I was p1ssed off when Cotchin got off that striking charge on Sheil in the prelim.
Clearly went past the ball and took out One of GWS’s best players in Sheil.
If that were Merrett getting taken out in the first quarter of such an important game I would be furious.
But yeah, the AFL found a way to get him off.
It’s really not.
A week, minimum, for any punch. Hit hard and it’s 2, 3, 4 etc.
It’s only hard because of AFL “logic”, where they seem to actively avoid putting anything in black and white that could lead to consistency.
And as long as there are so many grey areas, umpires, who are just flawed humans like us all, will continue to overly influence a game with their ‘interpretations’.
The best way to deal with it would be a 5 minute sin binning, but they’ll never go down that route.
More like biased than flawed.
Doing the devils work.
I’m willing to concede that consciously or subconsciously, I will always be biased towards my team, so I’ll put it down as ‘flawed’ 
I think they do what the AFL ask them to do.
It’s the easiest way for the AFL to influence the results of games.
It’s strange how suspensions work in the AFL.
If I was offered a week off for hitting someone in the guts at work, I reckon I’d be tempted to do it once a month. If someone said I’d have to cough up $1500 instead, I’d be far less keen.
Most players are on a contract where they get paid for each game played. Depending on who they are that could be $4000 - $5000 a game.
Also player’s bonuses (and sometimes contract extensions) may be tied to how many games they play or where they finish in the B&F etc. So players don’t like missing games.
John Coleman says hi, while spinning in his grave.
Honestly KM, I think you need to watch that again. It was a contested ball and Cotchin went at it hard. It’s that type of attack at the ball that elevated him to the next level imo.
But you’re right saying if it was ZM then he’d get rubbed out.
That was going hard at the man, not the ball
He braced himself for contact as he got to the ball. As you’d expect any player to do. If any of our blokes did that you’d all be applauding them.
Played the man not the ball! No courage required there!
Good idea in theory but if the umpires get it wrong it would be too costly. Currently, if they report you and are wrong you play out the game and work it out at the tribunal. If they had the sin bin rule you could lose your best player for the last 5 minutes of a grand final only to have it overturned after the game because the umpire made a mistake.
Disagree. There is nothing in our game that prevents a player from intentionally taking out an opposition star in a GF, and then accepting the 6-8 week penalty. They’d even be considered a ‘hero’ by the team supporters. I’d happily have a sin-bin for intentional stuff, followed by additional tribunal post-match if required.
Yeah but we’re talking gut punches here. For the Gaff type stuff i wouldn’t hate the idea assuming they can get it right. And when was the last time a player deliberately took out a star from another team in a GF? It’s not the 80s any more.
There’s enough cameras at games these days to catch the initial strike during the reviews and suspend that player as well.
Cotchin can get fcked. He stole Jobe’s Charlie. And spare me the BS about the “sorry for stealing your Brownlow” telephone call to Jobe.
It’s true that it doesn’t happen often. I wonder why, to be honest. It’s good, though.