out for one match for missing training

Hello fans:

Carlton forward Brendan Fevola has been cleared by his club for an early morning incident with security staff at Melbourne's Crown Casino, but has been suspended from Friday's practice match against Richmond because he failed to tell the club on missing a training session.
The match committee, headed by coach Denis Pagan and chairman of selectors Stephen Kernahan, met on Tuesday to determine the penalty after Fevola missed a 9am training session at Optus Oval the day before.
Early Monday morning, Fevola, his brother, and two female companions had been involved in an incident with security staff, which left Fevola with a slightly blackened eye. Security staff intervened and grappled with Fevola and his brother. No one was injured and police were not called.
It's understood Fevola, nursing a slightly blackened eye, did ring the club, but after the session had started. It is believed Fevola told the Blues he was not drunk at the time of the incident and had planned to drive home from the function.
After a day-long investigation on Monday, the Blues said no action would be taken against their star forward. But under the Blues' code of conduct, Fevola was penalised for failing to inform the club he would be absent from training.
Pagan said Fevola had accepted the penalty, and it signalled the end of the matter.
Blues spokesman Ian Coutts emphasised the penalty was about Fevola missing training and had nothing to do with the casion incident.
A Carlton statement said Fevola had "supported a family member" in a minor incident at the casino.
Sources said Fevola was involved in an altercation with the casino's security guards at 3am, but only after going to the aid of his brother, who had been asked to leave.
It is believed Fevola was attending a private party at the casino with his family and girlfriend, a party also attended by Australian Grand Prix winner Michael Schumacher, boxer Anthony Mundine and former footballer and media personality Dermott Brereton.
The incident occurred at the western end of the casino as the group was leaving, when Fevola's brother allegedly became involved in a verbal argument with another man. It is believed Fevola joined the argument to help his brother.
A source said Fevola had tried to calm the situation. "He did nothing wrong," the source said. "All he was doing was assisting his brother."
It is believed the police arrived some time after the incident but made no arrests.
Crown spokesman Gary O'Neill has confirmed there had been an altercation involving an AFL footballer and that the casino was reviewing security tapes of the incident, but he said radio reports "that the footballer in question had been barred from Crown for life (were) absolutely not true. There has been no action like that taken at all."
Speaking after training on Monday, coach Denis Pagan confirmed Fevola should have been at the training session at Optus Oval. Pagan admitted he was surprised Fevola had not arrived for training but did not know the reason for his absence.
It was not the first time Fevola was involved in controversial incidents. In 2001, Fevola was:
ACCUSED of spraying a fire extinguisher in the face of a woman at a Victoria University student residence.
EVICTED from a Brunswick hotel amid accusations alcohol had been stolen and staff abused.
WITH teammate Ryan Houlihan when they harassed the manager at a North Melbourne drycleaners at 8.30am after a night on the town. Carlton fined Fevola $8000 for his part in that incident and ordered him to perform 30 hours of community work.
Fevola will play for the Blues' VFL affiliate Northern Bullants against Springvale on Saturday.

Voss withdraws from practice match
Brisbane Lions captain Michael Voss has reluctantly withdrawn from a practice match in Melbourne on Saturday, fuelling speculation he will need to be nursed through the rest of his career .
Voss was scheduled to fly south for the game against the Western Bulldogs, but he is staying home to rest the chronic knee condition aggravated by half a game last weekend.
While the Lions said in a media release they were keeping Voss "in cotton wool", coach Leigh Matthews had said the previous day he expected Voss to play at Optus Oval.
The release says Voss had "a slight reaction" in the knee that caused him problems throughout 2003.
The worry is the "slight" setback restricted him to stationary skills at training on Wednesday night.
The growing belief is his right knee won't get better, given it blew up after just two quarters at half-back against Richmond on a soft, beautifully grassed Coorparoo Oval on Saturday.
It was his first hitout since he got through the 2003 finals series on pain-killing injections. Voss required minor knee surgery mid-season last year. He missed just one game, but never recovered.
Voss reportedly was happy with the knee on Sunday, but soreness and fluid developed, and a decision was made to rest him.
If he is to play more than half a game before Round 1, he will need AFL permission to represent a combined Brisbane reserves-Northern Eagles team against Morningside at Coorparoo in a week's time.
Matthews said medical advice received by the club was that it's best for Voss not to play for his rehabilitation. The previous day, Matthews said he thought Voss would play at least three quarters of the practice match.
The articular cartilage is worn away, which creates a bone-on-bone situation, severely restricting his mobility and the penetration in his kicking. It is a condition that hastened the retirement of Carlton champion Greg Williams.
It now seems certain he will play a reduced role for as long as his AFL career continues.
He is likely to play out of a forward pocket, spend considerable time on the bench, and be rested once every three or four weeks.
He could even be left home when the Lions travel because of the negative side-effects of flying.

Everitt sues Saints
Peter Everitt is suing St Kilda for long-service leave he says is due for his 10 years' service to the Saints.
Following the lead of similar action by Wayne Carey against his former club North Melbourne, Everitt is claiming an unspecified restitution.
In a case listed in Melbourne Magistrates' Court for May 14, Everitt, 29, is suing for "breach of contract agreement" relating to alleged non-payment of long-service entitlements.
Saints chief executive Brian Waldron this week confirmed the action. He said the club had received notification from Everitt and would defend its rights accordingly.
Waldron would not reveal how much money the player known widely as "Spider" was seeking.
Saints coach Grant Thomas referred inquiries to Waldron, saying it was a matter for the executive.
Everitt's manager, Dan Richardson, said the AFL Players Association had made players aware of their rights about long-service leave entitlements and that Everitt was pursuing the case with his own legal team.
Everitt's legal representative, Patrick Bates of Short, Punch and Greatorix, a Gold Coast law firm, declined to comment.
Everitt played 180 games for St Kilda from 1993-2002, kicked 299 goals and won the club's best and fairest in 2001. He finished fifth in the best and fairest in his first season at Hawthorn last year, despite missing eight games due to suspension or injury.

Umpires to "tell all" on contentious decisions
AFL umpiring officials will this season publicly explain contentious decisions within 24 hours of the completion of each round.
Director of umpiring Jeff Gieschen and umpires' coach Rowan Sawers will face the media late on Mondays in an initiative designed to streamline debate and end protracted public scrutiny of certain decisions.
Officiating umpires may also attend the conferences if outside work commitments allow.
Sawers said the new arrangement would make umpiring more transparent. He also said umpires would be prepared to admit mistakes.
Umpiring officials will also brief the media after Saturday's Wizard Cup Grand Final between Geelong and St Kilda at Telstra Dome. As well as explaining reasons behind decisions in the match, the officials will outline interpretation instructions for the home-and-away season.
All clubs have been briefed about interpretations by umpiring officials, who used a 16-minute videotape to illustrate the most common types of match-day decisions, such as high tackles, high contact, holding the ball, diving on the ball and prior opportunity. The officials also explained the difference between reasonable time and prior opportunity.
Sawers said waiting until the Monday to explain decisions was a better option than umpires commenting immediately after a match. "Sometimes people ask why can't you comment straight after a game but the thing is, straight after a game, you might be able to remember the ones you did pay but most times you don't know anything about the ones you didn't," he said.
Pies gain first female board member
Sally Capp has become Collingwood's first woman board member in 107 years.
Based in Perth for the past eight years, where she founded Australian Heritage Group Ltd, a boutique investment bank, Capp is now employed full-time with the ANZ Bank.
Capp has also been a passionate Magpies supporter all her life. Her father, Brian, was a member of coterie group the Woodsmen, and she has fond memories of watching her team play at Victoria Park.
Collingwood president Eddie McGuire said Capp was "as great a Collingwood fanatic as the person sitting next to her". McGuire said Capp would be running the agenda on several areas at the club, including interstate supporter groups, philanthropy and investments with fellow board member Alex Waislitz.
Capp revealed her Magpie loyalties had led to her being hit on the back of the head with a beer can for barracking too loudly against West Coast last year.
After being approached six months ago by McGuire to come on the board, Capp, a mother of two young boys, said she considered herself a business person first. She said she hoped to use her commercial and business skills to add value to the club, and to bring a different perspective to the way issues are looked at.
Capp replaces retiring board member Nuno D'Aquino (former chief executive of Foster's Group), who will become the club's patron.

Krakouers reunite
Fallen champion Jim Krakouer has waited almost nine years but has finally made a date with his footballer son Andrew.
That date has been set for Richmond's round-10 clash on May 29 with West Coast at Subiaco, which coincides with the senior Krakouer's fourth monthly day release outing from Perth's Casuarina prison before his scheduled release on parole in late August.
Barring injury or inadequate form for 21-year-old Tiger Andrew, the former North Melbourne star will finally get to watch first hand - accompanied by a parole officer - as his son plays AFL football.
Krakouer (pronounced "cracker"), 45, whose telepathic football style set the Kangaroos alight during the 1980s, was sentenced in 1995 to 16 years' prison after being found guilty of conspiracy to possess and intent to sell or supply methylamphetamines worth $500,000. Andrew was 11 at the time.
Richmond coach Danny Frawley, a former teammate of Jim Krakouer during the latter's last two seasons at St Kilda and who oversaw the Tigers' recruitment of Andrew as a 17-year-old in 2000, said the youngster's progress had proved a constant fillip for Krakouer senior.
Andrew Krakouer has managed 34 games in four seasons with the Tigers and was one of the club's best players in last weekend's pre-season game against Brisbane.
The Tigers believe their promising young forward/midfielder would benefit from the contact with his father. It is believed that after his release Krakouer could be forced to remain in WA for a six-month parole period unless he has employment in another state.
Richmond is working with the Krakouer family to organise a trip east. Richmond football director Greg Miller has been in contact with Jim Krakouer and the WA Department of Corrections about the day release program and the conditions of his parole.

Pies duo penalised for stealing papers
Two Collingwood players have faced court on theft charges over an early morning escapade.
Tristen Walker, 19, and Tom Davidson, 21, admitted stealing two bundles of newspapers worth A$75 from outside a newsagency in the north-eastern Melbourne suburb of Templestowe in the early hours of Sunday, October 6, 2002. Magistrate Catherine Lamble was told a baker working in a neighbouring shop caught the men and reported their car registration to police.
Both Walker and Davidson, represented by barrister Anthony Burns, agreed with the prosecution case and opted to be dealt with through the court's diversion program.
The Heidelberg Magistrates' Court heard the men had apologised in person to the newsagent and reimbursed the $75.
Ms Lamble ordered them to donate A$125 each to the Royal Children's Hospital and discharged them without conviction.
Walker and Davidson were drafted by the Magpies in 2001. Davidson was taken from Geelong and Walker from Western Australia. Walker, 20 next month, made his debut last year, playing 10 games, including the Grand Final when he replaced the suspended Anthony Rocca.
Davidson is a highly regarded key forward prospect who suffered a serious knee injury in the pre-season last year.
Court diversion programs must be recommended by police and victims are asked for their input. The diversion program gives first-time offenders the chance to escape a criminal record.

Stevens, Carey settles lawsuit on glass incident
North Melbourne star Anthony Stevens has reached an out-of-court settlement with former teammate Wayne Carey over an incident that almost killed him.
Stevens sued Carey and other former owners of the Redback Brewery Hotel in North Melbourne after his face was sliced by a falling shard of glass.
The Kangaroos veteran needed 50 stitches during emergency surgery after the glass fell from a second-floor window at the pub.
His long-time manager, Ron Joseph, has confirmed a resolution, but would not reveal the amount of money.
Neither Stevens nor Carey were present when legal representatives from both sides agreed to the settlement.
The falling glass sliced Stevens from the corner of his mouth, across his cheek and down to the top of his shoulder on March 11, 2000.
Carey -- who played in two AFL premierships with Stevens in 1996 and 1999 -- was a part owner of the venue through a company called Starbiz Enterprises.

Nettelbeck in court on assaulting charges
Former AFL footballer Craig Nettelbeck has appeared in court accused of assaulting a woman in a South Yarra nightclub last year.
Nettelbeck, 32, who played 78 games for Sydney, Fremantle and Melbourne for 10 years before retiring in 1998, faced the Melbourne Magistrates Court charged with one count each of indecent assault and unlawful assault.
Police prosecutor Senior Constable Richard Farrelly told the court Nettelbeck had walked up the stairs of the Lotus Bar in Toorak Road last June and grabbed the woman's front for one second as she passed by. Sen-Constable Farrelly said the victim, aged in her 20s, tried to strike Nettelbeck before speaking to security staff. He said Nettlebeck was initially contrite initially apologised to the woman, aged in her 20s, after security guards approached him, but later abused her and left the club.
He said two of her friends who were with her on the staircase gave evidence to police at the scene.
Nettelbeck, who was once engaged to TV vet Katrina Warren and now works in sports management, was "uncooperative and mildly affected by alcohol" during the police interview, Sen-Constable Farrelly said. He said when the police asked him the reason for his actions Nettelbeck said he had not done anything wrong.
Nettlebeck's lawyer Steve Schembri claimed the incident on a stairwell at the venue had a much more innocent explanation. He said his client was pushed from behind while ascending the staircase and put his hand out to stop himself from falling.
Schembri said his client had two friends who were present at the incident who would back up his version of events.
Magistrate Reg Marron adjourned the case until April 15 to enable these witnesses to make formal statements.
If Nettlebeck is convicted, he could face up to 10 years behind bars.

Three girls lose battle to play with boys
Three teenage girls have lost their battle to play junior football with boys.
While Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal president Justice Stuart Morris last month ruled that one of the girls had been unlawfully excluded from mixed under-14 competition, he also ruled that girls over 14 could be barred from playing with boys for reasons of difference in strength, stamina and physique - leaving the final decision to competition officials.
The three girls - Helen Taylor, who plays in the ruck, full-back Emily Stanyer and winger Penny Cula-Reid - are now aged 14, 15 and 16.
Football Victoria rules previously allowed only girls under 12 to play in mixed competition. On March 2, the board of Football Victoria exercised the letter of Justice Morris's determination by voting not to allow mixed competition for players aged over 14.
Football Victoria chief executive Ken Gannon said the decision to retain separate boys-only and girls-only competitions for older teens was based on the "significant differences" between the sexes "as clarified in the case".
"While we can understand that the three girls involved in this dispute want to play football with the boys, we have a responsibility to have rules and regulations that apply to all participants, males and females, across the state," he said.
Gannon said the tribunal had determined that the circumstances of individuals could not dictate policy for an entire sport and it would be "extraordinary" for Football Victoria to decide on individual applications from girls to play in its boys' teams.
The girls could not be contacted for their responses, but Helen Taylor's father, Andrew, said he felt Football Victoria had adopted a "fairly selective reading" of the tribunal's determination. He said the girls would now have to consider their options, which included switching to soccer or taking up umpiring.
Taylor also said he would consider pressing the Victorian government for law reforms.
*Rising interest in Aussie rules among girls in the south-east suburbs of Melbourne has led to Victoria's first girls-only football competition.
While mixed gender teams and a statewide women's league already exist, the competition launched is the first to be open only to girls aged 13 to 17.
Hampton Park teenager Penny Moore is hoping to be a star forward for her team, the Narre Warren South Lions. Penny, who kicked her first football earlier this year, got footy fever as a spectator at her boyfriend's games. "I was watching him play and I thought stuff it, I'm going to have a go," she said.
When her boyfriend saw an advertisement for the Narre Warren South Lions -- a new all-girl team -- Penny saw the opportunity to try a sport with more oomph than her previous sport, basketball.
"I just really like playing footy," she said. "I like it because unlike basketball you can really bump people. And when the referee's not looking you can even give them a bit of a punch."
As well as Narre Warren South, the new league is expected to support teams from nearby Dandenong, Berwick, Cranbourne and Pakenham.
Penny's boyfriend Vaughan, who plays for Dandenong District Football Club, thinks the all-girl league is a winner. "Girls deserve to be able to play," he said. "It's unfair for them to have to play against the boys and it's unfair for the boys to have to play against them."
As to how 14-year-old Penny is meant to match up to a 17-year-old, she said she would improvise.
"It is scary if you're playing on a girl who's in college and they fall on top of you," she said. "But when they're around you've just got to find another way of getting the ball."

AFL Footy Show celebrates 10 years on air
In the past 10 years, 135 programs (the first one was The X-Files) have gone up against The AFL Footy Show, but not one of them has dented the show's dominance.
At Breezes restaurant at Melbourne's Crown Casino, the show celebrated 10 years with an Aussie barbecue attended by all the major players, including Eddie McGuire, Sam Newman and comedian Trevor Marmalade.
Former and current panellists including Luke Darcy, James Hird, Shane Crawford, Nick Riewoldt, Aaron Hamill, Glenn Manton, Garry Lyon, Matthew Richardson, and Brendan Fevola were all there, as well as a who's who of the AFL.
McGuire said that while the show was all good fun, the team was deadly serious about producing a polished product. "We feel the pressure every week," he said. "We approach the footy show like a footy team.
"Our meetings on a Tuesday are legendary for their brutal honesty, and that's just not from me, it's from Sam, Trev and everybody else."
McGuire could not understand why every year the show has battles with clubs that won't let their footballers on the show. He said players' involvement was a positive outcome for everybody. Manton and Darcy echoed McGuire's sentiments. "Being on the show didn't change the way you played the next day or in three days' time, it's ridiculous," Manton said.

Irish football star McAnallen laid to rest
The small rural village of Eglish, County Tyrone, came to a standstill on Friday afternoon, March 5, as 24-year-old Irish footballer Cormac McAnallen was laid to rest.
Mourners crammed the narrow streets as the coffin, flanked by McAnallen's Tyrone team mates on one side and his clubmates from Eglish on the other, was brought from St. Patrick's Church to the graveyard.
The large crowd in attendance could not all be accommodated in the small church and were housed at the local Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) clubhouse and parochial hall instead, where screens and speakers relayed the funeral service to them.
Archbishop Sean Brady paid a moving tribute to the tragic football star during the Mass. "Cormac was an icon in the proper sense of that term," he said. "He was a role model, gentle and modest, dedicated and disciplined, joyful and happy.
"In the eyes of all of us, Cormac has died before his time, carried away in the twinkling of an eye by a deadly freak virus. It is hard to make sense of it all.
"And yet in his very short life Cormac achieved so much."
Later the Archbishop added: "Now his memory will burn brightly in the hearts of all who loved and admired him.
"The example of his all too short, but brilliant life, will be a light to very many others."
Leading footballers and hurlers were in attendance along with to GAA officials.
McAnallen, a secondary school history and politics teacher by trade, was remembered with a minute's silence at Gaelic Athletic Association games throughout Ireland this week. The AFL sent a letter of condolences to the GAA this week.
McAnallen, the 24-year-old Tyrone full-back noted for his valiant attempts to stop Sydney's Barry Hall in last year's International Rules series, died suddenly of a heart condition on early Tuesday, March 2.
It is believed the young star - who last year captained Tyrone to its historic first All-Ireland Gaelic football title, won his first Ireland All-Star award and was selected for his third consecutive International Rules series - died of a viral heart infection, a condition that affects one in 100,000 people.
Armagh captain Kieran McGeeney could not let mere rivalry cloud his appreciation for McAnallen as a player and a person. "I played with him on the International rules side and with Ulster," McGeeney said. "Cormac was the ideal athlete. He was more dedicated than anyone before him. Also he was true gentleman and very easy to get on with."
"It's very hard to comprehend how a 24-year-old man who looked after himself so well could die so young.
"It's a huge loss to the GAA, not just in Tyrone but everywhere. He was captain of minor, U21 and senior county teams. What better example is there than that?"
One of the best defenders in gaelic football, Kerry's Seamus Moynihan, also expressed his admiration for McAnallen. Moynihan, who knew McAnallen through international duty, was fulsome in his praise for his former colleague.
"I first met him in 2001 on the Aussie Rules tour when we shared a room for two weeks. He was a lovely lad," said Moynihan. "A sign of his commitment to the game could be seen by the way he had just won an All-Ireland U21 title yet he just jumped on a plane to Australia immediately after.
"At the time I remember myself and Darragh O'Se commenting that he wasn't going to stop progressing. That he had bigger and better things ahead of him.
"Even this year he showed his versatility by moving from midfield to full-back. At 24 years of age he was only just coming into his prime. It's very unfortunate. He achieved so much in such a little time - it showed what a great footballer he was."
Donegal boss Brian McEniff has managed McAnallen both with the Ulster Railway Cup football team and also with the Irish International Rules side for the series against Australia. Ironically, he also watched McAnallen lead Tyrone to McKenna Cup victory against his own Donegal just over two weeks ago.
"It's very difficult to talk about Cormac," McEniff began. "He was a special young lad.
"I would call him a modest young man, success never got to his head. I also had the pleasure of knowing both his parents when they were in Australia. My sympathies are with them.
"I saw Cormac lift the McKenna Cup last month. It was great to see a lad from the north with a few words of Irish.
"It's a terrible tragedy. He was not just a very fine player but he was also a fine person. He was also immaculately clean on the pitch."
Paddy McIntosh, the youth coach at Eglish, had coached McAnallen from the age of ten and was greatly feeling his loss. It was just a few months earlier that McAnallen had come back to his home village carrying the Sam Maguire, when he made McIntosh one of the proudest men in the county by dedicating the win to him and citing him as the single biggest influence on his career.
"Cormac stood on the stage the night Tyrone came here with the cup and, even before he mentioned his parents, he talked about me," said McIntosh, his voice breaking. "It was the greatest thing ever said about me to have a lad who had won an All-Ireland medal say I was the biggest influence on his career."
McIntosh later spoke about McAnallen's unwavering commitment to his club, something that big-name intercounty stars are not always renowned for.
"He would turn up for friendlies and pester to get on. You tell me another county player who's like that?" McIntosh asked.
Tyrone icon Peter Canavan, who was previous captain of the O'Neill county until picking up an injury and passing on the armband to McAnallen, is convinced that his former team mate was on the threshold of greatness in gaelic football.
Canavan, recovering from an ankle injury at present, spoke glowingly of the man who would almost certainly have succeeded him as permanent captain when his day of retirement came.
Canavan was feeling the loss all the more keenly as he, McAnallen and the rest of the players had just attended the wedding of team mate Gavin Devlin recently.
"He did so well there last year but against Longford and Donegal he was really awesome," Canavan said about McAnallen's blossoming reputation as a commanding full-back.
"He was on his way to being one of the great full-backs in the modern game. I have no doubt about that. I don't think he'll be replaced for a lot of reasons, not just his football ability.
"People have said to me how difficult it is to comprehend that five months on this has happened. I think back just five days to Gavin Devlin's wedding when we were all together, on top of the world."
Unsurprisingly, Tyrone boss Mickey Harte felt a grievous sense of personal loss when confronted with the news of the death of McAnallen, the likeable player he had nurtured from minor right through to the senior grade.
Harte spoke about the player's dedication to improving himself after being switched to the unfamiliar position of full-back last year. "I've said it so many times today and I just can't get away from it. People talk about role models and misuse and abuse the term. But Cormac McAnallen was the ultimate role model both in his life and his sporting life," Harte said.
"He always sought improvement because he was never satisfied with what he had. He left nothing to chance. He'd watch videos of himself and others in the same position to see what ways he could improve himself. He met the challenge of playing full-back head-on like I expected he would."
Later, Harte recalled how young McAnallen had showed leadership qualities and rallied his team mates in the aftermath of the Omagh bombing in 1998.
"He was a real rallying point always to the fore doing the right thing. You would admire him for it. After Omagh Fr Gerard noticed how, when we split the boys into groups to talk of the aftermath a lot of the other players sought to be in Cormac's group because they felt safe around him.
"He was just great to have at a training session, never mind a game. He was just so good to have about the place."
Irish President Mary McAleese said: "(McAnallen) gave us some wonderful memories and also brought nothing but pride, glory, honour and goodness. That's all he left us was goodness. That is some legacy to leave at 24." She added that she too felt "privileged" to have known him.
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said McAnallen's "untimely passing has robbed this island of one of our greatest talents".
Sydney's Irish recruit Tadhg Kennelly says he has been "gutted" by the death of McAnallen.
Kennelly said he was still in shock. "I knew Cormac very well, he stayed with me during the International Rules (last October) for two weeks," he said. "I was gutted when I found out about his death.
"The whole country's in shock. I've had so many people ringing me and telling me. I'm just shell-shocked. He was a real superstar at home at 24 years of age. It would be like losing James Hird, just sudden. A real fit, healthy kid."
"He had just finished his degree and was getting married -- he had it all going for him.
"These things happen. I suppose when your time's up, your time's up.
"But not at 24 years of age when you've got the world at your feet."
Kennelly, who made his debut with the Swans in 2001, said McAnallen's death had put his own career into perspective. "It really hits home that we've got it good over here," he said. "Even though we're just kicking a football around for a living, so be it.
"It doesn't matter if you start worrying about your own performance, you're still alive and healthy.
"People, obviously in every sport, get caught up in the little things.
"But something like this just pinches you and wakes you up and says, 'I've got it good here'."

Kennelly to become Australian citizen
Sydney's Tadgh Kennelly will complete an amazing journey when he takes a vow on the steps of Sydney Opera House this week to become an Australian citizen.
Irish-born Kennelly, 22, has been in Australia since he was 18 after being snapped up by the Swans. He feels it's only right to become a naturalised Australian.
"It is a big step for me but I figure I've lived all of my adult life here and it's a way of saying how I've grown up and I'm not totally dependent on my mum and dad any more," said Kennelly, who is from County Kerry. "I've been in Australia for four years now and thought 'why not do it'. So I applied for citizenship and I got it.
"I'll still have my Irish passport, but I feel so settled now at the Swans and in Sydney, I just feel like I should be officially part of Australia.
"But it's funny . . . in the interview it said I must obey the law, I must now vote and I must defend Australia. Imagine if there was an Irish invasion!"
It's that sort of humour that has endeared Kennelly to Swans fans as much as his wholehearted displays.
He started as a raw recruit from Gaelic football, but his energy and accurate kicking have seen him become a key member of the team.
Last year Kennelly played all 24 games, including his 50th for the club.
"I'm feeling really at home with the game itself now and I'm confident with my role within the team," Kennelly said. "I'm at the stage now where I'm not worried about my game or my spot, I'm just worried about helping out my team-mates by playing the best I can."
Kennelly, who made his debut in 2001, has three years left on his contract.
"I'm excited about that and I'm well settled in Sydney – I'm playing for a great club and living in a great city," he said.
Swans coach Paul Roos said Kennelly was part of the fabric of the club. "He's really settled in well and is enjoying the lifestyle," Roos said. "I know he is very proud and very pleased at becoming an Australian citizen and he is looking forward to it very much."
Kennelly has settled into a home in the eastern suburbs with fellow Swan Stephen Doyle and admits he can't imagine living anywhere else.
"It's going to be great to have dual citizenship. Although I'll always be a proud Irishman, my parents realise the opportunity I've got," Kennelly said.
By becoming an Australian, Kennelly said it doesn't automatically mean he will be cheering for Australia over Ireland in rugby. "Not a chance of that happening," he said. "But I'll certainly be cheering for Australia when they play anyone else, particularly England."

Nine launches interactive TV service
Channel Nine's coverage of AFL and rugby league have been significantly boosted with the launch of Sports Active, the first free-to-air interactive TV service in Australia.
Described by Nine as "easy to use surpercharged TV", starting with the first match of the season (Richmond v Collingwood) on March 26 footy fans will be able to click onto what will amount to their own programming device, including being able to call up a highlights package that will be continuously upgraded during the course of the match.
First, though, viewers will have to fork out a minimum of A$299 for a digital box.
Currently, an estimated 2000 to 3000 homes in Melbourne already have the boxes installed, but Nine expects that number to grow to 100,000 by the end of 2004 alone.
Nine's Sports Active will also spread to other sports, most notably rugby league, which has launched its version of the service with the start of its NRL season on Friday.
Soon, cricket, golf and tennis will follow with Nine's coverage of Wimbledon set to include viewers being able to call up scores from all other games on outside courts.
The further good new for sports fans is that Foxtel subscribers, who take up its new interactive digital service, will be able to use the same box to access the Nine service.
Explained David Gyngell, Nine's deputy chief executive: "Fans will be able to turn on their sets at any time and have the facility to immediately flick to a highlights package."
The technology, a world first, will also enable fans to call up match and player stats, the same ones that are currently available to commentators and match-day coaches.
*Indeed, the highlights package could have Nine and the AFL on a collision course. Nine's executive producer of footy, Cos Cardone, said incidents in which umpires report players during the course of the match will not be exempted, despite a league ruling that forbids any TV network replaying such incidents after they happen.
"We would have shown the incident as part of our normal coverage so there's no reason why digital viewers should miss out on it," said Cardone. "Until the AFL can guarantee us that no other media outlet replays reported incidents we won't be holding back."

New documentary on Shane Crawford
An extraordinary warts-and-all sneak peek into the private world of Shane Crawford, loosely titled Access All Areas, has been bought by Channel Nine to be shown in May.
Described as a cross between Big Brother and Australian Story, you'll see the frightening depths groupies go to attract attention. Some are filmed sticking notes on Crawford's car, others expose themselves, mothers offer their daughters . . .
Crawford, whose life of late resembles a soap opera as we saw on this page last week, even set a trap to try to capture on film the male and female stalkers who plague his life.
Any doubts about Crawford's sexuality will also be resolved in the fly-on-the-wall expose, says the show's producer, Rob Dickson, the former Hawthorn footballer and runner who won $500,000 in the reality show Australian Survivor in 2002.
"We knew we had pure gold," Dickson said after he and Crawford viewed the first few reels. "It will certainly be the cause of discussion around the water cooler. It's all there, trust me.
"It's like the rock star syndrome. In this town the adoration that rightly or wrongly goes with being an AFL footballer is amazing. Crawf addresses that and also the impact the scrutiny on his personal life has on family and friends."
Dickson has been overwhelmed by Crawford's honesty and commitment to the project, which, he says, results in amazing TV, including details of Hawthorn's inner sanctum.
In the rare instances Crawford felt a situation was too intimate for Dickson to film, the Hawthorn captain would shoot it himself. This includes the mind-blowing presence of mind to film himself vomiting violently at 2am, lying in bed, and filming himself neck deep in Port Phillip Bay at 11pm in the middle of winter, as part of his physical therapy.
"There are his views on the whole gay issue, which he is constantly hounded about, and his openness with his sexuality. It's quite enlightening," Dickson said. "We've got quite a bit deeper (than a normal reality show)."
While there were many times Crawford showed unattractive qualities, ultimately Dickson was left with admiration for the Hawk star. Crawford's "intense side" also emerges.
"He amazed me how hard he works," Dickson said. "I was surprised by Shane's candidness and his openness. He's a genuine bloke. It's interesting to see how fame affects him. But at the end of the day he's as soft as butter."
The program, filmed throughout last year's football season, is being edited to conform to the 8.30pm timeslot.
*The House of Bulger, a drama spoof shown as a weekly five-minute serial on the AFL Footy Show last year and starring Crawford, Garry Lyon, Sam Newman and Billy Brownless, is available on DVD from Sony Music Australia.

Seven announces footy programs revamp
Former AFL broadcaster Channel Seven has confirmed the axing of Bruce McAvaney as host of Talking Footy for 2004.
McAvaney, who declined to comment, was the original host of Talking Footy in 1995 with Malcolm Blight and Herald Sun journalist Mike Sheahan on the couch. He's remained with the show since, apart from 1999-2000 when Gerard Healy and Tim Lane filled the hosting role.
McAvaney's move is part of a total facelift for Seven's AFL commitments announced by Melbourne boss Ian Johnson, who said McAvaney would be occupied this year with the network's coverage of the Athens Olympics in August and the Spring Racing Carnival in Sydney and Melbourne in October-November. Johnson said McAvaney was a realist and accepted the network needed a bigger audience and as such it's time for change.
Tim Watson will replace McAvaney as host of Talking Footy on Tuesday nights at 10.30pm (starting March 30) with former coach David Parkin taking over from Age journalist Caroline Wilson as a regular.
And other full-time Channel Seven sports staff in Jason Dunstall, Paul Salmon and Robert DiPierdomenico will not have their contracts renewed. Johnson said the three would now become freelance.
Johnson, who is credited with the invention and implementation of Channel Nine's ratings winner The Footy Show, said the time was right for a facelift. He said Talking Footy would have a current affairs feel with the inclusion of breaking stories and news updates by reporter Craig Hutchison, and some more light-hearted segments. He denied there would be a replica of Footy Show segment Street Talk, but said there would be more tuning into what fans were thinking.
Johnson wants to broaden the appeal of Talking Footy with the eventual aim of bringing it forward to 9.30 on Tuesday nights. To do that he admits the show will need to regularly attract an audience of more than 200,000, something it has rarely done in nine years.
Rex Hunt, while not being a constant on the set, will be part of the new line-up.
The Footy Panel, which became a Sunday tradition when it began in 1957 as a segment in the legendary World of Sport and which Hunt hosted in the last five years, was also discontinued.
Hunt will now be seen on the new Sunday morning football offering which will be incorporated in Sportsworld, which kicks off this week, between 9am and 11am.
Johnson said Hutchison would host the AFL segment on Sunday, with a non-sporting show between 11am and noon.

In Brief
*The wife of one of the most powerful men in the AFL, Ben Buckley, has died.
Kim Buckley passed away on Sunday after a long battle with illness. She leaves two children, Tess and Jack.
Buckley is the AFL's general manager of broadcasting, strategy and major projects.
*Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse has been fined $2500 for approaching the umpires at halftime in his side's AFL practice match last weekend.
Malthouse has also agreed to provide a written apology to the umpires involved.
Malthouse allegedly contravened rules when he approached field umpires at halftime of last Friday's game against Port Adelaide in Alice Springs. It is understood he was querying reasons behind a free kick paid against the Pies for deliberate out-of-bounds.
The umpires lodged a report of the incident with the AFL.
AFL rules state no person can approach or talk to an umpire during the quarter-time, half-time or three-quarter time interval or when the umpires are entering or leaving the arena.
Malthouse spoke to AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson on Thursday. Anderson imposed the penalty the following day.
*Gerard Whateley has quit Channel Ten after five years. Whateley, who previously worked with the Herald Sun and Channel Seven, quit the network to work as a senior national commentator with ABC Radio. He will become a key football caller with ABC's Melbourne station. Whateley had a busy 2003 season, working as a boundary reporter for Ten on Saturdays and calling for radio on Sundays. Whateley was replaced by Andrew Maher, who switched from Channel Seven and would co-host (with former Collingwood footballer Michael Christian) a new program from 10.30pm on Saturdays to review the five games of the opening two days of the round, including those telecast by Channel Nine and Foxtel.
*It is understood that current AFL broadcasters Channel Nine, Channel Ten and Foxtel have indicated an interest in pursuing their relationships with the AFL beyond 2006, as has the Seven Network, which has begun informal talks with the league's new administration. There has been speculation that the AFL would be keen to complete a new deal as early as next year. The current AFL broadcast deal, worth A$90 million has three years to run, including this year.

General Silliness
*A fortune is being made from MCG paraphernalia the Melbourne Cricket Club gave away.
When the Ponsford Stand was torn down in 2002, almost all its green bench seats were dragged away by the wreckers and recycled into wooden flooring.
Fortunately for footy fans, shrewd young entrepreneur David Jenyns tracked down the wreckers and saved 25 seats.
Jenyns, 21, had been reading about Paul Hartunian -- an American who made a fortune selling pieces of the Brooklyn Bridge -- when the penny dropped. "I heard that story, I was going past the MCG as they were pulling down the stand and it was just like fireworks went off in my head," Jenyns said.
The young Glen Iris man paid "a little under a grand" for the 25 benches and a piece of the MCC's crested carpet. He has already made more than $22,000 from his venture and is selling off segments of the carpet at $650 a pop.
In November last year the MCC made $600,000 from a members-only auction of Members' Pavilion furniture and fittings.
But it is clear the club underestimated the demand for any MCG relics -- regardless of whether they're from the members' area.
W.M. Ponsford's son, Bill Ponsford, 75, said his father would not mind Mr Jenyns' venture.
"I reckon he would've thought whoever showed the foresight and the get-up-and-go -- well good luck to them," he said. "He would've thought it's only a bit of wood."
*AFL commentator Robert Walls and another former Fitzroy coach, David Parkin, last week ventured to the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Melbourne's Albert Park as guests of one of their old Lions buddies. As a result, he is sporting a broken arm received when he slipped on some restaurant stairs as he was leaving to go home.
Walls did not think much about it at the time but the pain became so bad he later took himself to Epworth Hospital in Richmond where doctors found he had broken a bone in his right arm just near the elbow.
"There were some people behind me and I suspect now that they were probably Essendon supporters and that one of them pushed me," joked Walls, before eventually 'fessing up he simply missed one of the stairs, lost his balance and threw his arms out to break his fall as he tumbled to the ground.
But how many glasses of red wine had Walls consumed beforehand, contributing to the accident? "That's the most ridiculous part," he said. "The only drinks I'd had were three glasses of mineral water."
*Channel Nine values Eddie McGuire and Sam Newman so highly that when light-plane travel is involved, the network insists they fly in separate aircraft. Losing one of them in an accident would be tragic enough.
Losing both? Hey, don't even think about it. Well, it would appear the duo have been doing some lateral futuristic thinking of their own, McGuire revealing that about eight years ago, at the height of their meteoric rise on the back of The Footy Show, they made a handshake agreement, one that still stands today.
"Simply, we agreed that neither of us would ever sign with another channel unless the other one went too," said McGuire, as he and his Footy Show team prepare for the 10-year anniversary return of the high-rating Thursday night program.
"We realised very early on, that besides being great mates, in a professional sense we were good for each other too, so we made a private pact never to split up," said McGuire.
Well, their partnership at Nine would appear set to continue for some time yet, McGuire further revealing he has committed himself to a new contract at Nine, the length of which he would not reveal. So have there been serious offers from rival networks that tested the McGuire-Newman agreement, we asked?
"There were plenty of them, but I don't think I seriously ever wanted to leave Nine," said the man who, thanks also to his hosting of the local version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, has become the network's hottest property.
"Once The Footy Show became the ratings success that it did from its early days there were many offers and plenty of rumours too. But I stayed and obviously I'm glad I did."
*Interesting, McGuire doesn't rate Sam Newman his best mate, just one of them.
"I don't think I've got a best mate as such, but a good group of people who I rate as special friends," said McGuire, who turns 40 in September.
"But don't think Sam and I haven't had our moments, particularly at our Tuesday Footy Show meetings, which are legendary. Egos are thrown out the door on those days. But just like a good footy team, we know we're all striving for the same goal so we never hold back telling each other what we think."
*Given that he has won both a Brownlow Medal and a Norm Smith Medal in premiership years, we reckon that Brisbane's champion midfielder Simon Black is allowed to mention the "f" word - as in "flag" - even though the season hasn't even started. Yep, according to Black, the Lions boys have quietly come up with a word to describe their quest for a fourth consecutive premiership. The buzz word last season, you may remember, was "three-peat". This year, it is simply "fore-play".
*Hawthorn president Ian Dicker is a passionate supporter of the brown and gold but we now discover it has not always been the case - indeed, because his childhood idol was Essendon champion John Coleman, Dicker grew up supporting the Bombers. How Dicker became a Hawk is a story in itself and one that he was happy to tell to The Age, if only it also mentioned his club's big family day at Glenferrie Oval on Sunday. Shortly after getting married in Sydney in 1963, he and his wife Barbara arrived at her parents' Melbourne home, where he was told bluntly by his new father-in-law, devoted Hawthorn fan Harry Pill, that "unless you start barracking for the Hawks there will be no bed for you". Little did Pill realise the monster that he was creating. Not only did Dicker do as he was told, but his subsequent 41-year association with the club now includes the past eight years as its leader.
As for the Hawks' family day, the highlight of which will be the presentation of an official team guernsey, complete with the number 9 1/2, to self-confessed Hawk - and Shane Crawford fan - Robert Mills of Australian Idol fame.
*AFL presidents, as we know, will try all sorts of stunts to promote their clubs, but here's one that you would never have seen, had it not been for The Age's clever art department. The cap that Collingwood president Eddie McGuire is "wearing" is further evidence of how you can cash in on the mighty Magpie name - even when they lose. The "Colliwobbles", of course, were supposed to have been buried at Victoria Park after the Pies' 1990 premiership win but, according to Ballarat entrepreneur John Maher, the Pies' back-to-back grand final losses mean they have been resurrected. And not only has he since registered the "Colliwobbles" name and trademark, but is now manufacturing "Colliwobbles" caps, including this "Game Over Eddie" version and others, such as "2002-2003, Back 2 Back" and "25 Grand Final Losses". "We only went into business in December and, with hardly any promotion at all, we've already sold 1500 caps at $20 a pop and soon we'll also be selling Colliwobbles T-shirts and beer coasters, too," Maher said.
Eddie, of course, would probably like to destroy the lot of them, although people are tipping he may not feel so bad about one of the other caps in the range, aimed at the Magpie army market, which reads: "Colliwobbles - at least we got there".

Did you know?
*Trevor O'Hoy, who takes over from Ted Kunkel as chief executive of Foster's Group (AFL sponsor) on April 5, played on the wing for three years with the St Kilda Football Club reserves team and was runner-up for the Gardiner Medal. His teammates at the Saints included Mick Malthouse and Grant Thomas, now coaches respectively of Collingwood and St Kilda.
Coming from a family of public servants, he says Carlton & United Breweries (now part of Foster's Group) wasn't his first choice as a job but he landed a position there as a cadet executive in 1976 after he was knocked back by the Federal Treasury and Victorian Department of Agriculture.
Educated at Highett High, and graduating from Monash University with an economics degree, O'Hoy's first job at CUB was taking care of the handwritten ledgers and cashbooks for two small subsidiaries. He took on various accounting jobs in the company for the next 10 years, moving on every two years and climbing the ladder with key CUB roles.
In 1997, he was appointed chief financial officer before his appointment as CUB's managing director. While he was always regarded as the frontrunner for the job, CUB's performance in the last results - managing an 8.6 per cent rise in earnings while the other businesses were struggling - did not do his career prospects any harm either.
*Geoff Polites knows what it is like to be the underdog, and that experience will stand him in good stead when he steps down as president of Ford Australia in less than a week.
Over the past 14 years he has been a runner, a match-day manager and, more recently, an aid in the Sydney Swans coaching box as the team he loves has scrambled up and down the league ladder.
His match-day duties with the Swans provided a valuable stress release, especially in the five years since his appointment as Ford president.
That success, gained personally by Polites in Detroit, signalled that Ford Australia had a future, but also gave rise to the only regret he has about taking up a new job with Ford of Europe as vice-president of marketing staff.

That's all for now. See you soon.

Regards,