If you haven't seen or heard what took place over the weekend involving Jeremy Cameron and Harris Andrews you must be living under a rock and definitely need to get out more. For the few of you who haven't seen it, take a look.
No matter how much time you give it to settle or how many times you view the incident at whichever speed, it's horrid. A careless act, probably not intentional, but a highly dangerous act which saw one of the league's best young talent stretchered off of the field over the weekend.
Following the incident, there have been countless comments online and on radio and T.V by analysts that Cameron should face a lengthy ban. The general consensus is that even if it had been unintentional, Cameron needs to cop a lengthy ban to show other players the consequences of committing such dangerously careless acts.
Among the many analysts who spoke on the incident were premiership players Chris Judd, Johnathon Brown and Matthew Lloyd.
Two-time Brownlow Medalist Chris Judd didnโt hold back.
โ[That's] the most brutal contact Iโve ever seen on a football field,โ he declared of Footy Classified.
โThe way his head landed ... I was sickened by it.โ
Judd also backed a 'red card' system for incidents as serious as this one.
Lloyd was as furious at Jeremy Cameron's efforts as Judd was.
โItโs a sickening clash,โ Lloyd said on Channel 9.
โItโs something that we rarely see in our game.
โHe was on a hard lead.
โYouโve just got to follow through - keep your knee up and your hands up and you cannot turn and do that.
โI know he didnโt mean to when he first started that lead to do that, but youโve got to take responsibility for that. Itโs one of the ugliest incidents Iโve seen in a long time.โ
Johnathon Brown also added that Cameron should face serious implications if the league wants other players to take incidents like this one seriously.
Jeremy Cameron was able to speak on the incident and ensured that he didn't intentionally jump to hurt him.
โI just saw the ball coming in and I like to play the ball really hard,โ he told Fox Footy post-game.
โIt was unfortunate I hit him in the head.
โI just played the ball on its merits and I like hitting (the contest) nice and hard.โ
โI definitely didnโt want to hurt him, Iโll give him a call or a message after the game. I just played the ball on its merits.โ
GWS coach, Leon Cameron also defended his star forward.
โJeremy is a ball player, heโs hard at it,โ the GWS coach said.
โHe goes out and he just wants to get the footy as hard as he possibly can. Things are going to happen in a footy game.โ
Regardless of the intent, it looks like Cameron will miss over a month of footy, and that's something David King thinks the Giants won't be able to make it back from as they fight for a spot in the finals.
โIf he gets four to five weeks, I think that will put a line through their season,โ King said on Fox Footy.
โThey are outside the eight as it is, and to me he is the only reason they score. I think the verdict will be the end of GWS' year.โ
It's an unfortunate incident and something that's hard to watch. As most took the time to bash Cameron for his actions, North Melbourne coach Brad Scott used this as an opportunity for players to learn. Scott urged players to "look before you leap".
"We laud players who keep their eye on the ball in the contest, but I think the flaw in that at the moment is we pillory players who have a look," Scott said on Fox Footy.
"I encourage our players to look before you leap. Look before you go back with the flight, there's no problem when the ball's in the air, having a quick look to see what's in front of you before you go.
"The courage is fantastic, but there's no shame in looking before you go if you have time."
