Nick's Collingwood Bulletin Board

AN_Inkling wrote:It's a weird ruling by the AFL. Good to be on the positive side of one for a change

Agree, but as you said we'll take it.
Kudos to the club for identifying the potential loophole and asking the question.

Gerard Whateley has a hatred of our club, **** him.
He also has been let down by people in the afl whom he thought had his back in the way he preaches integrity and righteousness. Suck a egg Whateley.
I think hes crying more for the fact he didnt see it coming. Hahaha

Presti35 wrote:It's only a problem because of the club he plays for. Anyone that denies that is just plain ignorant.

Sums up the brouhaha perfectly.

I'm sure Stepho will pull his finger out of his bum and give us X-Factor going ito the finals.

All to do with the wording and I am sure the AFL will make sure it does not happen again, he was banned for matches not weeks/rounds. Legally according to the wording he can play after Friday and if AFL tried to say otherwise it could have been challenged and they would have realised it. I was surprised when I heard he was playing VFL, but not surprised when I saw the wording. Whether its morally right or wrong is a whole different argument. We had a win, how good is that.

Why shouldn’t we use anything to our advantage?

Moral integrity? Bullshit.

This is not a loophole, this is not even close to a loophole. If you want to know what a loophole is check the ruling on Barry Hall in the 2005 prelim. That’s a loophole. No I’ll correct myself that’s corruption.

Cam wrote:Gotta say, its a bit weird, but meh, will take it.

Friggin wierd: doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Then again the OTT penalty didn't either. Love it.

Gerard Whateley has been crying all morning on SEN and SEN is still going on about it. They keep saying it is a loophole. It is not. It was the way the penalty was worded, 10 AFL matches and all VFL games in between. I have just read about it on FoxSports.com.au and up pops an ad for sportsbet, Collingwood $1.35 Essendon $3.12. The whole issue resolves about AFL pushing gambling but being righteous about it as well.

So whately on SEN says:
"It’s a tremendous leg up for Stephenson to be able to play this weekend rather than go cold turkey into the first week of the finals without a competitive hit out since June 10."

So that's where he's coming from - he just wanted Collingwood to suffer on the field for the 1st final by having an underdone Stephenson. His agenda is all about punishing us further and hoping we pay the price on the field.

Seriously, Whately has become a sanctimonious flog. He's so far up himself he...

And the walking headline is back.
Good luck young man. Rub there noses in it.

Considering the AFL and media threw us under the bus.... Our club deserves praise for sticking it up them and scoring a goal against a system stacked against us for once.

We're talking about a dead rubber VFL game here.

If he returned to full training or played in an intra club match, would there be a problem? Probably. Because Collingwood.

If he played for another club, would it be an issue? No.

If we were not playing finals, would it be an issue? Doubtful. And what if he plays a stinker and is not selected the following week anyway? Would these people still be harping on about it? What if he was given a 9 week sentence, or even something much lower then that? Would it be a problem then? Or is it simply because people see "ten weeks".

Would it make everyone outside of Collingwood feel better if we didnt play him in the VFL? Maybe we shouldn't? Theres thousands of people wishing for him to do a bad injury.

We live in a world where Uber drivers touch up women and it gets 2 seconds on the news and Stevo is looked at as a worse person because he is a Collingwood player. Theres criminals who get given a long sentence are are let out early, do these same people get upset that they didnt serve the sentence given? Only when it's Andrew Krakouer i suppose.

Again, people only have an issue because of the club he plays for.

Pie-supporting journo Gleeson:

AFL understand irony better than integrity

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl ... 52jni.html

"This is a nonsense, of course, created by a quirk of the fact that the AFL team was nominated to play Friday night as part of the floating final-round fixture.
...

That he is now free to play is not a criticism of Stephenson nor Collingwood. They reasonably asked the question and were given a response by the AFL.

It is the AFL’s reasoning that is questionable.

I felt 10 matches was too long for someone who self-reported and whom the AFL had no way of proving committed the offence without their admissions.

No AFL player who knows they will get off if they keep their mouth shut will come forward again knowing they stand now to get at least 10 matches and probably a lot more.

But having been banned for 10 games, it is a silliness that he now plays on Saturday.
...

We should be little surprised, really. In the scheme of an AFL system based on a fixture that is so flawed, so hopelessly compromised and unavoidably unjust, this integrity issue barely registers."

Geebus people can bang on about bulltish.

Somehow, 1 VFL match after 10 weeks of training uninjured is all the match practice Stevo needs to supercharge him to single handedly carry the team to a premiership.

Presti35 wrote:We're talking about a dead rubber VFL game here.

If he returned to full training or played in an intra club match, would there be a problem? Probably. Because Collingwood.

If he played for another club, would it be an issue? No.

If we were not playing finals, would it be an issue? Doubtful. And what if he plays a stinker and is not selected the following week anyway? Would these people still be harping on about it? What if he was given a 9 week sentence, or even something much lower then that? Would it be a problem then? Or is it simply because people see "ten weeks".

Would it make everyone outside of Collingwood feel better if we didnt play him in the VFL? Maybe we shouldn't? Theres thousands of people wishing for him to do a bad injury.

We live in a world where Uber drivers touch up women and it gets 2 seconds on the news and Stevo is looked at as a worse person because he is a Collingwood player. Theres criminals who get given a long sentence are are let out early, do these same people get upset that they didnt serve the sentence given? Only when it's Andrew Krakouer i suppose.

Again, people only have an issue because of the club he plays for.

Top post Presti, nailed it.