Jamison the Blues' glue

MOST serious footy fans would know their team's best player is not necessarily their most important.

For example, North Melbourne skipper Brent Harvey may be his club's biggest match-winner, but vice-captain Drew Petrie is more important to the Kangaroos' structure.

Take Harvey out of North's midfield or forward line and there are a number of ready - admittedly lesser - replacements. But take Petrie out of the forward line and the Kangaroos lose their focal point, the player that straightens them up, the player they know will give them an aerial contest.

In this same vein, The Age's Michael Gleeson argues that Carlton full-back Michael Jamison is more important to the Blues' on-field fortunes than his skipper Chris Judd.

Gleeson said Judd was the best player in the competition and noted the Blues also boasted another midfielder, Marc Murphy, who was leading a number of this year's media player awards.

But Gleeson said neither Judd nor Murphy was as important to Carlton as Jamison.

The former rookie has been a revelation for Carlton this year in defence. He had established himself as a key member of Carlton's defence in 2010 but occasionally struggled in one-on-one contests against the League's most imposing power forwards.

Jamison has had no such problems in 2011. In fact, his body work against opponents such as St Kilda skipper Nick Riewoldt and Brisbane Lions captain Jonathan Brown has been outstanding.

Prior to a recent knee injury, Jamison was a popular tip to win All Australian selection. Depending on the length of his stint on the sidelines - he has missed the past two weeks and on Monday was listed as being another three to four weeks from resuming - he may still be a chance.

However, the bigger issue is how the Blues will cope in Jamison's absence. They won when he missed their opening two games of the season, against Richmond and Gold Coast, and beat Richmond again in his absence in round 15. But they lost without him on Sunday against the better-credentialed Western Bulldogs.

Jamison's loss will be keenly felt in the next two weeks when Carlton takes on reigning premier Collingwood and finals contender Essendon. The Blues also take on Fremantle (at Patersons Stadium) and Hawthorn in the run home, so will be desperate to get Jamison back.

Admittedly, forward Lachie Henderson has been solid since switching to key defence in the past two weeks. But, as Gleeson notes, Jamison is now an elite defender and, as such, is extremely difficult to replace. 

The sooner the Blues can welcome him back, the healthier their finals chances look.

Talent search expands

Sydney's two major daily papers highlighted just how far and wide AFL scouts are now looking to unearth the next League stars.

The Sydney Morning Herald profiled three overseas recruits Greater Western Sydney signed on international scholarships last year, New Zealander Charlton Brown, Nauru's Yoshi Harris and Papua New Guinean Theo Gavuri.

The three youngsters are members of the South Pacific team currently competing in the NAB AFL Under-16 Championships, which began in Sydney last week. All three have been training with the Giants during their visit.

Giants assistant coach Mark Williams said the club had signed the three boys after testing them in Tonga last December at the Youth Oceania Cup. 

"(On Sunday) the South Pacific team beat Tasmania. It just shows that give these kids the opportunity and a little bit of the resources around them and we'll see some great athletes come through," Williams said.

"And that will be all the best for the game. The boys, besides the enthusiasm and love for the game, have some great skills and some great agility … we have seen with Israel [Folau] in the last six months, these younger kids will improve even more."

Brown's situation also highlighted the growing competition between the AFL and NRL to snaffle the best available young talent. The 16-year-old has a rugby league background and has trained with the development squads of two NRL sides, the New Zealand Warriors and South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Indeed, the Rabbitohs had a scout at the Under-16 Championships on the weekend to see Brown strut his stuff.

Brown only started playing Australian football last year and was picked to play for New Zealand in last year's Youth Oceania Cup.

Although Brown has yet to decide which sport he will concentrate on long term, Williams will be heartened by the following comments. 

"(AFL) is a really good sport. I've been given heaps of opportunities. I'm loving AFL more," Brown said.

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph reported that the AFL was so serious about discovering future stars in New South Wales it had trained 120 people to spot and nurture talented locals.

The Telegraph said the mission of these new AFL staff was to identify talented NSW youngsters from any code and get them involved in the AFL's junior development pathway.

NSW, the ACT and Queensland currently provide 12 per cent of the AFL's players, but the paper said the AFL hoped to increase this figure to 20 per cent.

The new scouts were reportedly told yesterday their job over the next 10 years was to each find one player who would reach the AFL.

Your move, David Gallop.

Make Malthouse an offer: Shaw

As the end of the season draws closer, Mick Malthouse's future looks no clearer than it did at the start of the year.

The veteran Collingwood coach has the Magpies on track for back-to-back premierships, but that's not the story most people are interested in.

Far more titillating is the ongoing saga over whether Malthouse will honour a three-year contract to remain at Collingwood as its director of coaching. Or whether he will leave once he hands the senior coaching reins to Nathan Buckley at the end of this season, to pursue a coaching job at another club.

Collingwood's 1990 premiership captain Tony Shaw is the latest to weigh in on the issue. Shaw told The Age any club considering a change of coach should tempt Malthouse's commitment to the Magpies with a $1 million-a-year offer.

"If I was sitting on the board of two or three AFL clubs now … I would be sitting there just saying: 'OK, we have to make inroads here. We have to go and check him out, see whether he is available, see whether he wants to coach again'," Shaw said.

Shaw said the fact Malthouse's prospective role at Collingwood had yet to be defined indicated lingering tension in the club's leadership ranks, but Malthouse's manager, Peter Sidwell, said he was confident Malthouse would remain at the club.

In short

Former AFL football operations manager Ian Collins has no regrets about his role in the suspension that cost Western Bulldog Chris Grant the 1997 Brownlow Medal, the Herald Sun reports. Grant was not cited by the officiating umpires for a right-arm blow on Hawk Nick Holland that season, but was subsequently suspended for a match after Collins referred the incident to the Tribunal. "Perhaps if it was a lesser player he might have got three (matches)," Collins said. Grant's one-match ban rendered him ineligible for that year's Brownlow, but he finished the count one vote in front of the winner, St Kilda's Robert Harvey.

Richmond's hunt for a ruckman at the end of this season is likely to centre on Carlton's Shaun Hampson and Melbourne's Max Gawn, The Age reports. The broadsheet said the Tigers had "all but ruled out" Geelong's Mark Blake and Brisbane Lion Mitch Clark and were "unlikely" to pursue North Melbourne's Hamish McIntosh. Recent reports had suggested Richmond had made McIntosh their No. 1 ruck target.

North Melbourne chairman James Brayshaw has come out in support of coach Brad Scott following the Kangaroos' record 117-point loss to Collingwood on Sunday. Brayshaw told Triple M North's poor record against top-four sides under Scott was "a huge cause for concern", but said he and the rest of North's board were "iron clad" Scott was the right man to lead the club back up the ladder.

Herald Sun chief football writer Mike Sheahan has asked what's wrong with football in South Australia. Sheahan said both Adelaide (14th on the ladder) and Port Adelaide (16th) were struggling on the field and failing to attract decent crowds. Sheahan said Port was the major cause for concern, given it was a chance to win its first wooden spoon in 2011 and had other clubs circling its best young players.

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL