Nixon to plead guilty to hurting ex

Updated October 31, 2012 18:02:41

A court has heard former AFL player manager Ricky Nixon is expected to plead guilty to two charges relating an alleged attack on his former fiancee.

Nixon appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court today, accused of attacking Tegan Gould with a knife at his Port Melbourne apartment in July.

His lawyer told the Melbourne Magistrates Court Nixon will plead guilty to one charge of recklessly causing injury and one charge of escaping police custody.

But the court heard he intends to fight a number of other charges, including using a knife to attack Ms Gould and threatening to kill her.

Police have already said they have dropped two of the most serious charges against Nixon.

He will return to court in March next year.

Tags: courts-and-trials, assault, australian-football-league, port-melbourne-3207

First posted October 31, 2012 11:27:14

View the original article here

Players hurting Port coach: Cassisi

Updated May 14, 2012 17:35:58

Port Adelaide players feel responsible for the plight of embattled coach Matthew Primus, according to Power captain Domenic Cassisi.

Primus's position has come under intense scrutiny amid Port's six-game losing streak which continued Sunday with a 40-point defeat to Fremantle.

But Cassisi said Port players, not Primus, were the ones who should be feeling the heat.

"We're all in this together, the players and the coaches," Cassisi said.

"We're bitterly disappointed at not being able to get a win.

"It's pretty hard when you see during the week the pressure he (Primus) was under.

"We do feel a sense of responsibility for that, there is no doubt about that.

"We'd love to get a win for him very soon and hopefully it's on Saturday."

The Power will welcome the likely return of key forward Jay Schulz for this weekend's match against North Melbourne.

Schulz has been out for two matches with an eye injury.

In those matches, Port Adelaide managed only seven goals against the Dockers at Subiaco Oval, and eight the week before against Richmond.

Cassisi said Port players were lacking confidence to follow Primus' instructions to take risks.

"The coach has been really proactive in telling the players to take risks and try and get the ball going our way," he said.

"A little bit has probably got to do with confidence at the moment, guys aren't really trusting their kick and having a go."

Cassisi conceded there was no quick fix to Port's sloppy skills.

"I don't think it's going to be fixed to the level we want overnight," he said.

"But we're going to continue to work on it.

"We matched Fremantle for clearances and tackles and all those things you probably judge effort on.

"But at the end of the day, our skill level really hurt us and they got goals from it."

AAP

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, australia, sa, alberton-5014

First posted May 14, 2012 17:35:58

View the original article here

Is fantasy focus hurting football?

Comment by Neil Cross

Updated May 15, 2012 13:58:32

Ron Barassi was in an angry state of mind when he confronted Gerard Healy when they were both at the Melbourne Football Club in the early 80s.

At the end of the exchange during a break in the game at the SCG, Barassi told Healy to "give me possessions and I'll shut up".

Possessions, or more particularly statistics, now rule AFL football. Statistics have spawned an industry.

Collecting, collating and categorising each kick, mark, handball, tackle, tap out, entry to forward 50, rebound from defensive 50. It goes on.

The nuances of these statistics are often lost on the general public but not those absorbed in the Dream Team/Supercoach phenomenon.

People in the past were content to enter tipping contests but for the real football nerd now the quest is to win Dream Team/Supercoach games.

For the uninitiated, Dream Team and Supercoach are basically the same statistically based competitions. Participants select players to make up a squad.

Each player is priced according to the number of points he averages per game. The points are based on the number of kicks, marks, handballs, free kicks for and against, hitouts, goals and behinds.

There is a a salary cap and the job of the participant is to select 22 players each week to take on another team. In each round, the participant with the most points wins the match-up.

Coaches repeatedly point out that the worth of a player in a particular game can't be judged on his statistics. This is most definitely not the case in the land of Dream Team or Supercoach. Rather, it is the only worth of a player.

The phenomenon has hit rugby league and rugby union as well as soccer and other sports but the plethora of statistical information in the AFL makes it a superior offering to the thousands addicted to closely watching the fantasy unfold.

Apparently it's fun. Supposedly it keeps participants interested in games even if there is a blowout on the scoreboard - the actual scoreboard; you know, the one that actually shows who wins or loses.

On the other hand, the long term effect of Dream Team and Supercoach could also reduce the public's interest in following a club.

In the fanatasy world, the only thing that matters is the individual and how many points they can accrue for your fantasy team. Hence, the club, the result, the interest in the game itself could die.

Perhaps that is a little dramatic. But then again, there are plenty of people who review the weekend's AFL games according to how Hogan's Heroes or Macca's Madmen or Hellboys performed rather than whether Carlton, Collingwood or West Coast won or lost.

There are even media outlets who publish or read out the fantasy points accrued by players. There are advice columns in newspapers on how to pick the best 22.

AFL is evolving. Fantasy leagues are growing. Whether they are good for one another in the long term will make for an interesting study.

Tags: sport, soccer, a-league, australian-football-league, rugby-league, super-rugby, australia

First posted May 15, 2012 13:58:32

View the original article here