No Running For 4 Months

G'Day Footy Fans -

BOMBERS LOSE LLOYD
The Bombers have suffered a major blow with the news that Matthew Lloyd will miss the rest of the season. What was initially thought to be just a severe hamstring tear or strain has been revealed to be much more serious with scans showing he actually had ripped the hamstring tendon from the bone. He underwent surgery on Monday and it could be up to 4 months before he can even begin running again. Former Carlton defender Steve Silvagni suffered the same injury during the Blues' 2000 finals campaign and has offered to speak with Lloyd about the injury and advise him on his recovery.
Since establishing himself as a permanent member of the senior side in 1997 - after making his debut in 1995 - Lloyd has played at least 20 games a season every year since except for 2002. That year he played just 16 games, missing 7 midseason games with a broken finger. Last year he also missed the first 2 games of the season as he recovered from a broken arm suffered in a preseason game, then struggled to recapture his best form, kicking only 59 goals in 20 games. The Bombers missed the finals for the first time since 1997.
Lloyd, who turned 28 last week, has been the Bombers' leading goal-kicker in each of the past nine years and won the Coleman Medal in 2000, 2001 and 2003 - topping the century of goals in 2000 and 2001.
James Hird led the side in this week's Anzac game, but Coach Kevin Sheedy said the club was keeping its options open regarding the captaincy for the rest of the year, and may even consider a rotational policy to give others a chance to step into leadership roles.

GENERAL NEWS

Father/Son Rule Change
The AFL Commission met last week to discuss the father/son rule and announced that there the 20 year qualifying period for the WA and SA clubs has been scrapped. That period was based on the immediate two decades in WAFL and SANFL football respectively before these teams entered the AFL competition, so as to ensure eligibility rules matched those of the other AFL clubs.
Previously, West Coast was bound by the period 1967-87, Fremantle 1975-95, Adelaide
1970-90 and Port Adelaide (1977-1997). However, the eligibility period still extends only to the year before each of those clubs entered the AFL competition, meaning West Coast's period ends in 1986, Adelaide's 1990, Port's 1996, and Fremantle's 1994.

Father Son Qualification Summary:
Adelaide: 200 SANFL Premiership games for Norwood, Glenelg, Sturt or South Adelaide up to the end of 1990. 100 AFL Premiership games for Adelaide.
Brisbane: 100 AFL Premiership games for Fitzroy, Brisbane Bears, or Brisbane Lions
Carlton: 100 AFL Premiership games for Carlton
Collingwood: 100 AFL Premiership games for Collingwood
Essendon: 100 AFL Premiership games for Essendon
Fremantle: 150 WAFL Premiership games for South Fremantle, East Fremantle, Perth or Swan Districts up to the end of 1994. 100 AFL Premiership games for Fremantle
Geelong: 100 AFL Premiership games for Geelong
Hawthorn: 100 AFL Premiership games for Hawthorn
Kangaroos: 100 AFL Premiership games for Kangaroos/North Melbourne
Melbourne: 100 AFL Premiership games for Melbourne
Port Adelaide: 200 SANFL Premiership games for Port Magpies, Woodville, North Adelaide, Central Districts, West Adelaide or West Torrens up to the end of 1996. 100 AFL Premiership games for Port Adelaide
Richmond: 100 AFL Premiership games for Richmond
St Kilda: 100 AFL Premiership games for St Kilda
Sydney: 100 AFL Premiership games for South Melbourne/Sydney
West Coast: 150 WAFL Premiership games for Claremont, East Perth, West Perth or Subiaco up to the end of 1986. 100 AFL Premiership games for West Coast
Western Bulldogs: 100 AFL Premiership games for Western Bulldogs/Footscray

Also discussed was the proposed bidding system, but the Commission has requested further detail from the AFL Draft Committee and will review the issue later in the year.

New Talent Camp
The AFL is conducting a talent camp in the Sydney area this week in search of young football talent in NSW.
AFL (NSW/ACT) General Manager Dale Holmes said the camp and the recently launched Scholarship Program demonstrates the AFL's commitment to attract talented athletes to the AFL. Holmes said there was a large pool of talented youngsters across a variety of sports who could find their way to AFL level outside the normal pathways. Representatives from all 16 clubs will attend the camp.
Athletes turning 15, 16 or 17 between May 1, 2006 and January 31, 2007 residing in the Developing NSW Market Region* will be eligible for listing with AFL Clubs from next Monday.
Approximately 360 players representing six zones across the State and Territory will participate in a week long program encompassing physical testing, theory and education, plus a series of matches.
The camp will consist of four components: 1) Approximately 30 Under 13 and Under 14 year old talented athletes with non-AFL backgrounds from independent schools have been invited to attend one day (Tuesday April 25) to get a snapshot of the talent program and pathway that AFL can provide; 2) 288 AFL players from the Under 15 and Under 16 talent program will
compete for State selection, as well as complete physical testing, theory and education sessions; 3) the Under 18 NSW/ACT RAMS State Squad of approximately 30 players will train at the Camp in preparation for the NAB AFL Under 18 Championships in June; and 4) a select group of 17 umpires aged 15 to 18 years will also attend the first Umpires' Development Academy, where they will undertake theory and education sessions as well as umpire the 30 matches to be staged during the camp.

Radio Negotiations
Now that the new TV deal has been secured, the league has taken the first steps toward negotiations for the radio rights for 2007-11, the same time frame for the television deal.
Letters have been written to both current broadcasters and stations which do not currently hold games rights, seeking expressions of interest.
All companies that wish to be part of the negotiations have been asked to provide an expression of interest by May 11, with the AFL hoping to finalize all agreements by the end of July.
AFL Communications Officer Ben Buckley said the AFL would consider all options available to it in regard to national or state-based agreements, AM and FM exclusive and non-exclusive agreements, broadcast day/night package options and support programming around AFL match broadcasts. As part of its next agreements, Buckley said the AFL would seek coverage into the home markets of all clubs for all games

Have Your Say
For the first time since the awards were begun, fans can now vote for the best goal and mark of each round along with the panel experts. The panel members are Kevin Sheehan (AFL National Talent Manager), Rod Austin (AFL Football Administration Manager), Matthew Campbell (Fox Footy - The Winners), Anthony Hudson (Network TEN and SEN) and Brian Taylor (NINE Network & Triple M). Each week, they will make their nominations and cast their votes.
These votes will then be posted on the Toyota Engine Room website at
afl.com.au/toyotaengineroom
for footy fans to cast their vote. The expert and fan votes will then be combined to determine the weekly winners.
Fans can vote via a simple online poll that will be open on the website each week from Tuesday afternoon until Friday at noon with the winners announced on Network TEN's AFL coverage on Saturday afternoon and evening.
At the end of the season, the weekly winners will be judged by members of the expert panel and the AFL All Australian selection committee to determine the overall winners.
For more information on the 2006 Mark of the Year and Goal of the Year awards, or to view the nominations and vote on this week's result visit afl.com.au/toyotaengineroom at http://www.afl.com.au/toyotaengineroom

Fans can also view the weekly nominations at the engine room website.

How the weekly voting system works: Each week, the panel will meet to discuss and vote on their weekly nominations. Once the nominations are decided, the panel will be asked to allocate a total of 100 votes across the 3 marks and 100 votes across the 3 goals, according to how they rank the nominations and assess the quality of each against the other 2.
Example of Round One nominations for Mark of the Year
Jeff White - 38 votes
Brett Burton - 30 votes
Dale Thomas - 32 votes
100 votes in total

Once the panel casts their votes, the percentage received by each nomination in the online poll will make up the fans allocation of votes (100 in total)

Example of fan votes: Round One nominations for Mark of the Year
Jeff White - 27 votes
Brett Burton - 23 votes
Dale Thomas - 50 votes
100 votes in total

The votes from both the panel and the fan poll are combined and averaged to determine the final result for the weekly winners, so for the Round 1 mark, it was:
Panel Vote Fan Vote Average
Jeff White 38 27 32.5
Brett Burton 30 23 26.5
Dale Thomas 32 50 41
TOTAL 100 100 100

With an average of 41, Dale Thomas is the Round 1 winner

The winners will be shown on the AFL website and listed in the Sunday Herald Sun and the AFL Record. The Record lists all 3 nominees each week as well as announcing the overall winner from the previous rounds.

Recent Winners of the marks and goals:
2001: Gary Moorcroft, Mark Merenda
2002: Jonathan Brown, Jason Akermanis
2003: Chris Tarrant, Daniel Kerr
2004: Ashley Sampi, Daniel Wells
2005: Luke McPharlin, Chris Judd

This year's nominations for Mark of The Year are Dale Thomas (COL) in Round 1 and Jarad Rooke (GEEL) in Round 2. The Goal of The Year nominations are Barry Hall (SYD) in Round 1 and Patrick Bowden (RICH) in Round 2

Record Dome Crowds
The 4 games at the Dome over the Easter weekend were attended by more than 160,000 fans, beating this year's Round 1 total of 155,460 fans. The St. Kilda/Brisbane match attracted 35,760 supporters. The Saturday game between Sydney and Carlton brought in 36,930 fans while Essendon and the Bulldogs pulled 43,947 fans through the gates.
The biggest attendance was 48,721 for the Collingwood/Kangaroo game on Monday afternoon.

In related news, Magpie defenders James Clement and Nick Maxwell believe the Telstra Dome surface has improved from 2005 but agree the turf's firmness compared to other grounds continues to cause wear and tear on the body. The Magpies have played 3 consecutive games at the Dome and both players said their legs are notably weary from those games. Clement said while he enjoys playing on the ground with stadium management fixing most of the problems, he said the surface is still quite hard which takes a toll on players with many suffering minor niggles, aches, and pains not experienced when they play on softer grounds.

New Museum At MCG
Plans are afoot for a new super sport museum underneath the newly developed northern stand at the MCG, a project which will cost an estimated $15 million, with the Federal government funding the project.
The world-class National Sports Museum will honor AFL, cricket, the Olympics, soccer, rugby league and scores of other sports.
The state-of-the-art project is more than three times bigger than the MCG's former sports memorabilia site, and has renewed a push for the prized cricket Ashes urn to be kept in Australia whenever arch-enemy England is beaten in the Test series.
MCG Trust chairman John Wylie said the new museum was the perfect place to keep the precious Test trophy secure and a formal approach would be made to Marylebone Cricket Club's museum, where the cup currently resides when Australia has possession. The National Sports Museum will house the Australian Gallery of Sport and Olympic Museum, the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame, an Aussie rules section and exhibitions. It will feature tributes to legends such as motor racing great Sir Jack Brabham and tennis ace Margaret Court.
Footy supporters will view displays on AFL heroes, great playing moments, game history, club displays, premiership cups, fan culture and an interactive ladder.
The museum also draw on a collection of 35,000 items including Australia's first Olympic gold medallist Edwin Flack's 1896 Athens victory wreath, cycling great Sir Hubert Opperman's 1940 bicycle, Sir Donald Bradman's bat used on his last tour of England in 1948, the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games cauldron, and a section of last month's Melbourne Commonwealth Games track. Up to 5000 items will be shown at any one time.
Other memorabilia the museum wants to secure includes the bat used by fast bowler Jason Gillespie in his remarkable double century against Bangladesh last week. The museum will also campaign for the ball used in next month's soccer World Cup warm-up at the MCG between the Socceroos and Greece.
MCC Secretary Stephen Gough also wants to borrow world cups for cricket, rugby union, and hockey while overseas teams are touring Australia.
Due to open in November next year, it is expected to attract more than 200,000 visitors a year.

List Changes
With several clubs already having players cut down by season ending or long term injuries, those clubs have submitted modified lists to the league: They are:

Brisbane: elevated Cheynee Stiller to senior list to replace Pat Garner (knee reconstruction)
Richmond: elevated Jeremy Humm to replace Will Thursfield (knee reconstruction)
West Coast: elevated Matthew Priddis to replace Brad Smith (knee reconstruction)

Umpire Attack
Volunteer umpire Michael Delaney, the parent of a nine-year-old Endeavour Hills footballer, said he was assaulted after a match on a "fun day" at the Dandenong North Football Oval on August 8, 2004. Delaney had awarded a controversial free kick in favor of his son's junior side in a tight game. At the end of the match, Delaney testified that the opposition coach punched him. As he raised his arms to protect himself from further blows from the coach, he was king hit from behind.
Delaney told the court he was then repeatedly kicked by the coach's assistant, Francesco Giuseppe Scordo. The former coach Tony Clifford Bundy, 23, pleaded not guilty to recklessly causing injury and unlawful assault. Scordo — whose father was umpiring on behalf of Bundy's team Mossgiel Park, pleaded not guilty to four charges, including intentionally causing serious injury and unlawful assault.
The court heard the game was part of a fun day at which more than 10 under-9 teams were competing as part of the Dandenong Districts Junior Football League. The junior games are usually umpired by one person from each side.
According to Delaney's testimony, he blew the final whistle but the game continued and an Endeavour Hills player took a mark in the goal square. He gave a penalty from the 25-meter mark and the boy kicked a point, but Mossgiel Park still won by four points.
Delaney also testified that earlier in the game a Mossgiel Park official swore at a Endeavour Hills player, and that this had angered him.
Bundy and Scordo have reportedly been banned from the Dandenong league.
Tim Sullivan, for Scordo, told the court that it was Delaney who started the incident by "chesting" his client when Mossgiel Park moved ahead.
Jennifer Chisholm, the mother of an Endeavour Hills player, told the court she saw Scordo violently kicking Delaney. She said she pushed him away and told him she intended to report him. "He told me he would get me," she said.
Senior Constable Dieter Leinmueller, who was there to umpire the next game, told the court Mr Delaney let the game run up to an extra 10 seconds and that Mr Delaney was the aggressor. Leinmueller said many of the children present were distraught and in tears after the incident.

Nixon's New Idea
Influential player agent Ricky Nixon has urged the AFLPA to push for the introduction of a franchise player at each club whose payments would not be included in the salary cap.
Nixon, who also backed Leigh Matthews' call for at least a 15% pay rise for the players next season, said having a star player at each team would stop clubs hiding behind marketing deals as a way of meeting total player payments.
Nixon also pointed out that such a player would also help retain members by their public appearances, especially with younger fans.
Nixon has also again raised the issue of free agency, saying a limited form of free agency is inevitable and would like to it introduced for players with 10 years or more service to one club.
Nixon, who said it was unrealistic for the AFL to even moot a pay rise of just 5 per cent — as it recently did to the 16 clubs — said it was inevitable that a qualified form of free-agency be introduced for footballers who had played for 10 years at their clubs.
Brendon Gale, who is negotiating the final two years of the current collective bargaining agreement, said the AFLPA had not ruled out the franchise option but nor was it a key component of the current negotiations.
As for some form of free-agency, Gale said that was more likely to be put forward early next year when the two parties could start negotiations for 2009.

New Sponsor
A company called Smith's Snackfoots has signed on a major sponsor the AFL for the next 3 years. As part of the promotional launch, packages of chips - called Crisps - Doritos, and corn chips will contain "AFL Hot Shot Tazos", featuring the best players from each of the 16 clubs. The theme of the promotion will be "Who are the AFL Hot Shots ?", inviting consumers to buy Smith's & Doritos and find out which players actually were good enough to make this elite group of players. The AFL Hot Shot Tazos will be available in a number of series including Classic Series, Special Holographic Series, Shattering 3D Series, and Super Rare Signature Series - with authentic player signatures.
The promotion is for a limited time with the Tazos packs available in Victoria, SA, WA, Tasmania, and the NT.

TRIBUNAL
Charges Laid:

Justin Leppitsch (BRIS), striking Saint Brendon Goddard: intentional (3), medium impact (2), behind play (1), and high contact (2), equaling 8 points for a Level 5 offence, 425 demerits and a 4 game suspension. He has an applicable good record, reducing the penalty 25% to 318.75 demerits. He has an applicable good record, reducing the penalty a further 25% to 239.06 demerits and a 2 game suspension. Leppitsch accepted.

Cain Ackland (STK), striking Lion Jamie Charman: negligent (1), low impact (1), in play (0), and high contact (2), equaling 4 points, a Level 1 offence, and 76 demerits.
He has an applicable good record which reduces the penalty 25% to 56.25 demerits. He entered an early plea reducing the penalty a further 25% to 42.19 demerits and a reprimand with the demerits to be applied to his future record. He accepted.

Brendan Fevola (CARL), rough conduct against Swan Brett Kirk: negligent (1), medium impact (2), in play (0), high contact (2), equaling 5 points, a Level 2 offence, 125 demerits, and a 1 match suspension. He has an applicable bad record of 4 matches suspended within the last 3 years, increasing his penalty 30% (37.50 demerits as well as a further residual 40 points, increasing the penalty to 202.50 demerits and a 2 game suspension. He entered an early plea, reducing the penalty 25% to 151.88 points and a 1 game suspension.

Michael Firrito (KANG). striking Magpie Chris Tarrant: reckless (2), low impact (1), high contact (2), equaling 5 points, a Level 2 offence, and 125 demerits for a 1 game suspension.
He has no applicable good or bad record and entered an early plea, reducing the penalty 25% to 93.75 demerits and a reprimand.

Other incidents assessed: No Charge Laid.

The match day report laid against Geelong's David Johnson was reviewed. The panel ruled his action was a pushing action and not a strike, and therefore not a reportable offence.

A scuffle at 3/4 time between St Kilda and Brisbane players was reviewed and no action taken.

The 3/4 time scuffle between Port and Docker players was reviewed and no action taken.

MILESTONES
AFL Life Membership: David Neitz (MELB) qualified for automatic AFL life membership this weekend with his 300th official match, with his career so far comprising 268 premiership matches, 26 pre-season matches, two state of origin matches and three International Rules matches. As a note, David has kicked 541 goals in his career, which places him just behind the club record of Norm Smith, who kicked 546 goals between 1935-48.

250 games: Sav Rocca (KANG). As a note, Sav has kicked 734 goals in his career, which places him in 14th spot on the all-time list, just behind 13th-placed Bill Mohr (STK, 735 goals) and 12th-placed Stephen Kernahan (CARL, 738 goals)
Club Record Goals: Matthew Pavlich (FRE) has kicked 173 goals so far in his career. The club record is held by Clive Waterhouse who kicked 178 goals between 1996-2004
100 games: Ryan Lonie (COL), Mark Bolton (ESS), Brent Guerra (HAW), Darren Glass (WCE)
50 games: Dylan McLaren (CARL), Brent Staker (WCE), Daniel Cross (WB)

TEAM NEWS

KANGAROOS
Injury Update:
Jesse Smith, ankle, 2-3 weeks
Glenn Archer, hamstring, 1-2 weeks

Membership: 20,745

FREMANTLE
Peter Bell has extended his contract with the Dockers for a further two years, committing himself to the club until the end of the 2008. The hard-running midfielder said he was stoked to re-sign with the Dockers, and was confident the club was headed for success.
Bell has skippered the Dockers since 2002 and is now the club's longest serving captain, but admitted there was a good chance he would resign the captaincy before his contract expires.
Bell also dismissed rumors that he and Coach Chris Connolly had a recent falling out, saying he was committed to both club and Coach.
Bell was the first player signed by Fremantle in its inaugural season in 1995, but after one year at the club he crossed to the Kangaroos, where he played in the 1996 and 1999 premierships. He returned to the Dockers in 2001, and has won the B&F times.

Elevated rookie Paul Duffield was named to the preliminary 25 man squad for this week's game for his AFL debut.
Duffield was on Fremantle's Rookie List for the 2004 and 2005 seasons, but was delisted last November before being retained by the Dockers in December via the AFL Rookie Draft.
Connolly said he had been impressed with Duffield's work ethic over the past few months, and felt he had the potential to work his way up the ranks at Fremantle.

Daniel Haines underwent surgery last week to repair his right Achilles tendon and will miss the rest of the season. Haines suffered the injury playing in the WAFL last week.

MELBOURNE
Injury Update:
David Neitz, strained hip flexor, 2 weeks
Paul Johnson, shoulder, 4-6 weeks
Brock McLean, strained adductor, 1-2 weeks
Ryan Ferguson, cracked ribs/punctured lung, 7 weeks

ST KILDA
Fergus Watts, who joined the Saints this year from Adelaide, suffered a broken leg last week in a VFL game and is out indefinitely. He is the son of club CEO Jim Watts.
Watts had five touches for the Saints in the season opener against West Coast, but has spent the last two weeks in the VFL. He managed just 5 games in 2 years with the Crows before joining the Saints.
His absence leaves the Saints a bit exposed in the key forward department, although Justin Koschitzke returned this week to bolster the club's big man stocks.

Injury Update:
Fraser Gehrig, hamstring 1-2 weeks

WEST COAST
Michael Gardiner met with Coach John Worsfold last week and has rejoined the senior list for training after assuring Worsfold of his commitment to the club and team. However, he remained in Perth and did not travel with the team to Manuka Oval.

Injury Update:
Brad Smith, knee, season
Matthew Spangher, groin, 7 weeks
Drew Banfield, thumb, 2 weeks

Ben Cousins missed this week due to hamstring soreness, but will return next week.

CARLTON
Last week's board meeting saw the installation of Graham Smorgon as president, but the board also appointed Stephen Kernahan as one of 2 VPs. The other VP is millionaire businessman and long-time supporter, John Valmorbida.
When asked what the club's main ambition would be under his leadership, Smorgon first nominated on-field success, adding that his tenure would be about the Blues "getting back to the position it rightfully deserves". Smorgon also confirmed that the boards of both the football and social club had consented to the merging of the social club's operations into the football club.
The social club merger opens the way for the AFL to take control of the Princes Park lease — a deal that the club hopes will be an enormous boost to Carlton's finances as it will save the club the millions it needs to maintain the ground.
The departure of Collins further reduced the board to just eight members, with decorated former premiership players Greg Williams, Stephen Silvagni, Ken Hunter and David McKay having resigned from the original board Collins led after the ouster of John Elliott.
Under the club articles, Carlton was required to elect its president and vice-president at the board meeting as it was the first formal meeting since last month's AGM. New director Greg Lee, who had stated his desire to succeed Collins, pledged "100% support" for Smorgon.

Graham Smorgon revealed last week that Coach Denis Pagan had been ordered at the end of last season to adopt a youth policy and to adapt his coaching style to a less aggressive managerial model.
Smorgon said that ordering Pagan to stick to a youth policy had probably come two years too late. Smorgon also said that while Pagan fought successfully to retain all of his assistant coaches, he was told in return to give more responsibility to those assistants and to rebuild the club by blooding young players "or the club will die".

At the same press conference, Smorgon revealed the new alternate guernsey which will be used in games against teams with similar colors. It is white with navy blue trim, numbers, and logo on the front.

Injury Update:
Justin Davies, back, 2-3 Weeks
Adam Hartlett, hamstring, 5-6 weeks

BRISBANE
Injury Update:
Jed Adcock, quad, 1-2 weeks
Richard Hadley & Pat Garner, ACL rupture/knee reconstruction, season
Chris Scott, hip surgery, indefinite
Josh Drummond, dislocated shoulder, 2-5 weeks
Nigel Lappin, ankle, 12-16 weeks
Lenny Clark (rookie), patella tendonitis, 5 weeks
Clark Keating, stress reaction in foot, 2-4 weeks

PORT ADELAIDE
Injury update:
Josh Francou, knee, 2 weeks
Adam Kingsley, dislocated shoulder, 2 weeks
Michael Wilson, hamstring, 2-3 weeks

Warren Tredrea (dislocated kneecap) returned to the side this week

COLLINGWOOD
President Eddie McGuire is confident that Nathan Buckley has a future in coaching. To that end, he wants to enroll him in courses which will help Buckley achieve that goal. McGuire has already discussed plans with Buckley. The plan includes sending Buckley as well as Scott Burns, also seen as a potential coach, to other clubs and sporting institutions - some overseas - the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS), and even a few business and management courses to understand how to balance a salary cap and a list.

The club has offered to play its four away interstate games each year on the Gold Coast to help promote AFL football in the region. The offer would require four interstate clubs to sacrifice a home game to play Collingwood at Carrara each year.
Admitting the offer was self-serving, Eddie McGuire said the plan could be alternated with another big club such as Essendon playing its away games at the ground each year, to ensure the new venue was launched with blockbusters.
McGuire pointed out that a training run at the ground was attended by 10,000 fans and suggested games against Adelaide, Port Adelaide, and Brisbane could be crowd pullers.

Defender Chad Morrison lost his driver's licence for 6 months this week after being caught DUI. Morrison was breath tested in Richmond on Saturday night and recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.093 - in excess of the legal limit of 0.05. As well as the suspension of his licence, he also received an an on-the-spot fine of $314.
Collingwood released a statement on Monday regarding the incident, with the club expressing its disappointment with the actions of Morrison.
The Magpies have a community partnership with the TAC and advised them of the incident.
Morrison is yet to play a senior game for the club this home-and-away season in what is his second year with the club after 148 games in 9 years with the Eagles. He was traded to the Pies at the end of 2004.
Last year, Richmond lost its major sponsorship with the TAC when defender Jay Schulz was caught over the limit, following another incident in 2001 involving former Tigers player Royce Vardy. Two years ago, Morrison's teammate Cameron Cloke lost his licence for 6 months after being clocked at 144km/h in a 100-km zone. The Magpies also fined Cloke $5000.

Simon Prestigiacomo, a late withdrawal last week due to a groin injury, returned this week.
Scott Burns, who had an interrupted preseason and missed Round 2 with illness, also returned this week.

ADELAIDE
Despite the father/son rule change, the club is still miffed that it will miss out on 17 year old Bryce Gibbs. Despite the lifting of the 20 year qualification period, Gibbs father, Ross, did not reach the required 200 games until after the Crows entered the AFL.
That means that Gibbs, who has been tipped to be taken in the top five selections this year if not number one, can now be drafted by any club.
Under the previous father/son rule Gibbs was not eligible to be claimed by Adelaide as his father only played 191 games in Adelaide's 20-year eligibility period for father and son selections -which were the years 1970-90 immediately before the club was formed.
The Crows wanted the period to also include the club's formative years in the competition, which would have made Gibbs eligible as his father would have played the 200 games.
The league rejected Adelaide's bid to include the club's formative years in the qualifying period.
Club CEO Steven Trigg said the Crows' bid to have the rule changed was not just about snaring Gibbs but about ensuring the club had the same amount of potential father/son selections as other clubs. Trigg said that as a result of flawed analysis on which the father-son rule was based, the Crows and Port had a pool of about 25 fathers, compared with 50-60 for the other clubs. He estimated it would be at least five, possibly 10, years before the club started to regularly produce father/son selections.

Injury Update:
Ben Hudson, knee reconstruction rehab, possible late season return
Scott Welsh, stress fracture in leg, 3 weeks
Jason Torney, quad, 2 weeks
Darren Pfeiffer, back, indefinite
Nathan Bock, back, mid to late season return

GEELONG
Geelong's big victories in the first two rounds have helped the club to a new membership record. Over the Easter weekend, the club moved past last year's record of 30,821 members and its new mark now stands at 31,507. Almost half of the membership list - approximately 14500 - live locally in Geelong, while 8900 are based in Melbourne and 8000 reside in country Victoria, interstate and overseas (including AFANA stalwart Brian Bay in Kansas - Lisa)
Geelong Chief executive Brian Cook thanked the club's members and stakeholders for their continued support and dedication to the club.
When Frank Costa took over as president and Brian Cook became CEO in 1999, the club was in serious debt and had just over 21,000 members.

Geelong has terminated the contract of its head of fitness, Loris Bertolacci, but club CEO Brian Cook would not elaborate on the reasons behind the decision. Betolacci was in the 2nd year of a 3 year contract.
The club announced in March that it had appointed a new doctor - Dr. Chris Bradshaw - to oversee the club's medical team. Bradshaw is currently the club doctor at English soccer club Fulham and will join the Cats at the end of the current English Premier League season next month.
Bradshaw has a long history as one of Australia's pre-eminent sports medicine professionals. He served as Richmond's club doctor for 12 years before moving to London and taking the job with Fulham three years ago.

Coach Mark Thompson has raised concerns about how the speed of the game is affecting bigger players, and backed it by pointing out the fact that Geelong, the Bulldogs, and several other clubs have all lost some of their bigger players to injury over the past few months.
Cat captain Steven King; Bulldogs Will Minson, Luke Darcy and Tim Walsh; Justin Koschitzke and Fraser Gehrig (St Kilda); Trent Knobel and Greg Stafford (Richmond); John Barker (Hawthorn); Jason Laycock (Essendon); Ben Hudson (Adelaide) and Warren Tredrea (Port Adelaide) are among the tall players who have been cut down by injury. In an interview last week, he was quoted, "I'd hate to see a footy field just filled with blokes the same size. I don't know (why talls are being hurt), it's just a farce, they're just getting injured. We just have to be careful how we train big blokes."

With King's hamstring injury and Minson's broken leg, much of Geelong's rucking duties this week fell to inexperienced duo Mark Blake and Bulldog Peter Street, although Thompson said he could throw some of the load to Brad Ottens or Cameron Mooney. He also considering bringing in Tom Lonergan to bolster tall numbers.

David Wojcinski, recovering from a knee reconstruction, has been playing in the VFL for the past month and is close to returning to the seniors.

SYDNEY
Club legend Paul Kelly has stood down from the board, citing the difficulties of distance from his home in Wagga Wagga, along with family and business commitments. He told the board it was in the best interests of the club that he resign.
Kelly was elected to the board at the beginning of last year after being nominated by Tony Lockett and seconded by Dennis Carroll.
An election will be held early next year to fill the vacancy.

Injury Update:
Paul Bevan, hamstring, 1-2 weeks
Andrew Ericksen, shoulder, 8 weeks

RICHMOND
Coach Terry Wallace, club officials and medical staff met last week to discuss Nathan Brown and his recovery. While Brown has managed to play several games so far this year, he has pulled up sore afterward and after training. Until the residual soreness subsides, Brown will be given regular breaks from games and modified training.
Richmond doctor Greg Hickey said that with Brown experiencing increased pain during and after matches, his recovery from the injury had also slowed. However, he also said that x-rays had showed advanced healing and believes the pain is being caused by a stress reaction at the fracture site and will have to be managed. As the pain subsides, Brown's training workload will be increased. After a promising return to senior football this year, collecting 18 possessions in Round 1, he had 10 touches against St Kilda in Round 2 but managed just 2 kicks against the Eagles last week. His 3 matches so far this year have returned one goal. In the 9 matches he played in 2005 before breaking his leg he booted 34 goals.
After he pulled up sore from the season opener against the Western Bulldogs, Wallace played Brown inside the Tigers' forward 50 against St Kilda, but said that role also left him with soreness and restricted his ability to train.

Injury Update:
Kelvin Moore, hip, 2 weeks
Jay Schulz, shoulder, 5 weeks
Will Thursfield, knee, season
Thomas Roach, broken jaw, 4 weeks
Darren Gaspar, hamstring, 2 weeks

Trent Knobel and Brad Ottens returned from injury this week.

Membership: 27,611

ESSENDON
Injury Update:
Mark Bolton, groin, 2 weeks
Richard Cole, calf strain, 3-4 weeks
Courtenay Dempsey, ankle, 2-3 games
Jason Laycock, thumb, 1 week
Matthew Lloyd, hamstring, season
Lachlan McKinnon, shoulder reconstruction, 4 months
Adam Ramanauskas, cancer, indefinite

Membership: 34,778

HAWTHORN
Club CEO Ian Robson has conceded the club's membership is not exactly where he would like it to be, but he's confident of cracking the 30,000 barrier by the official June deadline.
Robson said the phones had been running hot at the club in the wake of the win over the Cats last week, but there was plenty of catching up to do.
The club has 23,500 members and Robson said that figure was OK and expressed the club's appreciation and grateful for members who had renewed this year. He believes the trend of members signing up at the team's first MCG game (against Essendon) next week will continue. Robson said the club was hoping to crack the 30,000 mark this year.
The Hawks' record membership was achieved in 1999 when 32,120 signed-up. Membership remained above 30,000 in the period 2001-04 but dropped to 29,261 last year.

HAWTHORN
Club president Jeff Kennett believes the final 8 needs to be scrapped, saying rewarding mediocre teams with a finals berth is ridiculous. He said the current system is only a marketing tool for the AFL.

Peter Everitt has sought a two-year contract extension from Hawthorn, a request the Hawks to date have been unwilling to meet, instead offering just a one year deal. Everitt, who asked to be traded to Sydney last year, will consider the offer before resuming talks with the club.
Everitt, who does not have a full-time manager and does much of the negotiating himself, had approached the Swans, saying he wished to join the premiers. Hawthorn refused, saying they would not release Everitt unless they could get a quality ruckman in return, a deal Sydney rejected.
While Everitt has been positive about remaining at Hawthorn since his trade request was denied, the club's unwillingness thus far to offer him a two-year deal will heighten speculation about his future beyond this year.

WESTERN BULLDOGS
Last week, a group of players led by Rohan Smith joined students from a local primary school to plant vegetables to promote the new statewide initiative known as the Multicultural School Gardens program. The program is aimed at developing an understanding of traditional food grown in the countries of origin of Victoria's diverse multicultural society and promoting life skills and better diet.
In a joint statement Bulldog CEO Campbell Rose and Ann-Maree Colborne, CEO of the Gould Group, which is delivering the program, said the link between sport, life skills, the environment and the schools in the west of Melbourne provided a strong cornerstone for ongoing communication and promotion to the community.
Rose said the club was committed to "...providing the local community with modern, friendly, family oriented community based venues, training and education opportunities, and creating long term relationships with the local community."
Rose went on to say that the partnership with the Gould Group is yet another example of the Western Bulldogs positive building capacity within the local community and the club's recognition as the community club within the AFL.

The Multicultural School Gardens Project is an $850,000 3-year project engaging ethnic Victorians, particularly targeting older community members, to share their experiences, stories of their culture, and the traditional food plants that they grow and eat with students in disadvantaged schools in different parts of Victoria.
An intensive, coaching-style approach will be used for this project where a Gould Group facilitator works closely with the participant schools to guide them in establishing their garden infrastructure and systems to embed the cultural gardening project in the school - as a physical garden, within the curriculum, and as an ongoing community volunteer project.

Daniel Giansiracusa was cleared of any serious damage to his ankle last week and was able to play this week.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW
Former Blue Brett Backwell and ex-Crows Darryl Wintle and Chris Ladhams are both at Glenelg in the SANFL

Delisted Eagle Aaron Edwards (1 game in 2005) has returned to Victoria to play with VFL side Frankston. He hopes to be drafted by another club later this year.

Former Kangaroo Adam Lange is at Swan District in the WAFL

Former Demon Darren Kowal, at 33 and coming back from a knee injury, is still playing for Claremont in the WAFL

Former Demons Chris Lamb and Guy Rigoni have joined David Gallagher (ex-Adelaide/Carlton) and Chad Liddell (Collingwood) at Sandringham in the VFL

GENERAL SILLINESS
Each week, the AFL Record features a small section called Pocket Profile in which a player is asked a dozen or so questions. A recent edition featured Aaron Sandilands, the 211 cm giant from Fremantle. Asked which player he tried to model himself after, he answered Andre The Giant. He says teammate Pavlich is the funniest player at the club, the best advice he's ever gotten is to duck, and that he is always being reminded to watch his head.

Would love to know the story - or stories - behind this one, but Carlton's Adrian DeLuca says the best advice he's gotten lately is to stay away from teammate Jarrad Waite

Essendon center half forward Ken Fraser is a very principled man and took those attributes onto the field when he played in the 60s. He believed that whacking a player in retaliation was a waste of energy. Once, against Hawthorn, he copped a hit from Hawk John McArthur. Fraser's teammate Alex Epis kept urging him to retaliate, but he refused. Epis then suggested that Fraser give the guy a verbal spray. Later, Epis asked Fraser if he had said anything to McArthur to which Fraser replied that he had. But the spray was nothing more than Fraser telling McArthur that he was uncouth.

During another game against Melbourne, Demon Coach Norm Smith told one of his defenders, Brian "Wrecker" Leahy to try to put Fraser off his game by swearing a blue streak at him, which Leahy did. As they were walking off the ground, Fraser told Leahy that the expletives didn't concern him, but such language made Leahy look like a lesser person. Leahy replied that being a country boy, he wasn't as well-educated as Fraser and guys like him should be pitied. Fraser says he then felt like he'd hurt the guy's feelings.

And Inside Football's Back Pocket humor page has replaced reprints from The Bladder website with its own amusing - and completely fabricated - articles, which poke fun at current issues. A recent edition featured a "story" about umpire Matthew James being suspended for calling a perfect and flawless match during the preseason. The article went on about how the AFL and AFL Umpire Director "Goosen" want to keep the 85% efficiency rate intact and can't afford to have umpires such as James messing that up. And it also mentioned that he left his Queensland hotel room untidy.

On to the scores:

HAW 5.2 6.4 10.6 15.10 (100)
CARL 2.4 4.6 6.13 9.14 (68)
GOALS: HAW - Croad 5, Mitchell 2, Osborne 2, Williams 2, Bateman, Clarke, Everitt, Ladson; CARL - Whitnall 3, Koutoufides 2, Stevens 2, Betts, Fisher
BEST: HAW - Hodge, Croad, Osborne, Jacobs, Crawford, Brown; CARL - Whitnall, Walker, Stevens, Houlihan

REPORTS: HAW - Croad for striking Jordan Russell
The incident was assessed as reckless (2), low impact (1), in play (0), and high contact (2), equating 125 points and a 1 game suspension. Croad entered an early plea reducing this to 93.75 demerits and a reprimand

UMPIRES: Goldspink, Chamberlain, Meredith

ATTENDANCE: 45,102 at Telstra Dome

Carlton may have had more of the ball and may have gone into attack more often, but it was the Hawks who used it better and were more accurate in front of goal. With Croad a constant target of forward, they were also more direct than Carlton.
After Brad Fisher kicked the first goal for Carlton, Rick Ladson got one back and a 50-meter penalty took Croad to the goal line, where he put the Hawks in front. Then Bateman found space and Croad marked for the next two goals. Carlton managed their only other goal for the term due to errors from both sides. First Setanta O'hAilpin sent a set shot way wide, but Zac Dawson fired the free kick back in the same direction, to a contest. The ball fell to ground, with Vandenberg on top of it. He held it too long and was pinged, allowing Koutoufides to goal. Had the Blues kicked straighter, they would have been much closer. Instead, it was the Hawks by 16 points at 1/4 time. Croad had six shots on goal in the opening term, booting 3.2 and one out of bounds opposed to Whitnall.
Whitnall was shifted forward at the start of the 2nd term with Walker getting the job on Croad and young defender Zac Dawson (who was toweled up by Magpie Anthony Rocca) took on Whitnall. But it was Hawthorn who hit the scoreboard first with a goal to Mitchell inside the first minute, extending the Hawk lead to 22 points. Both teams reverted to flooding for much of the term and the ball shot back and forth from one end to the other and both sides were guilty of some sloppy play. But the Blues fought back through Whitnall who kicked a 65 meter bouncing goal early in the term. Then Clarke turned the ball over and Stevens ran into space and marked 15 meters out from goal midway through the term. With Croad effectively shut down by Walker, the Hawks lacked a target up forward.It was a similar story with the clearances, where the Hawks midfielders had minimal impact. Mitchell was on the bench for an extended period, Crawford was busy but ineffective while Kouta was having the better of Hodge in the middle. If there was a humorous moment that summed up the untidiness of the term it came in time-on when two Carlton players fumbled handballs, Walker flew high for the ball in an undisciplined fashion, leaving his opponent Croad crouched over the ball and steaming toward an open goal. But Croad muffed the easy shot from 30 meters out, leaving the Hawks just 10 points clear at 1/2 time.
Williams opened the 3rd term scoring for the Hawks, again extending their lead and the Blues proceeded to kick themselves out of the contest with a woeful 2.7 for the term to Hawthorn's 4.2. Carrazzo and Fisher were the two main offenders, each missing 2 shots.
The Hawks kicked 4 of the first 5 goals of the term, with Croad running into an open goal, Peter Everitt pushed forward for another. A Simpson turnover gifted Croad another goal and a shot to Osborne gave the Hawks a 27 point lead late in the term. Two goals to Betts reduced the margin to 17 points at 3/4 time. Whitnall could have had a chance to narrow the margin even further had he not been waylaid by the blood rule, marking the ball for a certain goal when he came back on, but the siren beat him.
Williams, Mitchell, and Osborne put the match beyond Carlton's grasp in the opening 10 minutes of the final term, taking the lead to 34 points. Croad chimed-in for his fifth midway through the quarter, while at the other end, Whitnall continued to battle his heart out with his second goal of the term with a 40 meter floater in time-on.
It is the first time the Hawks have won 2 consecutive matches since Rounds 8-9 last year.
Croad was the winner of the David Parkin trophy for his 17 kicks, 15 marks, and 5 handballs.
Shane Crawford, Tim Clarke and Luke Hodge were the Hawks' most dangerous players with 84 disposals between them. Crawford, turning 32 this year, although not his usual efficient self, was his team's leading possession winner with 16 kicks, 17 handballs and nine marks.
For the Blues, Ryan Houlihan was the most damaging with 35 disposals, followed by Heath Scotland (30) and Nick Stevens (29).

WB 3.5 8.9 10.11 14.14 (98)
GEEL 4.2 8.5 10.10 14.13 (97)
GOALS: WB - WB - Murphy 3, Hahn 2, Johnson 2, Cooney 2, Eagleton 2, Smith, Giansiracusa, Robbins; GEEL - G. Ablett 4, Mooney 2, Chapman 2, Ottens, Enright, D. Johnson, Kelly, Rooke, Enright
BEST: WB - Harris, West, McMahon, Murphy, Hahn, Gilbee, Cross; GEEL - Rooke, G. Ablett, Ling, Kelly, Ottens, Chapman, Bartel
INJURY: WB - Murphy (ankle), Johnson (gastro), Grant (corked back)

UMPIRES: McBurney, Jeffery, Vozzo

CROWD: 45,922 at Telstra Dome
The attendance was the largest crowd in history for a match between the 2 teams

With forwards Kingsley and Playfair and ruckman King out injured, the ruck duties fell to Ottens, leaving the Cats bereft of any tall forward options. They had to rely on their small forwards for goals.
Very little separated these teams throughout the match. Geelong kicked the first 3 goals, but the band of small Bulldog forwards and midfielders peppered the goals themselves to kick the next 3 of 4 for the term and could have had a small lead, but for a number of misses. It Left the Cats with a narrow 3 point lead at 1/4 time.
The 2nd term was a relatively even affair with neither side able to gain a clear advantage.BUt the Dogs continued to pepper the goals, as did the Cats but it was the Dogs, outscoring the Cats 5 goals to 4 for the term, by 1 point at 1/2 time.
The Cats had enough chances in the 3rd term to pull away from the Bulldogs, but wasted them with Gary Ablett and Tom Lonergan being restricted by the Dog defence. However, the Dogs found scoring a bit more difficult themselves with just 2 goals for the term. With 7 scoring shots to 4 in the term, Geelong should have had their noses in front instead of trailing by 1 point at 3/4 time.
Five minutes into the final term, Gilbee was deep in the goal square for a kick-in, but had no target in sight. He kicked to himself and took off for a 6 bounce run, reaching the far edge of the center square. He ran as far as the half forward line, then kicked to Johnson, whose goal gave the Dogs a 4 point lead. Goals to Kelly and Rooke returned the lead to Geelong but Johnson and Eagleton restored the Bulldog lead. Cooney bobbed up to take a Murphy pass late in the term to make it a 13 point margin.
The Cats hit back as Corey goaled on the run, then Gary Ablett squeezed through another with 90 seconds remaining. The Cats charged again with 32 seconds left. Egan sent a long kick toward goal, but Harris took a game saving mark running back with the flight of the ball.
The Cats tried one more time but Harris again came to the fore as he spoiled a Corey kick, sending it over the line as the siren sounded.

RICH 1.4 4.8 10.11 14.12 (96)
BRIS 1.6 4.9 5.10 11.16 (82)
GOALS: RICH - Richardson 4, Stafford 3, P. Bowden, Jackson, Johnson, Pettifer, Simmonds, Tambling, Tuck; BRIS - Bradshaw 2, Brown 2, Power 2, Attard, Hooper, Merrett, Moody, Sherman
BEST: RICH - Richardson, Simmonds, Coughlan, Tuck, Stafford, Tivendale, P. Bowden; BRIS - Power, Brown, Charman, Sherman

CHANGES: RICH - Brown (leg soreness) and Krakouer replaced by Stafford and Foley; BRIS - Keating (foot) replaced in selected side by Moody

UMPIRES: Donlon, Rosebury, Wenn

CROWD: 30,266 at Gabba

One goal of Brisbane's this year is to once more turn the Gabba into a fortress of fear for visiting teams, but the Tigers refused to cooperate this week. In the early going it looked as if Brisbane was on track when Voss and Brown found themselves in the clear 25 meters out from goal with nary a Tiger in sight. The two avoided a collision, with Voss taking the mark and sending through the first goal. Then Stafford worked his way forward to snag a Ray Hall kick for the only other goal of the term. Both sides apparently left their kicking boots at home with an incredible display of inaccuracy netting 10 behinds for the term, leaving the Lions 2 points in front at 1/4 time.
It was another 6 minutes before Bradshaw got on the end of a Black pass to kick the next goal. But the Tigers came back again through Stafford. The game sprang into life, quite literally, midway through term when Michael leapt high to mark while at the same time smashing into the oncoming Johnson, who had earlier taken a massive screamer himself. Brennan stood on an opponent's head while attempting to mark and Daniel Merrett provided the Lions' next goal after an excellent tackle induced a throw from the Richmond defence. Moody booted another Brisbane goal late in the term, but Richmond refused to go away and was rewarded late when Richardson's goal reduced the margin to a single point at 1/2 time. The term was also another display of some very wayward kicking, with the 2 sides kicking a combined 8.17 to for the half, and, at one stage midway through the 2nd term, 11 set shots at goal had netted a meager 2.9.
A stunning 3rd term of 39 unanswered points set up the Tiger win. But unlike the first half 36 of those points came in the form of 6 straight goals while the Lions managed just 1.1, giving the Tigers a handy 31 point lead at 3/4 time.
The Lions came out swinging early in the final term after copping a fearful spray from Coach Leigh Matthews at the break and responded by kicking 4 unanswered goals. Jared Brennan looked set to make it five straight when he marked in a forward pocket. He surprisingly decided to play on and coughed the ball up with Richardson making the Lions pay with a goal. Brisbane mustered two more goals for the term, but Stafford and Johnson sealed the match with late goals.
Richmond had no shortage of contributors, with 14 Tigers picking up 15 or more possessions. Greg Tivendale (25), Mark Coughlan (24), and Troy Simmonds (23/10) led the way, while Brett Deledio (18 disposals) caught the eye with his pace and poise. Joel Bowden (20) was his usual busy self across half forward.
For the Lions, Jonathan Brown continued his excellent start to the season with 19 possessions and 11 marks. Luke Power (27) had a quiet start but never stopped trying and had 12 disposals in the 3rd term. Simon Black (20), Akermanis (21), and Sherman (21) also chimed in.
Brisbane has now lost 6 of its past 7 games, since defeating Hawthorn in Round 19, 2005.

ADE 3.3 7.7 8.11 9.16 (70)
FRE 1.1 3.3 6.3 9.5 (59)
GOALS: FRE - Farmer 3, Polak 3, Pavlich 2, M. Carr; ADE - Biglands 2, Bode 2, Burton 2, Reilly, Ricciuto, Goodwin
BEST: FRE - McManus, Schammer, Farmer, Polak, Bell, Black, Pavlich; ADE - Johncock, Massie, Reilly, McGregor, Thompson, Biglands, Ricciuto

INJURY: FRE - McPharlin (lower back), Hasleby (hip flexor strain); ADE - Perrie (knee)
Ian Perrie damaged his left PCL and will miss the next 10-12 weeks, Hasleby will miss next week

CHANGES: ADE - Edwards (calf) replaced in selected side by Skipworth

REPORTS: ADE - Burton for striking Dodd

Brett Burton was suspended for 2 games. Burton was charged with a Level 2 offence with the strike assessed as intentional conduct (3), low impact (1), in play (0), and high contact (2) - equating to 225 demerits. Added to that is 70.31 demerits held over from a previous offence, equaling a total of 296..31 demerits. Burton decided to contest the charge at the Tribunal.

Josh Carr was fined $3200 for making negligent contact with an umpire, It was his first offence, reducing the fine to $2400, but he also decided to contest the charge.

UMPIRES: McInerney, Margetts, Nicholls

CROWD: 35,090 at Subiaco

Adelaide - traveling to its fourth state in as many weeks - showed no signs of fatigue and looks the goods to repeat its season success from last year.
Pre-match Anzac Day commemorations fired up both sides, with plenty of push and shove breaking out around the ground before the ball was even bounced. It was the Crows who used the inspiration the better, slamming home the opening 3 goals of the match to open up a handy lead less than halfway through the term. Farmer snagged Freo's first goal 5 minutes later but that was about it for the term, as the Crows went to 1/4 time with a 14 point lead.
The Crows dominated the 2nd term, kicking 4 goals to 2 with Biglands booting 2, but Ricciuto must had whatever the Tigers and Lions were drinking as he was just as wayward with a measly 1.4 for the half. It didn't matter as the Crows were still 28 points up at 1/2 time.
Polak marked over Johncock and his goal gave the Dockers some momentum. Burton's report, for striking Dodd behind play, fired up Freo and when Farmer accepted a pass from McManus for Freo's 3rd goal for the term, the margin was reduced to just 12 points. The Dockers then reverted to some bad habits with sloppy play and costly turnovers, with even Peter Bell offending a times. Some of the sting went out of Freo after umpire Kieron Nicholls was flattened by Matthew Carr. But Adelaide allowed the Dockers to stay right in it with poor kicking for goal with Burton managing one late in the term to give the Crows a 20 point lead at 3/4 time.
The opening exchanges of the last term were lit up by the courage of McPharlin and Perrie, with a kamikaze marking contest which saw McPharlin off soon after with a back injury and Perrie stretchered off with a knee injury. The courageous play resulted in a fantastic long goal to Matthew Carr, reducing the margin to 14 points. Pavlich, well-held for most of the game by the stingy Crow defence, broke the shackles for a great mark and goal, putting the Dockers within 9 points. The Crows should have put the Dockers away as they continued to pepper the goals, but couldn't find the big sticks as the Dockers cut the gap with yet one more goal. But one more costly turnover allowed Goodwin to seal the result for the Crows.
Brent Reilly was Adelaide's biggest ball-winner with 26 disposals, while Graham Johncock (22/6), Kris Massie (22), and Ken McGregor were also prominent. Ricciuto finished with 19 kicks but a wasteful 1.6, while Hart (21/7), Rutten (10 kicks, 9 marks) and Bassett (9 kicks, 7 marks) showed that the defence is again going to be one tough nut to crack.
For the Dockers, Peter Bell (28), while Byron Schammer (32 touches), Shaun McManus (22) and Heath Black (25) got plenty of the ball as well.

MELB 3.3 7.5 10.6 15.7 (97)
SYD 4.2 6.6 9.10 13.14 (92)
GOALS: MELB - Yze 3, Johnson 2, White 2, Davey 2, Bruce 2, McLean, Neitz, Pickett, Robertson;
SYD - Hall 3, Schneider 2, Richards, O'Keefe, O'Loughlin, Buchanan, Davis, McVeigh, Malceski, Ablett
BEST: MELB - Pickett, Davey, Yze, Bruce, McDonald; SYD - Buchanan, Schneider, Malceski, Hall, Ablett, Goodes, Kennelly

INJURY: MELB - Neitz (groin/hip), McLean (adductor), Johnson (shoulder); SYD - Davis (hamstring). Davis will miss 2-3 weeks

UMPIRES: James, Ellis, Pannell

ATTENDANCE: 29167 at SCG

The first term was an entertaining affair as the two teams traded goals although neither side either was able to gain any real advantage. The Demons were the first to the board when White was awarded a 50 meter penalty and rammed home a goal in the first minute.
Irishman Tadhg Kennelly came onto the ground to the roars of the crowd a few minutes later to inject some run from halfback, then Neitz hobbled off with an apparent groin injury, leaving the Demons without a main target. A Byron Pickett goal from 60 gave the Demons a 23-point lead midway through the first term, but the Swans hit back with 3 goals, two of them coming from frees to Hall and the Swans led by 5 points at 1/4 time.
Neitz returned to the field for the start of the 2nd term and the Demons came out firing, grabbing the lead after two long bombs to Yze and Bruce. Pickett lifted his work rate and his dash through the middle - along with his customary physical pressure - inspired his side.
Neitz took a strong mark and goaled to give the Dees a 12 point lead. The Swans grabbed it back with goals to O'Loughlin and Buchanan, who had won plenty of the ball around the ground. popped through his first on the right boot the Swans took the lead. Then Neitz was off again - this time for good - with what appeared to be a leg injury. Again it was Pickett in the thick of the action as he got the ball and found Johnson who goaled after the siren to give the Demons a 3 point lead at 1/2 time.
Melbourne made its move in the 3rd term, with goals to Johnson, Pickett and the electrifying Davey blowing the margin out to 23 points. But the Demon injury toll mounted even further with McLean coming off. With the Demons looking like they might run out of steam - and fit players - Sydney stormed back with goals to Davis, McVeigh, and Malceski to be just 2 points down at 3/4 time.
In a gripping final term, Yze booted the goal of the day one minute in with a freakish soccer off the ground before Schneider answered for the Swans. Two quick goals to White and Davey gave the Dees some breathing space, but Sydney kept coming with a goal putting them within reach. Demon defender was penalized a dubious 50 meter penalty late in the game when umpire Troy Pannell ruled he had returned the ball too wide Schneider after a free kick was awarded. Schneider's goal leveled the scores with less than five minutes on the clock. The Demons then held firm to halt Sydney and Bruce snapped a goal with 40 seconds left to give the Demons a 6 point lead. Sydney's Nick Malceski had a chance to again level the scores with 25 seconds left, but sprayed his shot for a behind.
For the Demons, Bruce (26), Pickett (21/8) across halfback, Whelan (21/7), and McDonald (19) did best while Robertson was restricted to just 9 kicks and 4 marks.
For the Swans, it was Buchanan (22/7), Schneider (12/8), O'Keefe (19/6), Malceski (18/6), Kennelly (16/6), and Goodes (16/7). Hall (6 kicks and 4 marks) did well with limited chances.

WCE 3.1 6.5 10.6 14.11 (95)
KANG 4.5 7.6 8.10 10.11 (71)
GOLAS: Hunter 4, Wirrpanda 3, Cox, R. Jones, Staker, Selwood, Chick, Judd, A. Embley;
KANG - Harding 3, Corey Jones 2, Firrito, Harvey, Harris, Green, Rocca
BEST: WCE - Hunter, Judd, Cox, Braun, Wirrpanda, Stenglein; KANG - Brown, Harvey, Grant, B. Rawlings, Sinclair, Harding

INJURY: WCE - Cousins (hamstring soreness) replaced in selected side by Brett Jones

UMPIRES: Kennedy, Schmitt, Kamolins

CROWD: 9541 at Manuka Oval

After Harvey and Rowan Jones traded goals, the Kangaroos had control for much of the first term with Harding bagging two goals for the Roos. The Eagles made the most of their limited forward opportunities, however, with Brent Staker and Adam Selwood kicking adding a pair of goals. A 4th goal for the term gave the Roos a 10 point lead at 1/4 time.
Corey Jones continued the Kangaroos' good start with 2 goals which were separated by one to Hunter. The Eagle midfield, relatively quiet in the opening term, began to fire and find more of the ball. Wirrpanda started in defence, but was moved forward during the term and bagged another for the Eagles. Hunter was on the end of a blistering Judd run to cut the deficit to 3 points. A Harris goal late in the term eased the pressure on the Roos as they took a 7 point lead into 1/2 time.
Chick slotted a goal early in the 3rd term but then the game turned into somewhat of an arm wrestle as the 2 sides restricted each other's scoring chances. Green broke the deadlock with a goal, but it was to be the Roos' only one for the term as the Eagles made their move.
Hunter, a strong target up forward, booted his 3rd goal to spark a 3-goal run for the Eagles which gave them an 8 point lead at 3/4 time.
Rocca finally got into the game early in the final term with a booming effort, but two goals in as many minutes to Andrew Embley and Cox on the run from a tight angle made the margin 14 points. But the Eagles took charge with two goals in two minutes through Andrew Embley and ruckman Dean Cox, who showed some agility to goal on the run from a tight angle at the 14-minute mark. Corey Jones had a chance to close the gap, but missed. Then after a couple of near misses, the Eagles sealed the result with further goals to Wirrpanda and Hunter to surge ahead by 30 points. Harding made it 24 with a goal after the siren.
For the Eagles, Chris Judd started slowly, but worked into the game well and finished with 21 quality disposals, with Braun (19), Jones (18/8), and Cox (18/9) just as damaging. Hunter dominated the forward line with 12 kicks and 12 marks. Graham (12/9) and Lynch (12/9) also worked hard.
For the Kangaroos, Brown 25/13) dominated across halfback and some good support from Sinclair (20/8) with Rawlings (23), Harvey (26), and Firrito (18/7) finding plenty of the ball through the middle. Thompson was held scoreless despite having 12 kicks and 8 marks.
Leigh Brown was important across half-back for the Kangaroos gathering 25 touches and taking 13 marks and Brent Harvey was important with 26 possessions.

PA 6.2 12.5 17.6 19.8 (122)
STK 4.2 8.5 14.9 18.10 (118)
GOALS: PA - Mahoney 6, Dew 4, P Burgoyne 3, Tredrea 2, Pettigrew, Ebert, Lonie, Motlop; StK - Hamill 4, Riewoldt 3, Schwarze 3, Milne 2, Ball 2, McQualter, Baker, Voss, X. Clarke
BEST: PA - Lade, C. Cornes, Mahoney, P. Burgoyne, Walsh, Dew, Symes, K. Cornes;
StK - Dal Santo, Riewoldt, Ball, Hamill, Fisher, X. Clarke

INJURY: PA - Brogan (cracked ribs, collapsed lung); STK - Koschitzke (corked thigh)
Brogan will miss 2-4 weeks

REPORTS: PA - Wakelin for striking Milne

UMPIRES: McLaren, Grun, Avon

CROWD: 32,188 at AAMI Stadium

ANZAC MEDAL: Brendon Lade (30 hitouts, 19 possessions, 8 marks)

It was a fierce battle right from the start, with fights breaking out in the opening minutes. And Port lost ruckman Dean Brogan after less than 5 minutes when he was injured in a marking contest, leaving Brendon Lade to shoulder the ruck burden on his own. Port was the quicker to settle, kicking 3 goals to scoot out to a handy lead. But the matched those goals, only to see Port kick another pair through Mahoney (his 3rd) and Tredrea with his first kick of the season. It represented 8 goals in just 16 minutes, the game a battle of clearances and quick ball movement, with the forwards of both sides leaving the defenders in their wake and Port 12 points in the lead at 1/4 time.
Mahoney booted his 4th goal in the opening minutes of the 2nd term after Maguire took over from Voss. Voss lasted just 10 minutes before a 4th defender took on Mahoney. Port then threatened to run away with the game as they kicked 5 more goals to the Saints' 4 - Hamill adding two for St. Kilda - and led by 4 goals at 1/2 time.
The Saints threw everything it had at Port in the 3rd term, slamming on 4 goals in the first 7 minutes of the term with Schwarze kicking 2, Riewoldt 1, and Ball 1. Fiora's point gave the Saints the lead. Dew's goal restored Port's lead but Schwarze - who has kicked just 12 goals 61 games and 6 seasons, bobbed up for his 3rd to snatch back the lead for the Saints.
Mahoney and Milne traded goals, but further goals to Peter Burgoyne and Dew gave Port a 15 point lead at 3/4 time.
Hamill promptly slashed that lead with 2 goals in the first half of the final term. From there it was a a tense goal-for-goal finish, with Dew, Xavier Clarke, Mahoney and Ball taking it in turns. Ball's goal which cut the margin to 4 points after Riewoldt's 45 meter miss, came less than a minute from the end and the siren sounded at the next bounce.
Chad Cornes showed the way again for Port with 31 disposals as a wide-roaming midfielder, and had plenty of support from Peter Burgoyne (21), and Salopek (18). Tredrea was restricted to just 7 kicks and 6 marks. Peter Walsh (18/10), Nathan Lonie (23/7), and second-gamer Brad Symes (22/9) defended strongly and did some valuable attacking through the midfield, where Peter Burgoyne, Kane Cornes (22/8) and Steven Salopek (18) were lively.
There was no doubt that St Kilda missed Fraser Gehrig, but Riewoldt was impressive as he consistently battled two or even three opponents as he had 10 kicks, but would still be ruing missed shots at goal, kicking 3.3. Hamill and Milne also provided an excellent presence with 10 kicks each while Fisher (23/11), Harvey (23/10), Dal Santo (22/7), Gram (21/7), Ball (21), and Hayes (20) never stopped working.

COL 2.4 6.8 11.14 15.16 (106)
ESS 4.4 7.8 10.13 12.17 (89)
GOALS: COL - Didak 4, Buckley 3, Thomas 2, Clement, C. Cloke, Holland, Licuria, Lonie, Rocca; ESS - Hille 3, Hird 2, Lucas 2, Heffernan, Lovett, Monfries, Rioli, Winderlich
BEST: COL - Johnson, H. Shaw, Swan, Buckley, Didak, Thomas, Licuria; ESS - Hille, Hird, Lovett-Murray, Stanton, McVeigh, Fletcher

CHANGES: COL - Caracella and Wakelin replaced in selected side by Burns and O'Brien

ANZAC MEDAL: Ben Johnson (COL)

UMPIRES: Woodcock, Ryan, Allen

CROWD: 91,234 at the MCG

What a way to welcome the footy back to the grand old MCG! It was a ripper from start to finish. The Collingwood big guns struggled early as the Bombers jumped them with 3 goals. Rioli then ran into an open goal to make the margin 21 points. But it could have been more but for several misses, including Hird's from 25 meters in front. Buckley, back to his usual spot in the middle, barely got near the ball with just 3 touches. Importantly, 1 of those resulted in a goal. But it took until midway through the term before those goals came as the Bombers added 2 more to lead by 14 points at 1/4 time.
Rocca had a chance early in the 2nd term, but missed before Buckley got hold of the ball for a Pie goal. Rocca in the middle of the action again as he bobbled an attempted mark and had it stolen by Lovett and Essendon raced away with Lovett goaling from a throw-in. Collingwood attacked again but Rocca again turned the ball over. The Pies got it back and Lonie goaled before another miss to Rocca left Essendon 3 points clear. Lovett added a point, then Essendon had another chance after the Pies muffed a free kick, resulting in a goal to Hille, who had come on for Ryder. Hird was moved from the forward line to the middle and Rioli went to full forward. Slattery and Thomas then traded points and Clement rushed another point before Winderlich goaled. Another free to Holland was wasted as Rocca's attempted mark was spoiled but Thomas intercepted a Fletcher pass to goal and the Pies were 6 points up at 1/2 time.
The pressure from both sides didn't let up as Hird was flattened by Holland at the start of the 3rd term and Hird goaled from the 50 meter penalty. Holland made amends shortly after with a great running goal from outside 50. Buckley nailed another slashing Essendon's lead to 1 point. Monfries added another, but again the Pies hit back with a goal to Cloke. Lucas dashed forward, took a pass from Hird and goaled, restoring the Bomber lead. Rocca finally found the big sticks for his only goal of the day before another free was wasted when Tarrant managed just a point. Another point to the Pies midway through the term leveled the scores. That was brief as a Bomber point followed by a goal to Didak gave Collingwood a narrow lead. Hird was then moved to full forward. The closing stages of the term saw a number of points scored with Lonie missing, Essendon rushing one, then Tarrant and Bradley both missing shots on goal, but it was enough to leave Collingwood 7 points in front at 3/4 time.
The pressure did not let up as the final term got underway, with 3 turnovers in the opening minute. The Pies finally steadied with Didak taking a goalsquare screamer over Henry Slattery to extend the lead to 13 points and when youngster Dale Thomas - who has already proved in his brief career that he is a player of the future - produced a moment of magic minutes later with a goal on the run from 50, the Pies were 19 points up and looked home.
But Essendon fought back through the inspirational James Hird - who has a knack for dominating the day. His mark and goal cut the margin to 13 points, before youngster Heath Shaw - who had been magnificent in defence all day - gifted Scott Lucas a goal when he gave away an unnecessary 50-metre penalty for failing to return the ball to him on the full.
Suddenly the margin was just six points with the term less than half over before Didak immediately steadied the Pies with a quick snap from the square to restore a two goal advantage. The margin should have been greater but Didak and Tarrant both missed. Essendon also had chances, but Lovett hit the post late in the term. Ryder then got the ball out of the middle to Hird but the Pies recovered it through Swan and Didak kicked the sealer with just 13 seconds on the clock.
For the Pies, Ben Johnson was a deserving winner of the Anzac Day Medal as he backed himself, took on all comers, and set up numerous attacking moves with 30 possessions and 10 marks. Heath Shaw (25/15) and Swan (23/6) did well off the bench, Lonie (17) dominated across halfback, while Lockyer (20/8), O'Bree (20), Buckley (19/7), and Licuria (23/7) were prolific ballwinners in the middle. While Tarrant and Rocca kicked a paltry 1/7 between them, Didak (20/9) proved the difference between the two teams with a dominant display from a half forward flank.
Kevin Sheedy's "Baby" Bombers relished the big occasion with Lovett-Murray (20/14) dominating across halfback, and Stanton (28) and Watson 27/8) busy in the center. Veterans Hird (24/8), Lucas (11 kicks), McVeigh (21), McPhee (18), and Fletcher (15 kicks, 8 marks) at fullback also were fine contributors.
This was the best Anzac game between these two sides since the draw in 1995, the 6th highest attendance in league history, the first time the Pies have defeated Essendon since 2002, and just their 3rd win from 16 games.

STANDINGS
W L FOR AGST % PTS
WB 4 0 506 332 152.41 16
WCE 4 0 405 315 128.57 16
COL 3 1 455 360 126.39 12
HAW 3 1 394 323 121.98 12
ADE 3 1 371 323 114.86 12
GEEL 2 2 399 306 130.39 8
StK 2 2 396 370 107.03 8
FRE 2 2 357 344 103.78 8

PA 2 2 394 436 90.37 8
ESS 1 3 387 406 95.32 4
CARL 1 3 321 354 90.68 4
SYD 1 3 334 385 86.75 4
MELB 1 3 356 424 83.96 4
BRIS 1 3 322 432 74.54 4
KANG 1 3 344 473 72.73 4
RICH 1 3 315 473 66.6 4

GOALS
Mark Ricciuto (ADE) 15
Mark Williams (HAW) 15
Brendan Fevola CARL) 14
Anthony Rocca COL 13
Matthew Lloyd (ESS) 13
Barry Hall (SYD) 13
Nick Riewoldt (StK) 12
Alan Didak (COL) 11
Robert Murphy (WB) 11
Jeff Farmer (FRE) 10

While I was unable to find any reports on the 2nd International Rules games, here are the details for the 3rd match.

AUS 2.6.15 (45)
IRE 1.6.6 (30)
AUS - Normington (12 points), Sellar (7), Hawksley (5), Rioli (4), Gibbs (3), Masten (3), Hawkins (3), Reimers (3), Petterd (3), Schmidt (1), Millar (1); IRE - Hanley (14), O’Rourke (5), McAdam (3), Cullivan (3), McGoldrick (3), O’Driscoll (2)
BEST: AUS - Gibbs, Myers, Masten, Petterd, Reid, Normington, Reimers, Hawksley; IRE - Nolan, Hanley, O’Rourke, Shorthall, Bradley, Dunne, Brennan

With the first two matches ending in a draw, the Australians have defeated the Irish in the 3rd and final International Rules game.
Australia jumped the Irish in the first term lead by 12 points and retained the lead throughout the match. Ireland bounced back in the final quarter to score 17 points, but it wasn't enough to catch the Australians.
Australian captain Chris Masten and hotly sought after prodigy Bryce Gibbs were again impressive in the midfield, while David Myers was impassable in defence.
AFL National Talent Manager Kevin Sheehan described match as the best performance in a decade of International Rules matches at youth level.
Barassi Medals, recognizing the best and fairest players in each team, were awarded to Australia's David Myers and Ireland's Pearce Hanley.

Port Adelaide's Danyle Pearce is the Round 3 Rising Star nominee.
It has been a rapid rise for Pearce, who has played 10 senior games in succession since he kicked 2 goals in an impressive debut against the Kangaroos in Canberra in Round 18, 2005. His 7 matches last year not only earned him the club's best first-year player award, it elevated him from the Rookie list to Port Adelaide's senior list.
The small midfielder, who hails from Edwardstown in suburban Adelaide, represented South Australia in the Under 18 Championships in 2004 and while he impressed at the 2004 Draft Camp, (he topped the 20-metre sprint, agility run and running vertical jump tests) was
overlooked in the draft.
Rookie-listed with Port Adelaide in 2005, Pearce was consistent in Sturt's reserves and seniors teams before his AFL break. Pearce, 20, was named in the Power's best against Fremantle with 20 disposals, six marks, four tackles and a goal.

And from Marc Century in North Carolina, the NC Tigers took on the DC-Baltimore Eagles

NC Tigers 2.5 5.8 11.9 13.13(91)
DC Eagles 1.0 2.1 3.2 4.4 (28)

And that's it for this week.

GO BLUES!!