But Diggers will claim Heeney was unbalanced by Zerk being close to him, and in a reflex action punched him in the head.
7 Likes
It is not. Surely.
1 Like
No.
The stuff in italics is a pisstake written by a blitzer. It has to be a pisstake.
@Fairybread os this legit?
IIRC that’s genuine.
yep, it’s absolutely legit.
this is pay-walled, can’t find the original from the AFL website
2 Likes
If Heeney had fronted the Tribunal for striking Zerk, @Diggers would have justified the punch by describing it in these terms; Heeney was unbalanced by Zerk being close to him, and as he was bracing himself for impact, instinctively made incidental contact with his head.
I HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEENEY! pushed B Zerk-Thatcher in the chest which resulted in him breaking his own hand.
Unless you’re talking hypothetically?
Soft hands hehe heeney
Not last weekend…
Good chance of a soft one this weekend
You never know what can happen if Essendon control things up field.
If Essendon control things up field we can expect Buddy to chime in and take advantage of his authority to instinctively elbow heads with medium impact whenever he braces for contact.
But don’t let that affect your enjoyment of the game.
Probably affect the game more than any enjoyment of it
Blatant cheating didn’t affect my enjoyment of the Bulldogs Premiership, which is why I’m okay with Franklin hitting blokes and getting away with it all the time.
Third time just this year and this was a Good year for him.
Just accept it’s the way the AFL wants it.
Rather toss it in than enjoy a game that’s been predetermined.
1 Like
It’s the only game in town.
Yep it is legit.
Now in all truth, it could well just be poor wording by the authors of the article i.e. The AFL investigated the incident and noted BZT had done no wrong as opposed to they investigated BZT specifically.
However, what still confounds me is the fact that a player (Heeney) has punched another player hard enough to break his own hand but the AFL saw no need to sanction that at all - MRO didn’t even look at it.
6 Likes
This is what the article said. Also forgot about the bit at the end, just annoyed all over again.
HEENEY LEFT RED-FACED AS BIZARRE INJURY REVEALED
Jay Clark
The AFL has cleared Essendon’s Brandon Zerk-Thatcher of any wrongdoing in the off-the-ball incident which cost Sydney Swans’ star Isaac Heeney a broken hand.
The gun goal kicker was caught up in a behind the play push-and-shove with the Essendon defender in the second term on Thursday night when Heeney sustained the injury.
The league has reviewed the incident from multiple angles and found Zerk-Thatcher has nothing to answer as Heeney’s injury was self-inflicted.
Heeney appeared to do the damage to his hand when he shoved Zerk-Thatcher in a bid to break away from the defender in the middle of the ground.
The pair were about 30m off the ball when it took place.
The Swans are aware Heeney hurt his hand in the push-and-shove and have no plans to issue a complaint about the incident.
Heeney faces about four weeks on the sidelines depending on the extent of the damage.
He will consult a specialist to determine whether he needs surgery.
AFL TICKS OFF HICKEY UMPIRING CALL
The AFL has ticked-off the decision not to pay holding the ball against Sydney Swans’ ruckman Tom Hickey which has divided the football public.
The league has confirmed it was the right call not to penalise the in-form big man when he was tackled by Nik Cox in the frantic final moment of the Swans’ thrilling win.
The Swans led by three points with 40 seconds remaining when Hickey grabbed the ball out of the air and was unable to get a handball away before he was brought to ground on the forward flank.
Hickey took about 16 steps between grabbing the footy and being tackled.
5 Likes