Primus knocks Byron's bump
24 February 2005 Herald Sun
Andrew Capel
MATTHEW Primus is in hot water with Port Adelaide after yesterday launching an extraordinary spray at teammate Byron Pickett.
Speaking before Port lodged its appeal with the AFL, Primus described Pickett's hit on Crow James Begley as "stupid".
"It was a stupid act for him to do. I think we all think that and (Mark Williams) actually said (it) to him in our review on Monday," Primus said.
Primus will be called in to "have a chat" with chief executive John James after making comments seen to be detrimental to Pickett's appeal against a six-match suspension.
Primus even claimed some players thought Pickett would be suspended for six matches, although "I was thinking maybe four might be right".
Primus admitted Pickett tried to hurt players with his hip-and-shoulders and "get them off the ground".
"The worse thing about it was (there was) 30 seconds to go in the game," Primus said of the Begley incident, which left the Adelaide defender with a strained neck.
"If it was in the opening 10 minutes when tempers are going, all that kind of stuff, you probably say OK. But the last 30 seconds to go, the game's dead and buried and you know, what's the use of doing it?"
Football operations general manager Peter Rohde would not say if Port had any new evidence in the appeal.
Pickett remains ineligible to play against his former club, the Kangaroos, in Saturday's Wizard Cup clash at Telstra Dome.
Primus's comments would not have helped his chances of holding off the challenge of last year's stand-in skipper Warren Tredrea and captaining Port for a club-record fifth consecutive season, although James denied that Primus's comments would hurt his captaincy chances.
While concerned at the Pickett comments, James backed Primus and said he was confident the club's appeal would be successful.
"Matthew is a senior player and a great leader of our club," James said. "As with a lot of players who have individual media contracts, he offered an individual opinion. But, like a lot of players, he was unaware of the specific details of the case."
Primus also told radio SEN that Pickett's hit was unnecessary. Primus, who is contracted to SEN, said that while he didn't think Pickett tried to seriously hurt Begley, he needed to "make sure that when he does a hip-and-shoulder it's when a guy is standing up".
"People think he's a dirty player but a lot of time when he does get the guys it's a fair hit," Primus said. "He's just fantastic at doing it, unfortunately this one wasn't."
There was plenty of support among coaches yesterday for the new tribunal system.
Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade said the league had delivered on its promise of several seasons ago to clamp down on head-high incidents.
"For years they have signalled they were going to crack down . . . and they have. It was a dangerous incident," Eade said.
Lions coach Leigh Matthews said a former-player tribunal may be harsher on offenders than the previous panel.
"I don't like commenting on cases involving other clubs because it's bad karma, but the new tribunal system itself is transparent and there are procedures to be followed," Matthews said.
