I Think Some People Are Reading Too Much Into The Zava/Jamie Dynamic, Not In The Sense That It’s Not

I think some people are reading too much into the Zava/Jamie dynamic, not in the sense that it’s not weird or condescending but in the sense that I think y’all are giving Zava too much credit. I simply don’t think he cared enough about Richmond to know that much about who was their “best player” because once he was there it would be him. What he does care about is the fact that only one person in that locker room was clearly not worshipping him. Dani and Jamie were both strikers and both aces but the way Zava treats them is very different, because Dani worships the ground he walks on and Jamie doesn’t. And let’s be real, Jamie doesn’t have the locker room influence that he used to. In S1, sure, he was the king, but he lost that cred after returning to Man City, and when he came back to Richmond, he wasn’t able to claw it back until the Dubai Air protest. Even after that, his influence is enough to have a good camaraderie and be respected as a teammate and leader, but it’s not the “bully the kitman because it makes me laugh” influence that he had before. If anyone has that influence after S1, it’s Isaac, Sam, and Dani, but Zava sees no need to condescend to them because they’re already on his side. The way Zava acts toward Jamie doesn’t read to me as “I took your spot, what are you gonna do about it,” it reads much more as “they all love me, you should get with the program.” It’s in no way a fight for dominance, mainly because Jamie isn’t really fighting back. It’s more like a cult leader trying to force an unwilling sheep into the flock. (And Rebecca, the only other person that doesn’t like him, is spared this treatment because A she’s a woman and B she sits in a position of power external to the dynamics of the team and coaching staff.)