#AFL Round 13 weekly discussion thread

[Boddo]

Anyway good luck for the rest of the year everyone. Hope you all enjoy your season, I’ll keep an eye out to see how Sydney goes but hopefully with a bit of luck my local side goes back to back in the middle of September.

All the best ????

Ps from the small bits I’ve seen of Sydney it’s not all doom n gloom. An easier draw and games into the younger brigade with some luck injury wise n I’d say finals again next year.

[Blood Fever]

Anyway good luck for the rest of the year everyone. Hope you all enjoy your season, I’ll keep an eye out to see how Sydney goes but hopefully with a bit of luck my local side goes back to back in the middle of September.

All the best ????

Ps from the small bits I’ve seen of Sydney it’s not all doom n gloom. An easier draw and games into the younger brigade with some luck injury wise n I’d say finals again next year.

Keep in touch!

[Mel_C]

The security pacing up and down the aisles has been going on for the last 10 years at the MCG and Marvel. Last week I was at the MCG and it didn't seem to be more frequent. Although I've never seen those Behavioural Officers before and their introduction seems an overreaction.

I wonder if more people are texting the anti social behaviour number and this is leading to more evictions.

[dejavoodoo44]

The security pacing up and down the aisles has been going on for the last 10 years at the MCG and Marvel. Last week I was at the MCG and it didn't seem to be more frequent. Although I've never seen those Behavioural Officers before and their introduction seems an overreaction.

I wonder if more people are texting the anti social behaviour number and this is leading to more evictions.

And the management at Marvel maintain that they haven't increased security numbers. Which is interesting. If that's correct, then maybe people are just noticing them more, because of the new, slightly Orwellian name? I mean, firing off an angry tweet about security guards at the football, will generally earn nothing but, 'so what'. But, some 'what's the world coming to', tweets, about behavioural awareness officers, then people are likely to pay much more attention.

[dejavoodoo44]

I watched a bit of the Roosters game today, since the crowd at the SCG looked dire, I checked the numbers. It was 8,200. Perhaps the Roosters could save themselves a bit of money and transfer a few of their remaining games to North Sydney or Leichhardt? I imagine that would improve the surface for our games.

[MattW]

What a bloody relief that's over, eh? Bring on Friday night.

[Markwebbos]

What a bloody relief that's over, eh? Bring on Friday night.

+1

[Matty10]

Ok, I’m going to disagree with BF and ss - and probably a majority.

As someone who always goes to test cricket and ODI matches at the SCG I am very used to security & police walking up and down the aisles. And I don’t have any problem with it.

It is very unpleasant to be sitting in a group of spectators, usually men fuelled by alcohol, who are yelling abuse at players and umpires, and sometimes at opposition fans as well. Remember the 2014 GF and the appalling behaviour of Hawthorn fans?

Everyone should be able to go to the footy, including families with children, without feeling intimidated. Umpires and players should not have to put up with abuse.

And why would fans who do neither of those things, who simply enthusiastically support their teams, feel threatened by the presence of security staff?

I’m with you on this, Meg.

I have always been loud at the football and enjoy a bit of banter with opposition supporters, but there has been a decline in crowd behaviour over the past 10-15 years. I also think this is more prevalent in Melbourne than at the SCG.

To illustrate the point, I have received some surprised looks from supporters when cheering or yelling out at the SCG (along the lines of, ‘gee, he’s keen’), but have not experienced this elsewhere.

However, there has barely been a game in the last few years where I have not encountered obnoxious and aggressive behaviour at the MCG or Docklands. The things that used to catch my attention were often comical expressions, now they are ones that are aggressive and demeaning.

[Matty10]

Any thoughts on the Sydney Stack/Eddie Betts hug from last nights game?

I didn't watch the whole game and missed this exchange at the time, but I did note an earlier incident between the two that caught my eye. Betts went to kick around his body and essentially just kicked it into the legs of an opponent and then the ball went out of bounds. Stack went up to Betts and gave him a push and had heckled him. This surprised me somewhat and I thought that it was a bit cheeky from a young bloke to an ageing champion. It was also along the lines of the unnecessary exchanges between players where one just demeans the other (which has been discussed on here over the last couple of seasons and in the media earlier this year, most notably between Vardy and Gawn). I noted to my wife at the time that this was a bit unusual, particularly between Indigenous players, where a open level of respect often transcends team divide.

When I later saw a replay of their exchange from later in the game, I thought it was a good acknowledgement and perhaps a sign from Stack that he had been a bit disrespectful earlier.

[KTigers]

I’m with you on this, Meg.

I have always been loud at the football and enjoy a bit of banter with opposition supporters, but there has been a decline in crowd behaviour over the past 10-15 years. I also think this is more prevalent in Melbourne than at the SCG.

To illustrate the point, I have received some surprised looks from supporters when cheering or yelling out at the SCG (along the lines of, ‘gee, he’s keen’), but have not experienced this elsewhere.

However, there has barely been a game in the last few years where I have not encountered obnoxious and aggressive behaviour at the MCG or Docklands. The things that used to catch my attention were often comical expressions, now they are ones that are aggressive and demeaning.

Yep. There needs to be more chilling out. At games, on the footy forums, on the bus to the ground, everywhere....

[stevoswan]

Titus O'Rielly's view of the 'Stratton show' on the weekend:

"Dane Rampe set the pace this year for captains going off the rails in a game, but Ben Stratton lifted the bar and then some.

He managed to repeatedly pinch Orazio Fantasia, stomp on Shaun McKernan’s foot and give the finger to the crowd.

It was a masterclass in how to become hated by every football fan in just a few hours.

While he’s straight off to the tribunal, the jury is still out if his campaign to overtake James Sicily as Hawthorn's most hated player will succeed."

The Monday Knee Jerk Reaction: AFL Round Thirteen - Titus O'Reily | Don’t have faith in yourself

[dejavoodoo44]

Titus O'Rielly's view of the 'Stratton show' on the weekend:

"Dane Rampe set the pace this year for captains going off the rails in a game, but Ben Stratton lifted the bar and then some.

He managed to repeatedly pinch Orazio Fantasia, stomp on Shaun McKernan’s foot and give the finger to the crowd.

It was a masterclass in how to become hated by every football fan in just a few hours.

While he’s straight off to the tribunal, the jury is still out if his campaign to overtake James Sicily as Hawthorn's most hated player will succeed."

The Monday Knee Jerk Reaction: AFL Round Thirteen - Titus O'Reily | Don’t have faith in yourself

It's probably an award at their presentation night: most hated player at Hawthorn.

[Sandrevan]

Ben Stratton - yes; what was he thinking. I haven't watched Stratton closely in the past but he seems quite clean. He doesn't have a reputation as a dirty player. Please correct me if i'm wrong.
He probably won't play against us this week - which is a bonus for us.

My manager is a Hawthorn fan and he was fairly unimpressed with Strattons actions.

[Molly dooker]

I followed Sth Mel as a kid and will never forget the abuse and threats made towards me (a little girl at the time), by Geelong supporters. They were the games we would go to as it was the closest to where we lived.

I have no doubt the aggression from the Vic club supporters would all be the same, it's a religion down there.

Don't get me wrong, I love expressing my support every game in Syd but would never go to the levels I have seen.

Swans supporters are unique and respectful (most of them anyway), I walked out after the last game against the "Ice Coke Eagles" and made a quiet comment to a stranger walking in the same direction, "geez we're a rowdy mob aren't we!" All the hype after a big win like that and it was queit conversation everwhere, not a DH anywhere.

So proud to live in a state where behaviour is adult and not offensive.

[KTigers]

I think the demographic that supports the Swans (and probably GWS too) in Sydney is a bit more centred around a certain group
of people than footy crowds in Melbourne. The Melbourne footy crowds always seemed to me to be the Sydney AFL, the rugby
league and the rugby union crowds all rolled into one. It's just the nature of one football code being very dominant in Melbourne,
whereas in Sydney no one code is particularly dominant.