Something has happened in football. It’s new and exciting territory … so it won’t last.
There has been an outbreak of candour.
Craig McRae did not spare his senior players.Credit: Getty Images
On Thursday night Craig McRae did not shy away from pointing the finger at his senior players’ comically bad errors. Admittedly, it would have been hard for him to speak with a straight face and deny the blindingly obvious about his winless team’s game, but he was still prepared to call it out. At least someone from Collingwood hit a target.
Then Ross Lyon basically said the entire competition had worked Collingwood out. Yes, he dressed it up in coach-speak with talk of the premiership side’s signatures and qualified it by saying you still had to be good enough to execute your plan, but the plain English translation of what he said was, “we all know what they do and how to beat them now”.
Brad Scott, a week earlier, said he wanted his team to play with more edge, more nastiness. Were his name Alastair Clarkson, he might have used the term “unsociable”. The Bombers played angry last week against Hawthorn and directed a lot of their angst at James Sicily, who duly responded by getting reported.
Essendon’s Sam Draper was not popular with the Swans after giving away a 50-metre penalty for a late spoil.Credit: Getty Images
This week the Bombers were full of intent and aggro, but it just was a bit random and clumsy. Yes, Peter Wright was an over-step, but Zach Merrett’s furious tackling and pressure was the type of edge that will make a difference if it catches on at Essendon.
That leads us to the most forthright outbreak of all, from Tom Papley. A man not given to subtlety and one who evidently speaks as provocatively as he plays, he didn’t sugarcoat his thoughts on Essendon.
Four Points: A random outbreak of honesty in the AFL, and why the Dons need defence not aggro
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24.03.2024
Something has happened in football. It’s new and exciting territory … so it won’t last.
There has been an outbreak of candour.
Craig McRae did not spare his senior players.Credit: Getty Images
On Thursday night Craig McRae did not shy away from pointing the finger at his senior players’ comically bad errors. Admittedly, it would have been hard for him to speak with a straight face and deny the blindingly obvious about his winless........
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