BEN COUSINS looks set to return to the WAFL, where he played with East Fremantle in 1996 before joining West Coast, with The West Australian reporting that East Perth have asked East Fremantle for permission to negotiate with Cousins.
The decorated 270-game veteran of West Coast and Richmond has reportedly been working with six youngsters from East Perth and could be enticed to pull the boots back on according to East Perth coach Tony Micale.
"He never says never," Micale said.
Paperwork has been filed with registration required before June 30.
"We are just looking at the options of whether he is interested in it," East Perth general manager Alex Wilson said.
The return of Cousins will certainly provide plenty of interest in the WAFL if he does, in fact, return. For all his troubles, the 32 year-old was an outstanding footballer at AFL level and during his time at Richmond, he was a respected senior figure.
The young players of East Perth will certainly learn plenty from the 2005 Brownlow medallist.
A matter of money
There is no doubt Melbourne wants to keep Tom Scully. Most clubs would. He is, of course, a No.1 NAB AFL draft pick and a prodigious talent, a potential superstar who the Demons have staked much of their future in.
But can they afford him?
That is the pertinent question Mike Sheahan asks in today's Herald Sun.
Relative to what Greater Western Sydney could potentially offer (and have offered, if the rumour mill is to be trusted), there is no doubt the Demons, with existing contracts already in place and a number of established players of quality already signed, can't to keep the 20 year-old midfielder.
Contracts are often more than about money and if Scully was to re-sign with the Demons, he would not be the first player to take less money to stay loyal to a club that invested in him, a club where his mates play and a club that is closer to home.
But even on that discounted figure, could the Demons afford him?
Melbourne is playing it with a straight bat with chief executive Cameron Schwab saying, "we don't talk about these things".
Sheahan, always well connected in football circles, says, however, that "those who qualify as usually informed sources suggest Melbourne has flagged the idea of a long-term agreement - four years for an amount in the order of $2.8 million."
The importance of relativities then comes up. In this salary cap era, what does paying one young player such a large sum mean for the rest of the team?
"The relativities are critically important in a football club these days," Sheahan writes.
On this scale, the Demons could not afford to keep Jack Trengove, Jack Watts, Jack Grimes, Jordan Gysberts and Cale Morton, all promising youngsters who would not be out of order demanding something close to what Scully is on.
List management is a complex beast and contract values must stack up relatively.
Sheahan wrote that "it is a no-win predicament for the Demons". Media Watch completely agrees. Unfortunately for Melbourne, it now looks a situation that is more about loss minimisation than getting all it wants.
Calm Hardwick
Richmond has overachieved so far this season, at least in relation to what most of the pundits predicted and much of that has to do with coach Damien Hardwick's calm and reassuring demeanour.
The Tigers already have four wins and a draw this season as the stars of Dustin Martin, Trent Cotchin and Jack Riewoldt continue to rise while honest clubmen like Jake King and Robin Nahas are playing the best footy of their careers.
The football is tough and energetic and has direction.
And it seems that much of it comes back to Hardwick, who has a long-term vision for the club and the players.
That has led to a positive culture at Tigerland, one that led Hardwick to tell AAP "the one thing about our group - and [captain] Chris Newman's a real leader in this - is [that] the enthusiasm in our group can never be questioned"
''We've had a couple of narrow losses in the past couple of weeks, but we feel we're just a smidgen away from turning that around.
"Our guys are really well driven, they're enthusiastic and they're ready to play, looking forward to a great challenge."
Even after a trying week that included a close loss to the Sydney Swans, a long bus trip back to Melbourne and a trip to Brisbane, the Tigers seem upbeat and positive. That should hold these young Tigers in good stead as they look to take Richmond to the finals for the first time since 2001, be it this year or next.
In Short
Brisbane Lions veteran Luke Power tells The Age: ''I think the big thing for our club at the moment is signing Mitch Clark, Daniel Rich, [Matthew] Leuenberger - they are the future of the club."
Port Adelaide skipper Dom Cassisi tells The Advertiser that he wouldn't rule out a player strike if an agreement cannot be reached between the players and the AFL but said, "I'd like to think it doesn't get to that stage"
The Herald Sun looks at the rollercoaster career of Mathew Stokes as he prepares to become the third indigenous player to play 100 games for Geelong.
Daniel Bradshaw will move back to Wodonga, The Age reports, after the 231-game veteran announced his retirement on Friday after battling knee and hamstring injuries.
