Dockers warned to clean up their act
The fallout from Dean Solomon's lengthy AFL suspension has begun, with Fremantle coach Mark Harvey firing a thinly-veiled warning to "three or four players" at the club who continually find themselves in trouble.
Solomon's thuggish hit on Geelong's Cameron Ling, which could sideline the Cats midfielder for up to six weeks, brought Fremantle's poor disciplinary record well and truly back into the spotlight.
Solomon, who fractured Ling's cheekbone, was handed an eight-week suspension by the AFL tribunal on Tuesday night, ruling him out until round two next season.
Feisty Dockers tagger Josh Carr, erratic forward Jeff Farmer and defender Heath Black are others at the club to regularly incur the wrath of the AFL tribunal and Harvey said he was getting tired of the same players ruining the reputation of the entire group.
"I think the team suffers from that (bad reputation) because we've got three or four players who quite regularly get cited or are up for report," Harvey said.
"So I think the team in general is carrying out the discipline but I think there are three or four players that we need to keep on educating on that, to stop that opinion of the club being so widespread."
Harvey confirmed Solomon, who is out of contract at season's end, would be retained by the club next year.
Although not defending Solomon's hit on Ling, a tight-lipped Harvey defended the 28-year-old's intent.
"Dean got caught halfway," Harvey said.
"His initial reaction wasn't to do what he did and that's how you handle that split second moment.
"I think that's all we're talking about here. I don't think there was any intent in what happened."
Harvey, a hard-nut defender during his playing days with Essendon, said he was trying to educate his group on how to play tough but fair football.
"We've got a very young side at the moment, we've got to teach players how to be physical and win," he said.
"You go back and have a look at the grand final sides that have won over the last decade and beyond and you'll find they had an element of that.
"So you need players to lead the way in certain circumstances and you need it to be the right way.
"As I've said, I go back to the three or four players that we need to constantly educate through this era of change of what's accepted in football."
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