This opinion piece by The Age’s late columnist Robert Walls was first published on April 9, 2004.
If Tony Liberatore was responsible for the felling of Matthew Knights 100 metres off the ball at the MCG on Saturday, then he should give the game away.
And, if he was responsible and feels the need to soldier on, then his club should do him a favour and insist that he retire.
If Liberatore caused the split in Knight’s forehead, then it has to be the last straw in a list of unsavoury incidents that have sullied the Brownlow medallist’s past few seasons.
There has been much to admire about Liberatore’s career. He has had to fight the odds to survive, but in recent years it has been sad to see him desperately clinging to a career that he knows is slipping away fast.
His coach, Terry Wallace, has kept him on the knife-edge. Perhaps Wallace thinks this is the best way to get some value from Liberatore. But what price do you put on sledging and scraping?
If Liberatore split the unsuspecting Knight’s head open, then he has become a pathetic figure on our football fields. Knights being split open in the thick of the action is far more acceptable. Being in the contest you expect the whacks to come. But, if he was felled 100 metres away from the contest, then Knights, his wife, his young son and the game itself deserve much better.
Tony Liberatore.Credit: Jack Atley
Even Liberatore’s Bulldog teammates must be sick and tired of continually defending him when retaliation occurs. Of course, publicly they would never say so, but in recent years I’m sure Chris Grant, Brad Johnson, Scott West and Rohan Smith would much prefer to be playing the fine football they are capable of rather than be forced to fly the flag for a teammate who too often stirs the pot.
If Liberatore did a job on Knights, you can only hope that his conscience forces him to have a real strong think about where he stands in the football world.
Life goes on, way beyond his present 35 years. He needs to reflect on the good times, the respect, the camaraderie that football has given him.
But, if he continues on the way he has in recent years, resorting to dirty deeds to hang on to a place in the team, then it will be blood-stained money that he takes. And that, for Tony Liberatore, would be a sad, undignified way to end a career.
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