AFL TUESDAY: TRIPLE TROUBLE FOR CROWS

AFL NEWS
Tuesday, 7 April, 2009

TRIPLE TROUBLE FOR CROWS
Whichever way they looked yesterday, it was bad news for the Adelaide Crows. After suspending All-Australian defender Nathan Bock indefinitely after he was charged with assaulting his girlfriend on Saturday night, the Crows also lost comeback forward Trent Hentschel and midfielder Chris Knights for an extended period.

Hentscel, two games back from two years out of football following an horrific knee reconstruction, will have a minor surgical clean-up on the same knee and will miss at least a month. And Knights will be sidelined for a month with a fractured eye socket – longer if he requires surgery. 

The Crows suspended Bock for at least one match, fined him $5000 and ordered that he spend 50 hours in the service of a women's shelter after being charged with assaulting his girlfriend outside a city hotel last Saturday night. The Adelaide Advertiser reports that the 26-year-old could miss more than this Sunday's match against Fremantle at Subiaco Oval. The club's leadership group is still to determine how long Bock should be banished for an alcohol-fuelled episode that resulted in him spending several hours in the Adelaide city watchhouse in the early hours of Sunday and also being charged with damaging property at the General Havelock Hotel.

After taking 24 hours to gather sufficient information about the incident, Adelaide announced its sanctions late yesterday at a press conference where Bock, who will also undertake anger management, alcohol and lifestyle counselling, apologised for his behaviour. The $5000 fine was the maximum permitted by the AFL players' code of conduct. "Firstly and foremost, I deeply regret my actions on Saturday night," said Bock, who was flanked by Adelaide coach Neil Craig and chief executive Steven Trigg as he read from a prepared statement.  "I apologise to my girlfriend Carlie and her family for any embarrassment and hurt I have caused them. I also apologise to my family and friends, and the Adelaide Football Club, its players, its staff, its supporters and sponsors. I am disappointed in my behaviour and acknowledge the fact that as an Adelaide football player, we are looked upon as role models in the community, and I (will) endeavour to regain any respect I have lost. It is out of character for me, and I accept the fact that I need to do some work in the areas of managing my behaviour when drinking, to ensure that I don't get myself in this type of position again."

The Crows consulted with the AFL over the penalties and received the league's support for its measures. Bock will appear before the Adelaide Magistrates Court over the charges this year, although the charge of property damage is understood to relate to a bag, not property from the General Havelock.  Bock was arrested just after 2am on Sunday, little more than 24 hours after he had finished playing in the Crows' loss to St Kilda on Friday evening. He was among the side's best players. It is believed that an argument with his long-time girlfriend, Carlie Matthews, at the hotel followed dinner with several teammates and their partners which, in turn, followed an official club function.

Craig, who has sought to build a player-driven culture at West Lakes, where a great deal of responsibility for the workings and discipline of the club rests with the players, said Bock had betrayed his teammates. "It's probably the biggest issue that Nathan is feeling at the moment, the amount of disappointment that'll come from some of our younger players who would look up to him as a senior player," Craig said. "In terms of the trust bank, there's been a fair erosion in that area, so Nathan's going to have to rebuild that by the quality of his actions in the future; that's not just going to be given back to him, that's part of the penalty he faces. Does it mean our whole culture will disintegrate? No, it won't, but it's another very strong, clear lesson and example again that no one is bullet-proof ... you need to be very clear about when you're out socially, the effect of alcohol and how it can affect your decision-making."

MATCH REVIEW PANEL WRAP-UP
Sydney Swans co-captain Brett Kirk has a date with the AFL tribunal to explain contact with an umpire, Essendon's Adam McPhee faces a two-match suspension but Brisbane Lion Jonathan Brown, Carlton's Chris Johnson and Collingwood's Heath Shaw are clear to play after the match review panel completed its exhaustive review of round two matches.

Kirk's collision with umpire Mathew James during the second quarter of the game against Hawthorn at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night was deemed to be "reckless", and was referred directly to the tribunal. He has been charged under the new rule which provides a "no-go zone" behind umpires at stoppages, a rule that was trialled during the pre-season cup and subsequently adopted for the home-and-away season. Kirk could well face a suspension on the eve of the Swans' trip to the Gabba to meet Brown's Lions.

Two other players, Lion Luke Power and Essendon's Angus Monfries, received $1950 fines for contact with umpires. Their cases were not referred to the tribunal because the contact was deemed to be "negligent" rather than "reckless".

McPhee, the Essendon utility, has been charged with striking Fremantle's Scott Thornton during the Bombers' win at Etihad Stadium on Sunday, and a previous poor record means that the sanction stays at two games, even with an early plea. He has the option of challenging the finding at the tribunal.

Carlton's Johnson will be relieved after his bump on Brisbane Lion Troy Selwood was cleared by the panel. In releasing the finding, the panel said Johnson was reprieved because he "did not have a realistic alternative", and because the contact was deemed to be accidental.
Shaw, the Collingwood defender, was reported for rough contact against Jared Rivers of Melbourne at the weekend, but the match review panel deemed that Shaw "was not doing anything other than seeking to contest the ball".

Lions skipper Brown was reported for rough conduct against Marc Murphy of Carlton on Saturday, but also is free to play this weekend after the review panel found he "did not drive his knee into Murphy". Any contact, the panel said, was with "minimal force".

Port Adelaide's Daniel Motlop has been offered a one-match suspension on a guilty plea for striking West Coast's Adam Hunter during their match in Perth on Sunday. Richmond's Jake King has been offered a reprimand for rough conduct against Geelong's Steve Johnson, Bulldog Jason Akermanis also has been given a reprimand for bumping or making forceful conduct to Scott Thompson (North Melbourne), while Kangaroo Michael Firrito was given a reprimand for striking Bulldog Brad Johnson.

VOSS: CLARIFY CONTACT
Brisbane Lions coach Michael Voss admits he has "no idea" what the AFL's stance is on head-high contact. The hot topic again reared its head after Voss all but demanded an explanation of the AFL's policy despite Lions skipper Jonathan Brown being cleared by the tribunal over an incident with Carlton's Marc Murphy. After backing his captain's aggressive approach, Voss, speaking at his normal Monday media conference, wondered what the AFL's head-high contact rule was all about. "There is always room for aggression," Voss said. "Probably the talk (should be) focused on head-high contact — I have no idea what the rule is. I don't know whether you get suspended if you hit a guy in the head or you don't. "If the coaches don't know I don't see how the players could possibly understand what's required regarding head-high contact. They are trying to make it black and white but it is looking very grey again … some guys are getting off when guys get hit (in the head) — I just don't think we have a clear understanding."

SEASON OVER FOR WALKER
BETTER NEWS FOR JAMISON
Carlton’s Andrew Walker is out for the year and will have a major operation tomorrow in a bid to mend his repeatedly troublesome shoulder, reports Samantha Lane of The Age. Dr Greg Hoy, regarded as one of the pre-eminent shoulder surgeons in Australia, recommended the Bristow-Latarjet procedure as the best option for the dejected 22-year-old who learned yesterday that, for the second consecutive year, his season was ruined. While the Bristow-Latarjet procedure has been practised for some time, it is rarely employed in the first instance because the nature of the surgery means that a patient's shoulder movement will be permanently restricted. The up-side is that the shoulder joint is tightened so much that the likelihood of another dislocation is limited. When he resumes playing, Walker will have to learn to adapt to his physical limitations.

"He's obviously very disappointed and frustrated, but now that he's met with Greg he's very optimistic about this operation and the procedure that will be performed," Carlton football manager Steven Icke said yesterday. "It involves a bone graft that's used to block the movement of the shoulder. It's a procedure that will probably, to some degree, limit his flexibility, but it will certainly help to limit any further dislocations."

For Walker, this will be the fourth shoulder operation in his 81-match senior career — the No. 2 draft pick of 2003 will complete a set of two on each side with this operation — but it will be his first Bristow-Latarjet procedure.

In better news, Carlton was surprised to learn yesterday that budding key defender Michael Jamison does not need surgery on the shoulder he injured during Saturday night's game against Brisbane. The Blues feared the 22-year-old could miss half the season, but Dr Hoy told him that after some rehabilitation he could return within weeks. "While it's still sore, his movement's pretty good and we're saying two to three weeks and it could be even earlier than that," Icke said. "It's very different from the initial picture, so it's a very pleasing result."

RETURN FOR O’HAILPIN?
The career of Carlton's Irish recruit Setanta O'hAilpin appears set to be resurrected on Easter Saturday against Essendon at the MCG, just two months after he was found guilty of intentionally kicking and striking a teammate. The Herald Sun reports that he could be back in favour at Carlton following some impressive form in VFL practice matches.  Carlton general manager of football operations, Steven Icke, said yesterday: "He could be back in town."  Icke said O'hAilpin's form had been good in practice matches in the lower grade, playing as a ruckman, forward and in defensive roles.  The strong possibility of O'hAilpin's return this month for his first senior game since round 14 last year has been brought forward by injuries to regular full-back Michael Jamison and back-up defender Mark Austin.

VIDEO REPLAYS NOT CLEAR ON BROWN GOAL
Video replays would have been useless for the controversial Jonathan Brown goal against Carlton last Saturday night that hit the post, the AFL said yesterday. According to Jon Ralph of the Herald Sun, Carlton players were adamant the ball ricocheted off the post despite being called a goal. But the AFL's umpiring department refused to label it an error and a long AFL review yesterday failed to provide an answer. AFL football operations boss Adrian Anderson said a video referee would have been undecided, especially if pushed to give a rapid answer. "The video itself is inconclusive and it's a really interesting one when people say we should have technology. They wouldn't have been able to come up with a quick answer," Anderson said. "They looked at the way the ball was spinning as it went past and it didn't change the way it was spinning.  Was there daylight between them? The short answer was that the footage is inconclusive from every angle we have got."  The umpiring department says its umpires made only six mistakes in 10,000 scoring shots last year.

GOOD NEWS FOR OTTENS
Geelong fans fearing the extended absence of Brad Ottens should stop worrying, writes Jesse Hogan of The Age, with the club declaring the ruckman may miss only two matches with a knee injury. The influential Ottens hobbled from Skilled Stadium after hurting his knee at a centre bounce in Saturday's match against Richmond. The Cats' initial diagnosis of the injury as a medial ligament strain was confirmed by scans yesterday, with the expectation that he will miss two-to-four matches. Surgery is not expected to be needed as part of the 29-year-old's recovery.