What a game… Is the phrase many families and football fanatics were hoping to utter after Thursday nights salivating draw between Sydney and Geelong at the SCG. Oh how we were all treated to something quite different.

It almost seamed eloquent the way channel 7 attempted to glamourise what many have labelled ‘State of The Game’ issues in recent months.

From multiple protected area 50m penalties, misinterpreted knee slide free kicks and 36 player congestion for 90% of the game; this wasn’t the game we all grew up with and have come to know and love.

The game was harbored by inconsistent umpiring, congestion, a lack of basic skills, zero ‘run and carry’ with a take the game on mentality. Although the game may have been close on the scoreboard, on the eye it was all but the exception.

The Cat’s dominated for majority of the game, winning the contested posession and hitting Sydney with constant pressure, continually trapping it inside their 50. Many people would scream “Woweee! 10mins of intense pressure!”, when all I saw was a crowded mess and a lack of real football skills. Constant out the back handballs and a quick kick forward has become the staple of every stoppage. A once great flowing game looks to be robbed of its fast paced, high scoring and action packed best.

With inacuratte goal kicking from The Cat’s, Sydney managed to claw their way back in the third, however a resurgent Geelong- with an extra 2 on the bench- simply burst Sydney’s dam and the goals finally started to come.

When the final siren rang out over the SCG the biggest emotion visible was disappointment. The Swans in defeat, clearly thinking what is to come and if finals will be a chance this year. Then The Cat’s, wondering how they hadn’t won by 10+ goals.

The emotional disappoint was even more evident with Channel 7’s ‘Roaming Brian’ down in the most depressing winning rooms seen in quiet some time. As BT walked around sticking a mic in players faces who were clearly tired and stressed after a very contested game, the cringe worthy broadcast went on. It went so far as BT going in uninvited into the Geelong coaches room during a post-game session. Scott, clearly frustrated, did his best to hold his nerve and let BT continue his circus.

From the moment the broadcast started to the moment it ended, it was a calamity. Periods of play that closer resembled rugby scrums than football. Mundane re-occouring plays that would make NFL look more free-flowing. It was in this game I now understood why many football fans around me are turning off from the AFL this year.

All of this makes the ‘State of the game’ argument more pressing for the AFL. Majority of fans, myself included, don’t want to see any further drastic rule changes; but it’s as if the game has already been changed in such a way that it is screaming, screaming for further changes to revert it back to its former glory. Whether the AFL makes that decision is up to them, but you can be sure of one thing, us fans will always be complaining about something.

More to come.