Yet last Sunday we were riveted to the epic gladiatorial combat between the Rabbitohs and the Bulldogs.

This was everything Sydney's meek physical surrender to Hawthorn at the MCG eight days earlier had not been. The capitulation by the Swans when challenged by the Hawks will live with this group of Sydney players until they again have the opportunity to redress it in a grand final. Some will never be given the opportunity to expunge the memory from their minds.

Sure, the Hawks were good but equally the Swans' response was limp.

With apologies to Olivia, Tom, Ed and Slash, the only thing the AFL and ARL grand finals had in common was eminently forgettable pre-match 'entertainment'.

Thereafter, the rugby league code left the AFL showcase in its wake. It oozed theatre, romance, bravery and skill. It was also a breathtakingly physical contest.

You could not help but become involved in the emotion of the battle as the Rabbits ran out for their first grand final in 43 years and the crowd of more than 80,000, all seemingly bedecked in red and green, roared its approval.

Rugby league had capitalised on the romance of it all, even reverting to the traditional bell being used to start the game.

But officials could not have scripted the story that unfolded around South Sydney's tough front rower, Sam Burgess. He had his cheekbone (and later as it turned out his eye socket, too) caved in during the first crunching tackle of the match.

Burgess stayed on and not only played out the match but went on to be awarded the Clive Churchill Medal as best afield.

It was medical and OH&S madness. Burgess overcame the injury with his overwhelming desire to win, admitting through unashamed tears in the aftermath that the adrenalin helped to anaesthetise the pain.

We cannot remember any sport where a participant has sustained such a serious facial injury so early in a game yet seen out the contest. (UFC may be the exception but in our view it does not qualify as a sport.)

Sitting in the grandstand was John Sattler, a former South Sydney player, who had also broken his jaw and played on when the club won its last title, in 1971.

As the Rabbitohs' faithful broke into song, "Glory, Glory to South Sydney", their captain, Isaac Luke, suspended in the preliminary final, joined his teammates in the celebratory throng. He was wearing his playing jersey over his suit pants.

To say the AFL grand final was flat by comparison is an understatement.

Australian football has staged nothing in recent years capable of holding a candle to the last Sunday night's epic at ANZ Stadium.

While the AFL cannot control the quality of the grand final combat, it is time for the league to take a leaf out of the  rugby league's book when it comes to player trades and movement between clubs.

For years we have viewed with scepticism mid-season announcements by  NRL players that they would be quitting their team to join a rival club the following year. We scoffed to think the player would be able to give his all knowing he was leaving at the season's end. We were wrong.

Amid the silliest of silly seasons highlighted by the sudden demise of three coaches – Brenton Sanderson, Guy McKenna and Brendan McCartney – and a rash of high-profile, contracted players wanting a change of club, it is time for AFL fans and administrators to adopt the same mature approach to player movements as the NRL.

Melbourne coach Paul Roos' statement that he would not play James Frawley for the rest of 2014 if he told him he was leaving the club is an example of the narrow-minded mentality pervading the AFL.

The farcical ducking and weaving of Gary Ablett during his final year at Geelong which has forever tarnished his relationship with coach Mark Thompson and Buddy Franklin's departure to Sydney two days after the 2013 grand final could have been avoided.

The pros and cons of free agency can long be debated. Yet it is an inescapable fact that not to allow it is clearly against restraint of trade laws.

While admitting free agency has to date largely served only to make strong clubs stronger, we certainly cannot accuse Bulldog captain Ryan Griffen of abdicating in search of a premiership. He could be a grandfather before GWS wins a flag.

The axing of coaches McCartney and Sanderson may have broader implications too. Surely the current generation have not become too sensitive to cope with blunt criticism. Crows and Bulldogs players appear to have been looking everywhere but in the mirror for answers to their poor 2014 seasons.