Ty shouldn't have done what he did. I wished he hadn't but, after the event, I'm not unhappy that he did.
It's a competitive field but my lowlight of this turgid season is the Cotchin-Macaffer brouhaha when our captain was rag dolled all night without the slightest indication that anyone was willing to do something about it.
Cox swung an elbow at Vickery and he got knocked out for his troubles. Ideal? Far from it. Necessary? Not even close. But as Dermie points out Cox has got away with that caper his whole career. As fine as that career is, he threw one too many elbows on Friday night.
Richmond needed to stopped being bullied to be relevant again. Perhaps it peaked at Cotchin-Macaffer and ended with Ty? It wasn't tough or courageous, but it could be a message to everyone else.
Ty will get whacked at the tribunal and rightly so. He's got more than a few factors working against him: he knocked him out with a punch (doesn't sound great when you put it like that), it was a Friday night, it dominated 24 hours of footy discussion and he took down Bambi. You take down Bambi at your own peril.
If Ty was Stefan Martin, Cox was Charlie Dixon and this had taken place yesterday, we'd barely have heard a murmur about it. But Ty is Ty, Cox is Bambi, if your aunty had balls she'd be your uncle and Ty is headed straight to the tribunal on Tuesday night.
If a free kick had been paid against Cox for the swinging elbow, which exhibited by the meek 'Deano, no' warnings, the umpire saw, it would never have happened. But that's no excuse for knocking someone out. It's bad umpiring though and they shouldn't be calling players nicknames, but that's a completely different rant.
It's a 4-5 week job that will see out Ty's year and is a good chance to get a jump on his pre-season with the usual shoulder clean up taking place in August rather than September. It could give Ben Griffiths a month to show everyone he's up to it and bump up his trade value from a fifth to a third rounder.
In the meantime, let the character assassination continue. Not many people like you Ty, but I do.
Votes
5: Brett Deledio
4: Dylan Grimes
3: Nathan Foley
2: Matt Thomas
1: Ivan Maric
Leaderboards
The Benny
28: Brandon Ellis
27: Dustin Martin
25: Trent Cotchin
20: Jack Riewoldt
18: Alex Rance
14: David Astbury
13: Shaun Hampson
11: Bachar Houli and Ricky Petterd
10: Daniel Jackson and Brett Deledio
8: Reece Conca and Anthony Miles
6: Steven Morris, Matt Thomas and Ty Vickery
5: Shane Edwards and Nathan Foley
4: Sam Lloyd, Dylan Grimes and Shaun Grigg
3: Troy Chaplin
2: Nick Vlastuin, Nathan Foley and Chris Newman
1: Ben Griffiths, Orren Stephenson, Matthew Dea, Ivan Maric and Ben Lennon
Blair Hartley Appreciation Award
13: Shaun Hampson
11: Bachar Houli and Ricky Petterd
8: Anthony Miles
6: Matt Thomas
4: Shaun Grigg
3: Troy Chaplin
1: Orren Stephenson and Ivan Maric
Anthony Banik Best First Year Player
4: Sam Lloyd
1: Ben Lennon
Joel Bowden’s Golden Left Boot
11: Bachar Houli
4: Shaun Grigg
3: Troy Chaplin
Greg Tivendale Rookie Medal
8: Anthony Miles
6: Matt Thomas
1: Orren Stephenson
