I’m not going to condone what Dale Thomas did last Friday night.
As Chris Judd explained perfectly on Footy Classified on Monday night, “Needless to say, drinking – full stop – in public two days before a game when you’re 1-9 fails the stupidity test, clearly.”
In a team that is desperate for seasoned bodies, leadership and football nous, a decision to drink at a charity function on Friday night after a week when the Carlton players looked at each other eye to eye and demanded higher standards of one another is so hypocritical.
Thomas made a poor decision and will cop his right whack by lining up in the back pocket at Windy Hill instead of the MCG on Sunday.
A club like Carlton are ripe for the picking for a media pile-on given their current state – dead last on the AFL ladder with only one win, a coach who is under siege and a supporter base who is fed up with not winning.
The optics are bad. But aren’t we going just a little bit too far with our scathing criticism? Calls for Thomas to play the rest of the year in the VFL? Or even more extreme, his immediate sacking?
This is the second time that we have gone to task on a player having a drink in season. Steven May was criticised just weeks ago for partaking in a Sunday drinking session with some friends while in rehab.
His club was in a similarly dire situation given the Demons’ pre-season expectations. Again, it’s a bad look and a clear breach of team rules and club standards.
In the media-saturated industry that our game has become, both of these stories received significant airtime and everyone who has an opinion voiced it.
While both Thomas and May did the wrong thing by their clubs and their team-mates, the severity of what they have done in the grand scheme of things is quite minor.
If this is the level of scrutiny for indiscretions such as drinking and being drunk in public, I fear for the day when one of our players actually does something wrong.
Our footballers of today live in a very different world – very different to the ones that we at home live in and worlds away from eras of the past when some of our long-time favourites plied their trade.
Before the competition was professional and the media and commentary from ex-players was not nearly as big as it has become today, it was commonplace for players to be seen out, allowing themselves the freedom to let their hair down in every way possible.
Now, the over-saturation of media, analysis and criticism means that everyday life for the current player is being lived under a microscope.
The need to create a story along with the constant witch-hunting, guessing games and barracking for teams and individuals to fail for the good of the story means it has never been harder to live as a professional athlete here in Australia.
Tom Boyd retired partially due to the pressures of the media and the expectation he plays like a world beater every time he steps out onto the field.
(Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Media/Getty Images)
Travis Cloke said he struggled with the pressures of media and social media and the constant pile-on when he had one of those days.
It’s the pile-on of the modern-day media cycle that is creating distrust between the players and the media, which only further separates with every passing barb, verbal take-down and the ever-mentioned line “back in my day” that is a regularity from former players.
While Dale Thomas would be rightfully ashamed of his actions last Friday night, getting drunk on a Friday night isn’t a criminal offence.
Remember when Luke Hodge was done for drink driving and was then allowed to play a qualifying final a week later? Dustin Martin threatening a woman with chopsticks? Jordan De Goey getting busted for drink driving?
All three of these offences are much worse than having a drink or three at a charity event.
I genuinely feel for our players. They’re human beings and have lives away from the game, and while they might not read and hear everything that gets said and written about them, they live in the modern world where the media cycle is constant and it gets to them one way or another.
It’s an emotional game and we all have the right to have a say, critique, question and when the occasion demands it, go over the top.
If we’re saying that Dale Thomas should lose his job over having a few too many drinks at a charity function, then how will we react if one of our players crosses the line and finds himself in a spot of bother?
Dale Thomas will take his place at the Northern Blues this week. How long he stays there will be at the discretion of Carlton’s coaches and leaders.
While it was an act that didn’t deserve to go unpunished, Thomas has been around long enough to know what he has to do to redeem himself and endear himself to his team-mates.
While this happens, the media will move on to their next target and prepare their next assault.
Sam
Guest
I saw somewhere today that Jack Riewoldt took a chunk out of Tom Browne on Twitter for trying to write a story about an injury he sustained. Rightly so too, it was a ridiculous attempt at dressing up a theory as a story. To often the media have thrown out ethics in favour of a story. Remember how channel 7 got their hands on some private medical records of AFL players? Ch 7 sacked a reporter for paying for the files. At some point accredited AFL journalists need to take a chill pill. I reckon the AFL could draw up a code of conduct for accreditation, if they get too zealous for a story, yank their accreditation for a year or two. The AFL can afford to protect its brand and its players. You watch them all fall into line. No journalist wants to be outside the press box tweeting out a link to their WordPress blog.
Brendan
Guest
Daisy Thomas handled his transgression well,good game in the twos and watching the ones.Good on you Joan for staying loyal to your Blues and remembering the good times.As a non bluebagger hope they turn it around they have been down too long.
ChrisH
Roar Rookie
I don't care how many beers or wines my club's players have if it doesn't affect how they play. This New-Age BS about enforced "self-"discipline reminds me of being a Catholic kid told I had to give up lollies for Lent. Players are treated like kids. Did the players get a choice whether they agreed to the no drink policy? The hypocritical thing is Daisy could quite feasibly be getting tanked at home every week but if know one knows then it's not a problem. Let his on field performance dictate if he should play, not off field legal drinking.
Gary
Roar Rookie
Wine is wine Pope, sometimes at these events you don't get a reasonable variety... I heard he was actually pinged for not pairing his wine correctly with his main. A fair call. Time in the twos, and a wine pairing course... probably not news worthy though.
anon
Roar Pro
Didn't Hodge get done for drink driving on the eve of the 2015 finals?
Kane
Guest
You obviously haven't heard Dane Swan talk about what he got up to during that year.
Jay Rodda Rams
Roar Rookie
Dale is a premiership player, and his club would expect better judgment from a player of his class. I look at it like this, would the possibility of this even happening, crossed his mind in that premiership season with Collingwood? If put in that same situation would the actions of been the same? No, because he is a representative of a football club who performs at the highest level in front of millions of Australians and their is a standard that is expected from premiership players. You would never see Joel Selwood, Tom Harley or Cameron Ling in the news, unless it's on the back page for playing great football.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
So, on what do you base that opinion?
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
Great comment Joan. Stick with your Blues, they’ll get there.
Macca
Roar Rookie
Great article, players every act on and off the field is dissected to within an inch of its life and scandals are created out of the most minor transgression and yet the media bemoan the loss of players like Tom Boyd from the game. I wonder if these journalists and ex players live by the standards they set for others.
Kane
Guest
If Carlton lose tomorrow and I was coach I'd be booking a pub somewhere on Monday and get the whole squad there with coaches and get on the drink for 6 hours. They will get more out that than meeting after meeting and they might even become closer mates which only helps them play for each other. It worked out in the bush where I played so why wouldn't it at the top level. There's not enough of it these days, players are treated like robots, not people.
Fairsuckofthesav
Roar Rookie
Too true. But you see it on the roar as well. Tex Walker misses one ball gather and he's pilloried by many commentators and football followers alike. Forgotten is that is on the verge of 400 goals and twice voted by his peers as best captain in the league. I'll take the opinions of the players before those less knowledgeable any day.
Joan
Guest
I am a Carlton supporter and have supported them all my life. As a little child, I can remember attending Carlton's winning Grand Final at Princes Park all those years ago. Daisy is one of my favourite players, loving him even when he played for Collingwood. I am so proud of how he helps our youngsters on and off the field. How about the media people (particularly past players) pointing the camera at themselves, unedited, with no makeup and smart words about players and remembering how they conspired to deceive their various coaches (yes, you too McClure) about their drinking ways. Carn the Blues, Joan
User
Roar Rookie
The footy media is getting worse, to much content needed to fill the week so everything is on par with the great war in significance, it's not just players but ppl with no qualification beyond I support a club trying to dictate what is narrative on coaches. Whilst ppl lap it all up and let the media dictate how they feel it won't change.
User
Roar Rookie
He was fine at wce, but he wasn't the number 1 man of that team.
Yattuzzi
Roar Rookie
It is all Judd. No dhead policy. Turns out he is one too.
Pope Paul VII
Roar Rookie
I heard he had two chardys. Were they oaked (yay) or unoaked? I suspect the prior. Got punished for it.
Brendan
Guest
This is ridiculous.The appropriate course of action would have been an alcohol course by Dale Thomas.Tom Boyd quit citing mental health issues no wonder with the scrutiny on players.Footy is becoming too moralising it is a game to make you feel good in winter.As far as I know Thomas got drunk but didn't cause anyone else any harm or break any laws.
Seymorebutts
Roar Rookie
Wallabies were given a rare Wednesday off on a tour of Europe recently. Instead of doing yoga or meditating they all went to an Irish pub and had a good old fashioned bonding session over a few beers. The media absolutely lambasted them 6 months later... completely ignored the fact they actually played the best game of their season and thrashed the Scots. Maybe players should be allowed to have a few quite beers in their own time. ;-) and in Carltons case maybe it should be compulsory, at least they would have a decent excuse for playing like they do.
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
The bloke had a couple of red wines. His team is 1-9, he probably needed them. Get off his back vultures.