In space, no one can hear you honk

A Cats fan’s has a novel suggestion for the team’s supporters boost their team on game day when the AFL returns.

Legendary coach Kevin Sheedy has issued a warning to AFL players itching to get back into the thick of the action Picture: Adam Head

You can shut the gates but you can’t shut the people out of the game.

Consider the example of Geelong diehard Aimee Susol, who wants the Cats to throw open the Kardinia Park carpark for their Round 2 return against Hawthorn a fortnight today.

Susol issued a call for fans to rally in the carpark, where they’ll watch the game on their phones and honk their horns when the Cats kick a goal.

“I’m trying to get a bit of momentum for the idea,” Susol, 44, of Wensleydale, told The Australian on Thursday.

“It would be good to get a bit of a country feel. The players would definitely hear us.

“I don’t know if you’d hear it over the MCG’s walls, but at Geelong there’s a few gaps in the stands for the sound to get through.

“It’s just a way to be part of football again.”

Said with feeling, Mrs Susol. They’ll convene in the carpark to get as close as they can to Patrick Dangerfield and the rest of their beloved Cats.

Calling for an open carpark at a closed stadium shows how much the people have missed their game.

There was nothing sweet about football’s sorrowful departure.

Now the people have a time and a place, they just must deal with added space between them and the game.

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Football’s always been about time and space, but the latter is topical as the game prepares for its return on the weekend starting June 11.

Kevin Sheedy is preaching the importance of personal space and self-preservation when football resumes.

Not self-preservation from COVID-19 — governments, administrations and officials have that covered.

No, Sheedy’s more concerned about fools rushing in after so long out of the game.

Hyped-up players need to rein in their natural urge to crash into the first pack they see.

“The most important thing about the first games back is you protect yourself,” Sheedy told FiveAA.

“Make sure you don’t go in there too open. Don’t let anybody near your body while you’re trying to win the ball.

“Keep your eye on the ball and make sure you don’t come off second best when the bodies hit.”

Sheedy recommended something that served him well as a player; use your elbows to create a protective buffer.

He counsels against careering into packs like the Tassie Devil, but is all for using your elbows to create a Taz-like protective vortex.

“I had my elbows out,” Sheedy said of his time as a combative Tiger in the 60s and 70s. “Bumper bars. That’s what they’re there for.”

This form of extreme social distancing will avoid any unpleasantness while reacquainting yourself with the game.

Saying that, Sheedy is having none of this talk that the players won’t be ready after ‘‘only’’ five contact training sessions between rounds 1 and 2.

“I think we look into it too much,” he said. “The boys know how to play. (But) I think they’ll be rusty early.

“The structures won’t be there yet, which is good because they’ve probably stuffed the game up a bit by being too structured around stoppages.”

If he’s right, then the game will breathe again. Without gaggles of assistant coaches to drill players in the art of eating up space, the game will have more room to move.

It takes time to adjust to having less room to move at training. Resuming tackling and bumping and flying for marks is already exacting a toll.

Hawthorn’s Jaeger O’Meara sustained a facial fracture after copping a whack above the eye at training this week.