The biggest story to come out of the weekend was Barry Hall's latest brain snap, which came in the form of grabbing North Melbourne's Scott Thompson in a head-lock.
There's been a lot of condemnation of Thompson's tactics prior to the incident, but for mine going after Thompson isn't where we should be looking.
Yes, his provocation led to Barry's head-lock. I get that. But I also get Scott Thompson. From seeing him play a couple of times, it's easy to notice the way he goes about his footy.
He treads the line until he's told he's overstepped it.
And this is how he plays week in, week out. Which is why it was surprising to see people suddenly shocked at how he could treat Hall in such a manner.
Why hasn't there been the same level of shock after any of his previous 36 games?
Better yet, why weren't people calling for Cam Mooney to avoid suspension after he snapped at Thompson's tactics only last year?
It was hard to miss the double standards there. (Mooney did end up suspended, by the way.)
Another curious aspect was the reaction to Thompson pushing Hall over when he was doing up his shoelaces - which is, let's face it, a schoolyard prank. It was the little things that pushed Hall over the edge and it was a shame that one incident got highlighted the way it did.
For all that though, Barry's punishment - a fine - is the right course of action. It seems to be in line with other head-lock incidents, so it's fair enough.
What didn't seem fair was the insinuation Barry should have got off because of the provocation.
If a player is silly enough to fall for what Thompson is trying to get them to do, they should be punished accordingly.
But at the end of the day, it should never have gotten to the point it did. Remember, Thompson treads the line until he's told he's overstepped it.
The job to deliver that message rests with the umpires.
They didn't make the call on Saturday and that's the real reason we've been talking about a Barry Hall brain snap all week.
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