Crows stand behind banned bosses

Updated December 01, 2012 17:09:45

The Adelaide Football Club board has unanimously voted to support Steven Trigg and Phil Harper's return to the Crows at the end of their suspensions.

As well as handing out hefty fines, the AFL Commission yesterday banned the chief executive and football manager from any involvement with the competition over the Kurt Tippett salary cap scandal.

Along with a $50,000 fine, Trigg is banned from the AFL from January 1 and will be replaced in the interim by chairman Rob Chapman.

Read the story: Crows, Tippett found guilty over salary cap breaches

Trigg's total suspension was a year, but half will be suspended for five years.

While Chapman took questions when he fronted the media after Friday's marathon commission hearing, Trigg would only read from a prepared statement and cited legal sensitivities for doing so.

"As chief executive then and now, I've accepted full responsibility for what the AFL considers to be a significant transgression of those rules and for that, I'm very sorry," Trigg said.

He later added on his suspension: "it's unprecedented and it's impossible to sit here without feeling it's extraordinarily tough.

"Obviously, an example has been set."

Chapman then spoke and clearly his top priority was to say sorry.

"The first and most important thing that I want to say tonight is to sincerely apologise to everyone associated with Adelaide," he said.

"I'm talking staff, coaches, players and members, supporters and importantly our sponsors.

"I am sorry on behalf of everyone involved."

Trigg and football operations manager Phil Harper, who is banned for two months, have Chapman's personal support.

But it will be up to the board to decided whether the Crows retain the two key officials.

Trigg has been Adelaide's chief executive for more than a decade and he also received endorsements from AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick and chief executive Andrew Demetriou after the Tippett hearing.

"This looked not like a systematic breach, from our point of view," Fitzpatrick said.

"Clearly, Steven would like to have his time again.

"It's fundamentally the one transaction ... in other ways, Steven Trigg has been an exemplary chief executive."

Demetriou said he would gladly work again with Trigg, Harper and former Crows football operations manager John Reid, who also received a six-month ban.

"He knows he made a mistake, in many ways it's an act of stupidity, because it's not in keeping with his performance and his character," Demetriou said of Trigg.

"This is a very hefty sanction.

"He will learn from this and will be welcomed back into the industry."

ABC/AAP

Tags: australian-football-league, sport, adelaide-5000, sa, australia

First posted December 01, 2012 09:55:53

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Cats' Bartel banned for two games

Updated July 10, 2012 12:48:46

Geelong will be without Jimmy Bartel for Friday night's clash with Collingwood, after the Brownlow medallist accepted a two-match ban for striking Gold Coast's Trent McKenzie.

The AFL Tribunal will sit on Tuesday night after the Giants' Jeremy Cameron, and West Coast's Luke Shuey and Quinten Lynch opted to challenge charges laid by the Match Review Panel.

However Bartel was one of five players to accept bans sanctioned by the panel.

Bartel struck McKenzie in the second quarter of the Cats' unconvincing win over the Suns at Carrara on Sunday.

Cameron has been charged with a level two striking offence after trailing a fist which hit Hawthorn's Clinton Young in the third quarter of the Giants' 162-point thumping by the Hawks.

If Cameron fails in his challenge he will be suspended for one match, and will be ruled ineligible for the Rising Star award, for which he is nominated.

West Coast had two players charged in their come-from-behind win against North Melbourne.

Shuey has been charged with a level three striking offence against the Kangaroos' Lindsay Thomas. His poor record and carry-over points increase the penalty to a three-match ban, prompting the Eagles to challenge the decision.

West Coast forward Lynch was charged with tripping against the Kangaroos' Shaun Atley. His record of one match suspended in the last three years means the charge carries a one-match penalty, which would rule him out of this weekend's match-of-the-round against Sydney at Subiaco.

Aside from Bartel and Collingwood's Sharrod Wellingham, who had accepted a three-match ban for his heavy bump which resulted Carlton's Kade Simpson sustaining a fractured jaw, three other players will miss matches after accepting the panel's rulings.

Richmond's Matt White will be out for three matches after accepting a charge of a front-on bump on Melbourne's James Frawley. He also accepted a reprimand and 93.75 points towards his future record for striking the Demons' Luke Tapscott.

Essendon will be without tagger Heath Hocking for this week's match against Port Adelaide at Football Park, after he accepted a two-match ban for rough conduct against St Kilda's Lenny Hayes.

Melbourne's Lynden Dunn has taken a one-match ban for striking the Tigers' Luke McGuane.

Collingwood's Jackson Paine has accepted a reprimand for tripping Carlton's Mitch Robinson, while Melbourne's Frawley has accepted a reprimand for striking Richmond small forward Robin Nahas.

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, australia, vic, melbourne-3000

First posted July 10, 2012 12:48:46

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Final strike sees AFL star banned for life

By Mark Wilton

Updated December 22, 2011 19:29:33

Three-time AFL premiership player Darryl White has been banned from playing football for life.

White, who is playing with St Marys in the Northern Territory Football League this season, received a one-match suspension for striking Tiwi Bomber Donald Mungatopi in last weekend's round of matches.

The transgression took White's career number of match suspensions to 16.

This is one above the maximum allowed under a new AFLNT deregistration policy.

If a player is deregistered, he cannot play any AFL-affiliated football.

The ban is recognised Australia-wide and could bring to an end the 38-year-old's playing career that has included almost 700 games, including premierships with the Brisbane Lions in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

White says he will fight the ban.

"I'm a little bit disappointed and downhearted, but the sun comes up every morning I suppose and life goes on," he said.

"Hopefully I'll get the right people in place to fight it because I think it's pretty crude. I've been playing the game for 28 years."

White has the backing of club president Shaun Hardy.

"We think the intent of the rule is applicable in different circumstances, but in this case, in particular Darryl's long career has worked against him," he said.

"It's very, very, very disappointing. We think that not taking into account the number of games played is not a fair rule."

But AFLNT chief executive Tony Frawley says White may even still be able to play football this season.

Frawley disputed the deregistration constituted a lifetime ban.

"He is currently deregistered and he now has the right of appeal to go to an independent tribunal to make an assessment on whether he can remain playing."

Frawley says there are a number of NTFL players who are in danger of being deregistered.

"We have got two players who are currently deregistered, and Darryl is one of those," he said.

"We have got 21 other players with a letter of warning.

"Those players are on somewhere between 12 and say 14 games suspension, and they actually know that if they get reported again they could be deregistered."

Tags: australian-football-league, darwin-0800, brisbane-4000, vic, nt

First posted December 22, 2011 13:04:40

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Bock banned over anti-gambling breach

Updated December 15, 2011 07:54:58

Gold Coast defender Nathan Bock has been suspended for two games and fined $10,000 as the AFL warned it will keep increasing its anti-gambling punishments.

Bock told a family member and a friend ahead of the round 24 game against Hawthorn in September that the Suns would play him forward.

Another family member was also told and the information prompted a successful betting plunge on Bock kicking the first goal of the game.

He was backed from $101 to $21 and an undisclosed number of bets won about $40,000.

Bock knew on the morning of the game about the bets and he told the Suns soon after the final siren.

The AFL announced the penalties on Wednesday after a lengthy examination, drawn out partly because Bock had been overseas.

Bock revealed the inside information only a few weeks after Collingwood captain Nick Maxwell was fined $5,000 for a similar offence.
The AFL had also suspended Maxwell's team-mate Heath Shaw for eight games and fined him $20,000 for betting offences.

"We viewed this case more seriously because it happened after Maxwell and Shaw," AFL operations manager Adrian Anderson said.

"We think more and more, there is no excuse for players not to be aware of the gambling rules and not to act in accordance with them.

"Each time it happens, the sanctions will continue to increase.

"It's not good enough to simply say you didn't place a bet or you weren't aware it (information) was going to be used for betting purposes."

A remorseful Bock said he spoke to the friend the day before the game and became concerned that night about the possible repercussions.

"When you're having a conversation with a family member or a mate, you don't think they're going to pass that information on," he said.

"It was just a recent event with Maxwell and Shaw and I just reiterate how easily a conversation can lead to a little bit of information being passed on.

"It's a careless and reckless mistake by myself."

Asked if he thought about the bets when he kicked the goal, Bock ruefully replied: "It definitely crossed my mind".

Anderson said Bock cooperated fully with the investigation, which backed his version of events.

The AFL said it was satisfied Bock did not intentionally break the AFL's anti-gambling rules or was involved in any bets.

Bock will miss the first two home-and-away games next season.

"It's probably something I look back on and could have done differently," he said.

"It was a careless conversation to my mate."

Asked if he had felt let down by the people who made the bets, Bock said: "Probably, to a degree.

"But as I said, it's my responsibility not to disclose that information."

In September, the AFL banned Essendon development coach Dean Wallis for 14 games and fined him $7,500 for betting offences.

It has been a rough off-season so far for the Suns, who have stripped Campbell Brown of his leadership role for 12 months.

Brown and three team-mates were arrested and released without charge for an incident during a trip to Thailand.

This week, the Suns released player Nathan Krakouer from his contract for personal reasons.

AAP

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, carrara-4211, qld, australia

First posted December 14, 2011 18:43:00

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Suns' Brown banned for a month

Published:Tuesday, April 12, 2011 7:21 AESTExpires:Monday, July 11, 2011 7:21 AEST

Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna has expressed disappointment over the suspension of defender Campbell Brown.

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