Are you sure your interpretation is not coloured by who was on the end of it Sheik? As others have said the head is sacrosanct - end of story.

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"Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot about puppies." - Gene Hill

Blow it out your arse !!

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GROUND ZERO + DRAFTING YOUTH = SUSTAINED SUCCESS

Just the sort of anal response I was expecting from the 'Protect Ryan's Hair & Beauty Committee'. Give me a break .............

I couldn't give a rat's clack who was on the receiving end, the fact of the matter is that the hip & shoulder was legitimate.

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GROUND ZERO + DRAFTING YOUTH = SUSTAINED SUCCESS

Jaysus, I've got the Sheik in my corner.

Maybe I was wrong...

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Richard Pratt - A Carlton legend.

No, you are 100% correct this time around Deano. This will be further fleshed out later in the year as you so correctly pointed out, a Carlton player will be in hot water for a similiar offence and everyone will go ape-droppings stating that it was nothing.

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GROUND ZERO + DRAFTING YOUTH = SUSTAINED SUCCESS

Medhurst made two mistakes, he jumped off the ground to make the bump, and he hit Houla in the head. That's why he got a week.

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"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

And further to that he had no intention of going after the ball. The player (in this case Houlihan) with their head over the ball must be protected.

Doesn't matter who it happens to, Carlton or otherwise, a hip and shoulder front on to the head against a player with his head down over the ball is a dog act, much like what Long did in the 2000 Grand Final.

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|♥♥♥♥♥♥| http://www.blueseum.org |♥♥♥♥♥♥|

If it was a Carlton player who hit an opposition player in the same manner I'd have been be thinking "Oh shit, how many will he get for that".

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"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

Struck by a handbag of butterflies.

This is how the match review panel assessed the incident:

Medhurst has been charged with a level three offence of engaging in rough conduct over his clash with Carlton's Ryan Houlihan on Saturday night.

The incident was assessed as reckless conduct (two points), medium impact (two points), in play (no points) and high contact (two points) equating to 225 demerit points and a two-match ban which will reduce to just 168.75 points and a one-game suspension if he pleads guilty.

Clearly they don't think it was legitimite.

in fact i think medhurst is lucky it was only considered medium impact. looked like heavy contact to me.

Houlihan's head was not over the ball.

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Richard Pratt - A Carlton legend.

Probably because Houla wasn't KO'd & was able to keep playing. If that had happened it would have been severe & he would have got a greater penalty.

Ok, so it may not have been directly over the ball, but he had eyes for the ball and Medhurst did not.

I'm not a Houligan fan but I agree with slo mo..I thought Houlihan was eying the football in a slightly bent over position and Medhurst lined him up and had no interest in the ball at all....Medhurst cited and suspended is the correct decision IMHO...

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"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

If the ball is within ten metres then a hip and shoulder is allowed, eyes for the ball or not.

If what medhurst did is illegal then a great part of this game has been thrown away.

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Richard Pratt - A Carlton legend.

Yeah but you are a paid up member of the 'Protect Ryan's Hair & Beauty Committee' aren't you Elwood.

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"Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot about puppies." - Gene Hill

I can see where you're coming from Deano, hip and shoulders are allowed, but in this particular case the contact was to the head. You just can't do that anymore.

The only thing that would've saved Medhurst from suspension, is if he made some attempt to get the ball. Instead he just lined up Houlihan's head with his shoulder.

Contact to the head is illegal, the AFL have been very clear on this in recent seasons with the number of players rubbed out for high bumps.

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"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa