By Adam Cooper
October 27th 2009 @ 1:39am
View The Roar's top AFL writers.
AFL Tipping now live on The Roar. Join now.
Love new art, fashion, music? Check out Aussie site which unearths all things cool and creative.
Related coverage
Swans confident of securing Bradshaw
Sydney coach Paul Roos is confident of securing ex-Lion Daniel Bradshaw in the AFL pre-season draft and believes he will be a perfect fit in the Swans‘ attack in 2010.
Bradshaw appears Sydney-bound after knocking back a contract offer from Brisbane, who used him as trade bait when they were in pursuit of Carlton’s Brendan Fevola.
Bradshaw, [...]
This article is over 2000 days old and has been trimmed.
Get Australia's best AFL opinion emailed daily.
Like this content? Buzz it up!
Free Email updates:
Our daily emails are only sent if there is content for the sport or that author. You can subscribe to multiple daily emails; or get the daily Roar email with all our content in it. We value privacy. More...


![It has now been confirmed that Michael Clarke left the tour of New Zealand to return home and comfort his fiancée, Lara Bingle, who is involved in the nude photo scandal engulfing the press. But the question must be asked: was this an appropriate decision from a player earmarked as the next Test captain?
Yes, Bingle [...] Adrian Musolino: Clarke shows why he is anything but captain material](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/michael-clarke-th.jpg)
![There’s been a bit of significant Australian football news slipping under the radar recently. Last week Football Federation Australia announced they had signed an agreement with Indonesia that is intended to result in “a raft of exchange programs and more internationals between the two countries.”
As Matthew Hall wrote in his SBS blog, “Had you blinked [...] Davidde Corran: A raw deal is still the best deal for the Matildas](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/salisbury-matildas-th.jpg)
![Exactly a month out from the start of A-League season five and with the number of imports from Asia steadily increasing through the likes of Surat Sukha, Shin In Sup and Byun Sung-Hwan, it’s time to take a trip down memory lane and reflect on the best and worst of the league’s imports over its [...] Tony Tannous: The best and worst A-League imports](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/a-league-excites-carlos-hernandez-th.jpg)
![Australian boss Pim Verbeek yesterday named his squad for the ‘must-not-lose’ AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Indonesia in Brisbane on March 3, with the 25-man squad consisting of 21 local-based players along with four from abroad. So has he got it right?
The Socceroos‘ qualification for next year’s Asian Cup in Qatar hinges on a result [...] Ben Somerford: Has Verbeek got it right for Indonesia?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/ogre-verbeek-th.jpg)
![$163 million for the services of one football player is excessive, and while the news of Ronaldo’s exorbitant transfer fee caused a ripple of amazement, there was also a feeling of disgust from many quarters. Is sport risking alienating itself from society due to the gulf in riches between them and us?
It’s a genuine [...] Adrian Musolino: Sports risking alienation from fans with exorbitant costs](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/sports-risking-th.jpg)
![The actor Peter Ustinov, a wit and a tennis tragic, watched Monica Seles grunting her way to a victory at Wimbledon and with a sniffy hauteur said to a friend: ‘I’d hate to be be in the hotel room next door on her wedding night.’
Forget about wedding nights when grunting and groaning are presumably legitimate [...] Spiro Zavos: Take the grunt out of tennis](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/maria-sharapova-grunts-th.jpg)
![Question marks over stadiums, aside from the politics of the bidding process, were for many the biggest impediment to Australia potentially hosting the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. Well it certainly is for Adelaide with the city given the blunt declaration from the FFA: build a new stadium or forget being part of the World [...] Adrian Musolino: Our World Cup bid lacking a united vision](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/our-world-cup-bid-frank-lowry-th.jpg)
![Sydney Rovers FC. The name, and colours, of Australia’s newest football club has caused much debate on forums and blogs across the Internet. And while it seems they can’t please everyone with their choice of branding, there are some trends emerging as new clubs are born in this expansion phase.
There appears to be [...] Adrian Musolino: How important are a teams name and colours?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/how-important-names-colours-schip-a-league-th.jpg)
![Bear with me here, readers, for I’m about to break one of Sheek’s golden rules of citizen sports writing on The Roar: I’m broaching the topic of politics. And by “politics”, I mean “ridiculously stupid political decisions.”
Last week, ACT Sports Minister Andrew Barr declared that Canberra might withdraw its support for a united Australian World [...] Brett McKay: ACT Government shoots itself in the foot](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/ACT-government-shoots-viduka-th.jpg)
![The pieces of the jigsaw seem to falling into their perfect positions, and each day it seems more likely that Geelong’s Gary Ablett Jr will move to the AFL’s new Gold Coast team. Consider this: his father, Gary Ablett Sr, one of the greatest players of all time, has moved to the Gold Coast.
His brother, [...] Luke D'Anello: Gary Ablett Jr looks to be heading to a warmer place](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/gary-ablett-th.jpg)
![A few weeks ago, I wrote about the sudden collapse of Womens Pro Soccer side, the Los Angelas Sol, after just one season. The inaugural regular season champions paid the price for taking a “big spender” approach.
The WPS’ administrators had the option to fund the Sol out of their own pocket for another season, but [...] Davidde Corran: Should FFA cut the North Queensland Fury loose?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/jets-fury-daal-th.jpg)
![It’s the turn of Australia and New Zealand to put forward their candidate to become chairman of the International Cricket Council in 2012. According to The Australian and The Sydney Morning Herald, the candidate, who is assured of the appointment, will be John Howard, the former long-serving Prime Minister of Australia.
When Howard was approached by [...] Spiro Zavos: Should Howard be appointed ICC chairman in 2012?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/why-john-howard-league-th.jpg)



