AFL star fined for ‘abusive’ on field comments

Western Bulldogs star Caleb Daniel has been fined for directing “abusive, insulting, threatening (and/or) obscene” comments to umpire Ray Chamberlain during his side’s loss on Friday night.

The AFL’s match review officer Michael Christian slapped Daniel with a $2500 sanction for the incident, which occurred in the third quarter of Port Adelaide’s win over the Bulldogs.

However, Daniel can accept a $1500 fine with an early plea.

Daniel (R) missed only one game in the regular season. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)Source:Getty Images

Daniel’s teammate Roarke Smith gave away a free kick for umpire abuse during the two-point loss but escaped the ire of the match review officer on Saturday.

Perhaps Christian thought Chamberlain had already given Smith enough of a dressing down on field — ‘Razor’ Ray could be heard ripping into the 24-year-old after his comment.

“Do not speak to me like that,” the umpire warned.

Fellow Bulldog Aaron Naughton was similarly lucky to escape sanction — the 21-year-old was reported for a tackle on Port Adelaide’s Tom Jonas early in the third term but was not charged.

He will be free to line up for the Bulldogs in the first week of the finals series.

“Jonas gains possession of the ball on the defensive side of the wing for Port Adelaide before he is tackled by Naughton,” Christian wrote in a statement released Saturday evening.

“It was determined by the MRO that Naughton’s actions were not unreasonable in the circumstances. No further action was taken.”

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The Bulldogs enter the finals on the back of three consecutive losses. Luke Beveridge’s side looked set to lock up a top four spot when it led Port Adelaide into the fourth quarter on Friday, but the Power scored three goals to one in the final term and left Marvel Stadium with the choccies.

Beveridge said his side was “absolutely flat” after the defeat.

“We worked hard to get ourselves in a strong position up until just over a month ago,” he said.

“We’ve coped with adversity, we’ve coped with personnel changes, we’ve been able to stay positive, and we will, we absolutely will.

“We’re anticipating we’re going to finish fifth, and I spoke to the boys about how we’re all in their corner.”

Beveridge almost spoke too soon — West Coast’s spirited performance against the Lions on Saturday nearly kept the Bulldogs in the top four.

Brisbane needed to beat the Eagles by slightly over five goals to leapfrog the Dogs into the top four, and when the Eagles came within five points early in the final term, the Lions’ outlook was bleak.

The Lions earned the crucial double chance with their win over West Coast. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)Source:Getty Images

However, Chris Fagan’s men then kicked six of the game’s last seven goals to record a 38-point win in front of their home fans, consigning the Bulldogs to 5th spot.

The Bulldogs are all but guaranteed to meet either Essendon or Greater Western Sydney in the first week of the finals and given the recent form of both, are no certainty to progress to the second week of the play-offs.

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