Is Australian Football still a victim?

'Football continues to emerge; globalisation, the internet age and the increasing numbers of Aussies abroad, continue to erode Australia’s myopia and there’s more to come.' Andy Harper's conclusion, from his piece relating to Football's inroads into Rugby Union through the elite Schools system, has a beautiful sense of fate.
Surely the significance of this is much greater than a critique of the game on an ABC Four Corners episode that rated with 687,000 viewers! As a matter of fact, Channel 9's The (AFL) Footy Show invited Harry Kewell to appear to an audience of 790,000 - and to my pleasant surprise, their welcome and his ability to manoeuvre the usual code-war issues, probably won over more Football fans than might've been lost through a largely re-hashed look at the World Cup bid.
But have the long struggles of the game in this country resulted in a victim mentality that is preventing Football making even more rapid progress?
The tightrope the game's Commentators need to walk was highlighted by Mark Bosnich's response to the ABC. There's nothing wrong if this generates headlines in our defence, but at the same time the substance of these attempts cannot be flimsy...just another Football warrior crying poor.
If you read Bosnich's article through a neutral lens you can dismiss his claim of bias by referring to both AFL and NRL getting a similar, if not worse, caning from Four Corners in their episodes on head injuries and sex allegations.
FFA's retort was predictably more measured but bordered on an act of propaganda, listing the various examples of progress the game has made under the current administration. Many of us will recall even more significant achievements if you view Australia's Football history over a longer period of time.
And the 'Kewell factor', without him kicking a ball in anger, already shows all the great positive potential many were hoping for. Managed well, and that is easier said than done, the game could be on a real goldmine. Here we have an Australian who has tasted world sports' dizzying heights...there aren't many Kewells parading any of our sporting arenas on a regular basis.
I'll never forget the thrill and respect expressed by AFL footballer Anthony Rocca upon meeting Mark Viduka before the 2006 World Cup...it takes a big fish in a small pond to recognise what it must be like to swim in an ocean! Kewell arguably demands even greater admiration.
Sometimes we just have to survey the landscape and see how much there is to like. A victim mentality is not going to help us at all.