Saints have no excuses: Watters

St Kilda coach Scott Watters offers up no excuses for the Saints poor display against Gold Coast. Picture: Getty Source: Getty Images

A DOWNCAST St Kilda coach Scott Watters said the Saints had nobody to blame but themselves despite being below full-strength.

"Look, 22 players played. We are not going to make any excuses,'' he said.

"Half a game, you are certainly never satisfied but we controlled the ball well in the second quarter and really our efficiency for large portions of the game outside of that wasn't where it needed to be.

"One goal-five, one-goal-seven in a couple of quarters, multiple inside 50 entries without really being composed. So efficiency certainly hurt us."

Watters said Armitage's prolonged time on the bench in the third term due to bad cramps impacted on rotations and "robbed us of a little midfield grunt.''

Ablett burns Saints

"They finished the game with more running. In trying conditions early in the season, you need your compete midfield up and going and for a portion there we were vulnerable...we probably thought when we were short of rotations in the third quarter it would have an impact,'' he said.

"We were probably unable to finish out the game as we would have liked. Some of our midfielders were pretty taxed.

"I don't want to throw these up as excuses. They are the facts. They (Gold Coast) finished the game well.

"The effort was strong from the players, efficiency was poor. You need both.

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"The players will be stung by that. They'll work hard to rectify it.

"You lose a game on the back of that and that hurts. So that's where it sits.''

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Reality hits Voss after Lions flogging

The Western Bulldogs have smashed pre-season premiers Brisbane in a stunning round-one upset.

Lions coach Michael Voss walks out to his players after their loss. Picture: George Salpigtidis. Source: Herald Sun

THE BRISBANE Lions looked like a team with a massive NAB Cup hangover when they lost by 68 points to the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium yesterday.

The listless Lions failed to score in the opening quarter, conceding six goals before Brent Moloney opened their account early in the second quarter.

Coach Michael Voss said his team had been "side-swiped", dropping the intensity it displayed throughout the pre-season.

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"It shows you Round 1, the season itself, it's brutal and you can never take your eye off the ball," Voss said.
"We have to make sure that every contest we come to, we're absolutely 100 per cent ready for, physically and mentally.

"What happened in pre-season was a reward, but once that happens it's gone."

Voss said the Dogs, who went into the match as one of the tips for the wooden spoon, deserved "complete credit to the way they went about it".

"They kept us under pressure for the whole (game). We couldn't win it at the contest and our centre-square bounce was a major issue.

"We couldn't get the ball back off them, either.

The Lions may also lose a couple of players ahead of Saturday's match against Adelaide. Defender Matt Maguire limped off early in the third term with a sore left shin, the same leg he broke in 2007.

Minutes later Pearce Hanley was reported for rough conduct when he clattered into Daniel Giansiracusa in a clumsy attempt to spoil.

Brisbane's biggest names were unusually quiet. Daniel Rich, who won the Michael Tuck Medal as the best afield in the pre-season grand final, was kept to just eight disposals by Bulldogs tagger Nick Lower and had no influence on the game. Co-captain Jonathan Brown (one goal) was well held by young full-back Jordan Roughead.

Tom Rockliff was the Lions' only clear winner, while Moloney and small defender Mitch Golby tried hard.

The Bulldogs had winners all over the ground, led by captain Bob Murphy, ruckman Will Minson, Daniel Giansiracusa and Ryan Griffen. Arguably the standout performance came from 29-year-old debutant Brett Goodes, who this time last year was working as the club's player development officer.

"We're pretty proud of Brett the person, to be honest, what he offers our club on and off the field has just been terrific," Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney said.

Goodes, the younger brother of Swans champion Adam Goodes, had 24 possessions and said he felt he belonged at AFL level.

He said he believed AFL clubs had made a mistake by not drafting him before now.

"I was probably ready at the age of 22-23," Goodes said. "Before that I don't think I was, I was probably lazy and didn't work hard."

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Fury over Hayes sliding free kick

Lenny Hayes, pictured here at training, was pinged for sliding despite not taking out the legs of his opponent. Picture: Chris Eastman Source: Herald Sun

WHEN St Kilda champion Lenny Hayes was pinged for sliding into an opponent's knees last night it was as if the AFL had shot Bambi.

Social media was abuzz with fans condemning the league's controversial new rule that penalises players who slide in and make contact with an opponent below the knees.

Hayes was nabbed after pouncing on the loose ball, his head and shoulders merely brushing, but not moving, the legs of Gold Coast defender Matthew Shaw, during the second quarter of the hotly contested clash at Metricon Stadium.

The decision against the 264-game veteran battering ram prompted calls of ''what more could he do'' from the Fox Footy commentary team which included Brian Taylor, Matthew Richardson and Geelong premiership captain Cameron Ling.

Ling's premiership teammate David Wojcinski joined the chorus of fans disturbed by the umpire's ruling.

The AFL banned sliding - contact below the knees - in a bid to improve player safety following a sickening collision between North Melbourne goalsneak Lindsay Thomas and Sydney forward Gary Rohan last year.

Rohan had his leg snapped when Thomas slid over a sodden SCG turf.

Others to vent their frustrations on Twitter said:

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Roos' tall trio ready to cause trouble

Drew Petrie, Robbie Tarrant and Lachie Hansen of the Kangaroos form the three talls to take on Collingwood. Picture: Mark Dadswell. Source: News Limited

THEY might be different characters off the field - but as a collective, Drew Petrie, Robbie Tarrant and Lachlan Hansen created more than a few headaches for defences last season.

The Kangaroos' trio of tall forwards hope to do more of the same today at Etihad Stadium against Collingwood.

Amid the myriad reasons for North Melbourne's fight back in the second half of last year, the decision to stick with three 196cm-plus forwards in the same team cannot be underestimated.

Firrito confident Roos can rise

Kangaroos forward coach Brett Allison believed it was a vital piece in the jigsaw puzzle that saw the club overcome a bad start to qualify for its first final since 2008.

"Playing three big forwards was something we had in mind from the start of last season, but unfortunately Lachie Hansen was injured and suspended in the reserves," Allison said.

"It took us a long time to see it in action. But when we tried it, it seemed to work and we think it was a key factor in helping us turn our season around."

North Melbourne was sitting 12th when Petrie, Tarrant and Hansen all played in attack against Adelaide in Round 13, for the first time last year.

It was the start of nine wins from the last 12 games, lifting the Roos into the finals before an elimination final wipe-out against West Coast.

One of those was against the Magpies in Round 21, when Petrie and Tarrant kicked three goals and Hansen two in the five-goal win.

"It has been a pretty good weapon," Petrie said of the three-pronged tall attack. "We managed to make opposition defences play three talls and when they haven't, we have been able to get on top of them."

The three Roos forwards kicked an accurate total of 102 goals and 38 behinds last year - Petrie 58.18, Tarrant 23.16 and Hansen 20.4.

In their 12 games as a trio last year, they booted a total of 76.21.

"Lachie is laid-back and relaxed and is a real character," Allison said. "Robbie is far more serious about his footy and is very focused.

"Drewie is probably in between the two of them.

"They are all different and maybe that's why it worked so well."

Petrie, 30, has been a star for the Kangaroos since his 2001 debut, but his 2010 season was ruined by a foot injury.

His past two seasons have yielded 106 goals and he has been in near career-best form.

"He takes a lot of pressure off Lachie and I," Tarrant said. "As much as we want the ball, you don't mind it when the mids kick it long to the big fellow.

"He is an awesome leader down there and is a very selfless player."

Tarrant, almost 24, endured four shoulder reconstructions early in his career. His 16 games last season was the sort of return that most North fans hoped for.

"Taz works his backside off," Hansen said. Added Petrie: "Taz had so many shoulder problems and he played as a defender for a while just to get some game time. But he showed last year that he has really grown as a player."

Hansen, 24, and a one-time No.3 draft pick, spent time alternating between attack and defence, but seems to have found his right home.

"Lachie is a strong mark and is athletic, which means he is a tough player to match up on," Petrie said.

The three forwards hope to stretch some more opposition defences this year, starting with Collingwood today.

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Ablett's Suns burn Saints

A Gary Ablett masterclass has inspired Gold Coast to an upset 13-point win over St Kilda at Metricon Stadium.

Suns skipper Gary Ablett looks downfield for an option. Picture: Getty Source: Getty Images

GARY Ablett's won the latest battle in his personal war with St Kilda as he guided the Gold Coast to a stunning 13-point upset victory over the Saints at Metricon Stadium.

In grand finals and blockbusters with Geelong, Ablett enjoyed mixed success against the Saints being tagged by Steve Baker or Clint Jones.

Last night, there was no stopping the Suns skipper as he kicked four goals - including three in the final term - and collected 34 disposals, six inside 50s, 19 contested possessions and nine clearances in a magnificent individual display that lifted the Suns to their seventh win in club history and their third-straight success at home.

His fourth and final major was a beauty from an acute angle that appeared to sink the Saints.

But St Kilda closed to within 10 points only for Ablett to help set-up a goal for Luke Russell to keep the gutsy visitors at bay.

Live HQ: SuperCoach scores and stats

A Terry Milera goal with two minutes to go reduced the Gold Coast's lead to eight points but Aaron Hall strolled into goal in the dying seconds to seal the gritty win.

It was always going to be an ugly, scrappy affair given the hot and humid conditions that turned the Sherrin into a cake of soap.

Given the Suns do not have the experience or class to put away sides and the Saints were undermanned and under-sized, it made for an even more dour arm-wrestle.

There was never going to be a repeat of the 95 and 92-point thrashings that St Kilda handed the Gold Coast.

The Suns simply do not have the marking power or poise in front of goal to capitalise on their midfield's ball-winning prowess.

Fury over Hayes' sliding free kick

With St Kilda missing the likes of Leigh Montagna, Sam Fisher and Sean Dempster, the Saints were below full-strength and were always going to be vulnerable.

They were often indecisive and indirect and guilty of poor discipline to keep the Suns in the contest.

The Suns led by 11 points at the first change which was a fair indication of the home side's superiority.

The Saints then blitzed the Gold Coast in the second term.

St Kilda kicked five goals in the quarter with Armitage (17 disposals, five inside 50s and four clearances up to halftime) at the forefront for the visitors who restricted the Suns to just two behinds.

St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt celebrates kicking a goal against Gold Coast. Picture: Getty Source: Getty Images

Skipper Nick Riewoldt booted two goals as the Saints midfield got on top with Jarryn Geary having a game-high 18 touches up until the main break.

The Saints appeared well on their way but the gritty Suns clawed their way back into the contest with three goals after halftime to recuce St Kilda's buffer to just nine points.

Ablett kicked a superb individual goal in the third quarter with a brilliant display of speed and finishing that shone like a beacon in a mistake-riddled term.

The Gold Coast refused to go away and closed the gap to just two points early in the final quarter to set-up a thrilling finish.

Ablett's third goal of the night put the Suns in front with 13 minutes remaining.

Boom teenager Jaeger O'Meara came into the game in the last term with seven touches and finished his first senior AFL match with 12 disposals and one goal.

Geary finished with 28 disposals, Armitage had 26 touches and Jack Steven had 25 touches for the Saints. Milera kicked three goals for the visitors.

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Teams: Demons leave out Davey

Matt Windley and Glenn McFarlane name the rookies and left-field picks to give you the SuperCoach edge.

SuperFooty delivers the best live match news to your phone

Aaron Davey shows the strain of pre-season training. Picture: Klein Michael Source: Herald Sun

Jack Viney tries to evade James Frawley at Melbourne training. Source: Herald Sun

MELBOURNE has left veteran Aaron Davey out of the team to face Port Adelaide on Sunday.

Melbourne cut its bench this afternoon, with Davey named as an emergency alongside mature-age South Australian recruit Dean Terlich.

Davey, 29, has played 158 games.

The Melbourne bench for its clash against Port Adelaide on Sunday is Sam Blease, Luke Tapscott, former Kangaroo Cam Pederson and 25-year-old Matt Jones, who will play his first AFL match after being recruited from VFL side Box Hill.

Port Adelaide named top draft pick Oliver Wines on the bench, setting up a head-to-head match-up with his best mate, Demon Jack Viney.

Last year's Sandover medallist Kane Mitchell is also on the bench.

It was a good day at the selection table for mature-age recruits, with Collingwood selecting 26-year-old Sam Dwyer on its bench for Sunday's clash against North Melbourne.

Dwyer was recruited from VFL side Port Melbourne in last year's rookie draft and was promoted to the senior list yesterday.

Former Carlton defender Jordan Russell is also on the bench, alongside Marty Clark and Ben Johnson.

Paul Seedsman, Josh Thomas and elevated rookie Jack Frost are emergencies.

The Kangaroos decided not to play Majak Daw, leaving Todd Goldstein as the Roos' only ruckman.

The final benches for Monday's Geelong v Hawthorn game will be named tomorrow.

Scroll down for Round 1 teams

SuperCoach Round 1 formguide: Captain picks, lockout info and more!

Western Bulldogs v Brisbane Lions, Etihad Stadium, Saturday 1.40pm

WESTERN BULLDOGS
B: Dale Morris, Jordan Roughead, Liam Picken
HB: Jason Johannisen, Tom Young, Brett Goodes
C: Adam Cooney, Nick Lower, Koby Stevens
HF: Tory Dickson, Liam Jones, Daniel Giansiracusa
F: Rob Murphy, Ayce Cordy, Luke Dahlhaus
Foll: Will Minson, Ryan Griffen, Tom Liberatore
I/C: Mitch Wallis, Daniel Cross, Shaun Higgins, Clay Smith
Emg: Jason Tutt, Lukas Markovic, Tom Campbell

NEW: Tom Young (Collingwood), Brett Goodes, Nick Lower (Fremantle), Koby Stevens (West Coast)

BRISBANE LIONS
B: Elliot Yeo, Daniel Merrett, Joel Patfull
HB: Jed Adcock, Matt Maguire, Pearce Hanley
C: Patrick Karnezis, Tom Rockliff, Mitch Golby
HF Dayne Zorko, Stefan Martin, Josh Green
F: Rohan Bewick, Jonathan Brown, Ashley McGrath
Foll: Billy Longer, Daniel Rich, Brent Moloney
I/C: Claye Beams, Jack Redden, James Polkinghorne, Aaron Cornelius
Emg: Sam Docherty, Andrew Raines, Ryan Lester

NEW: Brent moloney (Melbourne)

GWS v SYDNEY, ANZ Stadium Saturday 4.40pm

Panic Room: Cooney good to go, Cats in trouble

GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY
B: Adam Kennedy, Tim Mohr, Stephen Gilham
HB: Tomas Bugg, Phil Davis, Curtly Hampton
C: Will Hoskin-Elliott, Callan Ward, Lachie Whitfield
HF: Stephen Coniglio, Jeremy Cameron, Tom Scully
F: Liam Sumner, Jonathon Patton, Devon Smith
Foll: Jonathan Giles, Adam Treloar, Toby Greene
I/C: Taylor Adams, Dean Brogan, Lachie Plowman, Dylan Shiel
Emg: Sam Frost, Rhys Palmer, Nathan Wilson

NEW: Lachie Whitfield, Lachie Plowman

SYDNEY SWANS
B: Rhyce Shaw, Heath Grundy, Nick Smith
HB: Martin Mattner, Ted Richards, Nick Malceski
C: Ben McGlynn, Daniel Hannebery, Lewis Jetta
HF: Kieren Jack, Sam Reid, Ryan O'Keefe
F: Mike Pyke, Adam Goodes, Jude Bolton
Foll: Shane Mumford, Josh Kennedy, Jarrad McVeigh
I/C: Tony Armstrong, Luke Parker, Dane Rampe, Lewis Roberts-Thomson
Emg: Andrejs Everitt, Jed Lamb, Jesse White

NEW: Dane Rampe

Hawk Jarryd Roughead joins the panel to provide inside SuperCoach info on the Hawks.

GOLD COAST v ST KILDA, Metricon Stadium, Saturday 6.45pm

GOLD COAST
B: Joel Wilkinson, Matthew Warnock, Tom Murphy
HB: Dion Prestia, Rory Thompson, Greg Broughton
C: Matt Shaw, Gary Ablett, Jarrod Harbrow
HF: Harley Bennell, Charlie Dixon, Brandon Matera
F: Luke Russell, Sam Day, Steven May
Foll: Zac Smith, Karmichael Hunt, David Swallow
I/C: Aaron Hall, Jaeger O'Meara, Jared Brennan, Michael Rischitelli
Emg: Maverick Weller, Jack Hutchins, Kyal Horsley

NEW: Jaeger O'Meara, Greg Broughton (Fremantle)

ST KILDA
B: Jason Blake, James Gwilt, Dylan Roberton
HB: Jarryn Geary, Tom Simpkin, Sam Gilbert
C: Jack Newnes, Lenny Hayes, Nick Dal Santo
HF: Aaron Siposs, Nick Riewoldt, Terry Milera
F: Stephen Milne, Beau Maister, Rhys Stanley
Foll: Ben McEvoy, David Armitage, Jack Steven
I/C: Ahmed Saad, Tom Hickey, Clinton Jones, Farren Ray
Emg: Nathan Wright, Trent Dennis-Lane, Tom Lee

NEW: Dylan Roberton (Fremantle), Tom Hickey (Gold Coast)

Melbourne v Port Adelaide, MCG Sunday 1.10pm

MELBOURNE
B: Lynden Dunn, Tom Gillies, Daniel Nicholson
HB: Jack Watts, James Frawley, Colin Garland
C: Jack Viney, Jack Grimes, Jimmy Toumpas
HF: Jeremy Howe, James Sellar, Colin Sylvia
F: Shannon Byrnes, Mitch Clark, David Rodan
Foll: Mark Jamar, Jordie McKenzie, Nathan Jones
I/C: Sam Blease, Cam Pederson, Luke Tapscott, Matt Jones
Emerg: Aaron Davey, Dean Terlich, Jake Spencer

NEW: Tom Gillies (Geelong), Jack Viney, Jimmy Toumpas, Shannon Byrnes (Geelong), David Rodan (Port Adelaide), Cam Pederson (North Melbourne)

PORT ADELAIDE
B: Tom Jonas, Jackson Trengove, Campbell Heath
HB: Jasper Pittard, Cameron O'Shea, Lewis Stevenson
C: Matthew Broadbent, Brad Ebert, Kane Cornes
HF: Justin Westhoff, Paul Stewart, Angus Monfries
F: Chad Wingard, Jay Schulz, Jake Neade
F: Jarrad Redden, Hamish Hartlett, Travis Boak
I/C: Matthew Lobbe, Oliver Wines, Andrew Moore, Kane Mitchell
Emerg: Aaron Young, Daniel Stewart, Jack Hombsch

NEW: Campbell Heath (Sydney), Lewis Stevenson (West Coast), Angus Monfries (Essendon), Jake Neade, Oliver Wines, Kane Mitchell, Jack Hombsh (GWS)

North Melbourne v Collingwood, Etihad Stadium Sunday 4.40pm

COLLINGWOOD
B: Nathan Brown, Nick Maxwell, Ben Reid
HB: Alan Toovey, Heath Shaw, Harry O'Brien
C: Steele Sidebottom, Dane Swan, Jarryd Blair
HF: Jamie Elliott, Travis Cloke, Quinten Lynch
F: Ben Sinclair, Tyson Goldsack, Brent Macaffer
Foll: Darren Jolly, Scott Pendlebury, Dayne Beams
I/C: Martin Clarke, Sam Dwyer, Ben Johnson, Jordan Russell
Emerg: Jack Frost, Paul Seedsman, Josh Thomas

NEW: Quinten Lynch (West Coast), Sam Dwyer (Port Melbourne), Jordan Russell (Carlton)

NORTH MELBOURNE
B: Shaun Atley, Scott Thompson, Michael Firrito
HB: Jamie Macmillan, Nathan Grima, Ben Jacobs
C: Aaron Mullett, Ryan Bastinac, Kieran Harper
HF: Ben Cunnington, Robbie Tarrant, Daniel Wells
F: Lindsay Thomas, Drew Petrie, Lachlan Hansen
Foll: Todd Goldstein, Andrew Swallow, Jack Ziebell
I/C: Liam Anthony, Leigh Adams, Sam Wright, Sam Gibson
Emerg: Taylor Hine, Will Sierakowski, Majak Daw

NEW: Ben Jacobs (Port Adelaide)

Hawthorn v Geelong, MCG Monday 3.20pm

HAWTHORN
B: Josh Gibson, Brian Lake, Brent Guerra
HB: Grant Birchall, Ben Stratton, Shaun Burgoyne
C: Isaac Smith, Sam Mitchell, Bradley Hill
HF: Cyril Rioli, Lance Franklin, Luke Breust
F: Jack Gunston, Jarryd Roughead, Paul Puopolo
Foll: David Hale, Brad Sewell, Jordan Lewis
I/C (from): Jed Anderson, Shane Savage, Luke Shiels, Max Bailey, Ryan Schoenmakers, Kyle Cheney, Jonathan Simpkin

NEW: Brian Lake (Western Bulldogs), Jed Anderson, Jonathan Simpkin (Geelong)

GEELONG
B: Jared Rivers, Tom Lonergan, Corey Enright
HB: Taylor Hunt, Harry Taylor, Travis Varcoe
C: Andrew Mackie, Paul Chapman, Joel Corey
HF: Jordan Murdoch, Shannon Motlop, Billie Smedts
F: James Podsiadly, Tom Hawkins, Mitch Duncan
Foll: Mark Blicavs, Joel Selwood, Jimmy Bartel
I/C (from): Trent West, Josh Caddy, Mathew Stokes, Allen Christensen, George Horlin-Smith, Josh Walker, Jake Stringer

NEW: Jared Rivers (Melbourne), Mark Blicavs, Josh Caddy (Gold Coast) 

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There's nothin' like a Dane

Who is the real Dane Swan? Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: HWT Image Library

DANE Swan was a nobody when he and a couple of mates touched up a security guard at Federation Square in 2003.

It was act of delinquency that caused pain and hurt.

Now Swan is a somebody, a Brownlow medallist, three-time Copeland Trophy winner and a premiership player.

The road from nobody to somebody has been one of the more impressive journeys for a player in the AFL, although it's safe to say the laid-back and likeable Swan would still like to be a nobody in a somebody's world.

He is a rare bird, Dane Swan.

A knockabout who loves a drink, the nightlife and whatever else that may tickle his fancy, Swan still plays footy at unbelievable levels of speed and endurance and leather-poisoning.

If you believe rumours, and there are hundreds of them, Swan is Ben Cousins Mark II, a player whose behaviour is of major concern who, finally this off-season, realised he had to pull his head in.

If you believe those who know him, Swan is nothing of the sort.

"Dane Swan has not changed one bit from when he was a 17-year-old lad," his manager, Liam Pickering, says.

"He loves footy and he plays great footy and he cares about his footy. People don't think he does care, but they're kidding themselves. You can't be that good if you don't care about it."

Swan is a fascination for all in football and his exploits are front-page news.

He says he doesn't care what is said and written about him, but others wonder whether he tries too hard to project a feeling that he doesn't care about what is said and written about him. Whatever the thinking, there's been plenty to write about.

His parents, Billy and Dee, and his grandparents are hurt by the articles - and that hurts Swan.

"He finds that more frustrating than anything," Pickering said. "All the stuff that goes on about him he takes in his stride, but it homes in a little bit when his grandma or his mum get upset. I understand that. No one wants to pick up a paper and read negative things about their boy, and a lot of factually incorrect stuff as well."

Pickering didn't say it, but clearly he was a talking about a report written by Caroline Wilson in The Age last November.

Some at Collingwood - but not all - think Wilson has a vendetta against Swan.

In the report, Wilson called for Swan to be sacked by the club, arguing his bad behaviour had a terrible influence on younger teammates.

One small sentence said Swan had got into a "nasty fight", which supposedly took place in the Nursery car park on Emirates Day, the last day of the Spring Carnival.

The fact is Swan didn't get involved - it was one of Swan's mates and another man. A former AFL player who was a casual passserby can verify that.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire says Swan gets a heavy media treatment because he's different.

"There's some in the media who haven't met anyone who doesn't live off Page 59 of the Melways," he said, referring to the page that incorporates the well-to-do inner-eastern suburbs.

"He's got that element of danger about him.

"He's from Broady, he's got tatts, he's got a sense of humor, he's his own man, he makes blues and he's sublime on the field.

"They probably think he's white trash from Broady. I'll tell you something, Swanny's a ripper. He's an old-timer, he's a Glasgow boy out of Broadmeadows in a lot of ways."

Dane Swan is a SuperCoach must. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun

It must be said, McGuire is a dufflecoat wearer. If any of his boys murdered someone, he'd probably argue it was a misunderstanding. But there's a warmth from McGuire to Swan, borne perhaps from their upbringing.

Both grew up in hardened Broadmeadows, both have climbed the pinnacle of their professions and both are at Collingwood.

The Swan name in Broady is legendary.

Swan is the son of VFA legend Billy Swan, and Billy's cousin is Roy Ramsay, who played for 126 games for North Melbourne from 1976-86.

"In Broady, Roy and Billy were superheroes," McGuire says. "Roy Ramsay's old man basically came out on the same boat as my dad, they were mates from 1958, and we lived two blocks from each other in Olsen Place, which is the Bronx of Broadmeadows.

"The Ramsays lived around the corner and Swanny's old man used to live near Upfield High, and Swanny's aunty taught me, she was my student teacher at school.

"You could say it's been a similar journey for us."

Consequently, McGuire throws a protective rug around Swan, although the rug was ripped off him at a robust meeting between McGuire, Swan and Pickering late last year.

Described recently by McGuire as "tough love", it centred on Swan's behaviour before the meeting descended into a slanging match between McGuire and Pickering.

"People think that if we're blueing or we pull him in (that we're fighting), but it's because we want to get him to the end of his journey in footy and we want him to be a Collingwood bloke forever," McGuire said.

The robustness between McGuire and Pickering continued when Swan appeared in an apparently unauthorised interview on Channel 9 in March, where, among other issues, Swan denied he had a drug problem.

The club was furious Swan did the interview and fined him $5000, fuelling the fire that Swan and the Magpies were the best of enemies.

Meanwhile, the public's fascination in Swan saw the The Footy Show secure close to one million viewers on the night.

That's the thing about Swan, he's watchable.

And he's normal.

The truth is, there are Dane Swans everywhere. Go for a walk down Sydney Rd, or visit Northland, or got a local footy game on a Saturday, or a bar on a Sunday afternoon, and there you'll find your Dane Swans. In some ways, his normalcy makes him a stand-out in the rigid and robotic world of the AFL.

The further truth is, most people don't give a brass razoo what Swan does in his own time, as long he plays good footy at the weekends.

Still, the appetite for everything Dane Swan is evident.

If Swan appears on superfooty.com.au in a story or in photo form, the reader interest is clearly definable.

Pickering agrees the normal bloke relates to Swan.

"There are no airs and graces, what you see and what you get," Pickering said. "He's not trying be someone he's not and that's the beauty of Dane Swan. He's only always been Dane Swan and you either like him, like most people do, or you don't. It's no skin off his nose if they don't like the fact he's got tattoos."

I asked a female friend for an opinion.

She said: "He's a bad boy with a wicked sparkle in his eyes. It's endearing. And he's not caught up with prettiness off the field. From his clothes to his words. He is who he is."

You only have to see his mates to know what sort of bloke he is. When people are that loyal to you, it's because you've got something special in you.

People who know Swan acknowledge he loves a good time, but point out that he's also fiercely loyal, reliable, funny, caring and giving.

True, he can run with the wolves, but he also can graze with the sheep.

He is part of - if not the leader of - the Collingwood brat pack, who think nothing of pulling an all-nighter at Eve nightclub or Tramp or a favorite haunt, the Barkly in St Kilda.

But he's also great mates with skipper Nick Maxwell, who likes to be in bed before 10.30pm.

Just recently Swan and his partner, Taylor Wilson, joined Maxwell and his wife Erin, and a couple of younger players and their partners, for a weekend at Rye, and they say Swan hanging with Maxwell's daughter two-year-old Milla was magical to watch.

Magpies coach Nathan Buckley talks with Dane Swan. Picture: Michael Klein Source: Herald Sun

So much for thinking Swan spends every weekend watching the sun come up. That said, it's not foreign to him.

In August last year, when Swan's behavior drove Collingwood chief executive Gary Pert to despair, as well as his teammates, Swan was suspended for two weeks by the club for arriving at training clearly affected by alcohol.

He had been at the Barkly the night before and kicked on at a private residence. Those at the Barkly claimed Swan was drinking water. Someone apparently in the know said the water bottle was sometimes filled with vodka.

The upshot was suspension, a loss of confidence and respect from teammates, who rightfully wanted to know why the bender was in the month before finals.

Swan was at fault, but perhaps the leadership at Collingwood was at fault, too, for Swan had been getting away with benders for some time.

Under Mick Malthouse, the "bad boys" were tolerated, and certainly weren't suspended. But where Malthouse was lenient, believing the knockabouts played an important role in team culture, new coach Nathan Buckley wasn't as flexible.

The club had suspended Sharrod Wellingham for two weeks earlier in the season for drinking, so when Swan mucked up, the same penalty applied.

Brownlow Medallist Dane Swan is Collingwood's SuperCoach superstar. Picture: Michael Klein Source: Herald Sun

Fast-forward to this pre-season and not a word of criticism can be heard from Swan.

His teammates have noticed a real change. Just little things, such as taking ice baths after training to help the body recover, and answering questions with depth in player meetings, and completing early morning swim sessions at the beach without the complaining. It's called buy-in.

"He is going really well," Maxwell said on SEN radio this week. "He is always casual and calm but this pre-season I have seen him really push himself to levels I haven't seen in the 11 years I have been here."

The belief is Swan has finally grasped the fact that all actions have consequences.

The relationship between Pert and Swan, however, remains strictly professional.

"I think Swanny gets me," McGuire said, "but he's got Perty from a different point of view and he would probably see Perty as petty hard at it. Perty is the boss. We all hate the headmaster until we realise the headmaster was the bloke who was keeping us from falling into the abyss.

"At footy clubs, we all play different. You can't have everybody being the easy touch. You know what, they'll sit down together in 10 years at a reunion and they all laugh at how much pain and suffering was caused and Swanny will say, 'Gee, I wish I knew at the time, I would've pulled my head in'."

Despite the problems last year, at no stage did the club consider trading Swan.

McGuire would never have ticked it off.

"You know my philosophy: how many chances do you get - as many as it takes. If Swanny wasn't a good bloke and a great contributor to the club, you would probably pull the pin. But he is a great contributor, he's got a lot to give and he's a giving bloke.

"You only have to see his mates to know what sort of bloke he is. When people are that loyal to you, it's because you've got something special in you.

"You know, what we've got to make sure is this is a game for working class boys and blokes from all parts of the community.

"To do that, you've got to take into account people that have different backgrounds, different philosophies ... it's a melting pot.

"I've seen Swanny develop and develop and develop, and yes things happen, there's a few spotfires here and there, but there's a lot more of Dane Swan to come, providing he makes sure it happens."

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Magpies to go deep: Maxwell

Collingwood skipper Nick Maxwell. Picture: Michael Klein Source: Herald Sun

COLLINGWOOD has greater depth this season than it did during the 2010 premiership season, according to captain Nick Maxwell.

As the Magpies prepare for tomorrow's season opener against North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium, Maxwell believes the club is well placed to once more push deep into September.

"We have probably got more depth this year than at any time since I have been at the club," Maxwell said. "I think there is more now than there was in 2010."

He said the club's ability to bring in three free agents - Quinten Lynch, Clinton Young and Jordan Russell - and recruit a few mature-aged rookies boosted the stocks.

"(This pre-season) we have thrown guys in and they have shown that they can play at this level," Maxwell said.

"Even the guys like Jack Frost, Sammy Dwyer and Kyle Martin are new around the club, but they are ready-made players. They have got physical bodies and the way they have gone about it has been really good.

Maxwell said: "When you are finishing high on the ladder, it is hard to get the draft picks to get the quality players.

"I guess that is where we are proud of our systems, to bring through a lot of rookies. We had eight rookies in the 2010 premiership side.

"It shows that you don't always have to have the first round draft picks if you have the right guys and they are prepared to work."

Maxwell said Collingwood prided itself on choosing players with character.

"That's the aim - to pick guys who are the right people," he said.

"They don't have to have the right skills or be perfect - and I am proof of that - but if you get the right characters and they are desperate to play AFL, it makes a difference."

Meanwhile, Collingwood expects to become the first AFL clubs to smash through the 80,000 membership bracket this season.

The Magpies are currently 7000 ahead of the same stage last season and will have signed up more than 70,000 members ahead of Sunday's opening round clash.

"Our target for this year was 80,000 and we are tracking strongly, so we expect to exceed that figure this year," Collingwood chief executive Gary Pert said.

"In the next couple of years we are definitely expecting to achieve over 100,000 members."

Collingwood holds the AFL record of almost 73,000 members from last year, with Pert praising the members for shaping the direction of the campaign.

"We asked our supporters what it would take to make them members." he said.

"We are constantly asking our members what they require from us and what they want in our packages.

"It is a simple model. Whenever we are redesigning our membership packages, and doing our marketing at the start of the year, all of our ideas have come from the supporters and members who have given us feedback."

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Grimes learns from bad start

Melbourne co-captain Jack Grimes with former Demons great Ron Barassi. Picture: Michael Klein Source: Herald Sun

JACK Grimes admits he was "thrown in the deep end" when made Melbourne captain last year, but believes the season from hell has defined him.

Grimes last February was made Demons co-captain at just 22, partnering Jack Trengove - at 20 the youngest skipper in AFL history - as the club set about a rebirth.

But the inexperienced leaders found themselves under unrelenting pressure as a controversy-packed 2012 threatened to rip the club apart.

Melbourne was investigated for tanking, lost much-loved president Jim Stynes, had coach Mark Neeld accused of racism and was forced to terminate its partnership with major sponsor EnergyWatch all in 12 months.

"It genuinely was a massive shock to me. I really didn't expect it and at the time it was almost like, 'What have I got myself into here'?" Grimes said of being made captain.

"Looking back, it really was as hard as it gets, what we went through, but with 'Trenners' in it with me and the new leaders we had around us, we had so much help."

After a summer of reflection, and buoyed by the hope a new season brings, Grimes looks back on that horror initiation as the sort of education money can't buy.

"It's an experience I never want to have to go through again and for all the new captains around the league I would never want them to go through it either, but it's one of those one's where you're almost glad you've seen that side of it," he said.

"Neil Craig (director of sport performance) always asks me the question: 'Who do you think learnt more out of last year? You going through what you did or another new captain at a successful club that won most of its games?'

"There were times when it seemed like it was jumping from one thing to the other and it was tough, not just for us, but for 'Neeldy' as a first-year coach.

"At one stage we were 0-9 and he'd been called a racist and we'd been through all these other off-field issues. It was taking its toll on a lot of people, but at the same time we never fractured as a group and, if we were ever going to, it would have been then.

"Our backs were against the wall and everything was going against us.

"But it felt like we stuck together and began to turn it around in the second half of the year."

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Dog finally has his day

Western Bulldogs footballer Dale Morris at home with his wife Gemma and children Riley and Charlie. Picture: Mark Dadswell Source: Herald Sun

An injured Dale Morris signals for a trainer before collapsing in pain with a broken leg. Picture: Michael Klein Source: Herald Sun

 As Dale Morris lies prone on the Etihad Stadium turf, his wife Gemma is at home "blissfully unaware" that his leg, and possibly career, has been shattered.

Six months pregnant, Gemma is watching the Western Bulldogs' game against Essendon on a half-hour delay.

Then the calls come.

First from her best friend, then Morris's parents.

The friend, who is at the game, makes her way to the Morris house in Keilor to look after their two-year-old son Riley so Gemma can rush to Morris's bedside at The Avenue in Windsor.

But first she has to see the fateful marking contest for herself on the screen.

"Seeing the look in his eyes and him screaming ... I'd literally never even heard him yell before, so I knew then it was bad," she said.

"That's all I was worried about, was how much pain he was in and what he was going through.

"I wasn't even thinking about us and what might happen."

But Morris is.

He is lying in the hospital room already thinking about the burden he will become.

Dale Morris on his way back from a broken leg. Picture: Michael Dodge Source: Herald Sun

A couple of hours have passed before Gemma reaches Morris, who is still in his playing gear.

He will stay in his shorts and jumper for two days, such is the pain when he moves.

"He just looked so vulnerable and defenceless lying there on his back," Gemma says.

"He couldn't move, he was in so much pain. If his leg moved a centimetre it was excruciating for him.

"We didn't say anything. I just kissed him and he just stared up at the ceiling. He couldn't even speak."

Rather than insert a rod, surgeons set the broken bone with a view to letting it calcify.

It will heal naturally, but Morris needs a cast all the way from his foot to his hip. For a month he can hardly move.

"We had to set up the house like a rehab centre," Gemma says.

"He had to get from the wheelchair on to the toilet seat with handles ... we had to have ramps all around the house for the wheelchair.

"I couldn't sleep in the bed with him for three months because any movement with his leg would hurt him too much. We set up his bean bag and it had to be positioned a certain way so his leg could sit at the right angle, and then he had to lie flat on his back.

"It killed his back as well. He was in agony, but he just had to be like that. He would take a huge amount of pain-killers just to go to bed.

Western Bulldog Dale Morris at Whitten Oval. Picture: Rob Leeson Source: Herald Sun

"I would wheel him in and it would break my heart to have to put him in to bed and leave him there overnight.

"We had Riley's new bed that we had bought, so I slept on that in the spare room, which was going to be Charlie's nursery.

"And then in the morning he'd ring my phone to say he was ready to wake up and I'd wheel the wheelchair back in and get him in there.

"His cast was too heavy for me, so Dale had to lift his leg up and he would get into the wheelchair so slowly. We'd then sit at the breakfast table, have food and then put him on the couch for the day.

"He had to have a bed pan, he couldn't go to the toilet during the day. It was awful, and that was for the full month."
Nothing is easy.

"We only showered him every second day because it was just too difficult," Gemma says.

"So the days that Riley was at creche we timed it so that Dale's mum would pick Riley up and I would shower Dale.

"Getting him dressed after was probably the hardest part because you had to pull his pants up over this big cast and not move his leg in the slightest.

"I would be in tears because I could see the pain he was in. He was trying not to say anything and I was trying to be as gentle as possible."

Gemma is a midwife. She had not worked for several months after suffering health complications in the early stages of her second pregnancy and, ironically, is due to return to her job on the Monday after Morris's accident.

The injured Dale Morris runs short sprints in front of the locals. Picture: Colleen Petch Source: Herald Sun

She would be put to work all right, but she didn't expect her patient would be her husband and she would be working for love, not money.

"I do all these nursing duties, but to have to do it for your husband and know that it's absolutely killing him to let you do this to him - he's lost all his dignity, all of his independence - it was awful," she says.

"People just don't know that side of it. They've seen him come back 18 months later and he looks awesome. He's fit, strong, got the muscles, but to think about what it took to get back to that is incredible.

"You just forget, it was so bad."

After about six weeks the process to gradually shave down the cast on Dale's leg begins. And just in time.

Early in October, Gemma, only 32 weeks pregnant, goes into labour.

She is in hospital for a week as doctors do all they can to prevent the baby from being born. Morris blames himself.

"I just thought with the injury and what I put her through with it all ... there was nothing else that would have caused this except for me," he says.

Doctors manage to halt the birth, but now it is Gemma who is consigned to bed rest - for eight weeks.

"I became the patient," Gemma says. "Dale was still in his cast, but he ended up taking over the house, looking after me and looking after Riley."

Dale Morris does some contesting with assistant coach Brett Montgomery. Picture: Colleen Petch Source: Herald Sun

Morris is still on crutches, which makes washing the clothes especially difficult seeing as he has to hobble up a flight of steps to get to the laundry.

"In a strange way you start feeling good about yourself," he says.

"You're looking after Riley, looking after myself, looking after Gem, looking after the house.

"I guess it could have been a little blessing in disguise, if you can look at it that way, that I was thrown in that situation because I was forced to start doing things again."

It's now December and Charlie is born. And Morris, after confidence-boosting conversations with fellow broken leg victims Garry Lyon and Michael Barlow, is back in training with an eye on Round 1, 2012.

One morning, as he drives himself to Whitten Oval and Riley to the neighbouring creche, he is confronted by Riley's comprehension of his injury.

After weeks of running on an Alter-G machine - a weight-bearing treadmill - at the club, Dale is preparing to run outside for the first time.

"I remember saying to Riley in the car, 'Daddy's going to go for a run today', because I was excited about it," he says.

"But he started to get upset and said, 'I don't want you to'.

I asked him what was wrong and why he didn't want me to run and he goes, 'Because I don't want you to hurt your leg again'."

The run goes well. Everything, finally, is going OK.

That is, until 16 minutes in to his low-key return with Williamstown reserves on the last weekend of April.

The tightness he feels in his leg is later diagnosed as a stress fracture 3cm below the initial break.

After all this time he requires surgery to put a plate on the fibula bone.

"When they said there was a break in there I just had flashbacks to everything we went through when I was bedridden," Morris says.

The leg ended up feeling better with the plate in for support, but Morris soon accepts the reality he will not play again in 2012.

He also questions whether he will ever play again.

"Especially after the setback I did," he says.

"Early days with the injury I had no idea how everything was going to heal and if everything was going to come back to normal.

"And you hit the age of 30 and everyone starts doubting you anyway, so I had a few things working against me.

"We'd sit there and say, 'I want to believe I can do it', but with such a big injury I just didn't know."

Gemma could have been forgiven for wanting her husband to hang up his boots.

"But I didn't want him to go out like that," she says.

"He'd played almost 150 games straight, he'd worked so hard and I just didn't want it to be taken away with such a devastating injury.

"I always said I wanted him to get back and play and finish on a good note."

Today provides Dale Morris with his first opportunity to start penning the final chapters of his playing career.

Now that he is back to full fitness he even speaks of being able to play until his kids can sit in the stands and appreciate what they are seeing.

For now, though, he is just happy with one game, his 152nd.

And after everything they've been through, that's enough for Gemma as well.

"He never complained once," she says. "He could have just thrown his hands in the air, cracked it and said it was all too hard, but he never did.

"I basically did, because it was. It was just so hard. But he was just amazing and strong minded. I'm so proud of the way he handled it. I just think he's incredible.

"I used to think he was pretty much invincible. Even his fractured back that he had a couple of years ago, he was only out for about four weeks.

"He just pushes through, nothing would get him down, but then to have this happen is a real wake-up call. Now I'm just scared as.

"To see him run out there and just be back to being Dale, he deserves nothing less than to go out there and play an awesome game."

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Thomas emerges unscathed

Collingwood star Dale Thomas collected 25 disposals in the Magpies reserves match against AIS-AFL Academy squad. Picture: Ludbey Wayne Source: Herald Sun

DALE Thomas emerged from his first match hitout of the season unscathed.

Thomas, as planned, played just three quarters of the Collingwood reserves team's practice match against the AIS-AFL Academy team at the MCG tonight, piling up about 25 disposals.

He had ice packs on his right calf and upper left thigh after the match as a precaution, but showed no signs of the ankle injury that has delayed his start to the season.

Magpies football manager Geoff Walsh said Thomas, who played mostly on the wing and booted one goal, had been "pretty lively".

"Things went to plan under the program we have for him and he got a bit of the ball, so we're happy with that," Walsh said of Thomas.

"It's his first real hitout for the year, so I'm sure he's in need of the run, but we don't expect any problems (in the wash-up)."

The Pies also got two goals in an impressive effort from the returning Andrew Krakouer and won the match 15.15 (105) to the AIS's 9.9 (63).

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Finally, the hoodoo is over

Brett Deledio celebrates with Jack Riewoldt after kicking a goal. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun

THE streak is dead -- but it took forever to turn off the life support.

Richmond, which led by 42 points 11 minutes into the third term, held on by five points to end a four-year season-opening nightmare against long-time rival Carlton, which had three gilt-edged chances to win in the closing three minutes.

The Tigers, so dangerous and poised for 90 minutes, stopped in their tracks, booting their final goal at the 25-minute mark of the third term as Carlton piled on five in the final term.

Coach Damien Hardwick smiled when asked if he'd contemplated what another Carlton major would have meant, but said he'd always "had faith" his charges would hang on.

Trent Cotchin clears out of the middle. Source: Herald Sun

"But there were a couple of stages where they were just getting (caught) forward of the ball in the last quarter," Hardwick said.

"We controledl the game of footy and should have been a lot further ahead on the scoreboard.

"But Carlton teams don't give up. Mick Malthouse sides don't."

"For us to come away with the win tonight was a really good result for our footy club."

When new captain Trent Cotchin and his deputy Brett Deledio slowed from the blistering speed they offered in the first three quarters, it looked for all money as if the Tigers would add another to the list of six games they lost by less than 12 points last season.

Lachie Henderson after the final siren. Picture: Michael Klein Source: Herald Sun

Only a desperation tackle by Luke McGuane in the forward line effectively stopped the Blues' surge in the final minute -- sparking yellow and black celebrations born more of relief than the joy that appeared likely 30 minutes earlier.

Importantly, after a summer of proofless hype, the Tigers showed signs of significant improvement at all levels, not just their vaunted top-end midfielders.

Hardwick was delighted with a slew of his once lesser lights.

Much-maligned big man Tyrone Vickery booted three goals, two against Lachie Henderson in a first-half torching that set up the the Tigers'

first win in 10 games against Carlton -- the second worst sequence after the 24 they lost to the Blues when they joined the league in 1908.

Chris Yarram misses a goal late in the match. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun

"Ever since he wenet down last year. we knew important he was to the side. He's a big man, just 22 years of age ... but we were really pleased to see him work hard and get rewarded like that," Hardwick said.

"He's a tough kid, plays the game hard and he's very competitive. When he ran with the flight of the ball (and clashed with Mitch) Robinson ... it was a sign of (his) fitness and confidence."

Hardwick was also thrilled with McGuane's endeavour -- and the team play of statistically subdued Jack Riewoldt that made both other big forwards viable alternatives.

"It was a significant role for Jack that allowed Ty to get down deep.

It was great team-first footy ... his best game in 12 months."

Chris Judd breaks through the tacklers. Source: Herald Sun

At the other end of the ground, Steve Morris gave Eddie Betts fits.

Normally Carlton's danger man, Betts was incredibly frustrated with the close attention of the antagonistic Morris which extended, on several occasions, to the bench as the pair ran from the ground.

Jake Batchelor was impressive, especially when he was made the loose man in place of new Tiger Troy Chaplin and helped spark the streak of eight unanswered goals in the first half.

Aside from the need for improved match fitness that is expected in Round 1, the Tigers will be desperate to work on their goalkicking which almost proved their nemesis again.

Richmond, which had equal or more scoring shots than their opponents in 17 matches for just 10.5 wins, frittered away several easy chances in the opening term on their way to 14.22.

Ironically, in the end, it was missed chances by Matt Kreuzer and Chris Yarran in the dying minutes that enabled them to wriggle off the hook.

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Tigers survive Blues rampage

Tiger Luke McGuane latches onto Blues youngster Josh Bootsma for a game-saving tackle in the dying seconds of play. Picture: Klein Michael Source: Herald Sun

THEY'RE not called long-suffering Tigers fans for nothing.

For five years they've been waiting to get one over their bitter enemy Carlton.

For 12 months they've watched as their team has found any number of ways to lose close matches.

For 12 years they've fronted up in Round 1 full of hope and optimism only to watch it gradually evaporate at various stages before September.

All of those ghosts from seasons past looked to have been banished midway through the third quarter when the Tigers were dominating, full of energy and run as Brett Deledio kicked consecutive goals to stretch the lead to a seemingly insurmountable 42 points.

Tigers snap hoodoo

Particularly when their coach Damien Hardwick had spoken in the pre-season  about how their primary focus over summer was the defensive structure and the defensive aspects of the players all over the ground.

Yet the Tiger nerves started jangling when Chris Judd produced a two-minute purple patch late in the third quarter, managing three shots -- two of them goals -- to reduce the margin to 21 points.

Those same nerves were soothed, though, when new skipper Trent Cotchin stamped his authority on the match.

Chris Judd breaks through the tacklers during third quarter. Picture: Klein Michael Source: Herald Sun

Cotchin, who had never experienced victory in his previous seven matches against the Blues, looked determined to break his duck.

In one particularyl brilliant passage of play, he gathered a floating ball, produced a Robert Harvey-like body swerve to wrong foot an approaching Blues defender, and drilled a precise pass to Luke McGuane for a goal.

Blues charge falls short

By the final change the margin had been restored to 36 points and all looked well in the yellow-and-black camp.

But the Tiger nerves were fraying again when Carlton kicked the first three goals of the final quarter to reduce the difference to 19 points.

They were numb as they watched their boys simply stop running, tighten up and make poor decisions, leaving the door ajar for the unthinkable.

Tigers fans were contemplating a whole new brand of suffering when Jeff Garlett slotted home two goals to get the Blues to within seven points 23 minutes into the final term.

Ivan Maric and Shaun Hampson battle at the boundary throw. Picture: Klein Michael Source: Herald Sun

They couldn't watch when Matthew Kreuzer pulled in a mark moments later, when Chris Yarran first snapped and then streamed into an open goal.

But thankfully for them all of these shots missed. With a minute to play and just four points the difference, it was anyone's game.

Surely a moment of class or luck or umpiring would decide this match now.

As it turned out, it may actually have been that long-suffering yoke that made the difference.

Only five of Richmond's starting 22 had ever played in a Tigers win over Carlton:  Chris Newman, Brett Deledio, Shane Tuck, Jake King and Daniel Jackson.

Mitch Robinson in the hands of club medicos after colliding with Ty Vickery during the 2nd qtr of the Carlton v Richmond match at the MCG. March 28, 2013. Picture: Klein Michael Source: Herald Sun

In fact, going into last night's match, the Tigers team had played a combined 131 matches for Richmond against Carlton, for a grand total of 13 wins.

One of the 17 was Luke McGuane, who had trudged from the field on the previous six occasions to the tune of ''We are the Navy Blues''.

With about 35 seconds remaining, and the ball in the hands of Carlton defender Josh Bootsma, a desperate McGuane launched himself into a fierce tackle that earned him a free-kick and bought enough time to ensure victory.

His point sealed the five-point win.

In truth it had been set up over the first three terms.

Cotchin was superb, with 16 of his 33 possessions contested.

He also influenced the play numerous times when he didn't have the ball, most notably in the second quarter when he chased down and tackled Andrew Carazzo to set up a Tyrone Vickery goal.

Brett Deledio was the architect early, with clean hands and crisp skills when the ball was hot in the first half.

Live HQ: SuperCoach scores, stats

Ivan Maric produced a typically bullocking display in the ruck, while Alex Rance and Steve Morris stuck at their roles of quelling Carlton's main goal threats.

Judd and Bryce Gibbs tried hard throughout, and Michael Jamison kept Jack Riewoldt out of the match.

In the end, though, the difference was that more Richmond players seemed to want it more.

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A lot to work on: Malthouse

Lachie Henderson after the final siren. Picture: Michael Klein Source: Herald Sun

Blues coach Mick Malthouse lays down the law. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun

CARLTON coach Mick Malthouse admits he is wrestling with the Blues' defence-attack balance after only one game.

The Blues were down by as much as 42 points 11 minutes into the third quarter, but threw caution to the wind in the second half to fall five points short of an incredible comeback.

Malthouse said he made the call to abandon his conservative approach in a bid to pinch the game, which only failed when Chris Yarran missed too good chances in front of goal in the dying minutes.

"I learned a lot, they'll probably learn a lot. Just the methodology, the things you can do that work and things that don't work and you've got to start to get the balance right," Malthouse said.

"By working one way you do rob yourself of some defensive play and we took that gamble so I'm not too sure where I actually sit with that. It got us back in the game, but I'm not 100 per cent sure you can keep having shootouts with sides.

"Nonetheless I guess it was enough to spook Richmond a bit."

Carlton face a daunting start to the season, with Collingwood, Geelong, West Coast (away) and Adelaide to come in the next month, but Malthouse strongly rejected suggestions he needed to "pick players up".

"What, do you think they're walking around with their head down? They've come back and had a crack," he said.

"This is one round. It's Round 1 of a 22-week season. They're not babies, they don't need to be cuddled and caressed and told how unlucky they are. We know we got beaten by a better side and we know we've got a lot of work to do to make us more competitive.

"But this is not a kindergarten. These are grown men."

Malthouse criticised the Blues' use of the interchange, claiming he was unhappy with only 106 rotations compared to Richmond's 133.

But that was the extent of his irritation with his side's first loss to the Tigers since 2008.

"There's enough there," he said.

"I said to the playing group, 'There's no witch-hunt in the rooms tonight'. It is simply that we need to look at why our planning didn't work and why we were able to get back in the game."

Malthouse said Marc Murphy and Chris Judd would continue to get better after limited preparation and said Bryce Gibbs would get more confidence in his game.

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Bailey's return helps Hawks go big

Max Bailey kicks at goal during Hawthorn training session. Picture: Michael Klein Source: Herald Sun

HAWTHORN star Jarryd Roughead says the return of ruckman Max Bailey will enable the team to load up its forward line with big men.

With Bailey slated to fill the first ruck role after a nightmare run of injuries, the Hawks could use Roughead, David Hale and Lance Franklin to stretch the Cats defence on Monday.

The land of the giants set-up was used with great success by West Coast last season and Roughead tipped coach Alastair Clarkson to follow that example.

"I wouldn't be surprised if all three of us play," Roughead said on Fox Footy's The SuperCoach Show.

"I think with Max having a good pre-season and off (his) injuries, I think they (coaches) will give him every chance to play early in the year. You can throw Jack Gunston down there as well and hopefully we can stretch some sides for height and it will benefit us."

The Hawks will try to break a run of nine straight defeats against the Cats following their 2008 premiership win.

Central to that goal is a desire to lighten the goalkicking load on Franklin and make their attack more unpredictable.

Franklin's contract status continues to fuel headlines but Roughead said the interest in his future would not distract the team from its premiership focus.

"I wouldn't have thought (it would disrupt the team)," Roughead said.

"Bud, we've been dealing with him for eight years, so it's not like anything different this year. I expect a big year from him."

The Hawks have reshuffled their defence to cope with the loss of Clinton Young to Collingwood and the season-ending knee injury to Matthew Suckling.

Roughead said youngsters Bradley Hill and Jed Anderson would get their chance to fill the void.

He said speedster Hill had been one of the standouts of the summer.

"His pre-season has been unreal for a second-year kid," Roughead said.

"He's got a lot of confidence, which is what you want to see for a bloke in his second year. Hopefully he plays a number of games.

"A number of blokes might get a chance to fill a role, (such as) Taylor Duryea or Jed Anderson."
 

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Chappy to make Tigers debut

Shane Crawford reveals his bargain ruck strategy and why Brett Deledio is a better SuperCoach pick than Trent Cotchin

Troy Chaplin at Richmond training. Source: Getty Images

FORMER Port Adelaide defender Troy Chaplin will be the only new face when Richmond and Carlton face off at the MCG tonight.

Chaplin was picked up by the Tigers as a free agent at the end of last season. The 27-year-old played 140 matches for Port.

"He's a very good player, but he's also got outstanding leadership qualities and will further help guys such as Alex Rance, Ben Griffiths, Jake Batchelor, all these types of players around him," Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said.

Another free agent Chris Knights was named as an emergency, while former Demon Ricky Petterd was ruled out by groin soreness.

The Tigers' first round draft pick Nick Vlastuin is also an emergency.

Carlton couldn't find a spot for forward Sam Rowe, who was pushing for selection after recovering from testicular cancer.

The Blues also left out experienced defender Jeremy Laidler.

Both have been named as emergencies.

TEAMS

Carlton
B: Chris Yarran, Michael Jamison, Lachie Henderson
HB: Zach Tuohy, Nick Duigan, Bryce Gibbs
C: Kade Simpson, Andrew Carrazzo, Mitch Robinson
HF: Chris Judd, Andrew Walker, Jeff Garlett
F: Eddie Betts, Levi Casboult, Shaun Hampson
R: Matthew Kreuzer, Marc Murphy, Brock McLean
Inter: Dennis Armfield, Josh Bootsma, Aaron Joseph, Kane Lucas
Emerg: Tom Bell, Jeremy Laidler, Sam Rowe

Richmond
B: Steve Morris, Alex Rance, Troy Chaplin
HB: Jake Batchelor, Chris Newman, Bachar Houli
C: Shaun Grigg, Trent Cotchin, Reece Conca
HF: Brett Deledio, Shane Edwards, Daniel Jackson
F: Luke McGuane, Jack Riewoldt, Robin Nahas
R: Ivan Maric, Dustin Martin, Shane Tuck
Inter: Ben Griffiths, Jake King, Tyrone Vickery, Brendon Ellis
Emerg: Matt White, Nick Vlastuin, Chris Knights

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Stevie J back in two weeks

Geelong star Steve Johnson will miss the start of the season. Source: Getty Images

GEELONG'S Steve Johnson says he expects to be back in two weeks after undergoing surgery on his troublesome left knee.

The Cats star, who is suspended for Monday's blockbuster clash with Hawthorn at the MCG, had knee arthroscopy this week.

The decision was made in the long-term interest of both Johnson and the club this year.

Johnson's problems stem from the knee injury suffered in the 2011 preliminary final.

Despite looking like he would miss the premiership decider, he got up to star in the grand final win over Collingwood.

But it has come at a price, revealing he had managed the injury all through last year.

"There have been a few problems with his knee, which have been around for about two years," he told the Nine Network's Footy Show last night.

"It has just come to a point where I am sick of waiting for it to settle down after each match.

"I had a small incident last week where it got a little sore and didn't settle.

"We just had to make a decisive decision to get it right knowing I can't play next week and I don't want to be chasing it all year."

The Geelong forward said he was optimistic he would return in no time.

"He didn't give me a definitive time frame, but he said he was surprised how good a shape the knee was in," he said.

"I can walk around fine now and there wasn't much to the operation.

"Hopefully only a few weeks."

The Cats enter Round 1 with several big names on the injury list, most of them ruckmen.

The club announced this week it had promoted young talls Mark Blicavs and Josh Walker from the rookie list.

Geelong's Round 1 opponent Hawthorn also this week placed knee victims Matt Suckling and Alex Woodward on the long-term injury list.

No replacements have been named at this stage.

The Barometer: Updated injury list for every club

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Hired gun in praise of Pies

Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley. Source: Getty Images

THE man hired by Collingwood to help drive a cultural shift says he is highly encouraged by the club's off-season progress.

Leading Teams boss Ray McLean is credited with honing Sydney's "Bloods" culture, and was called upon by Pies coach Nathan Buckley to help arrest slipping standards.

Leading Teams is also working with Fremantle and the Swans this year, and will have input at Hawthorn.

The Pies have sanctioned several players for minor incidents this year including Travis Cloke for repeatedly parking in CEO Gary Pert's carpark and Dane Swan for an unauthorised TV interview.

McLean says clubs that embrace honest feedback and set rigid goals can reap the benefits.

"I think Nathan is just driven to find any way he can to improve the team," McLean said.

"He is a strong believer in empowering the players and my take on it was he wanted assistance with that.

"Perhaps the capacity of the players to be rigorous with one another, they realised that had dropped away.

"And they have really improved that in a short time."

The company's philosophy also caters for left-field personalities like Matthew Scarlett and Dane Swan.

"Those blokes bring you rigour. They challenge you.

"There are also people who will influence the group almost exclusively through performance."

McLean says the peer assessment element of Leading Teams heavily criticised by sacked Bulldog Jason Akermanis is overblown and only a minor part of the company's role.

But if players at any club are not willing to confront each other about standards, he does not believe teams maximise their potential.

It is that potential to improve on-field that has seen influential players, including Scarlett, buy into the Leading Teams philosophy.

"The most important thing we are about is growing high performance," McLean says.

"If you are going to be a high-performance team, you will have very clear rules around your behaviour and be prepared to grow really strong relationships between key people, and you will have much more open dialogue than can happen in some players."

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Buddy on straight and arrow

Hawthorn superstar Lance Franklin. Picture: Daniel Wilkins Source: PerthNow

HAWTHORN star Lance Franklin has unveiled a revamped set-shot routine after his costly Grand Final performance.

The dynamic Franklin was Hawthorn's best player alongside Brad Sewell but his lack of accuracy was a key factor in the Hawks' loss.

He kicked 3.4 and a shot out of bounds just before halftime, with his confidence in his set-shot action falling away badly.

He played on at all costs - even from directly in front of goal - and badly hooked a set shot in the last quarter that would have put Hawthorn 17 points up.

For many years Franklin's routine has featured a sudden diversion to the left or an arcing run before he kicks at goal across his body.

This pre-season Franklin has noticeably bent further over the ball with a less free-flowing run up, with no sign of the hard cut to the left.

Franklin still drifts fractionally left but he looks to be kicking straight through the ball rather than across it.

Hawthorn is adamant there has been no deliberate revamp but a video comparison from last season shows a clear difference.

Hawthorn legend Shane Crawford said improved conversion for Franklin was the difference between "the ultimate success for Hawthorn and making up the numbers".

"I have noticed he is running straighter at goal and it will be interesting to see if it works," he said.

"Everyone has a different way of kicking the football and you work with them, you don't try to totally change them.

"But he averages something like nine shots at goal a game. If he can get himself converting at a better rate, that's enormous.

"It becomes two or three goals a game. He becomes a hundred-goal-per-season kicker again, and it's the difference between winning and losing close games."

The obsession with Franklin's run-up would be trivial and obsessive if it were not so important.

His Grand Final performance was mighty, with two bombs from 50m on Ted Richards as well as another goal on the run.

But Franklin was joined by Jarryd Roughead (0.3), Sewell (0.2) as players who did not seize the day in front of goal.

Sewell, who missed two snaps in the final moments, spoke later about missed opportunities.

"We have had a good year but we lacked a bit of polish today. We ended up kicking 11.15 and that's the story at the end of the game - they kicked straight and we didn't," Sewell said.

Franklin has kicked an amazing 520.385 (905 scoring shots) in his eight years of football, not including shots at goal that did not score.

But after an encouraging 82.61 in 2011, he kicked 69.64 last year at a conversion rate of 52 per cent, excluding shots out of bounds.

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Carrazzo fit, no sweat

Carlton insist Andrew Carrazzo will play. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun

CARLTON insists there's nothing sinister about midfielder Andrew Carrazzo missing yesterday's final training session.

"He's fine. He will be there," Blues football manager Andrew McKay said.

Carrazzo was the only absentee from the 25-man squad named to play Richmond at the MCG tonight.

McKay said the vice-captain often didn't join the last workout on the day before a game.

"He has had a heavy workload in the pre-season and the sports science people keep a watch on that," he said.

The decision to rest Carrazzo seemed strange because the players barely raised a sweat during the leisurely 30-minute run-around at Visy Park.

Carlton's young key forward Sam Rowe is also listed as an emergency.

Coach Mick Malthouse was glowing in his praise for Rowe, who fought back from testicular cancer last season to rejuvenate his career.

"He's an intelligent young man who has been through a lot," Malthouse said.

"He will play a lot of football, I believe, because he has got an ingredient that's exactly what you want. He's a massive contester.

"He wants to play good football. He has been through a journey and he has tasted enough of floating around and has overcome a change of clubs. And now, of course, I suppose, a scare.

"And he's one of those players who's very easy to coach because he has got massive ambition. When you've got that, you virtually coach yourself."

Richmond named experienced defender Troy Chaplin, who joined the Tigers during the free agency period following nine seasons with Port Adelaide.

Nick Vlastuin, the Tigers' first-round draft pick, was named among the emergencies.

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said former Port Adelaide backman Chaplin would add defensive steel.

"He's a very good player, but he's also got outstanding leadership qualities," Hardwick said on the club's website.

"He will further help guys such as Alex Rance, Ben Griffiths, Jake Batchelor, all these types of players around him."

The Tigers are missing defenders Dylan Grimes and David Astbury, along with midfielder Nathan Foley through injury.

They decided against giving a Richmond debut to AFL-experienced recruits Aaron Edwards (from North Melbourne) and Chris Knights (Adelaide).

with AAP

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Kennett: Buddy shouldn't be greedy

Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett is concerned about what may happen to Buddy Frankling after his football career ends. Picture: David Caird. Source: Herald Sun

FORMER Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett says Lance Franklin's life after football should be more important to the champion footballer than getting paid more money else where.

Kennett said yesterday that Franklin, a free agent at the end of the season, had been given opportunities beyond his "wildest imagination" by the Hawks.

"My interest for Buddy is firstly giving thought to his career beyond football and he is now 26 and hopefully he may get another five or six years," Kennett said.

Ken Hinkley: Buddy will stay with the Hawks

"But my greatest concern for Buddy is what happens to him after he completes his football career in terms of his development and opportunities. And and my second concern is how he manages himself and the opportunities he has between now and the end of his football career.

"The way he behaves as a citizen will best determine what happens post football."

Kennett said Franklin's decision not to sign a new contract with Hawthorn would be disruptive to himself and the club.

Sheedy: Let's go and get Buddy

"But it is his decision and he has always said he's a one club man and certainly the Hawthorn Football Club has given him training and disciplines and opportunities beyond his wildest imagination so I trust at the end of the year he'll see fit to stay with us," he said.

"It's no always about money in life and it's actually about how you approach life, how you prepare for life and in Buddy's case it's how you start to prepare for life after football and that he has already started but he has got five years to go."

Kennett said Franklin had the opportunity in the next five years to secure a wonderful future but would risk it all if he made the wrong decision.

He said all players at Hawthorn were getting a good sense of community values and the club's culture was more than money.

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Mick's messages confuse Blues

Carlton coach Mick Malthouse. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun

ON THE eve of Round 1, Carlton coach Mick Malthouse already has an excuse if he loses.

It's the wretched game plan, or lack of adherence to it by his players.

On the flip side, if the Blues win, it's suddenly a glorious game plan, the missing piece of the defensive pie that transports Carlton from mid-table lethargy to top-four contender.

The problem is, it's a case of suck and see it for Carlton and its army of fans, for no one knows if the players have successfully adopted Malthouse's game plan or not.

One week they have, when they savaged Fremantle in the pre-season, and the next they have no idea, when they were embarrassed by Brisbane in the NAB Cup final.

Malthouse certainly has had a bit each way, although he didn't blame the game plan for the Lions loss. That was simply a pathetic attitude, he said.

He has said the Blues have the ingredients to win the premiership (after a pre-season intra--club game), and also acknowledged an astute Matthew Lloyd (on 3AW) for leaving them out of the eight because they might adapt the game plan in time to make September.

"It's a work in progress,'' Blues chief executive Greg Swann told the Herald Sun this week.

Malthouse's famed game plan has has received more publicity than anything, or anyone, at Carlton this off-season.

We've had have heat maps, corridor and boundary line percentages, contested-ball numbers, short kicks evaluated, long kicks investigated - and here we are 24 hours from the first game and the confidence in Carlton is immeasurable.

Lloyd, Cameron Mooney, Daniel Harford, Dermott Brereton and Robert Walls are among the commentariat who are not necessarily concerned for the Blues, but believe time is an opponent in learning Malthouse's way. Mooney said it might takes six months.

After Round 1 of the NAB, Malthouse said: "The intent was there, but we're getting a bit confused between the two game structures from last year and this year.'' After the NAB Cup final, he had to be even more confused.

That and the fact the boundary-line deployment requires big key forwards who can mark the ball.

At Collingwood, Malthouse had Travis Cloke, a bit of Chris Dawes and Leigh Brown was prominent before he retired.

At Carlton, he has Levi Casboult, Sam Rowe and resting ruckmen Matthew Kreuzer, Shaun Hampson and Robert Warnock.

There's Jarrad Waite, too, as the lead-up forward, but who knows if his body will stand up.

Of concern was that after Round 1 of the NAB, against Sydney and GWS, Malthouse said: "The intent was there, but we're getting a bit confused between the two game structures from last year and this year.''

After the NAB Cup final, he had to be even more confused.

Still, midfield Kade Simpson said on Monday the players were ready to implement the game plan: "We've had two weeks to fix some of the things that happened.''

The test will come tomorrow night and certainly in the four games after that. They play the Tigers, then Collingwood, Geelong, West Coast and Adelaide.

"It's a fair test,'' Swan said. "The fact is you can practice all you like, but it has to stand up under pressure.''

 

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Cats must stay loyal to club: Selwood

Geelong Cats Season Launch: Geelong captain Joel Selwoodmakes a speech. Picture: Jon Hargest. Source: Geelong Advertiser

GEELONG captain Joel Selwood has implored the Cats' star players to follow the lead of chief executive Brian Cook and ignore overtures from rival clubs.

Speaking at the club's season launch last night, Selwood said the Cats' unrivalled success over recent years meant their players, coaches and staff would continue to be headhunted by clubs across the league.

Cook had virtually accepted a lucrative offer to become North Melbourne's CEO late last year, but turned down the offer and extended his reign at the Cats in a major show of commitment.

"I don't know if we know how lucky we were to keep one of our staff members who was pretty close to leaving, and that's Cookie," Selwood said.

"We really appreciate the decision that he's made and we're a better club with him, and I think he knows that, also.

"He's set a standard for us, though. He set a standard that a number of players are going to get, they're going to get asked to go to different clubs.

"Staff are going to be poached, coaches are going to be wanted, and if we're the best club they're going to be wanted, and I actually think we are the best club."

The Cats kick off their season on Easter Monday with a blockbuster against Hawthorn at the MCG.

It will be at the scene of the crime of their elimination final shocker against Fremantle when the Cats were sent packing a week after an ominous win over eventual premier Sydney.

Selwood declared the lessons learnt from last year's elimination final shocker continue to be a motivating factor for the Cats.

"From that night we got taught a lesson," he said.

"We got told all through the year by the coaches that anyone can beat anyone.

"We didn't come to play and from now on, we've learnt that lesson, we have to come to play. It doesn't matter who we play, or when we play, we've got to be on our game."

Bristled by people questioning whether Geelong can remain a force, Selwood said the Cats would leave no stone unturned this year in pursuit of more success.

Selwood urged fans to judge the club's recruits for who they were, and not compare them to past greats.

"Let's judge Jared Rivers for being Jared Rivers, not Matthew Scarlett," he said.

"Hamish McIntosh isn't Brad Ottens.

"Josh Caddy is a young player who I think is going to be a star, but he'll be a better player in three years' time."

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Kosi 'no guarantee' for Saints

Saints forwards Justin Koschitzke and Nick Riewoldt at training. Picture: Getty Source: Herald Sun

ST KILDA coach Scott Watters won't guarantee veteran Justin Koschitzke a place in the Saints' best 22.

Koschitzke is in a group of four Saints over the age of 30 to come out of contract at season's end.

Watters said the quartet -- which includes Lenny Hayes, Stephen Milne and Jason Blake -- would be re-assessed each year. 

But Koschitzke's position, both short-term and long-term, will come under intense scrutiny given his status as a former No.2 draft pick and the club's off-season acquisitions of big men Tom Hickey and Tom Lee.

"We haven't picked our side for next week so it would be premature of me to answer that,'' Watters told the Herald Sun when asked if Koschitzke was certain to play against Gold Coast on Saturday night.

"When in good form and when training well he's a good player, but as he's already stated, he'll be competing with a number of other players (for a spot).

"To pick 22 players for Round 1, for every coach in the league, is always a challenge.''

Koschitzke, 30, has played 195 games and admitted last month he was under the pump.

In his 19 appearances last year his average disposals dropped below 10 for only the third time in his career, while he has managed just 42 goals from 32 games in the past two seasons.

What may save Koschitzke this week is injury to teammates Rhys Stanley -- still recovering from a knee complaint  -- and Sam Fisher, who pulled up with a sore foot last week.

Watters said competition for spots was hot.

The coach said he had been "excited'' by the arrival of former Gold Coast ruckman, Hickey, and said former WAFL forward Lee would force his way in to the seniors at some stage this season.

"Out of our squad of 45 we realistically have 32-35 players who are ready to play. I think you could throw any player in to that same bracket, not just Kosi, because we've got more depth amongst our defenders, more depth in our forwards,'' Watters said.

"You need to train well and you need to play well to keep your spot.''

Watters said he expected Nick Dal Santo, also a free agent at year's end, to extend his contract and stay at the club for another "three or four years''.

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Draft watch: Star bloodlines in top pick

South Australian James Aish is a hot chance to go pick No. 1 in this year's draft. Picture: Simon Cross Source: HWT Image Library

DRAFT WATCH: THREE Victorians are chasing a classy South Australian onballer with gifted bloodlines to be crowned this year's No. 1 draft pick.

James Aish, the nephew of SANFL royalty Michael Aish, is leading the charge but his raw body and a shoulder reconstruction threatening the early part of this season could halt his momentum.

At 16 Aish became the youngest player in SANFL history to win a senior premiership last year, kicking 1.1 from 23 touches in Norwood's grand final victory.

An AFL recruiter said he was a "special talent'' blessed with similar traits to Hamish Hartlett and Bryce Gibbs.

"His last game of under-18s he got 34 touches in three quarters,'' Norwood coach Nathan Bassett said.

"He's a nice mover and he's faster than what he looks. He's got time with the ball and it's his terrific awareness and what he sees that sets him apart.''

Tom Boyd is best-placed to mow down Aish, with another AFL scout declaring if Gold Coast or Western Bulldogs collect the wooden spoon they would jag the power forward with the first pick.

Boyd, who at 16 dragged Vic Metro across the line against Vic Country in the under-18 carnival, booted 29 goals from his best five TAC Cup matches last year and is tipped to dominate for Eastern Ranges again this season.

He comes from the same club as Jon Patton, but Ranges talent manager Anthony Parkin said they were different spearheads.

"Patton is more of a brute who takes pack marks, where as Boydy is more of a lead-up forward who works off his opponent,'' he said.

"He's special, and he deserves that billing. He's worked extremely hard to turn himself from a boy into a man.''

Boyd trained with Collingwood in January and was first touted by some clubs as a special talent when he booted four goals for the Ranges from just 30 forward entries in an 80-point hammering.

Oakleigh's Jack Billings and Dandenong running machine Billy Hartung are also early chances for prized selections after breakout 2012s.

"Billings reads the play really well and has elite kicking skills. He's very good in the air and is just a genuine footballer,'' Chargers manager Mark Smart said of the left-footer.

The left-footer set up a crucial goal in last year's TAC Cup decider before the Chargers pinched the flag in golden-point time.

Hartung has stacked on 5kg this summer, plays in the same mould of Stingrays predecessors Lachie Whitfield and Tom Scully and has no school commitments this year, allowing him to focus on footy.

Ben Lennon and Josh Kelly are the other standout Victorians, while Nick Robertson is the pick of the Western Australia talent.

FOUR EARLY TEENAGE STARS TO WATCH

JAMES AISH (183cm, Norwood SANFL)

POSITION: Classy outside midfielder
CASE FOR: Outstanding leader, elite vision and already impressing at senior level. Under-18 All-Australian last year.
EARLY KNOCKS: On the comeback trail from a shoulder reconstruction, needs to physically mature and tidy up his kicking.

TOM BOYD (199cm, 102kg, Eastern Ranges)

POSITION: Full-forward
CASE FOR: Can kick bags of goals, strong hands, proven ability to swing matches. Lack of key forwards in this draft adds to the attraction.
EARLY KNOCKS: Needs to work on mobility and ability to consistently impose on contests

Tom Boyd photo: Eastern Ranges spearhead Tom Boyd will be the No. 1 pick if Gold Coast or Western Bulldogs finish last, an AFL recruiter predicts. Source: HWT Image Library

JACK BILLINGS (183cm, 78, Oakleigh Chargers)

POSITION: Half-forward
CASE FOR: Great game sense, sharp left foot and uncanny goal sense. Under-18 All-Australian last year.
EARLY KNOCKS: Needs to work on his tank and add midfield capabilities to his repertoire.

Jack Billings of Oakleigh celebrates a goal during the TAC Cup Under 18s Grand Final between Gippsland Power and Oakleigh Chargers played at Etihad Stadium on September 23, 2012 in Melbourne, Australia. Picture: Blair Hamish Source: HWT Image Library

BILLY HARTUNG (176cm, 71kg, Dandenong Stingrays)

POSITION: Wing
CASE FOR: Running machine with high kicking efficiency. Once kicked 20.0 in a junior match.
EARLY KNOCKS: Still needs to add size and improve his inside work.

Billy Hartung photo: Dandenong Stingrays star Billy Hartung is a chance to be the No. 1 draft pick. Source: HWT Image Library

- Sam Landsberger

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New rule, bad result

Eagle Mark LeCras broke his arm in a clash with Docker Tendai Mzungu. Picture: Daniel Wilkins Source: PerthNow

HAS the AFL's new sliding rule claimed its first broken limb?

West Coast's Mark LeCras will miss up to six weeks after breaking his arm in a collision with Docker Tendai Mzungu, a collision that saw LeCras stop in his pursuit of the ball and Mzungu crash into him.

Both players kept their feet, which was exactly what the rule was designed to do - avoid forceful contact below the knees.

Only LeCras can tell us if he decided to not dive for the ball for fear of giving away a free kick.

Certainly, if he did dive for the ball there would've been contact below Mzungu's knees, whose commitment to the contest was absolute.

The Dockers midfielder crashed into LeCras, with the impact sandwiching LeCras arm between Mzungu's body and his own.

LeCras was then forced to leave the field with his arm cradled in his jumper.

Footage of the incident shows both players electing to keep their feet in a contest that saw Mzungu arrive first, by a fraction.

LeCras isn't Glen Archer in his desire for the pill, but he isn't fairy floss either.

The contention is LeCras had the option to dive at the ball and didn't.

The result was a broken arm for LeCras instead of a free kick to Mzungu.

While AFL boss Andrew Demetriou said players would continue to adapt to the new rule, AFL umpires boss Jeff Gieschen was unavailable yesterday for comment on the LeCras incident specifically.

The broken arm was desperately unlucky for the All-Australian forward. After missing all of last season after an ACL operation, LeCras suffered the break in the third quarter of his return.

"It's terrible for him. But depending on what it is, it's not necessarily a long period out," Eagles coach John Worsfold said post-match.

The setback, according to Worsfold, would allow his players to learn how to deal with loss of key players.

"It's not hard to cope with, because you just cope with it," Worsfold said.

"Players get opportunities, and learn and improve.

"But we want to get our best team out there as soon as we can, so we can see how good we are."

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Sandi to miss up to three months

Aaron Sandilands is out of action and needs surgery. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun

FREMANTLE have received mixed news on star ruckman Aaron Sandilands - he will need hamstring surgery, but should return midway through this AFL season.

The three-time All-Australian consulted with surgeon Julian Feller in Melbourne on Monday after aggravating the injury to his left hamstring.

Pavlich report thrown out

The Dockers announced on Monday night that Sandilands will be out of action for eight to 12 weeks.

"It's very disappointing for Aaron and the club but with the appropriate period of recovery and a structured rehabilitation program, it is possible he will be available for selection mid-way through the season,'' said Fremantle football manager Chris Bond.

"But at this stage we will have to wait until after his surgery and the recovery phase before we can be more specific about when Aaron will be available for selection.''

The Barometer: who's on track for Round 1

Sandilands originally tore the muscle during the pre-season and was expected to return in round two.

But he aggravated the injury last week and that forced the Melbourne visit.

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