The Australian media coverage of Jarryd Hayne’s quest to win a place in America’s National Football League has, mostly, displayed an alarming lack of knowledge of the American game.

AussieRulesBlog isn’t suggesting that all Australian sports writers have to become experts in the NFL. Rather, we contend that only those who have a more than passing knowledge of the game be tasked with writing on Hayne’s quest.

When Hayne’s quest began, it seemed like anyone with an Australian media platform was happy to step up and declare Hayne misguided and deluded. Of course, it’s ‘Australian’ to cut down tall poppies. By choosing to pursue his quest before he’d burned himself out in the NRL, Hayne elevated himself into the sights of the poppy cutters.

When, during the first six games of the NFL season, Hayne played roles as running back and punt returner, the poppy cutters damned his efforts for, according to them, not gaining many yards for his team. In fact his average gains compared favourably with the majority of running backs in the competition.

Finally, when Hayne was ‘waived’ at the end of October, the poppy cutters celebrated the end of his quest — failing to understand the almost constant movement of players off and onto active player rosters in the NFL. That the San Francisco 49ers retained Hayne on their practice squad emphasised their belief in Hayne’s potential.

It’s worth comparing Hayne with some other code-hoppers.

• Darren Bennett and Saverio Rocca carved out successful NFL careers — as punters. Not to belittle their efforts, but they were using their AFL-based skills and not getting involved in the tough stuff at the NFL line of scrimmage.
• Jim Stynes, Sean Wight, Tadgh Kenelly, Zach Tuohy, Marty Clark and Pearce Hanley have all made more-or-less successful transitions from Gaelic football. As evidenced by the International Rules series, there’s not a gaping chasm between Gaelic and Australian football.
• Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folau attempted the transition from the rugby codes to Australian Rules. Hunt genuinely won his place in a young Suns team and clearly enjoyed the game. Folau looked like a fish out of water for his entire stint with the Giants.

Well, our cup will runneth over if the reports in the mainstream media prove to be  reasonably accurate.

"... while the PA system will be used to relay umpiring and score review explanations." says The Age reporting on revamps to the "fan experience" at the Docklands stadium.

We're keeping our powder dry — to mix metaphors wildly — until our eyes or ears prove that this is a meaningful addition.

One of AussieRulesBlog's long-held bugbears has been the free kick paid by a non-controlling umpire. Those of us at the game who are watching the ball — admittedly a smallish number it seems — are left wondering what in the blazes has gone wrong when a completely unexpected free kick is paid. Often it's an out-of-zone umpire making the decision, but we fare-paying passengers have been left uninformed.

Hopefully, a scoreboard display or announcement will tell us that a free kick has been awarded to Team A Number X  after Team B's Number Y gave him a swift uppercut in the midst of a rolling maul on the outer half-back flank.

We're not hanging by our thumbs waiting for too much information. Some detail will be better than what we've had.

We haven't watched a great deal of the meaningless pre-season practice games, but one incident from the weekend's games has struck a chord for AussieRulesBlog.

Carlton's Chris Yarran was tackled, in the third quarter if we recollect properly, was spun in the tackle and managed to get a handball off. Yarran and the TV prognosticators were bemused when one of the four field umpires paid a free kick against him for incorrect disposal. It was clear, from the direction the umpire ran in, that his view of the handball would have been obscured by Yarran's body.

This means that, despite Mark Evans' announcement of the extra umpire for the pre-season games as a way to improve the accuracy of decision making, the umpire concerned guessed or assumed.

Umpires guessing or assuming is nothing new. It's been happening for years. But in an age where the AFL and others have set the bar at approaching 100% accuracy, guessing or assuming doesn't fit the bill.

It's time for Wayne Campbell to read the riot act to his umpires and firmly instruct them that they must only pay free kicks where they see the infraction take place.

This is a bit like the principle of British justice that it is better for nine guilty people to go free than that one innocent person is incorrectly punished.

Umpires can, do and will miss free kicks because their view is obscured. Crowds, players and coaches will wail and howl, but it's better that those free kicks go unpaid than that umpires award free kicks for infractions they think probably happened.

Of course, umpiring is a difficult job requiring instantaneous decisions, and most of us criticising the umpires couldn't do even half as well as they do. But an act of omission is, in this case, much more desirable than an unjustified act of commission.

Two reports in recent days lead AussieRulesBlog to reflect on sportspeople and the expectations that seem to automatically attach to them.

We were a strong supporter of Karmichael Hunt in his code-crossing venture to the Gold Coast Suns in the AFL. On-field, you couldn't have asked more of a man whose body was clearly not suited to a 360-degree running game. There can be no doubt that he gave his stint in the AFL a real shot at success. Had the youngsters on the Suns' list not come on — and that was never going to happen — it's not too far-fetched to believe that Hunt would still be contracted. And time will tell whether AFL has dodged a bullet there.

So, reports that "Special K", as he was beautifully nicknamed, has been charged with offences related to cocaine saddened AussieRulesBlog. We couldn't avoid thinking that he was now not-so-special-K.

But, on reflection, we realised we knew next-to-nothing about the man. He was a high-profile rugby (both) player enticed by the AFL to join the fledgling Suns as a marketing headline. We were impressed with what we saw of his determination to achieve — so much more than the seemingly half-hearted efforts of the other big cross-code signing, Israel "The Promised Land" Folau. And Hunt seemed to bring to the young Suns a sense of the level of commitment required to succeed athletically. That after-the-siren goal Hunt kicked to win a game and the obvious joy — directed at him — of his teammates remains a golden football memory for us.

There's no reason for us to have assumed, from what we'd seen, that Hunt was anything more than a superb athlete and athletic role model, and a good interviewee. But we did make assumptions. And cocaine is hardly a hanging offence in 2015, but it doesn't fit the squeaky clean image we create for our sports icons.

Fast-forward a few days and images appear of cricket legend Glenn McGrath posing before an African elephant he'd shot. AussieRulesBlog wasn't as taken aback by this as some, but it was clearly not a great look.

Expectations of McGrath changed with the very public dying of his wife, Jane, and his championing of the search for solutions to breast cancer through the foundation established in his wife's name. Really, after embracing all that pink, anything that couldn't pass the white glove test was going to be a PR difficulty for McGrath.

The background is that McGrath is a Wagga boy and it's pretty hard to imagine there'd be too many young blokes up that way who haven't indulged in a bit of pig shooting. It's not too big a stretch to imagine them enthusiastically shooting something bigger.

Somehow though, having become an ambassador for breast cancer has transformed expectations of McGrath so that the community is disappointed when it emerges he's not as pure as the driven snow.

It would, of course, be better for everyone if the community, AussieRulesBlog included, confined our expectations of our sporting heroes to what we know. But that's not likely to happen any time soon.

Sorry, couldn't resist after seeing this fairytale — touted by The Age on it's site as an enticement to read — Essendon makes mockery of pre-season comp .

The only mockery is of The Age's Chief Football Fantasist.

Once again, the Queen of Speculation has been proved to have put her delicate hoof into her mouth.

Essendon's ongoing refusal to make itself available for the AFL's pre-season challenge . . .

At no stage has the Club refused to take part in the NAB Challenge competition. We needed to carefully consider the ramifications on all stakeholders involved.

The Age's 'chief football writer' has much in common with the nation's Prime Minister — she fudges, forgets and misrepresents to fit whatever point she decides is appropriate. Facts are, for these two, a mildly inconvenient irrelevancy.

Today's story in The Age (Essendon's refusal to play is making a mockery of the pre-season competition) amply serves to demonstrate.

Essendon's ongoing refusal to make itself available for the AFL's pre-season challenge is starting to make a mockery of the competition with just two weeks remaining to the first bounce.

the players, who have continued to resist all manner of AFL compromise . . .

Most football people believ[ing] those charged were doped and duped

"McLachlan yesterday said reports he was considering a change from day to twilight [for the Grand Final] were incorrect." (see http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/afl-chief-executive-gillon-mclachlan-says-league-not-looking-at-possibility-of-twilight-or-night-grand-final-timeslot/story-fnelctok-1227213813347)

So much for the drivel written by the Queen of Speculation a few days ago . . .

What will the AFL glitterati do at the 2015 Brownlow Medal presentation without Geoff Edelsten and his latest trophy girlfriend to titter at?

Edelsten, one-time owner of the Sydney Swans back in the 1980s, has found himself the subject of a bankruptcy arrangement (see http://www.theage.com.au/business/geoffrey-edelsten-settles-his-bankruptcy-creditors-get-a-few-cents-in-the-dollar-20150209-139phu.html).

The amounts of other people's cash Edelsten appears to fling around would give most of us a nose bleed, but he appears to be oblivious. The report mentions a $45,000 engagement ring — did she return it? — and a $48,000 per month bill for travel, hotels and jewelry a few months before declaring bankruptcy. Normal people have their lives turned upside down over a few thousand, but the Edelstens of the world always seem to have plenty of loose change while owing the equivalent of a small country's GDP.

We wonder how the man keeping the makers of Grecian 2000 in champagne and caviar will manage an invitation to the 2015 Brownlow.

This week the MCG has announced additional facilities to be implemented progressively through 2015.

The Queen of Speculation is at it again (see AFL to consider twilight Grand Final), ‘reporting’ that “club and broadcast bosses threw their overwhelming support behind a later start to football's biggest occasion.”

We’d assume from this line that there’s widespread, if not unanimous, support for changing the timing of the Grand Final.

Reading the piece reveals a somewhat different story. Two club Presidents attended the recent NFL Superbowl and made comments about the spectacle and Eddie Everywhere has always had an eye to what generates more ad revenue for the game’s broadcasters. Other club "bosses" might well support a change, but Her Majesty presumably hasn't troubled them by asking.

In an additional surprise revelation — not — the boss of Channel Seven would like a later start and a bigger half-time space to put on a show. It seriously sounds like a line from a 1940s Mickey Rooney flick

Of course, we also assume that Her Majesty didn’t write her own headline — though she may have for all we know — but the notion that Gillon McLachlan’s AFL administration will consider a later Grand Final start appears to be nothing more than idle speculation. And that’s what Her Majesty excells at!

Like most of us, former Swan Tadhg Kenelly (see Ego-driven Hird is 'hurting the AFL') is tired of the seemingly endless Essendon supplements affair. Like most observers, Kennelly is missing the motivation that is driving Essendon coach James Hird on his quest to have the ASADA/AFL investigation ruled outside of ASADA’s operating conditions.

If Kennelly were accused of some act that brought the game into disrepute — let’s say, match fixing — and he knew he was innocent of the charge, would he just roll over and say, “OK, everyone's tired of this. It doesn't matter if everyone thinks I'm a scumbag cheat. I'll drop the legal action.”? Damned right he wouldn’t.

Anyone else who’d put their hand up and stop defending their principles? Caroline Wilson? Patrick Smith? Tim Lane?

No, we didn’t think so.

It’s unfortunate, in this case, that Australian Rules evokes such passionate responses. A dispassionate observer — and there is at least one in the mainsteam media, Mick Ellis — could bypass the hate-filled opinion and understand that Hird didn't embark on a campaign to break the rules. What coach would endanger their players and their careers? Like seventeen other coaches in the AFL competition, Hird was seeking an edge to make his players more competitive. Like seventeen other AFL coaches, he was prepared to fly close to the boundaries, but he clearly instructed his staff not to cross those boundaries. Like seventeen other coaches, he didn’t micro-manage the day-to-day activities of every one of his staff.

So, back to Tadhg Kennelly. It probably doesn't matter that every time anyone mentions your name for the rest of your life it'll be forever as a cheat, does it? Everyone else has had a gutful, so you'd be happy to roll over and have your reputation trashed?

We thought not.

The ‘updates’ from the AFL’s Anti-Doping Tribunal are more like Chinese water torture than waterboarding.

Today’s hectic proceedings are summarised:

The Australian Football League Anti-Doping Tribunal continued the hearing today relating to the cases of past and present Essendon Football Club players and a former employee of the Essendon Football Club who have been issued with Infraction Notices.

 The tribunal today heard opening submissions by Mr Neil Clelland QC on behalf of two former Essendon players, followed by opening submissions by Mr David Grace QC on behalf of the remaining 32 current and former Essendon players.

Following the opening submissions of the players, the Tribunal heard submissions from the parties on the admissibility of certain evidence to be considered by the Tribunal.

The hearing will continue tomorrow.

Chief Executive Simon Garlick is the latest to announce a move from Whitten Oval.

Will the last person to leave please turn out the lights?

There are salutory lessons for the Saints, if they’re open to looking.

The Demons have rarely played ‘home’ games away from the famous MCG, but it hasn't been their spiritual home for many years — perhaps since the mid-sixties ground-sharing agreement with the Tigers. Aside from a couple of brief flowerings under John Northey and Neale Daniher, the Demons have been in the wilderness since the 60s. Various training centres and adminsitrative centres have seemed like more band-aids plastered onto a festering wound.

The original Lions, Fitzroy, gave up their traditional home in Brunswick Street for various ground-sharing deals and a shooting star-like rennaissance at the Junction Oval in the 80s. Each move seemed like a step down and back, giving up far more than they gained. By the mid-90s it was all over.

The Hawks spent years playing at Princes Park, turning it into a gold and brown cauldron, but retained their spriritual home at Glenferrie Oval. When they moved to Waverley, it was for the right reasons and for a far superior facility. They've gone from strength to strength and become a powerhouse on and off the field.

More recently, the Barcodes and the Bombers have made strategic moves to new facilities, cutting and loosening, respectively, their ties with their traditional homes. Like the Hawks, it’s hard to see them on the wrong side of the ledger as a result.

But the Saints. From a traditionally-lowly base at Junction Oval, their move to Moorabbin in the mid-60s was one of the first moves away from traditional venues in the VFL. And the Saints prospered on-field with three Grand Final appearances over seven years. Despite indifferent form through the 70s and 80s, bayside was Saints territory.

The Linton Street facility was tired, so a move was needed. It doesn’t seem that Seaford has been everyone’s cup of tea, but it was a bold strategic move for a far superior facility. Talk of a return to Junction Oval or Moorabbin suggests they haven’t embraced the change in the way that the Hawks embraced theirs.

The Kangaroos haven't broken many records on membership, but the Shinboner spirit remains strong and Arden Street keeps that spirit strong. Similarly, despite few on-field successes, the Bulldogs and Whitten Oval are synonymous (despite the players shooting themselves in the foot over their coach at the end of the 2014 season).

Forget about Moorabbin or the Junction Oval, Saints. Embrace Seaford and move heaven and earth to make it the embodiment of everything you aspire the club to be. Location isn't a deal-buster. The Hawks have shown that outer suburbs can work, and it’s firhgtening how many Geelong fans live on the opposite side of the Bay from Sleepy Hollow.

Don't pine for something else. Make Seaford a fortress for the Saints brand. Own it.

Reports today of the appointment of Taylor Walker as Captain for the Crows include the rider that the return of Patrick Dangerfield to Victoria is now almost a sure bet.

Implicit in this nonsense that masquerades as ‘sports journalism’ is the notion that Dangerfield, as the Crows’ best player, should be Captain.

It’s fair to say there’d be some debate over who is the Crows’ best if both players are at their best. Dangerfield is an exquisitely talented midfield bulldozer and Walker an exquisitely talented marking and leading forward. Which is best? Who cares!

The bigger point that this speculation chooses to ignore is the inner sanctum’s assessment, behind closed doors, of which is the more appropriate leader on and off the field. The Captaincy isn’t a talent quest. Captaincy is about the best leader, not the best player.

Perhaps the best example of this in recent times was Nick Maxwell, Premiership Captain of Collingwood. Another was Tom Harley, Premiership Captain of Geelong.

The coaching staff in Adelaide have made an assessment. If Dangerfield packs up his little red wagon and rushes back to Victoria at the first opportunity, perhaps they’ve made the right call.