“Simon has taken our club to great heights, but it is his focus on continual improvement that is most impressive. He is steadfast in his pursuit of delivering our members and supporters more success.”
VFL will appeal Tyler Sonsie ban
Peter Ryan
The VFL will appeal their tribunal’s decision to suspend Richmond’s Tyler Sonsie for three matches for an off-the-ball strike that felled his North Melbourne opponent, Tom Cappellari, with the hearing to occur on Monday.
Sonsie was sent directly to the tribunal for striking with the match review officer categorising the act as intentional conduct, severe impact and high contact.
Richmond’s Tyler Sonsie playing in the VFL.Credit: AFL Photos / Getty Images
However, the tribunal decided after hearing the evidence at Tuesday night’s hearing to downgrade the impact to high and also reduce his suspension by one match for pleading guilty. The Tiger was then banned for three matches.
In a statement, the VFL said they will appeal the three-game suspension on the grounds:
– the decision involved an error of law that had a material impact on the tribunal’s decision;
– the decision was so unreasonable that no controlling body or tribunal acting reasonably could have come to that decision having regard to the evidence before it;
– the classification of the reportable offence or policy breach or other conduct (as applicable) was manifestly excessive or inadequate.
The length of the suspension caused outrage on social mediaCredit: Fox Footy
The 20-year-old who has played 10 games with the Tigers appeared to lose his cool when knocked over during Sunday’s game at Punt Road.
He appeared to strike Cappellari with his left hand to the face after regaining his feet. Cappellari went to ground holding his face.
The length of the suspension caused outrage on social media and the VFL met on Wednesday morning to consider the situation.
Magpies lose another key player from leaking defence
Andrew Wu
Collingwood’s defence will be without another key player on Friday night with Nathan Murphy ruled out of the Magpies’ final home-and-away game against Essendon.
Star midfielder Jordan De Goey and lively forward Bobby Hill return, but the Magpies will be without their two best tall defenders – Darcy Moore and Murphy – as they aim to shore up a leaky defence on the eve of the finals.
Nathan Murphy lands hard against the Brisbane Lions last round.Credit: Getty Images
Assured of a home qualifying final, the Magpies are not taking any risks with Murphy, who is nursing a sore hip after multiple hits in the Pies’ loss to the Brisbane Lions last week.
“We’ve been in a position where there’s a risk reward attached to players and their fitness levels, this one he’s just not right to play,” Magpies coach Craig McRae said.
“He tried to get through, he’s got a hip pointer that’s not going to see him get up this week.”
Moore is on track to play in the qualifying final and could even have played next week if there was no pre-finals bye, Magpies coach Craig McRae said.
Forward Ash Johnson sent a scare through the Magpies camp after appearing to hurt his ankle at training, but McRae is confident he has not sustained any damage.
McRae indicated Mason Cox would hold his place in the Magpies side this week, saying he and Darcy Cameron were the club’s best ruck pairing.
He said swingman Jeremy Howe was a chance of being moved back into defence to cover for Moore and Murphy, having played forward in recent weeks.
The Pies have been in a form slump since their thrilling win over Port Adelaide, dropping three of their last four games or, as he corrected a reporter, one of their past two.
It continues the theme McRae prosecuted after the loss to the Lions when he played down the concept of form.
The emphasis at Collingwood is on fixing the club’s defence after conceding triple-figure scores in each of their past three games. McRae said the issues were with system rather than personnel.
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He also downplayed the significance of their recent results, likening the home-and-away season to “qualifiers” for September.
“Finals can only be played at finals time, but habits created throughout the season help you in finals,” McRae said.
“We’ve done nothing different than what we normally do. We’re trying to create all these habits. We’ve got some work to do. We’ve seen that last few weeks around particularly our defensive part of our game and we’re getting work on that.
“Habits are formed now so they stack up when you need them.”
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