Cat set for AFL debut at 28

April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A decade after his first stint at an AFL club, Geelong forward James Podsiadly will this weekend play at the highest level for the first time at the ripe old age of 28.

Podsiadly will become one of the AFL’s oldest debutants of recent times when he takes his place at full-forward against Fremantle at Subiaco Oval on Sunday.

Podsiadly was last year recruited from the VFL by the Cats under the AFL’s new mature-age rookie rule, having spent time at Essendon in 2000 and Collingwood in 2002.

He was unable to crack senior games with either club, but Cameron Mooney’s suspension means Podsiadly will finally get his chance after getting the nod from coach Mark Thompson.

“Bomber (Thompson) grabbed me in the race and told me that I was playing – it was something that I never thought would happen,” Podsiadly told Geelong’s website.

“I feel like I prepared well over the summer and now the important thing is to take the opportunity and do whatever the team needs me to do.

“I can’t wait to get over there and play.”

While Podsiadly is unproven at AFL level, he has been a star in the VFL over the years. He has played more than 180 games and in 2008 won the Liston Trophy, the competition’s highest individual honour.

It is understood he will become the oldest AFL debutant since West Coast’s Troy Wilson first played in 2001 at age 29.

Geelong named an expanded squad for Sunday’s game, but will be without Mooney and full-back Matthew Scarlett, who were both suspended for incidents from last Monday’s win over Hawthorn.

Fremantle lost midfielder Garrick Ibbotson to a shoulder injury but named defender Chris Tarrant despite him rolling an ankle in the dying stages of last Sunday’s win over Essendon.

The Cats and Dockers are both unbeaten after two rounds.

The Hawks and the Western Bulldogs named expanded squads for Sunday’s big game at Docklands, but Bulldogs skipper Brad Johnson was again overlooked because of his calf soreness.

Hawthorn were also weakened by suspension through the losses of Michael Osborne and Liam Shiels, along with the absence of small forward Rhan Hooper (hamstring).

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Countdown to football heaven

March 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

There’s something fresh and vibrant about the start of an AFL season.

Your team should have no season ending injuries, nor should it have copped any on-field hidings. Well, maybe one or two.

The excitement surrounding new trade week recruits is palpable as is the anticipation surrounding the bright young stars selected in the draft.

Pre-season media coverage is growing each year.

Never has so much been written about so little.

If you are a Fremantle fan, what can you tell me about Michael Barlow, Alex Silvagni and Matthew De Boer?

If you support West Coast, what information have you got on Gerrick Wheedon and Koby Stevens?

I would suggest if you know something about these players, then you probably know too much.

However, such is the blanket coverage of AFL in Western Australia much has been written about these young men.

Aussie rules draws nearly as much ink as Chris Masten.

The bottom line is that West Australians crave their pre-season information.

They want to know how their team is going to fare.

Both teams are coming into this year’s competition starved of finals appearances, and if fans are expecting another lean season they at least want to see their team climb the AFL ladder.

Dockers ‘due’

Dockers’ fans are a somewhat maligned bunch in WA.

The ‘purists’ up the road look down on them as a raggedly group who just do not understand football the way the chardonnay sipping blue and gold set do.

Not only is this view unfair, it fails to acknowledge the incredibly passionate loyalty of Fremantle fans.

35,000 people are card carrying members of the port side, despite the fact they have no Premiership flag or even a recent finals appearance.

In fact it is coming off successive finishes of 14th and 13th, so it has been going backwards, not forwards.

However, coach Mark Harvey insists those statistics are not the sole barometer of development.

To an extent, he is on the money.

The club has nurtured bright young prospects like Stephen Hill, Garrick Ibbotson, Nick Suban and Hayden Ballantyne.

In 2010 Fremantle will welcome back youngsters Chris Mayne and Rhys Palmer from extended injury lay-offs.

However despite the hype and promise, this season’s spotlight will be firmly fixed on the coach himself.

Harvey is entering the final year of his contract with Fremantle with just 10 wins from 49 starts under his belt.

If recent reports are to be believed he will need 10 wins in 2010 if he is to continue at the helm.

Matthew Pavlich is the club’s other great conundrum.

He is also out of contract at the end of the year, but the Dockers intentions with their champion are clearer than they are with the coach.

Do not be surprised if we see more back pages on Pavlich than front pages on Tony Abbott in an election year.

Eagles renaissance?

As usual, West Coast supporters are far more confident about their season.

Season 2008 was tough, four wins and some humiliating losses as the club came to terms with life post Judd and Cousins.

Season 2009 was better with twice as many wins.

The attitude for 2010 is that the hard work has been done and the Eagles should challenge for a place in finals.

The club has nurtured some strong young players in Chris Masten, Scott Selwood and Brad Ebert.

It will be hoping Mitch Brown can go up a level in defence and Mark Le Cras and Josh Kennedy can lift in attack.

There are questions about the fitness of Dean Cox and Daniel Kerr who return from injury alongside the man named after a housing estate, Beau Waters.

However if these four and Darren Glass stay healthy, they could scrape into the eight, but I do not think they will finish much higher than that.

However, the pre-season hype about the club’s fortunes pales against those surrounding one player..

The club is wary of the hysteria surrounding young star Nic Naitanui and has been begging the faithful for patience.

There is no doubt the kid is exciting and fans want more of the glimpses of brilliance we saw in last year’s competition and this year’s pre-season cup.

One sleep to go before Bouncedown. Enjoy.

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Ancient moon may have had Earth-like core

January 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Jan 16 (ANI): A new study has suggested that the moon, in its ancient past, had an Earth-like core, which may explain its mysterious magnetic field.

Magnetic moon rocks picked up on the Apollo missions in the late 1960s and early 1970s surprised scientists, who thought no such field existed on the moon.
Since then, two competing theories have emerged for the moon’s magnetism: shockwaves locking in magnetic fields generated by meteors slamming into the heavily cratered surface, or the movement of heat inside a molten metallic core.

According to a report in National Geographic News, new analysis of the oldest known “unshocked” Apollo sample-a rock never affected by a meteor impact-favors the iron core theory.

That’s because the 4.2-billion-year-old rock has a history of longer, slower cooling periods, a discovery more consistent with the core’s influence than occasional meteor impacts.

“There’s growing evidence for the internal structure of the moon having a core, and this study supports those theories,” said study lead author Ian Garrick-Bethell, a Ph.D. student from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

In the new study, Garrick-Bethell and colleagues built on paleomagnetism with another technique of studying moon rocks: Looking at their heat-or thermal-histories.

The team was able to determine that the rock heated and then cooled only twice in 4.2 billion years.

These cooling events were more drawn out than what would be expected if a barrage of meteors had magnetized the rock.

Magnetic fields created by meteor impacts usually last a day at most, according to Garrick-Bethell.

Furthermore, the rock dates to an era during which the moon would have most likely had an active core, the study authors said.

According to Pierre Rochette, a geoscience professor at Universite d’Aix-Marseille 3 in France, the result “makes again a strong case for both the presence of a metallic core in the moon and more firm magnetic evidence.”

The new moon research can also tell scientists more about the moon itself, such as when its dark features known as “mare plains” formed.

The large basaltic areas were likely caused by ancient volcanic eruptions.

“This is related to features everyone looks up and sees, these dark plains,” Garrick-Bethell said. “If we can do this study for lots of other rocks, we have the potential to unravel the internal thermal history and evolution of the moon,” he added. (ANI)

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