Scarlett Vs. Ballantyne

Geelong's Mathew Scarlett has finally let his ego get the better of him.

After years at the top of the AFL, I've always thought the way Scarlett plays the game its like he almost shows disdain for the opposition. It's become his competition, no-one else has got the right to challenge him or his team, the mighty Cats, or heaven forbid, sledge him or his team mates.



 Enter Hayden Ballantyne. The peskiest little mosquito since Libba was tearing and scratching the eyes our of the Brisbane Lions Stevie Lawrence at the Gabba and smashing into Richmond's Mathew Knights at MCG centre bounces ten years ago. Except Ballantyne uses his mouth. And apparently that's legal.

So how does an ego-inflated Scarlett handle the pest? Decks him with a left hook. And it wasn't even a hard left hook, more of a soft "get out of my face" love tap. Which Ballantyne milked beautifully, hitting the deck as though he'd been pole-axed by a Mike Tyson hammer-hit in his hey-day. The resulting double goal put the Dockers 11 points in front, after they'd been one point down. They hung on to win by 4 points. It's fair to say Scarlett cost his team the match through his lack of discipline.

However, Cats coach Chris Scott appears to be the perfect antidote for Scarlett. He comes across as such a level headed coach, complimenting Ballantyne on his niggling work and quoted as saying he'd love him in his team.

Meanwhile on Twitter current players were tweeting how glad they were someone finally clocked Ballantyne. The only problem was it wasnt hard enough.

Scarlett will get 3 weeks. It was a bit of a no contest. What I'd like to see is Steven Milne Vs Hayden Ballantyne - first the sledging, then a wrestle, then the fisticuffs.

Milney gave as good as he got back to Micky Maltshake, I'm sure he'd have the ammo for Ballantyne and wouldn't hold back. Unfortunately the only possibility of this happening will be if either one is dragged to the backline when they meet this year.

Here's hoping.