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The siren might have brought sweet relief to Jobe Watson and Essendon last night, but the elephant is still in the room. And it is not going anywhere.
The thrill and emotion of the Bombers’ comeback win over West Coast simply masked what was an utterly confusing night of AFL, one that had a sour twist.
Howled down by increasingly vitriolic boos, Watson did whatever an under-siege champion is supposed to do in these kind of situations – he rose to the occasion and earned the Hollywood ending to his week from hell.
Top effort. But nobody can explain why it was OK for him to play. In fact, it probably just made things worse.
In any other sport – as has been repeated ad nauseam – an athlete would be stood down if they admitted to having taken a banned substance. No issue.
Yet the AFL has been like a deer in the headlights of the Brownlow medalist’s apparent brainfade on Monday night.
In sitting on its hands, the AFL exposed Watson to a predictable trial-by-booing that overshadowed the game and did a complete disservice to the code.
It was the unfortunate byproduct of the AFL’s decision to opt for inaction when it couldn’t afford to.
There hasn’t been a peep from AFL House on this issue since On The Couch. No explanation. Not even a ‘we can’t comment’.
If it was image that somehow motivated the AFL to do nothing, then surely the events of last night must prompt the game’s hierarchy into action.
To criticise the public for booing Watson is to miss the point completely. The crowd was simply reacting to what it had been presented with, in the fashion it has always been accustomed to doing so.
There is no black and white in the outer, so it doesn’t matter if Watson didn’t mean to take a banned substance. In their eyes, by their rules, he is a drug cheat.
Mob mentality took hold as it does at football games – and it will be exactly the same at all the other grounds across the country if Watson keeps playing.
It’s not pretty or classy, but it is what it is. The criticism should be directed to those who allowed this to happen.
The worst part is that the real villains, the ones who fostered the ‘pharmacologically experimental environment’ at Essendon, can relax while Watson cops the heat.
Their day of judgment will come when the ASADA investigation finishes and the penny really drops – but until then, the skipper will remain hung out to dry.
Now that his name is out there, the boos will continue on as the echo to his every possession.
As long as it is only his name out there, Watson will be the public face of the scandal. It’s not fair.
It was bad enough before. A repeat of last night would be unacceptable. The AFL has to man up and make the call.
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