Scully's brave call
SOME will claim that by deciding to play for Greater Western Sydney in its debut AFL season in 2012, Tom Scully made an all-too-easy decision to take the money and run.

Scully would argue it is otherwise.

In an expansive interview with Emma Quayle from The Age, Scully said that emerging players such as him needed to make the move to the start-up clubs for the AFL's expansion plans to work.

"It's a changing landscape in the AFL … I think I probably made the more courageous decision to leave, whereas to stay at Melbourne would have been the safer option," he said.

Scully recently returned from a four-week trip to the United States, where he resisted the urge to hit the gym or to go for a run. He rarely played near his best in 2011 thanks to a troublesome left knee but has been reassured by medical specialists that he will enjoy a long and productive career as long as he understands the benefits of rest and recovery - hence the American journey that was a holiday in the true sense of the word.

So far so good for Scully, at least after one training session. He finished second to Stephen Clifton in the first of the club's time trials and is prepared for a long season that he knows will be difficult.

''I'm under no illusions that it's going to be a tough year or two or three, but one thing we can start building is our competitiveness. If we do that, it will get us through any difficult times that come, and it's up to players like myself, and Phil Davis and Callan Ward, to do that," he said.

More Power to him

In his guise as president of the AFL Players Association, we have heard a bit from Luke Power since the end of last season as the long and complicated negotiations with the AFL over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement continue at their own pace.

But we haven't heard all that much from Power the footballer. The one who retired abruptly from the Brisbane Lions with one match left at the end of last season, but who has now unretired and who will serve the Giants as a player/coach in 2012.

Lions coach Michael Voss had informed Power that he wasn't part of the club's plans in 2012. Power was sought out by the Giants for an off-field role that became a playing role once he decided to pull on the boots again.

"I wasn't upset with it, he told Michael Cowley of The Sydney Morning Herald. "I certainly don't feel I've got anything to prove to Brisbane and I haven't left there in a negative way.

"Vossy [Michael Voss] and the club were honest with me. In life and in footy, all you can ask for is honesty. I've got many great friendships there and it's a great footy club and hopefully I can impart on the young players here some of the things I learnt there. You only get a sore neck looking back. There's no point."

Power will be a good addition to the Giants. With three premierships to his name and a flair for leadership, he will be invaluable for a team finding its feet in the AFL. And the clash with the Lions at the Gabba will be tasty, too.

"I got calls from a few cheeky young blokes there who reckon I won't play that game … Oh don't worry, I'll play it.''

On the road again
The Herald Sun has surveyed all 18 AFL clubs and determined that all but a handful will be travelling interstate or overseas for some kind of training camp. Geelong, Essendon, GWS, Adelaide and Fremantle are largely staying home but at some stage of the pre-season every other club will be packing and moving somewhere.

Richmond is off to Arizona and Hawthorn to the Sunshine Coast, while North Melbourne, Carlton and the Gold Coast are presently away. Collingwood, whose trips to Arizona were the pioneers of it all, will be off on their annual trip later this month.

Essendon football manager Paul Hamilton admitted it was a bit unusual to be staying at home. "We're probably a bit unusual in that regard, most clubs do something," he said.  "But from our point of view we've just got so much teaching to do, the coaches have just got so much they want to teach and so much they want to get done in terms of game plan, the physical side of the game."

In short
Fremantle may throw a lifeline to Brad Dick, delisted by Collingwood at the end of last year after a career cruelled by injury. Dick has returned to his native Perth and The Age reports that a meeting with new Fremantle coach Ross Lyon is already on the cards. The talented forward had both shoulders and both knees reconstructed while at Collingwood.

As Zac Dawson moves on from St Kilda, the club won't be using any of the forthcoming drafts to inject experienced defensive cover. According to the Herald Sun, his replacement will likely come from Tom Simpkin, big man Rhys Stanley and Jackson Ferguson, a 194cm youngster from New South Wales. Daniel Archer, retained as a rookie by the Saints, will also come into the mix.

AFL players have not ruled out the possibility of boycotting next year's NAB Cup if the new CBA hasn't been finalised. The AFLPA player relations general manager, Ian Prendergast, told The Australian that a conference in Lorne in the next few weeks would decide the players' next course of action but said that the deal wasn't completed by December then industrial action during the pre-season competition would become an option.

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