Around this time of year, about two months into the footy season, there's a tendency for many of us - especially reporters - to disappear up our own bottoms.

Late last week, we were in a lather over the never-ending Wests Tigers saga. Who was going where? For how much? Somebody?

Then the focus shifted to the ongoing tongue-fu between Canberra's BJ Leilua and Manly's Dylan Walker - a true meeting of the minds - at GIO Stadium.

Then, later that night, we were howling about the Anthony Milford knock-on the referees failed to pick up but the entire universe saw. Yes, the entire universe.

Then it was Penrith and the slow car crash happening there as they slumped to another loss. Then it was Jarryd Hayne and whether he should be in the NSW side for Origin I.

Then it all came back to the Tigers and Aaron Woods and how wrong it was for fans to boo him as he warmed up just before the showdown with Bulldogs.

Oh, the drama! The intrigue! The suspense! It was all so important.

And then, in the pre-match Anzac service before the Tigers-Bulldogs match on Sunday, it hits you.

You've heard it countless times over many years, but when Able Seaman Phil O'Neill plays The Last Post in the middle of ANZ Stadium on Sunday afternoon, perspective comes flooding back.

It shouldn't come to this but it does.

Some argue sport and Anzac commemorations don't mix. Others rightfully fear, or at the very least are wary of, major codes hijacking the date that defines this nation more than any other.

But what it can do is prompt us to stand back, take a deep breath and remember our place in the world and history and consider sport in the right context.

We should never forget that great line from Keith Miller, our greatest all-rounder who during the Second World War served for the Royal Australian Air Force from 1941-46: "Pressure is a Messerschmitt up your arse, cricket is not."

It's a line that never gets old and it's a line worth remembering as the NRL and AFL commemorate Anzac Day with fixtures that not long ago would've been considered by many to be disrespectful, not least the RSL.

The AFL's Collingwood-Essendon match has been played at the MCG since 1995.

In 2002, the Roosters and Dragons started playing at Allianz Stadium on Anzac Day and, like its Victorian counterpart, the fixture has become an occasion, not a match.

Rugby league gets so much wrong - but this it gets this one right.

In recent years, a match between the Storm and Warriors has been added to the day. This year, it's become an "Anzac Round", which has been marked by modest, solemn ceremonies before each game since last Friday.

Cynics will argue it's too much.

The public can spot the commercialisation of the Anzac spirit from a mile away. Just ask Coles, Target, Woolies and VB, which have all attracted heat in recent years.

And just ask Essendon, who have been pounded for the past month for jacking up ticket prices as much as 80 per cent for Tuesday's game.

An NRL spokesman said on Monday ticket prices were up by no more than about $2 per seat for the Roosters-Dragons match.

That's not to say rugby league always gets it right.

One-off "Anzac Day" jerseys are another chance for the merchandising department to move more stock. The camouflaged-inspired Roosters jumper a few seasons ago was a bridge too far.

Two years ago, on the 100th anniversary since the landing at Gallipoli, Anzac Day fell on a Saturday. The NRL turned it into a rugby league feast with five games on the one day. The intention was right - but it was overkill.

These are sensitive matters. Coaches, players, officials and especially reporters can never make comparisons between war and sport.

I find it very hard to believe that anyone would ever think this way. The reference is often clumsy, not nefarious, but it does mean care always needs to be taken.

Each year, the NRL and AFL work hand in glove with the RSL to ensure it doesn't overstep the mark in terms of what is appropriate and what is disrespectful.

Something similar happened in 1995 when former Bombers coach and ideas man Kevin Sheedy came up with the idea of an Anzac Day game involving his club and Collingwood.

AFL matches had been played on Anzac Day before, but it wasn't a permanent fixture on the home-and-away draw.

While pottering around his garden, Sheedy recalled a match on Anzac Day in 1977 when he played for Richmond against his mentor, the late Tom Hafey, who had left Richmond to play with Collingwood that season.

Sheedy, who did two years of compulsory national service during the Vietnam War, approached RSL president - and Pies fan - Bruce Ruxton and the game was agreed to.

As Sheedy has said in the past: "We can never match the courage of people who went to war. But we can actually thank them with the way we play this game, with its spirit."

We can watch the game - any game - in this spirit, too, not only to honour those who have gone to war and didn't return, but to also help some of us remove our heads from our bottoms, if only for a moment.