PREDICTABLY, the demise of Greater Western Sydney CEO Dale Holmes and the associated Scully saga dominated the footy news.
Equally predictably, the Herald Sun mounted its collective high horse and rode into the fray with a call for Phil Scully to resign from his new full-time recruiting role with the Giants in his own interests and those of his son, star recruit Tom.
Michael Warner, who broke the Scully story in the Herald Sun on Wednesday, noted that "GWS did not cite the Scully Sr arrangement when confirming Holmes' departure", but made it clear he thought the father-son deal was a significant factor.
"In a statement, GWS claimed Holmes has resigned," Warner wrote. Rarely has a verb had such a pejorative tone.
Colleague Mark Stevens declared that father Phil should quit his new job, which both the Herald Sun and The Age said was worth a six-figure sum.
Scully's pay for his full-time recruiting position in Melbourne will be counted under the Giants' salary cap.
"Scully Jr already has enough pressure on him, heading to GWS on a $6 million deal over six years," Stevens wrote.
"He had only recently slipped away from the spotlight and up bobs the old man.
"The last thing Scully needs is innuendo and headlines about his dad being paid overs to play a minor recruiting role.
"And, make no mistake, the fallout and whispers will continue.
"Imagine walking around being known as the only AFL club staffer in history to have his wage placed under the salary cap?
"That's Phil Scully's lot now -- and surely he doesn't need the heat, regardless of the financial rewards.
"You can be certain Tom can do without it, too."
Senior writer Mike Sheahan added a more sober note to the discussion, suggesting that the Scully arrangement smacked of football operations manager Graeme 'Gubby' Allan at his best.
"The AFL hand-picked him for the mammoth task of creating a competitive player group in the most inhospitable area on the football landscape," Sheahan wrote.
"It knew from experience no one at club level was better at understanding, manipulating, bending, exploiting, some might even say breaking, rules to acquire players."
Sheahan said Holmes' departure was a fait accompli more than a week ago and had been on the cards for weeks, perhaps months.
And the Scully arrangement?
"It is understood GWS laid its cards on the table at AFL House, said it had room under its salary cap, and declared the deal was kosher," Sheahan wrote.
"Highly unusual, perhaps unprecedented, yet, according to the AFL, not unlawful."
At The Age, Caroline Wilson portrays Holmes' departure as "a major embarrassment" for head office.
She suggested Holmes had been battling AFL executives and his own board for some months.
"Giants chairman Tony Shepherd denied last night that Holmes's departure was linked to the revelation that the club had employed Tom Scully's father Phil as a Melbourne-based recruiter for the club, but that is not accurate," Wilson wrote.
"In fact, the GWS board learnt only recently that Phil Scully had been part of the controversial Tom Scully deal, a deal orchestrated by the club's football boss Graeme Allan with Holmes's approval, but an agreement Holmes had failed to communicate to the board before the official paperwork came through.
"That the AFL has moved one of its most senior and respected executives, David Matthews, into the role of interim chief executive signifies the extent of the crisis. The club makes its debut against the Swans in less than five months in rugby league territory and major structural club issues remain undone or unresolved."
Give it a go
The Age's Rohan Connolly has launched an impassioned defence of the International Rules Series as Australia prepares to take on Ireland at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.
Noting that there had been the usual spate of stories about senior players opting out of the series, concerns about attendances and general questioning of the worth of the whole exercise, Connolly wrote that the "relentless negativity" ignored the simple fact that "AFL fans don't appear to mind international rules at all".
And, he asks, why all the hate?
"It's not as though October is the pinnacle of the sporting calendar and attention is being diverted from more worthy pursuits. If you don't give a toss, don't watch it.
"No one pretends that we're playing for sheep stations, or that the Australia-Ireland rivalry in a hybrid game played for only a couple of weeks every couple of years can ever approach the sort of feeling engendered by an Ashes series, or for soccer or rugby fans, a World Cup.
"But it does pit the leading exponents of two skilled football codes against each other in their only opportunity for international representation. The game itself has consistently proved entertaining; quick and with plenty of scoring, something that eludes a few AFL sides even in their own game."
In short
Disgruntled former Magpie Leon Davis' management has opened talks with two WAFL clubs as his AFL future remains in doubt, PerthNow reports. It said Davis was believed to have held talks with Peel Thunder, while Swan Districts was said to have approached him. Davis quit the Magpies after declining a one-year contract deal.
The Herald Sun says new Demons coach Mark Neeld faces his first test when he confronts errant forward Colin Sylvia next Monday. Sylvia was dropped from the International Rules team after drinking the night before training and then being involved in a serious accident as a passenger in his own car. The tabloid suggests Sylvia may face a club suspension.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
