West Coast ruckman Dean Cox admits he’s not the “best of mates” with Tyrone Vickery, but was grateful to receive an apology from the Richmond big man.
Vickery is facing a lengthy ban after striking Cox on the chin with a roundhouse blow during the Tiger’s 17-point win on Friday night.
The incident has been referred directly to the Tribunal, meaning Vickery won’t have the chance to reduce his punishment with an early guilty plea.
Vickery publicly apologised to Cox on Sunday, and he also gave the Eagles legend a telephone call to express his remorse over the incident.
“He tried to ring me a few times,” Cox told Perth radio station 6PR on Monday.
“Obviously it was a number I didn’t know, so I didn’t answer.
“But he kept trying, so I answered and it was Ty.
“He just wanted to personally apologise for the incident and make sure that my family was aware of that as well.
“It was good of him to actually ring and pass on his apology.
“I’ve been involved in footy for a long period of time and realise things can happen that people don’t want to or don’t expect to happen.
“It was good to get the call from him. I wouldn’t say we’re best of mates though.”
Eagles players Mark LeCras and Luke Shuey were charged with misconduct offences after remonstrating with Vickery.
They can accept $900 fines with early guilty pleas.
Eagles vice-captain Josh Kennedy had no issue with the way his teammates remonstrated with Vickery.
But he would have preferred the Eagles hurt Richmond on the scoreboard.
Instead, Richmond lifted with the next two goals in what was a low-scoring game played in driving rain.
“It’s not like the old days I suppose when you could just go back in and have an all-in brawl,” Kennedy said.
“But I think the boys responded OK. What we wanted to do was respond and win the game and win the footy, which we didn’t really do, so it was probably the only thing.”
Don Freo
Guest
Isn't it funny that today is International Tiger Day
Pumping Dougie
Guest
True Don Freo, Ballas has a habit of doubling-over at shadows.
TomC
Roar Guru
495 points for VIckery. So he is just barely allowed to play the last game of the season. That seems almost fair to me. 5 weeks felt about right. This is just shy of that. I wonder if Hardwick will make him play in the reserves for the last round.
Don Freo
Guest
No one ever catches Ballas to hit him in the guts
AB
Guest
True, but Cox's elbow to Vickery looked particularly vicious. Not saying he deserved to get whacked in the face, but I was expecting that the MRP would cite him for it.
Pumping Dougie
Guest
TRUTH: The head is sacrosanct. Blows to the chest or guts - no matter how hard - are tolerated if the recipient is resilient enough to keep standing, but not if he buckles (like Hayden Ballantyne usually does).
Don Freo
Guest
Officials definitely have a different set of standards for the guns than they do for the no-names. I reckon Adam Goodes has missed about ten suspensions over his career, including his 2 Brownlow years, that other would have been rubbed out for. Even his jumping shoulder to the head earlier this year would have got Fyfe 6 weeks. Cox should have been at least reprimanded.
Don Freo
Guest
What about that brutal Nat Fyfe? Actually dared to try a football manouevre. Should have been red-carded.
AdamG
Guest
I'm surprised too, a big elbow like that would certainly knock the wind out of you. Cox deserved to get hit, it was just unlucky it knocked him out. in saying that, Vickery deserves a few weeks on the sideline for the crude hit. The AFL should tighten up on dodgy elbows, and I don't see how Cox didn't get charged either. He shouldn't get off just because he got KO'd.
Bomber
Guest
Cox has been whacking blokes for years about time someone give him one back !
Daza
Guest
I don't approve of the Vickery hit, but considering Cox, who is a rather large and strong man, gave Vickery a full on elbow to the chest which certainly appeared to hurt......well it's hardly suprising Cox got one back! I am actually suprised no one seems to care about the elbow Cox handed out? Apparently you can take cheap shots as long as you don't knock people out!
Pumping Dougie
Guest
I still can't understand why Campbell Brown got only 3 weeks for an unprovoked, disgraceful, king hit on Callan Ward 50m behind the play a couple of years ago (resulting in Ward leaving the ground). I thought that sort of incident was the ugliest in the game and the type we most want to stop. So if a serial offender like Brown gets 3 weeks for that, then if we use the same yardstick, Vickery should almost get off with a reprimand. Won't happen of course, largely because of the media attention (which differs from the Ward one).
Axle an the guru
Guest
Why would they be mates? They live on opposite sides of the country,they grew up in different states,never played junior football together,the days of having a beer with the opposition after the game are long gone at the top level,so how would they even know each other???
Michael huston
Guest
Can't believe talk of four weeks. It was pretty bad, but if Lake got four weeks for choking, this would have to be an inferior charge (I would've thought), though the fact Cox had to be subbed off probably doesn't help Vickery's cause. Good of him to apologize and be the bigger man and accept his wrongdoings, but shouldn't affect the result as far as I'm concerned. It was a dirty act deserving of about three weeks on the sides. After that just move on and forget it happened for both Vickery and Coxs sake.