Social media went into meltdown on Tuesday night as vision of Joe Daniher quite literally sitting on the fence emerged in the immediate seconds before Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti lined up for goal in the third quarter of Essendon’s match against West Coast.
While Daniher re-entered the field of play before the set shot was taken, some found it bizarre that he opted to sit on the LED fencing during the quarter.
After being made aware of the vision, Tim Watson said it was important to embrace the unique characteristics of all players, as long as their individual traits don’t affect the overall performance of the group.
“It’s good up to a point until it affects other members of the team,” Watson said on SEN Breakfast.
“Now you can be an individual, but your behaviour needs to be in line with established team values.
“If you disrupt the group in any way by your behaviour, if you have any effect on the mood of the group and you’re more concerned about being more an individual than a team player, then that’s a different story.
“Nothing that I’ve heard about Joe represents that, he sees the world a little bit differently, but that’s okay as we should celebrate that in players.
“Within a team environment, everyone was a little bit different – there were guys who were very similar in the way they see the world but there were other guys who we said ‘that’s the way you view the world and operate’, as long as you step on the training track and in games do the things you’re required to do, we’d accept you as a teammate.
Despite controlling large parts of the game and having more inside 50s and scoring shots, West Coast was able to win by 15 points and effectively snuff out Essendon’s finals hopes.
The Bombers, who are now languishing in 11th spot, will take on Geelong at the Gabba on Sunday.
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