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The Richmond Tigers are in a grand final after 35 years of waiting – yes, that’s a real sentence about real things that are really happening. Here’s my five talking points from the Tigers’ preliminary final win.
The Cotchin question
I’ll be honest, it bugs me a little that the big talking point out of a remarkable game of footy is Trent Cotchin’s potential suspension, but that is the world we live in.
The frustrating aspect of it for me is that, though the game was very much in the balance for a while afterwards, the commentary was purely focused on the potential fairness of a Cotchin ban.
No concern for whether or not Dylan Shiel might miss a grand final through concussion if his side won through, which was a legitimate possibility for a while there.
No concern for what impact a concussion might have on Dylan Shiel’s long-term health, or that of any other player, for that matter.
That is the frustrating things about head high injuries in the AFL – we jump up and down about free kicks and suspensions, we make little noise about the injury itself.
Alright, I don’t want to be a moral crusader so I’ll wrap that part up there, it’s something to think about I guess.
As for the Cotchin incident, I can’t see the AFL wiping him out ahead of a grand final even though by the letter of the law they probably should.
That said, I thought much the same of Patrick Dangerfield’s Brownlow chances, so who knows?
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Townsend, not Deledio, the real talking point
You know it’s remarkable, we spent so long talking in the lead-up to this game about Brett Deledio playing against his old club that I didn’t even realise Jacob Townsend was playing against his.
It’s been a remarkable rise for him over the past few weeks – going from probably a serious chance of being delisted to now playing in a premiership team.
And on Saturday with ten disposals and a crucial goal, I’d he say he at least narrowly shaded his counterpart in Brett Deledio (eleven disposals, but no scoreboard impact).
A shame Anthony Miles wasn’t in the team to enjoy it also.
We’ve got a grand final to get excited for
At the start of this year the two clubs with the longest active grand final droughts were the two who will now appear in this year’s decider, Adelaide and Richmond.
Neither club has a player in their 22 who has ever played in the grand final before. That’s the first time this has happened since, remarkably, 1898, when the first ever grand final was played.
Either team that wins it’s going to be a good story, breaking at least a medium-sized flag drought, and there’s going to be 22 blokes tasting success where they never have before.
On top of that it’s fair to say these have been close to the two best teams of the year. Adelaide certainly are one of them, Richmond at least in the mix.
Here’s hoping it’s a good contest, though I’ll admit watching the game on Saturday I couldn’t help feeling that neither team was much chance against the Crows.
(Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)
Did Stevie J go on a year too long?
Stevie J was all set to retire at the end of last year but ultimately was convinced to go around another year in a conversation with coach Leon Cameron.
He probably should’ve stuck to his first instinct and finished up – while there’s been a few highlights from him this year, it’s largely been a flop.
He kicked six goals against West Coast in the semi-final, you’ll tell me, but all of those came in the second half when the Eagles were long dead and buried.
Against Richmond he just had no impact and it ultimately hurt the Giants that they were playing him over Devon Smith.
Ah well. Truth is the Giants probably wouldn’t have won either way, and at least Johnson got to finish off a fabulous career exactly the way he should – in a big final at the MCG.
Oh, and please AFL, give him a little dinky ban for the hit on Alex Rance just to send him off with – it’ll give us all a good chuckle.
(AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
Pre-finals bye not a problem after all
There’s been a fair bit of talk this year around the pre-finals bye damaging the chances of teams that win their qualifying finals, but the results of this week have dealt likely a fatal blow to that theory.
Funnily enough, the same two teams that lost preliminary finals last year are the ones that also lost them this year, despite being on the opposite side of the draw.
To me that suggests again what I have always thought about footy – whatever minor advantages come your way, being the better team will just about every time win out.
Adelaide will certainly be hoping that proves true this week as, despite finishing No.1, they travel to Melbourne in search of a third flag.