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AFL’s most notorious antagonist Josh Carr is in need of some protection from umpires, according to Fremantle coach Mark Harvey.
For the fourth time in three seasons, the Dockers will lose Carr to suspension this week, with a three week ban coming after a guilty plea to kneeing Geelong superstar Gary Ablett Jr last Friday night.
But rather than defend Carr’s aggressive streak, Harvey today took the opposite tack, claiming Carr himself cops his share of opposition aggression – while also being the most scrutinised player in the AFL for his discipline.
“Josh regularly gets called up every Monday. Gets scrutinised heavily, more heavily than any other player in the competition I reckon,” Harvey said.
“And a lot of things happened to Josh last Friday night, a lot of things, and no-one wants to bring them up.
“We are not a club that complains to the AFL, but a lot of things happened … unfairly.
“It would be fair to say we are not happy with the treatment Josh gets on a weekly basis.
“I think the star players get a lot of treatment, but I think just as much the taggers or the guys that have big jobs cop as much treatment.”
As Carr’s rap sheet grows, so does the length of sentence of any future transgression, but Harvey said today such was Carr’s buffeting at the hands of the Cats he would have missed this weekend’s clash with Melbourne.
“Josh probably would not have played the game anyway with the injury he sustained from the game on Friday night,” Harvey said.
“And I think you will find that happens a lot.
“Josh does some pretty close checking jobs for the team, and therefore the opposition tends to go after taggers.”
And with the Dockers in Melbourne this weekend, Harvey said he may take up the opportunity to talk to the AFL about Carr’s record.
Fremantle will also be without defensive duo Roger Hayden and Antoni Grover, both injured last week, while Steven Dodd is also in doubt.
And although the fixture has been dubbed the “Who Cares Cup” in some quarters, Harvey said his side had nothing to take for granted.
“What people say about Fremantle, that is up to them. We go out there to be competitive, and hopefully we have a standing ovation like we had on Friday night,” Harvey said.
“We have got nothing to be complacent about ourselves, we have only won one game, and what we have got to do is back up that (Geelong) performance.
“I am trying to stabilise the team, but at no stage this year have we been able to do that through a number of guys missing through injury.
“We are bringing in some young players who are adding some spice and excitement to the group.”
Two more of those could be added to the squad to take on the winless Demons, with Brock O’Brien and Andrew Foster in consideration, along with Aaron Sandilands’ ruck deputy Robbie Warnock.
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