The footy's finally back. And isn't everyone excited about it?
The Melbourne dailies were almost breathless with excitement on Thursday.
Herald Sun guru Mike Sheahan was so moved by the season's looming kick-off he turned southern American gospeller - "Praise the lord," he rejoiced.
He gave thanks, he said, because the start of the season would hopefully mark the end of the off-field dramas that had plagued the off-season.
Western Bulldog Bob Murphy shared Sheahan's sentiments in his regular column in The Age, saying he hoped the "white noise" of the off-season was now a "distant buzz" and we could get on with the "real thing", which he said was "still pretty damn good".
And weren't Melbourne's sports pages filled with the real thing on Friday?!
As at this time every year, there were the stories of the nervous-excited-at-the-same-time debutants - Richmond youngsters Jake Batchelor, Reece Conca and Brad Helbig (both dailies) and Carlton's mature-age South Australian recruit Nick Duigan (Herald Sun).
There were also the stories of the players poised for breakthrough seasons. In The Age, it was Richmond's Trent Cotchin and North Melbourne's Daniel Wells. In the Herald Sun, Carlton's Marc Murphy.
And what would this time of the year be without some past-current player comparisons? However fanciful?
Carlton supporters would have been salivating when the Herald Sun reported Chris Judd likening Duigan to Blues premiership half-back Andrew McKay.
Richmond fans have seen more of Cotchin in action but many would have been similarly moved when The Age compared his dedication to that of Brownlow medallists Nathan Buckley and Robert Harvey.
That's why you can't help but love this time of year. Everyone's level, all of the recruits look like future guns and everyone else looks set for a breakthrough season.
For most of us, the tears will come soon enough. Why dwell on it now?
Judd stands by his coach
Amid all the good news ahead of Thursday's Carlton-Richmond clash, the importance of this season for Carlton coach Brett Ratten was not lost.
It's been widely reported the equation has been simply laid out for him by Carlton's big wigs: win a final and you keep your job; anything less and it's sayonara.
At least one key Carlton person thinks Ratten is the man to lead the club to its next premiership, skipper Chris Judd throwing his support behind Ratten in the Herald Sun.
Judd stressed Ratten had the full support of the players, praising his knowledge of the game, communication skills and empowerment of his assistant coaches.
Blues president Stephen Kernahan confirmed the club would not make a decision on Ratten until the end of the season, telling the tabloid he would be given all of this season "to get the job done".
The Age quoted Carlton CEO Greg Swann giving similar assurances.
Ratten for his part said he's comfortable with the arrangement. As a premiership player, he knows as well as anyone success is not a hope but an expectation at Visy Park.
Interesting to see how comfortable Ratten is, though, if Richmond pulls off an upset on Thursday night.
Craig says rotations here to stay
Like an episode of The Biggest Loser, a new streamlined interchange bench is about to be unveiled, one that's lost a quarter of its starting body weight.
It's not quite as simple as that, of course. Yes, the bench will start one player lighter this year - down from four to three players - but it can call on an additional substitute player at any time during a game.
So its exact weight loss is hard to gauge at this stage.
In fact, everything about the new rule is hard to gauge. Most of the competition's coaches have gone on record saying they're not sure what to expect.
However, Adelaide coach Neil Craig attempted to make some sense of the rule for the Advertiser on Thursday.
Craig told the paper he did not expect the new rule to have any affect on the recent high numbers of interchange rotations employed by sides, saying they could even increase.
Craig also said he expected it would take about six weeks before coaches and players adapted to the rule.
But, clearly, the lateral-thinking Craig had already been looking ahead, predicting players that were run down during the season could be used as substitutes. The reduced game time they played in that role would refresh them, Craig said.
You sense the coaches will be as relieved as the rest of us that we'll soon be able to stop theorising about the substitute rule and can see it in practice.
Voss' recycling policy finds some favour
Brisbane Lions coach Michael Voss has been widely condemned for his decision at the end of his first season to put his faith in recycled players rather than drafting kids.
The most popular take on his strategy goes something like this. Giddy after taking the Lions to the finals in his first season, and believing he had to go all out to try and win a flag while Jonathan Brown, Simon Black and Luke Power were still at, or near, their peaks, he eschewed patience for a grab at instantaneous gratification - picking six players from other clubs (Sydney Swan Amon Buchanan, Saints Xavier Clarke and Matt Maguire, Blue spearhead Brendan Fevola, Tiger Andrew Raines and Eagle Brent Staker).
However, new Richmond man Patrick Smith makes the point in The Australian that the current league benchmark, Collingwood, has also fossicked extensively through other clubs' recycling bins in recent times, picking up seven pre-loved players since the 2009 NAB AFL Draft.
His point is that if the same policy has taken Collingwood to football's ultimate prize, then maybe Voss was not barking up the wrong tree.
However, Smith's numbers don't add up. Two of the seven recycled Magpies he lists - Leigh Brown and Anthony Corrie - were picked up in the 2008 Draft. In other words, Collingwood has recycled seven players over three years, the most it recruited in any of those years the three it took on at the end of 2009 (Luke Ball, Darren Jolly and Simon Buckley).
Which suggests recycling in small doses over time is OK. But the jury's still out on Voss-like recycling binges.
In short
Port Adelaide coach Matthew Primus says veteran Chad Cornes is "in the mix" but not guaranteed a spot in the Power side that will take on Collingwood at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, The Advertiser reports.
A leaner Brisbane Lions skipper Jonathan Brown will take the field against Fremantle this Saturday night, with the Lions confident he'll be sharp despite not playing any lead-up matches, The Courier Mail reports.
Collingwood president Eddie McGuire has no doubt coach Mick Malthouse will honour his contract and step aside for Nathan Buckley at the end of this season to become the club's director of coaching, the Herald Sun reports.
McGuire said any friction between the pair when they took up their new roles could actually benefit the club.
Hawthorn will be one of the biggest threats to Collingwood this year, Magpies captain Nick Maxwell told the Herald Sun.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
