Footy is (almost) back . . .

It almost feels like footy is back properly. Eighty thousand at the G last night to see the Tiges limp over the line in front of the fast-finishing Blues, and more games tomorrow! (No AFL on Good Friday, although NRL and others are quite happy to use the day. Not sure why AFL is skittish about the day, but then ARB is atheist!)

 

The off season seemed to last forever, although regular scandals and the seemingly interminable Draft and trading period did keep footy in the news. Since the start of the pre-season comp though, the “Phoney War” has dragged on even longer it seems that the off season did.

 

To borrow a line from Rampaging Roy Slaven and H G Nelson, we need to quickly get back to a situation “where too much [footy] is barely enough”. Bring it on!

 

Last night, neither the Tiges not the Blues were convincing. Both had periods of dominance. The Tiges tried hard early to kick themselves out of the match and the Blues looked like witches hats, such was their inability to influence the game. Then a switch was flicked and it was the Blues’ turn to dominate. Both sides will rue the missed opportunities, but it’s really hard, at this early stage at least, to imagine that either will play in September.

 

Lies, damned lies and statistics

And, finally, can we return to a theme from a little while ago? According to Champion Data, Shaun Grigg is an elite AFL player. We’ve never met Shaun and he is probably a perfectly affable chap, but an “elite” AFL player? If ever there were a modern demonstration of Benjamin Disraeli’s famous disdain for statistics, this is it.

 

Grigg’s decision-making is ordinary and his disposal is poor (although often quite long by foot). He seems to get a bit of the ball, but he doesn’t regularly — or intentionally it seems — put his teammates into advantage. He’s not alone, of course. To be fair, these have been pretty consistent traits of Richmond teams for decades. Even the Tiges’ up and coming stars aren’t immune to the disease with Cotchin and Martin both demonstrating their mortal skills too often last night.