Sando impressed by latest recruits

New Crows recruit Jack Osborn on the first day of pre-season training. Picture: Sarah Reed Source: The Advertiser

ADELAIDE'S basketballers wowed their coach as the Crows returned to pre-season training yesterday.

This month's alternate rookie-list pick-ups Tim Klaosen and Jack Osborn and last year's basketball convert Ben Dowdell joined Taylor Walker, captain Nathan van Berlo, teenage sensation Brad Crouch and the just-delisted Nick Joyce in producing eye-catching displays as Adelaide returned to pre-season training at Max Basheer Reserve yesterday.

"A few of those alternate sport boys looked all right," coach Brenton Sanderson noted after overseeing a 2½-hour session in the heat.

"Ben Dowdell blew them away in the running drills, Tim Klaosen was impressive in winning the five-minute run in his group and Jack Osborn, the 205cm ruckman we got from Tassie, looked pretty sharp, too.

"And Brad Crouch  ... I know I'm going to talk about him a lot over summer but we are so fortunate to have him come on to our list straight away.

"That's one bright spark immediately."

While his club is embroiled in AFL allegations of salary cap cheating and draft tampering, Sanderson was his usual upbeat self as his players returned to full training for the first time since their heartbreaking five-point loss to Hawthorn in last season's preliminary final.

"For the first day back at pre-season the players were in great spirits, the coaches were fantastic and it's just good to be back at work," a smiling Sanderson said.

"The energy, the spirit among the group is fantastic.

"We trained well and it's nice to be back and getting ready for another footy season."

New recruit Angus Graham takes a break during his first day of training with the Crows. Picture: Sarah Reed Source: The Advertiser

Richmond recruit Angus Graham trained with his new club for the first time while last season's leading goalkicker Walker - who will carry greater expectations next year after the loss of key forward sidekick Kurt Tippett - was super-impressive.

Still sporting a mullet hairstyle, he looked finely tuned and ran brilliantly.

"The environment here over the past 12 months has been really special and the guys really enjoy coming to work," Sanderson noted.

"We saw the smiles on the faces of the guys who were bouncing into work.

"It's a bit unusual on the first day of pre-season. It's usually glum faces because the holidays are over.

"But I think there is a really good sense of expectation that 2013 might be something special for the group and we saw that."

Only a handful of Crows have started the pre-season on modified programs.

Jason Porplyzia (ankles), Jared Petrenko (shoulder), Matthew Jaensch (groin), Ricky Henderson (finger), Luke Thompson (ankle) and Tim McIntyre (shoulder) are recovering from post-season surgery and will be eased back into training.
 

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AFL to meet with unhappy Judd

Carlton skipper Chris Judd will meet with the AFL following the league's decision to include his third-party deal with Visy in the club's salary cap. Source: Herald Sun

AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson has welcomed a looming meeting with Chris Judd to explain the decision to scrap his Visy third-party agreement.

Judd is expected to meet Anderson on his return from an Arizona training camp to plead his case that the $200,000 ambassadorial role should be outside the cap.

Anderson, supremely confident in the reasons behind the crackdown, told the Herald Sun last night: "I have no problem meeting with him and going through it. I've sent his manager (Paul Connors) a letter explaining the decision and the factors we thought were relevant and I'm happy to go through them with Chris."

Under league procedures, Judd will go to the grievance tribunal only if the parties cannot settle the dispute within 14 days of the meeting.

Anderson said there were warnings as early as March 2010 that the rules would be tightening. The crackdown is linked to the advent of free agency, which puts more pressure on club caps.

Anderson said other third-party deals had been knocked back, but had not made the papers. The Carlton skipper's third-party knockback was revealed by the AFL only after an inquiry from the Herald Sun.

The AFL has also moved to smash the perception that Judd had signed a six-year deal with Visy.

Judd's four-year deal was up for renewal, with his management wanting the AFL to sign off on a two-year extension. That was knocked back under the new tightening of third-party rules.

Anderson is adamant the reasons have been explained in detail, even though Carlton on Friday complained it received only a two-sentence explanation.

He said an overlapping of governance led to third-party fears, pointing to the fact that Jeanne Pratt, of the Visy empire, was vice-president of Carlton.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire yesterday maintained the rage against third-party deals, calling for a full audit of all financial agreements.

"I'm fighting for equality -- I'm fighting for one rule that everyone can actually work out and be able to do the deals with their players," McGuire told Triple M.

But AFL Players' Association chief Matt Finnis said the furore paled into insignificance when compared with the growing gap between footy's richest and poorest clubs.

"Whilst independent agreements need to be monitored and adhere to the rules, the bigger focus here must be on the broader equalisation of the competition and the teams who play within it," Finnis said.

"And where you have got a disparity of up to four or five million dollars in football department spending across teams, those kind of numbers make the payments that are approved to players as independent agreements pale into insignificance."
 

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Crows have aces up their sleeves

Crows forward Taylor Walker returned to pre-season training in excellent condition. Picture: Sarah Reed Source: The Advertiser

ACE forward Taylor Walker showed yesterday he and his teammates are determined to put the Kurt Tippett drama behind them.

With Walker returning to training in superb condition, coach Brenton Sanderson was confident the Crows have more than enough weapons.

As the league last night announced its hearing into the Tippett scandal had been rescheduled for Friday, November 30, Sanderson was focused on preparing his playing group for a "great 2013".

Sanderson has also put the blowtorch on key forwards Shaun McKernan and Josh Jenkins.

"Honestly, I just can't wait for the season to come around again," Sanderson said.

"There's a really good sense of expectation that 2013 might be something special for the group and I think we saw that (at training yesterday) with the energy amongst the group."

While expressing his disappointment at losing Tippett - his highest goalkicker and the centrepiece of the Adelaide attack for the past five years - Sanderson said the club has the cattle to replace him.

"We've talked about it a lot at list management and we don't necessarily have to replace Kurt Tippett with a Kurt Tippett," he said.

"Without putting too much expectation on them, it's important that McKernan and Jenkins and these sort of guys understand that it is a great opportunity for them to stand up and step into a really good side next year.

"But the game's always changing and there's new forwards, who are smaller and dynamic and a lot of sides are playing with just one ruckman these days.

"We'll have a look at our structure over summer because there's plenty of different options for us.

"We can play Lewis Johnston there, we can play Tom Lynch there, (Jason) Porplyzia can almost play full forward, (Patrick) Dangerfield can spend more time forward, so we 've got lots of different looks that we can show the opposition when it comes to our forward line.

"We certainly won't be saying, 'Let's find the next Kurt Tippett', we'll be looking for other options."

Excited by the first-day training displays of last year's leading goalkicker Walker - who was a standout - and 2011 mini-draft selection Brad Crouch, Sanderson was guarded in what he could said about Tippett as his club fights AFL allegations of salary cap cheating and draft tampering over his controversial 2009 contract.

But he said:

THE Crows' 17 rivals should be nervous in the wake of Tippett scandal.

"There is a lot of greyness surrounding ASAs (additional services agreements) and how players are paid and stuff, so probably the other 17 clubs are just double-checking and ensuring that everything is above board," he said.

HE backed the club to ride through the storm and threw his support behind embattled chief executive Steven Trigg and football operations manager Phil Harper, who are facing AFL charges.

"I've got a great working relationship with those people and that will continue," he said.

THAT he was disappointed Tippett joined Sydney for the money when he had indicated he would play for Adelaide or a Queensland club.

"When Kurt told us he was going to leave and that it was going to be to Sydney, that - from our point of view - was a bit of a surprise," he said.

HE understood his players anger towards Tippett, but insisted it wouldn't affect their performances next year.

"Internally, inside the bubble, things are just business as usual," Sanderson said.
 

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Delisted Joyce not standing still

Dumped Crow Nick Joyce was impressive as he attempts to win back his spot on Adelaide's list. Picture: Sarah Reed Source: The Advertiser

BRENTON Sanderson has apologised for making Nick Joyce the Crows' sacrificial lamb in the Kurt Tippett scandal, saying "we are very sorry for the way he's had to play this out".

And he "all but guaranteed" the still-contracted Joyce would be back on the Adelaide playing list next season.

Joyce, 19, certainly didn't look like a lost sheep as the Crows resumed pre-season training yesterday, proving himself as one of the club's better runners.

"He's been OK," Sanderson said of Joyce, who could be re-drafted at Thursday's national draft on the Gold Coast.

"He was a bit of a victim of circumstances to be honest but he's been really mature about it.

"For a 19-year-old in his second year, we've all but guaranteed him he's going to be on our list for next season, so that's not an issue for him, for us or his management.

"We were very sorry for the way he's had to play this out but he was out there (yesterday), he trained really well and he understands the situation."

The Crows are expected to claim Joyce at pick 54 at the draft but there is an outside chance they could wait until the pre-season or rookie drafts to re-claim him, by which time they should have cleared Tippett from their list.

Tippett's delisting is being held up by the AFL's investigation into alleged salary cap breaches and draft tampering by the Crows.

"That wouldn't be our preference (to rookie-list Joyce) but it is an option," Sanderson said.

While Tippett's name might be mud among the players at Adelaide, they have rallied around the popular Joyce, who was drafted from Woodville-West Torrens at pick 46 last year.

"He's had great support from the playing group," Sanderson said.

"I think almost every player rang him when the news came out (of his delisting).

"That just shows you the strength of this group, too, that the boys do care about each other, which is great."

Sanderson said the Crows were delighted to have kept their first pick in Thursday's draft (No. 20 overall), saying "at pick 20 we can bring a really good player into our team".
 

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Hit squad seeks Demon files

Melbourne co-captain Jack Trengove was taken at pick No.2 in the 2009 National Draft. Source: Herald Sun

MELBOURNE will take part in the national draft on Thursday still sweating about an unprecedented computer raid in search of tanking evidence.

The AFL has left nobody at the Demons in doubt of its intent as it searches through documents that could nail the club for not doing its best to win in the 2009 season.

The same group of IT forensic experts that raided the Crows after the Kurt Tippett revelations had in fact already been rifling through files at Melbourne.

After their work on with Tippett sifting through documents was completed, they again quietly returned to Melbourne.

It is believed their work is all but completed, but no end to the tanking investigation is in sight.

AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson last night confirmed a "document search" was ongoing.

The AFL Commission met yesterday, but Anderson said a resolution still could be some time away.

Melbourne is free to use all its picks in the draft even though the dark tanking cloud is still hovering.

They will be relieved to use the prize pick four and also snare father-son pick Jack Viney.

The Dees are expected to take Viney's good friend Ollie Wines with its first selection.

Adelaide, which is also free to take part in the draft, will face the AFL Commission on charges relating to Tippett on November 30.

The Commission yesterday decided on the date.

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Game rules life of top prospect

Queensland teenager Andrew Boston is hopeful of being drafted by an AFL club on Thursday. Picture: Tim Marsden Source: The Courier-Mail

ANDREW Boston dreams of making an AFL debut and already he has experienced the life of a professional footballer.

Boston, a midfielder from Broadbeach, is Queensland's best teenage prospect ahead of Thursday's draft at the Gold Coast. No fewer than 13 of the 18 clubs are interested in recruiting him, but Boston is aware there are no guarantees.

It is for that reason he set aside 2012 as a gap year, hoping that by eating, sleeping and training in pursuit of his passion it will maximise his chances of tasting the real thing.

"I wanted to spend six days a week training, to set myself up for what it would be like as an AFL player," he said.

"At the start of the year I had a chat with Dad and decided if I was going to have a crack then it would be a serious crack."

Gold Coast have first dibs on the 18-year-old son of former Broadbeach Cats coach Neil as part of their priority Queensland zone selection entitlement.

AFL national talent manager Kevin Sheehan said Boston deserved to be drafted.

The Suns have already pounced on Boston's state under-18 teammate, Clay Cameron from Mt Gravatt.

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More Blues on Visy payroll

Another 15 Carlton players, along with skipper Chris Judd, have been revealed to be on the Visy payroll. Picture: Michael Klein Source: Herald Sun

Fifteen Carlton players, including Eddie Betts, were paid by Visy for acting as environmental ambassadors. Picture: Sarah Reed Source: Herald Sun

ANOTHER 15 Carlton players were paid by Visy this year to be environmental ambassadors.

Just days after the AFL demanded Chris Judd's third-party payments by Visy must be included in the club's salary cap, it was uncovered yesterday that other players were paid to be part of the "Enviromaniacs" program.

The deals centred around attending school clinics to promote Visy's message.

They are employment agreements approved by the AFL and there is no suggestion they constitute salary cap cheating.

One player agent last night downplayed the  roles, saying the players were paid "chicken feed" and that Judd's deal was totally unrelated to the others.

The AFL last night assured the Herald Sun the deals did not break salary cap rules.

Carlton officials were not available for comment.

According to the Visy website, clinics cover "recycling, water management and energy saving and involve students and players sharing ideas in a hands-on, fun way".

News of the arrangements came as Collingwood president Eddie McGuire called for a comprehensive audit of every third-party deal "so we know they are at marketrates".

"We need to be able to counter what another club can do," McGuire said.

"I don't care what Chris Judd gets paid ... as long as I can pay my blokes the same money."

Environmental Ambassadors 2012
Dennis Armfield
Paul Bower (de-listed)
David Ellard
Michael Jamison
Matthew Kreuzer
Jeff Garlett
Aaron Joseph
Kane Lucas
Jarrad Waite
Rhys O'Keefe
Marcus Davies
Jordan Russell (traded)
Ed Curnow
Eddie Betts
Sam Rowe
 

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Tippett case isolated: Crows boss

Adelaide chairman Rob Chapman is adamant no other Crows player will be implicated in the Kurt Tippett scandal. Source: adelaidenow

CHAIRMAN Rob Chapman is adamant no other Adelaide player will be implicated in the AFL's investigation into salary cap cheating and draft tampering.

As the league last night announced its hearing into the Kurt Tippett scandal had been rescheduled for Friday, November 30, Chapman declared the rest of the Crows squad would not be found guilty of any crime.

His call came after reports captain Nathan van Berlo and star midfielder Patrick Dangerfield were being investigated for third-party deals.

Chapman said embattled chief executive Steven Trigg had assured him and the club's board that the "Tippett case was isolated and contained to just one file".

"And we are very hopeful that is the case," Chapman said, adding he didn't expect any more dirt to be dug up on the Crows.

"The first thing a chairman asks management is, 'Is there anything else?' because no chairman would like any surprises whatsoever.

"Steven made that statement to the board and he stands by it, I'll stand by it."

Adelaide last month admitted it had a once-secret deal, outside of the three-year mega-contract Tippett - who walked out on the club at the end of the season - signed with the Crows in 2009.

Tippett, the Crows, Trigg, football operations manager Phil Harper and his predecessor John Reid have all been charged by the AFL for engaging in conduct in breach of the league's total player payments provisions.

All but Harper have also been charged for engaging in conduct prejudicial to the draft. If found guilty, Adelaide could be banned from up to four drafts, as well as heavily fined.

Chapman said if the club had anything to hide apart from the Tippett deal it would not have opened its files for AFL investigators.

"Hopefully that says something about our guilt or otherwise," he said.

Chapman reiterated he is standing by Trigg, who has faced calls to resign should the Crows be found guilty of serious breaches.

"I'm not going to hang a guy out to dry for making one mistake," Chapman said.

"I want to make sure he gets natural justice and that any sanctions brought down on the club are fair. If they are deemed to be fair we'll cop our punishment."
 

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Plow's magnificent seven

The always smiling Plowman not only blankets forwards but can also out-mark them, and could develop in to a burst midfielder.

Calder Cannons draft prospect Lachie Plowman. Picture: Robert McKechnie Source: Herald Sun

IT was the seven games that put recruiters in a spin and they are set to shape the top 10 at Thursday's national draft.

The sight of Lachie Plowman outsmarting bigger, stronger forwards to repel attacks and become a reliable playmaker is ingrained in the memories of AFL recruiters.

Surgery on a dislocated elbow ruled Plowman out for four months, including the entire national carnival, and clubs expected him to tumble down the draft order.

But the easy-going key defender impressed at draft camp interviews and could be a key to the first round.

There is a growing possibility Greater Western Sydney will snap him up with a top three pick.

"He's a very, very good player," a club scout said.

"Key defenders are hard to find and he's just a ripper kid who is very optimistic.

"He's a good kick and he seems to make impeccable decisions."

The Phantom Draft

If the Giants take Plowman and his Calder teammate Jono O'Rourke, it could pave the way for Melbourne to snare South Australian captain Jimmy Toumpas.

The Western Bulldogs would then take inside midfielder Ollie Wines.

Cannons coach Marty Allison said Plowman was a "very, very special player" and praised his ability to change tack during the course of a match.

"There's no doubt in my mind he would have been the All-Australian centre half-back and up there as the player of the carnival if not for his injury," he said.

Kyte said if Plowman had played a full season he might have rivalled Lachie Whitfield for the No.1 pick, and backed Plowman to develop midfield capabilities.

LACHIE PLOWMAN
AGE: 18
HEIGHT: 191cm
WEIGHT: 86kg
FROM: Calder Cannons
POSITION: Key defender
DRAFT RANGE: 3-9
IN THE MIX: GWS (3), Dogs (6), Lions (8)
PLAYS LIKE: Andrew Mackie

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Judd saga ignites bitter rivalry

The latest Chris Judd saga has only ignited the long-running feud between Carlton and Collingwood. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun

FOOTY'S most famous feud has erupted as Carlton and Collingwood trade verbal blows over Chris Judd.

The furore over third-party agreements has lit a powder keg, with Pies president Eddie McGuire trading angry texts with Carlton counterpart Stephen Kernahan on Saturday.

But McGuire's campaign to strip the Blues of their Visy deal -- thus  hampering ex-coach Mick Malthouse -- is the tip of the iceberg.

The war of words is set to continue until the Round 2, when new Blues coach Malthouse will take on a Magpies side he once said he could never coach against.

McGuire yesterday lashed Malthouse for his inconsistency over the Judd deal, arguing he had made a complete reversal of his position when he was at Collingwood.

"It's interesting; Mick's view might have changed because two years ago he was as angry about the Judd deal as anyone, but when you change those polo tops you barrack for your side," he said.

McGuire told the Herald Sun yesterday he still had deep respect for Malthouse, but conceded their relationship was not what it once was.

"I have had a wonderful relationship with Mick. It is probably not that any more," he said.

"But I have issued a number of invitations for Mick and his family to come back to the club and will continue to.

"I know I did as much as I could to support Mick and be there for him, and he delivered the ultimate (in a premiership) for us.

"Collingwood versus Carlton has always been a good rivalry. Those who don't barrack for them say it's not as strong, but it has been for everyone involved.

"(Round 2) will be great with the added juice of Mick coaching against us for the first time and  the things said in the last 12 months. It's all the fun of the fair."

The cross-town rivalry had  dwindled recently, but the new heat to the match-up is multi-faceted and takes in:

CARLTON chief executive Greg Swann's clip at McGuire on Saturday about the Judd deal, joking he had to look at the AFL letter to "see if it was signed by Eddie or Adrian (Anderson)".

COLLINGWOOD'S belief it was deeply insensitive of Malthouse to taunt his old club that he was "absolutely" after Travis Cloke while the Pies were preparing for a final and recovering from the death of John McCarthy.

MALTHOUSE'S Round 3 criticism of Buckley's game plan, which went down like a lead balloon at the Magpies.

THE view from Collingwood that Malthouse actively went out of his way to belittle Buckley during his last year in charge.

THE Malthouse family's anger towards Collingwood at his departure, expressed in daughter Christi Malthouse's book.

When McGuire said Malthouse "wouldn't have a friend" at Collingwood early in the year, Malthouse's daughter Danielle Kearney hit back with "I don't know how Eddie McGuire sleeps at night #lies" on Twitter.

McGuire said yesterday his anger over the Judd saga was only about having a level playing field.
 

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