Are St Kilda and Richmond actually playing on Friday night? Or have they decided to let the four points be decided by a penalty goal shoot-out between Saints skipper Nick Riewoldt and his younger cousin and Richmond spearhead Jack?
If you looked at Melbourne's two major daily papers on Friday you could have been forgiven for thinking the latter was the case.
It's not, by the way. But you wouldn't have known that going on the headlines in the Herald Sun and The Age.
The little paper's front page masthead trumpeted "Clash of the Riewoldts: Nick v Jack", while the broadsheet's back page simply asked "Jack or Roo?" 'Roo' is Nick's nickname, in case you were wondering.
Now Jack has established himself as one of the competition's emerging young stars, it seems Richmond-St Kilda games are going to be all about the Riewoldts for the foreseeable future.
On Friday, both papers asked which Riewoldt was the better player. At 28, Nick has redefined the role of centre half-forward, relentlessly running his way to four All-Australian selections and five St Kilda best and fairests.
Six years younger, Jack took some time to find his feet at AFL level, but announced his arrival last season, winning the Coleman Medal as the competition's leading goalkicker.
The debate in the papers ran along these lines: Nick has the runs on the board, runs harder, is a better leader and is more versatile, but Jack is stronger in one-on-one contests, a better kick and still has time to overtake his cousin.
We think former St Kilda captain Danny Frawley summed things up best.
"I'm on the Nick Riewoldt bandwagon. Jack's coming but he's not in the same postcode," Frawley told The Age.
But, ultimately, who cares? Both Riewoldts are stars and no comparison will ever definitely crown one as the family's top dog.
Besides, there's also a game on this Friday night that runs deeper than any Riewoldt family connection.
With concussion, it's best to turn to the experts
As you'd expect, Thursday's report in The Age on ex-Demon Daniel Bell's possible compensation claim for concussion-related brain damage sparked comment from far and wide.
Especially when Geelong's Joel Selwood is also bidding to play against Fremantle on Saturday night despite being heavily concussed against St Kilda last week.
The Herald Sun dug out former world boxing champion Barry Michael who argued Selwood should not play against Freo, pointing out any boxer concussed in a fight was banned from fighting for a month.
Former West Coast, Adelaide and Collingwood player Chad Rintoul agreed, telling The Age there should be a mandatory one-week rest for any concussed player.
The Age also revealed Rintoul had previously filed a concussion-related claim similar to Bell's, receiving a payout "just under six figures".
Revelations of other concussion-based claims also came out. There was one by former West Coast midfielder Dean Kemp (reported in The Age and Herald Sun) and another by a recently retired player that is still pending (Herald Sun).
Bell, himself, told both Melbourne dailies junior players should be required to wear helmets to guard against ill-effects from heavy knocks.
The Herald Sun backed that up with further helmet endorsements from former devotees ex-Carlton rover Rod Ashman and former Fitzroy player Chris Smith.
On face value, all these opinions sound fair and reasonable.
But despite all of these people's first-hand experience with concussion, none of them are experts on it.
And with something as complex as the brain, the experts are the only people you can trust.
And they say there is no medical evidence a week off aids a player's recovery from concussion.
Leading sports doctor Peter Larkins and AFL chief medical officer Hugh Seward told the Herald Sun players recovered from concussion at varying rates - some took a couple of days, others much longer. Each case had to be decided on its merits, they said.
Similarly, Larkins and Seward said there was no evidence helmets offer protection against concussion-related injuries.
We are prepared to put our trust in them. After all, Seward told the Herald Sun the AFL has been studying concussion for 25 years, while Larkins said AFL doctors were at the forefront of international concussion research.
Hopping to Hobart
North Melbourne will soon seal a three-year deal to play two home games a season in Hobart, The Mercury reports.
The games will reportedly be played at Bellerive Oval and each will net the Kangaroos $600,000.
This follows North's aborted effort to seal a deal with the Tasmanian Government last year to play seven games a year on the Apple Isle, a deal that would have sent Hawthorn packing from its lucrative home-away-from-home in Launceston.
North chairman James Brayshaw told the club's annual general meeting in February that deal had fallen down because of the club's refusal to consider a long-term relocation to Tasmania.
While the fall-out may have been messy, it was the right decision.
North had just three years before recommitted to their Arden Street base, refusing a Godfather-like AFL offer to relocate to the Gold Coast. To backflip on this so quickly, would have alienated many of the club's hardcore supporters.
But a two-game annual package at Bellerive should be an easy sell for Brayshaw. The Roos need the cash, their package of Victorian home games will not take too much of a hit, and there's the chance of adding some Taswegians to their membership.
Who can argue that's bad for the club?
Ablett rediscovers lost love
'Gazza' just wants to have fun. That's what he told us in his Herald Sun column on Friday.
Of course, we're talking about Gold Coast captain Gary Ablett, who writes the Suns' inaugural match, against Carlton at the Gabba on Saturday night, will rekindle his love affair with football.
For all his genuine affection for his former club Geelong and all he achieved there, Ablett wrote he had started to lose his enjoyment of football by the end of his ninth season at the Cattery.
He said the challenges offered as captain of the AFL's 17th team were just what he needed at this stage of his career.
We wonder if he will still feel the same way at the end of this season. If the Gold Coast have, as expected, struggled to win more than a handful of games. If he's struggled to live up to his form of recent years, without the support of Geelong's star-studded midfield. If his suitability as captain is questioned. If the size of his hefty playing contract is also debated.
If Ablett is truly looking for a new challenge, he's about to get it.
If anyone can rise to it, it will be him.
In short
Not for the first time Age columnist Robert Walls has said Gary Ablett does not stack up alongside Chris Judd, saying the former Geelong star did not have the same "mental steel" as the Carlton skipper. Walls argued this meant Ablett was not as well-equipped to make a seamless transition to his new club, Gold Coast, like Judd did from West Coast to Carlton. Walls is entitled to his opinion. But we suspect some will accuse the former Carlton champion of bias in this instance.
History is against West Coast's 2006 premiership coach John Worsfold as he attempts to rebuild the Eagles' list for another tilt at the flag, with the West Australian reporting no other premiership coach in the past decade as been able to achieve a similar feat.
Former North Melbourne player Daniel Harris' primary role at the Gold Coast will be to win contested balls and feed his younger, quicker teammates, Gold Coast football manager Marcus Ashcroft told The Age.
May 2 has been confirmed as the date SACA members will vote on whether football returns to a redeveloped Adelaide Oval, The Advertiser reports. For the $535 million redevelopment to go ahead, 75 per cent of SACA members must give their approval.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
