Melbourne coach Paul Roos has suggested AFL umpires are holding back on giving away free kicks in an attempt to make the game more exciting.
The Queen’s Birthday blockbuster degenerated into anything but a spectacle under Melbourne’s new ultra defensive game plan. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: News Corp Australia
NORTH Melbourne Team of the Century member Sam Kekovich has called on the AFL Commission to ensure games like Collingwood and Melbourne on Queen’s Birthday are never seen again.
Kekovich, 64, was incensed when watching Monday’s MCG clash that resulted in a total of just 11 goals, claiming the AFL is allowing “our great game to be prostituted”.
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“You watch that and you wonder how long our product can stand up, how long spectators will continue to go to games? No wonder crowds are down,” said Kekovich, who played 124 games with North Melbourne between 1968-76.
“If the AFL Commission is truly committed to being the custodians of our game that they claim to be then they will address it immediately. Do they truly believe our game will endure those type of spectacles?
Paul Roos has come under fire after the Demons kicked just three goals against Collingwood. Source: News Corp Australia
“AFL football was one of the last areas in this country where young people could express themselves with freedom in the knowledge they would be feted for taking a risk. Now they sh.t themselves, fearful of how their coach will react if they don’t kick the ball sideways or backwards.
“I ended up abusing (Melbourne coach) Paul Roos. I understand what he is trying to do but if he wants to oversee that crap, why not buy a chess board where he and Ross Lyon can bore each other to death?
“They say they have a responsibility to win games. I say they have a responsibility to win games and entertain at the same time. What is happening now is foreign to the very essence of what our game was built upon.
“I know I’ll be passed off as just another ex-player who doesn’t understand modern football. Well I’m part of an ever-growing group because the rumblings are deafening if the Commission bothers to listen.”
Kekovich, an explosive player known for his matchwinning abilities and entertainment value, also took aim at the umpiring standards which he believes have slipped alarmingly.
“Have they heard of blowing the whistle when a pack forms, instead of allowing it to fester until it morphs into an orgy of bodies? Carlton has lost two games of late because of poor umpiring.
“That can cost people their jobs and isn’t acceptable. But we will see it again this weekend, the inconsistencies, the crooked bounces.
“I love our game and I love watching someone like Tom Hawkins go one-on-one as he did last Friday night. That’s what the game is about, not what was served up by Melbourne at the MCG.”,
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