Off to dinner now.

If anyone has further updates on Aussie and later Waylen Manson, feel free ...

Off to dinner now.

If anyone has further updates on Aussie and later Waylen Manson, feel free ...

Tiwi struggling and unfortunately, the game looks like becoming a blowout.

Food sounds good.

#NTFL FT at Nightcliff Oval. Nightcliff 23.14 (152) d Tiwi 18.13 (121). M Gugliotta 10 goals #topend.

Austin Winaeamirri quiet and a long way from match fitness.

#NTFL FT at TIO Stadium. St Marys 14.11 (95) d Waratahs 10.10 (70). Darryl White (StM) 3 gls, Kayne Pettifer (Tahs) 5. #stillgotit #topend

Waratahs slump continues and so does Manson's decline. He kicked the first goal of the game, copped a knock during proceedings and faded right out of it. My correspondent describes his form in the past month as "pathetic" - perhaps he just got carried away with the hype.

Fevola stayed at home this week.

The situation also highlights the fact that the policy of flying in players from elsewhere and playing them on an ad hoc basis is ultimately counterproductive.

Sorry RobbieF but Barry himself anticipated a backlash and rightly so. The inference of his words was clear ... indigenous players are a flighty, high maintenance, ill-disciplined lot who too often bleed resources out of the football club. 

 

It's blatant racism and he deserved the public flogging.

R.R.- I understand both sides to this issue- however I understand why Robbie F has supported Barry. 

Surely, Barry can have his point of say, however, I also understand your point re Franklin. It just didn't make sense. Please let us get on with it. WJ has pointed out things very aggressively also,so please leave it alone now, don't you think? 

Ultimate footy comes back soon.

R.R.- I understand both sides to this issue- however I understand why Robbie F has supported Barry. 

Surely, Barry can have his point of say, however, I also understand your point re Franklin. It just didn't make sense. Please let us get on with it. WJ has pointed out things very aggressively also,so please leave it alone now, don't you think? 

Ultimate footy comes back soon.

So why raise it again 3 days later, when it appeared over?

R.R.- I understand both sides to this issue- however I understand why Robbie F has supported Barry. 

Surely, Barry can have his point of say, however, I also understand your point re Franklin. It just didn't make sense. Please let us get on with it. WJ has pointed out things very aggressively also,so please leave it alone now, don't you think? 

Ultimate footy comes back soon.

I'm not sure there are two sides to this particular argument JCB but let's leave it at that. Certainly, if called a 'fraud' I will bite back!

Moving forward ... looking forward to the Ultimate Footy draft

Not this year for WM.

Not this year for WM.

Or ZM for that matter but seriously, I hope his manager takes on board the reasons why 18 AFL clubs all chose to give him a miss.

If Waylen wants to play AFL then he probably will have to commit himself to his WAFL club and come down to Perth to see if he can acclimatise to the week in week out grind of footy life in a city. If he can work thing out, enjoys the life and can improve his all round game there's no reason why he can't give it a shot for next year's drafts. He certainly has the talent.

Or ZM for that matter but seriously, I hope his manager takes on board the reasons why 18 AFL clubs all chose to give him a miss.

If Waylen wants to play AFL then he probably will have to commit himself to his WAFL club and come down to Perth to see if he can acclimatise to the week in week out grind of footy life in a city. If he can work thing out, enjoys the life and can improve his all round game there's no reason why he can't give it a shot for next year's drafts. He certainly has the talent.

If he can do this, then all 18 clubs might kick themselves that they didnt gamble on him......

Likewise if he doesnt come through they might thank their lucky starts ect

For those who might still be interested, Waylen Manson made a timely return to NTFL football and kicked four goals in his team's win yesterday. The Waratahs needed the win against Palmerston because, after winning the first six on end, they've fallen into a hole having only beaten Darwin in the interim.

Darwin is the competition's chopping block regularly losing by in excess of 100 points. Yesterday, Wanderers beat them 32.25 (217) to 0.2 (2).

Yesterday was the first time since the early part of the NTFL season that Brendan Fevola and Waylen Manson played together in the same Waratah team and, in another timely result, they combined to get their team over the line to secure a finals berth.

The 'tahs won 13.16 (94) to Southern Districts 10.11 (71). The Fev, playing his first game since recovering from a spider bite which put him into hospital booted 5 goals and Manson kicked 4.

Their team won the first six games of the season and then won only 1½ games over 9 rounds mainly in the absence of their star "fly in" players. They have now won their last two since Manson's return. Kayne Pettifer is due back next week and Fevola is expected to play again in the finals.

Waratahs' best was diminutive midfielder Tim Mosquito who also created a bit of a buzz earlier in the season.

Waratahs' best was diminutive midfielder Tim Mosquito who also created a bit of a buzz earlier in the season.

Bah boom ...

Waylen Manson disappeared off the face of the earth about a year ago after he failed to gain selection in the AFL National, PSD or Rookie drafts of late 2011.

Ironically, he was initially inspired by Liam Jurrah's journey from Yuendumu to the MCG. He was also from a remote desert community who had a http://m.ntnews.com.au/article/2011/10/26/268521_ntsport.html]dream of an AFL career but it didn't work out after the 18 AFL clubs apparently decided it was all too hard to integrate him into city life and AFL football.

Well, he's back with NTFL side Waratah and has played two games since returning to Darwin in the new year. He was named in the best players in the first game and kicked four goals last weekend against the Tiwi Bombers in a game that's being replayed on ABC1 at 2.30 tomorrow morning (set your VCRs folks).

These games are always good value because they are usually all things that the AFL is not with the constant emphasis on attack making for high scoring results.

We know about the issues that saw Matt Rendell forced out of his Adelaide job but, given the far greater emphasis these days on defence and tactical play, I wonder whether this style of play and the difficulties in changing from the more free wheeling style of the NT is also playing a role in the slight statistical decline in numbers of indigenous players being drafted into AFL ranks.

Well, he's back with NTFL side Waratah and has played two games since returning to Darwin in the new year. He was named in the best players in the first game and kicked four goals last weekend against the Tiwi Bombers in a game that's being replayed on ABC1 at 2.30 tomorrow morning (set your VCRs folks).

If he wants to get looked at seriously as an AFL prospect in the future he needs to move away from the NT leagues. He made a pretty poor impression at draft camp and it will take work to overcome that. A much better move would be to move to Perth or nearby and get into a WAFL side. They play a much higher standard, they would force him to play a more rounded game and he'd be more in the AFL spotlight than playing in the NT. Give it a season or two out there and he could well be another Tom Lee-type pick up.

Yep he's got to get to Perth or Adelaide and even then clubs outside the state he's playing in will be very suspicious I'd suspect.

Matt Rendell said it horribly wrong but the underlying thinking was somewhat correct. It seems at the moment the only indigenous guys getting drafted have already lived away from home (like a Dom Barry) or grow up in very mainstream families in a big city.

I don't think taking all the promising kids when they are 14 or 15 and sending them to boarding schools is necessarily the right answer, you'll crush some of them who don't have the personalities for it regardless of whether its a school like Scotch College or Clontarf or Dandenong Sec.

Waylen Manson disappeared off the face of the earth about a year ago after he failed to gain selection in the AFL National, PSD or Rookie drafts of late 2011.

Ironically, he was initially inspired by Liam Jurrah's journey from Yuendumu to the MCG. He was also from a remote desert community who had a http://m.ntnews.com.au/article/2011/10/26/268521_ntsport.html]dream of an AFL career but it didn't work out after the 18 AFL clubs apparently decided it was all too hard to integrate him into city life and AFL football.

Well, he's back with NTFL side Waratah and has played two games since returning to Darwin in the new year. He was named in the best players in the first game and kicked four goals last weekend against the Tiwi Bombers in a game that's being replayed on ABC1 at 2.30 tomorrow morning (set your VCRs folks).

These games are always good value because they are usually all things that the AFL is not with the constant emphasis on attack making for high scoring results.

We know about the issues that saw Matt Rendell forced out of his Adelaide job but, given the far greater emphasis these days on defence and tactical play, I wonder whether this style of play and the difficulties in changing from the more free wheeling style of the NT is also playing a role in the slight statistical decline in numbers of indigenous players being drafted into AFL ranks.

I think you said it right there.

I give Manson no chance of getting picked up, least of all by a football dept led by Neeld.

Pass, we need to just get our culture right, & then steadied...

not take on too big a projects as this.

maybe in a coupla years.

I think you said it right there.

I give Manson no chance of getting picked up, least of all by a football dept led by Neeld.

They're still fun to watch and I'm grateful that the ABC has seen the light and is screening some of these games (albeit at ridiculous times).

A friend of my daughters is an agent.

He has AFL, RL, Rugby Union, Soccer players and actors on his books.

Has no original Australians.

Reason success rate is too low and 90% are too hard of work.

His view is the chance of getting a good client is too low.

Yep he's got to get to Perth or Adelaide and even then clubs outside the state he's playing in will be very suspicious I'd suspect.

He's had a couple of stints with Claremont before. That would be the first port of call I'd think. See if they were interested in taking him on for a season. They are a good club who have produced some good players. Obviously he'd have to be put on a protein diet and locked in the gym, but I think that's the direction for him.

Great to see Austin Wonaeamirri get among the goals in the end.

I think Anthony Tipungwuti is the Tiwi player who came to Gippsland to play with the Power and was considered a draft chance. Has trained with the Scorpions but I don't know if he's going to come back this way.

Sticking to the NTFL is fairly indicative of where he's at and will continue to be unless he's willing to make the huge changes necessary to play AFL footy.

I'm of the opinion that the stock of NT recruits is at an all-time low. Outside of Jurrah and Wonaeamirri- Carl Peterson would be the most surprising and disappointing in recent times. Came into a premiership winning squad at Hawthorn and genuinely looked fantastic from game 1 at AFL level. Due to homesickness or whatever other reasons, didn't make it to a 2nd year on the list.

Jurrah, Wonaeamirri, Peterson, Zephaniah Skinner, Troy Taylor and Relton Roberts in the past few years. The odds are too heavily weighed in favour of the acquisition not being sustainable.

The way forward for players from remote communities is to play full seasons in WAFL or SANFL. It allows them to adjust to living in a big city and to the life of an elite athlete in 2012 and demonstrates to clubs that they are committed to giving an AFL career a crack. The challenges they face are obviously immense.

I think there should be some sort of spot on the rookie list, similar to the international rookie spot, for clubs to place remote indigenous talents on their list. When you consider spots on an AFL list are at a premium, and the extreme difficulty that these guys have to move to the city and adjust to life as an AFL footballer. I just think we have measures in place to bring over Irishmen and Americans who have never played the game, but I think the time has come to give these guys a better chance at a career.

I am not sure how you would determine what classifies as a remote indigenous player etc, but I think the idea has merit.

Currently watching Waylen playing for Lower Plenty against Heidelberg in the NFL. Very athletic but hasn't done a whole lot but has a huge leap.