You meet a lot of people in footy, but I've always admired Steph Chiocci and the way she goes about it.
Chiocci captained Collingwood, played for the Saints, but off the park she shines as a take-no-prisoners voice of reason.
On Friday morning, as she prepared for a day of work as a school teacher, Chiocci responded to the latest grim mis-step from an AFL judiciary.
"This is cooked. Let's call it what it is - a joke. A sad, backwards, disappointing joke," Chiocci said on social media.
"Might go to work today and abuse students and colleagues; teaching is a hard profession so obviously it can happen from time to time."
The second quote was a sarcastic slap at the AFL Appeals Board, which should right now be facing serious heat for a statement that slipped out "off Broadway" as the Dogs were about to take on the Swans.
It was a statement so poor and so misguided that the league on Friday should be asking itself a simple question: Can we sack our own appeals board, or the chair at least, eight weeks into the season?
Yes, it's that bad.
For the record, the chair of the board was Will Houghton KC, and the other members Georgina Coghlan KC and former AFL player Stephen Jurica.
Let's back-track and repeat in case you missed it as the footy unfolded at Marvel Stadium.
After slashing the suspension of St Kilda's Lance Collard for a homophobic slur, the appeals board reasoned in an official statement: “We observe that football is a hard game. It is highly competitive, particularly at its higher levels. It is commonplace that players can employ language from time to time which is racist, sexist or homophobic whilst on the field.”
OK then, so you deserve a discount if the words come in the heat of battle, where it is "commonplace"?
Imagine the shudders through AFL House, where they have worked so hard on inclusion and stamping this kind of behaviour. They were filthy in the corridors of power.
But that's not all. Another reason for reducing the ban was this: “The recipient of the remark, Hipwell, was not offended by the comment”.
Footy has done so much work in this space, then an appeals board, which is supposed to be held in the highest regard, delivers this rubbish.
There are no excuses. A stern reprimand from the AFL executive is probably not enough.
