A tribute to Grant Thomas

by MICHAEL STEVEN

IT was in the first game of the year that Matthews showed his team was in decline. Excitedly he banged the desk and screamed into the phone when his players physically attacked the ball and the opposition. His players responded to the decree of Leigh. Like feral dogs, Mal Michael and Chris Scott savaged a maimed Reiwoldt while he grimaced with an obvious injury. Darwinism as a theory was in full force.

There have been stages throughout the year where Brisbane has shown its previous superiority. Occasional glimpses only, however.

Matthews decided to throw Brown into the middle, a strategy applauded by the commentators who have never coached and been subjected to the confines of list management. He put his biggest and most dangerous weapon into the centre of fire. Unused to failure Matthews alone knew the plight he was in. He will not take prisoners, evidenced by his coat hanger attack on Barry Cable and his encounter with Neville Bruns so many tears ago but, as he laughed on national TV about the short-term success, you knew that it was a resolution of physical intimidation rather than any real strategy. It was an act of desperation. It failed.

A full footy year has passed since the ugliness of the first round encounter between Brisbane and St Kilda. Michael and Scott are no longer physically intimidating. Their pack is inferior to the best and their role is now much less relevant. The bigger you are the harder you fall.

Intelligent design is not within the power of Matthews, Demetriou or any other power hungry animal, including the public face of the crumbling PBL. Demetriou, a mere metaphor of the current debate about Australian values, has shown himself to be unwilling to accept such a hypothesis. He insists on a homogenised voice. It is not profitable to be willing to speak your mind. You will be crunched with a Chris Scott-like jumper punch or something more sinister if you dare to expose the schoolyard bully or challenge the existing power base. Freedom of speech is OK but only as long as authority can go about its business unrestrained by criticism when it gets it wrong.

St Kilda's dignified demolition of Brisbane last Friday could probably teach our cricket captain about how to confront adversity and even our Prime Minister about how to overcome the threat of illegal violent attack. Grant Thomas is different and maybe that is why so many people don't like him. But decency on the football field was restored last Friday night in response to the first round violence and despite the edicts of a dictatorial governing body.

Perhaps there is hope for Australian values after all.

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