Old dogs and their old tricks
I get sentimental about old footballers in the same way I get sentimental about old dogs.
My little mate Arthur, a sausage dog of some repute is 14 now and it’s beginning to show. He shuffles around the house. He’s tired, but stoic. He still wants to fulfil his obligations to his master and his family.
Despite his diminutive stature, he’s always seen himself as our protector, but he’s lost a yard and sometimes he gets a bit jumpy. The kids ran into the lounge room the other day and they startled him while he was napping and he jumped up barking at them like they were strangers.
I saw a a flash of embarrassment. He’s lost none of his dignity though. He still believes in the cause, in his duty.
That’s the lot for some of this year's AFL veterans too. Not the confused barking, but the dignity of the cause.
Luke Hodge is Marlon Brando to my generation of footballers. He’s the player who's had the career we all wanted to have. His mission is not necessarily ultimate success any more. Quite obviously, it’s to provide some shelter from the storm up in Brisbane as they rebuild.
I was surprised when Hodgey announced his comeback. I was discussing this with a friend of mine at the time of his announcement. He said: “Yeah, but, what if he just loves playing?” I’ve thought about that a lot since.
I didn’t get misty-eyed at the thought of Gary Ablett returning to Geelong, although I know a few people who did. But watching him in his twilight is intriguing. How will the little master adapt his game for a fitting final act?
Brendan Goddard is not the sort of player who usually evokes feelings of sentimentality in me either, but if not for one bounce of the ball, his career would be complete. He battles on with the signature scowl on his face, pointing and yelling, ignoring popular opinion that the Bombers are gone, taking his elusive dream with them.
Nathan Jones must be trying not to forecast too far ahead this week, but surely he has never been more optimistic in his career than right now. He’s been like a jiffy fire-lighter for the last ten years at the Demons. We’ve seen some smoke before, but we’re seeing flames now. I’m drawn to football stories like that.
I look at Kade Simpson roaming the Blues' flanks this year and I feel like standing and saluting him.
He’s endured more hard days on the field than most. In the Springsteen song, Wrecking Ball, Bruce sings: “Hard times come and hard times go, hard times come and hard times go, yeah just to come again, bring on your wrecking ball.” That could be an anthem for the long-suffering Blue. He’s a rail-thin wrecking ball in long sleeves.
If I can't watch a Carlton game this year, I find myself checking their scores and asking people how Simpson went. I don’t know why I ask because it’s always the same" “Carlton lost, Simpson was one of their best”. What a soldier he’s been.
Years ago, I went to the MCG to watch the Blues take on the Magpies under the lights. I used to try and get to at least one live game a year when I was still playing and this was it. I sat in the outer watching the game and listening to the banter in the crowd, which consisted mostly of Carlton supporters lamenting any player who kicked the ball sideways or backwards.
In the third quarter, a skewed kick rose high into the sky and although every player watched the ball as it soared, only one was brave enough to follow its flight and throw himself at it. It was Kade Simpson.
A moment after he took the mark, Sharrod Wellingham, then a Magpie, cannoned into him with crude force. There were gasps in the crowd around me. On cue, a Collingwood supporter stood up a couple of rows behind me and bellowed: “Weak as piss, Simpson!” It was funny, in an absurd way.
Thereare a million things to enjoy at the football and some of them are on the actual field, but when the game slows down, or the numbers queue up around the stoppage, have look through the congestion to see an old warrior who is trying to squeeze the last ounce of footballing ability he has left in his body.
He might not be the fastest or the flashiest out there, but his heart is strong, his cause pure.