New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nTHILTHORPE BANNED FOR STRIKING, RACHELE FINED FOR STAGING<\/p>\n
Adelaide star Riley Thilthorpe has been given a one-match ban for striking Hawthorn ruckman Lloyd Meek, while Josh Rachele has been fined for staging.<\/p>\n
Thilthorpe\u2019s strike to Meek\u2019s body occurred in the fourth quarter of Thursday night\u2019s game at UTAS Stadium and was graded as intentional conduct and medium impact with body contact. <\/p>\n
The Crows have a bye next week, before Thilthorpe would miss the club\u2019s clash with Geelong in Round 13.<\/p>\n
He could be replaced by veteran forward Taylor Walker, who\u2019s set to return from injury via the SANFL this weekend.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Rachele copped a $1000 fine with an early plea for a staging incident in the second quarter of Thursday\u2019s game. <\/p>\n
MINI\u2019S PENDLES TAG HINT<\/p>\n
Whether West Coast opts to tag Scott Pendlebury in his record-breaking 433rd game on Saturday afternoon has become a talking point, and Eagles coach Andrew McQualter has hinted at his intentions. <\/p>\n
Quizzed on added motivation for the Eagles in a fixture that\u2019s all about an opposition player, McQualter told SEN Breakfast on Friday morning: \u201cI think there\u2019s a little part of it that we can use for sure. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut we don\u2019t really need any extra motivation as a football club at the moment. We\u2019re on our own journey, we\u2019re working really hard to improve our game, and we\u2019ve got a lot of work to do, and we\u2019re really committed to doing that work. <\/p>\n
\u201cI appreciate that it\u2019s a big game, but for us, that\u2019s not our role in this game – our role is to do whatever we can to win the game of football.\u201d<\/p>\n
On whether the Eagles show Pendlebury more physicality, McQualter said: \u201cIt\u2019s a really interesting point, and I\u2019m not sure that I\u2019m going to speak to it at all, to be honest. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to make too much of a big deal of it; it\u2019s already a big deal for these guys. A lot of them haven\u2019t played in front of 90,000 people before – that comes with its own emotion. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think you can get caught up in it a little bit too much as well, and knowing Scott, as soon as the ball\u2019s bounced, it\u2019s just another game of footy, like any other final or big game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Probed on whether West Coast would look to tag Pendlebury, McQualter succinctly said: \u201cI\u2019m not going to share my secrets yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
McQualter noted the dangers of assigning a run-with player to Pendlebury. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing with the Pies is they\u2019ve got guns everywhere on the field, so you\u2019ve got to be careful of who you tag and how you tag,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think you see that all the time with teams tagging Nick Daicos – they can just manipulate things, they\u2019re so experienced, they can move pieces around. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we\u2019ve got to be careful not getting too caught up in that as well – they\u2019re a good, experienced team, and they can beat you in multiple ways.\u201d<\/p>\n
AFL legend Jason Dunstall said on Fox Footy\u2019s post-game coverage on Thursday night that \u201cI don\u2019t think \u2018Mini\u2019 (McQualter) would do that (tag Pendlebury)\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201c(But) he won\u2019t be charitable \u2026 you\u2019re out there trying to win a game of footy. <\/p>\n
\u201cWest Coast goes there knowing that there\u2019s a lot of focus on everything bar them – they can just attack the ball and have a crack at it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It comes after West Coast premiership defender Will Schofield urged his former side to tag the Collingwood legend. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d love to see Brody Hough go to Scott Pendlebury. I really would,\u201d Schofield said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t say he\u2019s a passenger in this side. He\u2019s incredibly influential, and I reckon a lot of Nick\u2019s (Daicos) touches come off a Scott Pendlebury clearance.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could do worse than to tag Scott Pendlebury in his record-breaking game. That would be the ultimate respect, making it a hard day for him and making sure he doesn\u2019t have a good day. I hope West Coast have that attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watson flattened in HUGE hit | 01:56<\/p>\n
MITCHELL LIFTS LID ON EPIC SPRAY<\/p>\n
Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has explained the reasoning for his scathing coaches\u2019 box spray on Thursday night. <\/p>\n
After Nick Watson kicked the Hawks\u2019 third goal of the game in the second quarter, the broadcast panned to the coaches\u2019 box, where Mitchell – with his neck veins pulsating – got on the phone and let someone at ground level know his thoughts. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe needed to perform at a higher level, and the standards that we knew were required to win games like that,\u201d Mitchell revealed post-game. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we weren\u2019t living up to (those), and then after that, did well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitchell\u2019s four-time Hawthorn premiership teammate Luke Hodge said on Seven that \u201cI\u2019ve played a lot of footy with this man – I\u2019ve never seen him that angry in the coaches\u2019 box\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo Hodgey himself, he\u2019s seen me pretty angry a few times – probably just at him some of those times – but he\u2019s been just as angry at me,\u201d Mitchell joked in response in his press conference. <\/p>\n
Swingman Blake Hardwick was the star for Mitchell\u2019s side in its narrow nine-point win over the Crows at UTAS Stadium, booting four majors. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe ability to create score form isolated one-on-ones was a challenge, and Blake was really important for us in those moments,\u201d said Mitchell. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a phenomenal footballer, his contest is outstanding, he\u2019s a beautiful kick and he\u2019ll get a lot of credit for tonight and so he should, but he should\u2019ve a lot of other weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday he kicked four, regularly he\u2019s stopping four or more.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pleased he\u2019ll get a bit of credit because he deserves it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In terms of where Hardwick\u2019s future lies, Mitchell admitted the forward switch may not be viable long term. <\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t got past this game just yet,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure whether they (Hardwick and Jack Gunston) can both play deep forward. <\/p>\n
\u201cI suspect he\u2019ll end up in defence again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hawthorn stalwart Gunston missed his second week straight with a foot sprain, but Mitchell is hopeful he\u2019ll be back in the side to face St Kilda. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe was not ruled out until the middle of this week,\u201d said Mitchell. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe could still do some straight line running, just the turning that he wasn\u2019t feeling quite confident enough, we\u2019ll see if that turns a corner. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had three five-day breaks in the last seven games, so it\u2019s been a difficult management schedule for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should get a bit more continuity with our players, and hopefully Jack will be through the other side of it now.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow we structure up for the Saints game, we\u2019ll work it out during the week.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 with NCA NewsWire\u2019s Chloe Williams. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Crows star has been suspended, while another gun has been fined for staging. Plus West Coast coach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":687028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9126,8406,63,689,330975,68923,327004,1119,1127,7492,330972,43,239013,12102,12149,2504,26512,330971,330974,44,61822,677,8015,17286,35344,668,330970,12936,330973,19083,1122,219714,330969,41,39,42,40,660,45705],"class_list":["post-687027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-adelaide-crows","tag-andrew-mcqualter","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-box-spray","tag-eagles-coach","tag-epic-spray","tag-football-club","tag-fox-footy","tag-hawthorn-hawks","tag-hawthorn-stalwart","tag-headlines","tag-interesting-point","tag-jack-gunston","tag-jason-dunstall","tag-lifts-lid","tag-luke-hodge","tag-multiple-ways","tag-neck-veins","tag-news","tag-nick-daicos","tag-oceania","tag-opposition-player","tag-premiership-defender","tag-premiership-teammate","tag-press-conference","tag-run-with-player","tag-sam-mitchell","tag-score-form","tag-scott-pendlebury","tag-st-kilda","tag-straight-line-running","tag-talks-coaches","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-victoria","tag-will-schofield"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=687027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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