The cunning and the courteous: Why Adelaide lost out

If Patrick Voss is too arrogant, Zac Taylor is too polite.

In a week of debate about poor sportsmanship, along comes a glaring example on Thursday night that good guys come last.

Why was Taylor so submissive and accepting of the late-game last disposal decision?

The AFL has done its best to quell remonstration, but the young Crow was nowhere near demonstrative enough.

Arms out and a low-key questioning look towards the bench is not going to cut it late in a match up for grabs.

Geelong's Tom Atkins "stooged" the umpires with the last disposal free kick. The ball clearly came off Atkins' foot and it would have taken seconds for the ARC to discover the truth.

Instead of Adelaide winning the footy and Taylor pumping it forward, Atkins hurriedly took advantage of the situation, sent it the other way and Geelong goaled.

It turned a two-point game into an eight-point game in a flash. Crows coach Matthew Nicks was too kind in the presser, playing it down as a key moment.

It should have been an issue for the ARC, yes, but it all happened so quickly.

And much of it was to do with Atkins (a hard-nosed pro) and Taylor (a 23-year-old, 27-game still finding his way), coming together as the main acts in the show.

Imagine for a moment if it was Atkins versus rascals like Ben Keays or Taylor Walker. We may have been talking a different result.

Complain, motion for the third umpire, stall ... do anything. Keays or Walker would have no doubt been better at forcing a delay and a commotion.

Even a slight delay would have brought the ARC into play.

Instead, Atkins outwitted Taylor and it was a victory for the cunning over the courteous.