There is no time like football season, and this AFL season has largely had an amazing start.

This season, we are seeing incredible crowds with both round one and Gather Round breaking attendance records. Higher scores with an exciting brand of football are a regular feature.

Brilliant individual performances like the return of Marcus Bontempelli on the weekend, and the youngsters and rookies are firing, performing at a level much higher than expected.

Our beloved game is arguably the best it has ever been, and the football itself is quality.

It’s the other stuff, the rubbish – to tone down the choice of words – that is genuinely ruining the game we all love. We’ve seen the bad, the ugly and just purely inexcusable that cannot be ignored.

The bad

We know that the big Melbourne teams are a major contributor to the AFL’s bottom line. They are heavily favoured; we know this.

The AFL world learnt recently that Harvey Thomas, who has played 23 matches, has already played at 12 different stadiums. That is a lot of travel for Thomas and Greater Western Sydney.

This is significant as we also learnt Scott Pendlebury, who has amassed 409 AFL games, has only played at 11 different venues.

Pendlebury has only played in 95 interstate matches.

When we consider that nearly 3000 VFL/AFL games have been played at the MCG, and Pendlebury has played 252, Pendlebury himself has played in over 11 per cent of all matches at the MCG.

Brody Mihocek celebrates a goal with Scott Pendlebury. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

It is no surprise, then, that teams like Melbourne Demons and North Melbourne Kangaroos spend so long rebuilding, when the AFL is favouring the money-making teams.

The ugly

What’s worse: Crowd behaviour or athlete behaviour? The 16-year-old who threw a cardboard clapper at Aliir Aliir was questioned by police, given an official youth caution and handed a two-year ban by the SCG.

The ban came without the SCG collaborating on the sentence with the AFL.

Ken Hinkley, Port Adelaide coach, believes we should be “respecting our footballers. That’s the most important thing”. Since the Adam Goodes saga, the AFL has tried to crack down on fan behaviour.

After some comments to Geelong Captain, Patrick Dangerfield, Bailey Smith was seen flipping off the crowd with some choice language towards the fan.

Smith, when interviewed, was ‘expecting a fine’ with the attitude “hopefully it’s not too hefty, we’ll see, I might get Danger to pay for it”.

Smith was given a $1,500 fine by the Match Review Officer. It begs the question, who should we be expecting more from?

The inexcusable

The call that divided the nation. The mess that was Noah Balta, Richmond Tigers and the AFL.

Before sentencing for assault charges, the defender was handed a four-week suspension by the AFL.

He played against Gold Coast after his suspension despite vocal opposition from former players, fans and even Victorian Premier, Jacinta Allen.

Playing someone who has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing seems like a farcical idea. We won’t know if the sentence handed out is a direct response to Balta playing.

Balta will now miss four more matches due to the curfew.

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Given Balta’s sentence could have included jail time, missing four games is a slap on the wrist compared to watching the Tigers play from behind bars.

These three highlight the influence the AFL has. It will shelter its big clubs and help them as much as possible.

More importantly, though, it depicts the pedestal we place athletes on. Imagine copping a two-year ban from attending games for a stupid moment and throwing something at a player, the same week a soon-to-be-sentenced athlete, who laid a sickening attack on a member of the public, continued about their job like nothing had changed.

If this week has taught us anything, it’s that rules only apply to everyday people.

I’d hate to know the consequences of fans assaulting athletes because it is only the spectators who are treated like humans, and being human seems to be the worst punishment of all.

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