IN HIS first season of AFL football, Ryan Griffen gave a post-match interview on radio after the Western Bulldogs defeated Richmond in a close game. It was a shy, nervous and honest 19-year-old from country South Australia who said, "I couldn’t believe the Richmond players were openly yelling at each other. When I heard them arguing, I knew we were going to win."
 
Pretty innocuous stuff, you’d think, but the next day young 'Griff' found his name plastered across the newspaper headlines.

He got smashed by almost all the leading football writers in the country as well as by Richmond's coach and players, who didn’t hold back from saying that Griffen should pull his head in.

He took this feedback on board - in fact, 100-plus games and over 5 years later, he's hardly spoken another word.

Does anyone see the irony in the way we criticise players who talk in cliché and give nothing away and yet, if they give an honest answer, we jump all over them?

Carlton's Dennis Armfield and Mitch Robinson had their Ryan-Griffen-moment this week. At this stage in their careers, neither of these boys has had much media experience, and following a comfortable win over Melbourne, they were honest enough to express their belief that the Demons played 'bruise-free footy'.

Anyone who saw the game last Friday would have no doubt about the accuracy of the statement - but there’s an unwritten rule that says you're not supposed to be publicly critical of your opponents.

It wasn't an odd coincidence that Armfield and Robinson both used the uncommon term 'bruise-free footy'. It almost certainly would have come from either the after-match meeting or the mid-week opposition analysis.

Every club has full-time staff who watch, analyse and present the strengths and weaknesses of upcoming opponents to the group. The assessment they make, behind closed doors, of even the best opposition players, is brutal.

Clubs are constantly looking for ways to break down other sides, and the language they use to express this is often far more direct than 'bruise free'.

When Andrew McLeod burst onto the scene and started dominating games with the Adelaide Crows, I recall a forward scout at the Bulldogs giving us the inside mail on the champ: "Look, he's a pretty complete player, but the big question I have over him is leg speed. He's not quick."
 
I was sitting alongside Mark West, who happened to be one of McLeod's best friends. He couldn’t resist speaking up. "Sorry, but I'm one of his mates. The brother is lightening."
 
Clearly. they're not always on the money.

Dean Bailey must feel as though he is being attacked from all sides at the moment, with Mick Malthouse suggesting on Friday night that Addam Maric claiming a goal that clearly didn’t come off his boot is tantamount to cheating.

Coaches are territorial creatures who don't take kindly to outsiders criticising their own. The Melbourne coach was absolutely right to fire a few shots back.

Referring to the Carlton players, he said that they would have "long memories" and added: "We don't play bruise-free footy. It's an insult to the club, it's an insult to all our players and it's an insult to our supporters."

He also felt the need to defend his young forward, Maric.

"We've got a young man who's played less than 20 games. For someone like Mick and the position that he holds, for him to very quickly jump down the throat of a young man and call him that is inappropriate."

It's easy to understand Melbourne’s desire to defend itself, but I’m sure that their internal position is different. Despite a devastating injury list, the coach will expect his young team to compete a lot harder than they did in the Carlton game.

It is always interesting to watch a side like Melbourne play the week after they've been publicly challenged. The second the ball is bounced when they take on Essendon on the big stage of Friday night football, all those words exchanged during the week will count for nothing.

Which is why I've never really understood the paranoia around players saying something controversial that might give their opponents ammunition. Is it possible to try harder because someone has publicly called you soft? If only it were that easy.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs