It’s somewhat amusing that Alastair Clarkson feels it appropriate to comment about James Hird and the supplements program at Essendon.

It was, after all, Hawthorn who in September 2012 were being promoted in The Age as the innovative leaders in using injections to speed the recovery of injured players.

Let’s also remember that eleven or twelve other clubs have been fingered as having run supplements programs not dissimilar to Essendon’s and with the same administrative and governance inadequacies. It was the AFL’s own doctor who made this public.

It’s a reasonable assumption that Hawthorn were among the clubs found to have been nudging the boundaries.

And Clarkson would have us believe he would have stopped Hird in his tracks, had he had the opportunity? Pull the other one Alastair.

And Jeff Kennett’s now-expected ‘rent-a-quote’ does nothing to shore up Clarkson’s position, not least because it’s the coach he wanted to move on a year ago that he’s now anointing as a seer.

Watching the Demons take on the Tigers and the thing we notice most is, paradoxically, that we're not noticing the umpires.

We also caught a couple of quarters of the Hawks demolishing the Lions. Similarly, we didn't notice the whistle blowers.

It's so good to be able to concentrate on the footy. As we noted a few days ago, the new bosses of the AFL's umpiring department look to have stamped their authority on the competition. Good stuff.

The new Demons showed a spirit and composure that was never in evidence over the past couple of years. Plenty for Melbourne fans to look forward to.

For the Tigers it was Groundhog Day. Skill errors were telling. They might tease again without making the transition into a good football side.

Despite the first dumb video referral of the year, the opening game of pre-season is a beauty (for those of us with Foxtel).

But the most remarkable aspect was the almost complete invisibility of the field umpires -- and there were four of them on the field.

Over recent years, we've become accustomed to the umpires blitzing on one rule or another in the early rounds and pre-season, sometimes two. Players, commentary teams and fans would all be bemused.

If this more sensible approach is an effect of the Wayne Cambell and Hayden Kennedy (umpires coach) leadership, AussieRulesBlog is pretty pleased with the result.

The dumb video referral was to check if a ball was completely across the goal line before being touched. Sharp readers will note that the video referral system was introduced ostensibly for just those decisions. Sadly, there have almost never been cameras trained along the goal line, and such was the case at Kardinua Park tonight. Surely the goal umpire must be aware that there are no goal line cameras. It´s a pointless exercise to call for a review.

In the end, we can't quibble overall. It's great to have footy back!

… and all through the house, nothing was stirring, not even a . . .

OK, hang on! There’s a fair bit stirring ‘round AussieRulesBlog’s abode. Less than twenty-four hours until the first bounce of the pre-season.

F O O T Y  I S   B A C K !

We’re pleased that the AFL will be explaining the new rules to fans via the scoreboard. It seems like it’ll only be before the pre-season games, which means many will miss it. But it’s a step in the right direction. Hopefully the broadcaster(s?) will pick up the ball and show the explanations to their viewers.

If we could send a message to Wayne Campbell, the AFL’s new umpiring department boss, it would be to be proactive in getting information out to the football public. Most fans won’t order a DVD, or search out the labyrinthine explanations of interpretations favoured by The (unlamented)Giesch.

The message needs to be simple and unequivocal. Most importantly, it needs to be reinforced out on the field by the way the umpires officiate the game — every game, every month, from the first bounce tomorrow night to the last bounce on Grand Final day.

We don’t care how wrong the decisions are. Just give us that consistency. No doubt the players will be crossing their fingers for that too.

Breakfast everywhere! What else could we do? After a year of undisguised prejudice, someone has written the following lead paragraph under Caroline Wilson's byline"

"To give James Hird the benefit of the doubt, there is no evidence to suggest that he sanctioned the ill-informed spin doctor Ian Hanke to launch a Twitter rant over the weekend against Essendon chairman Paul Little."

“THE AFL has introduced a raft of changes to its anti-doping code after a year of controversy, with a ban now in place on injections unless they are required to treat a medical condition.”

Interesting. So, is a broken foot a medical condition? Probably.

So a pain-killing injection administered by a qualified medical practitioner would be OK.

But wouldn’t that be performance-enhancing?

Some quite fine hairs being split.

Far be it for AussieRulesBlog to be critical before the first bounce, but what is AFL Football Operations boss Mark Evans smoking?

Apparently, having multiple pictures on one screen improves the rate of “conclusive” video review decisions.

Pull the other one, Mark.

Let’s get this straight. If an umpire makes a dumb call and asks for a video review for touched off the boot, a million SD pictures on the screen aren’t going to get to a conclusive review. Technology can’t compensate for stupidity.

The same report on the AFL website suggests they are well down the road toward installing goalpost cameras. ABOUT TIME, YOU DUNDERHEADS! We assume they’ll point them along the goal line . . .

The pre-season “challenge” will show whether Evans has used the off-season well or not.

Fingers crossed.