THE LAST Media Watch heard from Ricky Nixon, he was going to focus on his family and his own wellbeing. Those were the reasons he gave for not challenging the two-year suspension the AFLPA agent accreditation board handed him for his admitted "inappropriate dealings" with a teenage girl.
But on Wednesday The Age reported Nixon had commenced making a documentary on his 30-year involvement in football, which will be filmed by one of his clients, documentary maker Deanna Zacek.
Zacek said the documentary would cover Nixon's entire career in football as well as addressing the recent scandal involving the girl.
Discussions with television networks had already commenced, Zacek said.
Nixon confirmed filming of the documentary had commenced but he said he had not decided whether it would be for public consumption. He had to consider the possible impact on his family, he said.
If it goes ahead, and if it does not pull too many punches, the documentary should - like that of Nixon's former client Ben Cousins last year - attract a big audience.
Besides his involvement in the recent scandal that also entangled St Kilda stars Nick Riewoldt, Sam Gilbert and Nick Dal Santo, Nixon has also managed some of the most controversial players of recent times, most notably Gary Ablett snr, Wayne Carey and Cousins.
However, we think Nixon's immediate reaction after he was stripped of his player agent licence was the right one. We can't imagine his family will gain anything from a warts-and-all documentary. Nor will his former clients. And if he dishes up a sanitised puff piece, he'll be slammed by everyone else.
Best to make a clean break and get on with the next stage of your life, Ricky.
Anzac Day games in every state
Kevin Sheedy is nothing if not an ideas man. While Essendon coach. he saw Australia's riches of Indigenous talent as potential goldmines long before most other clubs.
He also dreamed up the Anzac Day game between Essendon and Collingwood, that has become one of the biggest games on the AFL calendar.
Now at GWS, the master coach's brain still ticks over as fast as ever, forever on the look out for his next great idea.
In Wednesday's Herald Sun, he floated yet another plan. Anzac Day football should not be restricted to Melbourne and Perth, where Fremantle now plays its annual Len Hall tribute game, Sheedy said. Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney should also share in the occasion, he said.
"It would be an insult to the Australian Defence Force if we didn't (play a game in those cities)," Sheedy said.
As you'd expect, there is some self-interest at play. GWS enters the AFL next year and Sheedy wants the Giants to share a piece of the lucrative Anzac Day pie.
However, that doesn't mean the idea is without merit.
While he may sometimes resemble a mad professor, Sheedy's strike-rate in transforming wildly ambitious ideas into success stories means he can never be ignored.
Sav Rocca's retrospective recognition
As the anticipation builds for this year's instalment of the Collingwood-Essendon Anzac Day rivalry, it was fun to revisit the clubs' first Anzac Day clash with that game's hero, Saverio Rocca, in the Herald Sun.
Rocca kicked 9.2 in that thrilling 1995 encounter that ended in a draw.
While the Collingwood or Essendon player judged best on ground in this year's Anzac Day clash will be presented with the Anzac Medal, Rocca missed out, with the award not introduced until the 2000 match.
Which has prompted Essendon, Collingwood, the AFL, Channel 10 and the Herald Sun to revisit the 1995-99 games this week and award retrospective Anzac Medals.
On Wednesday, the tabloid started with the inaugural clash and a judging panel, consisting of its chief football writer Mike Sheahan, Channel 10's Stephen Quartermain and AFL chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan, awarded Rocca the 1995 'medal'. Voting on a 3-2-1 basis, the panel awarded Rocca the maximum nine votes.
Rocca told the Herald Sun that Anzac Day match had been his best individual game. But he said no one had appreciated just how good the player who finished second in the retrospective vote, Nathan Buckley, would ultimately become.
"He just got better in leaps and bounds," Rocca said.
If you needed any proof football is a game of highs and lows, Rocca then spoke of his sacking by Collingwood at the end of 2000 in a separate piece by Sheahan.
Despite offering to take a pay cut in an effort to play out his career with the Magpies and brother Anthony, coach Mick Malthouse delisted Rocca.
"It was devastating … it just felt like the heart was ripped out of me," Rocca said.
In a testament to his character, Rocca bounced back. He went on to play for another six seasons for North Melbourne and, at 37, is now starring as a punter in America's NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles.
GWS and Swans targeting other codes' young talent
Much has been made of the AFL's success in enticing former rugby league stars Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folau to defect from the NRL to the AFL.
Recent speculation the NRL will try to win both players back when they come out of contract with Gold Coast and GWS respectively has sparked emotive headlines in New South Wales and Queensland papers that scream of player wars.
On Wednesday, The Daily Telegraph ran a story headed "GWS start code wars on kids".
But this was a story with a difference. It did not pit the AFL and NRL against each other in a battle for established stars.
Rather, it reported GWS's plans to use its junior player academy to snare the best junior sporting talent from other codes in western Sydney, New South Wales's south coast and western New South Wales.
GWS Academy coach Paul Kelly said one of his aims was to identify talented youngsters in other codes and transform them into AFL players, ideally at the Giants.
The approach makes sense. As we've seen with Hunt and Folau, making the transition to Australian Football is not easy. The younger players start, the better.
The advent of the GWS Academy and that of the Sydney Swans is sure to make some in rugby league circles nervous.
But essentially all the academies will do is offer kids in New South Wales another sporting option.
And there's nothing wrong with a bit of healthy competition is there?
In short
Essendon and Richmond are in discussions to play a pre-season match in India next year, with Mumbai the preferred location, The Age reports.
Port Adelaide coach Matthew Primus told The Advertiser Kane Cornes would not be recalled from the SANFL to tag Gold Coast captain Gary Ablett, saying if he was to return this Saturday, it would be in his new role across half-back and the wing.
Carlton chief executive Greg Swann told The Australian the Blues hoped to finalise a long-term contract extension for star midfielder Marc Murphy within a month.
While some have blamed Adelaide's loss to Port Adelaide last Saturday on coach Neil Craig's inability to come up with a 'Plan B', debutants Luke Thompson and Matthew Wright told The Advertiser the Crows' inability to win contested possessions was the main cause.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
