The first week of the
AFL finals had produced some dream results and also a couple of nightmares. Melbourne ruckman Jeff White suffered one of the
latter – when he had his face seriously rearranged by the wayward flying boot
of his Geelong rival Stephen King on Saturday.

The weekend media and
talkback lines in Melbourne have been working overtime on the rights
and
wrongs, including many ex-players arguing that as it was in no way
intentional, but if the incident isn’t referred by the league’s match
review panel – driven by simple perennial of “kicking in danger” – then should we assume this guiding
principle is no longer a fundamental safeguard in the game?

As to the outcomes of
the four games themselves, my strongest reservations concern the two
terrible
umpiring decisions that went against Sydney late in their game against
West Coast in Perth on Friday night. Both were travesties and games
shouldn’t turn on such poor decisions.

St Kilda’s win at AAMI stadium was as
brave as it was indicative that they’re now the team
to beat.
Robert Harvey might be the oldest player in the league but he has a
motor and heart the size of Phar Lap, and his season long “Indian summer” has
been a revelation, which will hopefully inspire the game’s other elder statesmen
not to hang up their boots prematurely.

Geelong predictably caught Melbourne without any petrol left in the
tank, as the
Cats drove right over the top of them and must now play Sydney at the
SCG on Friday night for the right to keep
their see-sawing season alive. It’s regrettable that the NRL got
preference with Telstra Stadium, but the TV coverage will give fans and
a
wider than normal viewing audience a chance to root for Sydney and the
smaller SCG will also work to the host’s advantage.

West Coast is still
sitting pretty (fortunately so) to make the Grand Final, and while they will
know both the Saints and Swans pose massive threats, the game that all AFL fans
are now salivating over and has already been described as the biggest sporting
event to hit Adelaide for the last 50 years, is the first ever “Showdown” final. And with the Adelaide Crows distinct lack of
forward fire power, Port Adelaide may yet prove to be this year’s finals wild card.

As to the Kangaroos disappointing
capitulation yesterday against Port, I thought it more reflected a team that
played above itself to get to the finals, but the real concern for the club is
a crowd of just 23,000 at Telstra Dome for one of only two Melbourne weekend finals. That’s got to be a massive
worry for the North Melbourne administration and won’t be lost on the AFL
intent on “managing” a couple of Melbourne clubs to relocate sooner or later. Apparently that’s the smallest finals’ crowd
in Melbourne since 1942.