PAVLICH laments loss of State Of Origin
In a lengthy interview in Perth's Sunday Times, Fremantle captain Matthew Pavlich told Braden Quartermaine he remained a proud South Australian, despite his 10 years and 236 games with Freo.

"I'm definitely a South Australian," he said. "I've been living here for a significant amount of my life and absolutely have embraced that lifestyle and the people of WA; it's been a special place for me. But I'm still South Australian."

He said he had nominated for the 1998 AFL Draft as a 15-year-old hoping to be drafted by one of the Adelaide clubs, and said "it was a bit of a kick in the guts at the time" when overlooked.

He lamented the fact that he had not been able to represent his home state in State Of Origin since joining the AFL, after having represented SA as a junior.

But despite the public profession of home-state love, Fremantle fans should not be concerned that their skipper is anything less than passionate about seeking the best for their club.

"I've got a burning desire for this club to become something really great," he said.

"I feel as though I've been very fortunate with my time in Fremantle to achieve a certain amount individually, but there's a huge desire to get great team success, and that's my drive and passion and mission."

He also revealed that he is not just a one-trick pony. He has completed a part-time science degree at the University of WA, and is now doing an MBA. In an environment in which players are typecast as leather jocks, Pavlich said that study helped him add balance to a busy life, and provided more perspective. It gave him, he said, a "reality check".

"Football is an all-consuming life. So to have some balance, and focus your attention on something completely different for a handful of hours a week was really important for me and I think it benefited my football no end."

Columnist says AFL push to western Sydney 'a bridge too far'.
Surprise, surprise. Sydney Morning Herald columnist Roy Masters, never one to cuddle up to the AFL game, has reported an address he made some years ago, when he told the presidents of the-then 16 AFL clubs that pushing for growth in the west of Sydney was a "bridge too far".

In the years since, nothing has changed the columnist's mind.

Masters' argument relies not on the fact that sports followers in western Sydney and the Gold Coast may not support the new franchises, but on his view that AFL fans in the game's heartland are unhappy at the push for growth, particularly when their club loses players like Gary Ablett.

The rebellion, he suggests will come from the heartland.

He notes that six clubs reported losses last year, and the entire growth policy by the AFL is based on a significant boost to its media rights deal, currently near conclusion. Fans will wonder why the love is not being spread.

He concludes: "Should (Andrew) Demetriou not receive his $1 billion deal, the Giants-Suns cost more than budgeted and the special assistance grants to Melbourne clubs ends, the battle for Sydney's west could be lost in the AFL's heartland."

The very large assumption being that the AFL will not continue to invest in clubs that may be disadvantaged.

The view of Media Watch is the opposite - that any largesse from media rights, the game's lifeblood - will be spread where it needs to go, north, south, and west if required.

The strength of the competition is based on equality of opportunity, a view the clubs considered when agreeing to the rights of the new clubs to recruit players out of contract.

The view then, and remains so, was that the benefits of growth far outweigh any short-term loss.

Game on, in the west
A lie detector test plugged into The Daily Telegraph, Sydney’s dominant daily newspaper, would have little trouble with the question: "Do you support NRL?"

The pinging of the machine would suggest a resounding YES, but the Sunday Tele did its best to report on what was going on out west on Saturday night, when AFL and NRL pre-season matches were played at Blacktown and Campbelltown, just 38 kilometres apart.

Parramatta took on West Tigers at the same time as the AFL triple-header was underway. The Tele reported "… the doubters (who) believed the AFL was wasting $200 million invested in Sydney's west might have to think again …"

But to provide some from-the-bleachers balance, we had this quote from Wes Giles of Mount Druitt: "I didn’t even know they (the AFL) were playing. And I couldn’t care less. I don’t think anyone out here does."

Shane Layd, a Campbelltown local, added his penny’s worth: "You don’t really hear much about it out here. They say they promote it in the west, but I think most of it is done in the city.

"I only have one friend who is going to support the AFL team - and she has an excuse, she is from Adelaide."

The reporters who covered the story, James Phelps and Todd Balym, were more even-handed. They ended their report: "The Giants have successfully created an interest in the game and their club out in the west, but the biggest test will be whether they can sustain such support while their team of teenagers develop into legitimate winners over the next five years.

"Last night, the first shots were fired in a war that shows no signs of a quick resolution. It's game on."

The Fev story has another twist
The Sunday Herald Sun speculated that Brendan Fevola could begin legal action against the Brisbane Lions if, as has been reported, the club terminates Fevola’s contract.

Fevola, still in rehab according the the paper, said he had not been told of any decision by the club. He told the paper: "They literally haven't told me anything. I have no idea what’s going on."

The paper said that "sources close to Fevola" said he "would consider" legal action to secure the last two years of his contract.

Another chapter in a sad tale
Just as the plot of a tawdry novel unfolds through unlikely twists and turns, another chapter in the tale of a teenage girl and the world of football made the front pages of Sunday's papers.

Saturday's chapter in the Herald Sun revealed that high-profile player manager Ricky Nixon admitted "inappropriate dealings" with the 17-year-old girl who was at the centre of a Facebook/photos scandal December.

The girl claimed the "dealings" included sexual relations. Nixon, in today's chapter, denied such. In a press statement, he said: "Any suggestion that I have had a sexual relationship with this girl, by anyone, is a blatant lie."

The Sunday Age reports that the AFL Players' Association, the entity that presides over the rights of player managers would investigate the ongoing saga. The AFLPA, not the AFL, manages player agents through its Accreditation Board.

Dogs hope for another year for Hall
There's just over a month until the start of the AFL season, and a year before the start of next year's NAB Cup, but already the Dogs are looking well ahead, and wondering aloud whether full-forward Barry Hall will be marching into the 2012 season.

Coach Rodney Eade said any decision on the 34-year-old's future would be made at year's end. He's certainly not getting ahead of himself, preferring to take it year-by-year.

"(The decision) will be done at the end of the season. You can't jump in too early," he told the Herald Sun.

No doubt this won't be the first story discussing Hall's future. We suggest there will be a comment piece after a month of the season, on-air debate around round 14, and an exclusive somewhere around round 20, when Hall will reveal all.

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