And Chris Connolly takes up the coaching position at Fremantle...

Hello fans:

If you don’t want to know the results of the second International Rules match between Australia and Ireland (the match will be shown on Fox Sports World on November 9), do not read past General Silliness.

Dual premiership captain John Worsfold has signed a three-year deal to coach West Coast Eagles.
Worsfold, who spent the last week in negotiations with the Eagles and Fremantle, was offered the Eagles’ job on Tuesday morning. Worsfold met with Fremantle the following morning and was told he remained a serious contender for the Dockers’ coaching position along with Hawthorn assistant Chris Connolly and Melbourne assistant Brian Royal. Although Worsfold considered waiting until the weekend to see if he had won the Fremantle job, a discussion with the Eagles board at lunchtime on Wednesday convinced him to return to Subiaco Oval and the club where he played his entire 209-game AFL career. Worsfold spent last two years at Optus Oval as Carlton’s assistant coach.
Worsfold, who received a guarantee from chief executive Trevor Nisbett that he would not be sacked before the end of his three-year deal, warned that his senior coaching job would be tough and there should be no illusion that the Eagles would immediately turn into a premiership contender.
Two days later, Fremantle announced that it had signed Hawthorn assistant coach Chris Connolly as the club’s new coach for two years. Connolly narrowly beat Melbourne assistant Brian Royal for the job. Connolly, 38, played 84 games with Melbourne, and spent six years as an assistant coach at Glenferrie Oval.
The Dockers said in a statement that Connolly impressed the selection committee with his ability to put the mechanisms in place to build success at Fremantle, and his desire to embrace the football history and culture of the Fremantle area.
Co-favourite Royal, who was interviewed by the Dockers for nine hours on Thursday, was convinced he has what it takes to be an AFL coach and was determined to keep trying before heading into the interview.
Connolly will travel to WA immediately, and his first task, in conjunction with the match committee, will be to assess the club’s playing list prior to the deadline on October 31. Connolly had already declared former West Coast goalkicking champion and South Fremantle coach Peter Sumich as one of the club’s top recruiting priorities.

AFL draw delayed again
The AFL has delayed the launch of its 2002 draw for another week, citing a need to finalise some details.
The draw was due to be launched next Thursday, October 25. It will now be released on November 1 (in the midst of Melbourne’s Spring Racing Carnival, and five days before the Melbourne Cup) so the league can finalise match start times and compile a detailed booklet of the draw.

International Rules series extended to 2005
The AFL has struck a new agreement with the Gaelic Athletic Association to extend the International Rules series against Ireland for four more years, meaning State-of-Origin football will not be revived until at least 2006.
AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson said the State-of-Origin concept was supported strongly by South Australia only and not other states, and the league had enormous difficulty getting the players generally to embrace it.
The last State-of-Origin match was played between South Australia and Victoria at the MCG in 1999, in front of a crowd of 26,063 in a wet, miserable May day.
In reaching the new agreement, Jackson said all of the AFL’s “weight, expertise and resources” would be put into developing the hybrid game as a key part of the strategy to promote Aussie Rules overseas. He said despite some criticism of the hybrid game, the concept had the complete support of players and public in Australia and Ireland and both codes wanted to build the game by ensuring it was played each year.
While official matches between the countries have been played since 1984, they have only become an annual event since 1998, with series alternating between the countries.
GAA president Sean McCague said locking the series in as an annual event would allow it to be better planned and promoted.
Jackson and McCague agreed there was a need to continue the competition to give their top players their only taste of international competition, and believed they had overwhelming support based on attendances in recent years.

Irish assistant coach suspended for five matches
Ireland assistant-coach Paddy Clarke was suspended for five matches by a special International Rules tribunal after shoving umpire Brett Allen following last Friday’s game against Australia at the MCG.
Clarke pleaded guilty to the charge and will miss the 2002 and 2003 series as well as Friday night’s game against Australia at Football Park in Adelaide. Clarke, who represented himself in the hearing, blamed a red mist of anger for the incident which happened at the end of the game, when Irish players and officials were incensed Australian player Stuart Maxfield was allowed a shot at goal after the final siren.
Clarke told the three-man AFL-Gaelic Athletic Association tribunal, known as the control committee, that he saw the Irish team become angry as he made his way across the ground from the MCC members stand, where he had been watching the game. Video footage showed that as the umpires were leaving the field, Clarke approach Allen from the side and push him on his left shoulder. The push and Clarke’s outburst made Allen turn sharply as he left the field. Clarke has since apologised to Allen for his action.
AFL reporting officer Rick Lewis made the report after Allen issued a notice of investigation over the weekend.
Andrew Demetriou, the tribunal chairman and the AFL’s general manager of football operations, said the matter had been referred back to the GAA for further action.
GAA president Sean McCague backed the finding, saying: “There must never be any such behaviour where contact is made with match officials and the GAA and the AFL are both in agreement on this matter.”

Channel Ten announces its AFL programming … and hides the 10-minute countdown
Channel Ten has announced its AFL programming for 2002. One innovation will be no countdown clock for the final 10 minutes of every game it covers. Put simply, once a game enters its final 10 minutes, the clock will disappear from the screen, leaving TV viewers to guess for themselves when the siren is due. However, Ten’s football executive producer David Barham saying that the feed to the coaching boxes would probably continue to carry the clock.
The countdown clock has polarised the football community since its introduction by Channel Seven in 1988, many claiming that knowing how long there was to run in a game ruined the tension of a tight finish, while others, particularly coaching panels, were grateful for the extra information. Channel Nine, the other major free-to-air broadcaster for next season, said it had not yet decided whether to run a countdown clock.
Ten has also announced a six-man commentary team for next season. One team will consist of sports presenter Stephen Quartermain, Anthony Hudson (from Seven and 3AW) and Robert Walls (who will still work for 3AW). The other team consists of former Collingwood players Peter Daicos (from 3AW) and Michael Christian (from ABC Radio), and newly retired Carlton champion Stephen Silvagni.
Ten, which will exclusively broadcast the AFL finals (including the grand final) for the next five years, as well as next year’s Brownlow Medal and the pre-season grand final, will screen about 200 hours of football next season, covering one Saturday afternoon game and one Saturday night game.
Footy fans living in New South Wales and Queensland will benefit most from Ten’s programming. Reigning premiers Brisbane are expected to play at least half their 11 home-and-away matches on Saturday nights, and most of the Lions’ home games are expected to be shown live in Brisbane.
Ten’s general manager of sport, David Waite, said that beside the traditional Saturday afternoon match, Sydney viewers would see at least 11 live AFL games in prime time on Saturday nights next season, including eight Swans’ home games (a mixture of three SCG games, three Stadium Australia games and two interstate matches) and three night finals. Sydney will open their season with an SCG match against this season’s premiers Brisbane on March 31, and Essendon will play first game in Stadium Australia in late May.
Waite added if there was enough Sydney interest in a Saturday night fixture that does not involve the Swans, that game would also be shown live, otherwise the Saturday night games will be covered by a delayed telecast starting at 10.30pm.
Ten also revealed it would break with tradition by televising interstate matches live into Melbourne homes on Saturday afternoons. Those matches will be scheduled to start about 3pm eastern time. The afternoon telecast will start at 3.30pm, usually, featuring a game in Melbourne on an 80-minute delay. The station will present its news bulletin at 6.30pm, followed by Sports Tonight at 7pm, and a night game at 7.30pm.

Pre-season cup will continue: AFL
AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson says it is committed to staging next year’s pre-season cup competition and maintain its round-robin format, despite the lack of a sponsor after the collapse of Ansett Australia, the major sponsor of the competition and the AFL’s official airline.
Although it is more expensive to play games across the country, Jackson said part of the competition’s charter was to develop the game. He said footy fans around the whole country and footy leagues around the country deserved to see occasionally the very best players in the competition.
Next year’s pre-season competition will be televised on Channels Ten, Nine and Foxtel, with the grand final to be screened live on Ten.

Murdoch meets with AFL supremo
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch interrupted a hectic schedule last week to meet with AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson.
After the News Corporation executive chairman delivered the first Keith Murdoch Oration (named after Rupert Murdoch’s father, Keith) to more than 500 members of Australia’s corporate elite in Melbourne’s State Library last Thursday night, Murdoch was guided by his son Lachlan (head of News’ Australian operations) to a table of AFL heavyweights. Having talked briefly with AFL commissioner Graeme Samuel, Murdoch then had an intense private conversation with Jackson.
Lachlan Murdoch was instrumental in the Nine-Ten-Foxtel consortium stitching up the new five-year TV rights deal in January, potentially a turning point in the protracted battle for supremacy in the pay-TV industry. Having also snared the 2001-06 pay-TV rights to National Rugby League in a $A400 million deal, Rupert Murdoch has made not secret of his intentions to use sport as a battering ram for his pay-TV empire.
At News Corp’s annual meeting in Adelaide last week, Murdoch dismissed claims the group’s investment in the AFL would compromise its financial commitment to the NRL, and said his company was happy to be associated with both codes.

Gutnick disappointed at Flower’s nomination
Former Melbourne president Joseph Gutnick has expressed disappointment at Robbie Flower’s nomination for the upcoming club election, but hoped they would remain friends.
A Herald Sun article revealed Flower, an AFL legend and former Demons captain, would stand as part of the ticket that would run against Gutnick in the election. Flower said he had commitments from seven candidates representing the current board or picked from club supporters.
Gutnick released a statement in which he denied Flower’s claim that he had approached the former player about joining his election ticket. He also said in the statement that Flower had been coerced to join a ticket under acting president Gabriel Szondy.
Gutnick said those who has coerced Flower had failed to fully involve members in the affairs of the club and they stood back when the club was about to be merged out of existence in 1996. He also repeated his call for former players to stay out of the upcoming election, which is destined to be a bitter campaign.
Earlier this week, Gutnick himself was accused of ambushing the club after he sent a three-page letter to members seeking their support at the December 18 board elections. He asked members to sign the enclosed proxy form so he could vote on their behalf. Melbourne vice-president Bill Guest accused Gutnick of not acting in the best interests of the club, and said he asked Demons members not to make any decision or sign the proxy form until they heard from all parties and considered all options.
Gutnick has also confirmed he will honour pledge and pay the last $A300,000 of the $A3 million he promised to the club.

Alleged rape victim tells of her ordeal by three AFL players
A 23-year-old female retail assistant allegedly raped by three players, from separate AFL clubs, had spoken out of her ordeal.
The woman said she met the three players, two from the clubs which had missed the finals, while she was with friends at a popular Adelaide nightclub on August 17 last year. She remembered one of them passing her a cocktail in shot glass and shortly after started blacking out. She said the player asked her to go with him for a walk and she agreed, then she was grabbed in her arm and dragged out of the club to the parkland across the road, followed by the two other footballers.
She said while in the park she was repeatedly violated by the trio in different ways and different times while she was drifting in and out of consciousness. She was then abandoned by the players like a rag doll.
Two men, aged 23 and 25, were arrested and charged on September 8 with rape and indecent assault, while a third was questioned by police. But three weeks later South Australian Director of Public Prosecutions, Paul Rofe, dropped the charges on the ground that there was no reasonable prospect of a conviction.
The woman is now suing the three players for substantial damages. The two current players, who responded to the notices of demand sent by her lawyer as required in a civil action, are believed to have indicated their willingness to participate in an informal settlement conference, while the third player, who has retired, had not respond.

AFL to fund research into osteitis pubis
The AFL is set to award a grant for a joint study by the University of Melbourne and the University of Queensland into prevention and treatment of osteitis pubis when it announces the next round of grants into medical research next month.
Australia’s leading role in osteitis pubis diagnosis and treatment has generated interest from the National Football League in the US and several European national soccer leagues.
Osteitis pubis, inflammation of the pubic bone, is the underlying condition behind many chronic groin injuries among AFL players. If not picked up early, it can be a crippling injury requiring up to 12 months or more out of the game.
Building on studies done by Australian sports medicine doctors over the past 10 to 15 years, Adelaide physiotherapist Anthony Hogan has developed a rehabilitation program emphasising immediate rest, core strengthening and deep massage, followed by a graduated return to training.
David Hatt, the former Fremantle chief executive who heads the AFL research and development board, said that osteitis pubis was one of the priorities under consideration for a grant. Hatt said that one theory in relation to the high number of groin injuries is that too much kicking is done for too long in the pre-season. Australian football, with its straight-through kicking action, places greater strain on the groin and quadriceps muscles than other codes.

In Brief
*St Kilda has shocked the football circle by luring former coach Ken Sheldon back to the club. Sheldon, who coached the Saints to the finals in 1991 and 1992, will work alongside Matt Rendell and Dean Wallis on the coaching panel.
*Players, their managers and clubs all need to act ethically if the AFL’s contentious trade week is to succeed, said AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson.
Jackson said there had been complaints regarding the system but all parties needed to mend their ways. He said there did need to be greater sharing of information between players and clubs, but essentially problems had been overcome. He added that clubs facing salary-cap pressure only had themselves to blame.
The week-long trade period is set to be reviewed by AFL operations manager Andrew Demetriou and members of the AFL’s draft sub-committee, which would look at shortening the length of time clubs had to swap players.
*Eddie McGuire revealed in his regular newspaper column that 3AW and Triple M are well short in first negotiations for rights to call the football next year, and the AFL was asking for nearly twice the amount from the stations.
McGuire said the broadcasters argued that their market was being diminished by the AFL’s TV contract that has given Channel Ten the right to broadcast Saturday afternoon matches in Melbourne, and the AFL also wanted the radio calls to be available for its website.
McGuire said that new radio player DMG is understood to be keen to enter the broadcast of football as the AFL continues to look at ways to maximise its own media properties. DMG, a subsidiary of the Daily Mail Group in the UK, won licences to operate one FM station in Sydney and Melbourne earlier this year.
*Former Adelaide premiership forward Darren Jarman has been added to the Crows’ coaching panel for 2002. On an initial one-year appointment, Jarman would serve as a skills coach with the Crows and assist in coaching of the forwards. Jarman says he relishes the challenge posed by an assistant coach’s role with the Crows. Although he has no coaching experience, Jarman says the fact he has only just left the game has some advantages.
*Communcation manager Steven Trigg has been named the new chief executive officer of the Adelaide Crows. Trigg was the unanimous choice of the Adelaide board to replace retiring chief executive Bill Sanders, heading off a field of what the club described as quality candidates.
*Brilliant Crows midfielder Andrew McLeod, who was runner-up in this year’s Brownlow Medal count, is the winner of the Merv Agars Medal for the best player judged by the writers of the Adelaide Advertiser.
*Fabian Francis has walked out of Port Adelaide after failing to secure a long-term contract with the club, and has decided to nominate for the National Draft on November 25. However, Francis, who could be picked up by cross-town rival Adelaide Crows in the draft, said he beared no ill feelings towards the Power. Francis played 109 games in total, including 71 with the Power after he was drafted from the Port Adelaide Magpies in 1997. Before that he had short stints with Melbourne and Brisbane Bears.
*The Western Bulldogs will shortly announce a new major sponsor to replace telco firm Vodafone, who will not continue their three-year partnership with the club next year.
Bulldogs president David Smorgon said although the club was disappointed at the decision, it understood and respected Vodafone’s decision to pursue alternate opportunities at both a national and international level, and was certain a new major sponsor will soon be found. He said the club had preliminary discussions with several potential sponsors.
Vodafone, who will continue to be a major sponsor of Port Adelaide, the Australian rugby union team and the Vodafone Arena in Melbourne, is perhaps best known for its multi-million dollar sponsorship of English soccer giant Manchester United.
*Carlton is hopeful of playing up to four home games at Colonial Stadium against Victorian clubs next season. The Blues would still play blockbuster games against Collingwood, Essendon and Richmond at the MCG and the remainder of their home games at Optus Oval. Carlton chief executive Don Hanly said the move to Colonial was to try to increase revenue. He added that the Blues also were negotiating with the AFL for other games between Victorian clubs to be played at Optus Oval.
*AFL umpires director Jeff Gieschen has confirmed a death threat had been made against an umpire during the finals series. It is understood the death threat was made in a letter sent to the umpiring department at AFL headquarters. The letter was passed on to police, who also took the threat seriously after fears that it was more than a prank or hoax. Police were assigned to guard the umpire at his home, work and the football.
It is understood he was on the panel for the Grand Final between Essendon and the Brisbane Lions, and he was extremely distressed by the threat.
All umpires were told of the threat, which is understood to have been made before the Grand Final.
*A former note to the recent AFL Grand Final. The attendance to the big match between Essendon and Brisbane Lions was only 91,482, the lowest in the last 10 Grand Finals, and the lowest since the opening of the Great Southern Stand at the MCG, which restricted seating capacity below 100,000.
The crowd figures at the Grand Final since 1992 were:
1992 (West Coast defeated Geelong): 95,007
1993 (Essendon defeated Carlton): 96,862
1994 (West Coast defeated Geelong): 93,860
1995 (Carlton defeated Geelong): 93,670
1996 (North Melbourne defeated Sydney): 93,102
1997 (Adelaide defeated St Kilda): 98,828
1998 (Adelaide defeated North Melbourne): 94,431
1999 (North Melbourne defeated Carlton): 94,228
2000 (Essendon defeated Melbourne): 96,249
2001 (Brisbane Lions defeated Essendon): 91,482

Special Feature: Seven’s financial contribution to VFL/AFL
During the Grand Final week last month, the Herald Sun published two articles on Seven’s 45-year contribution to VFL/AFL. They revealed not that the network provided airtime for all teams involved in the competition, it also provided financial support to the six non-Victorian clubs and, in doing so, contributed to five premierships going outside Victoria in the last ten years. These two articles are reprinted below.

Thanks a Million
By Robert Fidgeon
Herald Sun, September 28, 2001
Channel Seven’s contribution over 45 years to Aussie rules football, in regard to its on-field coverage, has been well documented.
But Seven’s contribution to the AFL and its influence on the game pushes far deeper than just broadcasting matches.
Over the years, Seven has paid the VFL/AFL millions in rights fees - $A43 million this year alone – to telecast the game.
What has remained secret until today, however, has been the network’s additional support of AFL clubs in a host of areas, totalling close to another $A5 million annually. Included in this additional support is an $A300,000 annual cash sponsorship of the Brisbane Lions, listed as “annual contribution to the coaching fees for Leigh Matthews” (see below).
It is also committed to cash sponsorship deals with the Sydney Swans, West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers, along with additional deals with the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide.
Looking back over the years, time and again Seven’s behind-the-scenes involvement has been paramount in shaping the game.
Arguably, there would have been no Sunday football but for the intervention of Seven in 1979.
The Victorian Government had decreed there would be no Sunday football for the VFL, and refused the VFL permission to charge admission for Sunday games.
Seven general manager Ron Casey (who later became North Melbourne president) and director of sport Gary Fenton suggested to the VFL it play a reserve grade game on a Sunday, keep a tally on the numbers through the turnstiles and the network would pay the gate-takings. In return, Seven would get to telecast live the game.
So the Sunday Army Reserve Cup was introduced (as the name suggested, it was sponsored by the Royal Australian Army Reserves – Johnson).
When the Swans moved (from South Melbourne) to Sydney in 1982, the deal included televising the match from Sydney into Melbourne every second Sunday. For one season, Seven telecast the Swans match out of Sydney one Sunday, the Army Reserve Cup the next – and the rest, as they say, is history.
We must also take into account Seven’s support and screening of non-rating footy programs aimed at promoting the game to the kids. The Junior Supporters Club of yesterday is today’s Just AFL.
Seven has also spent millions over the years underwriting and telecasting the AFL’s “promote-the-game-to-the-world” ventures, such as matches from The Oval in London, San Francisco, the Sky Dome in Toronto, Tokyo and South Africa. Promotional matches from overseas, screened into the southern states at midnight, simply saddled Seven with huge satellite costs. There was no benefit for Seven – short of cementing the bonds of a 45-year partnership with the VFL/AFL.
It was Seven, not the VFL/AFL that forked out the $A1 million to erect the lights at Waverley Park in 1977. Understandably, Ron Casey was furious when, eight months later, the VFL did a deal with Channel Nine allowing night cricket to be played at the venue. (The short-lived rebel World Series Cricket series, which included poaching cricketers around the world to play one-day cricket, was initiated by Nine’s Kerry Packer to generate ratings and advertising revenue – Johnson)
However, some goodwill gestures paid off for Seven. The Brownlow Medal telecast is the perfect example.
In the early days, club captains stood on the stage keeping score and hanging numbers on tally boards. It wasn’t exactly riveting television. Today, the Brownlow count is a huge television event and remains one of the highest-rating programs each year.
Today’s equivalent of those early Brownlow telecasts is the National Draft – watching-paint-dry-TV that is of no value in ratings terms to Seven, but promotes the AFL product. (Given this year’s draft, on November 25, occurs at the same time as the second cricket test between Australia and New Zealand, you wonder whether Nine will show it at all – Johnson)
Then there’s the hundreds of thousands of dollars a year that go into Seven supplying clubs with tapes of matches, live feeds to club’s corporate boxes of games not being screened by Seven, and provision to interstate clubs of multiple tapes of every AFL match broadcast in all markets.
Fenton, now a consultant for Foxtel’s AFL coverage next year, recalls, “it was not considered a good thing” for Seven to be seen to be so active in the shaping of football. “But as much as many if the things were seen as a plus for Seven, they were all, initially, done for the betterment of football,” he says. “But, at the end of the day, the unfortunate fact of life is, I doubt if any one really cares.”

Cash for clubs
Herald Sun, September 28, 2001
The Brisbane Lions play off on Saturday in their first AFL Grand Final. Toast of the north is the club’s coach Leigh Matthews, who took over the reins in 1999.
We will never know whether Brisbane would have made it without Matthews, but when the club was looking for a coach, it couldn’t afford Lethal Leigh.
The Seven Network made it possible when it became a major cash sponsor of the Brisbane Lions, for $A300,000 a year. Seven lists that sponsorship as an “annual contribution to the coaching fees for Leigh Matthews”.
Seven is also a “major cash sponsor” of the Sydney Swans, to the tune of about $A250,000 annually.
It has also a major cash sponsorship deal with West Australian football, believed also to total about $A250,000. This deal involves donations to the West Coast Eagles, Fremantle Dockers and the West Australian Football Commission.
It also has “one-for-one” advertising agreements with Adelaide and Port Adelaide Football Clubs for “nominated sponsor airtime”, along with the provision of multiple tapes of every AFL match broadcast in all markets.
These are only some examples of areas in which Seven is spending close to an additional $A5 million a year to help the AFL, on top of its $A45 million rights fee.

General Silliness
*Brady Anderson, the 1997 West Australian Sandover Medallist who played 27 AFL games with North Melbourne in an interrupted three-year career until the end of last year, has apparently become personal trainer to supermodel Elle Macpherson. 26-year-old Anderson, who moved to England early this year to further his new-found profession in the fitness industry, got the job on the recommendation of one of Elle’s personal assistants, who hired Anderson herself soon after he set up his new base in London.
Anderson’s appointment continues a healthy connection between Elle and the Kangaroos. Another former Roo, Wade Kingsley (twin brother of Geelong player Kent Kingsley) who was on the club’s senior list in 1997-98 but never played a senior game, is employed in the lingerie division of Elle’s business empire and a third brother has also worked for the company.
*Essendon is rueing that it has missed a great chance to recruit a young AFL prospect. 18-year-old Lewis Roberts-Thomson, who now plays at Sydney’s $A25,000-a-year Bomber-funded North Shore Football Club, has been impressive since he switched from rugby union a few years ago, and was recently selected in the under-18 All-Australian side. The Bombers had been so impressed with the young player that coach Kevin Sheedy and his coaching staff had been keeping a vigilant eye on him during visits to North Shore, and Sheedy even took time out from his heavy schedule to spend 15 minutes talking to him about his footy aspirations, all in hoping to pick him in the club’s first selection in the upcoming National Draft.
However, all of the Bombers’ efforts had been undone after falling victim to the controversial rule that allows interstate clubs to forfeit their second-round choice in return for snaring any youngster who lives within a 50km radius of their city. (The AFL wanted to change this rule to enlarge the recruiting zones for Sydney and Brisbane, but backflipped after protests from other 14 clubs last month.) As a result, Sydney has snatched Roberts-Thomson. Not only that, it turns out that his father is Barry Roberts-Thomson, the founder of telco company Orange, the Bombers’ naming-rights sponsor. Barry had played Aussie Rules in Queensland for many years and at one point having even tried out with Carlton. One of his career highlights is that he once played on Peter Hudson in an interstate match and held the Hawthorn goal champ to only four goals.
*Had Lewis Roberts-Thomson played in 2000, his name would have been the equal-longest, alongside Bomber Robert Forster-Knight, narrowly edging out such names as Daniel Giansiracusa (Bulldogs), Anthony Koutoufides (Carlton) and Nathan Lovett-Murray, all of whom have 18 characters in their name. But, the new Swan ruckman’s name falls well short of that of the man believed to be the longest in league history, Rochford Devenish-Meares (22 characters), who played eight games and kicked one goal for Hawthorn in 1968. At the other end of the scale, the shortest name ever belongs to former Fitzroy player Tom Re. His career was just as short: just three games in 1936-37.

If you don’t want to continue, I can tell you now I will be away for a month to prepare for the uni exams but there will be a special report on November 1 or 2 telling you the details of the 2002 AFL fixture. If you want to know the result of the second International Rules match between Australia and Ireland, read on.

Sydney Swans youngster Tadgh Kennelly helped bury Australia in the second-half as his native Ireland had a convincing 19-point win at Football Park to regain the international rules series trophy. Kennelly was Ireland’s top scorer with five overs (15 points in total), four of them coming in the second half as Ireland stormed from a point down at half-time to win 2.17.8 (71) to 1.13.7 (52). It followed last Friday night’s six-point victory at the MCG to give the Irish a clean sweep of the two Test series.
It was the first time since the resumed series in 1998 that Ireland had won both Tests and it was a record Test win by either country over those three years.
The result also gave Ireland manager Brian McEniff great satisfaction. With a ragged panel and little preparation 12 months ago, he was humiliated by a well-drilled Australian team that won by 25 points over the two matches. On this tour Ireland matched that aggregate win and laid to rest the dismissive conclusion that as amateurs, they would not be able to compete against professionals.
Despite the excellence of the Irish performance, it would have to be acknowledged that the Australians were subdued and unable to work out any answers as the match turned inexorably against them in the third quarter. Ireland’s speed of movement foiled the promised raise of the physical stakes and Australia never managed to knock their opponents off their stride.
There were more physical flash-points than the previous week in Melbourne, with four yellow cards (player sin-binned for 15 minutes but a replacement allowed) being handed out. Two of the Australian fouls were dangerous, with Michael Donnellan having to leave the field and Sean Martin Lockhart stretchered off after a late, high challenge by Blake Caracella.
Things started well with Anthony Tohill grabbing his second goal of the series in the eighth minute. A mark by Kennelly was moved on to Brendan Devenney whose soccer pass took out Simon Goodwin in the Australian goal, leaving Tohill with an empty net.
Australia’s lesser skills with the round ball were showed up early in the match as the home side’s forwards wasted a succession of set shots from close to goal. Captain Craig Bradley, Matthew Lloyd and Nick Stevens all missed close-range efforts from set shots almost dead in front. Caracella had a good opportunity to score a goal but was denied by quick reflexes by goalkeeper Cormac Sullivan. The Irish built a quick 16-6 lead 10 minutes into the match, but Australia found its accuracy late in the opening quarter term to score three consecutive overs to Matthew Lappin, Lloyd and Josh Francou to narrow the deficit to 16-15 at the first change. The productivity of the sporadic first-quarter attacks disguised the ineffectiveness of much of the attacking moves as Ireland flung ill-considered long ball into the forwards whose markers had no trouble dealing with such wayward tactics.
Matters deteriorated for Australia in the second quarter when, against the run of play, Geraghty took advantage of a missed defensive pass by Damien Hardwick to dribble the ball past Goodwin and slot the second goal. However, as in last week’s test, Australia fought back from a ten point deficit halfway through the quarter. When Lloyd’s opportunistic snap shot flew off a ruck of players and past Sullivan, Australia regained enough momentum to lead at half-time by a point, 33-32.
Ireland dismantled the Australian challenge in the second half and outscored the opposition 17-4 as the home side, desperately chasing goals instead of taking what scores were on offer, regularly turned over the ball with skill errors running out of defence, and Ireland’s ability to run the ball and dispose of it with precision began to tell. As Australia panicked, Ireland dropped back and left the inside forwards with plenty of room to hit on the counter and shuttled the ball relentlessly into attack from the tightest and most hair-raising situations at the back.
Ireland took out a 12-point lead at three-quarter-time and it blew out to as much as 19 points as the Irish dominated in the final term. It was now a matter of how much of a game Australia could make of it. Not much, as it turned out.
Instead Ireland’s forwards bit harder. Apart from Kennelly, Padraic Joyce gave his best international performance to date, revelling in the extra space to shoot four second-half overs, one of which was a cracker, curled over from the left wing but unaccountably deemed to have faded wide for a one-pointer.
A scuffle involving almost every player on the field developed when the match was effectively over five minutes from fulltime. John Crowley and Brenton Sanderson got yellow cards as a result.
New Australian coach Garry Lyon did his best to explain the latest calamity to befall a home side in the series. “We hit them hard and loosened them up and there were signs that the pressure was telling. But to their credit they regrouped and the way they played in the second half was pretty impressive,” he said after the match. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, the bar’s been raised. I’ve watched all the games from last year on more than one occasion and the difference between Ireland then and now is poles apart. That’s the challenge for us, to lift our game. So we’ll go away licking our wounds and see what we can come up with.”

Details:
Ireland 1.3.1 2.6.2 2.13.5 2.17.8 (71)
Australia 0.4.3 1.8.3 1.11.5 1.13.7 (52)
Goals – Ireland: Geraghty, Tohill.
Australia: Lloyd.
Overs – Ireland: Kennelly 5, Joyce 3, Devenney 2, Crowley 2, O’Sullivan 2, Donnellan, Earley, Geraghty.
Australia: M Lappin 3, Harvey 3, Lloyd 2, Ottens, Maxfield, Francou, Smith, Goodes.
Best - Ireland: Kennelly, Geraghty, O’Sullivan, Joyce, Sullivan, Devenney.
Australia: Lloyd, Bradley, McLeod, King, Ramanauskas, M Lappin.
Irish Player of the Series: Darren Fay.
Australian Player of the Series: Matthew Lloyd.
Reports: Joel Bowden for charging Michael Donnellan, Blake Caracella for striking Sean Martin Lockhart at the neck, Brenton Sanderson for wrestling John Crowley, Crowley for wrestling Sanderson.
Injuries: nil.
Umpires: Brett Allen (Australia), Pat McEnaney (Ireland).
Crowd: 31,713 at Football Park.
Ireland win series 2-0.

That's all for today. See you in two weeks.

Regards,