Musing over ‘Charlie’

Aussie Rules’ night of nights is done and dusted for another year, but AussieRulesBlog is well over it. Whether it be the walking, talking joke that is the Edelstens or the breathless pre-count discussion of favouritism and everybody’s tip, it’s all too much for us.

 

Just what connection does the ancient ram dressed and coiffed as a lamb, otherwise known as Geoffrey Edelsten, have with AFL in 2011? Forget the perennially over-exposed Brynne. Who picked out that suit for his nibs? And Geoff, mate, give away the Nugget shoe polish in the hair and stick to Grecian 2000! You’ll still look like a try-hard dick, but it just won’t stand out like an FCUK billboard.

 

And for all our bagging of the umpires and their weekly performance, they generally manage to confound the pundits come Brownlow night, and we think that is good for football, as they say. Listen to the media speculation and you’d have had ‘Goodesy’ and ‘Juddy’ booked for the Carbine Club lunch from about May Day. Thank goodness the umpires make their decisions without fear or favour. Were any proof required, Sam Mitchell’s guilty plea to an MRP charge in late April ruled him out of Brownlow contention yet the umpires continued to award votes as they saw the game. Well done umpires!

 

We didn’t watch the telecast of the count, just popping in every now and then from the Steelers v. Colts to check the leaders board. We still managed to hear the Boss mangle some fairly familiar names and we cringed at a mid-count interview of eventual winner Dane Swan — congratulations, by the way — with Bruce at his sycophantic apogee. We like Bruce, but sometimes it’s hard to keep your dinner down. . .

 

So, the season is drawing to a close. There’s all the hullaballoo of Grand Final week to survive, culminating in the Grand Final ‘entertainment’ — Meatloaf will at least lend some professionalism — and the big dance. Around 5pm Saturday it will all be done and dusted. We hope the Cats will remember that any day that the Barcodes lose is a good day. And we hope that the Saints remember to pack their cameras for their footy trip.

 

See you Sunday for a review of the ‘entertainment’ and whatever farcical concoction has been dredged up for the delivery of the Premiership Cup.