The AFL Tribunal gave Essendon star Dean Rioli an extended holiday last night, suspending him for three matches for striking. Rioli and the club are both bitterly disappointed with the outcome. ""Well he actually got four weeks. It is just disappointing. You do that and you suffer the penalty. The penalty is that he will have to work his butt off to get back in the side. Out Rioli and in Hird, so from that point of view it gives us an opportunity to play Hird,"" Bomber coach Kevin Sheedy said.

Rioli's track record in front of the AFL Tribunal is not that flattering. He missed four games last season for eye gouging and head butting. Sheedy said he will definitely sit down with Rioli in the coming days and have a chat about a few things. ""There is a bit of anger there and we just need to get it out of his system,"" Sheedy said.

Rioli and the team trained this morning at Windy Hill. Danny Jacobs, Jason Johnson, Scott Lucas and Dustin Fletcher didn't make it out on the track. Sheedy said all are fine and were going cross training work in the gym on the bikes. Sam Hunt also missed the skills session with a minor cold. The team will have a four-day break over the bye weekend and resume training on Monday, June 23rd.

Sheedy said he would like to see some sort of football played over the bye weekend and is an advocate for the return of State of Origin football. ""It is a situation clearly where we should be looking at some sort of game over the bye weekend. I hate to think that these players will never play for their state. Perhaps the AFL is going to have no state of origin ever again and if that is the case then tell us the truth. If it was me playing at the current time I would love to play for my state. That might be just myself and I might be wrong but the best way to find out is to ask the players.""