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FFA admits Victory deserved penalty

Written By Unknown on Senin, 28 April 2014 | 23.40

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A-LEAGUE chiefs have conceded that Melbourne Victory was robbed of a penalty when Brisbane Roar captain Matt Smith's foul on Mark Milligan went unpunished in Sunday night's semi-final.

Meanwhile, Victory coach Kevin Muscat looks set to ­escape Football Federation Association sanction after blasting referee Strebre Delovski's decision not to award a spot-kick, which probably would have sent the game into extra time.

The decision remained the key talking point among fans on Monday and also among players and officials at the Johnny Warren Medal awards in Randwick.

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And it has cost Delovski any chance of refereeing Sunday's grand final between Roar and Western Sydney at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, with Ben Williams or Peter Green set to be given the nod.

Smith collected the legs of the Victory skipper in injury time as Milligan skipped past him and was about to unleash a shot at Michael Theo's goal from close range.

Replays showed Delovski was about to put the whistle in his mouth before changing his mind, meaning Brisbane ­secured a grand final berth with a 1-0 win. Head of A-League chief Damien de Bohun admitted in a statement Delovski should have awarded a penalty.

"The performance of Strebre Delovski in the semi-final in Brisbane has been reviewed in the normal manner," De Bohun said.

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"Overall Strebre's performance was very good, but the ­review found that Matt Smith made contact with Mark Milligan towards the end of the match and that a decision to award a penalty kick would have been warranted. There's often an element of doubt in the nature of collisions in a football match. The referee must be beyond doubt in ­making these calls.

"In relation to comments made by Kevin Muscat post-match, we will remind Kevin about the importance of ­respecting the role of match officials at all times."

Delovski also drew a stinging reaction from Muscat after the 4-0 loss to Melbourne Heart on March 1 when he apologised to Nick Ansell for harshly sending the ­defender off for a shirt tug on David Williams. Muscat made a beeline for officials at the final whistle on Sunday and was furious in an interview with Fox Sports ­moments later.

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The anger hadn't subsided when he fronted the print media 15 minutes later when he began opening the a press conference with a serve then said he had moved on ­before revisiting the incident.

"You think to yourself I don't think I'll go through my career with a clearer penalty shout that's not given after that one in Korea and the official tonight has proved me wrong,'' Muscat said.

"To get such a simple decision wrong, and there's four of them out there." That's why it's hard to take, because the players have put in an extreme amount over the last six or seven weeks.''


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Maxwell, Mitch and Starc in IPL action

Mitchell Johnson will turn out for Kings XI Punjab in the IPL game with Royal Challengers Bangalore. Source: Morne de Klerk / Getty Images

MITCHELL Starc versus Mitchell Johnson — it's all happening tonight in the Indian Premier League.

Kings XI Punjab take on Royal Challengers Bangalore from 12.30am.

Watch it LIVE here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMsCRbTHUc8

AUSSIES IN ACTION

Glenn Maxwell has been the player of the tournament to date, but the "Big Show" will face a stern examination when he is confronted by Mitchell Starc. Starc (seven wickets at 16.57 and an economy rate of 7.25) is arguably the form paceman of the tournament and has thrived in his new environment at Royal Challengers Bangalore. He will come face-to-face with Maxwell, who leads all comers with 294 runs at 73.50 and a strike rate of 205.95, and is a major reason behind Kings XI's unbeaten start to the season.

Starc will also be confronted by compatriots George Bailey and Shaun Marsh in the Punjab top order. And in another intriguing all-Australian battle, Kings XI paceman Mitchell Johsnon will face-off with Bangalore batsman Nic Maddinson, who excelled in the Big Bash League but has yet to erupt in the IPL.

MATCH PREVIEWS

Kings XI Punjab have exploded out of the blocks with four wins from as many attempts. Bangalore Royal Challengers are mid-table after a 2-2 start, but have claimed the sizeable scalps of Delhi Daredevils and defending champion Mumbai Indians. Bangalore boast the most intimidating line-up in the IPL with Virat Kholi, AB de Villiers and Yuvraj Singh in the top order. They will be all the more potent with the inclusion of Chris Gayle, who is a day-to-day proposition due to injury.

Kings XI are riding high after their most recent victory over Kolkata Knight Riders. Prior to that match, it had been suggested they relied too heavily on Maxwell after he rattled off innings of 95, 89 and 95 to start the season. Maxwell, however, was dismissed for a modest 15 against the Knight Riders and Kings XI still managed to post a solid victory.

WHAT THEY SAID

"I'm in awe. Watching (Maxwell's) highlights from that innings (against Chennai), it's like career highlights of most players. He's played nine or ten shots in that one innings that 95 per cent of us would be happy to play over our careers. Obviously he is in great touch. He's obviously got a lot of confidence and he has, while it might not look like that all the time, pretty good plans for most bowlers" — George Bailey

"I've started the tournament quite slowly, coming back from my toe infection and it has taken me a few games to get into it. Probably the best I felt with my bowling was during the training yesterday; I felt like I am in my cricket mode again. Today I felt I was back to bowling like I had been bowling for the past few months. That's where I wanted to get to — bowling as aggressively as I was a few days ago" — Mitchell Johnson


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What you missed on TV last night

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ROUND 6 was a big week in football.

Starting with the traditional Anzac Day blockbuster that drew 90,000 people to the MCG and finishing with Port Adelaide announcing themselves with a win over Geelong.

The Power's draught-breaking win saw them climb to the top of the AFL ladder and lead the AFL 360 agenda.

Respected journalist Gerard Whateley said it was a defining moment in the 2014 season.

"It was a landmark win for Port Adelaide ... and confirmed everything that we knew was building," he said.

Herald Sun chief football writer Mark Robinson said the win was arguably the biggest moment in the club's recent history.

"They've grown from boys to men so quickly," he said.

"There's so much to like about Port Adelaide. It's the way they play, it's contagious.

"That was probably their best moment yet - knocking Collingwood out of the finals last year was big - but this was their moment and they took it."

Whateley said the Power players stood up when challenged.

"You can't chose when your moment comes ... I think back to Hawthorn in 2008," he said.

"It's a football club that is so united in what they're trying to achieve."

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■ RICHMOND'S fall of grace also dominated headlines on Sunday night.

After a pre-season full of expectations, the Tigers were well beaten by reigning premiers Hawthorn and it doesn't get any easier with Geelong waiting next week.

Robinson said a loss to the Cats would mean winning 10 games of the last 13 to make the finals.

"I see nothing, I see no spark, I see no energy," he said.

"We know how the good teams go about it and we judge the bad teams against the good teams. Richmond lack oomph, they don't move the ball well.

"They're losing all the good will they earned last year.

Robinson suggested the "money ball" strategy the Tigers had employed hadn't had the desired effect; "clearly, their depth isn't there".

■ WEST Coast ruckman Nic Naitanui has come in for a lot of criticism in recent weeks as he continues to struggle on the field.

It is believed the Eagle is being "managed" due to ongoing groin and Achilles complaints.

Robinson wondered why there was such vitriol being aimed at Naitanui.

"There's a linch-mob out there," he said.

"Why are they hating on Nic Nat. Is it the money? Is it the effort?"

Whateley said the club could be hurting the player and the team by playing him hurt.

"John Worsfold said he's got to play, he's got to get through it," he said.

"But if you're playing at 50 or 60 per cent, at what point does that actually hurt you?"

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■ COACHES Mark Thompson and Paul Roos then joined the boys at the panel.

Problem players was the hot topic this week with Jake Carlisle at Essendon and Jack Watts at Melbourne in the news due to poor form.

Roos admitted he was surprised there was so much public focus on individuals when clubs are more concerned with team issues.

"There's a lot of focus on individuals. In my situation, there are a lot more issues than one player," he said.

"There's a bit more surprise, from my point of view, that the focus goes on one player."

Bomber said it wasn't Carlisle's fault Essendon lost to Collingwood.

"It's not one player. There were a lot of reasons why we didn't play well in the last quarter," he said.

Roos said it was hard for Watts due to him being played in various positions and conceded that had been said about the former No.1 draft pick for many years.

"In Jack's case, we're moving him around a lot, playing him in different positions. So perhaps we're contributing to his inconsistency," he said.

"When a new coach comes in ... I'm trying to find spots for a lot of players.

"That's not unique for a new coach coming in but for a Melbourne supporter I can understand the point of view.

"At the end of the day, it's incumbent on the player to make a position their own."

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ON THE COUCH

AWARD-winning journalist Mike Sheahan returned to the coach after a couple of weeks on holiday and was quickly on the attack after Richmond's loss.

"Something's haven't changed. Richmond were going south when I left and they're still going south now," he said.

However, the big news was Port Adelaide.

Host Gerard Healy compared the rise of the Power to that of A-League high-flyers Western Sydney Wanderers.

"It's such a great story," he said.

"People talk about the Western Sydney Wanderers ... Port Adelaide is just as good a story, if not better, than the Wanderers."

Hawthorn great Jason Dunstall suggested Port Adelaide were now premiership contenders.

"If you look at the brand of football and the way they dismantled Geelong. They are very much a contender," he said.

"It gives the competition a new flavour."

Dunstall suggested ruckman Matthew Lobbe was one of the big reasons why the Power had announced themselves.

"Lobby is probably improved more than any other player on the Port list," he said.

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■ POWER captain Travis Boak joined the boys to talk about the club's recent success.

The team's much vaunted fitness is a major reason why they are on top of the ladder and Boak was adamant the pre-season campaigns under Darren was a major contributor.

"Each year the pre-season goes up another level," he said.

"I think it does come down to the players. We want to get so much out of each session."

After almost leaving the club following a horror 2011, Boak said he was surprised how quickly the club had turned around and said the captaincy was behind his form.

"I probably didn't think it was going to happen this quick," he said.

"I knew it was going to turn around eventually. When I was going through the contract issues, I knew we had the right group."

"The biggest thing for me was the captaincy. It took the focus away from my own game.

"The biggest criticism of my game was how can I improve my game but since I got the captaincy the focus has been how can I help the team.

"I just go out and play footy and enjoy it."

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■ THE discussion then returned to Richmond and their perceived regression in 2014.

Sheahan cast major doubt on the Tigers ability to play finals this season.

"They play Geelong next, their 13th with a percentage of 87, and the reigning premier has improved more than they have," he said.

Dunstall couldn't understand what had happened after a couple of positive years.

"There was a natural progression at Richmond. For some reason, they've hit the skids," he said.

Sheahan suggested the absence of Brett Deledio was a major reason behind the Tigers struggles with his run and carry a major attacking weapon.

Dunstall questioned whether Dustin Martin could be used in a different manner with the talented ball-winner spending more than 50 per cent of games in the forward line.

"From what we've seen, they'll probably turn at 5-6. It means they'll have to win seven of their last 11 and I don't think they're capable of that," Sheahan said.

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■ GRAND finalists Fremantle also suffered a disappointing defeat on the weekend.

The Dockers were over-run by North Melbourne and the boys weren't impressed with the team's efforts so far this season.

"I was really disappointed with their performance. The Kangaroos were fantastic," Dunstall said.

"Their ball use has been lacking and their entry inside 50 has become very one dimensional with Matthew Pavlich.

Tagger Ryan Crowley is one of the main reasons why the Dockers were so feared last season but he has struggled to stop the opposition's prime movers this season.

A graphic was put up showing Crowley's drop in form.

In 2013, Crowley keep his opponent to less than 20 touches in eight of 23 matches but in 2014 his opponent had won more than 20 disposals in every game.

■ THE Kangaroos coach Brad Scott was the special guest after the big win in Perth.

Scott said the club didn't pay much attention to the hype but believed it was a good thing.

"One thing about the hype is ... we didn't create that hype," he said.

"The standards we're being held to are because of expectations and that's a good thing because people rate us.

North have only lost to Essendon and Collingwood this season but Scott wasn't fazed.

"The reality is we live in a really even competition. When you're not on, you get beaten," he said.

Scott was happy with the performances of leaders Brent Harvey, Nick Dal Santo and Drew Petrie.

"I saw a stat - and I had to double check it - that Boomer was involved in 20 of our 24 scoring shots. That's an incredible effort," he said.

"I think Ryan (Crowley) was probably blowing a bit from fatigue. It's hard to be aggressive when you're fatigued.

Kangaroos coach Brad Scott with captain Andrew Swallow. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin Source: News Corp Australia

"We knew what we were getting when (Nick Dal Santo) arrived and he has still managed to impress us.

"He's been driving what we're about all season.

"Drew, by his own admission, his work rate hasn't been as high but for a big guy his work defensively is unbelievable at times."

Kangaroos captain Andrew Swallow has been out of the game for almost 12 months due to an Achilles injury and is now on the verge of returning.

Scott was keen to have him back in the team after one game in the VFL.

"He got a fair bit of the ball in three quarters of footy," he said.

"He's trained really well. The sub does give us an option, if we didn't have that it wouldn't be an option.

"He's our captain and we want him back but if he gets injured, it's going to be our fault.

"If he's ready and we pick him, you'll know we're super confident he's fit.

■ CARLTON dominated the headlines two weeks ago but have since won two straight games.

The Blues pulled off a thrilling come-from-behind win over West Coast on Saturday and Dunstall believed there was still a lot of potential.

"I think it could be a season-defining win for them. I thought they were fantastic and you've got to give them full credit," he said.

"I think there's a real fine line between being a genius and being a fool and for a coach you're at the mercy of your players.

"As group you get a lot of confidence. Now they've turned it around and they've got to build on it."

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TALKING FOOTY (7Mate)

COLLINGWOOD coach Nathan Buckley was the night's special guest.

After a big Anzac Day win over Essendon, Buckley was happy with how the team was progressing.

Former Western Bulldogs ruckman Luke Darcy asked if the decision to move on experienced trio Darren Jolly, Alan Didak and Heath Shaw was the right one.

"There's no doubts as to personnel or strategic decisions that you make," he said

"Clearly when you have a poor performance and the hysteria that followed externally, we were really keen for Round 2 and get up to Sydney."

In the lead up to the Collingwood-Carlton blockbuster this weekend, Buckley was asked about his relationship with former mentor and current Blues coach Mick Malthouse.

"We had a really strong professional relationship for a long period of time ... I learnt a lot from Mick," he said.

"I've been very fortunate to see how he's gone about it and glean parts of my philosophy from what I've seen of him."

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FOOTY CLASSIFIED (Channel 9)

RICHMOND was the hot topic on the final football show of the night.

Melbourne great Garry Lyon said the Tigers were in serious trouble after coach Damien Hardwick suggested the absence of Brett Deledio, Ivan Maric and Alex Rance was a major reason behind the loss to Hawthorn

"They're making excuses for poor performances," he said.

"The footy club has to bat deeper than those three players. It's a sign of real pressure at Richmond."

Senior journalist Caroline Wilson said the Tigers were not top eight material.

"Clearly Richmond are not in that top eight contender and I never thought they were," she said.

"They lack on-field leadership, which is no slight on Trent Cotchin, who is a brilliant player.

"I think Damien is doing everything he can to keep the players positive.

"They're clearly not better than they were last year. He also said maybe we're not as good as we were last year."

■ IN his column last week, Essendon premiership player Matthew Lloyd criticised Hawthorn Cyril Rioli.

Lloyd said Rioli didn't work hard enough and came in for some major criticism of his own for writing the piece.

"Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I've watched him for a number of years," he said in his defence.

"This guy is a freakish player ... I feel that Cyril should be in the top 10 players in the competition.

I don't think in his six years, he's put together a season that reflects that. I still feeling that his ceiling is here and his potential is much more than that.

"He's a 15-disposal a game player, a goal and a half player but I believe he's capable of much more than that."


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Barca want action over banana attack

Barcelona soccer star Dani Alves picks up a banana thrown from the crowd and eats it. Courtesy Footy-Goals.com

BARCELONA is demanding the eradication of racism from Spain's football stadiums after a fan threw a banana at Brazilian fullback Dani Alves during their 3-2 weekend away win over Villareal.

The banana landed on the pitch near 30-year-old Alves just as he was about to take a corner, the latest in a series of racist taunts that he has suffered in more than a decade playing in Spain with Sevilla and then Barcelona.

The Brazilian showed his scorn for the attack by picking up the banana and taking a bite out of it before going on with game and setting up a goal in Barcelona's dramatic victory.

"Barcelona totally supports and stands with player Dani Alves after the insults he received Sunday at the Villareal ground by certain people at the game," the club said in a statement.

Barcelona welcomed the condemnation of the banana insult by Villareal, who sent a message on Twitter after their defeat saying: "Pity to see an ignoramus capable of such a lamentable act. There is no room for it in sport and even less in our club."

Villareal's reaction was a move in the right direction towards "converting grounds into areas where sports take priority and where the bad behaviour by some people is, first, isolated and then, eradicated for good," Barcelona said.

"I have been in Spain 11 years and it has been the same for 11 years. You have to laugh at these backward people," Alves said after Sunday's game.

"We are not going to change it, so you have to take it almost as a joke and laugh at them."

Alves' teammates and fans lent him public support.

"We are all monkeys," his compatriot Neymar said on the Instagram social networking site, where he posted a photograph of himself eating a banana and his two-year-old son hugging a cuddly banana toy.


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Daley in therapy for dive phobia

Tom Daley says he is in therapy to conquer his fear of diving off the 10 metre platform. Source: Clive Rose / Getty Images

BRITISH diver Tom Daley has admitted he is now so fearful of his twist dive he is undergoing "therapy" in a bid to cure himself of what he believes is a "phobia".

The teenager took part in last weekend's 10-metre platform event at the London Aquatic Centre, his first competitive appearance at the venue since winning a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympic Games.

However, this time around the 19-year-old Daley finished out of the podium places in fifth position, with the twist dive - which he had to repeat during the Olympics after being distracted by a camera flash - which let him down again.

Since the Games, Daley has not landed the dive to his satisfaction and he said: "The scale of this issue is massive. I'm trying every single thing possible to try and get it back to normal. I'm going under different types of therapy.

Tom Daley in action off the 10-metre platform. Source: Getty Images

"It is almost trauma therapy - to get myself to process the things that have gone wrong on it to get it to a stage where I can forget about it and feel positive about it.

"I am literally terrified of it. I suppose you could call it a phobia and I don't know what my heart rate is when I go up there and do it but it's definitely above 180, something ridiculous, because it is so terrifying."

Daley will miss the next leg of the World Series in Moscow in a bid to get himself prepared fully for the defence of his Commonwealth Games title in Glasgow in July.

Since his Olympic success, Daley has become arguably even more well-known in his native Britain for his work as a television personality and for publicly declaring that he is in a relationship with screenwriter Dustin Lance Black.

Pete Waterfield, who competed alongside Daley in the synchronised event at London 2012, said his former dive partner needed to spend more time in the pool and less in the television studio.

"I know Tom's been a busy boy with his shows, but I think that's now starting to show through," the 33-year-old Waterfield, who retired from diving in 2013, told the BBC.

"He needs to knuckle down with his training and his diving if he's to achieve what he's capable of achieving."

Tom Daley of Great Britain looks on during the Men's 10m Platform Final in London. Source: Getty Images


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