COUSINS SET FOR VFL RETURN Confessed drug addict Ben Cousins will play state league football this year, his first major step in resuming an AFL career in 2009, reports The Herald Sun. It's believed Cousins will register with a VFL team before Monday's deadline. It's possible Cousins, who is in Perth, may register to play in the WAFL. But indications last night were he was likely to move to Victoria in the coming weeks and restart his football career. Cousins is expected to fill out the necessary paperwork to play VFL, which would include a playing contract. AFL rules do not allow him to play for VFL clubs Collingwood and Geelong - effectively AFL reserves teams - which means Cousins will play for one of 12 VFL clubs, including Tasmania. As of late last night, the complex situation means the club Cousins would play for is not aware of his intentions. His agent Ricky Nixon confirmed negotiations were set to begin with VFL clubs.
FEARS FOR WEST Injured Western Bulldogs champion Scott West is battling against time to be fit for his club's tilt at breaking its 54-year premiership drought, reports The Age. Finals are a certainty for the Dogs but remain only an ambition for West. Despite the latest setback in his recovery from a debilitating stress fracture of his knee, the club remains hopeful will be able to play in September. The veteran broke down on Friday and has been ordered to stay off his feet for a fortnight before working towards a possible return in round 17 or 18. That best-case scenario would give him time to play a handful of games before the finals. The Bulldogs have also lost luckless young key defender Tom Williams for this week's game against Port Adelaide in Darwin. Williams suffered a shoulder injury when he was tackled to the turf against Collingwood on Sunday. He returned to the ground and played on but has since developed bad bruising of the shoulder.
GEHRIG LOOKING FIT Goalkicking ace Fraser Gehrig is making steady progress in his bid to salvage an injury-interrupted season, reports The Herald Sun. Gehrig ran strongly yesterday as he gradually builds up fitness after hand surgery this month. Looking trim and keen, the dual Coleman medallist joined teammates for a light training session at Moorabbin. Asked when Gehrig could play again, Saints football operations manager Matthew Drain said: "It's not about a time frame. It's when he and the coaching staff and medical staff feel he's ready to go." While the full-forward is back doing ball work, this time he ran three-quarter pace laps with young Eljay Connors, who is out for the rest of the season after a shoulder operation. The 32-year-old has recovered from surgery to his right hand and is training with just a protective guard on his middle finger. He will consult medical staff on how best to manage the arthritis in his hands.
ROOS AID GOLD COAST North Melbourne is the AFL club offering most to the GC17 consortium in its bid for the AFL's 17th licence, reports The Herald Sun. North chief executive Eugene Arocca spoke with GC17 boss John Witheriff on Monday, offering the services of his key executive Anthony Trainor as well as pledging "total support" to the bid that will be voted on by the AFL Commission on October 14. Witheriff accepted the offers, and will thrash out specifics of the arrangement when he returns next month from a long-planned holiday. "Completely out of the blue, Eugene rang me offering support and a leading resource to assist us being successful with our bid," Witheriff said. "I must say I was surprised and pleased, and I indicated to Eugene we were keen to pick up some of the expertise he is offering. It is something we have been looking at - leading-edge expertise around membership services."
WORSFOLD PLAYS DOWN HEAT SPAT West Coast coach John Worsfold has played down Monday night's on-air spat with Brad Hardie, saying he did not mean to question the AFL Brownlow Medallist's character. Speaking on Perth radio, Worsfold angrily lashed out when Hardie criticised West Coast's tactics and team selection in the wake of the club's humiliating 135-point loss to Geelong, reports The Age. Worsfold told Hardie he was building a team that would be capable of premiership success and that it "takes special character to be part of a premiership team, unfortunately you weren't". When Hardie, who played in a WAFL premiership with South Fremantle but never tasted ultimate glory in the AFL, said: "We got to a prelim ... I died trying with the Bulldogs in 85;". Worsfold replied: "I would question that." But Worsfold's temperament had cooled by yesterday morning, saying he held no grudge against Hardie. "He's got every right to question team selection," Worsfold said at his weekly press conference.
DAL SANTO BACK IN FAVOUR Nick Dal Santo's time in the Saints' sin-bin will last just a week with the midfielder likely to come back into the side to play North Melbourne on the Gold Coast this week, reports The Age. Forward Stephen Milne, who was similarly exiled to the VFL side and who kicked four goals while collecting 23 touches for Casey, is unlikely, however, to be brought back into the senior team. Dal Santo, dropped for failing to work as hard when he doesn't have the ball, is likely to replace Lenny Hayes, who is struggling with back related hamstring tightness. Hayes is understood to be confident he will be fit for Saturday night's game, but, having been forced to the bench for three quarters of last week's match against Fremantle — after a stunning 16 touches in the first quarter — it would appear optimistic.
TIGERS AIM TO FILL THE ‘G’ Richmond president Gary March said the club has issued a "call to arms" to supporters in the hope of filling the MCG on Saturday, reports The Age. "We're really trying to get close to a capacity crowd … obviously we'd like it to be north of 80,000," he said. The Tigers play Carlton in game billed as "100G at the G" and will wear a replica of the jumper first worn when the club entered the VFL in 1908. "Realistically, if the weather is good, we think it will be up around that number," March said. "It's a big weekend for the club and we're hoping to get close to a capacity crowd. "Winning the last couple of games has been fantastic and we're playing our arch enemy (and) Richmond people always enjoy playing Carlton." Coach Terry Wallace said the build-up to the game had been helped by consecutive wins over Melbourne and Port Adelaide and put "a bit more heat" into the celebration. "Certainly, now it's a pretty important game for both clubs as well," he said.
ROOS SIGN PLAYERS Hot on the heels of returning to the top eight with a win over Hawthorn, North Melbourne has shored up its list for the medium term, announcing yesterday it has secured contract deals with five key players. The Age reports the Kangaroos have re-signed ruckman Hamish McIntosh, key defender Michael Firrito, productive forward Corey Jones and mid-fielders Brady Rawlings and Daniel Pratt. Rawlings and Jones, who are 27, have agreed to two-year deals; 23-year-old McIntosh, 24-year-old Firrito and 25-year-old Pratt have signed on for three.
GOODES ACCEPTS BAN The 204-game streak of Sydney star Adam Goodes is over after the dual Brownlow medallist accepted his one-match ban for rough conduct, reports The Age. Goodes will stay third on the all-time consecutive games list behind new Melbourne chairman Jim Stynes (244) and current Demon Adem Yze (226) after taking the early plea for the incident involving Melbourne midfielder Clint Bartram last Sunday at Manuka Oval. It was the third time this season that Goodes had been booked. While one of the Swans' most important players will sit out the July 5 clash with Collingwood at ANZ Stadium, Adelaide defender Nathan Bassett will play the night before in the home match against Geelong. The tribunal deliberated for less than five minutes before finding Bassett not guilty of striking.
PIES COMMIT TO HELPING DEMONS Collingwood, which will this year post a record eighth consecutive operating profit in excess of $1million, has put its support behind the financially struggling Demons by offering to continue playing Melbourne next season on the Queen's Birthday public holiday. Melbourne, which is $4.5m in debt and expects to lose between $1.5m and $2m this year, will net about $400,000 from the round 11 match at the MCG, which attracted just under 60,000. Major sponsorships aside, Demons chief executive Paul McNamee yesterday said the Queen's Birthday fixture was the club's single biggest cash cow of the year. The AFL's highest drawing club has again agreed to play the Demons as the away team, pending league approval, despite a reluctance by Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse towards the annual goodwill gesture, which allows Melbourne to retain home-team status and gate receipts. After the Magpies defeated Melbourne by 21 points this month, Malthouse questioned his club's commitment to the annual fixture. Malthouse hinted that he would recommend to his administration that it should consider its future involvement. Those comments sparked McNamee to seek out Collingwood chief executive Gary Pert, where he reinforced how financially important that game was to the Demons. Pert yesterday told The Australian he was satisfied with the arrangement. "I see no reason why anything would change next year," Pert said.
St Kilda CEO Archie Fraser has called on the club’s strong Gold Coast supporter base to get behind the club’s first appearance at Carrara in almost 19 years.
