Players and pundits blowing the wrong horn when it comes to Usain Bolt
There is plenty of commentary currently regarding Usain Bolt's football trial. Those who are anti-Bolt look for any argument to strengthen their point. Pro-Bolters…
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There is plenty of commentary currently regarding Usain Bolt's football trial. Those who are anti-Bolt look for any argument to strengthen their point. Pro-Bolters…
Unashamed raiders fan here, but thought I should throw my 2 cents in.
This was a dangerous throw, a tackle gone wrong, the player was put past the horizontal put in an exceptionally dangerous position, a lifting tackle, and one that Cotric deserved to be penalised, and miss weeks for. At the ground I immediately through he would/should be sent, and I actually have no issues with the send off (other than the fact it was not a premeditated act to injure, and other intentional acts such as eye gouging are not receiving send offs or sin bins). I also have no issue with the 3 weeks suspension, as while while it was accidental, and a fairly obvious dominant tackle gone very wrong, it is something that needs to be heavily penalised and has no place in the game.
But that doesn’t make it a spear tackle, as the age old definition of a spear tackle has intent to lift, turn and drive the player into the turf. This started going wrong when Lafai attempted to step inside Cotric, and Cotric did not adjust in time. Cotrics force was headed diagonally to Lafai’s left, creating the momentum to rotate Lafai in the air. Cotric is 100% to blame for this tackle, but it was not premeditated, and the fact he had released Lafai prior to contact removes the ‘driving’ motion associated with a genuine spear tackle.
To understand why Sticky commented the way he did, you have to look deeper than the press conference, and understand that good coaches use these opportunities to shape media commentary to their benefit. He was well aware that it would be the main talking point of the match, and given situations in the past – this year even- where he had players receive punishments exceeding the norm (Hudson Young vs multiple Josh McGuire eye gouges for example) he was bracing for an exceedingly heavy MDR charge. He was getting in early, prior to punishment handouts, and getting the points across that I have mentioned above. He was essentially declaring – ‘if you come down heavy on us, we have our defence ready to go, and we will challenge it’. Common sense has prevailed and a fair punishment handed out.
But I can very well understand why he would position himself and the teams views this way.
Sorry Ricky: If the game is to be safe, we need send offs
That about sums up the Mariners bench players for the last 3 years….
Players and pundits blowing the wrong horn when it comes to Usain Bolt
Very valid comment peeeko, I personally am under no illusion that a Bolt contract would be nothing but a short term ‘sugar hit’ to numbers. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth doing. Take the example if Tim Cahill at MC, he arrived under much fanfare and promotion, and became the face of the league. He increased merchandising sales, sponsorships, and swelled memberships and crowd numbers in year one. By year 2, to a fair degree the buzz had worn off. But was that worth doing? Of course it was.
If Bolt signs, and for year 1, memberships increase, crowd numbers jump, food and bev sales increase, etc. that increases operational budgets. If some of that can go to increasing on field talent, like the current rumours linking the Mariners to Tommy Oar and Ross McCormack, then that has the potential to ‘sustainably’ increase crowds through increased competitiveness.
Players and pundits blowing the wrong horn when it comes to Usain Bolt
Agree on your points, good article. But this really only covers the behavioural component to his game, which you have covered very well.
Just as big an issue is the performance side of his game. His style does not suit with the players now running the midfield, many times on Wednesday great breaks were made and link passes made to find that the striker was 20m behind the play. He is the starting striker for an Aleague club, and has converted 4 times from open play in the last 12 months of A-League competition. For any team, that is simply not good enough. The mariners have shown this off season that with some excellent recruiting, we have a capable backline with depth, which has all been tested due to injuries with GG and Tonjyik. We have a capable midfield with depth, probably our best Visa player didnt event play on Wednesday and we still owned the midfield with great control and creativity.
There is one glaringly obvious gap in our lineup, and its currently being filled with a captain that scored as many yellow cards as goals last season, and shows no sign of improvement this year.
We need to talk about Matt Simon