BEFORE the start of this season, West Coast was a popular pick to again finish near the bottom of the ladder, while John Worsfold was a popular pick to be the first coach sacked.
But after three years out of the finals and last year's wooden spoon, the Eagles are starting to soar again. After eight rounds, they sit seventh on the ladder and are a playing a brand of suffocating all-ground defence that has them poised to return to the finals for the first time since Chris Judd and Ben Cousins left the club at the end of 2007.
Not surprisingly, the Eagles are starting to win over some of their doubters.
Former Adelaide captain Mark Ricciuto told The West Australian the Eagles had fared better than 95 per cent of football followers had expected, and were on track to finish between fifth and eighth.
Ricciuto said the return to form and fitness of the Eagles' good players - presumably he was talking about Dean Cox, Daniel Kerr and Andrew Embley - had helped the club's revival, but stressed the improvement of their entire squad had been "as good as anyone in the competition."
Ricciuto also said the defensive press the Eagles had implemented this season was their greatest strength and had noticeably affected the disposal efficiency of their opponents.
This is the good news. For, as any strong side over time can attest, good form brings problems of its own.
For the Eagles, it's the fact they have a number of players coming out of contract, many of whom are in form and probably deserving of a pay rise.
The Age reported rejuvenated veterans Dean Cox, Andrew Embley, Adam Selwood and Mark Nicoski head the list of Eagles coming out of contract, while the others include Matt Priddis, Beau Waters, Brett Jones and youngsters such as Luke Shuey, Brad Ebert and Mitch Brown.
West Coast contracts and list manager Craig Vozzo told The Age the Eagles were "comfortable" with this situation and already talking to those players identified as "priorities" to re-sign.
As football problems go, trying to re-sign a raft of in-form players is a good one to have. We wager the Eagles would prefer their current situation to having to endure another poor season and, possibly, having to start searching for another senior coach.
Proposed player superannuation scheme
As the June 30 deadline for the signing of the 2012-16 collective bargaining agreement approaches, the superannuation fund the players are pushing for has begun to take shape.
The Herald Sun reports under the plan put forward by the AFL Players' Association, players spending five years on an AFL list would receive up to $400,000 in retirement payments.
The tabloid reported this sum would be spread over monthly payments that would be begin at 35 and end when the player turned 65.
There a few wrinkles in the plan, however, with players who choose to defer these payments until their 50s set to receive the full $400,000, while players who choose to access the money immediately set to receive a reduced amount of about $200,000.
This five-year player scenario is just one example of the payments players could expect under the superannuation proposal, with players set to receive additional payments for each year served after their first five.
However, the tabloid reported service beyond 12 years would not be factored into the superannuation payments, while players who had spent less than five years on an AFL list would not eligible for any payments.
The Herald Sun's revelations come as the AFL and AFLPA continue their collective bargaining agreement negotiations.
The players' push for a superannuation fund is part of its overall claim for an increased - and fixed - share of the game's revenue. The tabloid reported the players are seeking a share of 25-27 per cent of all future league and club revenues, which it estimated would result in a $50 million pay increase on the existing five-year agreement.
While AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou has recently dubbed the players' claim for a fixed share of the game's revenue as "a lazy way of doing business", as a past AFLPA president you can rest assured he wants to ensure the players receive a fair deal.
Likewise, while AFLPA president Luke Power told the Herald Sun the players were not about to back down on their current claim, he was optimistic a deal would be done without any need for industrial action.
Laidley only a Skype away
We've known since the start of this season Dean Laidley's assistant coaching gig with Port Adelaide was going to be unusual in 2011.
Having moved back to Melbourne at the end of last year to be with to his family, Laidley agreed to continue with the Power under new coach Matthew Primus on a part-time basis.
Under the agreement, Laidley commutes to Adelaide each week for the Power's main training sessions and sits in the coach's box on match days.
But he is obviously not at the players' beck and call like your typical assistant coach, a dilemma the Power has sought to circumvent via technology.
Power midfielder David Rodan told The Age he and his teammates were largely communicating with Laidley via internet video-call program Skype.
"A lot of the boys are on to him on Skype or on the phone every other day," Rodan said.
"It's pretty much midweek until the game, so we have access to him even when he's not visually here."
Rodan described Laidley as "a fantastic coach" but conceded it would ideal if Port appointed full-time assistant coaches in the future.
At Media Watch, we can see both positives and negatives in the Power-Laidley arrangement.
Clearly, it is ideal for a club's coaches to be on the ground at its headquarters full-time.
However, if the best-credentialed candidate - and Port conducted a wide search for assistants at the end of last season - is someone who, for whatever reason, cannot make that commitment, a club should at least explore whether they can secure their services on an alternative arrangement.
That's what the Power have done with Laidley, having seen what he brought to the club as a full-time assistant last year.
Time will tell if this compromised working relationship is tenable.
In short
The AFL commission is considering extending the AFL home and away season to 23 games in 2012, The Age reports. While the broadsheet said the commission was divided on the proposal, it said the prevailing view among players and clubs was the current 22-game format should be retained. The commission will consider a report on the proposal next month.
Collingwood is on the verge of finalising a contract extension for Scott Pendlebury, with the midfielder's manager Liam Pickering telling the Herald Sun a deal would be announced "sooner rather than later."
Sydney Swans defender Nick Malceski is eyeing a return to the AFL this Sunday against Hawthorn after making a successful comeback from recent LARS surgery with the Swans' reserves side last Saturday, The Daily Telegraph reports.
Geelong star Paul Chapman says former teammate and new Gold Coast Suns captain Gary Ablett will be physically targeted when the two sides clash at Metricon Stadium next Saturday, the Gold Coast Bulletin reports.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
