Rohan Connolly in the Age today has a bit "Preblurb" on the new rivalry between the Cats and The Saints. Not a bad little bit of nothing, in fact I like that sort stuff because it builds the status of our club. To often in today's football does the "Meat and Potato" sides get left out in the cold, begging for a bit of attention while the so called Mega clubs just lap it up. The Pies are the paragon of this, when Geelong was neglected on free to air a couple of years back, the common response from the networks was 'look at your position on the ladder' now here we down the track, the Pies are where they are and they still dominate the free to air games.
The fact is life isn’t fair, the pies have an enormous following so with the most passive of efforts, they get the cream. TV and corporate dollars go had in hand, so its no coincidence that they recently got a huge amount from Wizard. Then on top of this they get the extras that ensure continual attention, the mega clash games, "the Blockbusters" although I'm not sure which block gets busted. Every year I hear this continual hogwash about Anzac day being only second to a GF, what a fantastic day for all, as long as you are either Collingwood or Essendon. We invented the day they say; only we can play. Crap I can remember a game down at KP in the Eighty's between Hawks and Cats so they hardly invented it. The fair and just AFL of course make sure everyone has an equal chance through the draw, sorry fixture. Yes, everyone has an equal chance its just that some are more equal than others. Some play out of state heaps while others get to be stay at home Johnny's. The powers at the AFL, always looking for suck the last bit of juice out of the orange, structure return matches against the almighty Mega sides no matter their form or what this does to other sides. They have tradition, they have history ,they say, traditional rivals its good for the comp as whole if they play twice. I thought this was a competition not the WWE , where they structure the head to head clashes. If they are only after entertainment and attendance why not put everyone on skates, freeze the Dome and we can have an AFL/Disney's on Ice version of 'Snow Black and White and the seven little Bombers".
So back to us and the Saints, it's a good thing that we develop a rivalry that gives a bit airplay, a bit of the limelight. The only thing missing is the match both teams were only a couple goals away from last year. A fantastic GF between the two would set this rather soft rivalry into a far more ridged thing. Tonight, we might be undermanned but I hope we can continue to add to the potential of these matches, build them up to be the marquee game that we deserve to have.
The fact is life isn’t fair, the pies have an enormous following so with the most passive of efforts, they get the cream. TV and corporate dollars go had in hand, so its no coincidence that they recently got a huge amount from Wizard. Then on top of this they get the extras that ensure continual attention, the mega clash games, "the Blockbusters" although I'm not sure which block gets busted. Every year I hear this continual hogwash about Anzac day being only second to a GF, what a fantastic day for all, as long as you are either Collingwood or Essendon. We invented the day they say; only we can play. Crap I can remember a game down at KP in the Eighty's between Hawks and Cats so they hardly invented it. The fair and just AFL of course make sure everyone has an equal chance through the draw, sorry fixture. Yes, everyone has an equal chance its just that some are more equal than others. Some play out of state heaps while others get to be stay at home Johnny's. The powers at the AFL, always looking for suck the last bit of juice out of the orange, structure return matches against the almighty Mega sides no matter their form or what this does to other sides. They have tradition, they have history ,they say, traditional rivals its good for the comp as whole if they play twice. I thought this was a competition not the WWE , where they structure the head to head clashes. If they are only after entertainment and attendance why not put everyone on skates, freeze the Dome and we can have an AFL/Disney's on Ice version of 'Snow Black and White and the seven little Bombers".
So back to us and the Saints, it's a good thing that we develop a rivalry that gives a bit airplay, a bit of the limelight. The only thing missing is the match both teams were only a couple goals away from last year. A fantastic GF between the two would set this rather soft rivalry into a far more ridged thing. Tonight, we might be undermanned but I hope we can continue to add to the potential of these matches, build them up to be the marquee game that we deserve to have.
