The AFL world has turned into Paris of the 18th century, with fans preparing to storm AFL House and free the theoretical prisoners of laws that are putting the game in a stranglehold.
While Andrew Demetriou and Gillon McLachlan only have a passing resemblance to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, the disillusioned masses are stirring just as malevolently as they were 200 years ago. While we can be safe in the knowledge cannons won’t be rolled up to Etihad Stadium, the bullets coming from mouths and phones are equally damaging.
When former Brownlow Medallists start calling for the players to strike and premiership coaches not knowing how to circumvent rules that go against pure instinct, there has to be a hand raised to admit fault. This simple act from the governing body will relieve the huge and potentially damaging pressure steadily building.
When you see a great contested bump at a game, cheers go up, the winner is exalted and the loser is mocked. This is the glory of the theatre of sport. We all want our players to be stronger, tougher, angrier. If a contest is lost we will generally turn the scowls at our failure rather than their victor.
But when you walk away from the game, the majority of sports fans can look back objectively. If that hit that was glorious an hour or so ago, on reflection it could turn out to be malicious.
But no one has lost step in the support of Jack Viney.
I watched the game of the that bump and was on my feet when I saw the courageous attack the second year Demon had at a loose ball with a knot of two players coming at him. Once he won the ball and sent it downfield, I actually wondered ‘How did he survive that?’ I replayed it a few times and was amazed he managed to avoid injury.
He absorbed that hit, he didn’t instigate it. Viney is a very strong kid, and that has cost him in this case. Commentators at the time praised him, umpires not even thinking of blowing the whistle. The fervent Crows fans sitting in subdued silence without calling for recompense could be the greatest sign of all.
It was a contest of strength that resulted in a winner and a loser. That is all.
This boy has had his jaw broken in a very targeted attack by a Geelong veteran when he was barely old enough to drive. He tried to play on, but it’s hard when your face doesn’t work properly anymore. He lost that battle and accepted it as a risk that is taken when you play a ‘collision’ sport.
He still went like a bull at a gate every game after that. He knows no other way. You can’t teach aggression, you can only channel it. Look at North Melbourne’s Jack Ziebell as a perfect example.
This is white line fever personified. His attack on the ball was chaotic. It started to show with a lot of free kicks, then reprimands and suspensions. The tipping point came after his own huge hit.
Ziebell’s hit on Aaron Joseph, while crude, was a courageous attack on the ball. There’s no doubt that he knew he’d collect Joseph in his pursuit of the ball up for posession, but the point is he knew he’d win out on that challenge. If you want to go at the ball, prepare for some intense contact. He, like Viney, has since been coached to refine his attack and, while still fearless, is now a lot more effective.
The Match Review Panel has been a complete roll of the dice – horrendous actions have been given slaps of the wrist, while displays of courage have been taken to the town centre and flogged.
Nat Fyfe had less than a second to stop a player with the ball and with the option to smother gone, tried to push Michael Rischitelli off his kick. Both heads collided and because Fyfe was the instigator, he got rubbed out. These incidences were accidents in pursuit of the ball.
Richard Douglas’ crunch on an unsuspecting Callan Ward and Daniel Merret trying to elbow David Swallow in the face like Muay Thai fighter is what needs to be the focus and prey of these rules. Both actions were abhorrent – let’s rub that out!
If a player genuinely gets beaten or can’t take the hit, it is what drives them to get better. Getting a shirt front when the ball is no longer a factor in play deserves the scorn of the football world.
These rules are there to stop malice, not to punish courage.
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