Whatever happens to Steven May, response to bump shows language and attitudes are changing

The Age

21-07-2025

'He was going to go and win that football,' Nathan Buckley said in commentary before adding that he was not sure 'our game can allow that any more'.
Loading
Jack Riewoldt offered on Fox: 'If you come in with that sort of velocity … this incident has a little bit of the Jackson Archer about it and that cost him three weeks.
'He came that fast into the contest, the collision was inevitable. Steven May has a duty of care because Francis Evans has the ball there.'
David King added: 'What we had to do is look at it from the victim's point of view. What are we asking Evans to do?'
Whether May's action is considered more akin to Archer or to Pearce will determine May's fate, but the bigger outcome has already been realised with the change in the language and the idea of what the game should tolerate.
Dees earn scrutiny in bigger loser clash
For a game that broadly meant nothing, this game meant something. Neither Carlton nor Melbourne can make the eight, but victory was in not being the bigger loser.
Carlton did not turn the corner by beating the Demons, they just asserted a semblance of calm and settled themselves from the percolating discontent. Melbourne, in losing to the most pressured team in the AFL, consigned themselves to the sorts of questions that have plagued Carlton all year. What has gone wrong? And why?
Simon Goodwin is contracted, just as Michael Voss is. But unlike Voss, he has won a flag at this team. That buys more time.
Melbourne has generally this year avoided the sort of questions that have been asked of Carlton because, well, because of Carlton but also because those questions have been asked for three years now without ever settling on a satisfactory answer. How has yet another Melbourne year been allowed to slide by? Their slide is not new.
They were not making the finals before this game, so the loss to Carlton is only salt to the wound. Tangibly, it changes nothing other than the idea of how far they are falling away again.
Their problems are as well known as their mistakes. Not trading Clayton Oliver last year was a bad decision at the time and looks even worse now. Not because Oliver is playing badly but because he is not playing as he did when he signed the mega contract, and now they are stuck with him long-term. Christian Petracca's kicking effectiveness has now abandoned him. Luckily, they had Kysaiah Pickett, or the damage on the scoreboard and the broader sense of ennui about them would be severe.
Time to topple Tassie roof
The Tasmanian state election does not deliver a majority government, but logically it does deliver a majority of MPs who support a new football stadium.
Liberal and Labor have both backed a stadium. Combined they have the numbers to now approve the stadium. Logic would say they do, though logic is rare in politics
Don't waste a crisis is a truism of politics, which – if applied to Tasmania – would say that the new government, in whatever minority form it takes, has the chance to leverage its precarious political position to achieve what should have been the AFL and state government position from the outset and abandon the roof.
The roof was a desirable, if expensive, luxury item the AFL added to the stadium as an ambit claim.
The AFL logic was that, at the moment of their strongest bargaining position, they needed to ask for everything they wanted. The rationale was that if they didn't get what they wanted now, they would never get it. So they set a roofed stadium – not just a stadium – as a precondition. It was the sort of negotiating position Tony Soprano would've applauded.
A roofed stadium would be an easier sell when recruiting players and for luring travelling fans to fly down to watch their team play against the Devils. But in making the demand, the AFL managed to turn what should have been a unifying moment for Tasmania and its football into an election issue and a flashpoint in a state that does not have to go searching for things to fight about.
Infrastructure projects that come in on budget are as rare as Tasmanian tigers. The stadium will cost more than budgeted, and the federal government, which is committing every spare sports dollar it has to the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, has made it clear there will be no more money for the stadium. They put a ceiling on the roof.
The AFL has said it won't throw in more cash, so if and when the costs run over, the state will be left scrambling for more.
A roof in a cold but relatively dry state would be an excellent addition, particularly if combined with air conditioning/heating. But that would only add to the expense. And, yes, this idea of abandoning the roof is said in the knowledge of the foul weather experienced by Hawthorn and Port Adelaide at the weekend and after personally covering a North v West Coast game at Bellerive in horrendous conditions, with a wind so strong the ball blew back over players' heads.
Let's not forget, football was played in Canberra in snow. No one demanded a roofed stadium for the Giants to come into the competition.
If the Libs and Labor in Tassie don't join together and push the stadium through in its current state because they hate each other or maybe the minority Greens and independents demand concessions, what happens then?
Is the AFL truly going to walk away from a team this far down the track, with funding offered by governments, a CEO and football staff employed, player movement rules and concessions drafted and clubs making decisions on the trading of players and draft picks in anticipation of the team's arrival? To go ahead requires the agreement of the majority of AFL clubs. Will they really cut and run on Tassie now with no roofed stadium?
The AFL has the opportunity to pivot and reposition their brand in Tasmania, which has taken a hit even among the large number of Tasmanians who support a team and stadium.
Rioli's revives Bosustow memories
Peter Bosustow, who died earlier in the year, kicked goal of the year in his first season for a smother then recovering the ball and snapping a goal.
He played in the era of Maurice Rioli. What Maurice Rioli Jnr (MJ) did against West Coast was very like Bosustow. His diving smother to then soccer the ball to himself, gather and chip to the goal square was superb. It was all Bosustow, right to the moment he didn't just kick the goal himself but passed it.
Later he produced diving rundown tackle that was just as thrillingly team-lifting. It was one of those slow-motion moments where everyone but the ball carrier could see what was about to happen next. Poor Brady Hough.
MJ has taken time to find his place in the Tigers' team. He is not a big possession winner, his skills can be loose, but his speed and pressure is elite.
It's often said players, especially small ones, need to be elite at something to make it. MJ has elite speed and tackles like few others.