Did Port Adelaide cheat against the West Coast Eagles?
April 7th 2010 05:32
On Saturday a concerning issue came about by Brian Taylor claiming that Port Adelaide player Jacob Surjan faked an injury against the West Coast Eagles, when the game was on the line in a close game.
With 4:40 minutes to go on the clock and the Power up by 9 points, Jacob Surjan laid a tackle on the Eagles Brad Ebert. After the tackle, Surjan got up for a minute or two, but then when the trainer came onto the ground, quickly went down onto the ground like he was shot.
I am not sure if it is deliberate cheating, but I do believe that it is borderline and that the AFL surely must investigate the issue and if it is to be founded that Jacob Surjan did fake an injury, then the appropriate punishment should be dished out.
The protest had come about because the Eagles had all the momentum late in the final quarter and the stretcher coming onto the ground, that gave Mark Williams time to re-organise the team. I know in American sports, they have Time-Out rules, but in Australia, this is borderline cheating.
I know Port Adelaide would have been under the pump because they would have lost a vital defender to their team, but if he had been walking and running around just seconds beforehand, why get on a stretcher, just to slow things down?
Port Adelaide defender Troy Chaplin claims that, the Power trainers came out with the stretcher, because they had known of his past history with injuries and responded in a quick manner. But I do not think the stretcher was necassary to be honest, as I think, he was clearly fit enough to just jog or walk off the ground.
So did the Power bend the rules? I think they did. Should they there be any punishment? Only if the AFL are happy that they did any wrong-doing. Did it cost the Eagles the victory? No it didn't, as they had a couple of other chances late in the game to hit the lead and win the game, they just didn't take the chances.
But having said that, if it was a deliberate ploy by the Power coach Mark Williams, then the AFL must investigate the incident, as other coaches no doubt, would be doing the same thing, when the chance arises in a close game. I don't think there was nothing much wrong with Jacob Surjan to be honest, and I would be highly surprised if he doesn't take his spot in the team to play the Brisbane Lions this week.
Jacob Surjan is one of the toughest and one of the players I respect the most because of that, so I am a bit surprised, that he'll do this type of thing, especially, if it's true that he did fake an injury and the Eagles have every right to be dirty on Port Adelaide, as he was clearly not upset about his "injury" after the game.
Video Footage - Thanks to the Herald-Sun website.
Here is a video of the incident, so I'll let you come to your own conclusions about the incident.
With 4:40 minutes to go on the clock and the Power up by 9 points, Jacob Surjan laid a tackle on the Eagles Brad Ebert. After the tackle, Surjan got up for a minute or two, but then when the trainer came onto the ground, quickly went down onto the ground like he was shot.
I am not sure if it is deliberate cheating, but I do believe that it is borderline and that the AFL surely must investigate the issue and if it is to be founded that Jacob Surjan did fake an injury, then the appropriate punishment should be dished out.
The protest had come about because the Eagles had all the momentum late in the final quarter and the stretcher coming onto the ground, that gave Mark Williams time to re-organise the team. I know in American sports, they have Time-Out rules, but in Australia, this is borderline cheating.
I know Port Adelaide would have been under the pump because they would have lost a vital defender to their team, but if he had been walking and running around just seconds beforehand, why get on a stretcher, just to slow things down?
Port Adelaide defender Troy Chaplin claims that, the Power trainers came out with the stretcher, because they had known of his past history with injuries and responded in a quick manner. But I do not think the stretcher was necassary to be honest, as I think, he was clearly fit enough to just jog or walk off the ground.
So did the Power bend the rules? I think they did. Should they there be any punishment? Only if the AFL are happy that they did any wrong-doing. Did it cost the Eagles the victory? No it didn't, as they had a couple of other chances late in the game to hit the lead and win the game, they just didn't take the chances.
But having said that, if it was a deliberate ploy by the Power coach Mark Williams, then the AFL must investigate the incident, as other coaches no doubt, would be doing the same thing, when the chance arises in a close game. I don't think there was nothing much wrong with Jacob Surjan to be honest, and I would be highly surprised if he doesn't take his spot in the team to play the Brisbane Lions this week.
Jacob Surjan is one of the toughest and one of the players I respect the most because of that, so I am a bit surprised, that he'll do this type of thing, especially, if it's true that he did fake an injury and the Eagles have every right to be dirty on Port Adelaide, as he was clearly not upset about his "injury" after the game.
Video Footage - Thanks to the Herald-Sun website.
Here is a video of the incident, so I'll let you come to your own conclusions about the incident.
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