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Opinion
“Two and two are four,” claims Winston, the protagonist fighting to maintain his grip on reality in George Orwell’s 1984.
“Sometimes, Winston,” answers Ministry of Truth colleague O’Brien. “Sometimes they are five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they are all of them at once.”
O’Brien would surely come under strong consideration for the head of football role under upcoming AFL CEO Andrew Dillon, given Dillon’s comments on Monday regarding the chaos that has surrounded tackling and the number of sanctions being handed out by the AFL this season.
“I don’t really see there being confusion,” Dillon claimed when asked the direct question.
Over the last 14 weeks, Dillon obviously hasn’t watched a single footy show on television, read a newspaper article, clicked on a sports website, listened to talkback radio, or seen any coverage of the sport whatsoever.
The people at AFL House are often accused of being out of touch, and this did nothing to quell those fears.
The lunacy of the James Sicily suspension has brought the tackling situation to a head, not helped by the ridiculous bye round structure which gives more time to analyse and discuss these situations.
Let’s state this clearly – James Sicily getting any sort of suspension for his tackle on Hugh McCluggage, let alone three weeks, is just plain wrong. It’s just wrong.
For the majority of “sling” tackles, a player does in fact have a choice as to whether to bring his opponent to ground. Usually they do it as the next step after making the tackle in the first place, because the umpire hasn’t blown their whistle for a free kick or ball up, but that’s another story.
Sicily made a desperate lunge for McCluggage, exactly as every single Hawthorn supporter would ask of their captain in that moment. McCluggage drops the ball upon being tackled, and actually causes his own injury by reaching for the ball – this is not to impugn him, for it was a natural football action, as was Sicily’s.
The combination of Sicily’s momentum from the tackle, McCluggage’s own momentum in reaching for the ball, and Tyler Brockman flying into the contest with his own momentum, is what causes the twisting and turning that leads to McCluggage’s concussion.
Hugh McCluggage is assisted by Brisbane Lions trainers. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Three football actions leading to one football accident, which should never, ever lead to a suspension. Ever.
We have now had 23 suspensions from 14 rounds, at an ever more escalating rate. Some have gotten four weeks. Some have gotten three weeks. Plenty have gotten two or one. There have been a whole host of players not even cited – some of these were confirmed as having been looked at, some were not.
Some of these suspensions have been from sling tackles, some have been from forceful tackles. Many have had the arms pinned the whole time, some have not. Some have won free kicks from the umpires, some have had it paid against. Some have started with the arm pinned, released it, and been suspended anyway. Some have gone to the tribunal and been let off. Some have gotten off at the appeals board, Sicily did not.
All of this in the space of half a season.
“I don’t really see there being confusion,” Dillon said. Righto, mate.
But hang on, the AFL sent a video out to the clubs two weeks ago, with specific examples around what is and isn’t a suspendable tackle. Why did they do this, if not to address confusion?
Of course, the most classic part of all was most coaches not even showing their players the video, and worse still laughing it off.
What a horrendous display of leadership this has been from the AFL.
Andrew Dillon. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Information breeds confidence and silence breeds confusion. The AFL always, always, always seems to take the latter path as their first instinct. And often when they do come out with information, such as in the Adam Goodes saga, it is only after they have over-analysed the optics, and tried to walk the path that will offend the least amount of people.
The solution may well be that tackles are no longer allowed to take players to ground, at least from a standing start. Chase-down tackles must always be allowed as part of the fabric of the game, as should lunging tackles. And if the occasional player gets concussed in a pure footballing accident, so be it.
The AFL should be leading this discussion, working with the clubs and players, and keeping the fans informed. Instead, they choose only to spread misinformation, in a pathetic excuse for leadership.
George Orwell loved writing about the evils of propaganda, most famously via 1984 and Animal Farm. He’d have had an absolute field day with the AFL.