Injuries & Suspensions

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Docker cut down by another soft-tissue setback
Travis King
Aug 7, 2018 7:15PM


Stephen Hill was injured in last Sunday's loss to West Coast
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CLASSY Fremantle half-back Stephen Hill could be on ice for the rest of 2018 after suffering another quad setback in the Western Derby.
It will be the fifth time this season the 28-year-old has been sidelined by a soft-tissue problem.
Meanwhile, the Dockers have poured cold water on superstar midfielder Nat Fyfe's hopes of returning from a hamstring strain against cellar-dweller Carlton on Sunday.
Key defender Joel Hamling also won't return after hurting a calf at training last week.
Hill will be sidelined for at least the next two matches – adding to the six he has already missed - with no guarantee of a final-round comeback against Collingwood.
"Stephen had a small quad strain that was a re-strain from an injury earlier this year," high performance manager Jason Weber said.
"He's pulled up pretty well this morning and we'll get him back to training as soon as possible."
Fyfe has been out of action for five matches after hurting his hamstring in round 16 against Brisbane, and was hopeful of a comeback against the Blues.
"I'll be knocking the door down to play next weekend coming against Carlton," Fyfe told ABC Grandstand before the Derby.
"I had eight kilometres of run today, 1000m (at) high speed, so in hamstring terms I'm fully rehabilitated."
But the skipper is still listed as one-to-two weeks away on Freo's official injury update.
The Dockers are still without veteran ruckman Aaron Sandilands (calf), and haven't set a timeframe for his return.
It is also unclear if injury-plagued Harley Bennell will be available after another calf tweak cost him a long-awaited comeback in the Derby.
If Bennell was to play this weekend it would have to be at AFL level given Fremantle's WAFL alignment club Peel has the bye.
Weber said 18-year-old Andrew Brayshaw would consult a dietician for a nutrition plan due to his inability to eat solid food for a month after undergoing surgery for a broken jaw and displaced teeth.
"Andy's pulled up really well. Obviously, his jaw is compromised from an eating perspective so he's working hard with our dietician on an eating program," he said.
"His spirits are good and he'll be back in as soon as he can."
 
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Most will probably disagree with me but 8 weeks is a little too excessive for me, 5-6 would have been more appropriate. He didn't intend to hit Brayshaw in the head unlike Barry Hall and Tom Bugg, It only ended up that way as Brayshaw dropped his body.

Absolutely disgusting stuff from the Victorian Media these last few days as well, He never stood a chance of a fair hearing.
 
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Fair enough that he will miss finals. I think the tribunal should be able to stipulate finals in their penalty. If it had happened earlier in the year he would of been fresh for the finals. Maybe 5 home and away games and all finals for 2018. If it had been a lesser incident it might be 3 home and away games and 1 2018 final if his team plays a final.
 
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Most will probably disagree with me but 8 weeks is a little too excessive for me, 5-6 would have been more appropriate. He didn't intend to hit Brayshaw in the head unlike Barry Hall and Tom Bugg, It only ended up that way as Brayshaw dropped his body.

Absolutely disgusting stuff from the Victorian Media these last few days as well, He never stood a chance of a fair hearing.
i would have thought 6-7, they put in a good defence for him. Hopefully he can just move on now, but feel it will linger in the media for a few weeks.
 
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Extract from afl website on Sicily.

Sicily is the interesting one.

"Scaphoid injuries can be challenging because you never quite know how they’re healing, but his function is good, he’s back training and it’s all looking good at this stage," Russell said.

"We’ll need to rescan in the next few weeks and decide when we’ll see him out there again this year."
Indeed, but I take some heart from Sicily's interview on the Sunday footy show where he seemed honestly confident he'd be back by round 23, so I've penciled him in for a round 22 return o_O.
 

IDIG

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Most will probably disagree with me but 8 weeks is a little too excessive for me, 5-6 would have been more appropriate. He didn't intend to hit Brayshaw in the head unlike Barry Hall and Tom Bugg, It only ended up that way as Brayshaw dropped his body.

Absolutely disgusting stuff from the Victorian Media these last few days as well, He never stood a chance of a fair hearing.
I think seth said Hall was 10 down to 7 so 8 for Gaff seems about right in comparison (to the 10), especially if you factor in modern day views on coward punches etc.

I don’t think the tribunal could go light on this one. It had to be a figure that most would consider adequate otherwise the backlash would’ve been huge. Rightly or wrongly seems that’s how they’ve landed on 8, if 3 is the starting point.

You can also be certain that taggers willl be on the umps radar this week.
 
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Most will probably disagree with me but 8 weeks is a little too excessive for me, 5-6 would have been more appropriate. He didn't intend to hit Brayshaw in the head unlike Barry Hall and Tom Bugg, It only ended up that way as Brayshaw dropped his body.

Absolutely disgusting stuff from the Victorian Media these last few days as well, He never stood a chance of a fair hearing.
Respectfully disagree. There are two types of intent here if you want- the intent to hurt once he decided to throw a fist and where he intended to land the punch.
Where Gaff tried to hit Brayshaw is less relevant than the fact he intended to throw a punch and hurt him. Once he decided to punch then he was accountable for the damage caused, even if it didn’t land in its intended location and regardless of whether or not Brayshaw took a step or not.
8 weeks is about right, I reckon.

The confronting aspect of Hall’s footage for me is how clearly you can see the visceral detail - like how Staker’s eyes roll back into his head. The camera has caught it front on and clearly. With Gaff, we’ve only seen a relatively far shot and it doesn’t contain the detail of Hall’s image (thankfully). They’re both as bad each other. The sooner any sort of punching the opposition is removed from the game, the better.

Gaff seems like a pretty good bloke from what Ive seen so far. He has slipped up here and in a way is lucky that he is an AFL footballer and not just some average joe. Hope he bounces back from this. And that Brayshaw recovers as well as possible considering the damage he has sustained.
 

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Just waiting on CD to amend his starting price accordingly. :p
If only! If it turns out that he only misses the one H&A game to start the year, I’m sure some will be tempted to start him as a donut if they get a good emergency rookie score.
 
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Most will probably disagree with me but 8 weeks is a little too excessive for me, 5-6 would have been more appropriate. He didn't intend to hit Brayshaw in the head unlike Barry Hall and Tom Bugg, It only ended up that way as Brayshaw dropped his body.

Absolutely disgusting stuff from the Victorian Media these last few days as well, He never stood a chance of a fair hearing.
I bit my tongue last night when you blamed the AFL and the umpires and now you blame the Victorian media and the tribunal for not acting impartially. Are you sure you didn’t see that guy on the grassy knoll hanging around?

I think you need to face the fact that Andrew Gaff is an adult and is ultimately responsible for his own actions regardless of what contributing factors may have existed. Any number of AFL footballers are in the same situation every week and don’t react in that way.
 
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I bit my tongue last night when you blamed the AFL and the umpires and now you blame the Victorian media and the tribunal for not acting impartially. Are you sure you didn’t see that guy on the grassy knoll hanging around?

I think you need to face the fact that Andrew Gaff is an adult and is ultimately responsible for his own actions regardless of what contributing factors may have existed. Any number of AFL footballers are in the same situation every week and don’t react in that way.
It is pretty obvious the media has gotten out of control on this, similar to the Cameron hit. Didn't Bugg throw a similar punch for 6 and didn't quite get the hysteria we had with Gaff, nor with the Cotchin incident which may well have gifted Richmond a premiership. Problem is Bugg should have gotten more and so should have Cameron, then 8 would sit about right versus those two incidents.

Not sure I buy into Gaff aiming for the shoulder, think he had good line of sight and was frustrated. Didn't show immediate remorse at the time if it was a genuine accident (kept running towards the play). Thought 6 weeks based on Bugg incident and probably should have had 1 week deducted given amazing history of no fines/reports.

I do agree that umpires need to crack down on player interference that Brayshaw was up to (which doesn't condone the action). Saw Ablett arm getting held onto at a centre clearance and he raised his arms in a plea (when free) to the umpires which received nothing. That's the ongoing blight on the game.

Does this make it more likely for him to stay at WCE to repay his dues?
Think you are right. Victorian media whipped up such a stir, don't think he will want to move back to Victoria and will feel guilty. Likely played into WCE hands.
 
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So Gaff gets 8 weeks, whilst Andy Bradshaw has months of consultations and thousands of dollars surgery to fix the damage done. By all means I believe this was an accident but it doesn’t change the fact it has happened. Accident or on purpose aside the way that Gaff has carried himself has been of top class throughout accepting full responsibility (as he should). I believe whilst the punishment is on the extreme side, so is the actions that took place on Sunday. This recently happened on the streets and the concreter in the cctv images has been absolutely put through the ringer since then. The way the media has handled all this and the Gaff incident is a reminder as to what is that makes me not my watch any of these programs. Yes they are bad incidents report it that day and get over it there’s no need to drag this stuff out over days, weeks and months. It seems as though all these guys are focused on reporting is all the negativity that is going on. I’m sick of it. Back to the Gaff incident it is a bad look for the game and I fully understand why they have come up with this punishment. We don’t want this filtering down to junior footballs of whom these professionals are mentors and hero’s to. I believe that Gaff is a good bloke with a good nature but I believe like Chris Scott said on afl show last night. Good people do bad things. Accident or no accident it’s a bad look and needs to be stamped out of the game.
 
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Does this make it more likely for him to stay at WCE to repay his dues?
I'm thinking he may cop a lot of flack when he is in public places, maybe for a long time, so moving interstate might be a smart move.
He's under a lot of pressure at the moment, and more pressure from the public could not be good for his mental state, hmmm, I hope he is mentally strong.
 
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Oh LITS your bias is insane.

Brayshaw lowered his body... The AFL... the umpires... the Victorian media...

Anyone else you think should share the responsibility for a west coast player punching someone in the face? Perhaps he had a bad night's sleep which made him cranky so the manufacturer of his bed should also put their hand up too?

Hes a grown man who elected to throw a punch. Brayshaw is eating through a straw for the next month. Take your west coast hat off for 2 seconds and get some perspective.
 
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I think he should have been banned enough games to finish this season should WCE get to the final. So if they won the premiership he would start R1, if not, he gets a few more games. Does that make sense?
 
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