Whitecross offered a week for having Selwood run into his shoulder

[AngryLittleMan]

Got off scott free.

Considerably worse than the little misdirected love tap Scarlett gave ballentyne.

Whitecross meant to seriously hurt Selwood. He didn't need to stick out his fore-arm to Selwood's face whatsoever.

Because he was remorseful a millisecond after he committed the dog act does not mean he should get off lightly.

Highlighted bits made me laugh hard.
It was accidental, he had no time to react, he gets to his feet to take a free kick and he has a league footballer tearing towards him at pace (who by no suprise is looking to lead with his head yet again and is looking at the ground).
Whitecross braces himself (barely may I add, considering he hardly would have had time to fart) and Selwood who has initiated the contact (AFTER THE WHISTLE!) drives his head into his opponent.

Whats the Hawthorn player supposed to do? Is it possible he didnt even know selwood was there till he got to his feet and saw him 2 cm's away coming at him head first?

 

[AngryLittleMan]

Yep.

I don't know what's more disgusting: the ludicrous decision to cite a bloke for simply bracing himself in a physical contest

OR

The disgusting Cats fans baying for Whitex to go after the class way he dealt with the aftermath of Selwood's deathwish.

Get a frigging grip

I like to think that the Geelong fans who are actualy suggesting that Whitecross did it on purpose and was trying to be malicious (leading with elbow etc.) are just talking out of there backsides.

 

[ThatsjustDappa]

Selwood was running full pace and Whitecross only had time to stand up and brace for impact, which unfortunately meant his shoulder was in that position. There was no time for him to get into any sort of position to tackle him, and just letting him go was obviously not an option.

There's a fatal flaw in that argument. Looking at it from an MRP perspective; if they deem WC had a choice not to make illegal contact - he will get a week, if he deemed had no choice whatsoever - he will be fine. That's my 2 cents...

 

[AngryLittleMan]

There's a fatal flaw in that argument. Looking at it from an MRP perspective; if they deem WC had a choice not to make illegal contact - he will get a week, if he deemed had no choice whatsoever - he will be fine. That's my 2 cents...

Well said. IMO it looks as if Whitecross doesn't see Selwood till he is literally almost making contact. Im willing to suggest that he had no time but to make the choice to brace himself for contact which was initiated by Selwood.

 

[WowsersTrousers]

Dick brain troll,he didn't duck.He had just bent down to pick the ball up [you try picking up the ball off the ground without bending] from the ground after Christensens handball and got collected.Nothing wrong with what Selwood or Whitecross did.

observe photo, watch replay...

selwood is watching the tackler, not whitecross... he goes to roll his shoulder (and by doing so, ducking his head) and he runs straight into whitecross...

i also believe whitecross basically knew what he was doing... he was watching the play, got up and lay his body into selwood in a straight forward shirt front...

 

[randyzany]

observe photo, watch replay...

selwood is watching the tackler, not whitecross... he goes to roll his shoulder (and by doing so, ducking his head) and he runs straight into whitecross...

i also believe whitecross basically knew what he was doing... he was watching the play, got up and lay his body into selwood in a straight forward shirt front...

Not sure if you're being facetious WT but great picture anyway.

It irrefutably shows Whitecross intently watching Selwood and then leaning to his right to block his path.

Selwood on the other hand was completely unaware of Whitecross.

Chances are he meant to clean up.

 

[jackn]

Joke of a decision. He had about a 10th of a second from when he looked up until selwood staged for a free (against the tackler chasing him) and headbutted him. All he could do was protect himself. Hope the hawks cahllenge and win, one of very few times that ever happens.

 

[MasonCarr96]

how does he get a week when joel selwood ran into him? all he did was brace himself for impact

 

[Gods_Son23]

Whitecross was just protecting himself. It is pretty hard to do much else after just getting up from the ground.
Some have said that Selwood wouldn't have known he was there.. Whitecross just tackled Christensen right in front of him so I don't buy that.
Hopefully it will be a rare case where it is challenged and common sense prevails.

 

[MasonCarr96]

Got off scott free.

Considerably worse than the little misdirected love tap Scarlett gave ballentyne.

Whitecross meant to seriously hurt Selwood. He didn't need to stick out his fore-arm to Selwood's face whatsoever.

Because he was remorseful a millisecond after he committed the dog act does not mean he should get off lightly.

you are a moron, 'love tap', my arse. meant to seriously hurt, you should do standup

 

[Lurkalot]

MEMO: To You and any other MRP, AFL observer.

THE GAME IS NOT PLAYED IN SLOW MOTION.

Exactly....the MRP and several Geelong posters have little feel for the speed of the game.

How WhiteX's actions can be determined negligent is beyond me

 

[mattys123]

Just a terrible decision here.

I'm hoping the Hawks get in touch with Collingwood and ask for the lawyer and bio dynamic experts who got Chris Dawes off a few years ago.

Whitecross didn't have enough time to do anything other then what he did, that's clear in full speed.

 

[falcons2]

Selwood played on after the Whitecross free kick.
50m penalty to Whitecross.
Selwood will severely injure himself or another player one day using his head as a battering ram.
First the Misfid stuff up now this.
The MRP must be sacked.
Beyond a joke.

 

[AngryLittleMan]

It irrefutably shows Whitecross intently watching Selwood and then leaning to his right to block his path.

Selwood on the other hand was completely unaware of Whitecross.

Chances are he meant to clean up.

Whitecross gets up he twist his body to brace himself. He could have jumped, squatted, hoped, skiped, waived his arms...Selwood was always gonna make contact.
To suggest that he was intently watching him is the dumbest thing in this whole thread. As if he had time when he go to his feet to decide to do anything but brace himself. Whitecross looks at him when he gets up because he is literally a foot away sprinting with ball in hand towards him.
Your right on Selwood being complete unaware, usualy are when your eyes are glued at the ground looking to lead with your head.

 

[red+black]

You can see Whitecross remain low to avoid high contact. It's just that Selwood was evading a tackle and was also low to the ground himself to try shake off that tackle. Selwood is lower than you would expect a player with the ball to be. You can see that if Whitecross were to shirtfront Rioli, a short player, he would catch him in the chest.

The AFL and supporters should understand and accept that sometimes players get injured, slightly or gravely, and that no one is to blame and there doesn't need to be a guilty party.

 

[Rodney Dangerfield]

Disgraceful.

 

[tasmanlvr]

So next week, if a player stands up to take a tackle from a player running headfirst into him, he'll just let said player through?

I would presume that a teammate of the player running past will drill the player letting him through with a huge shirtfront.

That's what the MRP's findings this week are allowing me to assume.

 

[pjcrows]

The AFL now literally expects players to move out of the way of other players coming towards them. This goes against every football instinct.

 

[Hawkforce]

The cats fans in this thread trying to get WhiteX banned should be ashamed of themselves. Hopefully they're troll accounts - if not they're a disgrace to their club, their captain and footy in general

 

[larson]

lol How can this happen?

Whitecross was getting up from the ground and Selwood ran into him.

 

[Sttew]

He'd already called a free for the hawks for htb.

Have you never seen an umpire reverse a free? We saw it last week in Cats v Freo

 

[Jars458]

Very tough call for mine, not sure how WC could have avoided contact. They should appeal this one I think.

 

[Noobz0r]

Not sure if you're being facetious WT but great picture anyway.

It irrefutably shows Whitecross intently watching Selwood and then leaning to his right to block his path.

Selwood on the other hand was completely unaware of Whitecross.

Chances are he meant to clean up.

WTF?????

It's a still image! This is an even worse argument than those using a slow motion replay! The incident happened in real time, Whitecross had a split second to react... doesn't really give him time to stop and think about dropping the shoulder and leaning to the right. And just because the still image shows the split second where Whitecross looked at Selwood before he ran into him, doesn't mean he was fixated.

... Really hope this wasn't a troll

 

[Running Dog]

WTF?????

It's a still image! This is an even worse argument than those using a slow motion replay! The incident happened in real time, Whitecross had a split second to react... doesn't really give him time to stop and think about dropping the shoulder and leaning to the right. And just because the still image shows the split second where Whitecross looked at Selwood before he ran into him, doesn't mean he was fixated.

... Really hope this wasn't a troll

The bold is spot on. These events happen in milliseconds. The biomechanics of an incident may appear malicious, but how on earth would Whitecross have had time to formulate an intent to cause harm? The fact that it happened quickly is proof that it was accidental. You need time to send a message from brain to limb to do something intentional.

By the way, how is Joel Selwood? Has he received the last rites yet? Who do I send the flowers to?

 

[Lunchlady Doris]

He was standing still ffs and just protected himself.

No.

As soon as I saw it I thought weeks.

He didnt just stand there, he got to his feet and drove forward with his shoulder.

He should have tackled, he's lucky to be offered one week.

This. Definitely moved forward and drove his shoulder towards Selwood.

I hate the game going soft as much as anyone, but all posters saying he just stood there/nothing he could do etc are plain wrong.