Murri man sparks life into LionsEVEN West Coast fans would find it hard to begrudge Brisbane forward Rhan Hooper's stirring four-goal effort that helped spark the Lions to defeat their side on Saturday. It is, after all, a story of redemption, albeit less celebrated than that of former Eagle, Ben Cousins.
Sporting a clean-shaven dome where once his trademark curly locks resided, Hooper's second-quarter heroics for Brisbane in their Round 1 AFL clash with West Coast at the weekend brought only a measured response from rookie coach Michael Voss today.
Hooper, 21, narrowly avoided the sack from Brisbane and was fined a massive $40,000 for repeated breaches of his player contract in January. But he responded on Saturday with a match-turning four goals that helped turned his side's 38-point deficit in the second quarter to a nine-point win at the 'Gabba.
Voss, however, wasn't getting carried away.
"Look, I don't want to sound bad about it but we've played round one -- we are about consistency," Voss said. "There's plenty through history who have played great one game and not been on an AFL list in six weeks' time. (So) let's be clear: One game does not make a player. What one game does is hopefully instil belief that they can do it. Now it's about application over a consistent basis week in, week out."
Hooper duly took his cue from his coach when he said: "Give me two more games," after declining a post-match interview. Voss took Hooper under his wing as a training partner in the pre-season once the youngster's club-imposed ban was complete.
Hooper, who first lived at Cunnamulla and Charleville in western Queensland until he was seven, took up football first in Melbourne as a junior then in Ipswich when his family returned to Queensland. He caught the eye of Lions recruiters and was later selected by the club with pick No.41 in the 2005 national draft.
Goodes charged after bumping umpireIN other AFL news from Round 1 at the weekend, Sydney Swans co-captain Adam Goodes has been charged with a 'first offence for making negligent contact with an umpire (Ray Chamberlain) during the fourth quarter of the Round 1 match between the Sydney Swans and St Kilda' on Saturday night.
An early plea will see Goodes cop a $1950 fine, a reduction from the $2600 fine for a first offence of player-umpire contact.
Meantime, Melbourne's Austin Wonaeamirri faces more time on the sidelines after suffering a setback in his rehabilitation from a hamstring injury. The Tiwi man originally sustained the injury in the NAB Cup match against Hawthorn on February 21 but reinjured it at training last week.
"Aussie has had a reoccurrence of his hamstring injury that he suffered in the first round of the NAB Cup down in Tassie against Hawthorn," Melbourne football operations manager Craig Notman told MelbourneFC.com.au. "He's out for another four weeks now, which is quite disappointing. To hurt the hammy and re-injure it again means he'll probably be out for a month.
"It's put him back about the same amount of time he missed initially, which is disappointing. We won’t rush him as he's done the same hamstring twice in that period of time. We'll make sure he gets it right and be very diligent, as he will too, so he's then right to go. But it doesn't take long for four weeks to come around in a footy season, so he'll be back soon."
And Notman said Dees defender Matthew Whelan was another 'two or three weeks' away from returning from a calf injury.
DARREN MONCRIEFF
Darren@AboriginalFootball.com.au
Monday, March 30, 2009
Last Modified on 30/03/2009 22:20