Tuesday, April 03, 2007

No tribunal trip for Hodge

Hawthorn ball-magnet Luke Hodge will be free to play in round two after receiving a reprimand for his indiscretion against Brisbane veteran and blog favourite Nigel Lappin. Unfortunately for DT coaches who had Hodge ($352,700, ctr) in their midfield, the Hawk did not register a kick with the statisticians when he booted Lappin.

He did, however, rack up five frees-against (-15 points), which could make him something of a liability in a season which will see umpires pay more free kicks than ever before.

The AFL match review panel also dismissed charges against Matthews Whelan (Melbourne) and Pavlich (Fremantle), and Jordan Lewis (Hawthorn), Alwyn Davey (Essendon) and Luke McGuane (Richmond).

Fremantle full-back Steven Dodd will miss a week after doing a barn-dance on top of Port Adelaide's Damon White, while Kangaroos midfielder Jess Sinclair and Adelaide backman Nathan Bassett will take their rough conduct cases to the tribunal tonight. Regardless of the outcome, the length of the potential suspensions (one game at this stage) means only the most skittish DT coaches will trade them this week.

UPDATE: Both Bassett and Sinclair are likely starters in round two after being cleared at the tribunal tonight.

Merv Gray.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Man, you've got way too much time on your hands. Surely not. So, having seen no footage of any AFL games last weekend, did Hodge get off lightly or what? And are the Hawks at least a minor threat on Easter Monday?

Chook said...

Melbourne has lost six on the trot (Freo final, four pre-season games and last week against Saints) so the Hawks have to be a Chance Bateman.

Herald Sun reckons Hodge was very, very lucky.

Look forward to chatting with you soon, herbert.