There was the reasonable and obvious discussion of where the mark stood in the pantheon of similar greatest hits, but curiously little discussion of where Howe stood - other than regularly on people's heads. Because Howe has one elite skill the assumption is he is a one-trick player. He is not.

Football observers, paid and unpaid, retain a fixed idea of Howe as a flaky Melbourne forward who was able to take hangers but went missing and was unreliable. Then Nathan Buckley shifted him to defence and the conversation went something along the lines of "That's nice, he's doing OK back there but gee, he had to didn't he? He wasn't going to survive as a forward." It was damning with faint praise.

This year Howe would probably be leading Collingwood's best and fairest and should be in the All Australian team, not just the squad, but he probably won't be because perceptions take a long time to catch up to the reality of some players.

Watching some players can be like watching digital TV when it first came out. There was a vapour trail that lingered behind the movement.

Some footballers play with a vapour trail. They carry with them the lingering idea of what they were. The good but not great players carry with them the fixed notion of their limitations which is hard to budge.

And with the very good player, we simply can't come to terms with the fact they are no longer that good any more. With the very good player the change back to being average or worse is ordinarily because they have not aged well. And the reason we cling to the fact they are still what they were is that they are still capable of being a very good player in some games, just not very often. The Hawthorn veterans fit that bill.

But it is the recalibrating of the idea of a player about whom we have entrenched prejudice about how good they are that is the hardest to shift.

Luke Dahlhaus is one. He arrived in the game a quirky player. He emerged out of the rookie list with eye-catching hair and a game that appeared built primarily on frenzy and so when he played well it was against the idea of it being unexpected and likely to be short-lived. Others in his team draw more attention and praise but the reality is Dahlhaus is now an A-grade player.

Sam Docherty is another. Docherty won the best and fairest at Carlton last year but because Carlton were scrappy his achievement was under-appreciated. Gradually this year, he has drawn the praise he deserves.

At Richmond, Alex Rance is rightly recognised as a star but the laurels for him overshadow the form of David Astbury who has been superb. If he is not now an A-grade player he is a very high B.

Of course, there is a link with some of these players: many are defenders, and so carry the stink of bad game longer than others because their errors are so punishing.

Robbie Tarrant has laboured with not only being a defender but being one playing off-Broadway at North Melbourne. It took 12 months for the serious quality in his game to be broadly noticed. Easton Wood was a similar slow-burn.

Playing for a non-Victorian club will always mean recognition arrives slowly in football's capital but it is triply so when you play for Brisbane which is not only an interstate team but not even an especialy good one. Poor Dayne Zorko - he is an A-grade midfielder, but he is an A-grade mid for Brisbane. That is a long vapour trail.

Other players of non-Victorian teams carry the same lack of recognition; for instance, was Rory Sloane always a good player but we only realised this when we stopped watching Dangerfield exclusively? And now, while we are obsessing over Sloane, Brodie Smith, and to a greater extent Rory Laird, have been left to be quietly invisible.

Lachie Neale, the Dockers' best-and-fairest winner last year, has been a nominee for All-Australian the last two years but never seriously in the conversation here when there is Nat Fyfe to talk about. Neale is an A-grade player.

When the GWS have so many stars to draw attention, it has been easy to overlook how good Nick Haynes is. The runners Wilson and Williams are eye-catching but Haynes is the intercept marker. He is extremely important to the Giant. A giant among the Giants.

As the TV broadcaster might announce: this is not just a technical glitch - it is time adjust your sets.