The rebels who wanted to take over Richmond did deliver one positive change - the return of Neil BalmeMichelangelo Rucci,
Chief Football Writer,
The Advertiser
8 August 2017IT is now down to four - Adelaide, Richmond, GWS and the ominous Sydney.
Unless Brownlow Medallist Patrick Dangerfield can indeed carry Geelong on his shoulders, the Cats are gone - more so once part of the “Dangerwood” combination, captain Joel Selwood, goes under the surgeon’s knife.
Forget Port Adelaide. Lightning will not strike twice with the AFL premiership titleholders at the Western Bulldogs. And whoever among Melbourne, St Kilda, Essendon and West Coast stays on the tightrope to the final eight, there will be no long run in September.
And for all that is repeatedly said of this season’s AFL competition being close - and erratic - the marathon run to September is catching up with the pretenders, in particular the Power that remarkably holds fifth spot.
The script is now true to all the AFL wanted while trying to avoid the traps of other professional sporting competitions that deliver the same winners season after season.
The final eight will have at least two and possibly three changes to last year. From last season, Hawthorn and North Melbourne are already eliminated. West Coast is not far behind.
But the greatest delight for the master planners at AFL House is the prospect of the Crows and Richmond proving that long-standing droughts do eventually fall, as do dynasties.
As the Bulldogs ended their 62-year wait for an AFL flag on October 1, there was one graphic published to remind all that the longest absences from the grand final were with Richmond (1982, 35 years) and Adelaide (1998, 19 years).
Now a Crows-Tigers grand final is one of the most-probable play-offs for the flag on September 30. And probably the most interesting.
It also will enhance the reputation of Neil Balme, a classic journeyman who has made a mark in three States - at home in WA, in SA as a premiership coach at Norwood and in the VFL-AFL as a player, coach but most significantly as a football department leader.
Balme was part of the Collingwood revival (with two grand finals) while striking a partnership coach Michael Malthouse. He had immediate success at Geelong with his move to the Cats in 2007 - after a vigorous review of the football department identified the need for his pragmatic leadership - ending a 44-year premiership drought.
And history may repeat in his first year back at his “home” VFL-AFL club of Richmond that has not won a flag since 1980. Each time Collingwood has pushed Balme “sideways” it has ended in tears for the Magpies - and champagne at the AFL club that has hired Balme.
Balme’s reputation as a premiership winner as a player (twice at Richmond, 1973 and 1974); as a coach (twice at Norwood, 1982 and 1984) and as an football department administrator (three times at Geelong, 2007, 2009 and 2011) would be crowned by ending the drought at Punt Road.
And it will prove that hapless rebel group that tried to take over the Richmond board with the “Focus on Footy” campaign did have one (maybe only one) grand idea - Get Balmey. Perhaps that is all Richmond ever needed.
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