BEFORE football followers turn their attention to the biggest show in the universe this weekend, there is more than passing interest in tonight's VFL grand final at Docklands between Northern Bullants and North Ballarat.
Jarrod McCorkell, who played with Warrnambool in last year's HFNL grand final, will line up with the Bullants.
Former Mortlake and Camperdown coach Gerard FitzGerald guides the fortunes of North Ballarat, which is chasing back-to-back flags.
MOVIE aficionados will readily identify The Birds as a 1963 Alfred Hitchcock horror masterpiece.
AFL television viewers circa 2009 are re-living the nightmare trying to filter footballers from feathers.
The MCG's resident seagull population appears to have grown to plague proportions just in time for the most important games of the season.
So the bird's-eye view television footage is providing wonderful vision of flying chip scavengers swooping in and out of focus - punctuated by the odd piece of football action.
Our solution is to encourage all MCG patrons tomorrow to buy buckets of chips and leave them outside the ground.
ONE observant Hampden league follower thought the result of the last two grand finals at Reid Oval was an apt response to critics of the venue selection.
Warrnambool was involved in both games, drawing the inevitable protests about giving the Blues a home-ground advantage. History shows they lost to Terang Mortlake in 2008 and Koroit in 2009.
My long-standing view on finals grounds is that they should always be neutral, which would neutralise this needless debate.
MARK Finnigan is the latest success story in a growing list of current and former south-west players making their mark in the West Kimberley Football League.
Finnigan, who grew up on a dairy farm at Toolong and played with Port Fairy, coached the Towns under 16 team to successive premierships. His young side opened a 30-point lead against Cable Beach and held on to win by seven.
Finnigan, who also coaches the WKFL under 19 side, embraced the local football culture after settling in Broome four years ago.
"I was passing through and decided to stay,'' he explained. "The weather is fantastic and it's a very laid-back lifestyle.''
Finnigan says the football is also different. "It's a very fast, very open style of footy with a lot of indigenous players. The Kimberley is an untapped resource, I think, for the talent to go further.''
After joining Broome's football community Finnigan soon discovered plenty of familiar faces, including Cable Beach coach Tony Russell, Broome Saints coach Neil Bourke and Towns players Tim Ward and Luke Henry.
Cable Beach claimed the senior premiership, defeating Peninsula Bombers.
CLOSER to home, football exports helped Uni Blues get across the line in the VAFA reserves grand final last weekend.
Among their number were Quinton Gleeson (Koroit), Benjamin Mugavin (South Warrnambool), Patrick Smith (South Warrnambool), Benjamin Millard (South Warrnambool), Tim Fitzgerald (Derrinallum) and David Brady (Tatyoon).
In the seniors, Andy Ryan, a former Emmanuel College student was also successful with Old Xaverians.
THE Finnigan name was a lucky one at HFNL grand finals.
Sisters Meleita and Emily-Rose Finnigan won an A grade netball premiership with Warrnambool - defeating Koroit - while their older brother Aaron was involved with Koroit's senior football premiership as a runner - defeating Warrnambool.
A NUMBER of procedural issues were questioned during the last sitting of the HFNL independent tribunal and some beg further clarification.
Former AFL players' advocate Gary Ayres, who is now a VCFL investigator, successfully defended Koroit's Chris McLaren from a high contact charge. During the hearing Ayres unsuccessfully challenged the right of Terang Mortlake advocate Jim Bell to cross-examine some witnesses.
Then the tribunal chairman Peter Burke ruled Bell could not participate in the summary process, in apparent contradiction of the regular process.
Under the VCFL 2009 rule book section on tribunal procedure, the tribunal chairman is encouraged to ask for summing up by advocates for the umpire, charged player and offended player.
In most cases the offended players' advocate doesn't take up the offer but on this occasion we understand the party concerned had a fair bit to say.
It included a vital piece of information about why Terang Mortlake player Tom McKenzie never left the field after being bumped by McLaren. Apparently the Bloods had no fit players to replace him.
Would it have changed the tribunal outcome? As an observer in the case I doubt it but as the time-honoured legal maxim suggests: justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done.
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