DON’T GIVE THE BALL BACK: MATTHEWS The man with football's most impressive resume says the rules governing rushed behinds must be changed, reports The Courier-Mail. Brisbane Lions coach Leigh Matthews knows his opinions carry plenty of clout, so he is selective about which debates he buys into. Rushed behinds sit at the top of his list. And they did long before Richmond's Joel Bowden deliberately conceded two behinds to ice the clock and secure the Tigers a four-point victory against Essendon on Saturday. "No one has really got any concern at all about conceding a behind, at any time of the game, let alone when you are trying to save the game. "Why is that? Because the one-point penalty doesn't mean a whole lot and you get the ball back," Matthews said. If changing the scoring system is too radical for the AFL to consider, he has another solution - taking the kick-in off the defending side and replacing it with a ball-up at the top of the goal square. “If the umpire believes you have deliberately given away a behind, then the opposition still gets the point but you don't get the ball back, it is bounced at the top of the goal square. End of problem."
SCHWAB SET FOR MELBOURNE RETURN Departing Fremantle CEO Cameron Schwab has been linked to his old club Melbourne, as speculation mounts over Paul McNamee's future. The Herald Sun reports the Jim Stynes administration is understood to be looking at Schwab as a consultant and possible mentor for the first-year CEO. Schwab, who joined Fremantle in 2002, will return to Melbourne in the next few weeks, at season's end or as soon as his replacement is available. An announcement is seen as imminent. Stynes, a close friend of Schwab, inherited McNamee from the Paul Gardner administration when the changeover occurred six weeks ago. Before he was installed as president, Stynes was part of the selection panel to find a replacement for Steve Harris as CEO. There are mixed reports about whether Stynes backed Gardner on McNamee, or pushed for the alternative, Geelong's Stuart Fox.
UMPS WARNING ON ‘CHEAT’ CALL AFL umpires' director Jeff Gieschen last night warned all players that "cheat" was the most insulting word you could direct at a umpire. "We know bad language has been there through the ages, but the umpires are obviously very sensitive being called a cheat," Gieschen told The Herald Sun. "It gets right to the heart of the integrity of what they're on about," he said. Gieschen was responding to the latest sledging controversy involving Geelong star Paul Chapman on Saturday. Chapman called umpire Michael Vozzo a cheat after he awarded a free kick to Bulldog Farren Ray at Skilled Stadium. Another Cat Matthew Stokes was first to complain and received a 50m penalty for abusive language towards Vozzo. Chapman then became involved, leading to another 50m penalty and a goal to Ray. It is not the first time Chapman has taken a crack at an umpire.
WORRIES FOR WALKER Carlton’s Andrew Walker will have a nervous week at training as he tries to overcome his latest shoulder injury, reports The Herald Sun. Walker injured his "good" left shoulder in a contest against Sydney on Sunday and spent the rest of the match on the bench. It was clear the Blue was extremely disappointed by the latest setback in his injury-interrupted career. It was Walker's first game for the year after revision shoulder reconstruction surgery to his right shoulder in March.
KOSCHITZKE TO MISS EAGLES Lightning and St Kilda ruckman Justin Koschitzke are strangely linked - they both strike twice, reports The Herald Sun. Koschitzke won't go to Perth to play West Coast after being suspended for one match, a penalty with a peculiar twist. The charge happened in the same round against the same team at the same venue as the same infringement 12 months ago. The Saints big man was booked by a field umpire for striking Hawthorn's Michael Osborne in the second quarter at Telstra Dome on Saturday night. He was only one hour of playing time away from cleaning the slate from a charge of striking Hawk ruckman Robert Campbell in, yes, the second quarter of last season's corresponding clash. Under AFL rules, in which demerit points stay alive for 12 months, inclusive of the round when an offence occurred, the 68.75 residual points left over from the 2007 offence were activated. This swelled Koschitzke's penalty to a two-game ban that can be halved by pleading guilty before today's late-morning deadline.
COACHING GURU SAYS POWER TOO NEGATIVE Mark Williams and his coaching staff are too negative - that is the damning assessment from former Australian cricket coach John Buchanan, according to The Herald Sun. After two days of studying the inner workings of the struggling AFL club, in particular its coaching staff, Buchanan says its coaches focus too much on the negative and not enough on the positive. "His constructive criticism would be that maybe we are a bit negative sitting in the box and even in our review of the game," Williams said. Williams, who revealed there could be more high-profile sports people brought in to review the club's match-day operations, said he was not offended by Buchanan's observations. This is despite the Brisbane-based Buchanan's lack of knowledge of the AFL. "We look critically at what we do all the time and we are always happy to take on some advice," Williams said. "He's very straight and calm, probably everything that I'm not, and he speaks with authority and with a lot of experience and winningness about him." Buchanan, now a sports consultant and coach of Indian Premier League team Kolkata Knight Riders, said he was generally impressed with what he saw at Port. On his observation that the coaching staff was too negative, Buchanan said: "I suppose it's an observation from a distance, not having been there before.”
ROOS HITS BACK AT SWANN Paul Roos has hit back at disparaging remarks made by Carlton chief executive Greg Swann about Swan Nick Davis, describing them as inappropriate, according to The Herald Sun. Roos defended his enigmatic forward as it was revealed yesterday that the charmed injury-free run of Michael O'Loughlin is set to end. The full-forward has an ankle injury and will not play against Adelaide on Saturday night at the SCG, and full-back Leo Barry (hamstring) is rated only a 50-50 chance. Davis failed to attend training and rehabilitation on Friday and was unsighted at the club again yesterday. Roos nonetheless stood by him and defended his character. He said Swann should apologise and asked Sydney chief executive Myles Baron-Hay to pursue the matter yesterday with the Blues. The Carlton chief executive criticised Davis as "not a great bloke" on Sunday. "It is inappropriate for a CEO of another footy club and if Greg had his time over again, I don't think he would say something like that," Roos said. "Nick is a really likable kid and I really like Nick, he is a nice kid, a good kid and he wouldn't harm anyone and I was very, very disappointed to hear Greg say that.”
DAD DEFENDS DAVIS TOO Craig Davis, the father of maligned Swan Nick, said last night he had been hurt by the derogatory comments directed at his son by Carlton chief executive Greg Swann, reports The Age. Davis snr, a former Carlton player, said he hoped the only winner to emerge from Swann's surprising verbal spray on Melbourne radio on Sunday was "Nick and his character". Declaring on 3AW that Carlton wouldn't entertain the thought of trading for the out-of-favour Swan forward at season's end, Swann said Davis wouldn't be welcome "in a million years" at Princes Park. "I'd a bit to do with him in a past life. He's not a great bloke. We don't need him at our club." Davis snr said: "I'm disappointed Greg said what he did. I will say that. I'm a father and of course it hurts. The only winner in this will be Nick and his character, I hope, because he's been doing everything right. My father taught me a lot of things and one of them was if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all."
CORNESOUTFORSEASON PortAdelaide's Chad Cornes will have knee and shoulder surgery, ruling him out for the rest of the season, reports The Herald Sun. Cornes had delayed the surgery to play a part in the Power's AFL showdown victory over Adelaide. With mission accomplished, Cornes will not play again this season as he undergoes surgery to repair both damaged joints, content he played a part in seriously damaging the finals aspirations of the Crows. Though quiet for much of the day, he won a crucial one-on-one duel with Adelaide backman Nathan Bassett late in the contest, which ultimately led to Danyle Pearce's match-sealing goal. Power coach Mark Williams said it was Cornes' call to continue playing some weeks after it had become obvious surgery was imminent. "Chad said `I reckon I've got one more game in me'," Williams said today. "For weeks we've been battling as to whether to pick Chad or not and he keeps wanting to put up his hand - that just shows you the quality of the guy and leader he is.”
BLUES SEEK ANSWERS ON TACTICS Concerned about tactics used to shut down key players, Carlton went to the AFL umpiring department seeking clarification of what was considered acceptable and unacceptable at stoppages and in its forward line, reports The Herald Sun. Armed with footage from recent games, Carlton football operations manager Steven Icke and assistant coach Mark Riley spoke to umpiring coach Rowan Sawers on Thursday last week to sort out what were considered legitimate defensive tactics at ball-ups, centre bounces and boundary throw-ins and in forward marking contests. While the Blues were mindful of the tactics used against their gun midfielders Chris Judd, Nick Stevens and Marc Murphy and spoiling and blocking techniques directed at Brendan Fevola, Carlton football operations manager Stephen Icke said the club was not complaining about being given a raw deal with the umpires. Icke said last night that Carlton had been to see the umpiring department to clarify what was considered legitimate and illegal, and to gain a better understanding of how these areas were being umpired.
DONS DOWN TO 25 MEN Essendon could be limited to 25 fit players for Saturday's clash with arch-rival Collingwood at the MCG, reports The Age. There are 18 grounded Bombers on the club's injured list, after Andrew Welsh (concussion), Angus Monfries (ankle) and Jay Neagle (ankle) were hurt in the four-point loss to Richmond on Saturday. Speedy midfielder Andrew Lovett still has one game to serve of a club-imposed suspension. Welsh is a chance to play the Magpies and full-back Dustin Fletcher could resume after an ankle injury, but if those two are sidelined again, that will leave the Dons with only 23 senior players. Essendon can boost that to 25 if they promote rookies Danny Chartres and Dean Dick this week. Essendon announced yesterday that long-term fitness guru John Quinn was leaving the club to "pursue other career opportunities". Quinn joined the club at the start of the 1999 season and would stay with the Bombers until the end of the season, said Essendon chief operating officer Travis Auld.
CATS SEEK ‘G’ HOME GAMES Geelong, the competition's benchmark club for the past 15 months, wants its powerhouse status to be recognised and will request home games against high-drawing clubs at the MCG from next season, reports The Australian. In a submission to be sent to the league later this week, the Cats want to play a home game against Collingwood at the MCG in 2009 as well as hosting either Carlton, Essendon or Hawthorn at the same venue. In his first bold move since deciding last week to remain for at least another three years as Geelong chief executive, Brian Cook said the Cats had outgrown Telstra Dome and deserved to play home games at the MCG. The priority in Geelong's fixture wish-list document is to play two home games at the MCG next season, as well as nine at its Skilled Stadium home ground, an increase of one match on this year's home-and-away draw. "We want more home-game exposure at the MCG, and one match next season has to be against Collingwood," Cook said yesterday. "We're well and truly disadvantaged by a lack of big-game attendances in Melbourne."
