06-22-2015, 07:48 AM
(06-22-2015, 07:25 AM)Vivian link Wrote:Finally got to watch the whole game.
Great improved effort from the team, with the tackling in particular quite fierce. Tended to get their bodies engaged more in tackles rather than just grasping with their arms.
Best players for me were Murphy, Cripps, Bell and Rowe. Other good contributions from Gibbs, Docherty, Buckley, Henderson, Casboult, Everitt, Graham and Yarren. Quite a few players drifted in and oht of the games, but the best players stuck at it the whole game.
We still had 100+ points kicked against us, when Schultz and westhoff had poor games, suggesting our defence still needs alot of work. But good run and carry out of half back and a preference for finding targets in the middle rather than thumping it along the lines.
In two minds about the Gibbs tackle, but the means of determining such incidents is a mess by the AFL. No proper tribunal would use the effect on the player as a primary determinant of a penalty. Did he break the rules? If the answer is no then he has no case to answer. 3 weeks is excessive for an act that was within the rules, and was without intent. Appropriate would be a few points to carry over as a warning to take a little more care. Club should appeal immediately.
The official line from the MRP is that the tackle involved careless conduct and high impact to the head, both of which in my view are correct. Whether this justifies a 3 match ban is causing some serious debate, which as is usually the case, will be short lived and not lead to anything, as we move onto the next thing. As I posted earlier, the sling tackle was discussed in 2011, and then seems to have disappeared until now.