It seems the gloss is finally off the premiership cup down the road at Punt Road.
Damien Hardwick is solely concentrating on going back to back, and today he hit out at the AFL, claiming it was “farcical” that the club could not replace the retiring Ben Griffiths, prompting yet another debate on the legitimacy for a mid-season trading period.
Farcical says Dimma? It’s one of many F-words that gets throw around at this time of year.
But it’s not the only AFL issue that’s been criticised in the past few weeks. In fact, it is the latest in a raft – the standard of AFLW, the relevance of AFLX, runners should be banned, leadership groups should be culled, Tasmanian footy is in crisis and more rules should be changed, not less.
You know what, you can almost set your watch to it.
Forget March Madness. It’s Farcical February.
Every man and his dog wants to get out the toolbox and something to fix.
But here are the facts.
The game is breaking record attendances, in fact attendance is up seven percent year on year, which by the way towers over most international sports.
We’re in the middle of a rights deal worth $2.5 billion, the CBA is done, the league now owns Etihad Stadium and has just opened a world class stadium over in Perth.
100,000 women have signed up to play footy in the past 12 months, and that’s off the back of an AFLW league that many dismissed before it began, with the country now boasting over 500 women’s teams.
In the men’s – equalization has truly kicked in. Last year there were three games between seventh and 13th on the ladder, and 14 clubs were all legitimate finals contenders until late in the season.
It’s farcical February, but it’s nearly the same every year.