WOORINEN forward, Doug Palmer will miss the opening four weeks of the 2018 Central Murray Football Netball League season after being found guilty of two unbecoming conduct charges.
Palmer copped a four-match ban in relation to an off-the-ball incident with Kerang’s Bronson Booth in the Blues’ 14-point second semi-final win.
An independent investigation into the incident found that Palmer engaged in rough and unreasonable conduct against Booth – which occurred at the five-minute mark of the opening term – and made “unreasonable or unnecessary contact” to Booth’s face.
The tribunal also found this to be the case, delivering a four-week ban on one of the league’s key forwards.
Palmer also has a two week suspension on his record, which will be added to any penalty he receives during the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
The hearing was the result of a three-week investigation, initiated by the league after official match footage did not capture the incident.
Meanwhile, a separate investigation into the conduct of the Kerang Football Netball Club in the weeks following the incident continues.
The league called for the investigation due to concerns it had with an online statement that league chairman, John Brookshaw believes “deliberately misled the members of the Kerang Football Netball Club community and intimated that the CMFNL board was acting improperly toward the Kerang FNC”.
Other concerns relate to an alleged posting of an re-enactment of the on-field incident on Kerang’s closed players group Facebook page, and the club’s boycotting of the league’s best and fairest night – which moved to a new timeslot of 5pm the Sunday before the grand final, which made it difficult for some players to attend.
