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Fitness queries over Murphy, Cooney
The Age
Jake Niall and Andrea Petrie | March 19, 2009
A LACK of match conditioning, rather than injury, could mean that key Western Bulldogs pair Adam Cooney and Robert Murphy miss the club's round-one clash against Fremantle.
While Cooney and Murphy are recovering from their injuries — the Brownlow medallist from a groin problem, Murphy from knee surgery — the Dogs will monitor how they recover at training in the coming week before deciding whether to take them to Perth.
Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade said last night that Cooney and Murphy, arguably the club's best two players, were likely to be available in the sense that they were not injured.
But Eade added that match conditioning was also a factor and it was possible that one might make the trip. "We mightn't take either of them, we might take the one, or both."
That match conditioning could prevent their inclusion is a sign of how clubs now place a premium on pre-season fitness in weighing up selection calls; increasingly, clubs are reluctant to carry players who lack conditioning, even if they aren't restricted by injury.
Although the Western Bulldogs are hoping for big things on the football field this year, the club is also looking rosy from an off-field perspective, according to president David Smorgon.
"Our budget this year was effectively to show a small profit given that we've been very cautious in our budgeting obviously with the economic situation the way it is," he said yesterday.
"Our membership is running 11.5 per cent above last year with more than 22,000 members already signed, and with the announcement of our major partner Mission Foods, our sponsorship is tracking OK. Even our president's functions for the first few games have been well booked, so at the moment we're very pleased with what's been happening."
The Bulldogs and several other clubs including North Melbourne and Melbourne have been forced to lean on the AFL in recent years for financial assistance.
Smorgon said he felt for Port Adelaide, in the grips of a financial crisis that was revealed in The Age this week. The Power had requested a $3 million handout over three years in addition to special assistance from the AFL in a bid to stabilise.
"We've all been in that situation and it comes back to their stadium deals and comes back to other issues with their ownership with the SANFL which are issues they've got to address," he said.
"The AFL are supportive of all clubs in the competition and that's where the opportunity for all the presidents to meet tonight and then tomorrow with the AFL Commission, they're the sorts of opportunities where clubs will have a chance to explain to others where they're situated and what the current issues are, which we don't often hear about other than when we read it in the press.
"We're all there to support each other. We might fight like cats and dogs on the field but off the field we're there to lend a helping hand to each other and if we can learn from each other's experiences then that's great," Smorgon said.
Fitness queries over Murphy, Cooney
The Age
Jake Niall and Andrea Petrie | March 19, 2009
A LACK of match conditioning, rather than injury, could mean that key Western Bulldogs pair Adam Cooney and Robert Murphy miss the club's round-one clash against Fremantle.
While Cooney and Murphy are recovering from their injuries — the Brownlow medallist from a groin problem, Murphy from knee surgery — the Dogs will monitor how they recover at training in the coming week before deciding whether to take them to Perth.
Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade said last night that Cooney and Murphy, arguably the club's best two players, were likely to be available in the sense that they were not injured.
But Eade added that match conditioning was also a factor and it was possible that one might make the trip. "We mightn't take either of them, we might take the one, or both."
That match conditioning could prevent their inclusion is a sign of how clubs now place a premium on pre-season fitness in weighing up selection calls; increasingly, clubs are reluctant to carry players who lack conditioning, even if they aren't restricted by injury.
Although the Western Bulldogs are hoping for big things on the football field this year, the club is also looking rosy from an off-field perspective, according to president David Smorgon.
"Our budget this year was effectively to show a small profit given that we've been very cautious in our budgeting obviously with the economic situation the way it is," he said yesterday.
"Our membership is running 11.5 per cent above last year with more than 22,000 members already signed, and with the announcement of our major partner Mission Foods, our sponsorship is tracking OK. Even our president's functions for the first few games have been well booked, so at the moment we're very pleased with what's been happening."
The Bulldogs and several other clubs including North Melbourne and Melbourne have been forced to lean on the AFL in recent years for financial assistance.
Smorgon said he felt for Port Adelaide, in the grips of a financial crisis that was revealed in The Age this week. The Power had requested a $3 million handout over three years in addition to special assistance from the AFL in a bid to stabilise.
"We've all been in that situation and it comes back to their stadium deals and comes back to other issues with their ownership with the SANFL which are issues they've got to address," he said.
"The AFL are supportive of all clubs in the competition and that's where the opportunity for all the presidents to meet tonight and then tomorrow with the AFL Commission, they're the sorts of opportunities where clubs will have a chance to explain to others where they're situated and what the current issues are, which we don't often hear about other than when we read it in the press.
"We're all there to support each other. We might fight like cats and dogs on the field but off the field we're there to lend a helping hand to each other and if we can learn from each other's experiences then that's great," Smorgon said.
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