Mayoman Pearce Hanley has been at the centre of huge controversy in the Australian media. Last weekend, Hanley took to the field for his AFL side the Brisbane Lions against the Richmond Tigers. Hanley's side lost by 42 points (they've only won one out of 14 games so far this season).
It's somewhat confusing to Irish eyes - but Hanley was basically complaining to the referee instead of "standing his ground at the mark". Basically, if a player doesn't stand their ground then the player taking the mark can continue their run unimpeded towards goal.
It seems like a pretty trivial matter to us - but the Australian media don't think so.
According to former AFL star Mark Ricciuto, who seems to be an Eamon Dunphy-type character - except he does co-commentary, what Hanley did seems to be a mortal sin.
Look at him on the mark, he’s not watching — I’ve never seen this before.
That is not what a leader of your football club does. He is totally disillusioned out there.
That is a sign of bigger issues at that football club. If you’ve got a leader of your club carrying on like that, it’s a pretty bad indicator.
He needs to get dragged off the ground and nearly stay off for the whole game after that.
Hanley’s lost the plot here. He’s having an absolute stinker of a day.
It seems to be the first blemish on Hanley's otherwise perfect record Down Under. He only signed a new contract in December which will see him remain with Brisbane until 2019 and his coach said the club looked forward to "his freakish skills and devastating running game" lighting up their stadium.
Although we don't quite see what the fuss is about - if Hanley has enough abuse - he'd be more than welcome home to Mayo should he fancy a run-out against Fermanagh next weekend.
