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Tarrant to beat ban
20th June 2007, 7:45 WST
Fremantle forward Chris Tarrant is poised to escape suspension for punching a Northern Territory political candidate and football coach, with the Dockers expected to fine him $10,000 and give him a suspended sentence.
Fremantle yesterday asked the AFL to conduct an independent investigation into the incident. The West Australian understands that Tarrant does not dispute that he struck ALP candidate Damian Hale, but has hotly disputed that Hale’s female companion was offended by him exposing part of and slapping his buttocks.
The club has also asked AFL investigator Allan Roberts to look into Hale’s behaviour immediately before the punch was thrown.
The club is bracing itself to publicly defend a fine in the current climate of a crackdown on player behaviour.
Even the size of the fine will be contentious, because while this is Tarrant’s first official blemish at Fremantle, a $10,000 sanction would assume that Tarrant’s punch constituted a second offence in the wake of his role in a nightclub brawl last year while a Collingwood player.
The penalty would also fly in the face of forward Jeff Farmer’s sixmatch suspension for assaulting a nightclub bouncer and calls from critics like columnist Robert Walls for Tarrant to be rubbed out for the rest of the season.
The Dockers will argue that there were no charges laid in this case.
Fremantle president Rick Hart said the club wanted facts that weren’t tainted by either the club’s or Hale’s self-interest.
“To get a degree of independence we thought it was advisable to have the AFL suss it out as well,” he said.
Part of Tarrant’s punishment will be for his failure to properly inform the club about the incident.
“The concern we have is that we weren’t aware of it, so it’s a situation of a player not keeping the club informed in an adequate time frame,” Hart said.
He said the club did not regret the harsh penalty dished out to Farmer and claimed that the club’s perilous ladder position would not influence them in Tarrant’s case. “We don’t look at the ladder position. If Tarrant gets suspended he gets suspended. That’s all there is to it,” Hart said.
Meanwhile, Docker Heath Black has told of his fears for assistant coach Mark Harvey’s life after he was kinghit outside the nightclub.
Black said the incident was triggered when a girl from a crowd heckling the Dockers threw a stubby in their direction. “From there she got volatile and then from out of the blue I heard this thud on the ground,” Black said.
“As I turned, it was Mark’s head hitting the ground. It was unprovoked . . . cowardly, a king hit at best.”
Black said the unknown male assailant fled while he and other Fremantle people ran to Harvey’s aid.
“I thought he could possibly have died on the ground, that was how I felt,” he told 6PR.
“He was unconscious for two to three minutes . . . and I must say there wasn’t too much help around the area. The security at the nightclub was terrible, there was no help from them.”
MARK DUFFIELD
Tarrant to beat ban
20th June 2007, 7:45 WST
Fremantle forward Chris Tarrant is poised to escape suspension for punching a Northern Territory political candidate and football coach, with the Dockers expected to fine him $10,000 and give him a suspended sentence.
Fremantle yesterday asked the AFL to conduct an independent investigation into the incident. The West Australian understands that Tarrant does not dispute that he struck ALP candidate Damian Hale, but has hotly disputed that Hale’s female companion was offended by him exposing part of and slapping his buttocks.
The club has also asked AFL investigator Allan Roberts to look into Hale’s behaviour immediately before the punch was thrown.
The club is bracing itself to publicly defend a fine in the current climate of a crackdown on player behaviour.
Even the size of the fine will be contentious, because while this is Tarrant’s first official blemish at Fremantle, a $10,000 sanction would assume that Tarrant’s punch constituted a second offence in the wake of his role in a nightclub brawl last year while a Collingwood player.
The penalty would also fly in the face of forward Jeff Farmer’s sixmatch suspension for assaulting a nightclub bouncer and calls from critics like columnist Robert Walls for Tarrant to be rubbed out for the rest of the season.
The Dockers will argue that there were no charges laid in this case.
Fremantle president Rick Hart said the club wanted facts that weren’t tainted by either the club’s or Hale’s self-interest.
“To get a degree of independence we thought it was advisable to have the AFL suss it out as well,” he said.
Part of Tarrant’s punishment will be for his failure to properly inform the club about the incident.
“The concern we have is that we weren’t aware of it, so it’s a situation of a player not keeping the club informed in an adequate time frame,” Hart said.
He said the club did not regret the harsh penalty dished out to Farmer and claimed that the club’s perilous ladder position would not influence them in Tarrant’s case. “We don’t look at the ladder position. If Tarrant gets suspended he gets suspended. That’s all there is to it,” Hart said.
Meanwhile, Docker Heath Black has told of his fears for assistant coach Mark Harvey’s life after he was kinghit outside the nightclub.
Black said the incident was triggered when a girl from a crowd heckling the Dockers threw a stubby in their direction. “From there she got volatile and then from out of the blue I heard this thud on the ground,” Black said.
“As I turned, it was Mark’s head hitting the ground. It was unprovoked . . . cowardly, a king hit at best.”
Black said the unknown male assailant fled while he and other Fremantle people ran to Harvey’s aid.
“I thought he could possibly have died on the ground, that was how I felt,” he told 6PR.
“He was unconscious for two to three minutes . . . and I must say there wasn’t too much help around the area. The security at the nightclub was terrible, there was no help from them.”
MARK DUFFIELD
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