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Richmond triple premiership hero Bachar Houli is in a stable condition after being airlifted to hospital following a horror car crash.
According to the Herald Sun, Houli broke his pelvis and suffered several other serious injuries after a ute he was in rolled several times in an incident near Canberra, with the 35-year old airlifted to a Melbourne hospital for further treatment.
His condition is reported to be stable.
Houli, who retired in 2021 after 232 AFL games with the Tigers (206) and Essendon (26) was a key member of the side which won three premierships between 2017 and 2020.
Finishing second in counting for both the 2017 and 2019 Norm Smith Medals to celebrated teammate Dustin Martin, Houli’s kicking skills and cool head off half-back made him a fan favourite.
The first devout Muslim and just the third overall to play at the highest level, he established the Bachar Houli Academy in 2012 to help provide an AFL elite development pathway for young Muslim footballers, receiving the Award for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding from the Australia Day Council in the same year.
Bachar Houli (Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)
Carlton coach Michael Voss has slammed the Blues’ alarming lack of pressure during their latest loss to Essendon, as pressure continues to mount on the embattled figurehead.
The Blues have slumped to 15th on the ladder after their 34-point loss at the MCG on Sunday night, with the Bombers breaking the game open with a seven-goal third quarter blitz.
Damningly, the Blues laid just seven tackles for the quarter, with Voss describing their lack of pressure as ‘unacceptable’ after the match.
“We are frustrated about a certain aspect of our game right now that isn’t ticking over as well as we’d like,” Voss added in his press conference.
The Blues’ tackle numbers were slammed by former great Jonathan Brown on Fox Footy, with the three-time Brisbane premiership hero questioning whether the players have ‘lost spirit’ amid their dire start to the year.
“Late in the game, they certainly lost hope and probably lost effort with that,” Brown said.
“What is it? Are you looking at the players going, they are not trying, they’re lacking the effort, or they’ve just lost hope and they’ve lost spirit?
“I feel like Vossy is the cricket captain that keeps having to move the field after the ball’s gone through that area. Where does he start?”
The Blues mustered just 33 tackles, their lowest tally in eight years, for the match, with nearly half coming in the first term alone – alarming numbers according to former Collingwood coach and captain Nathan Buckley.
“My old coach Robert Walls once pulled me up and said you’ve had one tackle in four weeks – this isn’t going to cut it,” Buckley said on Fox Footy.
“Six [tackles] in the second, six in the third, six in the fourth… they are ridiculously low numbers, and speaks to what’s going on here.
“Are you prepared to have a real crack here? Are you prepared to take that last step to put the pressure on? Because it indicates that they weren’t.”
Despite pressure mounting, Voss, who was given an unequivocal vote of confidence pre-match by club CEO Brian Cook, says he still feels he has the club’s backing to remain in charge.
“What I‘ve always felt from the entire club is support – support for our program and what we’re trying to achieve,” he said.
“There’s some medium things that we need to be able to get after and there’s some longer-term things that we need to be able to get after as well.”
The Blues, who have now lost six consecutive games and have beaten only lowly West Coast since Round 4, face a much-improved Gold Coast outfit next week in what looms as their final chance to turn their season around.
A combined display from Carlton and Essendon honouring the two clubs’ successful history at the MCG before their Sunday night clash has copped an almighty wave of criticism from the footballing world.
The two teams, who lead the VFL/AFL with sixteen flags apiece, lined up all 32 of their collective premiership cups around the centre circle before the match, with the Bombers celebrating the 30th anniversary of their 1993 grand final win.
However, with both teams enduring barren runs in recent years, with the Blues failing to make finals since 2013 and the Bombers having not won a final since 2004, the show of past glories was deemed ‘a load of posturing’ by fans on social media, among other insults.
Former Melbourne great Garry Lyon, too, was unimpressed.
“Carlton’s last premiership was 1995. Their last finals win was 2013,” he said on Fox Footy
“For the Essendon footy club, their last premiership was back in 2000. Their last finals win, you’ve got to way back to 2004.
“Whilst this is magnificent and it’ll be a great picture and the 80-odd thousand people at the ground will be appreciating the historic nature of these might two mighty footy clubs, the sad, hard reality is success has been hard to come by in recent years.”
Collingwood expect Josh Daicos to play against Melbourne despite the star midfielder battling illness in the build-up to the King’s Birthday blockbuster.
Daicos was named in the squad alongside brother Nick, after the pair and famous father Peter pulled out of a private function they were due to appear at on Saturday night.
Josh Daicos did not train that morning because of his illness, though Nick completed the session with his teammates.
Several other Magpies have dealt with varying degrees of illness in recent weeks.
“We’ve had a bit of a virus. I think it might be this time of year,” coach Craig McRae said last week.
“I got it last week and it’s just going through the place but we’re very strict on your ability to come in (to the club) with anything.
“We’re pretty strict on our protocols right now … we’ve just got to be diligent.”
Josh Daicos celebrates a goal with Scott Pendlebury. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Collingwood (11-1) are looking to move a game clear on top of the ladder with a ninth straight win and made just one change to their selected side to face third-placed Melbourne (8-4).
Hard-running Patrick Lipinski will play his first game of the season after recovering from shoulder surgery, replacing suspended star Jordan De Goey.
Magpies forwards Will Hoskin-Elliott and Beau McCreery were also selected despite lingering concerns over ankle injuries sustained during the last-start defeat of West Coast.
Dan McStay (finger) and Jame Elliott (shoulder) were declared fit to return from injuries by McRae last week but did not make the cut.
Melbourne also made just one change, recalling defender Michael Hibberd in place of premiership teammate Jake Bowey (concussion).
Hibberd missed the win Demons’ win over Carlton in round 12 because of soreness.
(AAP)
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