FIND out what’s being said about the club in the major daily newspapers on Thursday, May 12, 2011
Herald Sun
Demons to argue Trengrove penalty excessive
By Bruce Matthews
MELBOURNE has called in high-profile lawyer David Galbally, QC, to fight young midfielder Jack Trengove's three-match suspension tonight. The legal challenge comes amid a storm over Twitter comments by Trengove's teammates and 90 per cent of superfooty.com.au readers rating the ban excessive for his tackle on Adelaide's Patrick Dangerfield on Sunday. Melbourne will argue a tribunal could not have come to that decision having regard to the evidence, and the classification for the offence and the penalty were manifestly excessive. The Demons will also dispute the high-impact assessment on the basis that Dangerfield, who will resume running today, was concussed when his head hit the turf at the MCG.
League sour on Tweet sledges
By Michael Warner
SEVEN Melbourne players who used Twitter to slam the AFL Tribunal have been slapped with a "please explain". The AFL has given Demon officials until noon tomorrow to show why the players should not be punished. Brad Green, Colin Sylvia, Cale Morton, James Frawley, Matthew Bate, Jack Watts and Ricky Petterd fired off tweets on Tuesday night after the tribunal suspended their teammate, Jack Trengove, for three weeks for his crunching tackle on Adelaide's Patrick Dangerfield. Even Watts's mother got in on the act, tweeting: "Can't wait to see next weeks games. Aerial ping pong with no tackling!" But AFL media relations manager Patrick Keane hit back last night with the "please explain" via his own Twitter account. A Melbourne spokesman said the Demons would speak to the players today.
Herald Sun
Demons to argue Trengrove penalty excessive
By Bruce Matthews
MELBOURNE has called in high-profile lawyer David Galbally, QC, to fight young midfielder Jack Trengove's three-match suspension tonight. The legal challenge comes amid a storm over Twitter comments by Trengove's teammates and 90 per cent of superfooty.com.au readers rating the ban excessive for his tackle on Adelaide's Patrick Dangerfield on Sunday. Melbourne will argue a tribunal could not have come to that decision having regard to the evidence, and the classification for the offence and the penalty were manifestly excessive. The Demons will also dispute the high-impact assessment on the basis that Dangerfield, who will resume running today, was concussed when his head hit the turf at the MCG.
League sour on Tweet sledges
By Michael Warner
SEVEN Melbourne players who used Twitter to slam the AFL Tribunal have been slapped with a "please explain". The AFL has given Demon officials until noon tomorrow to show why the players should not be punished. Brad Green, Colin Sylvia, Cale Morton, James Frawley, Matthew Bate, Jack Watts and Ricky Petterd fired off tweets on Tuesday night after the tribunal suspended their teammate, Jack Trengove, for three weeks for his crunching tackle on Adelaide's Patrick Dangerfield. Even Watts's mother got in on the act, tweeting: "Can't wait to see next weeks games. Aerial ping pong with no tackling!" But AFL media relations manager Patrick Keane hit back last night with the "please explain" via his own Twitter account. A Melbourne spokesman said the Demons would speak to the players today.
Trengove takes unfair knock
By Mike Sheahan
IT is a philosophical issue - image versus tradition. Adelaide's most exciting youngster, Patrick Dangerfield, was hurt in a tackle on the MCG (and television) on Sunday. Concussed. After embarrassing indifference to concussion from the authorities for as long as anyone can remember, head knocks - deliberate or accidental - have attracted a new, more vigorous focus this year, and rightly so. Yet concussion can occur accidentally and within the spirit of the game. Dangerfield was hurt when tackled in possession by Melbourne's Jack Trengove. He dropped the ball. Failed to dispose of it correctly. No free kick was paid against Dangerfield . . . or to Dangerfield, with a field umpire within 10m. Yet the match review panel ruled Trengove out for three matches, with the offer of two with a guilty plea. He chose to challenge the ruling at the tribunal. He gambled and lost. No one has argued the concussion issue more vigorously or more often than I have, yet I can't help but feel Trengove copped the rough end of the pineapple. Legitimate tackle, slam tackle, sling tackle, call it what you will, he has been harshly treated. We’re hurting too Demons.
We're hurting too
By Matt Windley
NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott has a simple message for a Melbourne side confronted with a sudden player shortage: welcome to our world. With Jack Trengove facing suspension and Jack Grimes (foot) and Mark Jamar (knee) out injured, the Demons will be undermanned against North at Etihad Stadium on Saturday. "If those three don't play and Tom Scully's not ready yet, then I see that as them starting to have some injury concerns, as we've had all year," Scott said. "The four I mentioned from Melbourne are very good players and important to their structure. "But Hamish McIntosh, Ryan Bastinac, Levi Greenwood and Matt Campbell have been extremely important parts of our structure ... we haven't had them for one game. "We haven't used injuries as an excuse and I know Melbourne certainly won't be either."
The Age
Trengove appeals, Dees face fines
By Martin Boulton
THE Melbourne players who reacted angrily on Twitter to teammate Jack Trengove's three-match ban are facing fines from the AFL. After Melbourne announced Trengove would front the AFL tribunal tonight to appeal the suspension he received for engaging in rough play when tackling Adelaide's Patrick Dangerfield, AFL operations manager Adrian Anderson said he had written to the club asking for an explanation for the players' criticism of the verdict. The club has until noon tomorrow to respond. David Galbally QC, who prepared the report into disgraced player manager Ricky Nixon, will represent Trengove at tonight's appeal. Melbourne want its highly regarded second-year midfielder available and it is believed the club could partly construct a case around Dangerfield's history of concussions since joining the competition in 2008. The Melbourne midfielder was handed the ban by the review panel and failed on Tuesday to have the penalty overturned by the tribunal, which backed the panel's ruling that Trengove's tackle constituted negligent conduct, was of medium impact and high contact - a total of 325 demerit points, drawing a three-game ban.
Time to tackle faulty system
By Martin Blake
FOOTBALL brought this upon itself. For years, people carped about a disciplinary/tribunal system that was imperfect, but at least had an element of flexibility, the old system. Monday nights at AFL House they would gather and there were no set penalties, and precedents were developed. But the public lost faith in the system and the media scarcely helped. Many people made judgments upon tribunal rulings without all the information; often upon a quick glance at a television replay of an incident without hearing the evidence. It's worth noting that there will never be a football judicial system that all people embrace, I suspect. It's the nature of the industry that everyone has an opinion on every single incident. We have been arguing about it for years. So now we have Adrian Anderson's manifesto, a system of ticked boxes and checks and balances and legalese. Essentially, it is a set-penalty system. Quite frankly, it works sometimes, and it has cut down the number of actual tribunal hearings massively because players more often than not accept their medicine. The clubs like it, too, even if the public rage about it every week. The players' argument, tossed around on twitter.com, does not stack up. Their notion that players will be too scared to tackle an opponent is plainly wrong; statistics tell you that there has been an exponential increase in tackling in recent years. But Anderson's system throws up too many anomalies in terms of penalty, the latest being the Jack Trengove abomination.
By Mike Sheahan
IT is a philosophical issue - image versus tradition. Adelaide's most exciting youngster, Patrick Dangerfield, was hurt in a tackle on the MCG (and television) on Sunday. Concussed. After embarrassing indifference to concussion from the authorities for as long as anyone can remember, head knocks - deliberate or accidental - have attracted a new, more vigorous focus this year, and rightly so. Yet concussion can occur accidentally and within the spirit of the game. Dangerfield was hurt when tackled in possession by Melbourne's Jack Trengove. He dropped the ball. Failed to dispose of it correctly. No free kick was paid against Dangerfield . . . or to Dangerfield, with a field umpire within 10m. Yet the match review panel ruled Trengove out for three matches, with the offer of two with a guilty plea. He chose to challenge the ruling at the tribunal. He gambled and lost. No one has argued the concussion issue more vigorously or more often than I have, yet I can't help but feel Trengove copped the rough end of the pineapple. Legitimate tackle, slam tackle, sling tackle, call it what you will, he has been harshly treated. We’re hurting too Demons.
We're hurting too
By Matt Windley
NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott has a simple message for a Melbourne side confronted with a sudden player shortage: welcome to our world. With Jack Trengove facing suspension and Jack Grimes (foot) and Mark Jamar (knee) out injured, the Demons will be undermanned against North at Etihad Stadium on Saturday. "If those three don't play and Tom Scully's not ready yet, then I see that as them starting to have some injury concerns, as we've had all year," Scott said. "The four I mentioned from Melbourne are very good players and important to their structure. "But Hamish McIntosh, Ryan Bastinac, Levi Greenwood and Matt Campbell have been extremely important parts of our structure ... we haven't had them for one game. "We haven't used injuries as an excuse and I know Melbourne certainly won't be either."
The Age
Trengove appeals, Dees face fines
By Martin Boulton
THE Melbourne players who reacted angrily on Twitter to teammate Jack Trengove's three-match ban are facing fines from the AFL. After Melbourne announced Trengove would front the AFL tribunal tonight to appeal the suspension he received for engaging in rough play when tackling Adelaide's Patrick Dangerfield, AFL operations manager Adrian Anderson said he had written to the club asking for an explanation for the players' criticism of the verdict. The club has until noon tomorrow to respond. David Galbally QC, who prepared the report into disgraced player manager Ricky Nixon, will represent Trengove at tonight's appeal. Melbourne want its highly regarded second-year midfielder available and it is believed the club could partly construct a case around Dangerfield's history of concussions since joining the competition in 2008. The Melbourne midfielder was handed the ban by the review panel and failed on Tuesday to have the penalty overturned by the tribunal, which backed the panel's ruling that Trengove's tackle constituted negligent conduct, was of medium impact and high contact - a total of 325 demerit points, drawing a three-game ban.
Time to tackle faulty system
By Martin Blake
FOOTBALL brought this upon itself. For years, people carped about a disciplinary/tribunal system that was imperfect, but at least had an element of flexibility, the old system. Monday nights at AFL House they would gather and there were no set penalties, and precedents were developed. But the public lost faith in the system and the media scarcely helped. Many people made judgments upon tribunal rulings without all the information; often upon a quick glance at a television replay of an incident without hearing the evidence. It's worth noting that there will never be a football judicial system that all people embrace, I suspect. It's the nature of the industry that everyone has an opinion on every single incident. We have been arguing about it for years. So now we have Adrian Anderson's manifesto, a system of ticked boxes and checks and balances and legalese. Essentially, it is a set-penalty system. Quite frankly, it works sometimes, and it has cut down the number of actual tribunal hearings massively because players more often than not accept their medicine. The clubs like it, too, even if the public rage about it every week. The players' argument, tossed around on twitter.com, does not stack up. Their notion that players will be too scared to tackle an opponent is plainly wrong; statistics tell you that there has been an exponential increase in tackling in recent years. But Anderson's system throws up too many anomalies in terms of penalty, the latest being the Jack Trengove abomination.
Match preview: North Melbourne v Melbourne
By Will Brodie
A real trick game for punters and tipsters. It should be straightforward - up and comer Melbourne to prove too good for struggling North Melbourne after having recorded a stirring victory over Adelaide. But the Demons are hard hit by injury, and possibly suspension (the Jack Trengove case is being decided on Thursday night). And they have lost their past eight matches to the Kangaroos. Current form is usually a much bigger indication of confidence levels than past results. But sometimes there really are hoodoos. Last year, North Melbourne was better than Melbourne for three quarters of the corresponding clash at Etihad Stadium, resisting a Melbourne third quarter burst to grind out a comfortable four goal plus win. At the MCG in round 22, the Dees again faded after mounting a challenge, being outscored five goals to three in the last quarter to lose by ten points.
The Australian
Scott backs AFL’s duty of care
By Stephen Rielly
NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott said yesterday that the AFL tribunal was bound to suspend Melbourne midfielder Jack Trengove given the duty of care that the league insists must exist between players. Scott said that as the rules stand, the tribunal could take no other position on Trengove's whipping tackle, which concussed Adelaide's Patrick Dangerfield last weekend and saw him substituted from the match. While sympathetic to the young Demon, whose tackle he described as "good", Scott said the AFL made it plain several years ago that any bump or tackle that caused head injury would leave the aggressor with a case to answer. If this onus is wrong or too harsh, he added, the widespread disbelief over Trengove's three-match suspension should be put to changing the rule, not criticising the match review panel or tribunal which has to apply it. Melbourne has contested the decision and Trengove will appear before the appeals board this evening. "You've got a duty of care to a player to ensure he doesn't get injured," Scott said. "I think it's very difficult for players. I'm not sitting here saying it's easy, because we play an aggressive contact sport and part of that is being aggressive in the tackle. "I think that the tackle Trengove laid was an aggressive, good tackle but in modern football you have a duty of care to your opponent. If that opponent's head hits the ground, it's going to be a tough situation to try and defend."
Forget the twits, Trengove deserved ban
By Patrick Smith
JACK Trengove deserved to be suspended for three matches. The match review panel got its verdict right, the AFL tribunal agreed when the player challenged the panel's ruling. Now Melbourne bleats. And much of the football community supports the club and the player. That wasn't just rain that drowned the city yesterday. Trengove slammed Adelaide's Patrick Dangerfield into the ground as he turned a tackle into an assault. Trengove's transgression was assessed thus: negligent conduct, high impact and high contact. By unsuccessfully challenging that ruling Trengove turned a possible two-match penalty into three. He has taken up his right to appeal, which will be heard tonight. He might think twice about calling Chris Connolly, Melbourne's club football manager. When coach of Fremantle, Connolly said in June 2006: "I think when you are a big guy, or a player that wraps up the arms of an opponent, then you have to be responsible to protect his head, because he is so vulnerable . . . If you wrap a guy's arms up, and you're going to bring him to the ground, there has got to be some responsibility that his head doesn't hit the ground first."
Kangaroos coach dismisses Demons' week from hell
By Stephen Rielly
IF Melbourne has had a wretched few days, North Melbourne coach Brad Scott isn't particularly sympathetic. After a redemptive 96-point victory over Adelaide last Sunday, the Demons have since lost ruckman Mark Jamar and defender Jack Grimes to injury and have had midfielder Jack Trengove controversially suspended for three matches. Jamar's likely replacement, Jake Spencer, has also gone down with a knee injury and the club stands to be penalised for comments some of its players tweeted about Trengove's suspension, which he is challenging tonight. Melbourne received a "please explain" from the AFL yesterday and has until tomorrow to defend the half-dozen tweets, which were a mix of mild profanity and ridicule. All up, it has been a dispiriting 72 hours for the Demons who should otherwise have buoyantly headed into Saturday's encounter with North. Scott, whose side has won one game and will lose all touch if it doesn't beat the Demons, isn't interested in their story of woe. "If those three (Grimes, Jamar and Trengove) don't play and Tom Scully isn't ready yet, then, I see that as them starting to have some injury concerns as we've had all year," Scott said yesterday.
