THE second half of the split round provided the good, bad and ugly. It's always good to watch Geelong play, so I was pleased to be in Adelaide last Friday night to see the Cats sting the Crows. Adelaide is a good side with a good coach and at AAMI Stadium they play in front of a fanatical full house. But the locals were stunned into silence just 20 seconds after the game had started. At the opening bounce, the Cats fired off six handballs before putting their first kick on the chest of a leading forward. The standard had been set. The Geelong defence is a joy to watch. The starting six, led by Matthew Scarlett and Tom Harley, average more than 150 games. So they are settled, confident and predictable to each other. All are comfortable playing on tall, medium or short opponents. They are a selfless unit. Best afield Friday night was half-back Corey Enright, who had an amazing 23 quality disposals by the half-time break. Good too was Cameron Ling — he squeezed the life out of hot Crows midfielder Scott Thompson. Even when the Cats led by 10 goals, with 10 minutes left to play, Ling was hell-bent on making life hard for Thompson. That sort of resolve counts for plenty.

On Saturday night it was good to see Collingwood's Dale Thomas take a couple of "hangers" on the edge of the goal square and then kick accurately. What was bad though was the state of ANZ Stadium. The former Olympic field is a dead track and always has been. It was at its worst on Saturday night in what was a showpiece game for the AFL. The near 60,000 spectators who attended, the hundreds of thousands around the country who watched on TV, and the players themselves were denied the opportunity of seeing AFL at its best because of a sub-standard surface. The flanks and wings are a patchwork quilt of turf squares that shift. Players can't bounce the ball, they unexpectedly lose their feet and slip to the ground and boot-sized divots were ripped out of the surface by knees and elbows. The whole spectacle was a turn-off and players and spectators deserve better. With an eye on a second team playing out of Sydney in the near future, the ground surface has to be drastically improved.

Bad news for Sydney was the form of its veterans. Full-back Leo Barry is slowing down and the speed and efficiency of the Collingwood tackling saw him repeatedly turn the ball over. "Spida" Everitt looks slow, old and skinny. His legs look like matchsticks and he struggled to kick with any power and penetration. At 34, "Spida" looks shot. What was also bad for the Swans was the good coaching of Mick Malthouse. His boys controlled the tempo of the game with precise foot passing to teammates out in space. It was hard for the Swans to get their hands on the ball. The Collingwood forwards spread out wide to separate the Sydney defenders and Lewis Roberts-Thomson was identified as a weak link so they repeatedly played through his opponent.

The ugly, of course, was Barry Hall. He gave away free kicks, showed his frustration with teammates when they didn't deliver the ball to his liking, paid no respect to his opponent Shane Wakelin, and took a swipe at Wakelin that shocked all football followers.

After his KO of Eagle Brent Staker in round four, Hall will be under the microscope in every game, until he calls it quits. And so he should be. Surely he realises this.

The scary thing is, though, can Hall control his emotions and actions on the field? Recent evidence suggests he can't.

And if that is the case, for everyone's sake he has to be retired.