I've got cancer and can't beat it

Former Essendon Football Club chairman Graeme McMahon, who has pancreatic cancer. Picture: Andrew Tauber. Source: Herald Sun

GRAEME McMahon is dying of cancer.

That may sound abrupt, but if you've ever met the former Essendon Football Club chairman and former boss of Ansett worldwide, he's the kind of bloke to accept such a forthright approach.

That was his life motto: Don't mess about, just say it. Or do it. Be strong with your convictions.

In his prime, when he was taking on unions in the pilots' strike, or taking on the AFL Commission, he was a bear of a man with conviction and confidence and a booming voice.

He is all those things today, except for the big frame - which has been ravaged - and the voice is more boom than booming.

Today, the 73-year-old sits on his throne, his well-worn leather chair in the office at his Essendon home.

He thought we were going to talk about Essendon and the drugs scandal, but it was always going to be more than that.

Because of it, he cries occasionally, smiles occasionally and remembers a lot.

"I had a boss once, just a fantastic bloke, Peter Abeles," he said.

Former Essendon Football Club chairman Graeme McMahon, who has pancreatic cancer, at Point Lonsdale Beach with wife Gleneys. Picture: Andrew Tauber.

"And I remember him saying to me, if you have an opinion on something in life, then you've got to have the courage to state it publicly. And if you don't, you might as well go grow flowers.

"I've never forgotten that and I admired him just enormously ... "

With that, McMahon choked up. Sir Peter Abeles was a dear friend and a mentor who died of pancreatic cancer in June, 1999.

"If you make up your mind you just have to follow it through, and whether people disagree or agree with you is beside the point.

"Take all the advice in the world, accept some, discard some, but when you make your mind up, you have to get on with it."

For those safe and illness-free, you can't imagine what happens to the mind when death beckons.

Safe to say, the culmination of everyone you have loved and everything you have achieved - the everything of you as a person - is manifested into memories.

McMahon still lives for every day, but finds memories are becoming dear friends.

Graeme McMahon, who has pancreatic cancer, is most concerned about leaving wife Gleneys alone. Picture: Andrew Tauber.

With some of them he smiles and tells a story, such as he did about the photograph on the office wall of him and Queen Elizabeth II. And the photograph next to it, of a beaming brute of man standing beside a black marlin he caught off the Queensland coast.

Or the photograph from the America's Cup signed by John Bertrand - the one of the boat that sank off San Diego on which McMahon had been a guest three days earlier.

With others, there is sadness.

"There are times between 1am and 4am when you might not be asleep and you find yourself lying there and looking at the roof," he said.

"And you remember lots of things. Good things and bad things. I'm not lying in bed crying, but you just have these thoughts.

"Things that have happened to you, things you have done, things you would do differently if you had the chance again.

"And it sounds egotistical and vain, I suppose, but there aren't too many things I would do differently.

"I've made mistakes like everyone does, but I've got to tell you, at the time I thought they were right, so bugger the world as far as I'm concerned."

THIS WON'T KILL YOU, GRAEME

THIS is McMahon's third bout of cancer. The first, at the end of 1999, was discovered in his kidney and removed. In 2011, he had surgery and radiotherapy for prostate cancer and he was cleared in September last year.

But two months later cancer attacked him again - in the pancreas - and this time it was take no prisoners.

"The hardest thing about it is you have to confront it and wonder what's going to happen. Am I going to live? Am I going to die? What's the prognosis?

"The first one, the kidney, was so quick they found it on the Friday and they operated on the Monday, which really didn't give me a chance to think about it. I was lucky.

They still haven't told me if I've got six months or a year or two years. They won't put an estimate on it

"The second one, the prostate, the first guy who found it actually said to me, 'This won't kill you Graeme, you're 70-something years of age and you will die of something else'.

"So, I really didn't have to confront it at that point. I decided to get the treatment through surgery and radiotherapy but it was done against a background that it wasn't a death sentence in its own right.

"But this one came along and it was quite different. It came out of the blue."

The tipping point came when his son wondered why the old man had turned yellow.

Bile had built up in his body, causing jaundice. Exploratory surgery found a blockage, and the reason for the blockage was a tumour.

"I know from Peter Abeles' time, if you're going to get cancer, pancreatic cancer is the one you don't want to get because it's not curable and it's not operable. You're literally buggered," he said.

"I'm on chemo now and we're hoping it will slow it down. And if they slow it down I'll get a bit more time, but sooner or later this one will kill you.

"So, this is the first one I've had to confront and the hardest part was getting my head around it. They still haven't told me if I've got six months or a year or two years. They won't put an estimate on it.

"I said you have to give me some guidance, and he said it will be between six months and two years unless the chemo does a real fantastic job.

"Getting your head around it all is difficult. And doing the things you have to do.

"I had to bring both sons in and talk through family finances and those sorts of things, and what's going to happen, and to look after your mother ... "

He chokes up again.

"Just all that s---. I found it hard. I'm sure there are stronger people than me."

In the few months since diagnosis, McMahon has grown stronger. Initially, he made a list of who he had to ring and tell the news and retired to the office.

He had a dozen names of family and friends, but could make only three calls, such was the grief from whom he told which amplified his grief in the telling.

"It was too upsetting," he said.

"But as time has gone on, I've got better. I can sit here now and talk to you about it and I know what's going to happen. You have your moments, like talking about Abeles a minute ago. That's because, really, I was remembering a bloke I admired enormously."

LOYAL TO SHEEDY

McMAHON was chairman of Essendon for seven years from 1997 to 2003 - which, of course, included the 2000 premiership.

"I look back on it with great affection," he said.

"It happened at a time when it fitted my life perfectly."

He retired from Ansett in 1996 after 40 years. He started in the mail room in '56 and retired as managing director/chief executive of Ansett, five years before the collapse of the airline and after Air New Zeland took it over.

As a young man, he played in Essendon's under-19 Grand Final team in 1958 - they were beaten by Richmond at Punt Rd - and had a love for the club ever since.

Largely unknown to the Dons faithful, he was approached to join the board by chairman David Shaw and director Don McKenzie, and at about the same time was asked if he would be chairman.

"I remember going to the first official function, the season-launch dinner at the Showgrounds, and I put the suit and tie on and over we went," he said.

"I didn't know anybody and nobody knew me. I remember thinking, what am I going to say? I was regarded as an outsider, and I said something like, 'I was born and raised in Essendon, I went to school in Essendon, I got married in Essendon, my kids go to school in Essendon, I live in Essendon, I work in Essendon, I'm more Essendon than the rest of you and top of that, I played at Essendon.' Suddenly I was accepted."

They were tough times for Essendon.

The salary cap cheating had gutted the club, there was board downsizing to complete, Peter Jackson would run the club as chief executive, and, in 1998, there was a significant push from some board directors to sack Kevin Sheedy as coach.

Then, not many people knew that McMahon had played with Sheedy at Prahran and in the then-VFA and in fact McMahon was chosen in Prahran's team of the century - ahead of Sheedy.

"I had heard all these stories about what was going on before I got there but it was a blank piece of paper for me in regards to Kevin. He had done nothing wrong since I was there. Not many realised we had played in a premiership at Prahran and there was a bit of loyalty there, too," he said.

At home, in an off-shoot room on the way from the kitchen to the office, there is what you would call the Essendon room.

A TV sits large in front of two leather chairs and the walls are adorned with Bombers memorabilia: Jumpers, framed photos and plaques. They are more memories, but these are the memories he smiles about it.

"Football is Essendon to me," he said.

As for the current drugs fall, the current drugs investigation at the club McMahon is disappointed but maintains faith in the heirarchy.

"The one strong comment I would make is my respect for the people like David Evans (chairman), Bruce Reid (doctor) and James Hird (coach) is such that I cannot believe they would knowingly allow illegal practices"

McMahon sits in a room at the Freemason's Hospital. It's where he is treated with chemotherapy.

With each sitting he is becoming more pragmatic about the journey ahead.

"I've taken the view that I will fight it with chemo, but when chemo starts to make me so ill that life is not worth going on ... I've already told the doctors then that's the end. I'll just stop it and try to get some quality of life before you end up kicking on.

"At that point in time, there's no guarantees I won't get as emotional as buggery. But at this point in time I've reconciled with the fact I've got it, and I'm trying to make it as easy on my friends and relatives for them not to get upset about it.

"You know, I've had a good life."

He describes the room at the Freemasons. There's about 24 chairs, usually the big recyliners, filled with mostly 50, 60 and 70-year olds, all hooked up to whatever they have been prescribed. It is a souless place filled with people who don't want to be there.

"All of a sudden," McMahon said, "the door will open and in will walk an 18-year-old.

"It brings home to you that you're not bad off. I've had a good life. I've done a lot of things, seen a lot of things, met a lot of people, had a good family, so I've had a good go. And to see an 18-year-old."

He chokes up again.

"That's what upsets me the most at the moment, seeing these other poor buggers who haven't had a chance yet to do whatever they want to do in life," he said.

"And to the people who look after us ... dealing with people who are getting ready to die ... they are terrific, friendly and lovely people."

SHE'S GOING TO BE ON HER OWN

GLENEYS McMahon walks into the office with cups of tea and biscuits. They have been married 46 years.

She's an enthusiastic soul. She's ridden the highs and lows with her husband, from when the family received death threats through the pilots' strike in the late 1980s to the current plight.

Still, she's all chatter and natter and does she love the Bombers. "You finished yet?" she asked.

Her ears would've been burning five minutes previous.

"She's a good woman, a strong woman," McMahon said.

"She's been a great support through this time and has stood up really well.

"It must be tough on her. I couldn't have done what I did at Ansett or what I did at Essendon without her if she wasn't prepared to be the backstop and look after everything.

"She mostly raised the kids. In one year at Ansett, and she used to have a calendar on the wall, she used to cross off on the calendar which days I wouldn't be in Melbourne and we added them up one year and I was gone for seven months of the year."

It's just two of them at home now - their sons have long moved out - and part of the predicament is discussing what happens with the house when he's gone, whether Gleneys stays or goes, and all the finances.

"I don't know how to address the fact that instead of being here with me, she's going to be on her own," he said.

"That's going to be very difficult for her."

This moment, however, Gleneys is thinking none of that.

She's worried only that the cuppa's getting cold.

"Come on, let's go outside," she says.

"Now tell me, what's going on with our Bombers and all this drugs stuff?"

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Gritty Dogs shock Hawks

Western Bulldogs pick up their first win in nine months after squeezing past Hawthorn in a NAB Cup thriller.

Koby Stevens pumps the fists after kicking a goal against Hawthorn. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun

A LAST term supergoal to Clay Smith helped to lift the Western Bulldogs to a gritty one-point NAB Cup win over Hawthorn at Etihad Stadium last night.

A dominant performance from Lance Franklin looked to have guaranteed the Hawks their first win of the pre-season when his fifth goal of the night pushed his team out to a 15-point lead at the nine-minute-mark of the final term.

But the Dogs were not to be denied as they fought to stay in the match, first with a clever goal to Luke Dahlhaus followed by a long bomb from Smith at the 16-minute-mark that gave his team a one-point margin.

Jordan Lewis had the chance to put his side in front again, but his left foot shot missed and only served to level the scores.

Luke Dahlhaus dances and weaves out of trouble Picture: Klein Michael Source: Herald Sun

A mark and subsequent behind to Liam Jones at the other end gave the Bulldogs the lead once more and it was enough to record their first win of the pre-season while keeping last year's Grand Final runner-up without a win so far in three games.

Franklin's performance was a clear standout, and he almost singlehandedly lifted his team to a win before the small 8162 fans who attended the game.

Sporting a handlebar moustache and seemingly a more deliberate, hunched over run-up approach to goal, Franklin booted five goals - including a breathtaking super goal from 60m - to keep the Hawks ticking over.

Jake Stringer enjoys a goal late in the 3rd qtr Picture: Klein Michael Source: Herald Sun

But almost from the outset the Bulldogs demonstrated that they were going to much more switched on than their efforts against Collingwood and Essendon a fortnight ago.

They kicked the first three goals of the game, with Robert Murphy slotting through the first to give them the perfect start.

Ryan Griffen made the most of a slip-up kick in from Brent Guerra to slot through the Bulldogs' second goal.

Lance Franklin in full flight. Source: Getty Images

Jason Johannisen took the Dogs out to a three-goal lead into time-on after some fine teamwork from Tom Liberatore and Daniel Cross.

It could have been a greater lead if Jones had managed to convert his strong mark into straight kicks.

A lapse in concentration from the Bulldogs in the dying minutes of the term allowed Franklin to be loose just before quarter-time.

Luke Breust is tackled by Brett Goodes. Source: Getty Images

Franklin cooly slotted the ball through to make the difference 12 points at the first change.

And he wasn't about to leave it there.

A superbly weighted kick from Lewis to the leading Franklin in the goal square three minutes into the second term brought about the spearhead's second goal.

Nick Lower celebrates a goal with Koby Stevens. Source: Getty Images

Then he breathed life into the contest with a nine-pointer that had the small crowd on its feet.

The big Hawk looked ominous when he gathered the loose ball into the centre square - he shrugged off an opponent, took a bounce and stormed with a long ranging bomb.

By half-time, the Dogs had regained the lead by the barest of margins after a goal from just inside 50m from Koby Stevens.

Luke Breust gets tackled by Brett Goodes and Daniel Cross Picture: Klein Michael Source: Herald Sun

Franklin didn't kick the opening goal of the third term, but he started a chain of four handballs that resulted in an easy goal to Shane Savage.

And he set up Isaac Smith with a goal midway through the term.

The Hawks had kicked the first three goals of the third term, but the Dogs were not to be denied.

Bradley Hill shows Boyd and Griffin a clean pair of heels Picture: Klein Michael Source: Herald Sun

Goals to Brett Goodes and Liam Jones were impressive, but draftee Jake Stringer's first kick in Bulldogs colours resulted in a spectacular goal to regain the lead by a point just before three-quarter-time.

Unfortunately, Stringer didn't see much action in the fourth term as the 18-year-old limped from the field in the arms of the trainers.

Franklin kicked two more goals in the final term, but it was the hard working Smith - sometimes criticised for his use of the ball - who provded an unlikely hero with his super goal to lift the Dogs to a win.

BEST:
Hawthorn
Franklin, Mitchell, Smith, Suckling, Lewis, Simpkin,
WESTERN BULLDOGS
Boyd, Smith, Griffen, Minson, Roughead, Liberatore

HAWTHORN

YOUNG BLOOD
Liked the endeavour shown by defender Taylor Durea, who threw himself into every contest. The 21-year-old is working hard to earn his AFL debut this season. Jonathan Simpkin may be 25, but the former Cat looks to be a readymade player for the Hawks.

NEW TRICKS
Hard to go past David Hale and his new do. It might have slipped through to keeper a bit last week on the Gold Coast, but the truth was laid bare at Etihad Stadium. Hale has ditched the "rug" for the au naturale look.

SUPERCOACH
Can't go past the usual suspects in Buddy Franklin and Sam Mitchell, but might be worth also taking Isaac Smith ($384,100). Won plenty of the ball last night and can finish off when he has the ball in the attacking zone.

GLENN McFARLANE

WESTERN BULLDOGS

YOUNG BLOOD
Liam Jones took some really nice grabs, Ayce Cordy likewise. We won't be talking them up as world beaters anytime soon, but the towering youngsters could yet become the key forward who propel the Dogs into a successful new era.South African speedster Jason Johanissen also did some nice things and offers what the Bulldogs lack - linebreaking speed.

NEW TRICKS
At his third club, Nick Lower caught the eye in a tagging role. Uncompromising and tough, Lower locked on to Sam Mitchell last night and appears to have put Liam Picken out of a midfield job, with the son of Billy moved down back. He still won his share of possession too Lower, with nine disposals at half-time.Jordan Roughead will be given every chance to hold down a key defensive post. He was brave on Lance Franklin last night and did enough to suggest he could grow into the role.

SUPERCOACH
We know about the obvious Dogs candidates, but former Eagle Koby Stevens deserves a serious look. Making his debut for his new club, Stevens found the footy, kicked a goal and won plenty of the contested stuff. At $176,600 he's cheaper than most.

SAM EDMUND

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'Hold your heads high': Hird

Essendon coach James Hird is urging his troubled team to play with pride. Picture: Wayne Ludbey. Source: Herald Sun

ESSENDON coach James Hird has urged his players to hold their heads high, declaring the club will fight to uncover the truth as investigations continue into its "irregular" medical practices.

While the club has conceded there are issues of concern in its sports science division, a bullish Hird said he welcomed the findings.

"I just want the truth. (Essendon chairman) David Evans wants the truth. That's what we are after," he said."

"I believe once that comes out we will be able to get on and play football. Our footy club is going to fight.

"It's going to fight to prove where it's at, and we are not going to walk around with heads bowed, we are walking around proud of our footy club."

Hird's optimistic approach signifies his belief that Essendon's players will be cleared and the club exonerated.

But given the review will examine the club's chain of command and the alarming practices of its sports science division, it will inevitably lead to tough questions for Essendon.

Hird says he is ready for whatever the review finds, aware that given the buck stops with the senior coach he will be central to the investigation.

"My focus is on coaching the football club," he said.

"If we have to be distracted during the week (by the review) we will be, and we will, through this review process,get the truth for our supporters.

"Our supporters deserve that. My job is to coach this team as best I can, and I will be involved in the review when I need to be, but my job is to get this team playing great footy."

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Clarko fumes at new cap rule

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson new assistant coach Brett Ratten last night. Source: Getty Images

HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson has slammed the 80-interchange cap rule after the Hawks and Western Bulldogs last night struggled to adapt to the controversial restriction.

Clarkson and Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney were both left bewildered after becoming the guinea pigs for the rule in a game the Dogs won by one point at Etihad Stadium.

Clarkson said the AFL was taking an "enormous risk" by restricting rotations to 80.

"Take it back to old reserves and just play 18 men on the ground if that's what you want to do," Clarkson said.

"It's a pretty dramatic change to go to 80.

"Goodness knows, no one knows, what's going to happen to the game so hopefully common sense will prevail.

"If they want to introduce a cap hopefully they do it at a sensible rate like 120 and then we can see what a minor cap does to the game rather than take it to 80.

"I reckon it's an enormous risk to take with what's a pretty good game at the moment.

"Just at a hunch we're going to say, 'Oh let's put it at 80 and see what happens.

"I hope it's good, but what happens if it's no good?'

As it was neither side used its quota of interchanges, with the Bulldogs using 71 and the Hawks 72.

"You're not coaching, all you're doing is counting how many times players are coming off the ground," Clarkson said.

"You want to coach the players not count numbers.

"I could get a school kid to do that but the coaches have to do it. It's an enormous constraint in terms of the game."

McCartney, delighted his team had shown resilience to hold off a charging Hawthorn and win its first game of the year, said the rule was too extreme.

"I came to the game with a bit of me thinking there will be incredible fatigue and the game will be a shambles. We probably spent too much time ... you spend a stupid amount of time counting them," McCartney said.

"Experimenting with the game is a good thing as long as it's not too extreme and goes too far the other way."

Clarkson said the Hawks were "a bit rusty and a bit scratchy" in defeat, but said there was sufficient time to get his side up and running for Round 1.

"It's not about wins or losses, it's about game time ... but we were really poor around the footy tonight and we gave the Dogs too much easy supply from that area of the ground," he said.

Luke Hodge, Shaun Burgoyne, Grant Birchall, Liam Shiels, Michael Osborne, Xavier Ellis and new recruit Brian Lake all missed last night.

Clarkson said injuries to Luke Breust and David Hale were only minor, while promising Western Bulldogs draftee Jake Stringer has had scans on a rolled ankle that forced him off the ground.

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We are here to stay: Brayshaw

North Melbourne chairman James Brayshaw. Picture: Craig Borrow Source: Herald Sun

NORTH Melbourne chairman James Brayshaw has given supporters a "cast iron guarantee" the club will not relocate while he remains in charge.

As he revealed plans to stay in the role until the end of 2016, Brayshaw said the Kangaroos could not be happier with their two-game commitment to playing in Hobart, but there was no truth to the rumour surrounding a possible move to Tasmania.

"As long as I have got anything to do with the running of the footy club, we are not relocating," Brayshaw said.

"I would cease to have anything to do with the club if a decision was made to relocate.

"When I took over (as chairman) in 2007 it was on the back of me standing up and saying that we aren't going anywhere, and we aren't.

"Why would we spend $17 million building this unbelievable facility (at Arden St) if our plan was to go somewhere else?"

The Kangaroos will play two home matches at Hobart's Blundstone Arena this season, and Brayshaw is keen to make it three as soon as possible.

"If you asked me if I wanted to go from two games to three games in Hobart, I'd do it in a heartbeat," he said.

But he said that with the club's commitment to Etihad Stadium and the MCG, it was contractually impossible to play more than a handful of games in Hobart.

Brayshaw was responding to a supporters' group motion to change the club's constitution to try to limit the number of home games the club can play outside of Victoria to four without the board going to the members for approval.

He and the board will not support the motion - to be put to the annual general meeting on March 19 - as they believe it would be too wordy and too restrictive on future administrations.

Brayshaw said the board would consider adding a relocation clause at the next AGM, but was reluctant to put a tight restriction on the number of games that could be played outside Victoria as he said no one could predict how the AFL landscape could change.

The motion drawn up by the We Are North Melbourne supporters' group reads in part:

"That the NMFC Constitution be amended to require a membership vote on any actual or proposed obligation, contract, arrangement or understanding, the purpose or outcome of which is to permit, allow or require the club (whether permanent, temporarily or otherwise) to play or relocate more than four home games during any premiership season outside of the state of Victoria."
 

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No Buddy conflict, just interest

Hawthorn star Lance Franklin models a new moustache at training yesterday. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun

LIAM Pickering says his friendship with Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson will be put to the side when dealing with the contract of star forward Lance Franklin.

Both Clarkson and Franklin are managed by Pickering, of Strategic Management, as are a handful of other Hawks.

Pickering said no rival club had contacted him about Franklin's future in light of his recent decision to put contract talks on hold to the end of the season.

But when the time does come to look at Franklin's contract Pickering said it will be Hawks football manager Mark Evans, and not Clarkson, he talks to about it.

"Clarko and I had a really good chat two or three weeks ago about the whole scenario,'' Pickering said.

"Yeah I manage him, but Clarko and I have been friends since we've been 18, we go back a hell of a long way.

"He understands that I've got a professional job to do and that's to do the right thing by what my client wants, whether the client is him, or Buddy, or Jordan Lewis, or Isaac Smith, whoever it may be."

While dealing with Evans on player contracts, Pickering negotiates with chief executive Stuart Fox on issues pertaining to the coach.

"Keeping the two separate is relatively simple, he insists.

"When I was doing Clarko's contract (in 2011) it's not as if I was discussing it with Buddy,'' Pickering said.

But he admitted there was an element of steeliness that was needed in any negotiation process.

"You've got to put that friendship aside,'' he said.

"They're trying to do the right thing by the club - Clarko's trying to coach a premiership and Buddy's going to try his best to make that happen as well.

"That's the whole idea of having a manager. You don't want to have to worry about the distractions of having to talk to your coach about contracts.

"I can see why people have some interest in how it's all going to play out, but as it sits right now I'm pretty comfortable, as is Clarko, with where it's at.''

Pickering said if rival clubs were thinking about making an offer for the two-time Coleman Medallist then they have not yet made it known to him.

"It's been pretty quiet at this stage,'' he said.

"It is only early in the year so I'm not sure what the other clubs are thinking ... at the moment the only conversations I've had are with Hawthorn.''
 

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Plea to scrap the cap

Swans coach John Longmire. Picture: Mark Evans Source: The Daily Telegraph

REIGNING premiership coach John Longmire believes rocketing interchange numbers will stabilise without the AFL's intervention as he pushes for a retention of current rules.

Longmire believes loosening of the 80-interchange cap because of pre-season heat mean the NAB Cup trial of limited rotations will be close to meaningless.

He said yesterday the 80-cap trial should be carried out over a year at a lower level like VFL or SANFL.

While some clubs have passed through 150 interchanges in single games, Longmire says massive interchange becomes counter-productive.

The AFL Commission has ruled in principle to introduce a capped rotation next year but wants more evidence first.

"I think the players are at a point where it is getting to a maximum," Longmire said.

"We got to an average of 132 per game last year and we feel that's about it.

"The players still have to play the game and still want to get into the game and not be on and off for the sake of it.

"Players themselves start to say I am on the ground and the challenge is to sprint off, and by the time you get off you sprint like anything and then sit down for two seconds and then sprint on. You are better off standing there (on the field) anyway.

"Some things in the game find their natural level."

North Melbourne coach Brad Scott this week said he was fearful the game would one day be unrecognisable because of AFL tinkering.

But AFL legend and Rules of the Game member Kevin Bartlett hit back, saying coaching should be ignored when it came to changing rules.

Longmire does not want an interchange cap: "We would like to maintain the status quo".

But he says the AFL needs to produce evidence promoting the cap that it is unlikely to find in the NAB Cup.

"In the pre-season different clubs are doing different things and as we have seen with the heat, are we going to get that over the next couple of weeks, which might affect the data over a short period of time?" he said.

"Are there other ways of getting bigger data and bigger samples over a longer period of time so you can sit and reflect and say these are the pros and cons of it over 12 months in this league?"

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AFL drug policy 'hypocritical'

Graeme McMahon in the Essendon Football Club boardroom back in 2003. Picture: Nicole Garmston Source: Herald Sun

FORMER Essendon chairman Graeme McMahon has lashed out at the AFL, branding its stance on drugs "hypocrital".

McMahon said he was bewildered how the league could be so aggressive in policing performance-enhancing drugs but so lax on the use of illicit substances.

The ever outspoken McMahon, who was Essendon chairman from 1997-2003, expressed deep disappointment about the Bombers' current plight, saying fans would be "gutted" about the allegations.

"I'm disappointed,'' he said.

''It's a 120-year, 130-year-old club, it's got fantastic tradition.

''I don't know what the facts are ... but if it turns out there is something there then my disappointment will turn to absolute bloody anger because it's wrong, no matter what way it comes out, it's wrong.'

"I'm disappointed for the members and supporters who gave me the opportunity to be chairman of the club, to whom I'm so grateful.

"It is not often spoken about but most AFL clubs are the property of its members and they simply appoint directors and a chairman to run the club for them.

"They must be gutted about the allegations.

"The one strong comment I would make is my respect for people like David Evans (chairman), Bruce Reid (doctor) and James Hird (coach) is such that I cannot and won't believe they would knowingly allow illegal practices to happen.''

McMahon, who is battling inoperable cancer, has lost some of the trademark power in his voice, but his passion for football - and Essendon in particular - remains undiminished.

He said he looked back at his time at Windy Hill with "great affection'".

"Football is Essendon to me,'' he said.

Turning his attention back to the topic of the AFL's illicit drugs policy, McMahon warned of lawsuits from parents of young players who strayed into drug use because of clubs failing in their duty of care.

"The club hierarchy has no ability to try to police drugs in any shape or form,'' he said.

"The reason I'm so strong on (the AFL's illicit drugs policy) is it deprives from the chairman and management of the football clubs their abilty to carry out the duty of care they have when they take into their charge these 17-year-olds and 18-year-old boys from the country and interstate.

"The illegal drugs have been thrown into stark profile by where the AFL has put itself in relation to these non-legal but performance enhancing drugs, where they are standing up and beating their chests and saying they will stamp this out, that it's taboo, and that players will be rubbed out if they are dealing with them.

"But at the same time they have different policy for drugs which are criminal .. it doesn't make sense to me.''

He cited an example of a non-sportsman obtaining performance enhancing drugs by prescription without breaking the law, compared to AFL players who use them and breach the laws of the sport.

Meanhwhile, players were taking illegal drugs which are "absolutely'' illegal in society.
 

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Scrap NAB Cup tri-series: Clarko

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson is no fan of the tri-series format. Source: Herald Sun

HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson says the NAB Cup will never fully prepare players for the rigours of the season proper.

Clarkson said he would be glad to see the back of the triangular series he labelled a TV gimmick, but stopped short of saying the NAB Cup should be canned.

He praised the AFL for changing its rules to allow teams to field three substitutes each during the two-week trial of 80 rotations.

But that was about as far as the coach's love extended for a competition he said was "all about game time for our players and getting them conditioned" for Round 1.

"(In) NAB week four last year, I think we played 100 minutes of game time and in our first round of the season, we played 133 minutes - that's a full quarter of footy," Clarkson said yesterday.

"So we've got to get as much conditioning and game time into our players as we can, knowing that whatever we do in the NAB still isn't going to prepare us fully for the first round of the home-and-away."

Asked if he would prefer to have the NAB Cup reduced further, Clarkson said: "That's another debate again.

"(And) that's probably going to be had at coaches and footy managers' level with the AFL," he said.

"But we're happy with the NAB series. NAB (week) one is probably a bit Mickey Mouse; I think it's more a television thing with the triangular series. It's just a nightmare for coaches and players to manage that each year.

"It's just too higgledy-piggledy for mine. I'd just rather it be more stable, have players know where they're playing, for what game time and not have to worry about using alternative rooms, alternative boxes, doing media at all different stages throughout the course of the game.

"Ideally, you've got 18 sides and so nine sides play another side that week."

Clarkson said the extra allowance of substitutes gave teams flexibility to ease players back, citing the example of Xavier Ellis (calf) and Liam Shiels (late start to pre-season) who are set to return next week.

"We've got the flexibility to play them for 40 or 50 per cent game time, and that's probably ideal," he said.
 

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Hird heat has Dempsey firing

Courtney Dempsey owed his pre-season fitness to coach James Hird. Picture: George Salpigtidis. Source: Herald Sun

USUALLY when the coach beats a player home in a 2km time-trial, it causes extreme concern.

But Essendon defender Courtenay Dempsey has prospered this summer because of his unlikely partnership with senior coach James Hird.

Just as Sydney's Lewis Jetta teamed with Kieren Jack last pre-season to improve his endurance, Dempsey has thrived after forming a pact with Hird, a fitness fanatic, albeit 15 years his senior.

Dempsey, 25, finished seventh in last year's Crichton Medal count after recovering from a 2011 knee reconstruction and, entering his eighth season, said he had never been in better shape.

"I have gone through so many pre-seasons injured so I have only been at 80 per cent, but I think I am at 95 per cent now or even 100 per cent," Dempsey said.

"The big thing has been having Hirdy running with me and pushing me. I have had him helping me out and getting through the hard sessions.

"He has got me to where I am now. I guess I can't really let him down either, because he is the coach.

"He sort of put together a deal with me about how I could get fit. We had a competition with the 2km time-trial and he beat me by a couple of seconds but he got me a PB (personal best) time."

Hird turned 40 recently, but Dempsey said the Brownlow medallist continued to set the standard.

"He has lost his speed but his fitness level has always been up there and always will be," Dempsey said.

"He loves to stay fit and through the pre-season he loves to run with us.

"Him as well as (assistant coach) Simon Goodwin, who is still elite. I think both of them could still play.

"I think everyone has lost a few kilos (through the pre-season). We are all looking a lot leaner.

"We are still a lot stronger but we have lost weight through a lot more work on long-distance running and aerobic stuff.

"And hopefully it will help us through the latter part of the season."

The elephant in the room is the reason for that transition - the supplements program that has led to the AFL/Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority investigation.

Dempsey and his teammates have escaped to Wangaratta, Beechworth and Bright for their community camp, but they cannot dodge questions about a saga that looks likely to drag on for months.

"It is all about football for us and that's all we are worried about," he said.

"There is nothing else that is going to take our mind off it. That is what we are here for and that's what we are going to do.

"I guess that's our job. We can't afford to focus on anything else.

"(Hird) is thinking exactly the same thing, just worrying about us and our football.

"He is our coach and that's what he is there to do."

Dempsey featured prominently for the indigenous side against Richmond in Alice Springs last month, and said his hamstring problems of recent years were behind him.

Now Dempsey, who last year signed on until 2015, wants to show Hird the hard work has paid off by stringing together a full season.

"I need to play good footy and consistent footy - over the whole season and not just a block or a month here and there," he said.

"He (Hird) is looking for more consistency so hopefully I can do that.

"Hopefully it goes in that direction, but you know football, you don't know which way it turns."

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