THE PAST two Geelong skippers have enjoyed a dream run through the club's five-year dominance.
Tom Harley and Cameron Ling can lay claim to captaining three Geelong premierships between them, but with Harley long retired and Ling hanging up the boots last month, the Cats are searching for their next potential premiership skipper.
Joel Selwood appears the obvious choice, boasting three flags, a best and fairest, two All Australian guernseys and having shown impressive leadership throughout his 114-game career.
However, chief executive Brian Cook says the vice-captain is not assured the position.
"Half of the current leadership group could be the captain. One of the reasons we were able to replace a Gary Ablett or a Frank Costa is because we do have depth of leadership," Cook told the Herald Sun.
Corey Enright, Jimmy Bartel, James Kelly, Joel Corey and Harry Taylor are others to have claims on the top job.
"I also think even within the player leadership group it's not a huge issue," Cook said.
"It's a much bigger issue outside the footy club than inside it, to be honest.
"This whole issue about who's going to be the captain isn't that important to us."
Cook's sentiments matched those of coach Chris Scott who said there were a number of options for the role.
"We can't try to replace Cameron like-for-like because there is not another Ling," Scott said last month.
AFLPA ducks diving call
Diving. It's a real, yet cringeworthy, tactical advantage that is now ingrained into soccer convention.
Despite its grudging acceptance in the round ball game, any sign of players staging for free kicks in Australian football has been rightly howled down by fans.
With a promised AFL crackdown on the tactic announced in 2010 amounting to little more than an investigation in to an incident involving Port Adelaide's Kane Cornes, the League now looks set to strengthen the rules.
It follows Bomber Angus Monfries' admission that he "took a dive" in an incident in round 14 that saw Hawk Jordan Lewis rubbed out for two weeks.
However, the Herald Sun reports that the AFL Players' Association has opposed the move in a written submission to the League, saying, "There is no need for the system to be changed."
"The AFL has powers available to them and we would say they should exercise those powers before they look to increase the sanctions in those incidents," AFLPA general manager of player relations Ian Prendergast said.
Also in the submission, the AFLPA has thrown its tentative support behind a move to increase the grading for incidents behind the play, provided the League clarifies what constitutes a dangerous tackle.
"According to the AFLPA, the majority of players (57 per cent) are confused about what the match review panel considers a dangerous tackle," the report says.
Eskimo Joe show 'em how they rock
"Freo, way to go, hit 'em really hard send them down below". It's a tune that hasn't so much divided fans as united them in disapproval.
And after 16 years the oft-derided Fremantle theme song looks set to be given the official heave ho, with The West Australian reporting a motion to jettison the nautical jingle is likely to pass.
Last month, the club began a survey of its near 30,000-strong member base offering them three alternative tunes or an option to retain the original.
However, according to the newspaper's own survey, we may never hear 'Dock-Dock-Dockers show 'em how you rock' ring out at Patersons Stadium again, with the Kenny Walther-penned original trailing in last place with just 15 per cent of the vote.
Freo, Freo, written by West Australian band Eskimo Joe, leads the poll, attracting support from 36 per cent of voters.
"Freo, Freo was written with Fremantle as a town in mind, and how we bring the fight to the east coast, like the roaring of an ocean across the Nullarbor," the band told the club's website in October.
"The song was written as something that everyone in the crowd and on the team could sing with the same gusto that we all sing T.N.T after a home game win."
The poll closes at 5pm (WST) on November 21 with the results to be announced at the club’s members' meeting the following day.
In short
West Coast premiership player Ashley Hansen has knocked back an offer to join Fremantle as its development coach, citing bad timing as his main reason. The West Australian reports the 28-year-old was offered the role after several meetings with club officials but declined the offer, saying he'd prefer to enjoy his WAFL career "while I still can".
Former Collingwood half-back Leon Davis has driven to Adelaide with his partner, Janelle, to hold talks with Port Adelaide regarding his future. "[Matthew Primus] made the point that we would be mad not to talk to Leon, so we will," Port football operations manager Peter Rohde told the Adelaide Advertiser.
The SANFL has rejected a bid by Adelaide to place highly regarded recruit Brad Crouch at Norwood next season. Crouch, who is unable to play for the Crows until 2013, was preferred to develop under former Crow Nathan Bassett at the club. However, the Adelaide Advertiser reports the 17-year-old will be forced to try his luck in the League's mini-draft.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
