By Roger Vaughan
December 29th 2008 @ 6:30am
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League continues to prosper, to a point
The AFL, Australian sport’s most powerful and successful professional competition, continues to polarise opinion. Record attendances and strong finances mean the league is on the verge of approving a new team on the Gold Coast and is seriously looking at a second Sydney club.
Thanks especially to Geelong, Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs, the game has [...]
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![It’s becoming almost ridiculous now. Refresh your page on any football news site on the net and another Australian player is heading off to north Asia. Sasho Petrovski, Mark Bridge and even that great flop John Aloisi are all rumoured to be mulling over offers to go to the Chinese Super League.
Before you know [...] Jesse Fink: The A-League’s bleeding of players must stop](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/a-league-th2.jpg)
![Mick Malthouse managed to take his young Magpies side further than many expected in 2009. Indeed, Collingwood over-achieved this year. But in the end they lacked the quality required to go further. So you wonder, can Collingwood do any better in 2010?
The finals defeats to St Kilda and Geelong and the Round 22 loss to [...] Ben Somerford: Can Collingwood go one step further in 2010?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/st-kilda-geelong-audience-th.jpg)
![It’s a hotly contested Top 5 this week as we take a look at sportspeople who have lost the plot during their careers to such an extent that they’ve landed themselves in jail. There are many unworthy candidates, so I’ve stuck to one per sport. I welcome your additions and suggestions.
1. Greg Bird (c)
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![Well maybe it isn’t going to match Origin for intensity, but the NRL All Stars game certainly looks like it is here to stay.
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![In the wake of Paul Roos’s comments on the AFL’s decision to allow Gold Coast to keep their summer acquisitions confidential, Port Adelaide midfielder Travis Boak’s ‘supposed flirtation’ with Gold Coast highlights the inevitable results for out of contract players under such a policy.
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![Not since 2005, when the A-League came to life and the Socceroos faced their crucial World Cup qualification playoff, has football in Australia faced as a decisive year as it does in 2010. More important than 2006? Absolutely.
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Redb said | December 29th 2008 @ 6:48am | Report comment
Too many sleeps until the footy begins again, can’t wait.
I think Essendon will do well to hold it’s own in 2009, but look out for 2010. As for a new Hird, Lloyd, etc, write this name down – Neagle.
I have a feeling the Swans will get their crowds back in 2009.
Redb
Michael C said | December 29th 2008 @ 8:41am | Report comment
Dear sir,
You said But the issue of illicit drugs is like a slippery eel that the AFL cannot quite master
the issue of illicit drugs was a political football put in play by the Howard Government.
The AFL did lose the PR ‘war’, no thanx to crap media.
This included high profile sports ‘commentators’ on national breakfast TV programs who suggested that Wendall Sailor if caught in the AFL would still be playing. THese folk had no idea that the AFL was WADA compliant and that anyone caught under the WADA program would be done in the same manner as Sailor. (so, SHOULD be no issue there for the AFL).
Many folk chose to believe that the AFL was NOT WADA compliant. Or, when comparing testing – swimmers etc spoke of their testing not realising that their ‘WADA’ program was the same as the AFL base WADA program. And that the Illicit out of competition testing was additional and not instead of.
Thankfully now, there is a fed govt working WITH rather than against the AFL on this issue.
Ben Cousins is an exception that should become more exceptional.
Should HE be an indictment on the AFL?
No.
He should be an indictment upon the WADA program. In that, as a club B&F (and Brownlow) winner in 2005, WADA testing TARGETS the top 3 from each club in the prevous year. And yet – - nothing.
WADA failed to pick up Andrew Johns.
There are still, and we clubs back during the Howard/Kemp inspired debate on the issue – who quoted “Oh, we’re WADA compliant, we don’t have a problem”.
well……..gee………….no problem at all…………because, they wouldn’t have a clue.
One day, soon………..comments like But the issue of illicit drugs is like a slippery eel that the AFL cannot quite master. will change to The AFL led the way, despite populist political and media agenda driven criticism and sloganeering – to treat illicit drug use by sportsmen as a health issue, as, often it was more a symptom, of deeper issues such as mental health problems or alcoholism. That the AFL stood firm with the support and urging of numerous experts in the field of drugs health was a credit to the AFL, where others might have wilted.
(I hope the AFL won’t wilt).
Forgetmenot said | December 29th 2008 @ 3:29pm | Report comment
Geelong will hopefully come back stronger than ever. They were, as were their supporters, very saddened by the dreadful last day of September 2008.
The first game of the season will tell who has recovered best from the Grand Final. Geelong with its motivation, or Hawthorn getting over a hangover.
Michael C,
I too support the AFLs decision to rehabilitate players rather than punishing them harshly for a mistake. It is perhaps easier to cut people adrift, rather than helping them. But the Australian way is to support people.
The Bear said | January 9th 2009 @ 4:11pm | Report comment
Michael, aint the Rudd Government grand…