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Why Cornes thinks that 2024 is the right time for Dustin Martin to retire

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Kane Cornes thinks 2024 is the right time for Richmond great Dustin Martin to hang up the boots.

Cornes wrote an article in The Age titled, ‘Don’t argue, Dusty: Why it’s time for Richmond champion to retire’, and he stood by his take while speaking to Gerard Healy on SEN Sportsday.

Cornes thinks that the three-time premiership player, three-time Norm Smith medallist, Brownlow medallist and four-time All-Australian simply doesn’t think there’s anything left for the 32-year-old to achieve in the game.

With Richmond also no longer in a premiership window, Cornes isn’t sure whether Martin should finish his career in a rebuilding team as his form naturally declines with age.

“I just think it's time in terms of there's nothing left for him to achieve,” Cornes told Sportsday.

“And with where the club is at, they're about to go through a brutal stage I would have thought.

“If we're looking at Hawthorn, North and West Coast (in terms of their rebuild), Richmond are not even there yet. They need to completely bottom out and start again.

“Does Dustin Martin want to go through that and then have questions over his form like he will get like Buddy Franklin had when he played probably one more year (than he maybe should have)? Just like Scott Pendlebury is facing now to a lesser extent.

“He's about to turn 33. Does he want to go through this at Richmond?

“Does he want to turn up to the club loss after loss with everything that he's done in the game?”

While some might argue that Martin could go to another club for a final shot at a fourth flag, Cornes isn’t sure how successful any move would be at Martin’s age.

“You might go, well, he should go to another club,” Cornes said.

“But how often does that work at 33 years old? How often is that successful?

“Luke Hodge may have been successful. But I'd just much rather have seen him (Hodge) finish at Hawthorn as the champion that he was.”

With game 300 on the horizon for Martin, Cornes thinks that this year is the perfect time for Martin to go out on his own terms and be remembered as a player that walked away still somewhere close to the top of his game.

“Is he fully motivated? Is he fully invested? Does he turn up to train? Does he want to be there? Is he good for the group? Is his form going to be strong enough?” Cornes asked.

“He's down about 10 possessions a game. I don't think he's having anywhere near the impact that he had last year, albeit it's two games.

“It's going to be hard for him in a poor side to have the impact that he's had.

“He plays game 300 this year, it's a great time to give him one of the great laps of honour.

“I think the question for him is, am I motivated to turn up and be the best that I can be and be all in with this group that's going to be down the bottom?

“I just think it's a good time for him to go out on his own terms like how Shane Crawford or Joel Selwood went out, there's not too many that do it on their own terms.

“That was my view.”

Martin is set to miss Richmond's clash against Sydney at the SCG on Sunday with a calf issue.

The Tiger comes out of contract at the end of the 2024 season.

Read Cornes’ piece on Martin in The Age HERE.

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‘Jason’s gone floppy!’: Easter mayhem as Fox Footy go rogue… again

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The Fox Footy crew is getting right into the Easter spirit!

That is, if the ‘Easter spirit’ is actually just batting practice and includes oversized chocolate eggs and a malfunctioning frying pan.

With Good Friday football and chocolatey delights just around the corner, things got festive on the set of Fox Footy’s Thursday Night Football.

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After Collingwood downed Brisbane at the Gabba and the post-game analysis came to a close, out came the Easter eggs.

An errant throw by host Sarah Jones last year around hadn’t slipped the minds of the panel.

“Put a hole in our million-dollar screen, our Sarah,” Fox Footy’s Jason Dunstall joked in reference to the events of last Easter.

“That’s why I brought the pan, in case she starts lobbing hand-grenades again.”

And a good thing he did, because it wasn’t long until Jones started launching!

“I’ve been watching Patrick Mahomes,” she claimed, channelling the star Kansas City Chiefs quarterback as she launched a golden egg at an unassuming Dunstall.

The Hawthorn legend let his cat-like reflexes do the talking, thwacking it dead-centre and sending it to the floor in a multitude of chocolate pieces.

‘Jason has gone floppy Sarah!’ | 00:50

“She’s going again!” exclaimed Dunstall, as he tried to smack the subsequent oncoming eggs with frying pan in hand.

“Sarah, we might just be docking your pay in coming weeks,” quipped Jon Ralph.

After nearly taking St Kilda great Leigh Montagna’s head off with his first knock, ‘Chief’ wasn’t as successful with his next two at-bats — with his third attempt putting a “limp” end to festivities.

“Oh, my handle’s broken!” lamented Dunstall as his pan bent at the wrong angle. “I’ve gone limp!”

Added Ralphy: “Jason’s gone floppy, Sarah! He has absolutely gone weak at the knees.”

“This is from a man who plays tennis every day of the week,” laughed Jones.

Good Friday football commences with North Melbourne vs. Carlton at Marvel Stadium from 4:20pm AEDT — watch it live on Fox Footy (channel 504) or stream via Kayo.

“It’s disgusting”: Why ex-NRL star refused to attend Thursday’s AFL blockbuster

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Former NRL star Scott Sattler turned down an invitation to attend Thursday night’s AFL blockbuster between Brisbane and Collingwood at the Gabba due to his moral stance on the competition’s Illicit Drug Policy.

Details of the Policy came to light during the week with allegations in federal parliament revealing that internal off-the-book drug tests are conducted during the week to ensure that players don’t test positive for illicit drugs such as cocaine on game days.

The AFL confirmed the report by admitting that they encourage club doctors to complete drug tests which allows clubs to pull players that test positive from match day lists.

Sattler thinks that the policy is appalling and he described the AFL’s secret tests as a case of fraud.

While Sattler is typically a fan of the AFL, he couldn’t bring himself to go to the Gabba to watch Collingwood’s win after learning of the policy during the week.

“I'm not on my own, I think everyone has been appalled by how the AFL have handled this,” Sattler told SEN Sportssday NSW.

“I was invited to go to the Lions tonight (Thursday) to watch them play Collingwood in the Grand Final rematch and I'm not going to go because I think it's disgusting the way this has played out.

“The AFL have admitted that they've been across this systematic process around players and weekly drug tests and, ‘If you do test positive, well, it's best probably not to play on the weekend in case WADA or ASADA get you’.

“It's a case of fraud in some cases, you're deceiving people for possible return of money.

“There's gonna be a lot more to play out with this, not from an AFL point of view, but possibly from a legality point of view as well.

“I felt as though that I'd be very hypocritical if I went to the AFL tonight.

“I'll end up going and watching AFL again because I do love the game and I'll watch it again on TV. But at the moment I can't do it.”

Sattler can’t understand why the AFL backs this process as he feels that the competition is enabling its young athletes to do illicit drugs and not suffer any consequences.

He thinks that the policy could end up having some genuinely bad outcomes for the players.

“I was astounded that the AFL are ok with this process,” Sattler said.

“As a competition that likes to bang on about the health and wellbeing of their athletes both male and female or whatever it may be, they're actually in essence, enabling young athletes to engage in a really dangerous practice.

“In some cases that can have really, really bad outcomes for individuals.

“What they're saying is if you take drugs, you tell your club representative and they drug test you and you're a positive, well, ‘We've got a process we can follow so the game isn’t seen in a bad light’.

“But, ‘If you have got it in your possession and the police catch you, well, you're on your own, we're not here to help you’.

“You can't have your cake and eat it also.”

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Lingering calf injury sidelines Tigers superstar for Swans clash

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An ongoing calf issue will keep Richmond superstar Dustin Martin out of the clash with Sydney at the MCG on Sunday

Dustin Martin looks on after the R1 match between Richmond and Carlton at the MCG on March 14, 2024. Picture: AFL Photos

RICHMOND superstar Dustin Martin has been ruled out of the round three clash with Sydney as he manages a calf issue.

Martin was named in the Tigers’ extended squad for Sunday’s game at the MCG.

But the 32-year-old was ruled out by coach Adem Yze on Friday morning.

“Dusty’s going to miss this week … he’s actually had an interrupted couple of weeks with his calf,” Yze said.

“He didn’t train the other day and he’ll only do a little bit today, so we’ve got to just break the pattern of him getting through week to week.

“We’re going to break that cycle this week and give him a lighter week so that he’s pain-free.

“He’s just been battling a little bit the last couple of weeks with his calf and still trying to perform as he normally does.

“His first half last week was terrific, but you could see that he just gets a little bit sore, so we’re going to help him through that.”

The coach expects Martin to be fit to return against St Kilda in Gather Round.

“We want a 100 per cent fit Dusty, so to do that we’ve got to break the cycle by giving him a lighter week this week so that he’s pain-free next week,” Yze said.

‘Not even safe in our homes’: Footy legend Eddie Betts’s family targeted in racist attack

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AFL champion Eddie Betts has posted security camera footage of a vile racist attack outside his Adelaide home, while his children were playing basketball in their yard. 

The Crows and Blues legend posted the footage on Instagram, showing a car slowly driving down the street outside his home before someone in the car yells the N-word four times as they pass.

A second angle of the footage shows children playing in the yard as the attack happens.

“Aboriginal kids deserve to be able to play safely, free from racism and abuse over the fence,” Betts wrote on the post.

“We are not even safe in our own homes. If you know who this is please let them know that I’m open to having a chat about how much this hurts our kids.”

Former AFL player Eddie Betts stands in a suit on stage in front of a microphone during an awards ceremony.

Eddie Betts’s family was the target of a vile racist attack in Adelaide.(Getty Images: Daniel Pockett)

Betts, a fan favourite who played 350 games across a 16-year career, has been the target of racism in the past, including having a banana thrown at him from the crowd during a match in 2016. 

ABC presenter and former Adelaide footballer Tony Armstrong said on News Breakfast he was upset but not shocked by the attack.

“We talk about shock, horror, all this kind of stuff. I’m not shocked. I’m not shocked that it’s happening,” Armstrong said.

“I’m more disappointed that people think that this doesn’t happen and that this is out of the blue.

“Every day you walk out of the house, you have the hard hat on, going out into public, the same way people go onto social media and feel like it’s a war zone, I don’t know what I’m going to cop. Anything could happen.” 

Armstrong said the footage of the children running from the backyard was particularly harrowing.

“This is in the home,” he said.

“This is in the home, over the fence and we saw the reaction of the kids. Running inside. You’re telling me they don’t have PTSD?”

Armstrong said Betts, who is known for trying to educate people who make racist remarks, was well within in his rights to be furious.

“[If Betts was to express anger] there are people who will sit here going ‘why is he reacting like that? He’s got to be the bigger person’. He’s had bananas thrown at him and he still fronts up,” Armstrong said.

“He wants to extend the olive branch. He’s always the one who is taking the higher ground and he’s well within his rights to go, nah, that’s enough.”

ABC

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Life after Buddy going fine for high-scoring Swans

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Sydney may have lost a great of the game but it hasn’t stopped the goals, in fact they’re coming even faster

Chad Warner celebrates a goal during the round two match between Sydney and Essendon at the SCG, March 23, 2024. Picture: AFL Photos

LANCE Franklin is long gone, and Isaac Heeney is now a midfielder, yet Sydney’s scoring efficiency is through the roof early in 2024.

The Swans knew for a while ‘life after Buddy’ was coming, and early indications are they’ll be just fine as one of the game’s best ever has sailed off into retirement.

Through three rounds, John Longmire’s team is scoring almost three goals a game more than 2023 from just a handful more inside 50s.

They’re taking more marks in the danger zone and are more efficient when going in there.

And although it’s a small sample, they haven’t exactly played competition cellar dwellers. Melbourne was the second most frugal defence last season, Collingwood the third, and Essendon (15th) – well, not so good.

So how are the Swans doing it?

Firstly, let’s look at their scoring sources, courtesy of Champion Data.

Last season just shy of 60 per cent of their scores came from turnovers. It accounted for 53 points a game. Turnover is generally where most scores in the competition come from and the best correlation to success.

This year that number has skyrocketed to 72 a game and almost 68 per cent of their score.

Sydney’s forward improvement

  2023 2024 Change
Points for 89.1 106.3 +19%
Points from turnover 52.8 71.7 +36%
Points from clearance 33.2 34.0 +2%
Inside 50s 53.8 58.3 +8%
Marks inside 50 11.9 15.7 +32%
Score per inside 50% 44.9% 50.9% +13%

The entire extra three goals Sydney is scoring in each match is coming directly from turnover. Force a mistake and counter-attack against a less set defence – seems easy, right?

With just four extra inside 50s each match, Sydney is taking an extra four marks inside 50 and scoring better than every second time it goes in there.

While Buddy was clearly the player most targeted last year – and even in his farewell season, why wouldn’t you? – this year is so much different.

Swans forward 50 targets – 2023

Player Targets
Lance Franklin 95
Logan McDonald 71
Tom Papley 65
Hayden McLean 63
Isaac Heeney 61

Hayden McLean (13), Logan McDonald (12), Tom Papley (10), Will Hayward (10) and Heeney (10) are not far apart as the player looked for most.

Subsequently the scoring has been shared. McDonald and Papley have six goals apiece, as does Chad Warner, while Hayward and McLean have five and Heeney four.

Swans forward 50 targets – 2024

Player Targets
Hayden McLean 13
Logan McDonald 12
Isaac Heeney 10
Tom Papley 10
Will Hayward 10

Whether the Swans can continue scoring so heavily from turnover we’ll only know later in the season, but one thing is for sure, they’re playing to a multi-dimensional forward line that has a host of avenues to goal.