van der Klooster was banned by the league after he failed to tell selectors that he was unavailable to play interleague before the 60-man squad’s first training session.

The Winchelsea gun said he had called interleague coach Daryl Bisset the week after the first training session because he had forgot to do so earlier.

van der Klooster claimed he was told in a meeting with part of the league’s executive that his suspension was for being “disrespectful” to Bisset on the phone.

However Bisset told the tribunal that van der Klooster was never disrespectful to him.

In a heated statement to the tribunal, van der Klooster slammed the league for the handling of his case.

van der Klooster said he felt like the league was on a witch hunt after he pulled out of last year’s squad with a knee injury.

“I’ve had the privledge of playing at the highest level in leagues ranked one and two in country Victoria and I have never dealt with such unprofessionalism as what I have had here,” van der Klooster told the tribunal.

“Last year I was injured and they still tried to suspend me for not going to training ... I missed 10 weeks with my knee.

“It’s just disgusting the whole setup at the moment.”

New rules sanctioned by the league’s clubs this year gave power to the GDFL to suspend players who did not perform the required interleague duties.

One of those rules included letting selectors know of any unavailability before the squad’s first training session.

The veteran ruled himself out of interleague duties because he could not make training due to starting a new job in Melbourne.

GDFL executive member Wayne Moore said it was vital the league pursued players who did not take interleague serious.

“We want to take interleague serious. We believe we need to send a strong message out to all the other clubs that we are taking it fair dinkum,” Moore said.

Winchelsea representative Anthony Coxon backed the league’s stance, but said it needed to be more thorough with its rules.

“As long as it is all documented properly (then players should be banned),” Coxon said.

“We should be aiming to have our league broadcast as high as what we can get it. We really got to support it.

“Hopefully going forward we can see the best players out there every week. those that are available to train and those that can play.”

EARLIER, Leopold captain Jai Thompson will miss his team’s crucial clash against Colac after he was handed a one-game suspension last night.

Thompson was found guilty of striking South Barwon’s Adam Kurzman during the second quarter of the thrilling draw almost a fortnight ago.

Video showed the 23-year-old fling an arm back at Kurzman before a centre bounce.

Kurzman told the tribunal he was left winded by the incident and rated contact a seven or eight out of 10 and said it was intentional.

Thompson said he was trying to hit Kurzman’s hand off his jumper and missed after the South Barwon player had put a tag on him during the first quarter.

“I threw my arm back and hit him in the wrong spot,” Thompson said.

“I’d say it (contact) was not even close to that (seven or eight) ... it was minor. Maybe three or four (out of 10).”

When handing down the penalty tribunal chairman Phil Swindells urged Thompson had to “wake up” to himself and “mature a bit”.

Thompson’s hearing was delayed a week after two other GDFL cases were heard last Wednesday night.

He was named first emergency for last weekend’s interleague clash with Peninsula.

If he had gone in front of the tribunal last week and was suspended then he would have been ineligible for interleague duties.