At 10.30pm (EST) on Monday we should know whether South Australia will have a new football home from 2014.
By then the 19,500 eligible South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) members will have voted on a proposed $535 million redevelopment of Adelaide Oval, a project that would pave the way for the famous venue to replace AAMI Stadium as the home for Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide matches from 2014.
Predictably, the project's major proponents have come out firing in The Advertiser on Monday.
South Australian Premier Mike Rann urged SACA members to "vote for the future".
"I hope common sense prevails and that SACA members put cricket and their state first," Mr Rann said.
Federal Minister for Sport and Adelaide MP Kate Ellis said the proposed redevelopment would not only reinvigorate sport in Adelaide but also the inner-city precinct surrounding Adelaide Oval.
AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou said South Australians had an "opportunity to transform and invigorate their state".
"If a small group of people don't want to share the vision to invigorate their state, it will be a great, great tragedy," he said.
Adelaide Crows coach Neil Craig said: "This is going to be about a legacy SACA members can leave the state."
"They have a great opportunity here to maybe sacrifice a little bit of their emotion to the ground - of what it has been like for a long period of time - so that in 50 years' time the young kids say (the new Oval) is fantastic."
There were dissenting voices, however.
No-vote campaigner Greg Howe said if the redevelopment went ahead it would be a major windfall for football but leave cricket fans shortchanged.
South Australian Federal MP Jamie Briggs (Liberal) said the cost of the project was too great for South Australia to bear.
At least 75 per cent of SACA members have to vote in favour of the development for it to proceed.
The Advertiser reported it was expected about half of the eligible SACA members would abstain from voting.
Strange, when so much is at stake.
Young Cat battling depression
The news Geelong midfielder Simon Hogan, 22, is undergoing treatment for depression again highlights that no sector of society is immune from mental illness.
Hogan's battle was revealed in the Herald Sun, which reported he had put his football career on hold in recent weeks to tackle his illness.
It was good to read Hogan has the Cats in his corner.
Geelong football manager Neil Balme told the tabloid the club's focus was on helping Hogan overcome his depression, with his return to the field a secondary consideration.
"We are very confident and positive about the outcome but that will take time and we are not even thinking about it from a football point of view," Balme said.
"We just want to make sure he is OK."
Hogan is not the first AFL footballer to battle depression. Former players Wayne Schwass, Nathan Thompson, Jonathan Hay and Brendan Fevola have all publicly detailed their own battles.
The Herald Sun also revealed last week that one in seven AFL players sought help for personal problems last year.
In one light that statistic is concerning, but in another it is reassuring. For it seems players are now seeking help for their personal problems and not just letting them fester.
Certainly that seems to have been the case with Hogan. Balme said he had been "relatively open" about his depression and praised the way he had sought help.
Media Watch wishes him a speedy recovery.
Punchy supporter faces ban
By-play between supporters and those opposition players you just love to hate are part of our game's theatre.
Passions can be inflamed, words exchanged and fingers pointed, but, by and large, it's all in good fun.
However, the North Melbourne cheer squad member who punched former Kangaroo Daniel Motlop in the chest during his side's clash with Port Adelaide last Sunday crossed a line that should never be crossed.
Yes, as punches go, it would not have bruised a grape.
But that's not the point. Players are entitled to enter and leave the ground without copping anything more than a pat on the back from spectators.
In fairness, Media Watch sensed the fan in question knew quickly he had done the wrong thing.
While he was immediately spoken to by a security guard, when he left the game moments later he did so of his own volition.
Still, the news he was likely to be banned from North games for a year was welcome.
North Melbourne football manager Donald McDonald told The Age the club had spoken to its cheer squad and it seemed likely - in addition to writing Motlop a letter of apology - the fan would be suspended for a year.
AFL media relations manager Patrick Keane also told the broadsheet the incident would be discussed at the AFL's football operations meeting on Monday.
In short
Some were immune to the royal wedding fever that swept Australia on Friday night with Channel Seven's competing coverage of the Sydney Swans-Carlton match attracting a healthy 249,000 viewers in Melbourne, The Age reports.
Gold Coast will rush back experienced recruits Nathan Bock and Nathan Krakouer for this Saturday night's clash against intra-state rivals Brisbane Lions at the Gabba, The Courier-Mail reports.
Port Adelaide assistant coach Dean Laidley told radio station SEN the club's poor start to the 2011 season was the product of cultural problems.
Swans Districts ruckman Luke Adams, 19, is not expected to survive a severe head injury he suffered in an assault on Sunday morning in Perth, The West Australian reports.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
