What's coming up: Wednesday

Lethal the coach buster
Today’s exclusive - Leigh Matthews busts some of the great myths of coaching. Don’t miss it, Lethal’s stuff is better than gold; it’s diamond.

I see Magpies, gentlemen; release the Cats
Who will replace, or try to replace, Geelong goliath Brad Ottens? And will Daisy Thomas recover from illness in time? Those questions and more will be answered when teams for Thursday night’s mega-buster [yep, that’s bigger than a blockbuster] are released this afternoon. You’ll always find the teams first on afl.com.au.

The last word
Just hours before the Geelong and Collingwood sides are announced, we’ll hear from both coaches. Josh Fraser’s hot form has given Mick Malthouse an ace up his sleeve, given Ottens is out. But we’re banking that Mick will talk down any ruck advantage and turn the focus on to the Cats. Mark Thompson will need to pull a rabbit [or a Trent West, or a Shane Mumford] out of his hat and he’ll tell us how he’s going to do that as well.

Dream Team market report
The groovy guru, Michael Rogers, has been living, breathing and dreaming Toyota AFL Dream Team 2009 and will give us the latest views from snoozeland. Is the Sandman a good pick for half forward, Mike? And why do I wake up with crumbs in my bed?

Alberton, oh Alberton
“I still hear your sea winds blowin'. I still see her dark eyes glowin'. She was 21 when I left Alberton.” No, Glen Campbell isn’t heading to Port Adelaide, we just liked that song. But the Power boys are training down at Alberton this morning and we’ll be there, belting out country and western hits and waiting to ask the curly questions.

Dog pound
Going free to a good home - Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade and players Brian Lake, Ryan Griffen and Daniel Cross will tell us at afl.com.au why you should give them that good home this morning. And they might even talk about football.

The Harveys
According to Wikipedia; the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers, winners of the baseball’s American League, were nicknamed ‘Harvey's Wallbangers’ in reference to the team's alcohol-themed name and its manager, Harvey Kuenn. In 2009, we forecast that Fremantle will come to be known simply as ‘The Harveys’ after the English physician, anatomist, and physiologist who discovered the circulation of blood in the human body. Coach Mark Harvey will discuss our theory after training at Subiaco Oval this morning. Or maybe he’ll just talk about footy.

Leaping Leppitsch
Justin Leppitsch played 44 games for the Bears and 183 for the Lions, but now is best known as a Brisbane Lions assistant coach. And he is becoming quite adept at the art of the media conference. He’ll display those talents again this afternoon as he explains how he and Vossy have planned the demise of the premier-beating Swans this weekend.

Heroes and Knights unite
It is fitting that Carlton and Essendon coaches Brett Ratten and Matthew Knights are getting together to promote Saturday’s match today in the Heroes Stand at Visy Park today. They were both heroic players and are now two of the good guys of the AFL coaching fraternity. That makes them heroes to us.

Don’t forget Deano
Melbourne coach Dean Bailey is getting up bright and early and heading to the Junction Oval for a 9.30am presser. We’ll be there too. Won’t we, Burgo?

Appealing… anyone?
The marathon tribunal session is over and now we wait to see if any of the disgruntled parties lodges an appeal. They’ll need to be quick though, because the appeal window closes this morning.

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