If the AFL is serious about head protection, Luke Hodge must be rubbed out.
Luke Hodge, like former Hawthorn champion Leigh Matthews, has established a reputation for a game built around toughness and unwillingness to physically compromise. His team prides itself on ‘unsociable football’, playing on the edge of the rules and bullying opponents into submission.
However, his unprovoked attack on Andrew Swallow earlier this season, along with last night’s vicious, neck-snapping bump on Chad Wingard, will have gone some ways to altering public perception of a player who is held in high stead down a notch – if the public’s condemning of Adam Goodes’ semi-fictional ‘dirty play’ is any measure to go by.
Hodge’s reputation as a champion footballer and an inspirational leader – and a great bloke – must not be allowed to get in the way of any MRP or tribunal hearings. Far too often incidents involving high profile players are swept under the rug, from Joel Selwood gouging Ben Howlett’s eyes being uncited by the MRP to Lance Franklin only receiving a one-game suspension for a head high bump on Shane Edwards.
The sycophantic media, notably the Channel Seven commentary team were happy to underplay Friday night’s incident despite having the slow motion vision of Hodge clearly intending to bump Wingard’s head, an act by itself worth a few weeks on the sidelines – let alone when Hodge had the Port Adelaide player’s head lined up with the goal post.
If the AFL is serious about protection of the head then Hodge shouldn’t be seen in the first week of finals. If that makes Hawthorn’s job harder in Perth, so be it. If it means that we see a good player rubbed out for a big final, taking it down a peg for the neutral crowd, so be it.
The players who are most respected by their peers shouldn’t be let off lightly, as it sets an example to the rest of the league. Play recklessly beyond the rules and you can get off, as long as you’re already held in good public stead.
Unfortunately, due to a multitude of factors, it’s likely Hodge will escape any meaningful sentence. The aforementioned champion reputation and the increased likelihood of leniency for star players, on top of Wingard’s lack of injury, serious or otherwise, will not bode well for those hoping to see an adequate punishment.
The final nail is Wingard’s comments in the media, where he said on 3AW that he had ‘the utmost respect for Hodgey’, and that he would be ‘disappointed if [Hodge] got more than one week’.
Playing the straight bat in the media aside, Wingard could have easily had his neck broken by the reckless act. The AFL’s policy of determining a punishment based on injury will come back to bite them, when someone gets seriously injured because no appropriate deterrent punishments have been handed out.
Do the right thing and rub Hodge out for the thug act he committed and don’t take his public reputation into account while doing it. Or don’t, in predictable MRP chook lotto fashion.
Mike
Guest
Bill - I agree. I cannot imagine any act that would have more potential to cause serious damage than Hodge's hit on Wingard. Now we have the MRP's finding and Hodge will miss only 2 games. No wonder the MRP is treated with such derision.
Mike
Guest
Selwood wacking hitman Guerra. I'd say that's poetic justice.
Mike
Guest
Luke Hodge is a great footballer. However he has a history of delivering cheap shots. This latest one was vicious because it could have ended a player's career. The AFL (in the guise of it's puppet the MRP) needed to send a strong message but it chose not to because Hawthorn has such a large and lucrative fan base. Not surprised with that. Of course Hodge is just one of several Hawthorn players who are following coach Clarkson's directive to physically hurt your opponent whenever the opportunity arises. If you are late to a marking contest at least you can knee the oponent in the back or get him with a swinging roundarm. When the AFL brought in the rule to stop slide tackles it took away one of the preferred techniques of several Hawthorn players including Hodge and Lewis. It has forced them to find other ways to hurt their opponents.
andyl12
Guest
Glad you replied Dylan. Now that we've gotten to know each other a bit, I'll be looking out for your articles in future to make sure you're not just an overzealous Hawthorn-basher.
Dylan Waghorne
Roar Rookie
Since you asked James Hird got beaten from pillar to post by the media at large, save for the likes of Mark Robinson. Totally fine. I mentioned Joel Selwood in the article and how he got off without even a citation for eye gouging earlier this season. Goodes is a different kettle of fish, his reputation as a 'dirty player' is an incredibly overblown, hyperbolic argument from his detractors. There's some stuff he does wrong, he has a history of throwing unsuspecting players into marking contests which could cause injury. Outside of that, he's a pretty clean player. He's done nothing near comparible to Hodge's two suspensions this season. I didn't bother mentioning a name like Selwood beyond one sentence because it isn't about him. That's pretty obvious to most people. A waste of words, arguing about an unrelated player in a piece specifically about another.
Bwite
Guest
Your comment is a mass of contradictions. '...never done anything on a football field that can be definitively labelled as malicious or vicious...' Yes he has, on Friday 21st August. '...has he done a Barry Hall on Brent Staker?' Yes, again last Friday, and he actually did something that could easily have resulted in death or quadriplegia. '... I’m sure if he knew his actions would result in either suspension or injury to his opponent, he wouldn’t do it.' How can you possibly be sure of that? His bump on Chad Wingard was potentially one of the most dangerous things I've seen in any sport in that it could have resulted in a death, and you can't get deader than dead.
Bwite
Guest
I'm a Port barracker and I've been picking the Hawks to win the GF all year. That said, Hodge should get four or five for what he did. You can kill a bloke, depending on a few centimetres, doing what he did. It's just not on.
Don Freo
Guest
If you read comments other than your own, you'll have read my opinion.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
I'll chip in in the gap. Going for the ball, copped him high-ish with his arm, but missed the head. Free kick was all that was worth. Throw it out.
andyl12
Guest
I asked twice because you didn't answer the first time. Now I'll ask a third time- how many weeks should he get?
Don Freo
Guest
That's the second time you've asked that. Do you have the hots for him? I think he looks a bit...unusual. With a hair cut...maybe even 2 or 3 out of 10..
johno
Guest
What odds can I get for 2 weeks max? There is no way the MRP will ban the Hawks captain from a week or 2 of finals.
andyl12
Guest
Don- you've got it wrong. Now tell me, should Fyfie get nothing because the umpires think he’s good looking?
Don Freo
Guest
The article and the weekend is about Hodge. Why should they mention Goodes, Hird or Selwood? You are defending Hodge. You think what he did should be replicated around the junior footy grounds of Oz, don't you?...or have I got that wrong?
Wilson
Roar Guru
I as a Hawks supported do not agree with what Hodge did, it was not good. I still think with The MRP he will get 3 Weeks down to 2 or let him off all together it all depends on MRP at the time.
andyl12
Guest
I'm not supporting Hodge, I'm just annoyed that certain people are singling him out for criticism- where were all these people when Goodes, Hird, and Selwood were behaving just as bad or worse? Yes, that's right, they were behaving like disciples of those people.
slane
Guest
Pretty sure Adam Goodes either holds the record for most games without being reported or is 2nd on that list... You Goodes booers are utterly ridiculous.
Don Freo
Guest
It's the measure of the man you seem to be to find you supporting what Hodge has done. I am not surprised that you are happy with that. It's you all over. Lacking courage and sniping. That describes Hodge and you. (Fancy turning this into an Adam Goodes thing.)
andyl12
Guest
There are plenty of other people I could bring up, one being James Hird. Too many at Essendon and in the media judged him on his reputation and not on the shocking things he did as Essendon coach. Another is Joel Selwood, who in 2011 got four weeks for smashing Brent Guerra after trying to say it wasn't him. Again, he remains a media darling. I would like Dylan Waghorne to give me his opinion on these two, as well as Goodes. Then he can say whether Hodge is worse than these three and if so he should give us reasons why.
I hate wimpy men
Guest
Andy112- your a goose if all you can do is refer to Adam Goodes everytime there is a post on Afl. Now that is a massive chip on one shoulder! Also tell us all about Adam Goodes and his bumps and the relation to Luke Hodge. Also why dont you bring up other players who have used the bump illegally? Why only Adam Goodes?