Herald Sun
AFL should be told to cop it tweet
By Jason Akermanis
IT'S time for the AFL Players Association to stand up and be counted. With the AFL out of touch with the game, the only one who can save it is the AFLPA. How absurd is it that players of this great game are asked to not have an opinion on issues such as sling tackles that are near perfect and result in a player copping a three-week suspension. And then the club gets a "please explain" from the boys in head office. (I am laughing with anger as I write this down). Melbourne skipper Brad Green, Colin Sylvia, Cale Morton, James Frawley, Matthew Bate, Jack Watts and Ricky Petterd all fired off tweets about teammate Jack Trengove's suspension. Anyone with common sense would say Trengove was unlucky at best. The penalty should have been 90 points and a fine of $1000 just to make a small example of the fact that this rule has been changed.
The Age
Demons can lift despite injury worries: Davey
By AAP
MELBOURNE'S injury crisis has worsened, with Colin Garland and Rohan Bail the latest players to be forced out of action for at least a month. But Demons vice-captain Aaron Davey says the team must stay focused, saying they can find consistent form and stressing the need to stick to their game structures. Garland is out for six to eight weeks with an ankle injury and Bail (knee) will be sidelined for 4-6 weeks. Mark Jamar (knee), Tom Scully (knee), Jordie McKenzie (groin) and Jack Trengove (suspension) are already out of the side, while Jack Grimes and Jake Spencer will miss the rest of the season. Defender Jared Rivers also faces a fitness test on his ankle before Saturday's must-win game against St Kilda. ''We've been hit with a few injuries, but we have guys who can play,'' Davey said at Tuesday's launch of the AFL indigenous round.
The Australian
Dees v Saints is about ticker, integrity
By Patrick Smith
THERE is one thing Melbourne president Jim Stynes knows a thing or two about. And that's injuries. Conversely injuries are something the Brownlow Medal-winning ruckman knows zip about. When you play 244 consecutive games it can be fairly said you are entitled to take either position. Stynes' uninterrupted run began in round 17 in 1987 and did not finish until round 4 in 1998. And it took a break in the hand - a fairly important tool for a marking ruckman - to stop Stynes from running out with his team for consecutive game 245. For a lot of that extraordinary streak Stynes was able to avoid injury but it also meant for periods of time he carried injured body parts through games. So it must be somewhat of an odd sensation as he checks the injury list of his Melbourne team. In the space of a handful of weeks it has gone from healthy to crippled. Yesterday it was confirmed that defender Colin Garland and midfielder Rohan Bail would miss most if not of all of Melbourne's next six games which will decide the team's fate if nothing more. On Saturday comes St Kilda then the Demons face Carlton, Essendon, Collingwood, Fremantle and Richmond. For a club with wins over the less-than-elite teams Brisbane, Gold Coast and Adelaide, that is a six-week campaign that would be rigorous even at full strength.
