Buddy Bingle
Lance Franklin has fronted the media on Thursday morning after crashing girlfriend Jesinta Campbell's car into four parked vehicles the previous night in Rose Bay. "I'm not too bad this morning. Obviously [I'm] a little bit upset with what happened last night," Franklin said. "(It's) lucky that no-one was injured and myself, not injured. To come out unscathed, I'm happy with that. When asked for details of the accident, Franklin said "(I) just got a little bit too close to the car that was parked on lane one and that was pretty much it. From there the airbags went off and that's all I can say."
Lucky Buddy escaped the goldfish bowl of Melbourne... “ @davesygall : Lance Franklin answering questions. pic.twitter.com/NBmPMOGJxT ”
— Brenton Speed (@BrentonSpeed) April 24, 2014 Goddard And His Groin
Essendon skipper Jobe Watson says key utility Brendon Goddard is unlikely to recover from a groin injury in time for Friday's Anzac Day blockbuster. Goddard missed last week's 16-point loss to St Kilda and looks likely to spend another week on the sidelines. Watson also said ruckman tom Bellchambers would need another week n the VFL before being cinsidered for senior footy.
Anzac Eve
Richmond and Melbourne are proposing an Anzac Day eve clash next season as sides throughout the competition hunt for more blockbusters. According to the Herald-Sun, the Tigers and Demons, clubs with significant links to the armed conflicts throughout the 20th century have proposed the match for next season as a lead-in to the traditional Collingwood v Essendon blockbuster the following day.
Take A Bex
Collingwood president Eddie McGuire has called for calm as debate continues to mount over the ugly football we've seen so far this season. With some experts calling for zones to be introduced at stoppages, McGuire said football simply needed time to sort things through in a natural way as coaches and teams identify new strategies. "It might be long bombs to Snake in a year's time," McGuire said, referring to the fact footy styles can change quickly. "The footy is unreal. I think everyone just needs to have a Bex. We had 83,000 on Monday; we're going to have 95,000 on Friday. That's the NRL's weekly average covered in two games."
Petrie Ponders
North Melbourne forward Drew Petrie says he has no one else to blame but himself for a slow start to the new campaign that's just yielded three goals so far. "When you do hear stuff, you want to make something good out of it, not dwell or feel sorry for yourself," Petrie told the AFL Exchange podcast. "Part of the reason I guess I’m not going great, it’s my own fault. I’m just not working hard enough or not marking the footy cleanly enough and I’m not giving our midfielders a good enough option inside the forward 50. [But] definitely - turn it into a positive and respond. It makes you a little bit angry, but if you can channel that aggression into a better performances then that’s a good thing."
No Knee-Jerk Reaction
Fremantle coach Ross Lyon says he's excited by Anthony Morabito's progress as he attempts to come back from a three-year absence with knee issues. But the coach is not prepared to select hum just yet, despite Morabito averaging 21 possessions a game with Peel Thunder. "We put him in a position where he could get some easier ball, at half-back (to) run straight, which he really enjoyed," said Lyon on the AFL website. "Then he asked to go into the midfield, so we put him in there. He found that more physically challenging. It’s woken him up a little bit to think 'geez, I have missed three years and I'll need to continue to build for a little while. It's that consistency of build, build, build that he's still working on. But it's a great story at the minute."