Trent Cotchin bump on Dylan Shiel

[fumbler]

I'm guessing every thread becomes about the narrative in your head.

Some top magical powers you have tripper.

Cotchin, the bumping machine can make you smile.

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

At the end of the day if I saw on of my own teams players get suspended for a grand final for what Cotchin did I’d be annoyed. But that doesn’t take away from 17 sets of teams fans thinking it was the wrong call that he got off given the recent trend and inconsistent nature of the MRP

If they’d been clear and consistent all year and let other similar incidents go free I don’t doubt the Cotchin decision would have received the amount of press that it did. It’s the inconsistency that irks most - not the decision itself

That’s my view anyway

 

[Nobby]

At the end of the day if I saw on of my own teams players get suspended for a grand final for what Cotchin did I’d be annoyed.

Makes me wonder if finals should have a greater monetary fine unless you really do something bad. We don't want to see our stars miss finals over silly things, nor does the AFL.

 

[Wallaby]

At the end of the day if I saw on of my own teams players get suspended for a grand final for what Cotchin did I’d be annoyed. But that doesn’t take away from 17 sets of teams fans thinking it was the wrong call that he got off given the recent trend and inconsistent nature of the MRP

If they’d been clear and consistent all year and let other similar incidents go free I don’t doubt the Cotchin decision would have received the amount of press that it did. It’s the inconsistency that irks most - not the decision itself

That’s my view anyway

I can't argue. We've been talking about Tribunals, MRPs and the like for decades. No one has ever been 100% happy with an outcome. If Cotchin had been suspended, I would have howled like any other Richmond supporter (because of similar incidents that have been overlooked from other players) while secretly acknowledging 'Well, fair enough because of incident X or Y where a player got done'. Cotchin-Shiel joins a very, very long list.

You're right - it was going to be either lucky or unlucky - depending on whether he got off or not, and which side you barrack for.

I think a lot of the problem comes from the fact that sport has it's own 'created' legalities - ie - the rules are arbitrary, set in stone, adjudicated by in-game officials on the spot in real-time and penalties administered there and then. Simple example - why can't I run 50 metres without bouncing the ball? Well, - it's just the rule - it doesn't have to make sense.

When you talk about acts requiring suspension however, you are addressing actions that by definition are not covered by the rules of the game. EG - hitting someone deliberately in the head is not allowed. There is nothing in the rules about how hard you hit, closed fists etc - that's where the rule stops. So when you are adjudicating on something like Hall hitting Staker (to take an uncontroversial incident - everyone agrees on what happened) - the rules of the game really have no guidance as to what action to take beyond a free kick. All post-game suspensions are handled by well-meaning administrators using guidelines that have no legal standing. Participants tend go along with it, because as soon as it is challenged legally (as professional people have a right to do if it affects their job (player) or their company organisation (club)) - it falls apart. (Look at Dunkley, Hall-Maguire, Brown hitting someone after the quarter-time siren etc).

Then when you introduce 'duty of care' laws - such as accidental hits to the head (which the Cotchin one was - but he still could have been suspended for it) - how do you adjudicate on that? I could see the same thing happening at a kindergarten in an Easter Egg scramble - would you punish a kid for that?

Tl,dr I know - but it's just a huge grey area, and always will be. All sports grapple with it, and all have similar issues.

 

[Vindicater]

At the end of the day if I saw on of my own teams players get suspended for a grand final for what Cotchin did I’d be annoyed. But that doesn’t take away from 17 sets of teams fans thinking it was the wrong call that he got off given the recent trend and inconsistent nature of the MRP

If they’d been clear and consistent all year and let other similar incidents go free I don’t doubt the Cotchin decision would have received the amount of press that it did. It’s the inconsistency that irks most - not the decision itself

That’s my view anyway

This is my view as well.

Should he have been suspended for the hit. No.

By the rules the MRP had used all year however he should have been.

Right decision in the end to let him play.

Best outcome has been that this was the straw that broke the camels back in regards to the AFL finally making changes to the broken MRP system.

 

[PenfoldsFan]

Get over it Crows fans, we smashed and embarrassed you.

Lol, well after 27 years, its about bloody time..

 

[juss]

Lol, well after 27 years, its about bloody time..

The droughtbreaker, thats why its so enjoyable, for younger fans this is the first flag seen. For the oldies, its the first in a very long and hard time.

 

[PenfoldsFan]

The droughtbreaker, thats why its so enjoyable, for younger fans this is the first flag seen. For the oldies, its the first in a very long and hard time.

Well look at the upside, in another 30 odd years those young fans will be just like the old fans..

 

[CaptainHowdy87]

Holy sh*t! 70 pages!

I can't believe this incident caused such a stir.

It was a hard ball get. Contact was incidental. Play on. There's not really much to debate.

Shiel was favoring his shoulder after the bump anyway and played on for what? another 15 mins?

Sucks for the Giants and Shiel, but these things happen. There doesn't always have to be somebody to blame and punish.