HAVING been given the all-clear to play for the Swans this weekend, Barry Hall admitted last night the repercussions of another "unacceptable" act on the field would be "huge".
Although the club has not given him any ultimatums, Hall knows another rush of blood would probably spell the end of his career and because of that he said he would not be risking a return unless he felt he was completely ready for the task.
After two weeks on the sidelines, he is in line to play Adelaide at the SCG on Saturday night after being stood down indefinitely by the club following an incident against Collingwood on July 5 when he tried to hit Magpies defender Shane Wakelin.
Swans club psychologist Grant Brecht yesterday told coach Paul Roos that Hall was fit to play. The star forward will be available for selection pending one final meeting tomorrow with Brecht.
Hall said last night he was not thinking about the consequences of another brain snap, but knew the implications of losing his cool again.
"It's totally undisciplined what I did," Hall said. "The important thing for me now going forward is if it happens again, they [the repercussions] are not big, they are huge. I'm aware of that. I wouldn't run out there and risk that if I wasn't right mentally. I'm thinking about the team rather than myself and I'm in a good headspace for that now. The expectations I put on myself were maybe unrealistic. I was being a bit selfish in that if the team is not going so well, I'd try and beat my man instead of thinking about what I can do for other blokes.
"There has been a couple of key points we've been working on over the last three weeks. Once again some personal, some on-field. My personal life is that, and it's my business and no one else's. The on-field, in terms of the pressure and expectation I put on myself, it's too high and I've got to be more of a team man and draw other players into the game. What I put the club through, the humiliation, I just want to try and play some good footy now and try and put that behind us somehow, and Saturday night is probably the first stepping stone towards that."
Roos was quick to quash suggestions Hall had been rushed back into the team following the ankle injury to Michael O'Loughlin.
"I think that's disappointing because anyone that knows me and knows the footy club and knows the way we have handled it [the Hall situation], I think we have been as honest and open as we possibly can," Roos said. "I think I alluded [to it] last week that we hoped it would be sooner rather than later [that Hall returned], so really it has nothing to do with Mick not playing whatsoever.
"When I spoke to Barry today I wanted him to make sure he was ready to go and from my point of view one of the main reasons why he wasn't playing was because I didn't feel he was ready to go. We don't want his career to end in a disaster. There is no pressure for Barry to play because of injury. It's about Barry, and me not putting Barry in a position where he's not capable of doing things.
"There's a lot of pressure on him as a player and I think he takes that pressure on too much and we've said to him we don't expect him to be the best player every week.
"He's a very valuable player for us and we want him to play not just this year but next year and the year after. I think Barry's got to stop putting as much pressure on himself and I think that's what we are asking of him."
What won't change is the way Hall plays the game.
"If I get reported for going for the ball or playing aggressive, I'm going to have to cop that," he said. "But it's the undisciplined stuff, they are ugly incidents that have occurred and are totally unacceptable and we can't have that on the footy field, that's for sure."



