Those shoes he went back for must be pretty good.

I asked that very question in the Cultures and Values thread Bluegirl.

I'm astounded at the response on here. Have we learned nothing? On the one hand, everyone cries and laments that we don't have the culture that Sydney has, or Geelong has, that we lack the leadership to be a Premiership team. But then when something happens that demands strong leadership, that gives the Club the opportunity to begin to change its culture, to establish standards and levels of behaviour that will not be compromised, suddenly everyone is gun shy, suddenly it's the AFL driving the media to put pressure on us.

It's actually really simple. Scotland went out and king hit someone. He is a repeat offender. He put himself in a situation where he got into trouble. If our Club is going to demand uncompromised behaviour and performance from its players (and staff), then this cannot be tolerated. The Club should be strong, firm, and quick in its behaviour. It should drive the punishment, not be fighting the AFL to get Scotland a lighter penalty. Three weeks, four weeks, season proper. Make everyone at the Club understand in no uncertain terms that this is unacceptable behaviour. Make Scotland feel like not only has he behaved unacceptably, embarrassed himself etc, but that he has let down his teammates. his coaches, his Club and the supporters. And then, he won't do it again. Did we learn nothing from Fevola?

That is what Sydney and Geelong would do.

And that is how you go about changing the culture of a football club, and developing strong leadership.

..that's pretty weak i reckon.. ..why should we measure ourselves up against another club's "standards", especially in a case where many of us believe they were nowhere near strong enough..

..the very fact that the courts take into account he's a footballer, and the club is going to impose their own penalty [which is bollocks btw] which helps said footballer in the court hearing. ..this all means that you ought to be extra severe in club imposed penalties, not looking for leniency.. ..and not using another clubs weak decision as our standard..

The only thing which is more horrendous than Scotland's situation is Caroline Wilson using any opportunity to write a(nother) rubbish article about Carlton.

Richmond players can turn up to training on drugs and that's okay, but a Carlton player involving handcuffs or legal action and AFL must fine them $900,000 and strip them of all draft choices according to Wilson.

FWIW - Scotland should miss some (maybe 2) regular season weeks, and donate a sizeable sum to victims of violence.

If this was any other guy other than an AFL footballer, nobody would ever hear anything about it, ever. The convicted parties were find a few hundred dollars each. Clearly not even serious by magistrate's standards.

You would think the leadership would have a fair say in relation to the penalty handed out.

The players are on holidays and from what I can gather they are overseas right now.

Should they come back for this Jack? Yes or No

Not to mention that you wouldn't expect the same standard of behaviour from a 19 year old rookie as you would from a 31 year old leader of the club....

If your 'culture and values' are to be taken seriously then it shouldn't matter who or how old you are, they should apply equally to everyone.

Essendon* cheated, simple as that

Its a Criminal issue dealt in the courts. 2 year good behaviour bond and a fine should be enough.

Dont agree that the afl needs to be involved. The fact that he has the whole offseason to think about it will be enough. If this happened during the season you would suspend due to media & political correctness, would have more impact but being so long before the season starts It doesnt really have any impact if he just misses games. Just hurts the club in the end.

What l dont get in all of this is heath helps bounces and doesnt get involved then goes back in to find his shoes and hits a guy. His bro is a bit special apparently and im sure there was probably something said about his bro to react that way. You never know, heath could of walked back in and the guy said your bros a xxxx and hes just thumped him. I dont know if half of you guys on here ever go out in pubs n bars but it is a different world and after a few beers your not really worried about getting suspended for a few games if your bros getting picked on And insulted. Only way you will stop this is if you ban all players from socialising. Missing games for this incident next year wont mean dick to scotland.