2015 is the first year that I have been a member of the
Geelong Football Club after supporting them for 30 years. I plan on writing this biased, un fact
checked and grammatically incompetent
blog each week. These are my stories. (Cue noise from Law and Order)
Week 2 "Lie to me"
So it's a
week into the NAB Challenge and it has been bruise free footy at its best,
hardly a advertisement for our great game. The obligatory season ending knee
injury for one of the comps young guns has been the only thing to raise my
eyebrows because the standard of footy certainly hasn't.
The Adelaide Crows travel down to the cattery
for a Thursday night fixture and id be prepared to bet (readers note: The
author has been placed on a self imposed gambling ban which will lift Round 1 of
the AFL season , penance for being inept at picking NBA winners) that it won't
be bringing its full complement of star players to thrill the Kardinia crowd.
Unless Morgan Freeman appears on the news explaining that NASA has found a rip
in the fabric of space and time which has given us access to a parallel
universe ,which turns out needs to be saved from oblivion and the only way to save it s that two AFL
teams must battle it out on a Thursday night with both teams bringing a
physical intensity and a finals like frantic pressure , I suspect that we will
see the same brand of insipid full contact training we have witnessed in the
first week of this "competition".
And I don't
blame the clubs at all. What are they playing for exactly?
Both of
these teams could potentially have their seasons derailed before they even
start with season ending injuries to key players. I would hate to see Big Tex
Walker or The Tomahawk go down for the year, robbing the fans of a season of
strong marks on the lead and tests of strength against the best defenders in
the comp.
All I want to
see out of this game is some lies. I want a full grown man to look down the
camera, lie and say all contract talk will be taken care of at the end of the
year. I want to hear that all your concentrating on the season at hand and that
your manager takes care of all the contract stuff. I want to hear that your super happy at the
crows and money has no place in your decision.
I'm talking
to you Mr Dangerfield .
Lie to me,
and I promise I'll believe you.
I believed
G. Ablett.
I believed
L. Franklin.
The two biggest names in our game both sat and warmed the
chair that Paddy will sit in this year and both were forgiven for lying to the
media and us the supporters. I guess three dump trucks full of money backed up
deposited straight into your bank account will do that to a person. Now it's
your turn Paddy. It's the money or the box.
Free agency
as set out by the AFL not only encourages dishonesty but it rewards it. Don't
believe me? Just wait and see the first player to announce midyear that they
are moving at the end of the year NRL style , my guess is they may play the
rest of the year in the magoos and valuable game time will be given to some
younger guys "in the interests of the club". Free agency is not even
"free", the appalling
compensation pick system is nothing but a ill thought out appeasement to the
clubs that are being pillaged while the other more business minded clubs that
have room to move in the salary cap can reap the rewards.
The cats have to be the most
affected club losing the best player in the competition but the club I feel for
the most is Melbourne. The perennial cellar dwellers have had the best players
from their list cherry picked by better clubs and it's all been rubber stamped
by the AFL. Pretty sure Paul Roos could use J. Rivers and J. Frawley in the
backline this year, but that doesn't serve the AFLs purpose . It seems they
would much rather grow the game in new markets than look after the oldest
football club in the world.
The jungle
drums will be beating around which players will make the move at the seasons
end and all the focus will be on which players are the targets and who will
take the money and run.
My personnel
jungle drum will be beating around which journo is slack enough to trot out the
tired old Jungle drum analogy this year. I am claiming that phrase early in the
season and I'm watching out for any professional scribe that unimaginatively uses
it this year.
Early season market
for "Jungle Drum" phrase in
player movement.
1.90 Jon Ralph
Craig Hutchinson
Damien Barrett
2.00 Tony Shaw
Caroline Wilson
3.00 Mark Robinson
Eddie McGuire
3.50 Gerard Healy
5.00 Mike Sheehan
Dermott Brereton
10.00 Patrick Keane
15.00 Gerard Whateley
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