Carlton's Gather Round heist draws howls of derision among AFL conspiracy theorists | Jonathan Horn

07/04/2024 17:00

A controversial Carlton-Fremantle clash lit up an Adelaide festival of football that showcased some sublime talent and a few potty mouths

"The trait that marks out most champion teams," The Guardian's Jonathan Liew wrote of the Alex Ferguson era at Manchester United, "is the ability to take, and take brazenly, the thing that you do not deserve." Carlton is nowhere near a champion team. But they pinched one on the weekend and they knew it. They ran like Jerry Seinfeld with a marble rye, leaving howls of derision and allegations of a Vic-centric conspiracy in their wake.

"The VFL has done it again, and sided with their own," wept one scribe in The West Australian. After several hours, lots of whataboutism and hundreds of different camera angles, it was fairly clear the ball had brushed James Aish's forearm. But touched balls off the boot are almost impossible to adjudicate properly in real time. The ARC is next to useless in such circumstances. It was an error but it was no conspiracy. Fremantle's coach was keen to move on. The fanbase and the Perth press, which can be indistinguishable at times, were slower to acquiesce.