Law enforcement officers,
So, big Bad Barry “never won a Brownlow – and proud of it” Hall puts his hand up for a two week rest on account of clocking some Adelaide fool, who’d been making a nuisance of himself throughout.
No harm in that
Barry’s only crime was that he decided to put on the innocent little love tap after the three quarter time siren.
Unforgiveable.
At least the tribunal saw it for what it was -- a waste of time and effort.
Poor Ol’ Bazza now finds himself between a rock and hard place, after vowing on national television that he was going to clean up his act and couldn’t see how anyone could not benefit from him playing a valedictory year next season.
Now he’s got the Commentariat howling that he’s played his last game for Sydney, or anyone else for the matter.
Straightforward comments like “If I was Roos, I wouldn’t go on with him next year” to inflammatory statements like “well, yes, Hall, just another one of those players who failed to live up to his potential”.
The Great Man even appears to have his coach against him, with quotes like “I don’t know if Hally really wants to play football, whether his mind is on boxing, or on something else, I just don’t know. I will discuss it with him in due course”, “people can retire mid-season, y’know, just ask Mickey O”.
SC Roos could always just drop the bloke to the seconds, as he did with another character with problems -- Nick Davis Come To Save Us -- and then put him in the column marked in capital letters DELIST.
But you’d hope the super coach is better than that.
Despite his public pronouncements, SC Roos among few others, would privately suggest that a negotiated, graceful exit, stage left for the ageing lunatic would be best for all concerned.
The stats guru’s couldn’t help but gloat that BBB Hall has been rubbed out by the tribunal for something like 26 matches over the course of his illustrious career, that’s a season, a whole season they shrilled, more, far more, than any other current player in just about any Australian Football league going.
Surely it’s just another case of an eccentric character being hounded out of the game.
It’s the same in sports across the globe in this politically correct world of ours.
Soon, we will end up with a bunch of footballers who all play the same, look the same, act the same, speak the same, and think the same…like so many footballing robots.
Australian cricket has already gone down that path with autonomons now playing the game, after stark ravers like Roy “doesn’t mind a drink in a crisis” Symonds, TSC MacGill and Long Donger Matthews, just to name a few, were ruthlessly expunged from the caper.
Could go on about it, but back to the match.
How did the Swans manage to contrive surrendering a 25 point half time lead for a three goal loss at the dénouement on the back of a vociferous home crowd with hopelessly biased umpires awarding ridiculous home town free kicks?
Should have done better in making sure the flood gates didn’t open.
Was it the Adelaide hoodoo?
Being scared of winning away?
Inability to put the jackboot on the jugular?
As St Paul says “I just don’t know”.
ADELAIDE: 1.3, 3.4, 9.7, 12.13 (85). Goals: Porplyzia 4, Tippett 2, Edwards 2, van Berlo 2, Stevens, McLeod.
SYDNEY: 2.2, 6.5, 8.6, 10.9 (69). Goals: Hall 4, Mattner, Jack, Shaw, Kirk, Brabazon, Crouch.
At Football Park, Adelaide.
Crowd: 38,064
If SC Sheens hadn’t realised before, that the obvious shortcomings and overwhelming problems of the Balmain pack are probably, even just past the half way mark in the season, insurmountable, he does now.
St George are not top of the table for nothing, and when you are faced with a mob of man mountains playing in concert, as a mate remarked “like a panzer division”, ruthlessly cutting a swathe down the middle of the battle field with the infantry jinking and weaving in behind them with all guns blazing, you know you are in trouble.
There’s no coaching against that sort of heavy artillery.
Thankfully in a season cruelled by injury there is very little blame to apportion, you can only do your best with limited resources against blokes who are too big, too strong, too fast, and too fanatical.
No use having perhaps the two best try scoring wingers in the game on your team when there’s very little genuine go forward from the pack.
No doubt the Club Secretary has by now given the abacus another whirr to a different set of calculations, racked up the salary cap dollar numbers, and wondered out loud to himself, “now, which big brown bastards can we buy for next season?”
At least SC Sheens has sensibly decided to discontinue the experiment with Benji at half-back, given the bloke is a dead-set born centre or five-eighth.
So you can add a new classy half back to the list for next season for that matter, Mr. Secretary.
Paradoxically, the Tiges are just two wins out of the top eight despite being second last on the ladder, so the diehards can live in the faint hope of a late season purple patch, in the sure knowledge that if they made the semi finals by some kind of miracle, they would be slaughtered.
The radio call did make mention of “aaahhh no, just look at that, the Tigers have gone and slaughtered yet another try”.
Nuff said.
WESTS TIGERS 10. Tries: Ryan, Marshall. Goals: Marshall (1).
ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS 21. Tries: Morris, Creagh, Hornby, Sailor. Goals: Soward (2). Field Goals: Soward (1).
At Sydney Football Stadium.
Crowd: 15,211.
