Days have passed since the Socceroos fell 2-0 to Japan in their crunch world cup qualifier which relegated Australia to a dreaded intercontinental play-off. As the fallout continues, questions continue to be asked about the state of not only the Australian Men’s national football team but the state of Australian football as whole.
As far as analogies go, let’s think of Australian football as a motor vehicle (bear with me). Not quite a Mercedes F1 car, let’s say more of a late-model Commodore, Australian made of course.
Thousands of intricate pieces from the humble nuts and bolts, wheels and tyres, brakes, filters, spark plugs, battery, gearbox, headlights, pistons, exhaust all connect to make up the vehicle.
Then there’s the more deluxe elements – the flashy leather seats, the air conditioning, cruise-control and the custom sound system with subwoofers for those, that way inclined.
For most of us lay-folk, we know that each part facilitates a very important function. Other parts we don’t even know exist, or their function, or how one part relates to or affects another but somehow collectively, they all combine to keep the wheels in motion and the engine purring like it should.
We know that if we remove or damage the important parts no matter how big or small, or if they don’t exist to begin with, we’ll soon be purchasing a bike.
Let’s say Graham Arnold is our steering wheel, (seriously, bear with me) the tool to navigate us through and around obstacles, the tool that ultimately decides which direction the vehicle takes, of course at the behest of the driver (Football Australia) and usually with the aid of GPS assistance (our strategic plan).
So we’ll plot our destination and away we go right? But, what is the destination? Where is Australian football heading? Have we got the fuel to get there? And what obstacles and speed humps will we need to navigate along the way?
As national team coach, Graham Arnold’s job is to steer the Socceroos to success. But what happens when we burst a tire, bust a head gasket, drain the battery, run out of fuel or hit the skids and come to a screaming halt?
What happens when the parts you require aren’t yet available, as the production line at the factory isn’t up to speed? Or the GPS doesn’t seem to have been updated since 2005?
The steering wheel, as wobbly as it may get at times, becomes much less of a focus and we search for other more pressing issues as why the car isn’t running the way we think it should be.
And, as we are pulled over to the side of the road waiting for the roadside assistance, and as the tail lights of the Japanese made Skyline and the Korean Genesis get smaller in the distance, we can keep slapping the steering wheel all we want, but it’s never going to fix the much deeper rooted problems under the bonnet.
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