Annus mirabilis

by RICK KANE

IF there is something I like, even more than my own team winning, it is football played par excellence. When I watched the goal James Hird kicked against Geelong, in the dying stages of a hard fought final, in the wet, with a split second to think and act I was not just stopped in my tracks but knocked off my feet and lifted high.

That is why I am in awe of the likes of Wayne Carey, Gary Ablett, Leigh Matthews, Royce Hart, Polly Farmer and many others besides. That, ultimately, is why I love the game. Because, for all its shortcomings, at its heart is an endeavour that rewards sublime skills, dangerous imagination, precision wit, dedicated teamwork and a frank expression of self. Hird is an example of the manifestation of that combination. And then there is Brisbane. It is not just a great side; it are the best we've seen in 100 years of this great game.

Players of Hird's quality are rare, teams like Brisbane rarer still. One of the great puzzlements for me in the last few years is how little media attention is given to Brisbane's astonishing feats. When Essendon was at one of its heights, between 1998 and 2001, it were touted as the best ever. I recall endless discussions and debates about their team in the media. As good as Essendon was it doesn't come close to this Brisbane team. So, where is the critical appraisal? Where is the endless discussion? We have in our midst an example of football as it could be played in heaven, something we are unlikely to witness for a long time to come and we hardly applaud them, let alone try to enjoy and know them deeply.

Consider this: the media has focused (to saturation point) on Jonathan Brown's acquittal at the AFL tribunal. Such has been the force of the focus that it has resulted in an appallingly handled public fallout between the AFL's (voluntary) prosecutor and his bosses. The case has been discussed ad nauseam, very little of which has accurately reflected the legal frameworks of which the tribunal is bound or provided insight to better comprehend Brown's felicitous result. This much we do know: it caused an almighty stir. In the same period one of the truly embarrassing and ignominious decisions, that blights the ultimate reach for a legitimacy Australian rules dearly seeks, was made. The AFL ruled that a preliminary final be played at the MCG rather than where it should rightfully have been played - at the home ground of the team whose right it was to host the final. In doing so, the AFL has disrespected and dishonoured one of the game's most salient feature, its democracy. Where was the media outcry? Where is the public outrage? In the scheme of things, is the Brown case that much more offensive to our sense of fair play and justice? Would Collingwood stand for such blatant abuse of a core right the club has striven all year to achieve?

I am nonplussed. I wonder, are we afraid that we are seeing football's face of God? Is that why we turn away? Are we so scared, so in awe of the brilliance of Brisbane that all we can do when AFL High Priests deliver their decree is shrink and say that that's just the way it is? I think we should wake up and voice the obvious; they are gods, gods of football. And as did the mortals with the Greek or Norse gods of yore, we should be in awe of them... but we should befriend them as well. If we bring them into our world we may well learn something more about our better nature (as well as how to hold on to the ball). At the very least we could learn to better appreciate how good a team they are so as to dream of what is possible.

Instead, we resort to cheap and lazy analysis of these gods of god's own game and tag the drafting concessions as THE REASON for Brisbane's success. In the Age on 13 September this reason once again raised its ugly small minded head. Collingwood leads the chorus. 'If only every club could have that extra money then we could all afford great players' is the refrain. What simplistic, syllogistic, sludge. In the same article Collingwood's CEO, Greg Swann says, '...we realise there's a lot of anomalies in the competition'. Anomalies, Greg? Surely you mean 'inequities' or 'inequalities'? And bang! Pop goes the weasel. It's this simple - all that the most vociferous voice in the chorus, in the moment of pure argument, can muster is the word anomaly to acknowledge the wider, deeper more untenable issues the AFL needs to resolve. Where I come from we call that piss weak.

Brisbane hasn't got the best team on the field because of the money. Des Headland used to play in that side. In that team he looked great. Since he went back to Perth he hasn't maintained that greatness. I wonder, is he being paid more or less now? Brisbane has the oldest player going, that's not a money thing. Brisbane has Martin Pike. When Brisbane picked him up he was on his last legs, having stretched too many friendships. That was smart recruiting, not spending large. So why didn't Buckley stay where the money and success and chicks were? And if Greg Swann, Collingwood CEO wants to talk about anomalies, I'm sure the other AFL clubs would be lining up to discuss anomalies that pertain to the club he represents. Swann could do worse than consider the Dylan line from 'My Back Pages' that goes: 'Equality, I spoke the word as if a wedding vow. I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now'.

Brisbane has done us all proud. Accept it, enjoy it and wear it as a badge. When people ask, tell them this: you want to know how good Australian rules football is, here watch this team. This is the fifth year in a row that they are in the last four at the end of the season. This year they are the favourites to win the flag. If they do, it will be their fourth in a row. Now that would be some kind of wonderful. Whether they do or not, they have proven this year that they are a force beyond what we have seen before.

In roughly the same period that Brisbane has achieved stunning successes Port Adelaide has been minor premiers three years running. That is an achievement in itself. But Port has yet to capitalise on its strengths. If Port Adelaide and Brisbane make it through their respective preliminary final (they are both favourites to do so) then this year we have the chance to witness one of the great grand finals of the modern era. The sort of great grand final we might have seen in 1999 had not Essendon lost to Carlton by one point in the preliminary final. I hope we see it. I think we deserve it, the teams deserve it and the game deserves it. It would be the high-water mark, the epitome of the reason Australian rules has grown as it has. And in that sense, I think it is instructive that this high water mark is made by two non-Victorian teams. Well, after this weekend's games we will know for sure.

Brisbane is the team of the century and this year has been its annus mirabilis. This is the year where it has proven its genius. For me, the player that symbolises Brisbane's talent is Mal Michael. I know this is a big call considering Brisbane has so many talented players. I never stop enjoying Mal's style of play, how he reads the play, how adventurous he is for a full back, how committed he is to decisions he makes and his football skills. I reckon he is Leigh Matthews recast as a one position player. I reckon that Leigh Matthews sees in Mal Michael the player he could have been and from that one player he has modelled his dream side and recast the great Hawthorn side he played for into a side for a new century and the ages. I know this is fanciful thinking but truly great sides, like the Greek gods, allow us mere mortals to extend our wings and soar and dream. Think of how you felt when you watched Hird kick that goal. That's how Brisbane players should make you feel every time they gather the ball.

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