Do something on the field, not in the boardroom
Rohan Connolly | June 5, 2007 | The Age
IT WAS as his Hawthorn team was going down the gurgler in the 1975 grand final that John Kennedy bellowed a now-famous plea to his troops: "Don't think … do!"
More than 30 years later, it's a line which resonates louder than ever. Particularly if you had to endure some of the nonsense that went on at various AFL grounds last weekend.
It's fashionable these days to label anything in football older than the past five minutes as an anachronism, but if anything, Kennedy's words would be even better directed at many of the today's players than the Hawks of three decades ago.
Whatever happened to instinct? The ability of a player to go for and get the ball, then use it to advantage, quickly, decisively, preferably in the same direction as his team's goals, and without having to mentally wade through the catalogue of "do's and don'ts" revolving around his head drummed in through hour upon hour of videos, game plans and rehearsals?
You would have wondered had you seen the Richmond-Brisbane Lions clash at Telstra Dome on Saturday, a match which, despite its finale, will rank right down there as one of the worst of recent times.
Time and again, players fiddled, hesitated and became lost in a fog of confusion, ignoring the obvious option in favour of some grand plan — whether that just happened to involve a teammate flat-footed, further away from the supposed target or surrounded by opponents.
In the third quarter, Brisbane's Michael Rischitelli marked in the centre square, the Lions charging, the forward line open and inviting. That, in itself, was clearly a shock. The young Lion promptly stopped, ran in a large circle, and after two false starts, passed to Joel Patfull, now under more pressure and 20-30 metres further away from goal than he might have been. And yes, he missed the shot.
The Tigers were just as culpable, coach Terry Wallace suggesting afterwards they'd become so wrapped up in the various ins and outs of the game plan that they'd overlooked one perhaps significant issue — that of going in and getting the ball. Now there's a good idea.
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Richmond and the Lions fight out the season's first draw? Answer: Extra time. But why? Are we so hung up on instant gratification we can't accept that out of 176 home-and-away games, not every single one might be either won or lost?
Just as the evolution of the game leads inevitably to the pre-eminent style of the moment being superseded by the next, not every quirk thrown up during this game or that needs to have a summary response, or instant fix. Dare one suggest that a little uncertainty, or piece of good or bad fortune might even add to the drama?
But while, in an age where more and more players seem to suffer paralysis by analysis, too many administrators, lawmakers and coaches seem to have taken Kennedy's mantra to his weary players as their own gospel.
Perhaps it's the likes of the Crows, Tigers and Lions we saw last Saturday whose equivocation on the field might be more handy around football's boardrooms, and the blokes directing their fortunes who should be pulling on the jumpers and boots.
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