Eagles midfielder James Boyd slams decision to allow North Adelaide into SANFL grand final
NORTH Adelaide’s historic SANFL premiership was met with anger from a Woodville-West Torrens player last night after his team was denied a grand final spot in the controversial 19th man preliminary final saga.
- Live blog recap: How the game was won
- Gallery: 2018 SANFL Grand Final in pictures
- Analysis: Roosters create their own legend
- Match report: North’s remarkable rise to SANFL crown
NORTH Adelaide’s historic SANFL premiership was met with anger from a Woodville-West Torrens player last night after his team was denied a grand final spot in the controversial 19th man preliminary final saga.
As the Roosters were charging towards their first premiership since 1991 against Norwood at Adelaide Oval, Eagles midfielder James Boyd vented on Facebook at what he claims was a major injustice.
A week earlier the Eagles lost to North Adelaide by five points and it was later revealed the Roosters had played with 19 men on the field for 3mins 39secs of the final quarter.
A tribunal hearing on Monday night allowed North to progress to the grand final but they were fined $10,000 and docked four premiership points for next season due to their gross negligence.
“We as a playing group don’t hide away from the fact we were 47 points up during the game, North have been a great side all year and play an exciting, fast paced brand of football that can score quickly,” Boyd wrote on Facebook.
“However, momentum is a funny thing in football. And one that can not be measured.
At 3qtr time it was a 20 point deficit, not 40 odd points and in a final that’s nothing! For a team to then start the last quarter with 19 players on the field, have numerous inside 50s, score 1.2 in that time to bring the score back to 2 goals early in the last qtr completely shifted the momentum.”
Boyd said the Eagles would have been happy to play North Adelaide in a rematch during the week if it had been offered by the retired Supreme Court Judge who made the tribunal ruling.
“Isn’t that the whole point of getting another body in to make the decision for you? Yet he wasn’t allowed to make the decision he deemed fair,” Boyd wrote.
“For the AFL to come out and say their governing body would have changed the outcome and overturned the result had this happened in an AFL game is telling you something.
“He then goes on to say that the reversal of the result is too savage a penalty?? Did he consider that not reversing the result was equally a savage penalty to the Eagles? If we break that down, the Eagles were the innocent party. The penalty for the Eagles was elimination. North were the guilty party (grossly negligent — at fault). The penalty for North was elimination. Why is it that the penalty for North is too savage, when that is precisely, in effect, the outcome for the Eagles?
“How every expert that has played or been involved in the game, greats of our game, people who have been around football or reporting on it for a long time can see exactly what the right and fair outcome is and yet (they) can’t absolutely staggers me!
“Coming from a players point of view, how our season has been made to come to an end not to mention the club, families, supporters, and wider communities it has and will continue to effect, think everything’s fine now and we’ll sweep it under the carpet with the grand final this weekend is an absolute travesty in itself. It’s something my teammates (brothers) and I will take sometime to get past and something we won’t ever forgive or forget with the way it was handled and dealt with.
“A rematch at the absolute bare minimum was what should have taken place.”
reece.homfray@news.com.au