If it was any other player. . .

Dust off the stake in the town square and pile up the faggots*, people! It's heresy time again!

I am sick to death of hearing every week what a fantastic player Simon Prestigiacomo is. It's time to call a spade a spade! The bloke HOLDS his opponent, denying them a fair chance to compete FOR THE BALL. His supporters will say he rides the ragged edge of the interpretation of holding. I reckon that's rubbish and the umpires apply a different set of rules to this guy.

If it were any other player, they'd be free-kicked a dozen times a game, but Prestigiacomo is a PROTECTED SPECIES. In almost every game, other players ARE free-kicked for clearly less-substantial holding.

Collingwood fans will be lining up to tell me that Lloyd and Hird are and have been protected species, but they were making the ball their objective.

Take a look at Fletcher, an elite defender for more than a decade and a half, making the ball his objective and beating his opponents by, more often than not, beating them to the ball. What a contrast with the ugly, negative tactics of Prestigiacomo!

The AFL dream up new rules and interpretations to make contests "fairer" — the so-called "hands in the back" interpretation, for instance — but do nothing to remove a blight like Prestigiacomo's tactics. It's a scandal and everyone who lauds Prestigiacomo is sullying our game.

* See here.