• Dogs suspend Boyd, Cordy after drunken fight
• Dogs skipper responds to dogfight

WE KEEP getting told we must wait, that to make judgements on Tom Boyd at this age and stage of his two-club AFL career is unfair.

The Western Bulldogs loathe the questions about Boyd, the young man in whom they invested $7 million as part of a Peter Gordon-led trade with GWS, which had stolen their captain Ryan Griffen, in October 2014.

But through their own dealings with Boyd in the past month, the Bulldogs have now invited more intense scrutiny of their 20-year-old forward.

They haven't been playing Boyd in the seniors. There has been a shoulder injury. There have been form issues. There has been regular public commentary by coach Luke Beveridge about Boyd.

Seems strange now that Beveridge didn't feel the need to alert his loyal members and supporters that Boyd had been disciplined after being involved in a fight with a teammate.

Earlier this month, Boyd belted Zaine Cordy during a night of drinking. Cordy required immediate medical attention.

Both young men were in shabby condition, Cordy arguably worse for wear than Boyd. Whatever form of punch was laid on Cordy was said to have been hard. 

A club official was informed of the ugly confrontation. The club official then informed Beveridge.

The Bulldogs made the decision immediately to publicly cover this up.

That's fine. That is the club's right. The cover-up lasted a good few weeks, too. But cover-ups can lead to awkward lies.

The Footy Show on Wednesday night asked questions of the club about the Boyd-Cordy fight. On Thursday afternoon, the club decided to issue a general press release about it.

Better late than never to attempt to control whatever message needed to be sent. "The club is strongly against any form of violent behaviour," it read in part.

The release went on to say the club "has suspended Tom and Zaine from AFL selection until the club deems it appropriate for both to return."

Beveridge has spoken to the media – and effectively his club's supporters – about Boyd since the Boyd-Cordy incident.

Only this week, a journalist asked Beveridge at a press conference: "Is Tom Boyd ready to come back in?"

Beveridge: "Yeah, he's close. He played pretty well against Frankston the last VFL game so we'll look at that. We've still got to totally make sure (of) that shoulder. We can't have any episodes early in games and lose a player."

Not a mention of the club-imposed suspension. Interesting.

On June 18: "We've just got to make sure that he's totally right. He's coming back from a shoulder injury that's risky and we can't (afford) to lose him during the game. So once we're totally satisfied he's 100 per cent, he'll regain his spot in the AFL side."

Sometime last week, the Bulldogs informed key people at AFL headquarters that the Boyd-Cordy incident had taken place.

That in itself was an interesting move. The club had clearly dealt internally with Boyd and Cordy before informing the AFL, a stark contrast to its hasty path to the AFL last year when it reported its own player, Michael Talia, for allegedly passing on match information to his brother.

Beveridge refused to speak to Talia before taking such action. Talia was cleared by the AFL and traded out by the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs chose not to tell Boyd's manager, Liam Pickering, of Boyd's incident with Cordy. Boyd also chose not to tell him. Strange lack of faith and trust from Boyd, given Pickering single-handedly drove the contract figure up to an extraordinary $7 million.

Boyd has played 27 matches - nine in 2014 for GWS, 14 last year for the Bulldogs and four to this stage of 2016.

The questions of Boyd are here to stay. Would help if we got some truth behind the answers.

Twitter: @barrettdamian