The Roar
The Roar

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Forget the crap, let's talk footy

21st July, 2014
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21st July, 2014
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The greatest moments in sport are the ones that you don’t expect. What looked a run-of-the-mill round delivered high drama and intensity, quality football, and the biggest upset of the season, surpassing even GWS defeating Sydney in Round 1.

Finally, a round of football that might just get people talking about football.

So let’s have a week without Eddie McGuire and Andrew Pridham hacking away at each other in a boring, who-cares war.

Let’s have a week where we don’t care how Mick Malthouse treats a couple of precious reporters, or get told how much we should or shouldn’t like him.

Let’s have a week without the banal focus on who’s out of contract and who isn’t, and how much they want and how much they’re worth.

Please, let’s have a week where we’re not talking about one umpiring decision out of hundreds across a weekend, especially one where a case can be made either way. Newsflash: umpiring is hard, with a series of unending judgement calls. You’re not going to agree with all of them. And if your team is playing, rather than telling us how hard done by they were, please shut up. You just look like an idiot.

Instead of these pedantic matters that too often have no bearing on anything, let’s focus on the game itself, and the teams playing it.

Let’s focus on North Melbourne’s pathetic inconsistency, and why, even though the team has gone forward in terms of wins and ladder position, so many of the younger individual players have gone backward.

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Yes, we’re looking at you Ryan Bastinac, Jack Ziebell, Aaron Black and Aaron Mullett. We’re also looking at more experienced players like Drew Petrie and Lindsay Thomas.

Let’s focus on exactly where Carlton are at. Was Friday night the first building block in a bright future, or another mirage that the Blues faithful will mistake for an imminent rise up the ladder?

Let’s talk about just how difficult Fremantle have made the run home for themselves after dropping the unloseable game to St Kilda. Round 20 down at Geelong and Round 21 hosting Hawthorn will surely define their season now.

Let’s talk about how GWS and Melbourne are tracking on-field, both coming from as far back as any team has had to in the last 20 years, but delivering plenty of hope and optimism – the Demons to their fan-base; the Giants to their fan. No game is seen as unwinable now.

Are Port finished as a top four contender, counter-intuitively running out of steam as the season gets longer, even though they’ve made their name as saving their best for last within games?

Are Geelong really capable of playing premiership football when for so long they’ve played in fits and starts? It’s a weakness that goes all the way back to 2009, when their best was unmatchable, and they could sustain it for longer. That’s not the case these days.

The Dogs continue to rise from a low base, and the Dons are rising from the middle tier. We can expect to see many more epic clashes between the two over the next decade.

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Let’s look forward to a cracking weekend of football too.

West Coast and Richmond are looking to storm home, give their fans some joy in a disappointing year, and prove to themselves that they belong in the eight come 2015. They should provide a fast game and great entertainment on Friday night.

The Suns have to prove they can play finals, and register a maiden win without Gary Ablett. What better place to start than a Q-Clash against a resurgent Brisbane who continue to punch above their weight in recent times.

Hawthorn taking on Sydney at the MCG on Saturday night needs no introduction. If you’re not going to be watching this game, then don’t leave comment down below. You don’t love Australian Rules football.

Collingwood against Adelaide at the same ground a day later will have far-reaching ramifications on the shape of the season.

So, just for a change, let’s talk pure football. Just for a week.

And if you’re about to get sucked into discussing any of the nonsense that passes for footy debate these days, just stop and ask yourself, “Do I really care?”

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