This year’s Good Friday match might not have been the reason that this season has been plagued by the ‘state of the game’ debate, but it’s one of the big showpiece games that flopped.
The Good Friday game was a horrible spectacle, especially for the first three-quarters, until North Melbourne remembered that they were a football team and kicked away in the final term.
At halftime the score stood at 2.10 each, and by three-quarter time North managed to put on a slightly more respectable 4.6, to St Kilda’s 3.1.
For these three-quarters, accuracy on goal was only around 30 per cent, and most people would have tuned out. The Saints never recovered, and are now a club in crisis, despite their improved performance against Hawthorn.
The one word that comes to mind when describing the Good Friday match is comical. And had it been a one off, it would have remained comical.
But because of all the Friday night flops (many involving the cellar-dwelling Saints and Carlton), the belief that the game is in crisis has stuck around.
Now though, the Saints and North have the chance to rectify this situation.
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Although they are now (probably deservedly) resigned to the Sunday twilight timezone, and neither can make finals, they do have the opportunity to put on a show for the (probably small) crowd that will attend.
While there are some things riding on this match for the Kangaroos – such as Ben Brown’s chance at the Coleman and Jarrad Waite’s farewell – their season has already exceeded most outside expectations.
The game is arguably more important for the Saints.
A bad loss will raise further questions about Alan Richardson heading into the off-season, and make the rumoured board and presidential changes less clean than they already are.
However, finishing the year on a positive note, playing well, and with either a competitive loss or even a victory will allow the Saints some free air as they try to get out of the hole they have played themselves into this season.
Some individual players too are playing for their careers, and really need to perform to guarantee their place on the list next year.
But the AFL as a competition also has its fortune at stake.
With the proposed rules still being trialled at VFL level, this round is really the last chance to prove that the current rules are worth persisting with. And while the new rules might already be a fait accompli, there is no sense in giving the AFL more evidence that the game is in a poor state.
The clubs have a responsibility to demonstrate to the fans who see no need for change that they are capable of playing a highly-skilled, open brand of football.
Of course, both clubs’ greater responsibility is to their own fans and to victory but, as the AFL is prepared to change the rules to encourage a certain way of playing, teams must be prepared to call their bluff and play the way head office wants.
If nothing else, the clubs should reflect on their poor game earlier in the season, and their play on Sunday should act as an apology for the farce that was Good Friday.
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