Tales of expectations unmet

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.