I thought we wanted big personalities in footy – So what’s wrong with Jack Higgins’ Adelaide sledge? | Matt Welch

The stud from St Kilda put the lie to the old gripe about big footy personalities at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday, writes Matt Welch.

“I don’t like Adelaide”

The four words that have brought our nanny state to tears.

Said with a cheeky grin and quite obviously tongue-in-cheek, St Kilda small forward Jack Higgins has brought out the SA whine wrath for stating he’d prefer to play Call of Duty than experience the state during Gather Round week.

With an immediate response of ‘go to one of our many wineries’ we truly do have our own little grapes of wrath for the gun forward larrikin.

FEEL FREE TO VENT IN THE COMMENTS

We sport fans moan about having no personalities in the game.

We find the players that take the team line “good win for the boys” and mock them for having nothing to say, but when a player lets you behind the wall and shows a slither of their personality, tears flow harder and quicker than Hindley Street pint at 3am (good spot Higgo) if it’s not verbatim to our inner thoughts on how we would react in the situation.

Fans can’t have it both ways.

St Kilda player Jack Higgins says he doesn't like Adelaide. Picture: 7NEWS Adelaide

Jack Higgins of the Saints during his team’s victory over Port on Sunday. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Reality is, he’s the footy stud with the mic, we’re the couch captains that would beg for a signature if we met the guy getting onto the team bus living out his dream.

Instead of blurting out as many wineries as you can for Higgo to visit like a crying child hyperventilating through a tantrum, wipe your nose on your sleeve, have some fun, go along with the ride and don’t let your tears blur the show.

How can you not love a good sporting villain anyway? Nothing better in my books. It’s all a bit of theatre inside an AFL colosseum. Hulk Higgo just joined the NWO and SA fell for it hook, line and sinker.

I wonder with all the backlash will Higgo become the modern day version of Stephen Milne after all this?

Milne loved a game against Port. My bet is so will Higgins after all this.

But I do have to commend Premier Peter Malinauskas for his refreshing take.

Instead of the digging in the heels and moaning like most, he brushed it off and even offered Higgo a tour

“There used to be a time when we would get defensive and uppity about these sorts of comments but I think we’ve moved beyond that,” the Premier said.

I couldn’t agree more and would love to see a Higgo and Mali SA tour blog.

Everyone who lives in this wonderful state knows the greatness of it and let the Vics keep thinking there’s nothing to do here.

I love not being stuck in three hours of traffic in a concrete jungle. But with SA getting more and more premier world events, which Victoria is bound to try and steal like usual, I think the secret is out.

Comedians’ jokes these days are taken with the belief that they’re a true stance of the artist, more so than a politician’s promise it seems, by the way we’ve taken Higgo’s jab, Mr Warmth Don Rickles must be the world’s biggest bully to a lot of readers.

Originally published as I thought we wanted big personalities in footy – So what’s wrong with Jack Higgins’ Adelaide sledge? | Matt Welch