There are suggestions, apparently, that should the Hawks fail to reach (and win!) the 2013 Grand Final, Alastair Clarkson should take a hike. Seriously!

In this Kennett-inspired parallel universe there is no room for anything less than ultimate success. Taken to its (il)logical conclusion, this view would see clubs changing coaches on an almost weekly basis. And woe betide any player that didn’t have an Ablett-equalling 40+ possession game.

The proposition that Clarkson walk from the Hawks is utterly nonsensical. Anyone even asking the question — yes, you, Anthony Hudson on SEN — is simply buying into the nonsense.

It shouldn’t be a surprise. It’s a well-trodden path. Someone in the public eye makes a comment and the media pundits rush to analyse every last syllable, despite not possessing any facts or surrounding information.

Jobe Watson is the latest victim. His “admission” on Foxtel’s On the couch that he’d been administered AOD96-whatever-it-is was accompanied by a strong and unequivocal statement that he believed he’d done nothing illegal.

Do the media pundits think that he wouldn’t already have told the AFL/ASADA enquiry the same thing? Do they think the Essendon Football Club hasn’t had substantial advice on this situation leading the Chairman and senior coach to predict a positive outcome? And yet we still see omniscient sages like Caroline Wilson pontificating on the basis of supposition, assumption and guesswork.

Subsequently, Jobe’s father, Essendon champion Tim Watson, has said he is completely satisfied that Jobe will be exonerated on the basis of his discussions. These are discussions that Wilson hasn’t been privy too, but that doesn’t stop her calling for the guillotine for everyone associated with red and black.

If the enquiry, on the basis of its long and exhaustive process of interviews and other investigations, determines that Essendon have broken the rules as they stood at the time, then let the Bombers be sanctioned appropriately — and we say that as a committed Bombers fan.

When Andrew Lovett was summarily sacked by the Saints less than a day after being charged with rape, not only was there no deputation of players approaching the Board in his support, it was reported at the time the playing group weren't all that displeased to see him gone.

Fast forward a few years and a deputation of players apparently pressures the Board into what looks like a commitment that Milne will wear the Saints guernsey again in 2013.

It's hard not to conclude that it's the players ruling the roost at Seaford.

We’re not the first to observe a stark difference between the treatment of Andrew Lovett and Stephen Milne by the St Kilda Football Club.

When Lovett was charged with rape some years ago, the Saints nearly fell over themselves, so quick were they to sack their errant new recruit.

The laying of charges against Stephen Milne results, at this early stage anyway, in his “suspension” as a matter of “duty of care”.

As we discussed at the time of the Lovett sacking, the person charged is innocent until proven guilty and without knowing the detail of the circumstances surrounding the incident(s?) in question, it’s impossible to make any further call.

It should be noted that charges such as these are not laid frivolously and it would appear that one party to the matter is seriously aggrieved. AussieRulesBlog isn’t suggesting that the Saints have done the right or wrong thing— merely observing that Milne’s 500+ goals for the club may have contributed to a different decision being made.

One thing is sure: we need only hark back to the infamous verbal altercation between then-Barcodes coach Malthouse and Milne to understand that Milne playing in these circumstances was never a realistic option.

He and his friends will see the decision as a tacit acceptance of guilt in the face of his denial, and they’ve got a compelling argument. But it’s equally untenable to expose Milne’s teammates to a situation where spectators would inevitably hurl worse invective at Milne than Adam Goodes has ever had to endure, which could spill into the playing field and opposition players and an emotional and uncontrolled brawl.

There are no winners in this situation, but Andrew Lovett was entitled to the same considerations being given to Milne now.

As soon as we heard what the words the young Barcodes supporter had yelled at Adam Goodes were, AussieRulesBlog was pretty sure there’d be a fair degree of misunderstanding. The grainy footage of another Barcodes supporter accusing the umpires of awarding free kicks on a racial basis further illustrates the issue.

The AFL, prompted by the likes of Nicky Winmar and Michael Long, has taken a very commendable lead in attempting to combat racism. Unfortunately though, it hasn’t been made crystal clear that racist comment is in the ear of the receiver.

We haven’t had to live our life as an indigenous person, but a tale we heard on radio on Friday night gives a little insight.

Speaking on SEN, former Blues coach Wayne Brittain related a conversation between himself, his daughter and a young Aboriginal woman staying with them. Both the young women were recently-licensed drivers.

Brittain asked his daughter how many times she had been pulled over by the police while driving. None, she replied, flabbergasted. Brittain asked the young Aboriginal woman the same question. “Four times”, was the answer.

When you’ve lived your life under that sort of scrutiny, it’s not surprising that words the rest of us don’t take offence at can wound deeply.

AussieRulesBlog felt honour-bound to apologise this week to two English women we work with. It’s easy to make casual ‘jokes’ at the expense of people who are different, and it’s no less racist than what was said to Adam Goodes.

And we noted a call in the midst of the Goodes affair from Saint Stephen Milne asking the AFL to take action over non-racist abuse. Many would know of incidents in Milne’s past that continue to be used as barbs against him, including by a current AFL coach. AussieRulesBlog has mentioned mindless abuse by fans many times.

Now-retired umpire Stefan Grun has penned a piece for the Sunday Age today and it’s a cracker.

“Why is it acceptable in our culture that you can abuse and deride someone just because you are watching a sporting contest?”

It’s a good question!

There’s a Bombers fan who sits near AussieRulesBlog at Bombers’ away games at Docklands and hurls abuse at the umpires almost from the first bounce. We’re sort of grateful that the abuse doesn’t descend into swearing, but the constant assertions that the umpires are “moron”s and “idiot”s are enough to label this person as a fool. We’re going to take a copy of Grun’s article and hand it to him at the next game.