The Melbourne Football Club has dropped a bombshell this week leading up to the start of its indigenous round having named Liam Jurrah to play this weekend for the club in its clash against the Sydney Swans.
The question does have to be asked: does Jurrah deserve a second chance?
Without going into the much reported specifics, there has been a lot of off field controversy involving Liam Jurrah before the start of the season this year, which resulted in the 23-year-old forward getting into trouble with the law.
But does this off field incident tarnish his reputation and his right to play the game.
In the eyes of the law, every individual is seen as innocent before proven guilty. Their are sceptics that do claim that people who hold a position of power or fame in society are given favouritism over people of the general population.
Is Liam Jurrah counted as one of those people?
As someone who has faith in our justice system, I do not believe that Jurrah will get special treatment.
I could sit here all day naming AFL players who have had run ins with the law. For example Ben Cousins, Alan Didak, Heath Shaw, Brendan Fevola have all had their share of legal troubles. In that list of names, I can already name a few that have been given more chances than they have deserved – specifically Cousins and Fevola.
Ben Cousins was only sacked from the Eagles after a string of incidents finally came to a head when he was caught with possession of drugs in 2007. Despite ongoing reports that he was out of control, it took this incident for him and the Eagles to part ways. He was sacked the next day for bringing the game into disrepute.
Brendan Fevola was also given many more chances than he deserved. Any die hard football fan can remember his drunken behaviour at the Brownlow Medal. He was traded by Carlton in 2009 to Brisbane due to his off field behaviour, only to be sacked by Brisbane one year later for the same reason.
Does this incident his tarnish Jurrah’s reputation? Maybe. However, it is up to the justice system to decide whether he is guilty of a crime.
Does he deserve a second chance? Being as this is Jurrah’s first real serious off field incident, he certainly does.
And he should play this weekend. Keeping his mind focused on football is probably the best thing for him
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