FORMER Hawthorn skipper Sam Mitchell recently endured every parent's worst nightmare.
About a month ago, his newborn twin daughter Scarlett
had stopped feeding properly. She lost so much weight and became so ill doctors told Mitchell and his wife Lyndall they had not seen a baby so sick.
Worse still, the doctors had no idea what was wrong with her.
As Scarlett's condition continued to deteriorate, Mitchell told the Herald Sun he endured one of the hardest moments of his life - having to ask a doctor whether his daughter would survive.
Fortunately, Scarlett's health slowly began to improve.
Despite the fact doctors have still not diagnosed the cause of her illness, she was finally well enough to return home last week.
Mitchell's family crisis coincided with his withdrawal from Hawthorn's round three clash with Richmond.
While football would understandably have been the last thing on Mitchell's mind at the time, his club rallied around him. Players' wives and girlfriends made meals for the Mitchells, while forward Jarryd Roughead babysat their one-year-old son Mitchell so they could be by Scarlett's hospital beside.
Mitchell described his ordeal in his typically understated way.
"As a husband and a father you have a built-in protective mechanism and the No.1 thing you want to do is protect your family and look after them, and when you can't, it's a fairly difficult experience," Mitchell said.
Such life experiences put football in perspective.
All in the media are occasionally guilty of reaching for words like nightmare and crisis to describe clubs' on-field and off-field woes. We should remember they are only ever football nightmares and football crises.
Israel's SOS call
When you consider all the things Israel Folau has to learn to make it as an AFL footballer, you would think a lack of aggression would be the least of his problems.
After all, Folau stands 195cm and still carries much of the burly physique he honed during his elite rugby league career.
And the size of the challenge he faces in learning to play elite Australian Football and adjusting to his new code's vastly greater aerobic demands is mammoth.
But Greater Western Sydney development coach Brett Hand told the Daily Telegraph Folau's gentle demeanour is the thing most likely to stifle his football development.
"He is a nice young man, which is a great quality to have," Hand said.
"But as an AFL footballer and a defender you cannot be nice."
Fortunately for Folau, he has one of the game's greatest, and stingiest, defenders, Stephen 'SOS' Silvagni, in his corner.
As GWS list manager, Silvagni makes time to work one-on-one with Folau, not only on the technical elements of key defence, but also on how to push, shove and niggle his opponent.
GWS is confident this - in addition to the countless hours of game tapes Folau pours over every week - will transform him into an AFL footballer.
However, the Daily Telegraph says GWS is prepared to be patient with its prized recruit and, while it will not say so publicly, won't be upset if he is not ready to make his AFL debut next year.
Pioneering Bears deserve respect
The build-up to the first QClash, the match between Queensland sides Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast, has had all the hallmarks of a Don King boxing promotion.
First, the normally mild-mannered Lion Simon Black bared his claws, calling former teammates and now Suns Jared Brennan and Michael Rischitelli "mercenaries" and suggesting the Suns had had everything handed to them on a platter in their entry into the competition.
Suns coach Guy McKenna hit back, suggesting the Lions' bungled attempt to trade Rischitelli at the end of 2009 had forced him to leave. He then went a step further, saying the Suns had been forced to come in and clean up the "mess" left by the "bad news" Brisbane Bears - who merged with Fitzroy to form the Lions at the end of 1996 - on the Gold Coast.
It was this dig Age columnist and former Bears coach Robert Walls took issue with.
Like Black, Walls' primary issue is the mollycoddled entry the Suns have enjoyed into the AFL compared to the Bears.
Walls said McKenna and his club want for nothing in training and match-day facilities, football staff and a stable administration.
In comparison, he recalled Bears players had to put up with flighty private owners, portable changerooms, a home ground with stands that could be quickly disassembled, lights being continually turned off to save money, and sometimes even had to go to their coach, Walls, to get paid.
Walls said McKenna's comments were disrespectful to Bears pioneers like inaugural coach Peter Knights and foundation players such as Roger Merrett, Michael McLean, Scott McIvor, Martin Leslie and John Gastev.
"They put AFL football on the map in Queensland," Walls said.
That they did. And for that they deserve much respect. A point we're sure McKenna will readily concede when the hype surrounding the QClash eventually dies down.
In short
Hawthorn defender Stephen Gilham is so passionate about football he watches and listens to most games every weekend, and does special comments on Box Hill's VFL games for a community radio station, the Herald Sun reports.
Former Essendon teammates Mark Harvey and Damien Hardwick traded good-natured barbs in The West Australian ahead of their coaching clash at the MCG this Saturday. Richmond coach Hardwick joked Harvey was so loose as a defender he had to mind both of their opponents, while Harvey said Hardwick wore long-sleeved jumpers to hide his skinny arms.
Sydney Swans co-captain Adam Goodes told The Sydney Morning Herald his team would use the pain of last year's five-point preliminary final loss to the Western Bulldogs as motivation in the clash at Manuka Oval on Saturday.
Hawthorn is considering selecting key-position prospect Tom Curran, the son of 1986 and 1989 premiership player Peter, under the father-son rule at this year's NAB AFL Draft, The Age reports.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL
