libba_report

Tony Liberatore has been suspended for 5 games by the tribunal on Wednesday night for striking Matthew Knights of Richmond.

On Saturday when the incident occurred, no one bar a few players knew what happened. Today is Thursday and still nothing has changed. There was no video footage. That didn't stop every man and his dog giving their opinion on what happened, what Libba and the Bulldogs should do etc etc.

Earlier in the week the Bulldogs called a press conference where Libba, the president and the coach were present. Libba was there to tell his side of the story. He said he acted in self defence and apologised to Knights.

The following day, Libba was charged with striking after an AFL invesigation.

By the time Libba was before the tribunal he had been called on to retire by a former Richmond coach, Terry Wallace had been accused of instructing Libba to go after Knights and there were demands for Libba to be banned for 12 months. With the amount of media attention this was getting you would have thought Libba did the worst thing anyone has ever seen on a football field, when the fact is not one of these people had seen or knew what happened.

At the tribunal Knights claimed to have not seen what happened. Teamate Wayne Campbell said that Libba struck Knights intentionally. Richmonds assistant coach said the same. Meanwhile, Libba maintained that he was acting in self defence and that Knights was running at him so he lifted his arm to fend him off. Matthew Robbins and the Dogs assistant coach who were also witnesses claimed that is what happened as well.

In the end it was one clubs word against another. Libba did plead guily but his claim of self defence is a far cry from Richmonds claim of basically king-hitting behind the play. By suspending Libba for 5 matches it must be assumed that the tribunal believed Richmond, without any evidence.

To rub more salt into the wound Knights and Campball weren't charged with striking. There was clear video evidnece of this, yet it was ignored. They were only charged with being involved in a melee but Campbell and Knights meek fines of $3000 and $2000 respectively was pathetic.

The Western Bulldogs have had to cope with a huge amount of bad publicity this week by the media. It is an absolute discrace that the Richmond players haven't been penalised sufficiently for their involvement when there was actual video evidence of their players doing the wrong thing. It all seems very fishy to me.