Geelong coach Chris Scott has joined the refrain of voices calling for change, labelling the AFL’s equity standards for main awards such because the Brownlow Medal and Rising Star a “relic”.
While discussing Harley Reid’s two-week ban for a slam sort out on younger Saint Darcy Wilson – that makes him ineligible to win Rising Star – on AFL 360, the premiership boss mentioned the equity standards weren’t created with fashionable thresholds in thoughts.
“Harley, it was poor execution, but I don’t think anyone is thinking all of a sudden he is labelled as an unfair player, and he should be deprived of winning awards for the rest of the year,” he mentioned.
“Everyone thinks he should be suspended in the current era, but my point is when these things were implemented, especially with the Brownlow, you could punch a player behind the play and not get suspended. Now, because the benchmark for being suspended is much tighter, the awards haven’t moved with it.
“I think it’s a relic of the past. It doesn’t make sense to be part of the criteria now.”
Fellow younger gun and Rising Star fancy Sam Darcy was additionally eradicated from competition for the award after he was suspended for a late hit on Collingwood’s Brayden Maynard in a marking contest.
“Say in the 20s or 30s, the fairest element was real. No one is looking at that incident (with Harley) or Sam Darcy’s and thinking they shouldn’t be eligible for an individual award because they are not fair players,” Scott added.
“I think coming out of the game (through suspension) is punishment enough.
“If you miss four or five games through injury, you can’t win the Brownlow.”
Veteran AFL reporter Mark Robinson disagreed, saying tackles similar to Reid’s should be eradicated from the sport whereas including he thought Darcy’s incident had little to do with a soccer act.
“I disagree strongly,” he mentioned.
“I thought what Sam Darcy did was not a really good act whatsoever.
“And with (Reid’s), what stood out to me, with that tackle, was it had almost been eliminated from the game, that really aggressive throw down.
“So, when I saw it, it was really quite stark to see that happen, and with concussion as prevalent, I think we need to be very much aware of the impact of concussion and stamp it out.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
