Linton plays hard
Outed star vows not to change his style
STAR Ocean Grove midfielder James Linton says he will not alter his aggressive style as he makes his return for Saturday’s Battle of the Bridge.
Known for his fierce attack on the ball, Linton was suspended for a hard hit that left Modewarre’s Tom Worpel concussed in last year’s elimination final.
The former Colac premiership player was offered a twomatch set penalty by the umpires, but chose to fight the charge at the tribunal, where he was handed a three-match ban.
Unhappy with the sanction, the Grubbers challenged the ruling at AFL Victoria.
It was downgraded to two weeks, meaning he missed games against Portarlington and Geelong Amateur.
Set to return to the Grubbers’ line-up for the top-of-thetable clash against Barwon Heads, Linton stressed he would not change his ways.
And there has been no instruction from coach Paul Lynch to curb his attacking style.
“Obviously in those couple of weeks when we were travelling up to Melbourne to see what sort of punishment would be handed down, we talked about it then, but since then we haven’t talked about it,” Linton said.
“I’m just going to play my normal game, the way I play, and nothing will really change, to be honest. It was just a splitsecond decision and whether I got him high or not, it was never really conclusive. There was no conclusion, but it won’t change the way I play.”
Linton acknowledged it was hard watching his teammates from the sidelines.
“Yeah, it was pretty tough,” he said.
“It’s been good with the results, watching the way the boys have played, so I can’t wait to get out there.”
Linton revealed he had copped a ribbing from his teammates, who suggested he was no guarantee to play in the seniors on Saturday.
“There’s been a few jokes about it, yeah,” he said.