Nathan MottonDefending dirty dockers a disgrace
July 14th 2008 12:41
In the aftermath of an explosive encounter at Skilled Stadium on the weekend, Fremantle's football operations manager has come out swinging against the reigning premiers, and has further fueled heated debate about the fiery clash.
Shaw rubbed salt into the wound by defending his team's combative approach to the match, and questioned the legality of Geelong's tactics.
Yes that's right, an official from Fremantle accused the cats of giving as good as they got.
Laughable isn't it.
At the risk of getting all hysterical about this, common sense must prevail.
The Docker's poor record at the tribunal has been widely publicised, and for good measure.
There is a culture in the west that has brought one club to it's knees, and seems to be gripping the other. What possible explanation can there be for a team that acts like 40 year-old obese men playing in D-grade amateurs, than a problem that reaches way beyond their on-field woes.
Cat's premiership midfielder Cameron Ling will be sidelined for up to a month with a compressed fracture of his cheekbone as a result of Dean Solomon's errant elbow to his face.
Due to the severity of the incident, the match review panel automatically referred the incident to the tribunal tomorrow night.
Solomon's apology after the game was a must, but provided little solace for the victim of his dirty snipe, who spent the following two days in hospital.
"What did people expect us to do, say sorry for taking up your time?" said Shaw. "We'll just do a bit of circle work and get out of your hair.
"We make no apology at all. Bad luck, they're the top team and they're going to win the premiership, but we weren't just going to let them run around and do what they wanted to do."
Admirable speak isn't it.
Spoken like a true thug.
"We put our hand up and say, we were a little bit misdirected, but if you are going to be the captain of a club and take the high moral ground after the game on all issues football, you need to go through the tape clearly. We came to play."
If coming to play means a league side kicking six goals in four quarters of football, two goals in a half, three more in junk time and being held goalless for almost an hour, then this scribe needs to learn more about how to play the game.
"He'll (Harley) will be left with a bit of egg on his face when the match review panel go through the game with a fine tooth comb."
The match review panel today assessed several incidents' with Geelong players - including Cam Mooney's apparent punch to the back of Rhys Palmers's head and an incident involving Jimmy Bartel - but no cats were cited.
Those that believe in conspiracy theories about Geelong being some kind of protected species by the AFL need to grow up.
Sure some incidents involving Cat's players, most notably Josh Hunt's high bump, were questionable, but the match review panel is never too quick to penalise those who err on the side of caution, intentionally or otherwise.
This scribe can't help but think the match review panel may have assessed the incident's a little differently because of the circumstances of the game.
Circumstances which Fremantle initiated.
Shaw is referring to Cat's captain Tom Harley's comments after the game, where he referred to the Dockers tactics as "cheap and old school."
He didn't pull any punches when he expressed his distaste for Fremantle's tactics, saying: "It's not the way to play football.
"From a leadership point of view we just continually reinforced out on the ground that we'll play the ball. You know we've got big strong bodies, but we don't need to do the cheapies behind play, we'll win the hardball when it counts."
Spoken like a man who is a leader in the truest sense of the word, and leads a club that will continue to win because they have revolutionised this game for all the right reasons.
Unlike that weak excuse for a football club in the west, that are hell-bent on taking the game back to the 80's.
Shaw rubbed salt into the wound by defending his team's combative approach to the match, and questioned the legality of Geelong's tactics.
Yes that's right, an official from Fremantle accused the cats of giving as good as they got.
Laughable isn't it.
At the risk of getting all hysterical about this, common sense must prevail.
The Docker's poor record at the tribunal has been widely publicised, and for good measure.
Cat's premiership midfielder Cameron Ling will be sidelined for up to a month with a compressed fracture of his cheekbone as a result of Dean Solomon's errant elbow to his face.
Due to the severity of the incident, the match review panel automatically referred the incident to the tribunal tomorrow night.
Solomon's apology after the game was a must, but provided little solace for the victim of his dirty snipe, who spent the following two days in hospital.
"What did people expect us to do, say sorry for taking up your time?" said Shaw. "We'll just do a bit of circle work and get out of your hair.
"We make no apology at all. Bad luck, they're the top team and they're going to win the premiership, but we weren't just going to let them run around and do what they wanted to do."
Admirable speak isn't it.
"We put our hand up and say, we were a little bit misdirected, but if you are going to be the captain of a club and take the high moral ground after the game on all issues football, you need to go through the tape clearly. We came to play."
If coming to play means a league side kicking six goals in four quarters of football, two goals in a half, three more in junk time and being held goalless for almost an hour, then this scribe needs to learn more about how to play the game.
"He'll (Harley) will be left with a bit of egg on his face when the match review panel go through the game with a fine tooth comb."
The match review panel today assessed several incidents' with Geelong players - including Cam Mooney's apparent punch to the back of Rhys Palmers's head and an incident involving Jimmy Bartel - but no cats were cited.
Those that believe in conspiracy theories about Geelong being some kind of protected species by the AFL need to grow up.
Sure some incidents involving Cat's players, most notably Josh Hunt's high bump, were questionable, but the match review panel is never too quick to penalise those who err on the side of caution, intentionally or otherwise.
This scribe can't help but think the match review panel may have assessed the incident's a little differently because of the circumstances of the game.
Circumstances which Fremantle initiated.
Shaw is referring to Cat's captain Tom Harley's comments after the game, where he referred to the Dockers tactics as "cheap and old school."
He didn't pull any punches when he expressed his distaste for Fremantle's tactics, saying: "It's not the way to play football.
"From a leadership point of view we just continually reinforced out on the ground that we'll play the ball. You know we've got big strong bodies, but we don't need to do the cheapies behind play, we'll win the hardball when it counts."
Spoken like a man who is a leader in the truest sense of the word, and leads a club that will continue to win because they have revolutionised this game for all the right reasons.
Unlike that weak excuse for a football club in the west, that are hell-bent on taking the game back to the 80's.
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