As I said before I think the club got this 100% right.
I don't think they caved into the media. I think for the first time in a very long time the'y made a tough call on poor behaviour by our players. IMHO it's been along time coming. As I posted somewhere else:
"
the Club has acted swiftly and firmly - as a member I cannot ask for more."
Of the 4 the one I feel most for is Ben Cousins because he copping it from the media not becuase of what he did but because of who is and that is the disgraceful part.
As Ben has acknowledge that he probably dind't handle things as well as he should (although he gets a gold star from me for clocking Connors
) then that's good enough for me. Is he a deadman walking? No I don't think so because he has shown his actions on the field do the talking for him these days and I have no doubt they will for the remainer of the season
The one who should be copping it is Connors because this isn't the first time he as acted like a dill because he can't handle the grog or to be more precise doesn't know when to stop when he is downing the grog. How many chances do you give him? He has had warnings etc and still hasn't got through his thick skull that he is a professional athlete, who's been given a opportunity and that he has a responsibility to every single person associated with the RFC and that's not just his team mates, but staff, sponsors and us the members.
On the club supporting him I will repeat what I posted in the following thread:
http://oneeyed-richmond.com/forum//index.php?topic=10947.msg182440#msg182440"I can assure you the club has tried to help Daniel, he has been warned and the help has been there
but at the end of the day Dan Connors he has to want to help himself. Hopefully this is the kick up the bum he needs or he will become another waste of obvious natural talent"
As for being banished for six weeks and the comparison to Stokes - well Stokes was banished and not allowed to train at Geelong for about the same amount of time, he is only allowed to train with them again as of this week. But the best comparison to this sort of punishment is another Cat in Stevie Johnson - they banished him for 6 or so weeks and suspended him for 8 week or so in total. IMHO it was a defining moment for the GFC because their leadership group said "you break the rules you will not get away with it anymore" since that time they won 2 flags and are the benchmark of the competition. If we want to base ourselves on club in this comp, then Geelong is bloody good place to start.
As for Polo & McGuane - they missed recovery caused in part by trying to placate and drunken yobbo team mate. Harsh penalty perhaps but for missing recovery I would think it is spot on. Important thing now going forward is that this is the "norm" and not the exception for this sort of thing (missing recovery)
Finally, I think it was x who said "who cares about image?" Well rightly or wrongly image is so bloody important these days. The AFL is a multi million dollar industry and Richmond is a part of that. And in an industry where sponsors are paramount we do have to consider image
