Global Pulse

标签： Oceania

大洋洲

  • Trump’s ‘retribution’ threat against Iran sends Australian sharemarket into decline

    Trump’s ‘retribution’ threat against Iran sends Australian sharemarket into decline

    Australia’s benchmark stock index has extended its downward trend for a fourth consecutive trading session, as escalating geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran triggered risk aversion among global and domestic investors, dragging down key mining shares while select sectors managed to eke out gains on Thursday.

    The S&P/ASX 200 fell 22.60 points, or 0.26%, to close at 8762.50, while the broader All Ordinaries index dropped 18 points, or 0.20%, to settle at 8961.30. The Australian dollar held steady against the U.S. dollar, ending the trading day at 69.36 U.S. cents.

    Against the overall market downturn, eight out of Australia’s 11 major industry sectors closed in positive territory, with energy, consumer staples and technology leading the gains. Energy stocks rallied in lockstep with climbing global crude oil prices, which were lifted by supply disruption fears tied to tensions in the key Strait of Hormuz. Woodside Energy gained 1.49% to $29.30, Santos climbed 2.00% to $7.65, and Ampol rose 1.47% to $35.29. Major domestic supermarket chains also posted solid gains, with Woolworths adding 1.35% to $40.44 and Coles increasing 1.11% to $23.67.

    Offsets to these sector gains came from a sharp pullback in material and mining stocks, which were pressured by a dual hit of heightened Middle East conflict and softer-than-expected Chinese economic data. China is the world’s largest importer of iron ore, Australia’s top export, making the sector particularly sensitive to shifts in both Chinese demand and global risk sentiment. Shares in mining giant BHP fell 1.11% to $56.87, Rio Tinto slumped 3.25% to $158.52, and Fortescue Metals Group dropped 1.58% to $18.11, dragging the broader market lower.

    The market volatility was triggered by fresh threats from former U.S. President Donald Trump, who pledged “retribution” against Iran following alleged attacks on commercial shipping vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supplies pass. After a series of exchanged attacks earlier this week, Trump confirmed new U.S. strikes against Iran in a Truth Social post, writing: “This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!”

    Brent crude stabilized at $78 U.S. per barrel after a sharp rally on Wednesday, while West Texas Intermediate added 1% to trade around $74 U.S. per barrel, extending a three-day winning streak for oil prices. Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains heavily disrupted, with only a small fraction of normal vessel traffic moving through the waterway, according to market analysts.

    Marc Jocum, senior product and investment strategist at Global X, described the current market environment as “geopolitical whiplash” for domestic Australian investors. “One day hopes of de-escalation emerge, the next they disappear. Investors are playing a game of geopolitical whiplash, where optimism at breakfast can turn into panic by dinner as each new headline rewrites the market narrative,” Jocum said. “Renewed U.S. military strikes on Iran for a second straight day, alongside Mr. Trump’s dismissal of a ceasefire as a ‘waste of time’, kept risk appetite firmly on the sidelines.”

    In individual company news, insurance broker Steadfast Group gained 0.78% to $5.19 amid ongoing discussions over a $7.7 billion takeover bid led by U.S.-based Amwins Group and investment firm Dragoneer Investments. New Zealand-headquartered building materials firm Fletcher Building jumped 7.55% to $2.99 after upgrading its full-year 2026 earnings guidance, now forecasting earnings before interest and tax of between $400 million and $403 million, including $52 million in revenue from surplus property sales. Commercial construction company FDC Consolidated soared 12% to $3.37 in its debut trading session on the ASX, which opened at 12:30 p.m. local time.

  • Gout Gout suffers major injury blow ending his 2026 months early

    Gout Gout suffers major injury blow ending his 2026 months early

    One of Australian track and field’s most promising young sprint talents, 18-year-old Gout Gout, has delivered crushing news to his fanbase: a significant training injury has ended his entire 2026 competitive campaign and forced him to withdraw from the upcoming World Under-20 Athletics Championships. The speedster shared the update via his official Instagram account on Thursday, revealing the setback occurred during a training session in Brisbane the previous evening.

    In a raw, heartfelt public statement, Gout Gout detailed the extent of his injury: a partial thickness tear to his left hamstring, paired with partial disruption of the connecting tendon. After receiving MRI results early Wednesday morning, the teen confirmed he would be unable to compete at the championships scheduled to take place next month in Eugene, Oregon, United States.

    “ I’m very disappointed but I have no other possibility but to accept this situation,” Gout Gout wrote in his post. “I understand this is part of athletics. My focus now will be on my rehab in the coming weeks and months and ensuring I come back in 2027 better and stronger and faster.” Effectively closing the door on any return to racing this year, he closed his post with a straightforward promise to fans: “See yall in 2027.”

    Within hours of the announcement, messages of support flooded the teen sprinter’s comment section from across the global athletics community. The official Australian Olympic Team account was among the first to offer encouragement, writing “All the best in your recovery Gout. Looking forward to seeing you back on the track in 2027.” Former Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter Justin Gatlin added, “Let that recovery make you hungry, G,” while American sprinter Tate Taylor shared: “Keep faith man, hope all is well, much love always.”

  • Teenage fight club ‘terminated’ by police and social media giants

    Teenage fight club ‘terminated’ by police and social media giants

    A viral amateur fight project for teenagers in outer Adelaide, South Australia, has been completely taken down by social media platforms following intervention from state police and widespread public condemnation, with seven young participants already facing official reports for dangerous public behavior.

    The unregulated group, calling itself South Australia Fight Club (SAFC), drew global attention after it posted raw clips of unsanctioned fistfights between teenage participants in Elizabeth, a northern suburb of Adelaide. The content quickly spread across Instagram and YouTube, accumulating thousands of views and building a follower base of more than 2,000 on Instagram and nearly 600 on YouTube before platforms removed the accounts.

    The controversy deepened after one organizer, identified only as Owen, confirmed an incident where a knife was pulled on a fighter during a brawl, cutting one video short. Speaking to Australian broadcaster Nine, Owen pushed back against public framing of the group as dangerous actors. “It just went bang. It’s bullcrap that he did that. It makes us sound like we’re horrible people, but like we’re not. It’s just a one-time thing,” he said. According to Australia’s 7News, the group also lashed out at law enforcement in deleted Instagram stories, claiming police were “doing anything but catching real criminals” in response to the crackdown. Members have also stated publicly they hold “no regrets” over their involvement with the club.

    By Thursday morning, both major platforms hosting SAFC content had deactivated the group’s accounts, in coordination with South Australia Police (SAPOL). YouTube issued an official statement confirming the channel termination was rooted in child safety rules. “As part of our community guidelines, content that shows minors fighting or bullying others isn’t allowed on YouTube,” a company spokesperson said. “In accordance with our child safety policy, the channel was terminated.” Meta, the parent company of Instagram, was contacted for comment on its removal of the content but has not issued a public statement as of the latest updates.

    SAPOL has confirmed seven youths have been formally reported for the offense of public fighting. Authorities note additional reports could still be filed as the investigation continues. “The youths have been reported for fighting in a public place. Any consequences will be determined in accordance with the youth justice system and will depend on the individual circumstances and antecedent history of those involved,” a SAPOL spokesperson said. The offense carries a maximum penalty of a AU$1,250 fine or three months of imprisonment. Three of the involved youths — a 14-year-old boy, a 17-year-old boy, and a 13-year-old girl from Adelaide’s northern suburbs — are scheduled to appear in youth court at a future date.

    South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas publicly condemned the group in a post to the social platform X, calling the activity “completely unacceptable” and pushing back against the framing of the brawls as harmless entertainment or community building for young people. “Violence is never the answer for young people searching for community,” he wrote. “This behaviour is not entertainment. It is dangerous, it glorifies violence, and it puts young people at serious risk. The message is clear: Organising, participating in or promoting this sort of violence has consequences.”

  • Multiple inside during targeted early morning shooting at Kealba, Melbourne

    Multiple inside during targeted early morning shooting at Kealba, Melbourne

    A frightening early-morning drive-by shooting has left a Melbourne suburban home riddled with bullet damage, though all five people inside escaped without injury in what investigators are calling a close call for the residents.

    Victoria Police confirmed the brazen attack unfolded just after 1 a.m. on Thursday at a residential property located on Rowan Street in the northwestern Melbourne suburb of Kealba. According to preliminary police accounts, an unidentified male suspect fired multiple rounds directly toward the occupied home before fleeing the scene in a white SUV.

    The gunfire left four large, conspicuous bullet holes punched through the property’s front door, marking the visible aftermath of the violent incident. For the five Melbourne residents inside the home at the time of the shooting, the outcome was a narrow escape—no injuries to people inside the residence were reported following the attack.

    In the hours after the shooting, law enforcement officers secured the site and established a formal crime scene to process evidence linked to the attack. Investigators are now appealing to members of the public who were in the Kealba area around the time of the incident to come forward with any potential evidence. Specifically, police are asking anyone with dashcam footage from local roads or privately owned CCTV cameras covering the Rowan Street area to contact Crime Stoppers to assist with the ongoing investigation.

  • Fury as man accused of Bunnings dog attack skips court again

    Fury as man accused of Bunnings dog attack skips court again

    A man accused of animal cruelty over an alleged violent attack on a pet dog in a Bunnings Warehouse carpark in Adelaide’s northern suburbs now has an active arrest warrant against him after failing to appear in court for a second time.

    Forty-eight-year-old Nathan Bradwell, a resident of nearby Smithfield, was captured on camera in March this year delivering two separate kicks to the head of 4-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier Maya inside the parking lot of the Bunnings Parafield outlet. He was subsequently charged with ill-treatment of an animal, a charge he has publicly denied, claiming he acted out of self-defense during the confrontation.

    Bradwell’s repeated absence from court proceedings has added to the frustration of the case. He first failed to attend a scheduled hearing on May 11, though he did appear before a judge one month later on June 10. But on Thursday, he again failed to show up for his scheduled hearing at Elizabeth Magistrates Court. Magistrate Karim Soetratma approved the issuance of an arrest warrant with no bail granted, meaning Bradwell will be held in police custody immediately after he is taken into custody until his next scheduled court appearance.

    The dog’s owners, Hayden Palkovics and Tyler Wright, have attended every court hearing to date, marking their fourth consecutive in-person appearance for the case. Speaking after Thursday’s proceeding, Palkovics expressed deep frustration with the repeated delays. “It is beyond frustrating. Now it is just a waiting game. This was round 4 for us and we just really hope he shows up for round 5,” he said.

    Despite the traumatic incident four months ago, Palkovics confirmed Maya is now in good health and enjoying a normal, happy life with the couple. “She is still doing very well and lives the dream life, as she should,” he added. Wright said the pair remains committed to seeing the case through to ensure accountability for the attack, noting that they will continue to show up to every hearing to advocate for Maya, who cannot speak for herself in court.

    When Bradwell first appeared in court on April 14, he told reporters outside the courthouse, with his face covered by a jacket, that he had only acted to remove the dog from himself in self-defense. Footage of the alleged attack circulated widely across social media platforms shortly after the March 1 incident, sparking widespread public anger over the treatment of the animal. The case will be next called before the court once Bradwell is taken into custody.

  • Western Europe records its hottest June as heatwaves surge: EU monitor

    Western Europe records its hottest June as heatwaves surge: EU monitor

    The European Union’s official climate monitoring body confirmed Thursday that 2025 has brought Western Europe its hottest June ever recorded, capping off a month of unprecedented extreme heat that has underscored the accelerating impacts of human-caused climate change across the continent. The announcement comes as a second intense heatwave already bears down on Europe this summer, following the June record-breaking event and an unseasonably early spring heatwave that struck in May.

    Data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service shows the average June temperature across Western Europe hit 20.74°C this year – more than 3°C higher than the 1991-2020 baseline average for the month. The figure shatters the previous regional June record set just two years prior in 2025. For the globe as a whole and Europe as an entire continent, this June ranked as the second hottest ever recorded, Copernicus confirmed, as decades of greenhouse gas emissions continue to drive global average temperatures steadily upward.

    Global average June temperatures this year hit 1.39°C above the pre-industrial baseline (1850-1900), the service reported. The world’s oceans also logged their warmest June on record, compounded by a developing El Niño weather pattern in the tropical Pacific that forecasters project will strengthen in the coming months.

    The record-breaking June heat was driven by a stubborn “heat dome” – a persistent high-pressure system that traps hot air like a lid over a boiling pot – that settled over much of Western Europe, pushing multiple countries to break both monthly and all-time high temperature records. An analysis by Agence France-Presse found that more than 410 million Europeans – over two-thirds of the region’s population – faced temperatures above 35°C between June 15 and 30. Thousands of heat-related deaths were recorded across the continent, concentrated primarily in France, Spain and Belgium, with high humidity amplifying the danger by preventing cooling overnight.

    “It was extremely humid, which then meant people didn’t get relief at night. So we had a number of tropical nights in a row,” explained Samantha Burgess, strategic climate lead at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), which manages the Copernicus program. Warm ocean waters along Europe’s Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts compounded the issue, eliminating cooling sea breezes that typically bring overnight relief. The Mediterranean also saw a record-breaking marine heatwave that put coastal and marine ecosystems at severe risk.

    Dry conditions from the heat also exacerbated drought risks in Eastern Europe and amplified wildfire activity across the Iberian Peninsula and Southern France, Copernicus noted.

    Climate scientists from World Weather Attribution, an international research network, previously classified the June 2025 heatwave as the most severe ever recorded in Europe based on three-day peak average temperature forecasts across the affected region. The group concluded the event would have been virtually impossible to occur without the influence of human-caused climate change; a similar heat event in June 2003 would have been roughly 2°C cooler, they found.

    Burgess warned that heat extremes will only become more common, intense and widespread as global temperatures continue to rise. “We will see more heatwaves in a warmer world. They will be more intense and they will last longer, and they will impact more geographical areas,” she told AFP. She added that climate change is no longer a distant future threat, but a disruptive force already reshaping daily life: “We’re at a transition point where climate change is shifting from being an abstract statistical future problem that you read about in reports, to a concrete present and disruptive feature of daily life.”

    Europe, which is already the fastest-warming continent on Earth, faces unique challenges as it adapts to this new climate reality, Burgess noted. Many of the region’s most iconic historic buildings were constructed centuries ago for a cooler climate that no longer exists, requiring urgent updates to built infrastructure to protect residents from extreme heat. To slow the progression of worsening heat extremes, Burgess emphasized that the world must reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion as quickly as possible. “Heatwaves will only get worse the more (emissions from) fossil fuel we pump into the atmosphere,” she said.

  • 11-month-old child hospitalised with serious injuries

    11-month-old child hospitalised with serious injuries

    A shocking case of alleged infant abuse has left an 11-month-old child fighting for life in a Western Australia hospital, with a family member now facing serious criminal charges over the incident. According to local law enforcement details, the infant sustained life-threatening harm following an alleged shaking attack on July 2. Emergency responders immediately rushed the injured child to Joondalup Health Campus in critical condition, before the young patient was transferred to Perth Children’s Hospital for specialized intensive care. As of the latest update, the 11-month-old remains in a critical but stable condition under close medical observation. Western Australia Police confirmed on Monday that the accused, a 25-year-old man from Two Rocks, a coastal suburb north of Perth, was formally charged with one count of aggravated grievous bodily harm this past Friday. Investigators have also confirmed a familial relationship between the accused man and the injured infant, though no further personal details have been released to protect the child’s identity. The suspect is scheduled to make his first court appearance at Perth Magistrates Court on July 29, where formal legal proceedings will begin. This incident has prompted renewed local discussion about infant safety and prevention of non-accidental head trauma in young children, a leading cause of severe injury in infants under 12 months of age across Australia.

  • Democrat accused of rape exits key US Senate race

    Democrat accused of rape exits key US Senate race

    In a sudden development that upends one of the Democratic Party’s top pickup opportunities in this year’s midterm elections, Graham Platner, the scandal-plagued Democratic Senate nominee for Maine, announced Wednesday he is ending his campaign against incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins.

    Platner, a 41-year-old Marine veteran, commercial oysterman and first-time political candidate, shocked political observers last month when he won the state’s Democratic primary, propelled by a populist, anti-establishment message that won him a fervent grassroots following. His unapologetic, outsider style quickly drew comparisons to Donald Trump’s disruptive 2016 political rise, as he railed against corporate influence, big-money political donors, and Collins, whom he accused of prioritizing the interests of billionaires over working-class Mainers.

    But his campaign began to unravel just days ago, after outlet Politico published a rape allegation from Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Maine resident and former romantic partner of Platner. Racicot accused Platner of forcing her to have non-consensual sex in late 2021, despite repeated protests from her. Platner has forcefully and categorically denied the claim, calling the accusation false, troubling, and unrelated to any actual misconduct.

    “This is incredibly difficult, because I know that some will think it’s an admission of guilt, and it most certainly is not,” Platner said in a video statement posted to X Wednesday. He confirmed he would file formal paperwork to withdraw his candidacy, noting that his hand was forced after top national Democratic leaders pulled all financial and institutional support for his campaign. “We’re not doing it because of the allegations, we’re doing it because of the structures that are being taken away from us by those in power,” he added.

    Even before the rape allegation emerged, Platner’s candidacy had been dogged by a series of personal controversies: inflammatory old social media posts, sexually explicit messages sent to women during the early years of his marriage, a tattoo that resembled a Nazi swastika (which he later covered up), and prior claims of mistreatment of women. Platner has acknowledged past struggles with undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder from his military service and alcohol abuse, but has repeatedly denied any physical harm to former partners.

    Within 48 hours of the latest allegation becoming public, support for Platner collapsed across every wing of the Democratic Party. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chair Kirsten Gillibrand publicly called for his withdrawal, warning that the party’s national campaign infrastructure would not invest a single dollar in the Maine race if he remained on the ballot. Multiple sitting Democratic senators who had previously backed Platner joined the call for him to step aside, and the Maine Democratic Party issued a statement saying “principle does not bend based on party affiliation” while urging his exit.

    Per Maine state election law, Platner’s withdrawal before the July 13 deadline allows state Democrats to select a replacement nominee to appear on the November general election ballot. The state party has until July 27 to name a new candidate, leaving party leaders just weeks to regroup for a high-stakes race that is central to Democrats’ goal of flipping control of the U.S. Senate from Republicans.

    The sudden collapse of Platner’s campaign has exposed deep rifts within the Maine Democratic Party. Progressives are already pushing for a new nominee who will carry forward Platner’s populist policy agenda and grassroots movement, while centrist party leaders are under intense pressure to select a candidate who can appeal to moderate, independent and women voters — blocs that will be critical to unseating Collins. The five-term incumbent Republican, one of the last remaining moderate GOP members of Congress, has long proven resilient in tough Maine elections, and the turmoil surrounding Platner’s exit has handed her campaign an unexpected political reprieve.

    For Democrats, the crisis in Maine comes as the party targets Collins’ seat as one of its most winnable pickup opportunities this cycle. To retake majority control of the Senate, Democrats need to flip multiple Republican-held seats, making the Maine race all the more critical. Platner closed his statement by calling on the Democratic establishment to honor the will and values of Maine’s rural, independent electorate as they move to select a new nominee.

  • US to remove Syria from terror blacklist, in new boost to Sharaa

    US to remove Syria from terror blacklist, in new boost to Sharaa

    In a landmark diplomatic shift that signals a new chapter for post-Assad Syria, the United States announced Wednesday it will remove the country from its decades-old list of state sponsors of terrorism, a major show of support for new Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. The long-awaited move, formally notified to Congress by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will go into effect in 45 days, and congressional opposition to the delisting is widely viewed as an unlikely outcome.

    The announcement coincided with a face-to-face meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Sharaa held on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. Sharaa, a former jihadist who has rebranded himself as a unifying national leader following the 2024 collapse of the Assad regime that ruled Syria with authoritarian control for 50 years, traded his previous guerrilla attire for a formal suit for the high-profile diplomatic encounter.

    “This is yet another historic step by President Trump to give the Syrian people a chance at greatness,” Rubio said in an official statement. He emphasized that removing the terrorism designation, paired with broader sanctions relief, will unlock critical international trade and foreign investment that Syria desperately needs to rebuild its infrastructure and institutions after years of devastating civil conflict. “A stable, unified Syria at peace with itself and its neighbors benefits not only the region, but the entire world,” Rubio added.

    Trump echoed this positive assessment of Sharaa’s leadership during their meeting, saying, “He’s doing an unbelievable job in unifying Syria. What a job he’s doing. Syria was a mess with what happened with the previous government.”

    The delisting comes despite lingering misgivings from Israel, one of Syria’s long-standing regional adversaries that has carried out repeated airstrikes on Syrian territory in recent years. Trump has previously publicly pushed for Syria to reach a formal peace agreement with Israel, but moved forward with the delisting even without tangible progress on that front. Last month, Trump suggested that Sharaa’s Sunni-led government could lead a military campaign to weaken Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah, a proposal Sharaa quickly rejected, noting Syria has no intention of repeating the Assad regime’s decades-long military intervention in Lebanon.

    For months, the U.S.’s initial round of sanctions relief had little tangible impact on Syria’s economy because the state sponsor of terrorism designation remained in place. The label left U.S. and international businesses facing significant legal risks for any commercial activity in Syria, effectively blocking most foreign investment. Rubio confirmed that the decision to delist Syria followed “formal assurances” from Sharaa that the new government will not support any acts of international terrorism moving forward.

    With Syria’s removal, only three countries — Iran, North Korea, and Cuba — will remain on the U.S. terror blacklist. Cuba was controversially added to the list during Trump’s first presidential term amid rising pressure on the island’s communist government.

    The U.S. first designated Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism back in 1979, during the rule of Hafez al-Assad, the late father of ousted president Bashar al-Assad. For decades under the Assad dynasty, Syria hosted a number of Palestinian militant groups, and Damascus was accused of direct involvement in high-profile attacks, including a 1986 attempted bombing of an Israeli El Al airliner. In recent decades, the designation was primarily tied to the Assad regime’s close alliance with Iran and its long-standing support for Hezbollah. Today, Syria is in desperate need of international economic assistance to rebuild after years of brutal civil war that allowed the Islamic State extremist group to seize large swathes of territory and triggered one of the worst global refugee crises of the 21st century.

  • Luke Beveridge says AFL’s Will Lewis staging fine sets ‘new precedent’

    Luke Beveridge says AFL’s Will Lewis staging fine sets ‘new precedent’

    A fresh controversy has erupted in Australian Rules Football after Western Bulldogs head coach Luke Beveridge launched a scathing rebuke of the AFL’s decision to uphold a staging fine against forward Will Lewis, accusing the league of dismissing clear medical evidence to set a troubling new precedent for future disciplinary cases.

    The penalty stems from an incident during last Friday’s match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, where the Bulldogs fell to the Sydney Swans. Lewis was issued a AU$1000 fine for alleged intentional staging during the game’s fourth quarter. In a bid to overturn the charge, the Western Bulldogs club submitted official medical documentation proving Lewis had been struck hard in the solar plexus during the play, a blow that left him temporarily unable to breathe and forced him to remain on the ground.

    Despite the submission, the AFL declined to reverse the fine. Beveridge told reporters this outcome now establishes a new, unwelcome standard that all Australian Football League clubs will have to navigate going forward. “In this one, he’s actually copped one in the solar plexus, it’s knocked the wind out of him,” Beveridge explained. “He’s hit the deck and then he’s obviously been charged with staging … what the AFL are saying to us is if you get hit, regardless if you do or don’t, if you stay down you can still be charged with staging.”
    Beveridge emphasized that the medical submission clearly confirmed Lewis could not have gotten back to his feet immediately due to his injury, yet the league brushed this evidence aside. “The AFL has obviously thumbed their nose at it and said, ‘We just think you’ve staged’,” he said. “It’s changed now to what staging is, it’s totally contingent on how long you stay down, not whether or not you actually got hit because he got hit.”
    The coach also came to Lewis’ defense, pushing back against any implication that the forward intentionally faked an injury to gain an advantage. “I feel for him because I don’t want him to be tarred with a brush that he’s put on an act because he hasn’t,” Beveridge said. “It just means now that if doctors from the football clubs, if they put forward submissions that a player is in discomfort, has been hit, the AFL will now ignore that and base it on what they see.”
    Beyond the disciplinary controversy, Beveridge also confirmed that key Bulldogs ruckman Tim English is in fitness doubt ahead of this weekend’s highly anticipated match against the West Coast Eagles. English played through discomfort in last week’s loss to the Swans, and his availability for the upcoming clash remains uncertain. He will need to get through a full training session without issue and pull up well by Friday to be confirmed as a starter.
    Beveridge noted that English has struggled for consistent form this season, a slump he attributes in part to disrupted game time from a recent concussion that has also dented the big man’s confidence. The coach, however, remains optimistic that consistent selection will help English return to his dominant best. “A bit like our midfield group this year, we’ve had some inconsistency through them working together, individuals at times and Tim’s in that,” he said. “But he’s obviously had some disruptions with the concussion, so a part of it might be a confidence thing. I’ve got every thought in my head that he’s going to be able to move towards being influential again – whether that is this week or not remains to be seen.”