Elijah Taylor banned for rest of season!

[Meg]

Yeah no.
Suspension totally deserved.
It was organised, well in advance.
See ya next year, maybe.

#disrespected37

I note Longmire said the club was still considering whether there should be a further club-imposed sanction. I reckon ET should be allocated a new guernsey number next season. No specific announcement, no publicity, just as part of the new season arrangements.

[Blood Fever]

Yeah no.
Suspension totally deserved.
It was organised, well in advance.
See ya next year, maybe.

#disrespected37

Watched Longmire's press conference where he fielded a number of questions about Elijah. Outstanding, honest and rational performance. Puts our politicians to shame.

[Markwebbos]

I do understand that he broke the rules / law, but in a way that posed no risk to anyone outside of his girlfriend. That's it really. Surely rules and laws serve a purpose. I believe the purpose they serve is to prevent Covid infection of players and the wider community. He could have broken those same rules / laws without waiting 14 days, but he didn't.

His behaviour was deceitful, intentional, selfish, etc, but actually there was a level of care involved.

Sorry I'm struggling to articulate myself. I'm trying to say he broke more rules/laws, but he created less risk than some others. In my opinion the level of danger his actions created are a valid consideration and not irrelevant. Why is it "not really the point"?

[Odysseus]

Hashed news.com article about Caro on FC last night revealing Elijah's GF crossed a golf course and jumped two fences to meet up with Elijah, who was then spotted & reported by two senior Swans players. Also includes Longmire's comments on AFL360 last night. Article does however reveal name & picture of Elijah's GF which I was a bit surprised they were able to dig up.

AFL 2020: Wild details emerge of Elijah Taylor, girlfriend’s COVID breach

Horse's presser today is also worth watching longmire-press-conference-august-18-2020. Once again reinforces our confidence that we've got some of the AFL's best people: Horse makes it absolutely clear that ET made a wrong decision, but is very nuanced and makes it clear that the club continues to support ET and back him for the future. He comments that some of the AFL stars over the years weren't too mature or strongly equipped with life skills as 18 or 19 year olds, implying clearly that the club is prepared to continue to invest in ET's future.

But as for James Rowbottom, I thought Will Hayward was Horse's love child, but the comments Horse makes about Rowbottom (~7m15s) show him to have great respect for the young man, not only as a footballer but in his life skills and maturity as well.

[Wardy]

The AFL indicated the more indiscretions that occurred the harsher the penalty would be - And they have been true to their word!! and with this double whammy, because you also had WA quarantine law in the equation, we’ve been hit between the eyes. Fact is (amd Horse confirmed it) that he was briefed prior to going to WA as to how serious the hub rules were. I’m wondering if These two were causing a few problems when they were based in Qld that they needed to discuss what was required prior to going to WA. I’m just sick of our club being the punching bag.

[Meg]

Elijah Taylor banned for rest of season!

I do understand that he broke the rules / law, but in a way that posed no risk to anyone outside of his girlfriend.

You are struggling. His GF was living in the WA community, so if ET had passed on Covid infection to her, she could have passed it on to multiple other people in Perth and set off the whole Covid cycle again.

That’s why the WA Government is incensed. And why the GF is back in quarantine.

WA quarantine is in specifically designated hotels at the traveller’s own expense and with security guards. So the GF will now have four weeks of this .... quite a penalty for her as well.

[Markwebbos]

You are struggling. His GF was living in the WA community, so if ET had passed on Covid infection to her, she could have passed it on to multiple other people in Perth and set off the whole Covid cycle again.

That’s why the WA Government is incensed. And why the GF is back in quarantine.

I assume WA quarantine is in hotels for interstate arrivals (it is for international arrivals). I also assume (not sure) she will have to pay for it.

She flew in from NSW and quarantined for 14 days and then “2 hours later” joined ET.

It’s those 14 days I’ve been talking about in my posts.

She may have become part of the WA community once she left, but that’s unclear as it never came to pass.

[Meg]

She flew in from NSW and quarantined for 14 days and then “2 hours later” joined ET.

It’s those 14 days I’ve been talking about in my posts.

She may have become part of the WA community once she left, but that’s unclear as it never came to pass.

She WOULD have become part of the WA community once she left.

[rojo]

I happen to live in Tasmania!! There was talk of Hawthorn or other teams coming here to play games during this period. In the end our Premier said no, for the safety and well being of our community we are not going to risk it. We have had no community transmission for ages. The only live virus is brought here by people travelling from elsewhere and they have been strictly quarantined and followed up. Despite that we continue to sign in everywhere we go, socially distance almost everywhere we go, use hand sanitiser everywhere we go etc etc etc. Rationally you would say that there is absolutely no need! Like the majority of people everywhere, we do what we are asked to do by the government, who are advised by the experts, because there is always out there a few people who you cannot trust to do the right thing!

So here we have a situation where the AFL are playing football in WA because they agreed to adhere to the conditions set down by the WA government. In order for that to happen, the individual club CEO's or who ever, had to agree to the conditions set before them by the AFL. Then each individual club had to spell out the details of the conditions to each of their groups, including the players. So when Elijah made the deliberate decision to break the rules associated living in the hub, someone slipped up! Was it the club, the Sydney Swans, or the AFL? I understand completely that the Premier of WA was upset. Unlike our Premier he trusted that everyone would do the right thing by the community of WA. What I don't understand is why Elijah would think it was okay to do what he did, despite knowing what was required of him in that situation.

[Mark26]

Horse's presser today is also worth watching longmire-press-conference-august-18-2020. Once again reinforces our confidence that we've got some of the AFL's best people: Horse makes it absolutely clear that ET made a wrong decision, but is very nuanced and makes it clear that the club continues to support ET and back him for the future. He comments that some of the AFL stars over the years weren't too mature or strongly equipped with life skills as 18 or 19 year olds, implying clearly that the club is prepared to continue to invest in ET's future.

+1

It's clear why we signed Horse to 2023. He's a thoughtful and articulate coach.

[Ludwig]

I reckon ET should be allocated a new guernsey number next season.

Maybe number '0' would be appropriate.

[Wardy]

I note Longmire said the club was still considering whether there should be a further club-imposed sanction. I reckon ET should be allocated a new guernsey number next season. No specific announcement, no publicity, just as part of the new season arrangements.

+ 1

[Aaron]

Terrible timing of this when we have just earned a big win and ready to celebrate the Marn Grook in this indigenous Round! Reading between the lines of Horse's interview, ET might have not yet accepted full responsibility and genuinely repented. If so, we may lose him eventually.

[Ralph Dawg]

The club specifically spoke with Elijah prior to going into quarantine in Perth. I can only assume they would've stressed to him the importance of doing the right thing and the consequences of not, in particular causing the whole competition to be shut down and the serious ramifications.

The club must've known he was a risk, he was forewarned, yet still deliberately broke the rules.

I'm sorry but IMO he has to go. I don't care how young and immature he is. He gave his team mates (busted by 2 senior players), the swans, the AFL and wider community the middle finger.

[jono2707]

The club specifically spoke with Elijah prior to going into quarantine in Perth. I can only assume they would've stressed to him the importance of doing the right thing and the consequences of not, in particular causing the whole competition to be shut down and the serious ramifications.

The club must've known he was a risk, he was forewarned, yet still deliberately broke the rules.

I'm sorry but IMO he has to go. I don't care how young and immature he is. He gave his team mates (busted by 2 senior players), the swans, the AFL and wider community the middle finger.

I'm afraid I agree with this - a pretty unforgivable act in this climate.

If we choose to cut him loose, hopefully he learns and comes back into the league a bigger man and a better player in a few years time.