We'll never know but imagine how Richmond supporters would feel if say Ward did exactly the same to Martin n it ended his day. Would Richmond have won?Originally Posted by CureTheSane
Also if Greene did that it'd be "yeh he gets a week for that n misses the grand final but that's the rules" unless he played for a Melbourne club of course n it'd be "it was an accident n we all know he's a larrikin n a good bloke n I can't see how he misses"
If Richmond are good enough they will win without Cotchin.
No doubt the AFL will give them an armchair ride with the umpires.
"Unbelievable!" -- Nick Davis leaves his mark on the 2005 semi final
They're not good enough with or without corruption or Cotchin. It'll be a thrashing imo
The comp is struggling for integrity. They finally made a fair call on the jumper clash. Now they must suspend Cochin. He has form. He took out GWS best player with a bump against the player with the ball, causing concussion. This is an open and shut case this year.
I knew as soon as Shiel was ruled out that it made it almost impossible for GWS to win. This guy is an elite player, basically
the Chris Judd of the current era, just sheer class, and as good as Kelly, Coniglio & Ward are, they can't spend all that extra
time on the field and make up for him being out of action.
It's why there needs to be a send off rule. It's a terrible look when hypothetically you could take out the oppositions best player early in the game n go on to be bog. It happens in leagues throughout Australia but not at the highest level. Amateur Football League.
I don't disagree that Shiel's loss was costly for the Giants, but that doesn't necessarily make Cotchin's action suspendable (and certainly doesn't make it a sending off offence). It comes down to whether it was in the process of legitimately contesting the ball or whether there was an element of deliberation to it. People will have different views on that, and the MRP will have to adjudicate tomorrow.
It is quite possible for players to get hit in the head (and concussed) accidentally during a game. For example, we lost Jake Lloyd very early in the first game against the Hawks when his head hit the knee of a Hawks player as he was being tackled.
And in incidents with less of an obvious accidental nature, do people think Hanners should have been suspended for that collision with Hurley a few years back? Or Jones earlier this year, when he bee-lined the ball but clipped an opponent on the way through? Or Mills, when he made contact with the head of a St Kilda player in the first Saints game of this season? I can't remember who the Saints player was, but he went off with concussion, early in the game, and didn't return. Both players were contesting the ball.
I am not making a comparison between the Cotchin incident and the specifics of these incidents, just pointing out that just because a player goes off with concussion, it doesn't necessarily mean anyone should be suspended.
My view is that Cotchin was legimately contesting the ball in that incident.
I do think the incident later, where he clipped Hopper in the head and off the ball, warrants attention, however. That, to me, was less in the spirit of the game and while it wouldn't warrant a suspension on its own (because degree of impact wasn't hard enough), it could well qualify for a fine (which would rule Cotchin out).
If you elect to bump instead of attempting to pick up the ball up you have a duty of care not to collect the player in the head. They will look at the giants dr's report and that's why he should be cited. By the mrp grading system it's careless, low impact (I'm being nice, he has delayed concussion due to impact) & high. With a guilty plea it's $1000 fine or not guilty would give him a $1500 fine which in Cotchins situation is his 3rd fine for the year which gives him a 1 week suspension. It's guilty all the time.
It's a waist of time talking about previous incidents as the MRP does not look at precendents.
http://www.aflcommunityclub.com.au/f...Guidelines.pdf
Even with a best case scenario like I've done he misses a week.
And after that they should appeal n that's when we'll find out how serious the afl is about head high contact in the game.
Lastly he's not getting suspended for the bump he's getting suspended because he held piece of jumper and punched someone in the face, he punched an opposition player in the abdomen and then bumped a players head which resulted in concussion. He is getting suspended because he was expected to learn from 2 previous incidents n did not take the warnings and now it's 3rd strike n he should be suspended.
Last edited by Boddo; 24th September 2017 at 06:18 PM.
He didn't elect to bump, he contested a footy that was in dispute, similar to the case with Hanners and Hurley a few years back that Liz cited.
Different to the one on Whitfield that was a bump that collected nothing but head, albeit low impact.
Sheil had the ball. His contesting of the ball was bumping him to dispose him of the ball
Shiel got his hands to the ball first, but the ball was definitely in dispute not in his possession.
FWIW I'd prefer the crows to win next week so not cheerleading for Cotchin by any means.
The AFL has a duty of care to Swans' supporters who will have to listen for the next 30 years how Richmond's premiership was stolen from them if Cotchin gets suspended. Whether he deserves it or not, I hope he gets off, so we can move on to something else after the Grand Final, like what's going on with Kim Jong-un's haircut.
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