The first ever game of Australian rules football<\/a> ended in a draw, albeit after three weeks of play and one goal apiece. The sport is now run by lawyers and TV executives, and a draw would be anathema to most of them. It would be the easiest of fixes in another suite of rule changes. But once or twice a year, we get one, and the sky doesn\u2019t cave in. Once or twice a year, everyone leaves the ground in a rather bewildered state. Once or twice a year, there are murmurings of the need to play extra time to bring it into line with the finals series.<\/p>\n This weekend however, we got two in the space of 24 hours. Collingwood and Hawthorn\u2019s was the first time in VFL\/AFL history that the same two teams have played out draws both times they have played against each other in the one season. It would have been interesting if this game was on free to air television \u2013 which it should be on a Saturday night \u2013 whether there would have been more calls for extra time. As it was, it wasn\u2019t a game that needed a definitive win\/loss result. A draw in Australian rules football has a completely different context to a draw in cricket and soccer. As Sam Mitchell said after the April game, \u201chaving a different emotion that you don\u2019t usually get adds to the beauty of sport\u201d.<\/p>\n This particular draw was notable for a rather shambolic final 90 seconds. Two exceptionally well organised and structured teams momentarily lost their compasses, and both did their best to toss away the four points. Even the cameraperson didn\u2019t quite meet the moment. While I\u2019m on that, the way this sport is filmed has been in sharp decline in the past decade, with directors who think they\u2019re Cecil B DeMille, and camerapeople who think they\u2019re tracking Geoff Hayward\u2019s seagull.<\/p>\n Collingwood players react after Hawthorn\u2019s Dylan Moore missed a shot at goal after the siren. Photograph: Scott Barbour\/AAP<\/p>\n As always, Collingwood refused to yield. Five of them had played 10 games or fewer and they were without Steele Sidebottom, Jeremy Howe, Brayden Maynard and Darcy Moore. But McRae often speaks of \u201cmatchplay\u201d, a format that suits smart, experienced athletes, and Collingwood still have enough of those. Indeed, the way senior coaches respond to a draw says a lot about their psyche. Mitchell, whose biography was titled Relentless, didn\u2019t seem too enthused by the result. McRae, whose optimism is constitutional, was hailing it as a victory. Neither was entirely convincing. That\u2019s the great thing about draws. In footy, where every win is a triumph and every loss is a catastrophe, where every winning coach is a genius and every loser is headed for the chopping block, it\u2019s good to live in the grey every now and then.<\/p>\n Then there was an utterly bonkers Sunday afternoon at the Docklands. There were no grey areas with this draw. Carlton<\/a> certainly didn\u2019t have their best game of the Josh Fraser era. Perhaps against expectation, the Dogs made them fight for every inch and every second. Luke Beveridge didn\u2019t exactly scream enthusiasm in the build-up to this game. His \u201cBevo\u2019s Brief\u201d on the Bulldogs\u2019 website came across like a hostage video. \u201cI\u2019m as flat as a shit carter\u2019s hat,\u201d he said after they bowed out last year, and he certainly fitted the description after they lost to North Melbourne last week. And with no Marcus Bontempelli, no Tim English, no Bailey Dale, and no real resemblance of a ruckman, it was understandable he looked so flat. Bevo needs \u201cgames of consequence\u201d even more than the AFL and their host broadcasters do.<\/p>\n
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