On-field action a relief for the Bombers and the AFL

The AFL’s NAB Cup pre-season competition is underway this weekend and hopefully it will be a diversion – at least for the next three days – from the allegations that performance-enhancing and illicit drugs are rife in the sport.

Supporters can get back to the footy, check out the new recruits and see if there’s a completely different game plan or just subtle changes to the old plan tonight.

It’s rather ironic that one of the teams playing in the first batch of round robin matches this weekend is the club under the most spotlight regarding this explosive issue, Essendon.

It’s only the pre-season, but we will be watching closely to see how the Bombers have coped with one of the worst weeks in their proud history.

Sport has a way of ensuring that adversity can produce brilliant on-field performances and that’s how you would hope Essendon would approach their first hitouts against opposition teams in the Western Bulldogs and Collingwood.

Essendon and Collingwood have two of the largest supporter bases in the competition and although everyone has been rocked by last week’s news, they are still only allegations.

Expect fans to turn up to Etihad Stadium in healthy droves to get their first taste of on-field action.

There’s likely to be some banter in the crowd among supporters, but that’s what we want and even though the Bulldogs don’t have the reputation the Dons and the Pies have, considering their many success starved years, Dogs fans will no doubt get in the act as well.

I hope this doesn’t sound too naive, but I hope the footy on the ground is the story, even though winning or losing in February is much less important than tasting victories from late March until September.

But our innocence has been threatened over the past week and there’s a chance AFL footy will never be the same again.

So fingers crossed that, for the next fortnight at least during the staggered start to the NAB Cup, we can talk about how Brendon Goddard performed in his debut for the Bombers, how the Bulldogs’ Dale Morris recovered from his broken leg and how Quentin Lynch looked in a Collingwood jumper.

This issue of what impact drugs might be having on the game will bubble along until the investigation from ASADA is complete.

But it’s what happens on the field that has made all of us who love the game attracted to it in the first place. I hope that passion remains.

The Roar would like to take the opportunity to welcome Dan Lonergan as an AFL expert columnist on the site. With a broadcasting career spanning over three decades, Dan is one of the most recognisable voices on the ABC’s AFL commentary team and will bring a wealth of insight and expertise to his articles.