AFL 2021: Bulldogs’ Caleb Daniel handed one-match suspension for dump tackle on Tom Berry
The Western Bulldogs may turn to an AFLW tribunal precedent in an effort to have a one-match suspension against Caleb Daniel for a dumping tackle overturned.
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Western Bulldogs best-and-fairest winner Caleb Daniel will need to mount a successful tribunal challenge to take on Gold Coast after being handed a one-match ban on Sunday night.
But the Dogs could use an AFLW tribunal precedent to see Daniel cleared to play.
Daniel was handed a suspension for his dumping tackle on Tom Berry after trying to dispossess the Lions midfielder.
The match review’s determination to protect the heads of players saw Daniel banned after he picked up Berry and helped propel him head-first into the Ballarat turf.
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Berry got up to receive his kick but match review officer Michael Christian elevated the force to medium given the capacity of the incident to cause serious injury.
Fremantle’s AFLW star Kiara Bowers had her one-match ban for a similar style of tackle on Melbourne’s Eden Zanker overturned by the AFL tribunal .
Remarkably, a tackle was much more severe but somehow was thrown out by the tribunal, which took seven minutes to overturn the charge.
Daniel had no intent to injure Berry, and could argue that he was attempting to turn his opponent in the tackle as he pitched forward.
The tribunal might have different members on its panel but the Dogs could believe it might make the same decision.
Daniel enjoyed the best season of his career in 2020, winning his first All Australian honours and edging out Marcus Bontempelli for the Charlie Sutton Medal.
Daniel was uncharacteristically quiet against Brisbane in the victory that took his side to an unbeaten 4-0 start to the season with only eight possessions.
But the league has been strong on its determination to crack down on head-high bumps and the kind of tackles that can see players concussed or left with even more serious head or neck injuries.
Nic Naitanui’s suspension for a driving, dumping tackle on Port Adelaide’s Karl Amon in 2018 signalled a shift that meant even tackles that didn’t have a slinging component could see players suspended.
The Dogs take on Gold Coast at Marvel Stadium next Saturday.
Brisbane’s Mitch Robinson was handed a misconduct fine after clashing with Josh Dunkley in the Ballarat clash.
Will it be new tricks or new home for Bulldog?
By Sam Landsberger
Mitch Wallis has been challenged to reinvent himself for the second time in 12 months after the arrival of Stefan Martin pushed the inside midfielder-turned-key-forward out of coach Luke Beveridge’s best 23.
Martin’s centre-square strength has spared Josh Dunkley from ruck duties and allowed 207cm target Tim English to float forward as a Paul Salmon-type, which has effectively made Wallis’s role as an undersized key-forward, next to spearheads Aaron Naughton and Josh Bruce, redundant.
Last year the Dogs targeted English inside 50m just 32 times from 18 games – less than half of the 72 entries speared at Wallis.
However, in Rounds 1-2 the Dogs went to English more than they did Wallis, who did not manage to kick a goal.
The Western Bulldogs vice-captain was devastated at his Good Friday omission and will use this week’s VFL bye to refresh before getting to work on changes he can make to reignite his career.
“Mitch and I have had some great conversations around some adjustments he can make in his game now,” Beveridge said on Friday.
“We know Mitch has been a midfielder and we know he can play a crumbing and a small-to-medium game as much as being a target on post-runs and hit-ups etc.
“The (vice-captaincy) title doesn’t really mean much. If Marcus (Bontempelli) isn’t playing he probably flips the coin. It’s kind of insignificant, really.”
Wallis, 28, falls out of contract this year and qualifies as an unrestricted free agent.
In 2018, he had dinner with Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan and champion Luke Hodge as he considered their contract offer before deciding to stay put with wife Emily.
The forward mix shows little sign of changing despite Wallis being on the edge of the All-Australian squad last year as a super-effective marking target and No.1 pick Jamarra Ugle-Hagan waiting in the wings.
The Dogs believe Martin, 34, has many years in front of him because the former basketballer was late to football.
Beveridge has been thrilled with the forward synergy and believes Bruce’s bag of 10 goals last week was down to the first-class delivery rather than the AFL’s rule changes.
Bruce dropped several kilograms during an off-season training regimen in Canberra with St Kilda captain Jack Steele and went sober three months ago.
But in 2020 Wallis goaled from 21.1 per cent of entries sent his way – ranked No.1 in the AFL, ahead of Geelong’s Tom Hawkins (20.5 per cent), West Coast’s Josh Kennedy (18.6), Jack Gunston (17.5), Jeremy Cameron (16.5) and Harry McKay 916).
Wallis also boasted the third-best retention rate inside 50m, behind Bailey Fritsch (Melbourne) and Hawkins.
It was remarkable reprogramming after the contested midfielder was squeezed out of an engine room buoyed by a fit-and-firing Tom Liberatore.
While Wallis’s retention rate remained high in Rounds 1-2, he missed a costly set-shot from 5m late in the third quarter against West Coast.
Like all Victorian draftees, Ugle-Hagan did not play a game last year and is a long way off AFL match fitness and has run out of puff late in VFL practice games.
Forgotten man, and former Lion, Josh Schache would probably be the next man in on current form.
The Dogs wanted clarity from the AFL umpires this week over the four 50m penalties paid on Good Friday, with Laitham Vandermeer giving away two, Lachie Hunter one and North Melbourne’s Josh Walker one.
Vandermeer ran through the protected area while tracking Jack Ziebell and then ran off the mark too early while manning a kick-in. Hunter fell off the mark too early and was pinged under the new rule.
‘My rock bottom’: Dunkley reveals sickening online abuse
By Jon Ralph
Western Bulldogs star Josh Dunkley has spoken about the savage trolling of AFL players, revealing a fan sent him a Google map screenshot detailing the spot he should commit suicide after a 2018 game.
Dunkley said he had botched an easy goal that cost the Dogs the Round 4 match against Sydney, with the Swans snatching the contest in part because of his error.
With his Instagram direct messages open, he received a flood of abuse that included specific directions about how to end his life.
His former teammate Travis Cloke told the Herald Sun’s Sacked podcast last year he feared a player would self-harm after a torrent of abuse, calling on the AFL and social media giants to protect players.
Dunkley said he was already in a vulnerable state given the consequences of the loss, writing in an ESPN column he was still shocked at the message.
“By the time I had showered, packed my bags and arrived home, it was close to 10pm. There was not a single second where I wasn’t replaying that dropped mark over in my head, berating myself for the mistake,” he said.
“In my desperation to try and switch off from what had happened a few hours earlier, I decided to lean on social media. It’s fair to say, that wasn’t the greatest idea I’ve ever had. What I saw horrified me.
“My Instagram DMs were overflowing with literally hundreds of abusive messages, but one of them really stood out. Someone had actually sent me a Google Maps screenshot which had directions from Marvel Stadium to the West Gate Bridge.
“Here I am, just a 21-year-old kid, being advised by a disgruntled ‘fan’ to commit suicide after making an error in a game. No matter what the coaching staff and senior players tell you, you can’t help but feel responsible for the loss when you see something like that.
“Seeing that image made me feel sick to my stomach. Without any doubt, that was the lowest I have ever felt after a game. It was my rock bottom. All I wanted to do was hide.
“After a night of tossing and turning in bed, I decided to report the offenders and actually change my Instagram profile to ‘private’. I also learned a valuable lesson that day: never check social media after a game, particularly a loss. It’s something I still practice today.”
Cloke said last year players were addicted to their phones and vulnerable to the kind of messages post-match they would normally laugh off.
“I truly do believe we will push the line with social media and someone will actually self-harm before we do get some really good results out of this,” he said.
“You walk into the room, sing the song if you have won, sit on the ground for a couple of minutes if you have lost, and then walk to the locker and grab your phone.
“You haven’t even had the coach’s address, haven’t spoken to an assistant coach, haven’t spoken to your wife, girlfriend or family.
“You grab your phone and that was not just me, it was 21 other players in the dressing rooms doing the exact same thing ... and back at the end of my career you weren’t allowed your phones …. but the boys still had their phones, don’t worry about that.”
* For help with emotional difficulties, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or www.lifeline.org.au
‘We expect nothing less’: Bevo defends provocative star
Luke Beveridge has launched a fierce defence of star midfielder Bailey Smith after criticism he mocked an opponent in an Allen Iverson-style “step-over” move.
Dermott Brereton said he hated the look of Smith mocking opponent Brad Sheppard in the Round 2 win over West Coast after he kicked a goal and provocatively stepped over the fallen Eagle.
It brought to mind NBA star Iverson’s disrespectful step over on fallen opponent Tyronn Lue after draining a shot, with Brereton calling it the “humiliation of the vanquished”.
He also brought up Smith getting in the face of North Melbourne captain Jack Ziebell after a Dogs goal, worried those kinds of actions were taking the gloss off Smith’s brilliant game style.
But ahead of the clash with Brisbane in Ballarat, Beveridge backed in Smith as a fierce “Bulldog”.
“I love Derm. I do know about it. I think it’s just you can imagine Bailey’s game and the banter and the voice out there in his direction and the physical side of the game.
“A couple of instances have been highlighted in regard to Baz and what he is doing and I love the way ‘Baz’ plays, he is such a proud player, a competitive AFL beast and he’s not going to change or step away from the confrontational side of the game. He will fly the flag for his teammates and definitely fly the flag for himself.
“Those instances are just a build up of what has happened through the course of the game and we would expect nothing less. Deep down he’s a very humble person. When he crosses that white line he’s a Bulldog.”
Smith will be part of Bulldogs midfield core that will take on Brownlow Medallist Lachie Neale, with Beveridge not afraid to tag him if the star gets out of control.
Neale got away from the Bulldogs last year, tallying 36 possessions and a goal, with in-form clearance specialist Tom Liberatore the likely tagger or at least “cooler” if he gets out of control again.
“It’s a misnomer we won’t go that way,” Beveridge said of a Neale tag.
“The last three times we have played Brisbane we have run with Lachie. Libba has done some terrific jobs but the last time we played Brisbane, Lachie was their best player, so as a group we weren‘t able to quell their influence. It’s always a consideration.”
The forecast for Ballarat is a showery day with wind upwards of 30km and up to three millimetres of rain.
The Dogs train at a windy Whitten Oval and are happy to take on the Lions away from Marvel Stadium but know they need to play a specific way at Mars Stadium.
“It might be a bit damp. The main one is wind. There will be a significant breeze down the left-hand end as far as the broadcast goes and we have already talked about that and what it means for the defensive structure and our numbers game and how we go about that.
“That is probably the quirk. Most of the grounds we play on, there is some wind but it swirls and it’s mostly down one end.”
The Footscray side has a rest week before the VFL season starts next weekend so Mitch Wallis will not get to push his case for a senior game.
Beveridge said Jamarra Ugle-Hagan was progressing well but still needed to be fit enough to run out a full game as he improved his professionalism after no football in 2020.
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