Cats, Freo Reel After Clashes
The Age
Monday July 14, 2008
A STRING of injuries, the fallout from Dean Solomon's crude elbow into Cameron Ling's face and possible sanction from the match review panel for several Geelong players have ensured an explosive aftermath to Saturday's spiteful clash between Geelong and Fremantle at Skilled Stadium.
Cats midfielder Ling will be sidelined for up to a month with a compressed fracture of his cheekbone.His teammate Gary Ablett is almost certain to miss Saturday's top-of the-table clash with the Western Bulldogs and could be in doubt for the following week's game against Hawthorn.The Cats will limp into the sold-out game against the Bulldogs with a compromised midfield, with ball carrier James Kelly also in doubt because of a calf strain, and injury doubts about several other players.Ling had surgery yesterday after copping an elbow to the face from Solomon. He was in severe pain from the injury because of pressure from the fracture on eye socket nerves .Scans to Ablett's ankle of revealed he had no structural damage after rolling an ankle late in the second term, but had injured ligaments.Corey Enright (foot) and Max Rooke appeared hindered late in the game, although Cats coach Mark Thompson insisted they had only cramps because of the extra workload with a two-man interchange.It is believed defender Matthew Scarlett also still has soreness in his hamstring.Joel Corey, who revealed he was on the verge of signing a new three-year deal with the Cats, yesterday accused Solomon of acting outside the spirit of the game.The former Essendon premiership player apologised immediately after the game and admitted it was the lowest act in his career.Corey said he was sickened by the hit and was the first in to remonstrate angrily with Solomon."I've met Solly a few times and I know he plays the game hard and I'm sure he didn't intentionally mean to do something like that," Corey said."But it's just not in the spirit of the game, especially when it happens to one of my teammates and a bloke I've played a lot of footy with. You just don't like to see that in the game." Solomon will probably be sent straight to the tribunal for his crude hit on Ling.The best Solomon can hope for is that the match review panel classifies the incident as a level-five offence. Once his 30 per cent loading and carryover points for prior offences are also considered, a guilty plea would leave him with a four-match ban.Injured Docker Paul Hasleby, who was sitting in Fremantle's coach's box when Ling went down, said Solomon asked for permission from the match committee before apologising to Ling on a television broadcast from the rooms on Saturday night, describing it as one of the lowest points of his career.Hasleby said Solomon was visibly upset afterwards and remorseful."We have had a very poor record at the tribunal," Hasleby said. "I think this year it's been improved. No way am I condoning what happened but those who know Dean Solomon know it's not in his nature to do that kind of thing."Geelong was tight-lipped yesterday over the incident, but acknowledged Solomon's remorse. "We respect the fact that he felt the need to publicly apologise," Cats football manager Neil Balme said.Geelong will also sweat on several apparent indiscretions by up to three other 2007 premiership stars.Cameron Mooney appeared to strike a left-hand blow to the back of Rhys Palmer's head while Josh Hunt hit defender David Mundy with a right forearm to the jaw. Jimmy Bartel also appeared to land a high bump on Palmer.
© 2008 The Age