ST KILDA coach Ross Lyon took his place on the coaching carousel - whether he chose to or not - on TV on Monday night with his absolute refusal to deny an approach from Melbourne with a five-year deal to coach the Demons from next season.
Media Watch believes Lyon will stick it out at the Saints, where his existing deal has a year to run. Lyon is fond of the Saints, became close to the late Allan Jeans and seems resolved to try and follow in his footsteps to become a St Kilda premiership coach.
But we read in The Age on Wednesday that Robert Walls, Lyon's first senior coach at Fitzroy and a coaching mentor in more recent times, is suggesting that Lyon's time with the Saints might be up. He urges Lyon to seriously consider the long-term offer from the Demons if it is on the table.
"You look at Ross and say, 'He has had five years, has he squeezed the lemon dry there?' You could mount an argument that maybe he has. I think he has done an outstanding job with what he has had to work with but, maybe, there is just not much more he can get out of that group," Walls told the newspaper.
"You have got to look at it that way. Evidently, he is contracted for next year, but contracts are being broken, we all know that.''
The report goes on to say that Lyon would not just coach the side but would provide leadership and direction for a football department at the Demons that has gone off the rails this year and is seen as a bit fragmented.
Walls played a big part in getting Lyon the job with the Saints. The 1987 Carlton premiership coach was on the panel to select the replacement for Grant Thomas and after the first lot of applicants sat for their interviews, strongly urged the club to bring Lyon in for a chat, as well. The rest, as they say, is history.
Also on coaching, a two-year contract extension to Lions coach Michael Voss will be announced later this week, reports Greg Denham in The Australian, while another former Lion, Justin Leppitsch, now an assistant coach to Damien Hardwick at Richmond, will be interviewed for the Adelaide job, according to the Adelaide Advertiser.
MCG punts betting updates
Football supporters with young families would have welcomed the front-page story in The Age on Wednesday.
The Melbourne Cricket Club has sniffed the wind, considered the issue and decided enough is enough, and will ban live betting updates from its two big screens at AFL matches from next year. No more explaining to the kids that just because punters give their team no chance to win, it doesn't mean we should pack up and go home.
The home clubs will still be able to feature their gaming sponsors on the screens as part of their advertising inventory on match days, but the MCC will not continue its deal with those companies, meaning no more odds updates and graphs indicating the betting fluctuations.
Writing in the annual report of the MCG Trust, chairman John Wylie said of live betting updates: ''We see this as a poor development for the ground, for the sporting codes and for the community."
He then told Greg Baum from The Age: 'We just think it's inconsistent with what football at the MCG should be all about, which is the football, as opposed to the promotion of gambling on matches during matches. Our policy as a trust is that we would like to see the promotion of live gambling odds at the ground finished.''
The deal between the MCG and Betfair, which expires at the end of the year, will not be renewed.
Media Watch would like to see Etihad Stadium follow suit, although given that it is a privately-owned enterprise, with a responsibility to its shareholders to earn as much revenue as possible, we can't expect that to happen. And to be fair, nor should it.
And while the MCG viewing experience will now be just that bit more pleasant next season, we imagine companies like Betfair will instead turn their attention towards the match broadcasters. Given that every AFL match next season will be live on TV, the possibilities for betting companies to inundate broadcasts with live updates are endless.
Daisy chained to Pies for two more
Dale Thomas has all but signed a new two-year deal to stay with Collingwood, reports the Herald Sun. The deal is worth about $550,000 per year.
Greater Western Sydney was chasing the Magpie star aggressively with a contract reportedly worth double that, so Thomas has left some seriously good money on the table to remain loyal to the Magpies.
Good on him, most people would say, but it doesn't hide the issue that with many of the big-name Pies having signed shorter-term deals to remain with the club (Dane Swan and Scott Pendlebury among them), Collingwood is still going to face massive pressure to keep hold of all its premiership stars when they again come out of contract at the end of 2013.
Without some careful planning and some more salary sacrifices, we can't see how the Pies can keep them all. An exodus similar to that at Essendon a decade ago might yet be on the cards.
Rawlings retires
North Melbourne champion Brady Rawlings will retire at the end of the season, reports the Herald Sun.
In a terrific piece, Mike Sheahan spoke to Rawlings, his coach Brad Scott and his president James Brayshaw. It is doubtful there is a more respected player at Arden Street than Rawlings who leaves the game in the best possible way - walking out by his own volition without being tapped on the shoulder by the coach.
Cox due for a rest?
With a trip to Brisbane this weekend just two weeks out from their first final - which will almost certainly be played in Melbourne - West Coast is having a look at which players might be rested against the Lions and spared the longest road trip in football.
Ruckman Dean Cox is the obvious choice to stay home. He has had an outstanding season and the Eagles need him at his absolute best if they are to progress through the finals.
"We certainly will weigh that up with Dean and a few of the other players," Eagles coach John Worsfold told Seven News.
Port re-investing in its future
The Adelaide Advertiser writes that Port Adelaide, armed with cash from the AFL to invest in its football operations, will be bringing Philip Walsh back from West Coast as an assistant coach together with Collingwood assistant Scott Watters and either Dean Bailey or Rodney Eade. The paper also suggests the club is working on a trade to bring young key position prospect Sam Day back to South Australia from Gold Coast. But the Power might have to give up its first draft selection, likely to be No.4 overall, in order to get the deal done.
The views expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or the clubs.
You can follow Ashley Browne on Twitter @twitter.com/hashbrowne
