Rosa returning to Victoria?
West Coast midfielder Matt Rosa has put contract negotiations on hold until the end of the season as he ponders a move back to Victoria.
"It definitely does cross your mind, obviously a lot of family and friends back home, but I think also [I'm] very lucky to be in an environment like West Coast that provides all the facilities and the support that you could really ask for," he told Athe AFL website.
"I'm really enjoying it over at West Coast at the moment, and enjoying the group we've got.
"I guess we'll sort of worry about the contract stuff a bit later in the year."
Rosa did say he was open to contract discussions earlier in the season if that's what the club wanted.
Saints want a second game in New Zealand
St Kilda commercial manager Ben Davies has flagged a second possible match in New Zealand from 2016 onwards. The Saints have a six-year contract to play an ANZAC Day match in New Zealand but after next year, the Saints will look to step up their grab for the New Zealand market by potentially playing a second game overseas.
"We'll review the deal after 2015 and reshape it for the remaining three years of the agreement," Davies told the AFL website.
"In time we'll get to a discussion about whether a second game works in that market – we're certainly not ruling it out. Being such a significant year for Australia and New Zealand, the centenary of Gallipoli gives us a really strong platform to promote AFL in New Zealand. We have quite significant plans from a tourism perspective … [and] our sustainability in New Zealand is going to be based on attracting New Zealand businesses to support our club."
Still no sign of Simpson
Fremantle forward Josh Simpson's AFL career remains in limbo after the 2012 draftee's management failed to meet with Dockers officials on Tuesday. Simpson's management were meant to discuss the youngster's no-show as an emergency for last Saturday's clash with Sydney. Simpson was dropped for the match against Sydney and then failed to turn up for the flight to Sydney with his team-mates. Coach Ross Lyon said Simpson was having to overcome numerous challenges at his post-match press conference after the loss to the Swans, but his management's failure to meet with the club suggests his time at Freo may be limited. The club issued a statement on Tuesday:
"The club has advised Josh Simpson and his management that we will be having ongoing discussions throughout the week with regards to the issues at hand," general manager of football operations Chris Bond said. "Until those discussions have been finalised, Josh will be on leave from the club."
Dockers culture shock
In the wake of the issues with Simpson and a series of suspensions from key players in the first five rounds, Fremantle veteran Luke McPharlin has been forced to defend the club's culture. During the early days of Mark Harvey's period in charge at the Dockers, Freo were often associated with poor discipline but both Harvey and his successor Ross Lyon worked hard to remove that from their game. Yet with three players in Nat Fyfe, Zac Dawson and Hayden Ballantyne already copping suspensions this year – along with the Simpson issues – McPharlin was forced to defend the club's culture on Tuesday.
"We believe our culture is very strong, and has been for a number of years now," he told The West Australian.
"We've had a couple of incidents early in the season that we wish didn't happen, but this is part and parcel of trying to organise and manage 40 players. For the great majority of our playing group, it's a very strong brand and a very strong culture. Unfortunately some players fall by the wayside, but we deal with them internally."