The point after: the 2009 AFL Draft

By ASHLEY BROWNE

A few thoughts about the just-completed AFL Draft…

- Collingwood has finally landed the big name. Years of fruitless pursuit of the big names, dating back to Tony Lockett in the mid 90s ended this off-season with Darren Jolly and now, Luke Ball on their way to the Lexus Centre. Ball is a massive get for the Pies because he’ll do the grunt work in the midfield (a bit like Scott Burns used to) and free up the likes of Thomas, Pendelbury, Davis to spend more time outriding and up forward, where they’ll be most dangerous. Hate to say it, but the Pies appear serious flag contenders in 2010.

- By the same token, Melbourne were gutless. The Demons have had a two years to load up on kids and they took the easy way out in not staring down the Ball camp. Ball would have made the Demons more competitive next year and added much-needed experience and hardness. But picking a heap more kids gives the Demons an easy out if they struggle again next year. Melbourne missed a chance to demonstrate that it is a hard-nosed first-rate football club. Ian Robson from the Bombers also beat his chest loudly about selecting Ball, but Essendon also failed to walk the walk.

- Tom Scully has a round one, 2010 debut written all over him.

- Michael Voss played Supercoach during trade week and did so again late in the draft, selecting Matt Maguire. Conveniently forgotten by us all is that Voss himself came back from a busted leg, every bit as gruesome as that suffered by Maguire. So perhaps he has a better understanding of what Maguire still has to offer. Interestingly, the Lions have been into Maguire for about a week, obviously better at going about their business quietly than the Blues and the Hawks.

- Lenny Hayes really needs to do the right thing and hand over his no.7 to St Kilda’s new draftee, Nicholas Winmar.

- Sydney finally looks to have drafted some speed. Is this a pointer as to the direction of the side once John Longmire takes over as coach in 2011?

- Hawthorn fans are salivating at the prospect of Rhan Hooper joining Shaun Burgoyne and Cyril Rioli at the feet of Buddy Franklin and Jarryd Roughead in the Hawk forward line.

- The Fox Sports draft telecast went well. Hosts Jason Dunstall, Alastair Lynch and Liam Pickering admittedly had to tell a few tall stories to get through the 90 minutes, but they got there. Those complaining about the coverage just don’t get it. Recruiting managers calling out each name followed by in-depth discussion of the selection does not make for great TV. Which is why the diehards should have listened to the radio.

- You don’t want to be listening to Triple M the first time Rex Hunt calls Melbourne’s Max Gawn when he’s caught in possession of the ball.

- The AFL website didn’t have it quite right when it called the first round the first lock-out in 24 years of draft history. The media and other onlookers were actually kept out of the draft room until the early 90s, waiting for photocopied draft sheets to be brought into an ante room in order to find out what happened. At the same time, well done to Matty Burgan for nailing the first few picks with his Phantom Draft. And to Emma Quayle as well.

- As for who won and who lost? Get back to me in 2013.

Coaches on the hot-seat (an occasional series)

By ASHLEY BROWNE

An occasional look at which sports coaches might want to be honing their resumes.

1. Rafa Benitez (Liverpool)

It’s not yet December and all Liverpool has to look forward to for the rest of the season is domestic football. Failure to advance past the group stage of the Champions League is regarded as a failure at Anfield, so while Benitez would appear safe for the rest of the season (if statements from the club are to be believed), his status for next season and beyond is unclear. With Europe finished and with six teams ahead of Liverpool in the EPL standings, the gaffer will be hoping for a monster FA Cup campaign to save his job.

2. Robbie Deans (Wallabies)

The Grand Slam Tour that was supposed to restore the lustre to Australian rugby is becoming a nightmare. A scratchy win over a threadbare England was followed by a draw with Ireland and a dreadful loss to Scotland – the first for 27 years. Next comes Wales, which in the eyes of most observers, is the best British team of them all. Wallabies coach Robbie Deans brought massive wraps with him after much success in the Super 12s with the Crusaders, but the Wallabies have foundered under his guidance. The old guard of Australian rugby, uncomfortable as they are with having a Kiwi at the helm, won’t take such disappointing results for much longer.

3. Charlie Weis (Notre Dame)

The glamour team of American college football is 6-5 this year and poised to bring down the axe on coach Charlie Weis. A brilliant offensive strategist in the NFL, Weis has been a failure in five seasons as coach of Notre Dame, failing to deliver on a promise to return the team to its powerhouse days. Collingwood fans might not want to remember that Weis is something of a mentor for Magpie coach-in-waiting, Nathan Buckley.

4. Mark Mangino (University of Kansas)

Lauded when his Jayhawks squad went 12-1 two years ago, Mangino is now under the gun, for alleged improper behaviour towards his players such as grabbing players and verbal abuse. Funny how the complaints started at about the same time the team embarked on a five-game losing streak. Some are claiming it’s all a smokescreen and that the university wants to fire Mangino because, ahem, he doesn’t it the mould of a high-profile coach. Photos would suggest that Mangino would struggle to fit into anything, but funnily enough, his weight wasn’t an issue two years ago when he was named Coach of the Year by the Associated Press.

Time for Hussey to become Mr Ex-Cricketer

By CHARLES HAPPELL

Mr Cricket – aka Mike Hussey – should henceforth be known as Mr Very Lucky to Get a Game. Or Mr Occasionally Hits the Ball in the Middle of The Bat but Usually Scratches Around At the Crease Like an Old Chook.

Such has been the extent of Hussey’s decline in the past two seasons that the unimaginative moniker attached to him in 2005 by England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff has now become a bit of a sick joke.

Yet, in keeping with Cricket Australia’s time-honoured, pensioner-friendly selection policy, the left-hander finds himself part of the Australian XII to take on the West Indies in the opening Test in Brisbane tomorrow. Which is a boon for Hussey, who’ll probably score a poultice against that District 2nd XI attack – and a travesty for many up-and-coming batsmen, but especially his fellow mollydooker, Phil Hughes.

Personally, I’d have handed Hussey CA’s version of the pink slip, thanked him for his valuable service and kindly asked him to clear out his locker.

His reflexes have all but deserted him, his confidence – which once oozed from every pore – has evaporated and his shot selection – once precise and unerring - is now a very pale imitation of what it was at his peak in 2006 and 2007, when his average had climbed into the 80s after 18 Test matches and some 30-year-old journalists were making very rash comparisons between him and the great batsmen of the game.

His last two years, though, have produced unalloyed misery, his Test career only being saved by a plucky century against the English in the final Test at The Oval last year. But that even-a-blind-pig-can-occasionally-find-an-acorn moment should not be allowed to mask the real truth: Hussey has had his time and should be replaced. 

Australian cricket has always been progressive in promoting its brightest young talent to the Test arena – and Shane Warne, Craig McDermott and Hughes are among those to have benefitted from that bold policy. But, conversely, once some players have that Baggy Green cap wedged on tight, they become fixtures in the team and only the most determined use of a crowbar enables that cap to be prised off. Someone needs to find that crowbar now and go to work on Mr Cricket’s headgear.

Hussey made his Test debut in this same fixture four years ago – against West Indies at the Gabba – when he scored one and 29. In the second Test he scored 137 and 31 not out, kickstarting a three-year run of extraordinary success. He is living off a reputation forged in those first 18 Tests when he racked up the runs while simply refusing to get out. But his next 19 Tests produced a more modest return and he averaged just 34 runs per innings.

His achievements as a Test player should not be belittled for they have been considerable. But he’s 34 now, while Hughes turns 20 next week, and is the most exciting - if slightly flawed – young talent to emerge for a very long time, even is he is another New South Welshman. 

You do the math. The equation is simple: pick Hughes now, give him his head against the pie-throwers from the Caribbean and Pakistan and sit back and enjoy as he launches himself into a 10-year career that could prove a one-man antidote to many of Test cricket’s ills.