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Dean Solomon was tonight handed an eight week ban for his hit that left Geelong Midfielder Cameron Ling with a depressed fracture of the cheekbone last Saturday.
Thankfully one of the current games worst snipers was given his due.
Solomon received 850 demerit points, equalling an eight match suspension, plus 50 carryover points.
The 28-year-old, out of contract at the end of the season, pleaded guilty and again expressed remorse during the hearing for the crude hit.
Solomon also publicly apologised immediately after the game at Skilled Stadium.
"I don't feel very good at all, I'm quite ashamed of my actions - at the time, I knew straight away I had gone outside the rules," he said in his defense.
"It hasn't been easy on myself or my family, I'm very upset with the situation I've put myself in."
So you should be.
If your cheap off-the-ball incident didn't land the victim in hospital, this scribe wonders whether we would be talking about it so much, and whether the penalty would have been as harsh.
And spare me the need for 'character references' to come to the aid of Solomon.
Fair enough the man might be a great bloke off the field.
But when push comes to shove, when the ball is there to be won, Solomon is too often worrying about trying to show the world how tough he is.
Solomon's appalling tribunal record speaks for itself.
In his 191-game career, he has now been suspended for a total of 17 matches.
Arguably, these figures could have been even worse.
Solomon's form this year has been OK, but this wannabe hardman is often too focussed on putting opponents down, rather than winning the hardball.
He constantly walks over the line that separates good, hard players from those that are dirty and cheap.
Its amazing what it takes for some footballers to get things to register inside their miniscule brains.
In the aftermath of an explosive encounter at Skilled Stadium on the weekend, Fremantle's football operations manager has come out swinging against the reigning premiers, and has further fueled heated debate about the fiery clash.
Shaw rubbed salt into the wound by defending his team's combative approach to the match, and questioned the legality of Geelong's tactics.
Yes that's right, an official from Fremantle accused the cats of giving as good as they got.
Laughable isn't it.
At the risk of getting all hysterical about this, common sense must prevail.
The Docker's poor record at the tribunal has been widely publicised, and for good measure.
There is a culture in the west that has brought one club to it's knees, and seems to be gripping the other. What possible explanation can there be for a team that acts like 40 year-old obese men playing in D-grade amateurs, than a problem that reaches way beyond their on-field woes.
Cat's premiership midfielder Cameron Ling will be sidelined for up to a month with a compressed fracture of his cheekbone as a result of Dean Solomon's errant elbow to his face.
Due to the severity of the incident, the match review panel automatically referred the incident to the tribunal tomorrow night.
Solomon's apology after the game was a must, but provided little solace for the victim of his dirty snipe, who spent the following two days in hospital.
"What did people expect us to do, say sorry for taking up your time?" said Shaw. "We'll just do a bit of circle work and get out of your hair.
"We make no apology at all. Bad luck, they're the top team and they're going to win the premiership, but we weren't just going to let them run around and do what they wanted to do."
Admirable speak isn't it.
Spoken like a true thug.
"We put our hand up and say, we were a little bit misdirected, but if you are going to be the captain of a club and take the high moral ground after the game on all issues football, you need to go through the tape clearly. We came to play."
If coming to play means a league side kicking six goals in four quarters of football, two goals in a half, three more in junk time and being held goalless for almost an hour, then this scribe needs to learn more about how to play the game.
"He'll (Harley) will be left with a bit of egg on his face when the match review panel go through the game with a fine tooth comb."
The match review panel today assessed several incidents' with Geelong players - including Cam Mooney's apparent punch to the back of Rhys Palmers's head and an incident involving Jimmy Bartel - but no cats were cited.
Those that believe in conspiracy theories about Geelong being some kind of protected species by the AFL need to grow up.
Sure some incidents involving Cat's players, most notably Josh Hunt's high bump, were questionable, but the match review panel is never too quick to penalise those who err on the side of caution, intentionally or otherwise.
This scribe can't help but think the match review panel may have assessed the incident's a little differently because of the circumstances of the game.
Circumstances which Fremantle initiated.
Shaw is referring to Cat's captain Tom Harley's comments after the game, where he referred to the Dockers tactics as "cheap and old school."
He didn't pull any punches when he expressed his distaste for Fremantle's tactics, saying: "It's not the way to play football.
"From a leadership point of view we just continually reinforced out on the ground that we'll play the ball. You know we've got big strong bodies, but we don't need to do the cheapies behind play, we'll win the hardball when it counts."
Spoken like a man who is a leader in the truest sense of the word, and leads a club that will continue to win because they have revolutionised this game for all the right reasons.
Unlike that weak excuse for a football club in the west, that are hell-bent on taking the game back to the 80's.
Mick Malthouse coined the termed 'blockbuster fatigue' following Collingwood's win over Melbourne last weekend, and club great Nathan Buckley has come out and endorsed his former coaches sentiments in The Age today.
The cynic in this scribe is begging those afore mentioned to stop being insolent and get on with striving to reach that final day in September.
After the Magpies win on the Queens Birthday, Malthouse said his players were suffering from getting up week-in-week-out for 'blockbuster' matches, and that he would be "putting his thoughts to the club."
"There's got to be a respite somewhere where they can play football without the added pressure of 'we're playing Geelong, we're playing West Coast, we're playing Brisbane and we're playing North Melbourne' and it meant everything to the eight, Malthouse said on Tuesday.
No there shouldn't Mick. You're forgetting something very crucial about your football club.
The added pressure is simply a byproduct of your teams support.
And it comes from media organisations who thrive on selling their content.
And like it or not, the Collingwood brand sells.
Television audiences, attendance figures, merchandise numbers and genuine interest are always disproportionate to most other games each week.
Why? Because Collingwood is playing, and no other club polarises opinion more deeply than the Magpies.
Malthouse went on.
"I'll certainly consider my thoughts. It's what's best for our football club and what's best for our team. Sometimes they are a little bit off skew. Not that we get anything out of this game. We get nothing (financially) out of this game."
He then proceeded to question why Melbourne played with such ferocious intent on Monday, but have played such spiritless football all year.
No wait a minute, that's what this scribe said.
But the point of this is to question the merit of two of the most influential figures at the leagues most powerful club, trying to complain somewhat that their club is somehow a victim of it's own success.
As if their elite standing in the competition, as one which has overwhelming support, reduces them to occasional fatigue.
Buckley writes in his column today that "at least a third of the Magpie's home-and-away schedule involves highly publicised matches that pull big crowds and demand interest over and above a "normal" home-and-away game.
So what? The players would learn this very early on in their tenure with the Collingwood Football Club, and would no doubt be 'coached' by professionals with how to deal with such hype.
Buckley writes further.
"His term 'blockbuster fatigue' is a concept based on the cumulative requirements of matching the intensity of opponents who are less exposed to these big-game atmospheres. It's a valid call.
Rubbish.
Surely Collingwood players would be more hardened to such conditions, and therefore better equipped to deal with the intensity of pressure situations in front of big crowds.
Sure they will have lulls in their season, every side does.
But to use this as a reason as to why the Magpies sometimes 'show up' flat, is nonsense.
Malthouse should stop trying to bite the hand that feeds him.
When will the Melbourne Football Club forget about cheap publicity stunts and a ridiculous obsession with trying to change the brand - and start addressing it's biggest problem - it's lack of support.
The AFL threatened the demons this week that a failure to lure 60,000 supporters to its blockbuster Queen's birthday clash with Collingwood, may result in them losing the fixture.
Finally something this scribe and the leagues administration can agree on
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Is it just me, or is Mark Williams (the player) the only one left with a sense of humour?
Have we all become such pompous, uptight souls that it would be ridiculous to assume the Hawthorn players choking gesture was actually funny?
Are the pages, airwaves and television stations doomed to face tirades about sportsmanship in the wake of the Hawk's shameful disrespect for his namesake, the Port Adelaide coach
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Premier John Brumby's announcement earlier in the week has signaled stage two of Collingwood's stranglehold as the leagues premier club.
And most thought stage one was big and bold enough.
This scribe remembers an article written in a major Melbourne newspaper accusing the Collingwood Football Club of having lost its soul following its move from Victoria Park to the Lexus Centre
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The fence surrounding ANZ Stadium that left Barry Hall with a broken wrist will now be covered in padding following a review by the AFL.
This scribe called for this change to be implemented following the most talked about punch of 2008.
Hall broke his wrist after crashing through the flimsy advertising sign in the same match as the Brent Staker incident
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The umpiring system has serious flaws that need ironing out - fast.
After umpire Damien Sully was dropped this week, presumably for a terrible bounce at the MCG last Saturday night, this scribe has real concerns over the merit of such a decision.
In fact it was a call that reeks of double-standards
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The traditional centre bounce should not be in question. The problem is the umpires inability to call back their mistake.
Common sense must prevail.
This scribe, the traditionalist that he is, doesn't believe the ball should be thrown up. Human element is one of the great things about our game, and to throw it up would just align it even more closely with that despicable sport called basketball
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Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse has denied speculation the Pies are interested in Ben Cousins beyond 2008, but has backed his former stars return to football.
"I'll be seeing Ben just to have a chat, but that's no indicator whatsoever that we'll be recruiting Ben Cousins," Malthouse said.
"He's got his year to serve and what he does after that, I hope he does get back into football
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