AFL Round 2 – North Melbourne v Brisbane: The Waite Conundrum

“Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.” (from “Casablanca”).

How does one respond when one’s club trades in a player for whom you have hitherto had no respect, no love, and just total animosity? Alas, I found myself in this invidious situation during the summer when North Melbourne acquired free agent Jarrad Waite from Carlton.

An early practice-match indiscretion (for which he was subsequently cleared without charge), had me nodding sagely that, yes, this was indeed the same player who had been the subject of many an abusive cry of “peanut” (and plenty worse besides) while watching him on television. It only took until round 2 for the essence of this conundrum to be laid bare before me, when on Sunday evening Waite put paid to a threadbare Brisbane defence. 22 disposals, 12 marks, 7 goals: Waite was a towering presence in North’s forward line, monstering Justin Clarke amongst others. I was conscious of the fact that I was enjoying his performance, and even found myself willing him toward the footy as his personal goal tally expanded late in the game.

Without skipper Rockliff, defender Merritt and midfielder Handley, Brisbane was ripe for the picking. And in light of this, surely nothing less than a ten-goal win over a depleted Lions outfit would have been sufficient for the Kangaroos in their efforts to atone for the thrashing they suffered at the hands of the Crows a week prior. North achieved that ten-goal buffer and more, clawing back the percentage damage sustained in round one. Indeed, the final margin blew out to 82 points, a fair reflection of North’s dominance on the day.

The Kangaroos midfielders regained some semblance of form after their insipid performance in Adelaide: Gibson, Ziebell, Harvey, Cunnington and Swallow found plenty of the ball, and Higgins seemed to do as he pleased. For that dominant group, it was no coincidence that Todd Goldstein lorded it over Stefan Martin and Matthew Leuenberger to be clearly best afield.

Up forward, North had multiple targets in Waite, Ben Brown, Lindsay Thomas, and Drew Petrie. However, there is something about Petrie that has me wondering if he is grimly wrestling with his football mortality. If that is the case, North will be looking to Waite more and more to the heavy lifting up forward – an alarming prospect for supporters who are yet to be fully convinced by him. Supporters like me.

“I don’t know how to love him, what to do, how to move him.” (from “Jesus Christ Superstar”).

I have reached the conclusion that while I will never place Jarrad Waite upon the same pedestal of admiration on which I sat heroes of the past such as Glen Archer, I will respect the fact that he plays for my club. I wish nothing but the best for him. And while I will continue to applaud those aspects of his play that are worthy of acknowledgement, I will remain on alert for his ‘brain-fades’, and continue to be ever so slightly uncomfortable watching him running around in the blue and white stripes.

Votes: 3 Goldstein (NM), 2 (gulp) Waite (NM), 1 Redden (BL).