
For me stupid is where players dive head first into a contest, sometimes from a distance (ala Joel Selwood). While the media lauds them for their courage, they also comment on how someone is one day going to land up in a wheelchair as a result of the ensuing head collision.
Stupid might also be where a player stays on his feet to approach a contest, knowing that there is a strong likelihood an opponent will have got down low and almost guaranteed a collision of legs or body to the head (and a 2-3 week suspension).
Stupid might be not going for the ball at all, and risking the media lambasting the said player for being soft, or a squib.
But going in to a contest low in such a way that the force of the collision to to another player's legs with minimal impact (as adjudged by the MRP), far less force than 80% of the collisions we see in pretty much every game, where you arrive at the ball a split second later than an opponent, that is stupid? Only if you are Adam Goodes, it appears.
He's a repeat offender, the AFL will set an example with him.
If it was a player from any other them I doubt there would be any debate at all.
Cop the week and move on (and change this part of your game)
The difference between insanity and genius is measured only in success.
I honestly just don't understand what it's all over- I agree that knees into a player can be dangerous, but this is very different from a player coming to a contest and dropping his knees in. It's common to see a player slide into position when an opponent has gone to ground with the ball, in the hope of being able to tangle them up in a tackle or win the ball themselves. I don't think Goodes was trying to make him "earn it" in the slightest.
In the Giants vs. Eagles game that was an incident where Brogan gave away a free kick (it was a late call, from memory) for dropping his knees in a contest- it was a pretty soft call, but in the ensuing tangle of limbs Brogan clearly swung his elbow into the chest of the Eagles player. The MRP didn't even assess it- I don't think he should have been pinged for it, but I see no logic in that not even being reviewed whilst Goodes is both reviewed and found guilty of foul play.
I knew him as a gentle young man, I cannot say for sure the reasons for his decline
We watched him fade before our very eyes, and years before his time
I thought it was strange how the report itself didn't seem to happen until much later in the game, well after the next break IIRC. It's like the umpires didn't necessarily deem it reportable until they heard all the harping on about it from the Fox commentators.
To all those people who waited 72 years to see a South Melbourne/Sydney Swans premiership HERE IT IS!!
I dunno, just disappointed I guess. I'm am echoing the sentiment that there seems to be an element in sports media that may rate & respect Adam, but not necessarily like him. It's also a dig at the commentators of that match, who were dreadful IMO.
However, perhaps all is not lost: Tribunal contest is only hope for Goodes
To all those people who waited 72 years to see a South Melbourne/Sydney Swans premiership HERE IT IS!!
So have we officially said that we will be challenging the decision?
I don't disagree with what you say there.
Goodes is paying the penalty for what is perceived as having a bit of a dream run at the tribunal in the past. Of course, every case should be treated on it's merits and you shouldn't get an undeserved week just because you were close to getting a week previously.
As for the report itself, because the commentators didn't mention it straight away wouldn't necessarily indicate it wasn't laid immediately, but I guess you've conceeded that.
Let's cross our fingers, but I'm less hopeful now than I was this time yesterday. Even some of our own supporters here have advocated he should get a week and move on because it was a silly thing to do.
WTF, a week because it was silly, not because it was dangerous and vicious?????
Driver of the Dan Hannebery bandwagon....all aboard. 4th April 09
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