Collingwood coach Craig McRae has urged his players to keep protecting their teammates following the wild melee on the Gold Coast. A total of 24 charges were laid from Saturday’s spiteful clash between the Magpies and Suns, but only Gold Coast forward Ben Long (two games) received a suspension.
Fines for Maynard and Miller
Collingwood defender Brayden Maynard and Gold Coast’s Touk Miller both escaped with $5000 fines for making contact with an umpire as they raced in to be part of the melee. Long’s whack to Maynard’s ribs floored the Magpies vice-captain just before halftime, sparking the chaotic scenes.
McRae's stance on team protection
“You’ve got to tread carefully on the rules at times, but when someone’s coming for one of our players off the ball, you’ve got to stand up for yourself,” McRae said on Tuesday. “We want to make sure we’re that club. Don’t leave a guy out on the island if you know he’s getting heavily tagged. But within the rules, because we don’t want to give away free kicks and goals. This game is too tight. We give away a goal from any of those situations, we don’t win that game.”
Umpire contact concerns
The AFL has made efforts to offer better protection for umpires, warning clubs they risked fines of up to $50,000 for multiple incidents of running into officials. But the umpiring fraternity feel the crackdown hasn’t gone far enough. “We have expressed our view that the current MRO (match review officer) guidelines are deficient because they provide no ability to suspend a player unless contact with the umpire is intentional,” an AFL Umpires Association statement on Monday night read. “The increases of umpire contact over recent years has proven that fines are not an effective deterrent. Where contact with an umpire is forceful or avoidable there needs to be an ability to suspend players.”
Maynard injury update
McRae said Collingwood had taken the mandate from the AFL seriously. “We want to play a part in that, that’s significant and making sure this game operates well,” he said. “But I do think it (Maynard’s contact) was incidental.” After the game, Maynard declared he might have a “broken rib” because of the contact from Long. But McRae laughed that off, declaring the 29-year-old fit to take on North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium on Friday night. “That’s probably an exaggeration from ‘Bruzzy’ (Maynard),” McRae said. “He hasn’t had it scanned or anything, trained really well today and he’ll be fit and firing.”
Pendlebury and Quaynor availability
In a further boost for Collingwood after their six-point win over the Suns, McRae expects veteran Scott Pendlebury to be available to face the Kangaroos after being a late withdrawal last Saturday. McRae did rule defender Isaac Quaynor out of returning from an ankle injury. “Pendles trained (on Tuesday), and he’s put himself up to be available,” McRae said. “Quaynor’s not quite there. He did most of the session and then got a little bit sore late, so he’s close, but he won’t play this week.”
