TOPIC:

What a disgrace by the WAFC and football in general.
Here was a perfect chance for the WAFC to come out and say it was an accident and it is terrible what has happened to the young East Perth player but again they follow the lead of the AFL and think the look of the game is more important than the feelings of these young men.

I am at a loss with this sport now, the West Perth player would not be feeling good as it is and now he has to carry the look of the game on his shoulders, let alone young Beau in hospital who may never walk again let alone play.

This was a time for common sense not for this ridiculous penalty which now sets the standard for tackling to be given a green light to be removed from the game somewhere in the future.

If that is 10 weeks then every tackle is a minimum free kick.

I am just dumb founded.

First of all , the young EP player's ongoing health is the major concern

But if that's worth 10 weeks then Gardoud & Manzone would never have played again if this same logic was applied

Unbelievable penalty way too harsh

Every parents fear, every players nightmare.

Some positive signs of improvement so let’s hope the young fellow comes good.

Thoughts as well to the West Perth player who showed remorse to the situation.

As much as most people did not want this to become a tribunal offence with a penalty it had to go this way to involve that barstard of a thing called liability, which in fact will help Beau’s financial claims, as necessary, down the track.

Absolute disgrace of a decision. I hope WP appeal.

Gareth Parker's opinion piece in the West really summed it up;

"In 2014 when I was head coach of WAFL field umpires, the tribunal dismissed a rough conduct charge against West Perth’s Laine Rasmussen, who slung Swan Districts’ Tallan Ames head-first into the ground.

I think it was worse than Antonio’s tackle by a couple of orders of magnitude and required Ames to be taken off by stretcher and miss the next week with a concussion.

Rasmussen pleaded guilty but the tribunal found he had no case to answer and dismissed the charge."

I have thought long and hard about the whole incident.

Beau will succeed in regaining a quality of life restricted by the physical outcomes of the tackle and subsequent injury. Accidents happen all the time and timing plays a big part in our daily lives, A split second either way and a millimetre either way and the results of lots of things are different.

I have some understanding now that the report was about the sling tackle and even then a free kick is the usual outcome for such actions. I think that a reaction to the on field consequence was perhaps at the base of the Umpires actions.

I read the report the worst (and that is difficult enough) and I think the best line is that (not a verbatim quote) but the penalty is a response the outcome not the action and that is fraught with danger in Football as we have now.

We have seen this process applied in the AFL where it seems that if a player tackles head high and the injured player is ok to play on not much of a penalty but where a player is carried off on a stretcher, doesn't come back then a more significant penalty is applied.

It would seem to me that Heaney has used this 'logic'in this case and forgot to balance out or even understand the issues involved. The physics of the process, the outcome and the social and community impacts have all been ignored and he has applied an extreme and unwarranted outcome.

I am not sure what to say to the young WP fella so I won't try. He has to live with this and the Tribunal outcomes does nothing to help him deal with his issues and anxieties.

I know Beau and I know that he will maintain his sense of humour, he will be pragmatic and he will like most folk in similar situations go through the stages that including anger, pity, anxiety and so on but at the end of the day albeit tomorrow next week or in a years time he will move on as much as he can. I know that he has a great level of support from his Family, his friends, his mates and even folk who don't know him personally and these things will get him through this and he will be ok!

If it had been a WART or FART player that laid the tackle would there have been a different outcome at the tribunal? We know that Colin Sylvia is allowed to King hit players behind play and only get 2 weeks. Yet a normal tackle with accidental and tragic consequences gets 10 weeks. I don't understand.

Still gobsmacked as to why the injured EP player was stretchered off! Why wasn't the game stopped & an ambulance on the ground? the trainers from both teams should of known this..

terror wrote: Still gobsmacked as to why the injured EP player was stretchered off! Why wasn't the game stopped & an ambulance on the ground? the trainers from both teams should of known this..

Always !

terror wrote: Still gobsmacked as to why the injured EP player was stretchered off! Why wasn't the game stopped & an ambulance on the ground? the trainers from both teams should of known this..

You're right, there is a driveway and gates infront of the SFC clubrooms to bring an ambulance directly onto the ground. Any slight chance of spinal injury and you certainly don't bounce them around on a stretcher even with a neck brace on.

terror wrote: Still gobsmacked as to why the injured EP player was stretchered off! Why wasn't the game stopped & an ambulance on the ground? the trainers from both teams should of known this..

very good point terror....surely the medicos in attendance would have assessed the potential spinal injury and should have called for an ambulance immediately.