Hungry for a Thomas Pardon
The AFL Match Review Panel got the Lindsay Thomas suspension wrong. Thomas should not have been rubbed out, and I expect him to beat the rap tonight at the tribunal. Adam Goodes deserved to be suspended for going in with his knees and feet, and for being the second man into the contest. He had a duty of care. Thomas was first man to the contest and has every right to attack the ball and to turn to protect himself. The AFL’s DVD shows rough conduct with the player sliding in late not getting his hands on the ball first. There is no rule that says a player can’t be first to the ball, in fact, we protect that player. You do not have to be standing to take possession. Gary Rowan’s broken leg was purely an accident. This case has to be thrown out.
I’m KB, that’s my Take
No contrarian opinion here today between the Tuesday curmudgeons as Putz Smith also voices his disproval of Thomas getting an MRP holiday. Says the Monday night football shows “were drivel time.” … KB says he’s flabbergasted. All talkback agrees , and Putz hits the easy home run over centre field with: “I think there’s been an hysterical reaction from people in the media and supporters about the fact that the boy’s injury was very severe therefore we have to punish somebody.”… Paul Roos, who has been woeful in the media, gets toasted for his opinions by Putz. … The Thomas MRP Affair goes around and around; luckily Tony Abbott hasn’t yet been blamed by the Sports Minister, Kate Lundy for the egregious three-week ban. But, it is early in the week.
Putz is now all in for the 2&2 interchange (2 int/2 subs) … KB makes the superb point about modern tackling techniques on the back of Hawthorn griping which is interrupted by the now cantankerous Smith who claims sarcastically that “Hawthorn never does anything wrong, Kevin, so it’s somebody else’s fault.”
KB: The problem we’ve got is that once in football it was always “attack the hips,” every coach told you. Every time you got a tackling coach into the football club they’d say don’t watch the player, don’t watch the ball, just watch his hips and go at his hips. Now Dale Weightman was one of the greatest tacklers I’ve ever seen. He was a flea. But he used to tackle around the hips, and when he tackled he then let his legs drop to take his weight, and he’d just drag people down. Maurice Rioli did exactly the same thing. They were outstanding. What happens these days is because players are so good with their hands and the clubs are so concerned about the tackling of the guy around the hips, that if he’s goy his hands free he’ll give off a little handpass. So they’ve now decided that they’re going to start tackling around the biceps. So if you’re going to tackle around the biceps, I mean it doesn’t take much for another six inches for the arm to roll up. Next minute you’ve got him around the head and neck. So if Hawthorn wants to stop giving away free kicks to the Selwoods, I would suggest they start tackling the hips instead of the biceps and the trunk. Hawthorn needs some tackling practice, [Putz].
The Anzac Day Essendon/Collingwood exclusivity debate does the two-up with the SEN experts. Putz has changed his view on that exclusivity but that’s no surprise since he’s dumped Essendon and is now a self-confessed Tigers supporter. Gee, picked a real winner there, didn’t he! … Usual tired rehashed arguments get turned over and over. KB does cite the Double M saying last year that other teams should play. Putz flat-out dismisses that categorically by inferring that Malthouse was only goading Eddie J. McGuire. Anzac Day argument redux goes into overdrive right through to the news.
Wait on, I feel something is missing. Oh, of course, no Gibberish of the Week.
Quote of the Day:
I don’t want to get the Blues fans upset too early but I think they’re going for back-to-back losses. I think they’ve got Freo coming up over in Perth and I think Ross Lyon – he’ll strangle Carlton. He’ll absolutely strangle Carlton to death.
-Anonymous