Barry Hall says Vickery needs supportMark Robinson
Herald-Sun
July 28, 2014 10:13PMFORMER firebrand Barry Hall says Tyrone Vickery’s knockout punch on Dean Cox could “ruin” the maligned Tiger if he doesn’t get support from his club.
The match review panel on Monday sent the charge straight to the AFL Tribunal after grading the round-arm hit intentional and the impact on Cox severe — the highest assessment.
The panel had no choice but to order a tribunal sitting on Tuesday night due to the severity of its assessment.
Vickery has called Eagles veteran Cox to apologise but was unable to take an early guilty plea. He is looking at least at a four-week ban.
The ruck-contest round-arm was graded intentional (three points), severe impact (four points) and high contact (two points). Nine points is the trigger for a mandatory tribunal hearing.
Hall, who was suspended for seven weeks in 2008 when playing for Sydney for punching then-Eagle Brent Staker, said yesterday Vickery needed total support from Richmond.
“Damien Hardwick got whacked for supporting him, but I’m a big one in, yeah, whack them, but support them,” Hall said.
”It’s going to be a really tough for Tyrone and needs support because it could ruin him.
“You don’t need the relationship between yourself and the footy club to get in the way as well.
“If he admits he’s done something wrong, and he does, and he wants to improve and wants to gain trust back from the group, the club has to support him with that.”
It emerged on Monday that Vickery telephoned Cox at the weekend and apologised.
Cox said he accepted the call but admitted they wouldn’t be “best mates”.
“He personally apologised for the incident and wanted to make sure that my family were aware of that as well,” Cox told Perth radio station 6PR on Monday.
“It was good of him to actually ring and pass on his apology. I’ve been involved in footy for a long period of time and realise that things can happen that people don’t want to or don’t expect to happen.
“It was good to get the call from him. I wouldn’t say we’re best of mates, though.”
Hall relates the blow-up to his own hellish moment with Staker.
“It took me a long time to get the trust of the players back,” Hall said.
“Obviously I was out of the leadership group, which was fair enough because you have to show leadership on and off the field.”
Hall admitted the Staker incident haunted him more now than when it happened.
“It didn’t as much as it does now,” he said.
“Obviously the club put me through counselling to find out the sorts of reasons why I did that sort of stuff.
“But it’s not until now that you realise the severity of it. I’m embarrassed by it.
“Brent Staker is someone who also has to watch it, and his family, and that doesn’t sit right with me.
“There’s nothing I can do about it now, it’s something I can’t change and it bothers me now.”
He said he didn’t believe Vickery was a thug.
“It’s probably the first really bad thing he’s done on the footy field, he’s been a hothead but I don’t think it’s an issue for him,” Hall said.
“He will learn his lesson from this. The fallout will be huge for him, there will be a lot spoken about it, so he’ll realise the severity of it.
“Apologising and getting on the front foot was a good thing, even before the tribunal, it shows you’re willing to face up and cop what’s coming your way.”
http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/tyrone-vickery-referred-directly-to-the-afl-tribunal-for-hit-on-dean-cox-barry-hall-says-he-needs-support/story-fndv8w9k-1227004436829
