Gary Ablett wants the Gary Ablett Medal

Gary Ablett’s manager, Liam Pickering, has sensationally claimed that Bomber Thompson cost his client not only a second Brownlow medal, but also “every other media award as well”.

According to Pickering, Thompson “deliberately” moving Ablett into the forward line cost him possessions, and thus votes in these personal awards.

These moves into the forward line had nothing to do with winning games, or plugging a hole in a forward line, or making rebounding defenders more accountable.

No, no, no.

It was all an elaborate ploy to keep Ablett away from the ball. And if we are to believe Pickering’s ridiculous contention; this was done with the sole aim of reducing Ablett’s votes in media and umpires awards.

Does Ablett really believe this astounding claim?

If not, why is his manager making them on his behalf. His dash for cash is already causing enough of an image problem for him. This is not helping.

And as an aside, wouldn’t a sensible Player Manager be laying low in the wake of the Ricky Nixon debacle? Perhaps Pickering saw a media void that he could fill?

If Ablett is on side with his manager’s claims, then what on Earth is moving to the Gold Coast going to do?

The move north will solve the terrible problem of players like Selwood, Bartel, Corey, Enright, Kelly, Johnson and Varcoe taking valuable possessions from him.

I guess he has considered that he will have to and get the ball himself. The likes of Swallow, Prestia, Magin and Bennell are going to struggle to win the ball and won’t be able to hold off and block the tacklers.

And, I can’t see McKenna parking him in a forward pocket to either break a tag or give him a breather.

But he must have weighed all that up in his mind before he signed on the dotted line.

Remember he has come out and said that he wasn’t enjoying himself at Geelong. Gee, winning, winning premierships, winning, playing in grand finals, winning, Brownlows, winning, playing finals and winning must have really taken its toll on the poor fella after a while.

My theory?  He has earmarked the Gold Coast Best and Fairest as the award he really wants to add to his vast collection.

Perhaps if he wins enough of them, the club will see fit to name it the Gary Ablett Medal.

Time to pass the baton

In the third Ashes test in Perth, there was, what should become, a symbolic moment in Australian cricket history.

The Australians were up and firing thanks largely to their four fast bowlers along with Hussey, Haddin, Johnson and Watson whom had all made significant contributions with the bat.

Closing in on the kill, Johnson found the outside edge of Jonathon Trott and it flew to Ponting at second slip. The ball came at, the sometimes awkward, chest height and Ricky stayed in the squatting position electing to take the catch with his fingers pointing to the sky. As it reached him, it started to dip and swing and it struck him on the outside of his right hand. Luckily, his fingers were pointing skyward as the ball ballooned out of his grasp and in front of Watson in first slip. As the ball commenced its decent, Haddin was the first to react and calmly cleaned up the spilt catch, both saving his captain from embarrassment, and helping to keep the metaphorical foot on the throat of the struggling English.

As we now know, Ponting fractured a finger in the attempted catch. In hindsight, he probably should not have played in the Boxing Day Test. His batting must have been hindered and this is at a time when he needs his full faculties to help drag himself out of a deepening slump.

However, the counter argument rightly stands, who would have the captaincy been handed over to?

The heir apparent, in Michael Clarke, has clearly shown in this series that he is not up to the extra pressure of the captaincy. When he has been relied upon to help steady numerous poor starts, he has failed. Too often he has been dismissed playing poor shots at times when the situation demanded a cool head and a leaders’ temperament

The only players who have consistently performed under immense pressure this series, have been Hussey, Haddin and Siddle.

Hussey is enjoying the twilight of his career, a career that could have well been over by now, had the selectors been spooked by his uncharacteristic recent poor run of outs. Thankfully, they stuck with him, and he has repaid them in spades. However, the end is nigh for him, and he should not be burdened with the extra pressure of being captain.

Siddle is lion hearted warrior, who leaves nothing on the field at the end of a day’s play. He must surely inspire his teammates with this attitude and application, and his role in the team continues to grow. He has now pushed Johnson aside, to become Australia’s frontline speedster. But, for a player whose position in the side was still up for debate only a month ago, he is clearly not one to assume the role of leading the national side.

That leaves Haddin. That ball flying out of Ponting’s hands should come to represent the captaincy. Haddin was the one who quickly summed up the situation, and was already on the move to calmly claim the spills.

Hussey aside, Haddin has been the only other player who has not succumbed to the immense pressure that the English were applying.

Now that Ponting has played, and lost, in Melbourne, he has put in jeopardy his chance to farewell test cricket in Australia at the ground where he is the leading run-scorer in Test cricket. Cricket Australia must be kicking themselves now as the opportunity to fill some extra seats to farewell Ponting has passed them by.

Perhaps Haddin’s first test as Australian captain at the SCG could be the other option to market this dead rubber?

Stay in the Closet

One of the reasons Jason Akermanis believes the “world of AFL football is not ready” for a gay AFL player is the potential media coverage this player would generate. If you can ignore his other reasons, he has hit one nail on the head.

Since then, reporters have rushed to get Daniel Kowalski’s thoughts on the matter. However, he did not come out until after he had retired from competitive swimming. He “clearly suppressed these thoughts of being gay … because it was ‘wrong’, as a male it’s ‘wrong’ but even more as an elite athlete.” (The Age, 18 April 2010)

Sadly, this culture still exists.

Want proof? Former NSW Transport Minister has just had to resign from his position because Channel 7 thought it was ‘news’ to broadcast footage of him leaving a gay sex club. He is hardly an elite athlete, but he is a public figure.

Imagine the hysteria if that was an AFL footballer leaving that same club.

Too hard to picture? Well it wasn’t that long ago that journalist Dylan Howard paid for the stolen medical records of AFL players and tried to turn it into ‘news’.

Whoever is the first AFL player to come out will have the honour of joining the now well used list of the three other high profile gay sportsmen; Ian Roberts, Matthew Mitcham and Daniel Kowalski.

That’s three. Out of all the sports we play in Australia, there are only three. Include Welsh rugby international Gareth Thomas, and it leaps to four. Worldwide.

Perhaps that’s the point Jason was trying to make. As a high profile sportsperson, it would be much easier to keep your private life private.

It is inevitable that someone will come out soon. But it will take a person who is willing to sacrifice the private life of themselves and their partner. That partner may not live a high profile life. It wouldn’t take long for that to change.

This couple would have to welcome onto themselves a media hysteria that would rival that of Ben Cousins. Drinking coffee, walking the dog and going out for dinner would become ‘news’.

It will take a person of great courage to wish this upon himself. Someone like Michael Long, who decided that racism was not tolerated anywhere else in society, except on a football field.

Or conversely, it would take someone who would happily welcome and revel in the media and public attention. Funnily enough, someone exactly like Jason Akermanis.

One day, a gay AFL player will come forward. We can only hope that it is on their terms and not as a result of being caught out by a journalist, photographer or TV station and being deemed ‘news’.

Dreaming about Teams and Beer

As I was sitting on the couch watching the Dreamteam versus Victoria match, I couldn’t help think why the colours white, blue and gold were chosen for the Dreamteam jumper. It obviously wasn’t because they looked good. Surely if this team represented the rest of Australia, they should have been wearing some form of green and gold. It had me stumped.

Then at half time I went to the fridge and grabbed a beer, which happened to be a CUB Pure Blonde. Sitting down to the start of the third quarter, something caught my eye. The colours of the Pure Blonde label looked remarkably similar to the colours of the Dreamteam jumper. Initially I thought it was just a coincidence. Then I noticed the font and layout of the respective logos, it must more than a coincidence.

The fact that Carlton Draught was a sponsor got me thinking. Did the CUB marketing department design the jumper? Or did the graphic designer who did the Pure Blonde label get the gig for the DT design and simply couldn’t be bothered coming up with something new? Either way it kind of reflected my feeling of the whole night, it was just not right.

One team playing for the pride of a jumper, and one team playing for the pride of a beer label.

I wonder what beer the Dreamteam would have drank had they won……

The circus is in town…

The media circus that follows a misbehaving footballer has hit town, and the Addy looks as though they will be hosting them. Another misdemeanor by an AFL footballer, this time clocking 128km/h in a 50 zone, and his trial in the media starts.

According to former player Tim McGrath, “it doesn’t matter how good you are on-field, you’ve still got to abide by the rules that bind us all.” It is also speculated that if the Cats are to stick to their convictions following last year’s controversy it would sack Johnson.

Reality check Tim, yes he has to bind by the rules of society, but that has nothing to do with whether he should lose his job. Here is my list of jobs (by no way exhaustive) you should be sacked from for driving 78km/h above the speed limit:

• Taxi driver
• Bus driver
• Police officer
• Limo driver
• Minister for Roads and/or Transport

I just don’t think AFL footballer compares. If he is a member of society, which I am pretty sure he is, the court will decide his fate. He will probably lose his license for a period of time and pay a hefty fine, the accepted penalties for this crime.

If not having a license impacts on his ability to get to work, in this case training, games, meetings, etc, then his employer has the right to review his employment. Until then, his employer, the media and the public should butt out of his private life.

I wonder how Michael Auciello (the Addy journalist) or Tim McGrath would feel if they were caught breaking the law, and there were people speculating on whether they should lose their jobs at the Addy?

And people wonder why Nathan Ablett opted out of AFL football…..

Hello world

A quick introduction…

I get frustrated at many things while sitting on my couch reading newspapers, listening to the radio, or watching the TV. This is my soapbox, where I can vent these frustrations.

Be prepared to read about

• Current Affairs television
• Advertising, in particular KFC
• Poor journalism, see Geelong Addy
• Reality TV
• Rubbish American TV
• Stupid people
• Bad sporting commentators

Who owns Australian Rules Football?

The AFL?

The current AFL hierarchy are in the equally fortunate and important positions of custodians of this unique game.

They may well govern the game, but it not theirs. This makes changing the rules of the game akin to helping yourself to your father-in-law’s beer, a brave and potentially stupid idea that should never be taken lightly.

The clubs?

The fact that a board of “experts” can turn their back on 70-odd years of history and at the drop of a hat change a club’s name from Footscray to Western or North Melbourne to Kangaroos, illustrates that how dangerous the thought of clubs being allowed to own anything can be.

Throw into the mix the tragic demises of South Melbourne and Fitzroy and the future of the “Anywhere North of Melbourne Will Do Kangaroos” and that illustration becomes clearer than a Saturday night match broadcast in HD.

And just an aside, a note to these four clubs, initials on the back of the neck of a player’s jumper does not do justice to this history.

The fans?

You’re kidding right. The paying customers that are locked in cages because, heaven forbid, they were to eat some Portuguese chicken are obviously pretty low in the food chain. Not sure what happened to the theory of the customer is always right.

Just as long as they keep buying memberships, turning up to matches, subscribing to Foxtel and driving Toyotas, the wheels of industry keep on turning.

The media?

They may not own the game, they do know where the spare key is kept.

It is Hutchy, Caro, Robbo, and Shee-o that dictate which coach is next shown the door to the commentary box, which player gets the chance to front the tribunal to get their match review penalty overturned and which players’ bender deserves a Royal Commission.

The players?

Nick Dal Santo can do more for Australian Rules with one deftly weighted left foot than any ELO inspired light show at the Phone Dome. No offence Rod Buttress.

Jonathon Brown can do more busting one pack open than any furniture removalist with a contract for interchange benches will ever do. Sorry Lethal.

And Chris Judd can do more for football in three quick steps than just about anything and everything else put together.

It is these acts of brilliance that are imitated by youngsters in parks and backyards all around the country.

The product I watch on TV today is unquestionably improved on what I grew up watching with Dad or my brothers in the outer of Victoria Park or in the concrete bleachers of VFL Park. Want proof, I dare you to sit through a Grand Final marathon.

Yes the product is better, but is the game?