Last night’s Round 3 match between Adelaide and Geelong served as an almost perfect case study for a number of the issues we speak to here at the Thebarton Enquirer. Examples of umpire inadequacy, league mismanagement and clubland gaslighting were all evident.

“Lasso Luck A-Plenty”

That was the headline from the AFL’s match review article, posted on their own website. That’s after seeing all the vision, which clearly and irrefutably shows that the decision was incorrect.

In a situation like this, one must remain careful to deal only in facts. So here they are:

1. The ball came off Atkins’ foot last.

That’s it, that’s the provable facts. That being the case, one of two things has happened from there. Either: The boundary umpire has incorrectly called a free to Geelong; or, the boundary umpire has shown uncertainty about whose foot it came off last and the field umpire has failed to stop play to conference with him or refer it to the ARC, as he should have.

In either case, ineptitude has been shown. Either by a boundary umpire confidently declaring a free kick from a situation he could not have been certain about. Or, by a field umpire not following the protocols. What should never have been a factor, is luck. So for the league’s official media publication to suggest that it’s just bad luck that the umpires arguably turned the momentum of the game through ineptitude, is astonishingly unprofessional.

All of that is to say nothing of Atkins’ behaviour. You’re reticent to judge him too harshly though. Because in the heat of battle, a player has every right to try to take advantage where they can. The blame lies squarely with the umpires; they should never have been susceptible to that sort of manipluation.

A Fixture Designed To Hurt

As Jonathan Horn wrote in The Guardian recently, “Who needs the comedy festival when you have the AFL fixture?”

Making a team travel to one of the hardest places in the country on the back of two six day breaks when the home team has enjoyed a bye the previous week is, well, cruel.

It’s hard to know where to go next on this. Do we discuss the farcical nature of Opening Round itself? Or do we follow the ‘growing the game’ rhetoric that the AFL loves to parade around? Either way, we end up at the same place – an organisation who values money over integrity at all times.

Either the AFL has failed to consider the implications of this bread and circuses distraction they call Opening Round, or worse, they have considered them and they don’t care. No matter which way you parse it, Opening Round creates incredible imbalance in the early fixture, mostly for teams not featuring in it. And that’s before you factor in the clear advantage OR teams have had when playing non OR teams in Round 1.

You can argue that two six day breaks and an away game against Geelong in Geelong who are coming off of a bye isn’t an excuse for Adelaide. But only an imbecile would suggest it wasn’t a factor.

A Coach And Club Running Scared

Matthew Nicks’ staunch unwillingness to answer any media question with any depth or insight has reached almost comical levels. Never has this been more evident than in last night’s press conference where, when inevitably questioned about the umpiring howler, he almost aggressively denied it had any impact on the game and chose instead to chastise his own players.

Where is his allegiance? Is it to the Adelaide Football Club? To the young men he leads? Or to the AFL? Why is this man so scared to speak his mind? Or, does his mind actually never contain a single negative thought about a league seemingly intent on saving its worst blunders for his team?

Even if you were willing to excuse the spineless nature of that response – there’s plenty to mine out of Nicks’ other comments. Take for example, a response to a question asked about the double six day breaks. Having just conceded that Adelaide may have “run out of tickets” in answer to another question, he promptly replied “we won’t go there,” when asked if the short break and fresh opponent had any impact.

The question, Matthew, is why? Why won’t you go there? Why are you so damned afraid to stand up for your club, your players, your fans? He evades particulars so expertly that one wonders if this man has missed his calling. Perhaps politics may have been more suited to him.

Perhaps the hard-line policy of remaining tight-lipped is timidity, perhaps it’s fear of AFL sanctions, but one gets the impression it might be born more of a misguided sense of moral superiority.

Let me be clear: I most certainly do not believe that Matthew owes the media a damn thing. He does, however, owe his fans something. And as it stands, those press conferences are the only thing they have from which to learn what the plan is / was / will be. If Adelaide fans have to endure one more week of “work-ons” combined with blowing smoke up the league’s arse they may not survive.

It’s fair to say that most Adelaide fans would currently believe that Nicks is either lying to them, or clueless. Unfortunately for Nicks, that’s the consequence of vapid, rehearsed and emotionless responses to every question.

A Perfect Storm

If you read today’s content about the game and pass it through the lens of the fixturing and a feckless post-match presser, you begin to see the fruit of the AFL’s management style.

An admission about the incorrect free kick was given, without apology. Most game analysis has focused on Adelaide’s lack of depth. Silence out of West Lakes other than totally believable puff pieces about how much the boys all enjoyed getting beaten and definitely weren’t upset by anything other than themselves.

What all of this proves is that the AFL controls the narrative. Whether that’s through the Australian Football media’s content, or through a coach’s post-match comments, nothing exists in the AFL’s universe without it’s approval. They can botch rules, policies, fixturing – whatever the want really, without the fear of any reproval or denunciation.

Even the ABC, once the pinnacle of journalism in this country, chose to make fun of Adelaide with their lead content, instead of seizing an opportunity to really shine a light on the league.