If my reading of this is correct, then the Tribunal have absolutely created a horrendous precedent that the AFL will not be able to live with. Yes they will be able to live with it alright: it will never be applied other than to players like Baker against whom the AFL has taken a set. If it had bee...

O.K. another scenario:- Gram has the ball on the wing and kicks it to the space he knows G is going to lead into. Glass, who is playing in front of G sees the danger and cuts across in front of G, who cannons into his side and they clash heads, resulting in G leaving the field with blood from his f...

Am I crazy or just completely one-eyed to be so opposed to most of the so called experts opinions that I've heard interviewed so far. To me its bleeding obvious that they've got it terribly wrong. I guess the question I would ask is, have you or the so-called experts seen a detailed transcript of w...

Grammy has the Ball on hbf, Roo leads wide with Glass on his tail. The ball is at least 70 m away when Roo starts to lead. Roo stops dead in his tracks and Glass runs straight into him and hits his head on Roo's shoulder, splitting his lip. As the ball wasn't within 5m of this, is Roo reportable fo...

Go Sretnias Go wrote:Ric Lewis, Policeman and a former Representative of the AFL - that's the way they think - couldn't lie straight in bed either.

Didn't spend much time in bed, methinks: allegedly preferred to sit up into the wee small hours staring into a glowing screen, holding on firmly to his credentials.

We seem to be forming a consensus on this forum that the whole case hinges on the meaning of the word "block". That said, I'm sure I also read somewhere that Baker admitted that what he did was illegal and would have led to a free kick if the umpire had seen it. Under one interpretation of...

We all know that Farmer has some problems with his behaviour outside of football (and many posters on here clearly think it is reasonable to be highly critical of him in relation to these problems) However, I think it would be fair to say that he seemed to be a most unwilling participant in this who...

I have a suggestion at how we can elaborate on this "block" defence a bit further (isn't it fun playing at being a criminal barrister?). It seems that Baker admitted to an illegal shepherd (according to some articles I have read, he seems to have said something like ("yes, it was more...

Thanks for posting the article, Peanut!!

It appears that Mr Lewis knows a bit more about contact between bodies that might be deemed to be "unreasonable" under the circumstances that I had realised!!

Leigh Fisher would be borderline in our top 22 if we had all 38 listed players available. But we don't, and I can't see why you wouldn't have him there. If we are talking about players who are not the Messiah, how about Ferguson? Some of the posters on here - most of whom I am sure haven't seen him ...

A further thought: Bakes can perhaps argue that what he meant by "block" in his evidence was not a bump or a shepherd, but simply an attempt to run towards the ball along the same line as Farmer.

The issue here is that Baker put himself in it by acknowledging that he initiated the contact. This may be the case. Does anyone know if Baker's admission included him saying he was seeking contact, or whether he simply claimed to be trying to stop Farmer from entering the forward 50? One might arg...

I agree with you sRr: the role of Kirkwood in instigating the case ever coming before the Tribunal in the first place is the weak point in the AFL's case. Baker was accused - on the basis of the evidence of someone who was lying or was deluded - of deliberately elbowing or hitting Farmer. He gave ev...

In his few games in 2005, Gwilt showed that he was a lovely long distance kick. Raking left boot. correct but his decision making is pathetic. But, remember, he played all of his games this season in a period when none of the players were on top of the new game plan. So his uncertain behaviour with...

Won't comment on whether Kirkwood's prior access to testimonies will be one of the grounds, but thought likely But that's a purely technical point, isn't it, given that Kirkwood's evidence was rejected by the Tribunal. Surely more to the point is the fact that Kirkwood's evidence was the main groun...

Can we still name Baker in the team pending the result of the appeal? If not, then he would presumably be forced to miss the game against the Eagles regardless of the outcome of the appeal.

You're wrong Dan, I believe the sentence has now been commuted to transportation for the term of his natural life to play for the Dockers.

The Club has appealed on several grounds, including the ground that, having accepted Steven Baker's account of the incident, which was supported by other witnesses, the Tribunal should not have found Baker guilty or suspended him. Good stuff: this was always the part of the process that worried me ...

If CJ gets a spot this week, I hope it turns out to be chickenpox so that he is not available for Friday's game through illness.

Like you, Yipper, I have had had a lot to do with all sorts of tribunals, and I follow your reasoning if - as is typically the case - tribunals are not empowered to dismiss all charges put to them and then invent their own and charge and convict a party of that charge. The AFL Tribunal acted as if t...

It's good for us in the short term, but the champagne corks will really be popping down Geelong way. All Geelong needs now is for the Swans to miss out on the 8 (very achievable) and they are going to be so hot for the flag they will be on fire. Oddly enough, our chances of meeting the Cats in the G...

The point about him not having the opportunity to lodge a plea was a good one. There must be a number of other questions about the process: how he was originally referred to the Tribunal, what the charge was, how the Tribunal used the evidence (eg, was Baker warned that, if he admitted to having ini...

I assume that "rough conduct" is a bit of a grab-bag of a charge that would be difficult to disprove (eg, the constant bumping and buffeting that goes on off the ball in every game could all be construed as "rough conduct"). I guess the best argument is that the 3 weeks penalty i...

I think the problem we will face about going to court is similar to the one that we faced with the Sirengate affair. The AFL administration is a total mess ATM and natural justice gets denied to clubs (and not just us) on a daily basis. Any club that decided to take the AFL to court on one of these ...

(And I don't mean the oddball and infrequent poster who uses that name!!) It was hard to believe that the AFL could ever have come up with a worse tribunal system than the old one. But, since at least the Barry Hall decision in 2005, we've all known that they did. They just keep rewriting the rule b...