In some ways I’m a little dirty on myself for not blogging this entry before the events of the weekend and in some ways I’m glad I can incorporate them into my musings. I decided on this topic after reading a very good article in the Age.
A lot of balding middle age men in prominent media positions are claiming the suspension of Lance Franklin after making high contact against Ben Cousins as the penultimate sign that the bump is dead. They continue to then argue that all the hardness and bravado is being slowing strained from our great game. One club president even had the tenacity to suggest all contact would be removed and the sport would be akin to Basketball.
While I understand some of the comments are made tongue in cheek I don't subscribe to the theory at all. Merely observing the physique of an elite footballer suggests they live, breath and train for one purpose. To run all day and crash into one anther time and time again. The game is hard and 44 spent bodies ache and beg forgiveness after every match.
The fair as day old fashion hip and shoulder will always be part of the big bustling forwards arsenal. It isn't even restricted to forwards with plenty of great key position backman happy to throw around their weight in a contest to allow a quicker player to rebound with the footy safely.
As with any evolution of our game the media and talk back radio with whip the armchair bandwagon into a frenzy. Foaming at the bit for the good old days in order to draw an extra listener or sell another paper. At the end of the day the general public accept the rule and move on as little can be done once the governing body make a decision.
The deliberately rushed behind rule and last years hands in the back where as heatedly debated but haven't destroyed the fabric of the game at all. While the written rushed behind rule is mostly gibberish, the net result on the game has been marvellous. A packed stadium cheering an under siege backline for successfully clearing a hotly contested ball just as loudly as when the star forward slots a long bomb from 50m.
The head has been clearly signalled as sacred and only a fool could argue against that stance. It is still more than legal to land a bump on an opposition player but whilst you can intend to crunch them temporarily you can't knock the sense out of them.
Prior to the Lloyd incident on the weekend I felt that Buddy shouldn't have been suspended and that the rule is too firmly worded. I've since come around to the AFL's thinking that any serious impact to the head when the players soul intention is to crash into an opponent should have some consequence and a weeks suspension seemed fair so had they not fought the charge in my mind justice would have been served. I guess since I felt it was a one week offence that should have been the penalty and a good behaviour early plea would have had him on the paddock on the weekend.
Lloyd also seemed to get slapped with a heavy ruling as re-analysis of the video tends to suggest it wasn't all that premeditated an act and while a penalty for hitting the sacred head is understood a third of the regular season as a penalty is far to zealous.
It will go down in history as one of the more fiery games in the modern area and as a final in all but name I'll never forget the day a new star was born. Welcome Michael Hurley to the Essendon FC
I'm sure he will lay plenty of bumps in his promising career ...
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