UMPIRE TOM IN HALL OF FAME
Queensland’s first AFL Hall of Fame inductee Tom McArthur is a Brisbane bloke, born and bred. And proud of it, reports The Herald Sun’s Michael Horan. When it comes to Australian football, Tom McArthur shakes his head at the Victorian mentality that the great game was almost non-existent up north until the modern era, when the league went national and Fitzroy became Brisbane, Horan writes."All you Victorians say that. We've had a strong following in footy here for years and years," McArthur, who turns 71 in July, said this week. "In 1924 a Queensland side played in the Australian championship. In the early 1900s an Ipswich side beat an Essendon side. It was only a small following, but a strong following."
A shocked McArthur was last night inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame in recognition of his extraordinary career as a QAFL field umpire. His tenure with the whistle began in 1959, the year the QAFL footy finals started being played at the Gabba. By the time he retired, in 1985, he had run out for 502 senior games - a national record for a senior umpire - and 14 grand finals. Already named as the Queensland umpire of the century, McArthur is used to accolades, but nothing prepared him for last night's honour. "It's something I've never even thought about. To be mentioned in the same breath as those champions, it's unbelievable," he said.

JEZZA WINS LEGEND STATUS
Alex Jesaulenko last night was awarded Legend status in the Australian football Hall of Fame, becoming the first man born outside Australia to join football's most esteemed pantheon, reports The Age. Born in Austria to a Ukrainian father and Russian mother, Jesaulenko went on to become a wizard on the football field. The Carlton champion left an indelible mark on the game after taking a soaring mark in the 1970 grand final that inspired commentary that lives on today. The commentator, Mike Williamson, was at last night's ceremony and Jesaulenko told the crowd: "He still says if he hadn't said those words, I would have been an unknown little wog." Kevin Sheedy was one of eight inductees into the Hall of Fame last night, awarded the honour as soon as he was eligible following his epic coaching career at Essendon. Des Tuddenham, Noel Teasdale, Geof Motley, Gavin Brown, Garry Hocking and Glen Jakovich were also admitted, along with long-serving Queensland umpire Tom McArthur. But another of the game's all-time greats, Wayne Carey, was overlooked by the selectors, who clearly referred to the selection criteria relating to the integrity and character of potential candidates and decided the former North Melbourne captain was not yet worthy of qualification.

ABLETT WITHDRAWAL NO DIFFERENCE
Gary Ablett's withdrawal will not make that much difference to the strength of the Victorian side for tomorrow night's Hall of Fame Tribute match, Mark Williams told The Age. The match has been billed as a contest pitting Victoria's star-studded midfield against the Dream Team's power forwards, but Dream Team coach Williams was not about to claim any advantage in Ablett's unavailability due to a calf injury and the possibility that St Kilda's Nick Dal Santo could also miss with general soreness. Victoria trained at the MCG yesterday. Team captain Jonathan Brown got through the session comfortably and appears likely to play provided that he pulls up well this morning. Ablett's club and Victorian teammate, Matthew Scarlett, said he was very disappointed. "He was looking forward to it. Obviously, his dad played for Victoria and 'Gaz' was real excited about the match and found out yesterday that he wasn't going to play. I'm pretty disappointed and so are a lot of other players as they would have liked playing with him."

DIESEL SPARKS BLUES MIDFIELD
As classy, as dynamic as Chris Judd is and has been, he should be even better. Who would dare offer such a bold statement, asks The Herald Sun’s Mike Sheahan. The only bloke with the self-belief (and credibility) to do so, that's who - Greg Williams. The former Carlton champion is back at Princes Park in a coaching role and has no doubt Judd can get better. "S--t, yeah," Williams says. "I really think he can." The dual Brownlow medallist says Judd devotes too much attention and energy to the defensive, heavy-duty side of his game. "His defensive stuff is as good as anyone," Williams says, but he wants him to be more adventurous and creative. "I've had a couple of little chats to Juddy."

PAVLICH DEFENDS HARVEY
Fremantle captain Matthew Pavlich has jumped to the defence of coach Mark Harvey and called on his teammates to stay positive in the wake of Sunday’s humiliating capitulation to Melbourne, reports The West Australian. Pavlich also defended his own decision to answer just one question about the debacle at a press conference on Tuesday, saying the conference was called to talk about the Hall of Fame game and donations that players would make, through the AFL Players Association, to charities, not Fremantle’s woes. “Yesterday was very much about the AFLPA and the game and the charities that we were donating money to,” he said. “It certainly wasn’t the time or place to be speaking about the Fremantle stuff with the other people that were there.” Pavlich admitted that he was surprised and upset by the media savaging Harvey took in Melbourne on Monday night, denied that Fremantle had a culture problem and stressed the players remained united behind Harvey. “I was very surprised to see the media reaction full stop, not just about Mark’s coaching ability but also the way he has handled the media,” Pavlich said. “I was quite upset to be honest to see people going after Mark.”