Monday, September 17, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Cats could miss Johnson for final
Geelong may have to face Fremantle without star forward Steve Johnson in Saturday's elimination final after Johnson was banned for one week for rough conduct by the AFL match review panel.
The panel handed down a number of charges, with Gold Coast's Campbell Brown set to miss six weeks of football after being charged with a level four bump on Adelaide's Aiden Riley.
But the biggest finals impact will be on the Cats, who will have to head to the tribunal if they want to call on Johnson for the final clash.
The mercurial forward was charged with rough conduct for his clash with the Swans' Daniel Hannebery in Geelong's win at Kardinia Park - because of his poor disciplinary record, Johnson faces a week out even with an early guilty plea.
Johnson could have also faced charges for his follow-up on the wounded Swan, when he pulled Hannebery to his feet. The panel found that although his action had been unnecessary, there was not enough force to constitute an offence.
In other finals-related news, Sydney defender Heath Grundy has been charged with a level three striking offence for his elbow hit on Geelong's James Podsiadly in the same match.
Due to his five-year good record, Grundy can accept a reduced one-match ban with an early plea.
Geelong's Paul Chapman can accept a reprimand and 60 points towards his future record with an early plea after being charged with a level one striking offence on Sydney's Ben McGlynn.
The Suns' Brown was charged with a level four bumping or making forceful contact from front-on offence, after he collected Riley in the second quarter of Gold Coast's final match of the season.
With his existing bad record, the veteran faces an eight-match ban, which can only be reduced to six matches with an early plea.
A series of Carlton and St Kilda players have been charged in relation to the melee that took place at the end of the first quarter of Sunday's match at Docklands.
The Saints' Stephen Milne and Tom Simpkin and Carlton's Andrew Walker have been charged with first offences for wrestling and face a $900 fine with an early plea.
Carlton's Mitch Robinson has been charged with his third offence for wrestling and can accept a $3000 fine with an early plea.
St Kilda's Leigh Montagna faces a week off, however, after being charged with a level one rough conduct offence against Walker when he knocked the Blues forward to the ground at the end of the melee.
Because of his poor existing record, Montagna will miss a week even with an early plea.
Gold Coast's Trent McKenzie, Brisbane's Amon Buchanan and North Melbourne's Cruize Garlett can all accept $900 fines with an early plea for charges of making negligent contact with an umpire.
Garlett's team-mate Jack Ziebell has not been so lucky, facing a $1950 sanction for making reckless contact with an umpire.
Greater Western Sydney's James McDonald faces a one-week ban - e ven with an early plea - for rough conduct against North Melbourne's Jamie McMillan at the start of Saturday's match in Sydney.
McDonald's team-mate Curtley Hampton can accept a reprimand and 60 ppints towards his future record for tripping the Kangaroos' Ryan Bastinac.
Tags: australian-football-league, australia First posted September 03, 2012 18:41:15Friday, May 4, 2012
Ablett could miss next four games
Gold Coast captain Gary Ablett fears he might miss four more matches as he recovers from a knee injury.
The Brownlow Medallist was sidelined for last weekend's match and will also be out of action for Saturday's home game against Fremantle.
Ablett said on Thursday night that he hoped to return for the following weekend's match against fellow expansion side Greater Western Sydney.
But the star onballer will not know for sure until he returns to run training on Friday.
"I was supposed to run Wednesday, but the doc pushed that back a couple of days and I will have my first running session tomorrow," Ablett told Channel Nine's The Footy Show.
"I have to see how the knee pulls up from there, but I'm still hoping I can get back for the GWS game ... the doctor's saying two to four weeks at this stage.
"I will know more after I have my first running session tomorrow."
Ablett caused a stir last Friday night when he posted a Twitter message that heavily criticised the way Fremantle's Ryan Crowley was tagging Carlton captain Chris Judd.
He called Crowley's tactics "a joke".
"It has surprised me, the amount of exposure (it has had)," Ablett said.
"I love my football, I love watching my football and I think all footy supporters would love to see the best players each week go out there and have a fair run at the ball."
Ablett also admitted he was unsure how umpires could crack down on illegal tagging tactics.
"It's tough for the umpires ... to watch every individual around the stoppages would be a tough job for them," he said.
"But it does get frustrating at times because you feel like you don't get a fair run at the ball.
"I don't know how the umpires can fix it ... maybe they pay a few more free kicks early on (in a match) so it does stop."
AAP
Tags: sport, australian-football-league, robina-4226 First posted May 04, 2012 08:10:22Friday, July 15, 2011
Cassisi could miss Demons match
Port Adelaide captain Dom Cassisi could miss Saturday night's AFL match against Melbourne to be at the birth of his child.
Cassisi did not depart Adelaide on Thursday with his Port Adelaide team-mates as they flew to Darwin to prepare for the match.
Cassisi's wife was due to give birth on Wednesday.
The Power skipper planned to fly to Darwin on Saturday and then return to Adelaide immediately after the clash with the Demons, Power coach Matthew Primus said.
"His wife is due to give birth pretty soon so he's just trying to minimise the time he's away from home," Primus said.
"Not ideal, but Dom's preparation is pretty good."
Spearhead Jay Schulz also did not leave with his team-mates but will attend a family funeral in Adelaide on Friday before flying to Darwin the next day.
Primus said Port had added Steven Salopek and Daniel Motlop to their travelling party to cover for any player losses.
Young defender Jackson Trengove has been cleared to play after suffering a burst blood vessel in his right wrist during Port's loss to St Kilda last Sunday.
"His arm is no worries, it has come up fine," Primus said.
"He will definitely play, he might have a little bit of strapping but it's mainly just bruising."
Veteran Chad Cornes keeps his spot in the side after returning last week from an extended absence.
Cornes appears certain to quit the Power at season's end and has been a rumoured target of new entity Greater Western Sydney.
"It's not my decision to make if Chad wants to play on with GWS or whatever it's going to be," Primus said.
"We will continue our discussions with Chad as the year draws to an end.
"There is going to be speculation about and we will keep the conversation open with Chad ... I suppose it depends on how many games (the) teams want to get out of those kind of players.
"We know what Chad has achieved in his career and the experiences he's had, so a younger club like that might see that is something valuable for them to have."
AAP
Tags: australian-football-league, sport, port-adelaide-5015, sa, australia First posted July 14, 2011 15:14:03Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Injury-hit Crows could summon first-gamer
Injury-depleted Adelaide could be forced to summon a debutant to replace defender Phil Davis, the latest Crow to miss a chunk of the season.
Davis, who will miss up to a month with a shoulder sprain, is the 10th player on his club's injury list.
The key backman was injured during Adelaide's loss to Fremantle on Sunday, his absence paving the way for untried Luke Thompson to make his AFL debut.
Thompson, a tall defender taken by the Crows in last year's rookie draft and upgraded to the senior list for this season, could debut in the grudge match against Port Adelaide on Saturday night.
"He would be close," onballer Richard Douglas said of Thompson.
"He's super competitive, strong bodied and just hates getting beaten, so if he plays he'll do a really good job for us."
Douglas said he was confident of overcoming a hip complaint in time to front the Power, but fellow midfielder Bernie Vince is struggling with an ankle injury.
Experienced half-back Michael Doughty has already been ruled out with a corked leg suffered in round one.
Douglas said 20-year-old Davis was lucky to avoid surgery on his injured shoulder.
"Phil is a pretty upbeat sort of bloke and it was good news that he didn't need a reconstruction or anything serious like that," Douglas said.
"He'll miss a few games, but it's not a bad result in the end.
"It's a big blow for the team.
"Phil has been in great form and has been doing some really good jobs for us."
Meanwhile, the AFL tribunal has found Adelaide ruckman Ivan Maric guilty of rough conduct, but he remains eligible to play in Saturday night's showdown against Port Adelaide.
The tribunal upheld the match review panel verdict on Maric's contact with Fremantle forward Michael Walters on Saturday at AAMI Stadium.
Maric became the first player this year to go before the AFL tribunal, but he was not risking suspension because his penalty was a reprimand and carryover points.
Field umpire Dean Margetts reported Maric during the match and after an hour-long hearing on Tuesday, the tribunal decided Maric's penalty should stand.
- AAP
First posted April 12, 2011 17:20:00