Kangaroo Grant at crossroads
09/07/2008 8:56 PM
North Melbourne veteran Shannon Grant's career is hanging in the balance after the club suspended him for one match for breaching the club's code of conduct.
The 31-year-old will now sit out the Kangaroos' season-defining clash against Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night.
The nature of the Grant's indiscretion was not revealed by the club.
The internal disciplinary action against Grant comes just seven months after he was capsicum sprayed by police at the 'A Day on the Green' festival near Geelong where he and team-mates Aaron Edwards and Hamish McIntosh were involved in drunken clashes with security.
More importantly, the transgression comes just days after coach Dean Laidley declared that certain senior players would be given one more chance this week to prove themselves and avoid potential omission.
Laidley took the hardline stance after being frustrated by an inconsistent stretch which has seen his charges play brilliantly against premiership contenders Geelong and Hawthorn and lose to teams on the fringe of the top eight in the Brisbane Lions and St Kilda as well as cellar dweller Fremantle.
Making the timing even more awkward for Grant is the fact that only a few weeks ago Laidley was forced to publicly defend the Norm Smith medallist's waning form line and vowed that he would never play in the VFL under his watch.
Grant, who is seven games shy of his 300th AFL match, seemed to have responded to Laidley's faithful pledge by turning the corner in the past fortnight with solid showings against the Hawks and the Saints.