Gilbert leaves questions unanswered
SAM GILBERT has been conspicuous by his silence this season.

A central figure in the 'St Kilda schoolgirl scandal' that dogged the Saints in the pre-season, Gilbert has shied away from the media in 2011.

Until Tuesday, when he spoke with SEN radio.

Host Andy Maher didn't exactly go for Gilbert's jugular. He opened his questioning with "you can tell me to get stuffed if you want to …".

Then, instead of asking Gilbert directly about his relationship with the girl in question, Kim Duthie, and her subsequent alleged theft of nude photos of Nick Riewoldt and Nick Dal Santo from his laptop computer, Maher asked him whether the pre-season dramas had affected his form.

"Obviously, it was an inconvenience and I wish it upon no one and it's something that's happened and you've got to put it behind you. You can't play the blame game," Gilbert said.

"It might look like I've got the weight [of the world] on my shoulders, but I'm just trying to try my hardest, maybe trying too hard."

And then Maher guided Gilbert back to more comfortable territory - football and the impact coming off the bye may have on the Saints against North Melbourne this Sunday.

The Daily Telegraph's Todd Balym was one person who wanted to hear more from Gilbert on the off-field scandal.

After listening to the SEN interview, Balym wrote: "It was still unclear whether [Gilbert] would become known as the victim or the villain in the AFL's sorry saga."

Acknowledging Gilbert had ultimately been found to have done "nothing wrong", Balym said there were still so many questions left unanswered.

He listed some he would like Gilbert to address: "Do you feel responsible for dragging the AFL through scandal? Did you treat Duthie with appropriate respect? How did the relationship end? Do you feel vindicated that all Duthie's accusations were proven to be lies?"

Then Balym lurched to a fairly curious conclusion. Despite having said Gilbert had done nothing wrong, he said until the Saint answered such questions he would remain a "villain".

We would have thought the one thing that was clear from the Duthie-St Kilda scandal was that such matters are never black and white.

What's up with Jack?
Richmond spearhead Jack Riewoldt was one of the revelations of 2010. In what was his fourth season, the then 21-year-old kicked 78 goals - 46 more than his previous best season tally - on his way to the Coleman Medal.
 
After 14 rounds this season, Riewoldt has kicked 41 goals and sits second on the competition goalkicking list, one goal behind Hawthorn star Lance Franklin. Admittedly, he is averaging fewer goals this season - down from 3.8 a game in 2010 to 3.2 - but that hardly seems cause for Tigers fans to panic.
 
Especially when Richmond coach Damien Hardwick signalled at the start of this season he was keen for the Tigers to start spreading their goalkicking load more evenly.

However, Riewoldt's form has noticeably tapered off over the past month, when he has kicked just eight goals, against opponents that have included bottom sides Port Adelaide and the Brisbane Lions.

It's enough to have The Age's Michael Gleeson concerned.

Gleeson says Riewoldt "has not been the player he was last year".

He acknowledges this is partly due to Hardwick's socialist goalkicking ideals but says Riewoldt's space inside Richmond's forward 50 has also been clogged by opposition forward presses and opponents specifically directed to block the space he needs to fly for his marks. Gleeson says this has had the added effect of needling "an emotional character".

The Age ran a list of Riewoldt's key statistics from 2010 and this season and although all - apart from his goalkicking accuracy - were slightly down, Gleeson said the most telling were his drop in tackles (from an average 3.7 a game in 2010 to 2.2 this year), contested marks (down from 2.9 to 1.7) and marks inside 50 (down from 3.8 to 2.8),

Gleeson points out Riewoldt has - as Hardwick had hoped - got better at bringing his teammates into the game. He leads the AFL for scoreboard impact (combined goals and score assists) this season. Notably, Gleeson says Riewoldt also played second fiddle to teammate Tyrone Vickery when the young key forward was mismatched with a smaller Brisbane Lions opponent two weeks ago.

As we said earlier, we don't think Richmond fans should be unduly concerned about Riewoldt. His form is down but he's found other ways to contribute to the side. That would be making Hardwick particularly happy. 

McLeod key to new SANFL indigenous round 
This week opened disappointingly with the revelation Western Bulldog Justin Sherman had racially abused Gold Coast debutant Joel Wilkinson.

But, on Wednesday, there was better news, with The Advertiser reporting on former Adelaide great Andrew McLeod's plans to tackle racism and create pathways to take indigenous coaches into head roles at AFL level.

McLeod, who is working for the AFL and SANFL on their indigenous football programs since retiring at the end of last season, has been instrumental in the introduction of SANFL's first indigenous round, which will be celebrated this weekend.

The centrepiece of the round will be the recognition of a 25-man all-time Aboriginal team, made up of players who have played at least one SANFL game.

The Advertiser says the players included in this team include 1960s pioneers such as Bertie Johnson, Richie Bray, Roger Rigney and David Kantilla, 1970s players such as Michael Graham and Sonny Morey, and the first Indigenous Magarey Medal winner Gilbert McAdam.

"We couldn't understand why after 150 years of South Australian football we had not celebrated the indigenous culture," McLeod said of the inspiration behind this week's celebrations.

In short
Geelong will take advantage of the nine-day break between its round 16 and 17 games to allow its players to recharge their bodies in the Gold Coast sun, the Herald Sun reports. The tabloid said after their round 16 game against the Eagles the Cats would travel directly from Perth to the Gold Coast, where they would train in the week leading up to their round 17 game against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba.

After struggling for form following off-season surgery on his left pectoral muscle, the last thing Alan Didak needs is time on the sidelines with a calf strain, the Herald Sun's Michael Horan says. Horan says the Collingwood forward is "a shadow of the player" he was last season and uses statistics to back up his argument.

Port Adelaide will push to move its last game this season, against Melbourne, from AAMI Stadium to the Adelaide Oval, The Advertiser reports. Port chief executive Mark Haysman told the tabloid the chance to play on the Adelaide Oval three years before South Australian AFL games move there permanently was a "great opportunity".

Collingwood players have been reminded of the potential pitfalls of the social media by senior officials Gary Pert and Geoff Walsh, the Herald Sun's Mike Sheahan reports. Following controversial recent Twitter postings by Dane Swan and Dale Thomas, Walsh told Sheahan: "It was really just a 'be careful what you're saying exercise'."  

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.