Q.Has Dean Rioli played his last game for the club?
A. I wouldn't think so - Dean is just having a break at the moment and to be quite honest I think that this is going to be happening in football a lot more with the pressures on the players right throughout their careers whether they be 18, 19 or 20 or sometimes even 30 plus. It is a pretty stressful career football particularly the way it is 11 months a year and the amount of media coverage now. I think players will be having a break sometimes during the year as well as not only pre-season. I think Rioli will probably be back in the next month hopefully.
Q.Do you think Dean’s absence will have a negative affect on the team?
A. While Dean is having a break - which I think is needed - we have an opportunity to play a couple of young players and it is quite amazing what happens out of a negative into a positive. We saw that with David Hille on Saturday night with Salmon and Alessio out - Hille and Henneman both played quite well for us.
Q. What do you think about the Swans decision to draft Tony Lockett?
A. The Swans needed some more goal power - if Lockett kicks at least two goals a match, possibly three or four every now and again - that will give them a 40-50 goal kicker for the season. If he achieves that it is an absolute success. I think it was a great coup to get Lockett back to Sydney. I think in the end it will pay them dividends. The hardest thing in the AFL is to get in the top four and get the double chance - and the Swans might be right on the button for this one.
Q. Critics may say it was a wrong decision to draft Paul Salmon – he is already injured. What is your response to this?
A. Some people might think that but from our point of view we needed an extra ruckman. We had an opportunity to get Paul Salmon for half of his payment out of the salary cap - that was important for us as well as helping David Hille, Aaron Henneman and 2001 draftee Simon O'Keefe. In the end I am not that worried about it. In football these days we have to start considering that not every player is going to play 22 matches of the year. Some players are going to play 10 game seasons, some are going to play 15 game seasons. In the past we have always thought about every player having to play every match - I think that is really going to be a thing of the past.
Q. Gary Ablett junior appeared to handle the pressure of his first senior AFL match well –do you agree?
A. He really did - he ran out there and took a sensational mark at top pace - his opponent Mark Johnson was right on his hammer. A lot of people forget one thing about this young boy - he is starting football at 17 years of age and that is something Gary Ablett senior never did - play AFL footy or VFL footy at such a young age. I tell you what I would not like to be playing on this kid at 21 years of age - I would have to consider something else!
Q. How is Joel Reynolds – the grandson of Dick Reynolds shaping up?
A. I was only talking to Mark Harvey and Robert Shaw about this the other day and we think Joel Reynolds will be a terrific player for us. He will probably play AFL footy for us this year - he is not as well built at the moment as say a Gary Ablett junior but Joel Reynolds has got a very good footy brain. If you had to relate it to footy fans he is probably somewhere between Ken Hunter of Carlton and Neale Daniher of Essendon - I tell you what I would be happy with that!
Q. It was reported yesterday in the paper that you have purchased a membership to every Melbourne AFL club – what is your philosophy behind this move?
A. I have been on this for sometime - probably 10-12 years ago. I believe that if every person put $20 in you would never lose a club out of Victoria. Victorian Football Clubs in the AFL are very important to our economy and very important to the longevity to the raising of funds for not only the MCG but also Colonial Stadium.
So I actually thought to myself - if you really believe in what you are talking about you should go out and buy a membership. So I have made a definite step in the right direction and I have asked my assistant Jeanette Curwood to purchase a membership from each club. To me it is something that I think is the right thing because I honestly believe what I am doing.
You look at a club like Geelong - and I know they are down 2000-3000 in membership at the present time and I know what it was like at Essendon in 1992 when we were forced to put some young kids in the side and everyone was starting to feel a little bit of a drop-off on how Essendon were going to perform. Look at Geelong - they are a team out of town just like the Green Bay Packers and they have a young coach just like Lambarti started his coaching career - he got them up and running. Sometimes I feel the people of Geelong are that fortunate that they have their own team, that sometimes they don't deserve the Geelong Football club. They have a great president, a new committee, a young coach and a group of young players. If they don't actually get their membership up to at least 30,000 then maybe one day they won't even have their football club. They need to look at themselves the people of Geelong - I love Geelong and I like their fans - but to me they need to pick it up a bit.
Q.Did you buy a membership for Carlton?
A. I don't mind Carlton - because a lot of people forget one thing in our game - if there is no opposition there is no business!
