Ross Lewis

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The AFL mystery draft

Everyone's a winner at the AFL national draft. Unless you're a fan.Watching the 2009 version of the league's annual player lottery was akin to sitting behind a concrete pillar while trying to view a match at Subiaco Oval.Heaven forbid a blink. A slight...
Fri, November 27, 2009, 2:01 pm WST
Sports minister goes missing

The most successful Australian at last year's Olympics was Kate Ellis.Our Federal Sports Minister got her hands on more medals than anyone else wearing a green and gold tracksuit in Beijing last August.Nothing lures a politician like success. It is like...
Mon, November 23, 2009, 12:39 pm WST
'Subi' is a sporting rose by any other name

It might not be much of a stadium. Indeed, it is in desperate need of a raid by the handymen from Renovation Rescue.But Subiaco Oval is our premier sports ground. The park has hosted many of this State's greatest sports memories. And it means a lot to...
Mon, November 16, 2009, 1:00 pm WST
This will be Sheeds' toughest test yet

He has become the AFL's - possibly Australian sport's - greatest salesman.But flogging Western Sydney as a football stronghold will be the most difficult pitch of them all for the great peddler, Kevin Sheedy. At least we know Big Kev will be excited....
Mon, November 9, 2009, 10:38 am WST
Sporting life can be so unfair

Finally, we can scrub a couple of clichés from the coaches' little black book of sporting vocabulary.As the AFL revealed last week there is no such thing as a level playing ground, the conditions aren't the same for both teams and what goes...
Fri, November 6, 2009, 1:32 pm WST
Why are sporting boards so secretive?

Paul McNamee is claiming that while he might have lost the battle, he has won the war.The support for McNamee's divide-and-conquer approach to displacing long-time Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard was supposedly so strong it has forced a change...
Wed, October 28, 2009, 12:43 pm WST
Expansion of the AFL empire leaves grassroots to wither

UPDATED. Andrew Demetriou sounded a bit like a dictator from a previous century.Now the AFL has commenced its raids on the Gold Coast and Western Sydney, its army of football followers will prepare to infiltrate Tasmania and North...
Wed, October 21, 2009, 11:34 am WST
Sporting dollars come with strings attached

No sport can survive without it. But how you get it has become a sport within itself.Money makes the world go round and sponsorship dollars run the pursuits we love to watch.In the old days teams and associations didn't care who gave them the cash....
Wed, October 14, 2009, 12:00 pm WST
Lies, fibs and draft camp statistics

AFL activity over the past month has become something akin to the Royal Show.Sure, in the main ground there has been the feature action, the national competition's grand final at the MCG. And what a great main attraction it was.But there are plenty of...
Wed, October 7, 2009, 3:34 pm WST
Bruton remains a Wildcats dilemma

It is basketball's equivalent of the gold watch. Having a club retire a player's jersey is a reflection of the impact of the individual. Some get it through length of service, quality of contribution, or, unfortunately, for a premature passing.The...
Wed, September 30, 2009, 12:16 pm WST
NBL poised to foul out

When basketball was booming in this country there wasn't an indoor stadium big enough to accommodate all the fans that wanted to watch the NBL's marquee matches.Today, the men's league can literally hold its season launch in a telephone box.In case you...
Wed, September 23, 2009, 11:16 am WST
Mercenary players the future of cricket

The sporting crystal ball has been given a polish this week.And after a spit and wax the vision that can now be clearly seen is of world cricket. It is even showing live coverage of the 2015 Sheffield Shield final, so obviously we are watching Pay-TV...
Wed, September 16, 2009, 3:18 pm WST
WAFL leaders are made of money

Football leagues should be like families.There is the parent body in control of a bunch of teams, who like children, should all co-exist without any fear or favour. Everyone must be treated equally.Yet in the WAFL, some clubs are more equal than others...
Mon, September 14, 2009, 1:44 pm WST
Blues' boo-boo costs more than money

When Carlton's football department sits down to review their 2009 operations this week, a couple of hours should be set aside just to talk about the past week.Sure, the loss to Brisbane in last Saturday's elimination final needs attention. How a team...
Wed, September 9, 2009, 3:24 pm WST
Another nail in Test cricket's coffin

A bunch of the West Indies' senior cricketers might be able to save the ICC some money. The body that allegedly governs the game - surely the true rulers of world cricket are in India - has been conducting an expensive inquiry into the future of Test...
Thu, September 3, 2009, 12:17 pm WST
A few sharp words never hurt anybody

There is no doubting Campbell Brown's bloodlines. If you allowed your imagination to kick-in a little as he spoke on Melbourne radio at the weekend, you would have visualized a burly man in an East Perth guernsey in the late 1960s and early...
Wed, September 2, 2009, 1:32 pm WST
Legal eagles now prevail over the play

Next time you go to an AFL match you'll have to take along Tom Percy, John Hammond or John Prior to really get a full understanding of the game. Watching football has become so complicated that to comprehend what is going on you need to be a...
Wed, August 26, 2009, 12:24 pm WST
Let's hope Bolt's the hero athletics needs

Maybe it is better if the drug testers stay away from Usain Bolt.No chance of that. Providing a urine sample is just part of the job for the modern-day athlete.Tests are done to satisfy the spirit of competition. No-one should get to first place by...
Fri, August 21, 2009, 11:46 am WST
Keeping the (sporting) bastards honest

The whistle has blown. A new sports blog has begun. It's time to get into the play.While the focus of this blog will be anything to do with our great love of any athletic pursuit, the preferred game plan will be to target those men and women running our...
Wed, August 19, 2009, 12:07 pm WST