Izzy on the skids

Israel Folau appears set to quit the GWS Giants. Source: The Daily Telegraph

ISRAEL Folau's AFL career appears over.

The multi-million signing is seemingly headed back to rugby league, which would end the two-year, four million dollar experiment as the high-profile code-jumper.

Folau sensationally joined Greater Western Sydney in 2011 after a successful career in league.

The Herald Sun has been trying to confirm the story for the past ninety minutes.

At 12:30pm, club chairman Tony Shepherd was not aware of any Folau news.

More recently, when contacted again Shepherd refused  to confirm or deny whether Folau had quit the club.

Chief executive Dave Matthews did not return calls, neither did media manager Nick Johnston.

He signed a four-year deal as a player and ambassador for the expansion team, but failed to have any real impact on the field while playing 13 games .

The news will not be a shock to league followers in Sydney.

In July, leading commentator Matthew Johns claimed Folau, who has two years to run on his GWS contract, would quit in September.

"Israel Folau will be out of his GWS contract by September," Johns said.

''They're negotiating a release right now, and next year he will be playing in the NRL in Sydney."

Folau quickly dismissed the rumor.

"I'm definitely going to be at the Giants, that's for sure," he said.

"It's just rumours, whoever's spreading that (about returning to league), it's definitely not true.

"I'm just worried about my job here at the Giants and trying to move forward.

"I'm signed with the Giants for the next two years and that's all I'm worried about."

Israel Folau's AFL career - GWS Giants 2012
Games: 13
Goals: 2
 
Israel Folau's NRL career - Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos - 2007-2010
Games: 90
Tries: 73
 

Read More..

Pick Me: Draft analysis series

Get the first look at the AFL's future stars in this preview of draft analysis series 'Pick Me'

Ollie Wines, Lachie Whitfield and Jono O'Rourke, three of the best midfielders in the draft, share a laugh on the first day of testing. They will all feature in the Pick Me draft series. Picture: Getty Images Source: Herald Sun

WANT first look at your club's next superstar?

Get exclusive highlights, expert analysis and find out who your club is looking at when Pick Me launches tomorrow.

The series will examine 20 of the hottest draft prospect across 20 days as we countdown to the November 22 AFL draft.

VIDEO: Watch the Pick Me trailer in the video player above

Find out who boasts the best kick, safest hands and the most ferocious tackling technique and meet your club's next star first.

Each day there will be an exclusive video only  at SuperFooty and a story in your Herald Sun as we unearth the next Steve Johnson, Jobe Watson and Scott Pendlebury.

Who will tomorrow's be?

Get the first look at the AFL's future stars in this preview of draft analysis series 'Pick Me'

 

Read More..

Ed, Gardner dismayed at tanking

Dean Bailey's coaching days have come under fire amid tanking allegations. Picture: Michael Dodge. Source: AdelaideNow

COLLINGWOOD president Eddie McGuire and former Melbourne president Paul Gardner have both expressed dismay about the tanking allegations against the Demons, but criticised the AFL for putting a system in place that provided a disincentive to win games.

McGuire said the incentive for clubs to win no more than four games in a season in consecutive years, providing them with a priority pick, was flawed.

"There are enough people who know the game well enough who said to the AFL don't do this because it'll draw people to the wrong place,'' McGuire said.

"You can't blame the cat for swallowing the cream if you put the cream out in front of it.''

SEE THE 2013 AFL FIXTURE

After defending the system for several years, the AFL revised the special assistance rule in February and officially scrapped the priority pick after the 2012 Grand Final.

"One thing you've got to be careful with here is 20/20 hindsight morality,'' McGuire said.

"That is that at the time Melbourne, had they won five games, would have been the laughing stock of the football world for giving up a priority pick.

"Remember that everybody looked at Richmond as if they were the greatest shower of idiots of all time when Jordan McMahon kicked that goal to beat Melbourne because they missed out, remember that?''

Paul Gardner, who was Melbourne president from 2004 until handing over the role to Jim Stynes midway through 2008, said there was no hint of tanking in his time at the club and that he found the concept 'really really disappointing'' and "a blight'' on the game.

"But the issue is bigger than just the club, I think,'' Gardner said. "The system allows you to do that. If you don't make the finals then the next best prize is to get the young draft picks.

"So in many ways the system that was set up to even the competition and to help the poorer clubs in a strange sort of way is making the clubs play (more poorly).''

Gardner said he stopped attending Melbourne games towards the end of 2009.

"To go there and actually watch the supporters cheer home the opposition clubs, so that you can get some unknown 17 or 18 year old in a draft that's going to take place, so that he might be a champion in four or five years - or in Melbourne's case leaves and goes to Greater Western Sydney - is just a bizarre situation,'' he said.

"I think individuals need to be penalised if it's proven to be true, but if the club's penalised that only effects supporters further, it effects sponsors.

"And don't forget Joseph Gutnick, who was a man of great integrity, came out in 2000 and said 'yes we did breach the salary cap', and Melbourne the club suffered a lot for that. It was four or five years of suffering .. so is it fair to effect the whole club and supporters and sponsors? I'm not so sure, but surely a penalty must be made.''

Read More..

Demetriou: Tank probe top priority

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou has spoken about the tanking investigation. Source: Herald Sun

EXCLUSIVE: AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou says there will be no whitewash of any investigation into tanking.

While the AFL chief would not speak specifically about the ongoing probe into the Melbourne Football Club, he insisted the league treated any questioning of the game's integrity with the highest importance.

"We have said the greatest threat that we face going forward is integrity and I think we have always been very strong in this area,'' Demetriou told News Ltd today.

SEE THE 2013 AFL FIXTURE

"I don't think there is a place in any sport for people who challenge the integrity of the sport.''

Demetriou said he had been briefed by AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson about the Demons' probe, which has intensified after interviews with current and former officials.

But he said he had deliberately keeping an "arm's length'' from it, in case it has to go to the AFL Commission, on which he sits.

Tank 'for the kids'

Demetriou said there was no time frame for a conclusion, with Anderson and his team having as much time as they need to complete it.

"I am not involved (in the investigation),'' Demetriou said.

"I sit on the commission and if Adrian believes it is serious enough to go to the commission, then I have to make sure I am at arm's length because I might have to listen to it.

"Adrian has said: 'I will take as long as I have to with Brett Clothier (AFL integrity manager) to finish my investigation'.

"I have not formed a view one way or another because I am not privy to all the information.''

The Demons face the loss of draft picks at next month's AFL draft, including the prized No.4 pick, if they are found to have tanked.

Read More..

Tanking affair just won't go away

Former Melbourne coach Dean Bailey is believed to have been reinterviewed by the AFL as it continues its invesigation into the Melbourne tanking affair. Picture: Michael Dodge Source: Herald Sun

No case to answer? Andrew Demetriou has consistently defended the Demons. Picture: Chris Scott Source: Herald Sun

IT'S back. Just when AFL supremo Andrew Demetriou thought it was safe, the Demons tanking affair has reared its head again - bigger and uglier than ever before.

It has been reported that the ongoing investigation has escalated with several witnesses coming forward with fresh evidence and that Melbourne could face possible sanctions after league investigators reinterviewed several players and coaches involved in games in the latter part of 2009.

It is a potentially embarrassing situation for Demetriou if his own league believes there is a case to answer. Demetriou has long been a vocal advocate that tanking doesn't exist and consistently defended the Demons.

The AFL inquiry, led by chief integrity officer Brett Clothier, has involved interviews with several past and present Demons officials, including then senior coach Dean Bailey and former captain James McDonald and several teammates.

The tanking furore has previously centred on the Melbourne's narrow 2009 Round 18 loss to Richmond, where Tiger Jordan McMahon kicked a match-winning goal after the siren, and the Round 22 loss to St Kilda, involving several puzzling interchange and positional moves.

The AFL opened the inquiry after claims made by former Melbourne player Brock McLean that the Dees tanked in 2009.

The midfielder said winning games was not Melbourne's priority in 2009, when the Demons finished last and secured a priority pick plus the top pick in that year's national draft.

The club then recruited Tom Scully and Jack Trengove.

Speaking at the time on Fox Footy's On The Couch, McLean indicated that tanking prompted him to the leave the club.

Asked if winning had not been a priority, McLean said: "I think you would have to be blind Freddy to not figure that one out."

At the centre of the investigation are questions about Melbourne's selection and game-day strategy.

Tanking occurs when a team deliberately sets out to lose games.

In 2011, an earlier investigation by the AFL found Melbourne had no case to answer for their actions.

Read More..

Dee-termined to play on

Delisted Melbourne forward Ricky Petterd is keen to prove himself on the AFL stage after six injury-ravaged seasons. Picture: Michael Klein Source: Herald Sun

DELISTED Demon Ricky Petterd is holding out hope of a rival club handing him a football lifeline.

But the 24-year-old forward has conceded his options are limited.

"My manager has had a few words with a few people, but I'm not 100 per cent sure how deep that goes," Petterd told SEN this morning.

Petterd has played just 54 games in six injury-ravaged seasons.

"I am a realist, and I understand that clubs can only hold onto people with the injuries I've had for a certain amount of time," he said.

"I'm hoping that someone takes a chance, because I've definitely got a lot of good football in front of me."
Petterd was one of eight players cut from Melbourne's ranks.

"I'm definitely 100 per cent keen on keeping going, and I'll do anything I need to get there," he said.

"I haven't stopped training since the end of the season.

"I've dedicated this off-season to getting my body right, and I'm still continuing to do that."

Read More..

Hudson set to retire... again

Ben Hudson has retired. Picture: Michael Klein Source: Herald Sun

BEN Hudson's AFL comeback is over.

The former Western Bulldogs and Adelaide ruckman is poised to announce his retirement, this time for good, a year after answering an SOS call from the Brisbane Lions.

The 34-year-old shelved retirement plans to join the Lions for the 2012 season and the surprise pick-up proved invaluable in the absence of No.1 ruckman Matthew Leuenberger for most of the year.

Pick Me trailer: Exclusive highlights of your club's next superstar

He held his position, keeping at bay a handful of challengers including first round draft pick Billy Longer who was only sighted briefly in the seniors.

However, with Longer a year older, stronger and wiser, and the club banking on Leuenberger to return to full fitness, the time is right for Hudson to step aside.

"Ben Hudson did a mighty job for us and we're forever grateful for the workload he carried,'' Brisbane national talent manager Rob Kerr told SEN Radio.

"But he's 34 and pretty much come to the end of his AFL career.''

The Lions have also recruited former Melbourne tall Stefan Martin to fill the dual role of ruckman and alternative forward target.

Read More..

Crows avoid compulsory cut

Adelaide young gun Brad Crouch celebrates kicking a goal in the SANFL preliminary final. Picture: Sarah Reed Source: The Advertiser

ADELAIDE finally has had a victory in the Kurt Tippett saga.

The AFL is allowing the Crows to push teenage midfielder Brad Crouch on Adelaide's 2012 player list as a "traded player" rather than demand the club free up a draft pick for him.

The significance of this decision today is the Crows can avert - for now - needing to delist a contracted player on Wednesday to find the compulsory three draft picks Adelaide must have available at the AFL national draft on November 22.

Adelaide's list-management committee today gained advice from the AFL that it has two draft picks open - and one can be used to draft small forward Ian Callinan from the rookie list.

Pick Me trailer: Exclusive highlights of your club's next superstar

The obligatory third draft pick should emerge on November 15 when Tippett can delist himself - provided the AFL does not deregister him before this date and force him to stay on Adelaide's list as a banned player.

The AFL this week is expected to close its investigation into the draft tampering and salary cap rorting allegations that centre around a side deal Tippett signed in 2009 when he extended his contract at Adelaide for three years.

The Crows expect to know as soon as Friday how the AFL Commission has assessed the investigation into Tippett's side deal from his 2009 contract talks. The sanctions are expected to involve a heavy fine and a lockout from the first two or three rounds of the draft.

That would leave Adelaide recruiting manager Hamish Ogilvie with the unglamourous picks of 83, 101 and 119 at his first draft.

Tippett's preferred pathway to Sydney in the pre-season draft on December 11 is clouded by Brisbane checking its salary cap to assess if it can call the Queenslander at No. 6 before the Swans at No. 18.

Also in question is if Tippett will be playing next season as the AFL Commission considers deregistering him for draft tampering and taking undisclosed third-party deals underwritten by the Crows.

Melbourne-based lawyer, South Australian Paul Ehrlich, says that move carries the "extreme, significant chance" of having the Tippett family take the AFL to court.

Read More..

West Coast trades 'omen'

NEW FACES: Midfielder Sharrod Wellingham and fellow recruits Cale Morton and Jamie Cripps will add midfield pace at West Coast. Source: Herald Sun

WEST Coast Eagles coach John Worsfold has compared the club's trade spree to when the Eagles brought in Tyson Stenglein and Daniel Chick in the lead-up to the 2006 premiership.

The Eagles won't have a pick in the first two rounds of the national draft and will be the last team to enter the ballot when they have their first selection at 46.

It is a rare departure from West Coast's usual strategy, which has involved largely sitting on the sidelines during the trade period and preserving early draft picks.

The Eagles instead focused on bringing in running players via trades, securing Collingwood premiership midfielder Sharrod Wellingham, along with fellow West Australians Jamie Cripps (St Kilda) and Cale Morton (Melbourne).

In the lead-up to its last flag, West Coast identified a need to add strong bodies and gave up first-round draft picks to trade in Hawthorn hard nut Chick and Adelaide Crows midfielder Stenglein.

"We had a team we felt was very close and we needed to add what was missing," Worsfold said.

"This year's been a little bit of the same philosophy.  I think prior to this year we've used our draft picks pretty well, and we weren't going to have a really high pick anyway, so it's a good time for us to go down this pathway."

West Coast's willingness to sit out of the opening two rounds of the draft for the first time is a clear signal it believes its squad is capable of going all the way next year, although Worsfold shied away from the premiership mode tag.

"I don't call it premiership mode, I call it building your list and making it better," he said.

"But if we weren't in really good touch then we might have a really high draft pick and you'd want to take that draft pick.''

Worsfold signalled his intent to add speed to the midfield immediately after West Coast crashed out of the finals with a 13-point loss to Collingwood in the semi-final at the MCG.

Ironically, it was one of the players in the Magpies team who the Eagles had identified as a crucial addition.

"I'm really keen to see Sharrod fit into our midfield mix and watch him develop there," Worsfold said.

"He's got some pace and can play inside as well as outside. He's a good tackling player, so he fills a few things.

"I think he's still got some improvement to come and he's been a solid player for the past couple of years."

The Eagles lost veteran forward Quinten Lynch to Collingwood through free agency, while midfielder Koby Stevens was traded to the Western Bulldogs and half-back Lewis Stevenson to Port Adelaide.

West Coast is likely to make a couple of delistings early this week, ahead of Wednesday's first list lodgement deadline.

Read More..

Freo could be 'lite' Eagles with move

STANDING FIRM: Chris Lewis (second from left) and Keep Freo in Freo members Richard Utting, Peter Newman and Peter Dowding are keen for the Dockers to remain at Fremantle Oval. Picture: Justin Benson-Cooper Source: PerthNow

FREMANTLE board nominee Chris Lewis says the Dockers risk becoming "West Coast Eagles lite" if they turn their back on their heritage and set up a new training base in Cockburn.

Lewis, one of six candidates who have nominated for the member-elected board position, is one of the founders of the Keep Freo In Freo lobby group and is running on a platform to fight for the Dockers to remain at Fremantle Oval.

The corporate consultant has launched both traditional advertising and online campaigns and believes he is a strong chance of being elected.

Lewis is running against former Fremantle captain Peter Mann, sitting director Kate Grieve, real estate director John Garland, Keystart Home Loans chief financial officer John Vojkovich and Summit Fertilizers executive Murray Browne.

Online voting opens at 9am tomorrow and closes at 5pm on November 26.

The Dockers have spent several months considering whether to redevelop their traditional training base, or move to a greenfields site known as Cockburn Central West.

A decision was originally expected by the end of the recent season but The Sunday Times understands this may now not be made until early next year.

Lewis praised the direction of the club under president Steve Harris and CEO Steve Rosich, but said it was clear members wanted the Dockers to be based in Fremantle.

"It's a wonderful organisation, a great club and a great business: it's got a lot of things going for it," he said.

"The Dockers have endless potential and are just starting to get somewhere. We just need to make sure it stays on track and works alongside its members."

Lewis said the Dockers needed to understand their attachment to Fremantle gave the club an important geographic and historic link not enjoyed by their cross-town rivals.

"The Dockers do have a unique identity," he said. "The opportunity is to capitalise on that.

"One of the risks of moving away is we end up being West Coast Eagles lite.

"Just like watering down a beer, we would be watering down the strength, the passion, the heartland of the entire Dockers movement.

"I've put my hand up as a members' representative: someone who will actually get up and say things and take a strong stand on matters and pursue the Keep Freo in Freo stand."

Read More..