Before I get started, I just wanted to address the elephant in the room. The massive banners that each team runs through each week. This tradition from a bygone era has as much relevance in 2017 as the Baha men. Sure it has its benefits, it gives people who have zero chance of playing at the highest level a platform to get close to the game, without having to become an umpire. The Bulldogs do it well, but for ever Danny McGinlay zinger there are seventeen other banners.
By The Lone Ruckman
Before I get started, I just wanted to address the elephant in the room. The massive banners that each team runs through each week. This tradition from a bygone era has as much relevance in 2017 as the Baha men. Sure it has its benefits, it gives people who have zero chance of playing at the highest level a platform to get close to the game, without having to become an umpire. The Bulldogs do it well, but for ever Danny McGinlay zinger there are seventeen other banners. By Greg Gibson
In Round 2 of this year's AFL season, I managed to sit down to watch the second half of the Giants v Suns game. I don’t particularly like either team, but I always try where possible to watch Gary Ablett play. He hadn’t played much in the previous two seasons, so I was pretty keen to see how he was going. I was stunned to find a man who looked disinterested in the contest. The commentators, of course, didn’t miss it, and proceeded to spend large periods of the game focussing on his body language and output. I wasn’t comfortable with it, as Little Gaz is the best, most competitive, brilliant and consistent midfielder I have seen, but I knew also, that what they were saying was right. There is something awful seeing a player near the end of his time at the top. I have written in the past about Ablett, and not writing him off to soon (read here), so I expected a bounce back the following week. As such, I made sure to watch the Suns v Hawks in Round 3. Sure enough, Gazza left his 16 possession game against the Giants in the past and accumulated 36 possessions and kicked two goals. There was still something missing though. Suns coach Rodney Eade pointed out after the game that Ablett was not playing at his best, despite the obvious statistical improvement from the week before. I was inclined to agree. Ablett’s body language was greatly improved, in that he seemed, once again, to want to be out there and competing, but he didn’t seem to have the zip in his legs and the power in his trunk. By Greg Gibson
An Essendon supporter friend of mine (Mark Franklin) recently said to me that when Nick Stevens was at Port Adelaide he liked him, and then when he moved to Carlton he hated him. His hair got greasier, he seemed to be sneering, and his eventual incarceration for domestic violence seemed to fit the new image. My own thoughts on Nick Stevens remained unchanged upon his arrival at Carlton, but that’s because I have a fairly strong hatred for Port Adelaide. I hate Carlton too, but I disliked Stevens equally at both clubs. Franka’s dislike of Stevens did not, in my view, grow from a darkening of the hair, but from the fact that he had become a Carlton player. And fair enough. I recall being disappointed when Matthew Lappin went to Carlton from St Kilda. He only played 55 games for the Saints in the mid-90s before moving over to the Blues for his extra 196 games, but I liked him. I liked the fact that he was a skinny fellow out there with the big boys, and he seemed to have time and space, which is a rare trait. I was annoyed he’d moved to my least favourite club. |
OWAAT
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December 2018
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