For AussieRulesBlog, the Australian (tennis) Open is sports valium — guaranteed to send us bye-byes in seconds flat. Nevertheless, we see bits and pieces here and there and Bernard Tomic is not unknown to us.

The boos that greeted Tomic’s retirement against Nadal set us to thinking about expectation and how precocious talents manage it.

Let’s start with a familiar refrain for this blog: precocious talents don’t, for the most part, ask for or desire the expectations that are heaped on them — no matter what the sport.

In tennis, the polar opposites have to be Tomic and Lleyton Hewitt. Both young and talented, both brashly confident, both burdened with the expectations of a public ready to forgive the mis-steps of a successful player.

Like him or not, Hewitt leaves it ALL on the court, every time. It seems the public may have made its mind up on Tomic.

Time to wake up! We’ve finished talking tennis.

AFL players are also burdened with expectations, and the footy public similarly aren’t forgiving of those they judge to have fallen short.

Tom Scully and Jack Watts come to mind as much-touted talents who, thus far, haven’t delivered on the bigger stage of the AFL. Expectation is a millstone for these players.

By contrast, the likes of Dyson Heppell, Daniel Rich and Jack Ziebell follow the Hewitt model and give their all — no millstones here; these guys welcome the expectations and deliver.

There’s another type too. These are hyped, but in an understated way, often burdened by expectations they’re in no position to control. It’s no secret that Jobe Watson’s career was teetering when he discovered something inside himself that has driven him to captain his club, win a Brownlow Medal and stamp himself as an elite midfielder.

From the same club, and also with a famous father, Jay Neagle didn’t find that inner drive that Watson found and failed to meet those expectations.

Will Scully and Watts find something to help them fulfil a substantial portion of the potential they showed at under-age? Will they be “Jobe Watson”s or “Jay Neagle”s?

And will Tomic discover within himself a way to meet the expectation he didn’t ask for (but hasn’t shied away from embracing)?

It’s one of the biggest questions in life. Why do some people find the drive to succeed, while others languish. If we could find and bottle that drive — we would have used it on ourselves long ago!!

We’re breathlessly awaiting the banner headlines that Cats coach Chris Scott is a racist. He must be, because The Age reports today that he thinks the new interchange cap will favour endurance athletes.

The last time this completely outrageous suggestion was made, its proponents were quickly labelled racist.

Those proponents, Paul Roos and James Hird, dared to voice the additional assessment that Aboriginal footballers generally might not have the endurance capacity of their non-Aboriginal counterparts.

It can’t be long before the headline appears . . .  We’re waiting . . . .

AussieRulesBlog isn’t sure how to react to news that former Richmond skipper and assistant coach Wayne Campbell is to replace Jeff Gieschen as head of the AFL’s umpiring department.

Regular readers will understand that we thought Gieschen was a disaster in the role, overseeing a culture where the AFL industry understood that a pronouncement from The Giesch on a topic meant a crackdown on that particular aspect of the game for the next few weeks.

We are cautiously optimistic that there are people within the AFL hierarchy working for a less zealous approach to gameday officiating. We hope this means a move toward consistent interpretations of rules from season’s start to season’s end — but we’re not quite prepared to hang by our thumbs waiting.

Campbell is an interesting choice for the role, and we’re not the first to point out that Gieschen too had a Richmond connection — discarded senior coach — before being appointed.

The Tiger faithful will howl, but Campbell never impressed us as a player. That doesn’t mean, of course, that he can’t be an eminently capable administrator.

We have reason to think that Campbell’s approach will differ from Gieschen’s and will embrace a more relaxed, less doctrinaire stance by umpires.

Among changes to the rules to be introduced in the 2014 season, Campbell will be overseeeing:

1. Free kicks against and reporting of players bumping and making contact with their opponent’s head;
2. Free kicks against players who duck into (nearly) stationary opponents if they are tackled and do not dispose of the ball legally — and a play-on call when a player ducks into a tackle (we might name this the Selwood Rule?);
3. Free kicks against players using their heads to make forceful contact below the knees of an opponent. We’re not sure if the much-maligned “diving” rule has been put down, but we’re hoping.
4. The hands-in-the-back rule has been softened by the addition of the word “unduly”; and
5. The interchange penalty has been returned to earth after a trip into the realms of fantasy.

We don’t think many fans will have too many problems with these changes. It will be interesting to see how Joel Selwood fares. We suspect he’ll still get more than his share of touches and will still inspire a whole team.

Disappointingly, it seems the holding the ball rule, at least as it’s written in the book, isn’t changing and there doesn’t appear to be any move to stamp out opponents holding a ball to an opponent to milk a free kick, despite a number of promises over a number of years. Perhaps that’s an area where we can look for the Campbell influence to shine?

It’s official! The AFL are frightened of James Hird and the threat of renewal of his action against his suspension. That’s the only conclusion from today’s humiliating backdown.

After telling the world that they’d enforced an agreement on Hird and Essendon that Hird not be paid while suspended, the Australian Limp Lettuce League have agreed that Essendon can pay Hird whatever they choose in calendar 2013, but he will receive no money from the Bombers in 2014.

Hird will receive a substantial sum — his 2014 salary — between now and New Year, and Sir Robin (Vlad) will spend the rest of his life running away (wiping the egg from his face).

when danger reared its ugly head, he bravely turned his tail and fled,

Bravest of the brave, Sir Robin

No-one should be surprised by Tania Hird’s ‘revelation’ that her husband remains on the Bombers’ payroll during his suspension.

The AFL have played their hand poorly right from the get-go. Despite the Bombers’ confidence when self-reporting their supplements program that they would be vindicated, AFL House proceeded to leak ‘evidence’ to paint the Bombers, and coach James Hird particularly, as amoral desperates who would stop at nothing in their quest for success.

AussieRulesBlog finds it impossible to understand how anyone could swallow the line that any AFL club, any AFL coach would wilfully and consciously disregard the health and safety of the players on their list. But that’s the bait that was dangled — and duly swallowed by most.

Notwithstanding players playing ‘jabbed’ with pain killers, uncaring of the future effects, it defies any sort of logic to believe the AFL’s line.

And the more recent revelation — an appropriate word in these circumstances — that eleven or twelve AFL clubs were conducting ill-monitored, ill-recorded and ill-supervised supplements programs run by ill-screened employees at the same time as the Bombers is a ticking time bomb that the AFL have, so far successfully, swept out of public consciousness.

The speed with which the AFL’s house of cards folded when challenged by Bombers’ doctor Bruce Reid shines a spotlight on the paucity of the AFL case.

It’s hard to imagine that Hird would have lost had he challenged. It’s similarly easy to imagine that such a result would have brought the AFL to its knees.

The fact is that the Bombers need the AFL and they need it in good shape. The club can’t generate a profit and grow if it is playing in the VFL because the AFL has disappeared.

Similarly, the AFL needs its powerhouse clubs to generate attendances and other revenues to keep struggling clubs afloat.

AussieRulesBlog imagines a scene where a Keatingesque Hird faces Vlad across a table and says, “I’m going to do you slowly, mate.” Vlad knows he’s toast and responds, “How much to not destroy the game you love?”

Ultimately, it’s clear that Hird took one — his suspension — for the club and for the game. His reputation will forever be tarnished in the eyes of many, but his club lives on and the game has a chance to take a breath and build again. Who among us, knowing we would win the legal stoush, wouldn’t extract some blood from the stone?

It wouldn’t surprise AussieRulesBlog one skerrick if it emerged that the AFL were partly funding Hird’s salary for the year. Not that they’d want it known, of course.

The news this week that favourite AussieRulesBlog whipping boy Jeff Gieschen will depart the AFL has cheered us enormously. Gieschen was something of a disaster as coach of Richmond and his tenure at the AFL as Umpiring Department chief has been no less calamitous. Gieschen’s tortured rhetorical convolutions to explain labyrinthine rules and touching faith in the power of DVDs have been a blight on the game.

Ding-dong-the-Giesch-is-gone, ding-dong-the-wicked-Giesch-is-gone . . . [huge grin]

AussieRulesBlog understands there are moves within the AFL for a less book-driven approach to officiating, and we certainly welcome an approach that pays attention to the pace and feel of the game.

Our good mood was spoiled with the news that the Warrior Priestess for Truth and the Australian Colander League way has been recognised by her peers with a Walkley Award for her “fearless and insightful reporting and opinion” on the Essendon supplements affair. They forgot to mention the blind prejudice and the torrent of leaks. [savage snarl]

If you’ve visited AussieRulesBlog before, you’ll probably have an inkling what’s to come. If not, strap yourself in!

January

A quiet month contemplating whether Brendon Goddard could make an impact.

February

The Federal Sports Minister and sundry hangers on make the biggest, most over-hyped announcement since God’s dog was a puppy — the “blackest day” in Australian sport.The Bombers make a shock announcement. They’ve been using supplements. They are pretty sure they’re on the side of the angels, but not 100%. They call in the AFL and ASADA. Instant media speculation has James Hird, David Evans and Ian Robson spotted supping with Satan and drinking the warm, fresh blood of new-borns.

March

Football media do a convincing impersonation of Salem witch trial-style frenzy

April

Fevered media speculation and demands from some “journalists” that the three key Bombers stand down apparently influences the AFL’s Chief Executive to muse about Essendon’s coach standing down. The Essendon players rally to win unexpectedly against the eventual Grand Finalist Dockers and proceed to show their utter disdain and hatred for their coach in the after-game celebrations.

Against the odds, the Bombers continue to win. The Australian Colander League — sorry, that possibly should have been Football — begin an attempt on the Guinness Book of Records title as the worst plumber in the world. Certain “journalists” sell what’s left of their souls.

May

Quite a lot like April.

June

Different day, same hyperbole and speculative nonsense.

July

Yep. More. Getting boring now. Bombers start playing shit football.

August

The Australian Colander League decide to impose draconian penalties based on an interim report. The Bombers are placed in the stocks in the public square and other clubs and their supporters invited to find anything rotten to throw at them. The Bomber players rally in a game against the second-most-hated enemy, mere days before being told they will not play finals, and win one of their most famous victories. In the after-game celebrations the players again show their utter hatred for their coach, who has allegedly used them as science experiments.

September

Hollow feeling. The Hawks, darlings of the syringe set only twelve months previously, take out the big dance.

October

Media report suggests a mass exodus of players from Windy Hill. Disturbing reports each week of more Bomber players signing new contracts.

Australian Colander League informs club medical officers that a dozen clubs had supplement programs, didn’t know enough about what the supplements were, didn’t properly record administration of the supplements and didn’t properly guard against employing shonky chemists BUT had NOT brought the game into disrepute.

Australian Colander League sets new record by pre-releasing the 2014 fixture on a one round per day basis.

Not quite as expected, mass exodus from Windy Hill occurs as Bombers more to new training and administration base at Tullamarine.

Yeah. Bonza year.

Footnote: Who would have thought that Caaaarlton would be the second most-hated enemy. Probably not the warrior priestess for truth and the Australian Colander League way. What? Us, bitter? Not half!!!!

We confess we’re surprised that the 2013 AFL Trade period has seemed, from our vantage point at least, a much more human and player-friendly space than prior years.

Players who wanted to move seem to have been able to engineer changes. Clubs who wanted to move on players seem to have been able to do so. Only the McEvoy–Savage trade seemed to be a surprise.

AussieRulesBlog wasn’t a fan of the free agency process initially, but we think we need to adjust our thinking.