On Thursday night, during the Collingwood and Carlton clash, Sam Walsh and Nick Daicos engaged in a tussle.
Presumably, this began because opposition sides have decided the best way to put Nick off his game is to physically intimidate him.
At one point, Walsh grabbed Nick and slung him to the ground. It was an interesting motion. If it had occurred during play and Nick had the ball in hand, it’s likely the umpire would’ve penalised Walsh for a dangerous tackle, and the Tribunal would’ve suspended him for at least one week.
Nothing doing here. The quarter had ended. There was no ball in play, so it was open season.
And with that being the case, what did occur is that a melee erupted.
I’m sick of this – not so much the melee, because players will stand up for their teammates. What I’m sick of is the players exhibiting the pseudo-toughness that precipitates these occurrences.
Back in 2023, then-Sydney coach John Longmire sent a group of Swans players to get in Nick’s face. Typically, Collingwood players responded. Another melee formed. Both teams were fined. John Longmire owned the incident with aplomb. Nothing to see here.
If I were the Collingwood president, I would’ve told the AFL to bill the Swans, since it’d be unrealistic to expect Collingwood’s players to do nothing while a teammate is getting ambushed.
I’m using Nick as an example because I follow Collingwood, and I see this occur every week. But it happens regularly to gun players. Patrick Cripps has been mauled for years. Gary Ablett was pilloried. I remember Cameron Ling striking Nathan Buckley in the face, drawing blood, behind play. The best players endure unconscionable treatment, and the AFL’s response?
Nothing.
Nothing ever.
For years, the AFL have been hellbent on cleaning up the game. We’re at the point now where players are being rubbed out for football acts that have resulted in the injury of an opponent.
Yet this goes on.
Sam Walsh of the Blues. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Inevitably, a champion player – the sort of player who draws the fans to watch the game – will be injured at the hands of some weak thug who has no legal recourse to stop them, so resorts to some cowardly sling or hit, knowing that they can act with impunity.
Then there’ll be an outcry. That’s when the AFL will respond. Not before. The only thing the AFL have ever been proactive about is insufficient intent. And here they are, with an insufficient intent to do anything about this.
What irks me is the potential for carnage. Let’s go back to Thursday night. A melee erupted. You had both teams congregating, some players trying to wrestle teammates away, while others ran in to perpetuate hostilities.
Firstly, and most simply, is this a good look for the game? Because while it might not be acknowledged, part of the AFL’s motivation in sanitising the game is to make it more appealing for next the generation of Auskick parents.
Yes, that’s a thing. I’ve spoken to parents who have steered their kids away from Australian Rules because they consider it too physically dangerous and would rather their kids play soccer or tennis instead. The AFL’s always been paranoid of any other sport stealing their crowds, their players, and their future.
Secondly, what’s the potential for something to go wrong here?
Walsh’s tackle easily could’ve resulted in Nick popping a shoulder – it’s happened in tackles when a player hasn’t been able to control their descent and hit the ground shoulder first. And if something like that had happened, I imagine Collingwood’s retaliation wouldn’t be so temperate – nobody’s would.
Nick Daicos. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Thirdly and finally, on the grandest scale, when all the players are involved in the melee, what if hostilities escalate and somebody gets seriously hurt?
Tempers are flaring, adrenaline is pumping, and instincts are firing. It’s especially risky during a break, since players aren’t compelled to return to the play.
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I appreciate that players will tussle around stoppages when they jostle for position. There’ll always be some toing and froing. I don’t have an issue with that if such actions sit within the legal parameters of the game.
But there’s a difference between competitiveness and pseudo-posturing that only exists as the weakest recourse to get the better of an opponent.
Am I the only one sick of watching this?
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