- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Fremantle have had the last laugh after being widely criticised for their controversial preparation to last Saturday’s qualifying final against Geelong.
The Dockers rested ten players in the final home-and-away game and drew condemnation from some, including AFL head honcho Andrew Demetriou, who declared putting such an undermanned team out onto the ground was a ‘bad look’.
But that ‘bad look’ has created the perfect scenario for the club in its quest to win its first premiership cup.
After a gritty performance that put the home town Cats back among the chaff, the Dockers now have the luxury of a week off and the knowledge they have earned a home preliminary final against either Sydney or Carlton.
That they don’t have to travel again until the the last Saturday in September (should they make it) must bring a smile to coach Ross Lyon’s face.
His mission has been accomplished. Win or lose, he has given the Dockers their best possible chance at September glory.
All of which raises the question – does everything about AFL football have to look good?
Let’s face it, the AFL is obsessed with image. It is quick to condemn and has a trigger-like reaction to anything that could become a blight on the game.
Think the introduction of a substitute to quell the number of rotations (apparently groups of players running on and off the ground at regular intervals was a bad look).
That idea worked so well that the league now have to introduce an interchange rotation cap!
Another beauty was the tightening of the hands in the back rule a couple of years back. That got so ridiculous that even the slightest incidental contact was penalised.
That was a self-inflicted bad look achieved after trying to stamp out the bad look of players being interfered with in marking contests.
This year’s sliding rule was another knee-jerk reaction to what was an isolated incident. Nobody wants to see a player lying on the field with a broken leg, but cases of it happening after being slid into by an opponent were hardly trending.
West Coast forward Josh Kennedy better watch out. His goal kicking routine is definitely not a good look. Might need to implement a rule change there, a cap on the number of stuttered steps allowed on approach to goal.
One can only thank the football gods that netball-like zones were not created to hold players in position when defensive flooding began to become a legitimate tactic a few years back.
Don’t laugh, it was talked about!
Seriously though, while our game is brilliantly breath-taking at its spectacular best, it must be remembered that for every high there is a low.
For every down to the wire, heart attack inducing, frantic finish to a game, there are several blow outs balancing the ledger.
For every high mark, there are spilled chances. For every miracle goal by Stevie Johnson there is Travis Cloke spraying one out on the full.
Someone wins and someone loses. The game is not always good.
But perhaps worse than the constant tinkering with the rules or the ambitions of the controlling body to speed up the game and ‘improve’ it beyond recognition, is the tendency for its leader to offer his forthright opinion on what clubs should do or how they should be run.
Demetriou is not short of a word, and offers up his opinions freely. Too often though he strays from being guardian of the game to meddling in club affairs.
And this is not the first time he has been tetchy about Fremantle.
When the Dockers cut former coach Mark Harvey off at the knees with a year still to run on his contract, appointing Lyon in his place, the league supremo was particularly scathing.
To him the whole thing ‘reeked of hypocrisy’, when really he had no business in the affair at all.
Whether he agreed with Fremantle’s approach or not was irrelevant. Simply, it was club business and none of his concern.
It might have been a bad look but sometimes tough decisions need to be made for a reason and they don’t always look rosy.
Two years down the track and Fremantle are in a good position. The bad blood of the Lyon/Harvey saga has dissipated and the finals have a distinctly national feel.
Fremantle, Sydney and Port Adelaide join Hawthorn, Geelong and Carlton ensuring that all states with AFL teams (bar Queensland) are represented.
And Fremantle, the last of the established clubs yet to win a premiership, is in with a chance.
That has to be a good look.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.