TALK of the growing on-field gap between the AFL's powerhouses and minnows has dominated the media over the past few days.
With nine games decided by 100 points or more in 2011 - up from four in 2010 and one in 2009 - some commentators have expressed fears the competition will evolve into a two-tiered league.
Obviously, the introduction of new team Gold Coast this year has been a factor in these lopsided results. The Suns have been on the receiving end of three 100-point drubbings.
So can we expect even more of the same when Greater Western Sydney enters the competition next year? Like the Gold Coast, the Giants will build their playing list around a core of elite young talent.
Suns coach Guy McKenna gave an insight into just how hard it was for a young team to compete against hardened AFL teams on Monday night.
McKenna told Fox Sports' On the Couch his team had been outmuscled by opposition teams this season, especially more seasoned outfits such as Collingwood and Geelong.
McKenna said his players had been able to play about 60 minutes of "men's footy" in games this season, but after that noticeably fell away.
Despite that, McKenna was content the Suns had built their list around the right mix of youth and experience. He said their emphasis on youth was a case of "short-term pain for long-term gain".
As such, McKenna said the Suns would not look to trade any of their youngsters at the end of this year for more experienced opposition players. Rather, he said they would bridge the physical gap between the rest of the competition over time, by getting more pre-seasons into their existing players.
As for the Giants, GWS chairman Tony Shepherd told The Age there could be "no promises" about how the club would perform next year.
Although The Age said some recruiters and player managers believed the Giants would secure at least two more experienced out-of-contract players than the eight the Suns secured last year, Shepherd made it clear GWS would not be expecting instantaneous success.
"Our goal is to be in the finals in three to five years, and once there be there for a long time," Shepherd said.
"To build an AFL finals team takes patience, as the Eagles have shown. One must persevere with the great young talent we already have and will have, and give them the three years or so they will need to develop."
We think the Suns and Giants are taking the most proven path to sustained on-field success. Yes, it will take time and, yes, they will have to endure their share of beatings along the way, but the rewards they should eventually reap will more than justify those means.
Paying out on Chris Judd
Some at Media Watch understand the betting industry intimately. I freely admit I am not one of them.
Perhaps that's why I was bemused by the news Sportsbet.com.au had already paid out on Chris Judd as the 2011 Brownlow Medal winner.
The office punters told me there was method to their madness. Yes, there were four rounds still to be played, they said, and, yes, $300,000 is a lot of money. But as a marketing ploy alone it was worth the outlay. And, besides, the punters who had collected on Judd were just as likely to reinvest their winnings with Sportsbet.com.au, perhaps even on another Brownlow contender.
I've listened to their arguments and can see their logic. However, I'm still not sold.
After all, the Brownlow Medal traditionally has not been kind to its hot favourites. Off the top of my head, Wayne Carey (1998), Anthony Koutoufides (2000), Gary Ablett (2007 and, to a slightly lesser extent, 2008) and Dane Swan (2010) were all heavily favoured to take 'Charlie' home, but left empty handed.
I also remember what happened to another bookmaker that paid out early on another raging favourite. At the 2009 US PGA, Irish betting agency Paddy Power paid out on Tiger Woods when he led by four strokes at the halfway mark.
It seemed a fair bet at the time. Woods had been virtually unbeatable when leading a major, having never lost when he'd led, or shared the lead, going into the final 18 holes.
However, when little-known Korean player Y.E. Yang proved there's a first time for everything, overhauling Woods on the final nine holes to win by three shots, Paddy Power's early payout had cost it more than $2 million.
Afterwards, Paddy Power issued the following statement: "It takes a special kind of dimwit to turn what should have been our best ever golf result into our worst."
We'll know by late September whether Sportsbet.com.au made the right call.
Committed to Tassie
Last Sunday, Jeff Kennett used his last presidential address at a Launceston game to lament the fact the AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou and his commissioners had failed to attend a game there in his time at the helm of Hawthorn.
Kennett told Tuesday's Age he had overlooked the fact commissioner Sam Mostyn had attended a Hawks game at Aurora Stadium five years ago.
However, he maintained it was "important" for AFL heavyweights like Demetriou and chief commissioner Mike Fitzpatrick to attend games in Launceston.
"(Hawthorn has) flown the flag for all of Tasmania and I think they (the AFL) have taken the Tasmanian community for granted," Kennett said.
But Demetriou told The Age's Caroline Wilson the AFL had not snubbed Tasmanian football, saying other commitments had prevented him and Fitzpatrick from accepting an invitation from Kennett to last Sunday's game against North Melbourne.
"We do try to get to every state and I think we make a pretty good fist of it," Demetriou said.
"I've been to Tasmania this year and I hosted the Tasmanian Premier in the boardroom a few weeks ago."
The AFL has also underlined its commitment to football in Tasmania by helping to bring AFL football to Hobart from next season. The AFL took a lead role in negotiations with the Tasmanian Government that secured a three-year deal for North Melbourne to play two games a season at Bellerive Oval from 2012-14.
The negotiations were protracted and the Tasmanian Government's other budgetary commitments meant, at times, it seemed as though the deal would not get up.
But the AFL was committed to getting it over the line. And the end result - AFL games in Hobart - surely has to be good for football in Tasmania.
In short
This season's Coleman Medal looks likely to be won with the lowest goal tally in 30 years, The Age reports. Hawthorn's Lance Franklin and Richmond's Jack Riewoldt currently lead the Coleman race on 54 goals. The broadsheet said based on their season averages Franklin would finish the home and away season two goals clear of Riewoldt on 68, which would be the lowest Coleman tally since Leigh Matthews won with 67 goals in 1975.
St Kilda has put its poor start to 2011 behind it and now looks to have recaptured the 2009 Saints' blend of defence and attack, The Age's Michael Gleeson writes. Since their round eight loss to Hawthorn, the Saints have played with "élan", playing on and running and carrying the ball more often, Gleeson wrote.
Port Adelaide coach Matthew Primus says its poor 2011 season will not hurt its efforts to re-sign young defenders Alipate Carlile and Jackson Trengove, The Advertiser reports.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL
