Clem Smith altercation

[Thryleon]

Its December guys.

Lets look at the frame of this in context.

Smith may very well have been king hit whilst out on the town, and I dont really see an issue with him being out on the town in early december.  As much as these guys are going to have less leeway for this stuff in public moving forward, surely the emphasis on these incidents need to be considered as undesirable but understandable.

Between January and October is another kettle of fish.

[Raydan]

A young player who was bought in under the old regime, when those players are being cleaned out ASAP, Clem needs to be doing it better that everyone else and looking at his pics after he came back to training he didn't look in great shape either.

I'm afraid that Clem will be gone at the end of this season, hasn't shown anything great when given a senior game, doesn't have an elite AFL skill that makes the club want to continue with him, this will only put him up the delisting pile even further.

[madbluboy]

Its December guys.

Lets look at the frame of this in context.

Smith may very well have been king hit whilst out on the town, and I dont really see an issue with him being out on the town in early december.  As much as these guys are going to have less leeway for this stuff in public moving forward, surely the emphasis on these incidents need to be considered as undesirable but understandable.

Between January and October is another kettle of fish.

Smith may have been king hit and Dustin stabbed the woman in the eye with a chopstick for no reason. Got to love how fans stick up for their own but stick the knife in when it's another team.

[cimm1979]

Smith may have been king hit and Dustin stabbed the woman in the eye with a chopstick for no reason. Got to love how fans stick up for their own but stick the knife in when it's another team.

....and people who use a false equivalence are usually a bit thick.

[laj]

Smith may have been king hit and Dustin stabbed the woman in the eye with a chopstick for no reason. Got to love how fans stick up for their own but stick the knife in when it's another team.

That would be a chopstick in this case..lol

Reckon there might be some difference though between a little drunken altercation and someone threatening to stab someone in the eye with a chopstick. You think so? I know your smarter than that. I think sticking the chopstick into the player from the other side while excusing our's for a minor incidence for a first offence at 19yo is appropriate in this case. If he does it a 2nd time, make no mistake, our supporters will be tougher as he should've learnt your lesson.

[Raydan]

Smith may have been king hit and Dustin stabbed the woman in the eye with a chopstick for no reason. Got to love how fans stick up for their own but stick the knife in when it's another team.

Don't put these situations in the same boat, Smith drunk and got into with another guy.

Martin - Drunk and or drug affected, was asked to keep it down in a restaurant, threatened to kill and stab the woman while standing over her then hit the wall beside her head with force. All allegedly.

[cookie2]

There are obviously no parallels between the two cases IMO. Smith was just doing what a lot of young guys do and was unlucky he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He has now learned what it is to be an AFL player and will hopefully be more mindful of that in future, Martin on the other hand........................

[shadesy]

This has come at a great time for the club IMO and for Clem.

We are talking about a Reset, so this is a great time to test the new coaching staff and leadership group when things don't go our way. We have come out to address the issue head on (which I like), Clem has been forced to apologise and extra training sessions. Good.

He is a 19 year old Kid who is not even been living in Melbourne 12 months, trying to find his way. I cut him a little slack, but not much.

By all reports he has come back fit and is flying in the pre-season. I am laughing at all those writing him off after pretty good development in his FIRST YEAR of FOOTBALL. played 7 games as a pick 60 odd after being drafted in November.

This is his line in the sand moment, the club have handled it pretty well and it's up to Clem to let his actions now speak for themselves.

[LP]

I'm glad to hear that the events happened the same evening,
those facts make it even more suspicious that The Rage published the story the evening before the Dusty verdict was initially due, and The Hun chose not to have a story at all at the time is a stark contrast! I stand by my earlier Caro criticism, in fact knowing the Clem story was delayed many days has made things even more suspicious. It's even more likely that it's a distraction for Nthmond media boosters and has no substance at all!

Perhaps Clem is off to Nthmond next year, that'll cost Nthmond a late 2nd Rnd thank-you very much!

Which may be the best thing for everybody, as I'm seriously over fat kids who struggle to make an impact at AFL level thinking getting on the booze in pre-season is Okilly Dokilly. Nobody owes this kid an AFL career, and Old Timers like Murphy and Simmo must be sick to death of seeing their professionalism derailed by two bob spuds! FFS, they must feel like throwing up in the ice baths or at their recovery sessions every time one of "The Boyz" roll off the rails! For me it's an early sign that Clem is not cut out for AFL, he either struggles with the physical demands or the mental demands, but either way he struggles.

The real tragedy is there may be a dozen kids with a similar level of capability who would cut off their arm to be given the opportunity this lad is getting.

Clem Smith, just another MM failure to add to the growing list of crape MM era decisions!

[Thryleon]

Smith may have been king hit and Dustin stabbed the woman in the eye with a chopstick for no reason. Got to love how fans stick up for their own but stick the knife in when it's another team.

Actually, I never really went after Dusty.

Regardless, I don't see the parallel between a 19 year old who had a mishap with another bloke out on the town, and a 25 year old with a fairly colourful array of misdemeanors to his name who should know much better.

In any case, the real question is, why on earth do we expect so much out of blokes who chase a ball around as their full time job?  Some of them are going to be fine updstanding citizens, and others are going to be at best, morons.  The only issue is when they cross the line between what is widely accepted as really insidious behaviour.