$10m Claim Denied

Hello fans:

Collingwood has denied media reports that it has left its former home Victoria Park in a poor state and left a local council with a huge bill.
The Yarra City Council says that Collingwood has left a damage bill of A$10.7 million when it vacated the premises on Friday, according to a Melbourne newspaper.
Channel Seven current affairs program Today Tonight also made a report on Friday evening, after one of its reporters toured the site with Yarra City Mayor Kay Meadows. They found wooden seating removed, as well as the rooms with broken windows, broken pipes, smelling toilets and rubbish everywhere.
The council, which owns the site, has confirmed it is in dispute with the club over the state of Victoria Park. It said the club had breached the terms of its 1995 lease, which was not set to end for another 10 years.
The club released a statement late Friday night, saying it had been cooperating with the council in good faith in the past three years on the Victoria Park redevelopment, and was yet to receive a formal plan from Council in relation to future use (see below).
Council officers and council lawyers met club representatives during the week in an effort to agree on the club's obligations, but according to council documents "it became quite clear it will not be possible to reach agreement with the club".
Documents seen by The Age show the club offered to pay the council A$100,000 and indicated they may be prepared to pay a low six-figure sum. The council is now considering its legal options.
Cr Meadows said the club did not cooperate with the council, and was walking away from the property and leaving it in a degraded state.
The council estimates it will cost A$10.7 million to get Victoria Park to the standard required under the lease. It includes a claim for 50 per cent of the proceeds of a memorabilia auction of seats and other fittings held at the ground last year.
In discussions with the club, the council proposed freeing it from its lease obligations for A$4.98 million - less than half the original claim - but Collingwood refused to pay.
Collingwood chief executive Greg Swann said he disputed the lease had been breached, and said the A$10.7 million figure was ludicrous.
He said there were clauses within the lease that allowed the Pies to give up areas of the ground if it was no longer using them, and the club did not want to spend money repairing stands it knew would be demolished by the council. He said the ground was in good condition contrary to what some people believed.
Swann later told the club's website that he was disappointed that the issue had been escalated into the media without further discussion with the Pies and it had not been able to be resolved through conventional channels. He said he was concerned that such a story was would be aired without the club being given the opportunity to respond. He said the Pies remained committed to finding a fair and equitable solution to the future of Victoria Park and awaited a formal proposal from the Yarra Council on its future usage.

Collingwood's statement:
Collingwood will always view Victoria Park as its spiritual home and is striving to ensure its role in the history of the club and the local community continues to be recognised and respected.
The club has been working closely and in good faith with the City of Yarra to achieve this goal for the past three years.
No formal plan for future use has been put to the Collingwood Football Club although a number of options with varying costs have been mooted by Council.
The Club notes the Mayor's comments on the Today Tonight program supporting creation of a public reserve for junior sport and general recreation.
The Council's own figures show that the cost of this option would be a fraction of the $10.7 million referred to by the Mayor (Kay Meadows).
In relation to a number of assertions made on the Today Tonight program:
*The club is still yet to receive a formal plan from Council in relation to future use.
*The club has spent $20,000 in the past week removing rubbish and cleaning the premises.
*The removal of the seating referred to by the Mayor was in fact undertaken by a third party at the request of the Council with no club involvement.
*The Club firmly believe that items sold at the auction were owned by the club.
*The Club have not had any response from Council to its request for evidence to show any of those items are not owned by the club.

Finals boost Ten profit for 1H 2005
Advertising revenue from last year's AFL finals plus special event programming has helped Channel Ten claiming the title of most profitable Australian commercial television network for the first time.
The network, 56.4 per cent owned by CanWest Global Communications Corp, reported a 23 per cent increase in net profit for the six months to February 28, 2005 to A$53.5 million. The reporting period included the AFL finals and the second series of Australian Idol.
Ten's consolidated revenues rose 18 per cent from the previous fiscal year to A$491.2 million. Its consolidated EBITDA of A$207.2 million was up 32 per cent compared to the A$157.4 million in the previous fiscal year.
Revenue from television lifted 15 per cent to A$433.7 million and EBITDA for the TV division climbed 29 per cent to A$194 million.
Ten chief executive Nick Falloon said the profit margin of 44.7 per cent was the highest of the country's three commercial TV networks. He predicted another record year ahead, given the likely continuation of solid advertising demand. He said the network believed it would claim a larger share of the key 16 to 39-year-old demographic with its programming.
As well as Australian Idol 3, Ten's 2005 line-up includes another rendition of reality show Big Brother and international hits The 4400, Law and Order: Trial By Jury and Kirstie Alley's Fat Actress.
McAlpine also hinted at the inclusion of celebrity-driven reality shows, with the format proving successful for other networks.
But the ratings rivalry has already proven fierce, with the Seven Network overtaking Nine for the first time.
McAlpine admitted Ten had suffered a slight drop in audience share this year, but said the network was satisfied with its programs to date.
But Falloon said the network was leading in the 16 to 39-year-old demographic for the first time in five years, and its focus on that market had not changed.
Ten's outdoor advertising division Eye Corp also performed strongly in the six months to February. Its revenue increased about 50 per cent to A$58.1 million, while EBITDA climbed to A$14.4 million from A$7.0 million in the corresponding period last year. Eye Corp now accounts for approximately 23% of the out-of-home advertising market in Australia through its divisions, Eye Drive, Eye Fly, Eye Shop, and its point-of-sale advertising division, Adval.
Tom Strike, President of CanWest MediaWorks International, congratulated Ten for once again leading the Australian television industry in profitability, and was confident the network would continue to be a significant financial contributor to CanWest with its programming line-up plus an innovative and creative sales group.
*McAlpine has fired a broadside at Nine's Eddie McGuire, branding his recent on-air attack against a Channel Seven-Ten broadcast deal "pathetic".
Responding to the blistering attack by McGuire on The Footy Show last month, McAlpine dismissed the notion that Aussie Rules would be on the brink of destruction if Nine's commercial rivals won the free-to-air domestic rights for 2007-2011.
McAlpine said there were many ways to get one's message across and thought McGuire did not do himself any favours. He described the thought of Ten's alliance with Seven leading to ruination of the AFL as a "crock".
The AFL had not yet formally approached Seven or Ten but McAlpine held informal discussions over dinner with league representatives in Melbourne last Thursday.

Radio rights battle
The battle for AFL broadcast rights looks set to spill into radio, with FM station Nova's owner considering a bid for 2007 domestic rights.
Nova's Melbourne general manager, Fiona Cameron, said the network, whose demographic is under-40s, would consider entering the auction for the 2007 commercial rights, now shared by 3AW and Triple M.
It is unclear whether British media group DMG, which owns Nova, would seek to enter the market by outbidding FM rival Triple M or whether it would become a third commercial broadcaster.
Triple M will hold talks with the AFL over the next two weeks and has expanded its coverage in Sydney and Brisbane, using former Swans and Lions players respectively, in a bid to secure another four-year deal.
DMG paid $52 million for a second Melbourne FM radio licence in August and is believed to be developing a format combining current affairs, talk and music. Nova debuted in Melbourne on November 2001 and is now among the top 4 FM stations in terms of ratings.
AM radio station SEN, which broadcasted the AFL draft last year, is also expected to bid for the rights.

Wealth gap between clubs widens
A study of AFL club finances last year has found that the rich clubs are getting richer and the poor poorer, and there are still a fraction of club members not renewing their subscriptions each year.
However the positive signs are a significant improvement in the average club revenue and the fact that 13 of the 16 clubs recorded a profit in 2004.
Only Carlton, Richmond and the Western Bulldogs posted losses last year.
The three wealthiest clubs produced incomes of almost A$30 million and those at the tail end of the graph struggled to earn A$18 million.
The financial powerhouses include Brisbane, with the leading 2003-04 profit of A$2.18 million, Adelaide, Collingwood, Essendon and West Coast.
The league said that the gap between the average revenues of the top four and bottom four clubs was A$10.3 million - up from the A$7.9 million differential in 2001. AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said the gap was largely contributed by lucrative deals signed between the four clubs in Adelaide and Perth and their home venues.
The survey showed that of all club members, 15.9 per cent (or 72,900) who paid their dues in 2003, did not renew them in 2004. This, however, represents a drop from the 18.7 per cent not renewing in 2003.
Non-Victorian clubs were more successful in retaining their members.
Members dropped off mainly because they believed their clubs had lost interest in them, rather than poor on-field performance.
Demetriou said the league's goal was to get the number below 10 per cent. He said that if every club member had renewed in 2004, an extra A$10 million would have been brought to the industry, meaning all league clubs would have been profitable. However he said clubs like North Melbourne and Western Bulldogs were limited in their potential to attract new members because of traditionally low supporter bases, but the pair were the most proficient clubs in the league in their ability to turn supporters into new members.
Demetriou said clubs were doing well in continuing to increase their annual income, leading to an eight per cent hike in total club revenue last year. Over the last five years total aggregate club revenues rose by A$150 million, from A$241 million in 1999 to A$383 million in 2004.
The majority of club income, 30 per cent, was generated by marketing, followed by funds distributed by the AFL (22 per cent) and membership (21 per cent).
Player payments made up almost 68 per cent of football clubs' costs, with coaches the next biggest expense - 10 per cent.
While clubs spent around seven per cent more on player payments last year compared to 2003, the increase in coaches' salaries was 15 per cent - bloated by redundancy payouts to sacked coaches Peter Rohde (Western Bulldogs) and Peter Schwab (Hawthorn).

Hardware problem shuts down AFL website
A hardware problem has disrupted access to the AFL website for four hours, on the opening round of the football season.
Craig Middleton, spokesman for BigPond, owned by Australia's biggest telco firm Telstra, said access to the site became unavailable shortly before 6pm on Monday. He said Telstra technicians worked throughout the night on the problem, which they believed to be hardware-related.
The AFL website is managed by BigPond for the league.
He said the timing of the problem was unfortunate, coming in the first round of the AFL season.
A Telstra web page on Service Status lists disruption to the site beginning at 6.20pm, about 1 1/2 hours after the Collingwood-Western Bulldogs match concluded.
The web page states: "We are currently having problems with AFL.com.au. This is affecting customers. Nationally Customers (sic) will be unable to view AFL.com.au website. Technicians are treating this issue as a priority and are working on the problem. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."
The same page also mentions disruption to AFL.com.au live scores on Saturday night and disruption to its video content on Wednesday and Thursday.
It also says the AFL website was unavailable for five hours on Tuesday due to a site upgrade.
The website returned to normal at about 10pm Monday.

New plan to attract migrants to Aussie Rules
New migrants will be taken to AFL games under a A$600,000 campaign to ensure Australian rules remains king of the football codes, and promising youngsters from ethnic communities could be offered footy scholarships.
The AFL has announced the appointment of a multicultural project co-ordinator to boost its links with migrant groups. It is part of a multicultural football program sponsored by the AFL, Football Victoria and the Department for Victorian Communities.
The move follows the AFL dealing with issues such as racism and the appointment of its first chief executive officer Andrew Demetriou who has a Greek Cypriot background.
New AFL multicultural boss Nick Hatzoglou said Aussie rules faced stiff competition from other codes, and his main goal was raise the awareness of footy in emerging communities.
Hatzoglou, who performed a similar role for Cricket Victoria, said he wanted to tap into groups from places such as Somalia and the Balkans, which traditionally follow soccer.
New arrivals would be taken to AFL games as part of their settlement.
Hatzoglou said he would look out for footy talent, and the best players would be recruited to an elite squad to fast-track their development. He said incentives like scholarships might even be offered.
Victorian Premier Steve Bracks welcomed the program, but joked that if there was some good talent out there, say someone very fast and very able from Somalia, that the league gave priority to Geelong.
Football Victoria's development and planning manager Mick Daniher said clubs, players and coaches at all levels would be encouraged to embrace diversity.
Essendon is already nurturing new talent. Ethiopian giant Goaner Tutlan, 22, is training with its development squad.
About 29,000 overseas arrivals settled in Victoria last year.

Exclusive matches for Foxtel
The AFL is attempting to provide better value for the cash-strapped pay-TV group Foxtel in 2005, with about seven games during each season likely to be shown exclusively on its Fox Footy Channel.
With only one exclusive match on Fox Footy last year, the channel continued to fail as a driver of pay-TV subscriptions, despite the annual A$35 million cost for the AFL pay-TV rights.
It is understood that Fox Sports, the pay-TV channel owned by The Australian's owner, News Limited, and Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd, wants exclusive access to at least one game played by a Melbourne-based team in any deal it may agree with the AFL. It is believed that most of these matches will be played in Perth as the two-hour time difference makes the broadcast more difficult for the free-to-air TV networks.
Foxtel, which is owned by News, PBL and Telstra, is not expected to be a strong contender for the pay-TV rights, given the losses incurred on the AFL to date.
But as the AFL prepares to renegotiate its broadcast rights, it has attempted to enhance its pay-TV offer by scheduling more games that are likely to be made exclusive to Fox Footy. The first will be the clash between St Kilda and Richmond on April 24 at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne, which kicks off at 5pm. While PBL-owned Nine Network could broadcast the game live in Melbourne, that is unlikely as it would run into its top-rating 6pm news and cause disruption to its primetime schedule.
Similarly, the round seven match between Collingwood and Fremantle starts at 2.40pm in Perth but that is 4.40pm in Melbourne, so will again run into normal free-to-air prime time programming. For that reason, Nine is unlikely to broadcast the match live into Melbourne.
Apart from Foxtel and Fox Sports there are few bidders for the AFL's pay-TV rights, unless international pay-TV companies such as ESPN become interested in the sport or a start-up sports pay-TV channel emerges.
Lawyers representing Seven in its $1 billion legal action relating to the closure of its sports pay-TV channel, C7, are also believed to be interested in the outcome of the AFL's pay-TV rights. They say any reduced price for the pay-TV rights will help prove their contention that competition in the pay-TV market has been reduced since C7's fall.

Cool reception on government education program for players
AFL footballers say the league is dealing appropriately with the issue of s*xual assault and believe the State Government's intervention in the game's player-education program is unnecessary.
A newspaper has revealed that the Government intended to compel AFL players, coaches and officials to attend detailed anti-s*xual-assault classes as part of a push to change the culture of male team sports.
Under the plan, educators including police officers will lecture players on r*pe, consent, "team culture" and the impact of intimate assault on victims.
The Government has sent a licensing agreement to the AFL that would allow it to promote the program at VFL and junior club levels.
The Minister for Women's Affairs, Mary Delahunty, was quoted as saying the plan is about changing the culture of team bonding and making sure the players know what's right and what's wrong.
The Government believes AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou supports the proposal, but is concerned some league clubs are reluctant to take all possible steps to stamp out sexual misconduct.
However Delahunty said she had not commented on the licensing agreement in the original report and had spoken only of the AFL's existing program, but she believed the league had seen the licensing documents.
But the AFL said it had not seen the Government's plan, and it is believed the league was not consulted about the licensing agreement.
The AFL and its players' union have also expressed concern saying they had also been working with representatives from the Statewide Committee to Reduce S*xual Assault for almost a year on issues such as s*xual harassment, discrimination and assault.
AFL Players Association CEO Brendon Gale says the association already works hard to reinforce responsible behaviour towards women. He says the State Government's program has merit, but he is surprised by the move and is disappointed the association was not consulted.
Gale said he believed the AFL was dealing appropriately with the issue of s*xual assault. It had established a working group involving people from outside the football industry and had developed a strategy that was trialled with the Western Bulldogs last November and would be implemented at all clubs this year. The strategy involved the establishment of a working party that reflected the broader society, made up of some very competent and capable people to actually go to investigate the issues and to come up with a series of recommendations.
Geelong coach Mark Thompson said Government involvement had taken the matter too far.
Collingwood president Eddie McGuire said he supported the work of the league and the players' advocates. He said he did not see why the Government needed to enforce education when strategies were already in place.
A police officer has also hit out at the Government for bungling its plan to impose s*x education classes on the AFL and other key sporting bodies.
Michael Hall, who doubles as a sports behavioural consultant, said he had been employed by the AFL for the past five years to conduct lectures for players on assault against women, bribes, and gambling and drug addiction.
He also lectures cricket and rugby players and was this week employed by the Victorian Institute of Sport to educate its junior sportspeople on sexual assault and other issues.
Hall said the AFL had shown leadership by tackling the issues of s*xual assault and he was shocked by Delahunty's announcement that she was now forcing them to take up her plan. He said the Government had no idea what courses were being provided in the first place.
A spokesman for Delahunty denied the AFL was being forced to adopt the Government's plan.
The spokesman said new material was being offered by the Government under licence for the AFL to include in their current programs.

Winmar jumper mystery
The great Nicky Winmar jumper mystery appears to have been solved.
A 37-year-old man from Melbourne's eastern suburbs could pocket A$80,000 after finding what he believes is Winmar's famous guernsey scrunched up in a corner of his wardrobe.
Painter and decorator Wayne Barlow said the signed jumper was given to him by his late father, who bought it for A$800 at a West Coast charity auction. He said he thought it was just like any other old jumper and worth nothing.
St Kilda historian Russell Holmesby said Barlow's find was being investigated, although he was initially very confident.
Barlow said Holmesby told him on Thursday he was 99 per cent sure the jumper was the real deal.
Several factors are being considered to determine its authenticity, including the position of the Tooheys logo. (Tooheys, a beer brand of NZ brewery Lion Nathan, sponsored the Saints in the mid-1990s.)
The jumper could fetch up to A$80,000 if it is genuine.
Winmar made the No. 7 jumper famous when he lifted it and pointed to the colour of his skin in response to racist abuse from the Collingwood crowd at Victoria Park in 1993.
Controversy flared last month when Aboriginal leader Geoff Clark took what he believed to be the original jumper from his defunct Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) office in Canberra and vowed not to return it to the Federal Government.
(After a prolonged and heated debate, the Federal Parliament passed a bill in mid-March permitting the Government to abolish ATSIC, with its functions and duties dispersed to various government departments. ATSIC was formally abolished two weeks ago, after the bill was proclaimed by Governor-General Michael Jeffery, ending a 15-year experiment with indigenous self-government.)
But St Kilda officials revealed the ATSIC jumper was not the real thing -- the logos didn't match Winmar's jumper in the famous photo taken at Victoria Park.
Barlow said when he heard the news he thought he must now have the right jumper, so he rang the club and its staff replied: 'That's the one, what are you prepared to do with it?'
A Kangaroos fan, Barlow said he would put the money from the jumper towards a deposit on a new house and a car. He said he fell off a 30ft (10m) scaffold six years ago and had not really been able to work and had no compensation. Then six months ago he smashed his uninsured car and it was a write-off.
But Indigenous Affairs Minister, Senator Amanda Vanstone, said the jumper was not Clark's to dispose of. "It's Commonwealth property," she said.

Roos plan to move to Optus Oval
North Melbourne is considering a plan to relocate its training and administration HQ to Optus Oval.
The Kangaroos have spent the past 12 months analysing the merits of revamping Arden St against relocating to Optus Oval, with the latter this week emerging as firm favourite.
Roos chief executive Geoff Walsh said both venues would continue to be assessed. He said recent discussions have indicated both the AFL and the City of Melbourne had a preference for the Princes Park redevelopment. We will continue to explore what the best option is for the future of the club.
The AFL wants the Roos to share Optus Oval, which would be extensively refurbished, with Carlton, as a training and administration base.
Chairman Allen Aylett and likely future chairman Graham Duff have stated the club prefers to stay at Arden St.
Duff recently told a newspaper, "We are North Melbourne and we are Arden St," in a clear statement on how he would tackle the issue.
The Roos wanted to revamp the old social club building at Arden St as well as extensively renovating adjacent existing structures.
Optus Oval will be used for the final time as an AFL venue in Round 9 this year.

Star at Footy
Delta Goodrem is not the only celebrity AFL fan known to regular readers of AFANA reports.
Among the footy faithful at the opening round of 2005 season were Nicole Kidman, who watched her home town team Sydney thrashing Hawthorn by 63 points.
The Academy Award winner is one of an ever-growing band of Sydney football fans who don't necessarily follow the code but support the Swans.
Alongside Kidman, champion swimmer Ian Thorpe, supermodel Megan Gale, former Australian cricketer Mark Taylor and Kerry O'Keeffe, actors David Wenham, Colin Friels and Judy Davis, NSW cricketer Stuart MacGill, Channel Nine personality Richard Wilkins, and radio broadcaster Geraldine Doogue were all likely to be among the 20,000 strong crowd at the SCG for the opening game against Hawthorn.
Swans chairman Richard Colless calls them the club's "true believers".
Kidman was a guest of the Swans for a game against Essendon in August last year and celebrated the win in the change rooms after the game. She developed an instant liking for forward Barry Hall, who she said was her favourite player.
Her publicist, Wendy Day, said Kidman was in town and had been invited to Sunday's game by the Swans.
Colless has played a big part in getting the team to appeal to the hearts and minds of Sydneysiders. When the club first relocated north from South Melbourne in 1982 they were greeted with ridicule by a rugby league- and rugby union-loving public. Now the Swans are an entrenched part of Sydney's sporting landscape.
Australian tennis star Lleyton Hewitt, who is on crutches after a toe operation, was in Adelaide with actress fiancee Bec Cartwright as his Crows lost a close match to West Coast.
The Crows' No.1 ticket holder and world No.2 tennis player took Cartwright and family to the AAMI Stadium clash. Cartwright even wore a Crows scarf.
Hollywood couple Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, with sons Miles and Jack, were guests at Collingwood president's lunch at the MCG before the Magpies' clash with the Western Bulldogs.
The famous family wasted no time fitting in, proudly donning Collingwood jumpers and scarves before joining McGuire and club officials for the president's lunch.
Sarandon, in Melbourne working on the film Irresistible, said she loved our game. "The grace of this game is fantastic compared to our football, where they are all bumbled up with pads," she said.
Robbins, a renowned sports lover, was just as keen on the local product. "This sport is wonderful," he said. "It reminds me of hurling, the Irish sport where if you gave everyone sticks, would be quite similar.
"We're having a great time. Thanks for having us."
Miles and Jack were each presented with signed Magpies guernseys.

Overseas exhibition matches mooted
Collingwood is set to take football to Dubai, with a Wizard Cup game on its agenda next season.
While the request is yet to be officially lodged with the AFL, it is understood rival clubs have been canvassed about playing in one of the biggest cities in the United Arab Emirates.
Collingwood's link with the city is via its major sponsor Emirates airline, which is based in Dubai.
Adelaide is favoured to become Collingwood's opponent, with the link to Dubai also coming from its major sponsor, Toyota, which exports the Camry to the UAE.
The AFL will not begin crunching the permutations of the 2006 Wizard Cup fixture until mid-July at the earliest.
Collingwood has been preparing for the Dubai exercise for a few years. More than 30 of its players spent two days in the city in early October before heading to London for an exhibition match.
Club officials have regularly visited the UAE since Emirates was signed as a sponsor.
Hawthorn is also contemplating playing a Wizard Cup match overseas next year, with New Zealand an option.
The Hawks are weighing up playing in NZ against the possibility of requesting a pre-season match at the Gold Coast's Carrara stadium (the Brisbane Bears played home matches at Carrara from 1987 to 1992 when they moved to the Gabba).
Hawks' chief executive Ian Robson said an off-shore fixture was an option for his club as it assessed next year's requests in scheduling.
Should the AFL sign off on the overseas matches, it would be the first time since 1998 that two officially sanctioned games were taken off-shore.
In that year, Brisbane played Fremantle in Cape Town, South Africa, and Melbourne played Sydney in Wellington, New Zealand, in Ansett Cup matches.
An AFL match will also be taken to London after the 2005 premiership season, with West Coast and Fremantle set to play an exhibition match at The Oval on October 8.
Richmond had initially been scheduled as the Eagles' opponent, but recently withdrew.
It will be the first time the Perth teams will be fixtured to play each other outside WA.
North Melbourne and Sydney may also play overseas, with a Los Angeles engagement pencilled in for January next year.
A mooted LA match involving the Kangaroos in January this year was cancelled because of logistical difficulties.

Media news
*Channel Ten has signed Sydney model Lee Furlong to its new series Seriously AFL.
Furlong, whose profile has been bolstered by her association with swimmer Ian Thorpe, will host a fitness segment on the show.
The journalism student's TV debut will involve a nutrition and exercise segment with the Swans.
Seriously AFL EP Craig Reynolds said Furlong was a great talent and the program would provide her a perfect opportunity to show her wares with the medium.
The 26 episodes of Seriously Footy, the first of which aired on April 2, will be shot around Sydney.
Seriously AFL completes the line-up for Ten's Saturday afternoon programs with a focus on AFL players. The other programs are: Beyond the Boundary (Melbourne), Queensland Rules (Brisbane), Simply Footy (Adelaide) and The Western Front (Perth).
*Twins Josh and Sam, 11, and five-year-old Tom Bromley-Lynch are "The Lynch Mob", and the trio are happy to line up with the big names of the game.
The Ballarat brothers, cousins of St Kilda and Sydney great Tony Lockett, have been guests on Fox Footy show AusKick'n Around for a year, reviewing games and interviewing stars.
Now, the young media stars have just landed their own weekly segment on the footy show for kids, hosted by stars Matthew Lloyd and Brad Johnson.
According to Josh and Sam, TV is "really fun", but the twins prefer to be out on the ground.
The little footy gurus said their commentating idol has always been Bruce McAvaney. Josh is hoping the McAvaney will stick around to call the games he and his brothers play.
Commentating skills got the brothers the gig when they were pulled from the crowd at a Melbourne game to commentate for AusKick'n Around's Call of the Wild slot. Their footy knowledge meant they were asked back and given their own guest segment.
As well as Lockett, Sam explained the football obsession was a family thing since his father played VFL, his mother loved footy, and his sister barracked for Hawthorn.
Last year, the boys' highlights were interviewing Nathan Buckley, as well as Olympians, and TV host Nikki Buckley.
It's not always smooth sailing for TV stars, though. "I interviewed Matt Welsh one day at the MCG last year, and I was really nervous. I couldn't think of something for about 10 seconds and I went really red," Sam said. "Luckily there's such a thing called editing."
This year, Josh (a Collingwood fan) is keen to take on St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt, while Sam (a Melbourne fan) is after Brisbane's Simon Black.
Sam would like to have a few minutes with Eddie McGuire but is not impressed with the antics of Sam Newman.
AusKick'n Around is on Fox Footy Wednesdays at 5.30pm and Fridays at 6pm. The Lynch Mob is on weekly for the next 26 weeks.

In Brief
*Last year, Melbourne Football Club president Paul Gardner missed the Demons' round one clash with Hawthorn.
On Saturday, he missed Melbourne's match against the Western Bulldogs as he walked 100km for Oxfam Trailwalker 2005. The 48-hour trek raises money for Oxfam Community Aid Abroad.
And he might be wearing a Western Bulldogs jumper during the trek.
It was controversial to miss round one last season, but Gardner said he enjoyed putting football into perspective. He challenged supporters to donate to Oxfam and nominate their team when they did.
Bulldogs president David Smorgon has said he will chip in to get Gardner in the Bulldogs' colours.
400 teams of four started the trek on Friday from the southeastern suburb of Wheelers Hill to Mt Donna Buang in Victoria's north-east. Oxfam hopes to raise more than $1 million.
*North Melbourne assistant coach Darren Crocker said the club's medical staff blundered in not having Daniel Motlop's troublesome right shoulder fixed in the off-season. Crocker said he did not think the staff thought that it was serious enough to have an operation, as the people were confident Motlop would be able to get through the year with it, but the problem now became too much of a concern for him.
Motlop, who has had shoulder problems throughout his career, will miss the first 16 rounds of the 2005 season after surgery last Wednesday.
The Kangaroos have nominated Justin Perkins as a rookie able to play senior football this year, an option open as a result of having only one veteran on the list.
*Cats fans can look forward to watching Nathan AND Gary Ablett in senior football action with excitement, according to family manager Michael Baker.
Speculation that reluctant footballer Nathan Ablett had a special clause in his contract preventing him from playing senior football this season was untrue, Baker said.
Baker said Nathan's contract was just a normal, standard document for young footballers, with no strings attached, because the club didn't want to put any great pressure on him.
*Adelaide's inaugural captain Chris McDermott has received an apology from the club for being called "ignorant" on its website and in an email to its sponsors.
McDermott was slated by the club he led into the AFL in 1991 in reaction to a question he posed in his Channel Seven commentary on March 9. He asked if Port Adelaide's on-field success, as last year's AFL premier and highly successful push in the youth market were threatening the Crows' catchphrase of being "The Team for All South Australians".
Two days later, Crows general manager of commercial operations Phil Harper responded on the club's official website, describing McDermott's remarks as "ignorant and unresearched".
After protests from McDermott – who learned of the website article while having lunch with Crows CEO Steven Trigg in Melbourne on the same day Harper's article appeared – the term "ignorant" was removed and the article wiped from the website.
*The Brisbane Lions have engaged in a high-tech version of children's card game Snap as part of their brain testing. Not happy with punishing schedules and weight sessions, the Lions have all had neuro-psychological exams. The main aim is to set a benchmark for determining the effects of concussion and features repetitious card hands for players to respond to. Each player has to quickly determine whether the card or cards shown are the same suit or number as the previous ones. A bit like Snap.
*Not content with being on every honour roll there is at the Sydney Swans, former captain courageous Paul Kelly has joined the club board. Kelly, a four-time best and fairest and 1995 Brownlow medallist who captained the club for nine years, won his seat in the club elections, after being nominated by fellow club heroes Tony Lockett and Dennis Carroll.
Kelly said he could contribute to the board in many ways because he had a good understanding of today's game and he also thought a lot more can be done to grow the game in New South Wales to encourage kids to play.
Melbourne businessmann Robert Pascoe, who was endorsed by triple Brownlow medallist Bob Skilton, has also won a place.

General Silliness
*You may remember that Irish singer Brian McFadden was in Australia last month to promote his new single, Almost Here, a duet he performs with his now girlfriend, local pop singer/actress and Sydney Swans member Delta Goodrem.
McFadden was a special guest at the March 8 launch of The Footy Show in a residential apartment in Melbourne, while across town, Goodrem attended a live recording of variety program Rove Live, hosted by Rove McManus, the man who beat her to win last year's TV Week Gold Logie Award.
Not long after McFadden made a relaxed appearance at the event a little flurry of excitement seemed to sweep the room.
Here's the thing – you take a nice looking bloke who used to be in boy band Westlife and some women think he's a bit of all right.
But then, add a hot Irish accent, a lovely personality, a beautiful singing voice and present all that in the flesh, and you've got a recipe for mass infatuation.
There was a similar theme gushing from women's mouths all night: "I used to think he was a bit girly, but oh, my God, in real life he is so beautiful."
*Despite all that female attention, it was one man that really caught McFadden's attention.
Seems that Collingwood president and Footy Show host Eddie McGuire and the Dublin boy really bonded over the whole Irish heritage thing.
McGuire and McFadden chatted like old buddies during and after the performance, even though they seemed to have only met the day before.
*Westlife sold more than 18 million CDs with McFadden on board, but what's the chance of him going gold with his latest release, Collingwood's theme song?
McFadden was singing Real To Me from his debut album Irish Son, when he suddenly broke into Good Old Collingwood Forever, much to McGuire's delight. (It was captured by a Nine camera crew and played on The Footy Show two nights later.)
Apparently McFadden had asked for the words to the song the day before, so remembering it all was pretty impressive.
However, McFadden later said he was now a Swans fan, courtesy of Goodrem.
McFadden and Goodrem were in Germany recently promoting the song, which debuted at No.1 in the Australian charts. It reached a peak of No.1 in McFadden's home country and No.3 in Britain.
*Melbourne's Adem Yze was recently seen in the club membership department buying 10 premium memberships. He has also organised 22 other reserved-seat memberships for his family, which will give him his own bay of supporters.
This is on top of the four memberships he gets as an AFL player, plus two for a 200 club player and one for Melbourne life membership.
*The 16 AFL clubs have plenty of players with a variety of backgrounds, but the Western Bulldogs are claiming something different with rookie Rowan Nayna. They say the 18-year-old is believed to be the only player on an AFL list with a Mauritian background. Both his parents were born in Mauritius and moved to Australia 30 years ago.
Nayna shares a house with teammates Peter Street and Cameron Faulkner.
*As a doctor, Geoffrey Edelsten diagnosed thousands of conditions during his career, so who better to reveal he believes former Essendon ruckman Simon Madden was "hallucinating" in an interview with Mal Brown in Inside Football when he spoke of being made an offer to play for Sydney in 1986.
Madden said Edelsten, who once owned the Swans, had offered him $850,000 to sign and another $3 million over three years.
Edelsten described Madden's claims as nonsensem, saying Madden was "hallucinating" if the quote attributed to him was correct. Edelsten said he did meet once with Madden at the latter's request, and Madden "indicated the sort of figures that might tempt him".
*Young Hawk Michael Osborne has a unique way of spending leisure time with teammte Chance Bateman.
The pair share a unit and Osborne told Melbourne radio station SEN that while he out a bit of "product" in his hair, Bateman took about four hours to do his, and now asked his flatmate to help him most nights.
Osborne said he helped Bateman with his dreads as they watched TV.
*Collingwood forward Alan Didak has launched a discount variety store in High Street, Kew East, named Dis 'N' Dat.
Asked which of his Collingwood teammates didn't like parting with a dollar and would be chasing some bargains, Didak said it was his captain Nathan Buckley. Didak said Buckley had been his best customer and had been in the shop three or four times and had bought something on every visit.
Didak is also expecting plenty of custom from two Magpies who live near the shop: Tarkyn Lockyer and David King.
*Peter Everitt has long been regarded as one of the true larrikins of AFL footy. Well, despite the one-time St Kilda wild boy having sought a new start at a second club, Hawthorn, the old Spider is still alive and well. In a television interview that goes to air this week, Everitt's partner, Sheree Orchard, lifts the lid on what it is like living with the giant ruckman, explaining how it is not unusual for him to say he is going to the shop to buy a loaf of bread early in the evening but instead go out drinking with his mates and not come home until 10 o'clock next morning. "I ring him (and say) 'Where are you?' (and he says) 'I'm just at the corner shop' at six o'clock at night . . . and then the phone gets turned off," Sheree tells journalist Rebecca Wilson, the host of AFL Lovematch, which premieres on the Fox Footy channel two weeks ago. "He will always bring the bread and milk home, but it is always the next day."
Wilson then asked Everitt what happened next and did he get the silent treatment or what? "Well, that is why I turn the phone off," he explained. "If I didn't turn it off, she would have been halfway up the driveway yelling and screaming and the cabbie wouldn't have known what was going on, so I wait until I get inside, cover up and just have to listen."

That's all for now. See you soon.

Regards,