Country footy captain Brad Watts was suspended for abusing his own players with an "obscene" spray on the weekend.
Bannockburn Tigers coach and former Geelong AFL player Peter Riccardi was shocked by the umpire's decision to report his captain for the incident during Saturday's loss to Thomson.
The Tigers skipper was addressing his players after the half-time siren when the incident occurred and was penalised with a yellow card, missing most of the third quarter.
He was reported for “using abusive, insulting, threatening or obscene language” and handed a one-match ban.
“I was frustrated and I gave the boys a spray about little things that we were doing wrong, some things that needed to sink in,” Watts told the Herald Sun.
“I did use colourful language, I’m not arguing that I didn’t, I may have half a dozen times truthfully, but the colourful language was not directed at any individual.
“Unbeknown to me I didn’t realise that the umpires were gathered around the boundary listening.
“In the heat of the moment I didn’t think about crowd members or umpires; I just thought I was in the huddle with my men and addressing them with tone and volume.”
Riccardi was bewildered by the sanction and thinks Watts should contest the ban.
“I’m dumbfounded,” Riccardi said.
“This is the first I’ve ever heard of a person getting reported for abusing his teammates. And the more people you talk to, the more they can’t believe it either.
“He wants to challenge it. It wasn’t like he was abusing anyone, he was just rallying the troops and obviously a few F-bombs were dropped.
“He (Watts) was saying to them (umpires), ‘Why didn’t you come to me and say enough of the language?’
“But they were walking off the ground and they didn’t say anything to him.
“I’ve got no idea why they reported him. It’s a new one for me and it’s a new one for a lot of people.
“It’s a joke, seriously. I understand if it (abuse) was towards an umpire or an opposition player or towards someone in the crowd, but I just think it’s a joke, to be honest.
“It’s a deadset joke if he gets a week for that.”
Watts has never been suspended in his long senior career and vows to challenge the ban.
“I thought they were calling me over for a warning but they handed me a card straight away,” Watts said.
“At the time I wasn’t warned or anything like that so I’m going to fight it.
“They could have walked over and tapped me on the shoulder to calm down.
“Thomson were the far better side today, take nothing away from them, which was part of the reason why I gave the boys a spray.”
