Yes and no.
He put out another player for the whole game so if they have decided head high contact was made via a deliberate attempt to go to man not the ball then probably should have been more severe.
Wasn’t like it was clumsy. He lined him up.
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These bumps are split second and it’s within the rules to go for them, so no probs with Douglas. But there was face contact with the hand, the bump put him out of the game, 1 week fits the crime.
watched replay twice now and I think I love Devon Smith, just no nonsense footballer, like a slightly older Zerrett which at 24 makes sense, combind with Hepps, McG and Stringer we have a pretty core young midfield group and that’s not even including Parish and Fantasia for the next 5 years.
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1 week is fair. He made contact with the head. Merrett was vulnerable and he took the shot. I’d be disappointed if our blokes didn’t do likewise in the same situation.
Yeah, and if he hadn’t clipped a little bit of head he’d be fine.
This is the footage they used. Looks pretty clear he hit the head before the shoulder.
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Clearly takes the head.
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I’m with ya Katie. It looks like contact to side of the head first. Let’s get the pitchforks out and march to AFL house demanding 4 weeks!
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Looking at that, do you think it was Douglas’ free arm that whacked him in the gob?
Good pick up as I couldn’t work out how he got cut on the mouth.
Anyone else been walking around all day with a smile on their face?
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Maybe, but that’s just a side effect.
Clearly should be gone for weeks.
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I was just saying in the Zerret thread his head changes direction really fast. Not cool for Zach or Douglas.
Any other place to get replay… i want to download rather than watch on AFL site
Hi, Can you send me link in PM… n how to access these…
Sorry but I’ve just watched it several times and it’s still not clear to me the shoulder directly hits the head as opposed to a whip lash response. If the argument is he hit the head you need a side on vision to establish contact. The head movement isn’t inconsistent with a whiplash type response to a hit around the armpit.
In a way he’s lucky because the tackle is reckless and on that basis a week is probably fair but I’d want more conclusive evidence before saying there was head contact.
Is there a side on view where contact is actually demonstrated?
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It’s absurd that the match review panel get any longer to make their decision than Douglas had. Slow motion and frame select is inconsistent with the time the player has to make their own decision. Often, a fraction of a second.
As a biased Dons supporter I’m glad he got a week but the process stinks.
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