I agree, certain teams "hard men" get away with a lot of borderline illegal tactics, and others don't. Compare th citings against Fyfe, a highly regarded ball player, over the last 3 or 4 years against those on Hodge, Mitchell and Lewis.
There are 2 standards operating. Even Pav has had suspensions for hits that when dished out by Hawks players are lauded as unsociable. Hodge ramming the Port player into the behind post last year is 1 example that springs to mind.
In a pre video review time these players would have been dealt with on field, and while I am not saying that is neccesarily right, it may make them think twice about taking cheap shots. What I get very annoyed about is the attitude of the umpires and MRP in regarding players like Balla's, Suban, C Pearce etc as recidivist offenders who can be smashed by opponents without penalty, but who are watched by multiple video replays and cited at the first thought of dishing out some "unsociable" justice.
The statement that the Hawk players Mitchell, Hodge and Lewis get as good as they give is rubbish. They receive free kicks every time someone attempts to dish out to them the treatment they dish out to opponents. Clarkson seems to have these 3 installed as "icons of the game" in AwFL officialdom's mind and he uses them to disable opponents while their teammates take advantage of the reduced opposition each week.
