making sure high-priority Test tours, one-day tours,

Richmond have defended their signing of Chris Yarran, arguing potential mental health issues shouldnt mean an AFL player becomes unrecruitable.Yarran left the club on Tuesday without playing a game for the Tigers.The defender struggled with injury and mental illness this year after leaving Carlton at the end of the 2015 season.Tigers football boss Neil Balme on Wednesday rejected any suggestions Yarran was a risky recruitment because of perceived concerns around his susceptibility to mental health problems.You cant say it was a bad decision because it didnt work out, Balme told SEN radio.Do you think then that, say, Sydney shouldnt have taken a risk on Lance Franklin? Hes had some issues with mental health. Was it a good idea to do that or not? Clearly it was.Lets not talk about that. Lets just say, is it worth helping these young men and take a risk to help them to play the game they want to play? Surely it is.Sometimes they dont work out.Yarran hired a personal coach and tried to rebuild his fitness over the last few weeks before training with the Tigers on Monday.His agent Paul Connors said Yarran realised the following day he couldnt maintain an AFL workload for the whole year, instead returning home to Perth to be with his family.The demands and rigours of AFL, for him to do it day-in day-out, was just going to be too much, Connors told RSN radio.He knew he didnt want to put teammates through this for another year.Yarran is not the only player to spend time away from the game due to mental health issues - the list includes recently delisted Geelong forward Mitch Clark and Fremantles Cam McCarthy.AFL operations manager Mark Evans admitted the league had failed to fully understand the complex issues around mental health of players.Some of those things I dont think we understand what it would be like for a player who has mental health issues who is then getting trolled pretty hard through social media, Evans told SEN.Yarran played 119 AFL games with the Blues before being traded for draft pick No.19.Balme said the Tigers would not stand in Yarrans way if he chose to play in the WAFL. Custom Avalanche Jerseys . Ronaldo produced a spectacular individual performance on Tuesday, scoring all three goals and guiding Portugal into the next years World Cup in Brazil with a 3-2 victory in Sweden. The Real Madrid forward has scored 66 goals in 2013, but the last three may be the boost he needs to upstage Messi after FIFA unexpectedly extended the voting period for the Ballon dOr to Nov. Rob Ramage Jersey Large . That left plenty of energy for pitching books and swatting away free agency questions. Anthony had 24 points and nine rebounds, and the Knicks avenged an embarrassing home loss with a rout of their own, beating the Boston Celtics 114-88 on Wednesday night for their third straight victory. http://www.customavalanchejersey.com/ . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. Avalanche Jerseys China . PETERSBURG, Fla. Cheap Custom Avalanche Jersey .2 billion agreement with Rogers Communications for the leagues broadcast and multimedia rights. This week I had a thoroughly enjoyable dinner and reunion in Sydney with South Australias oldest living Test player, Gavin The Ox Stevens. Despite his physical presence, as highlighted by the nickname, Stevens is lucky to have survived this long, as he became extremely ill on Australias 1959-60 tour of Pakistan and India and never played another first-class game.Adding to the enjoyment of the evening, Stevens was joined by his former opening partner at Glenelg and South Australia, Ron Haddrick. Stevens was in Sydney to enjoy a performance of My Fair Lady and coincidentally Haddrick, one of Australias finest actors, played the part of Alfred Doolittle in his youth. Haddrick probably enjoys the distinction of being the only person to have played at the picturesque Adelaide Oval and the iconic Royal Shakespeare Theatre.Prior to our dinner, I came across an old photo (above), dated October 28, 1952. There in black and white on the new Glenelg Oval scoreboard were the names Haddrick, Stevens and Chappell. The Chappell was my father, Martin, and as I gazed at the photo I was struck by the talent in that club side. There were six Sheffield Shield players and, apart from Stevens, opening bowler Geff Noblet also played Test cricket.Its amazing how success in a region seems to have a flow-on effect. Operating the scoreboard that day in 1952 was 13-year-old Don Rice, who went on to play baseball for South Australia and Australia. Alongside him was 12-year-old Bob Touhy, who became a successful professional golfer and respected tournament director. There was also a nine-year-old (obviously the most expendable), sent up the ladder to change the name of the outgoing batsman, who later played baseball alongside Rice and captained Australia in cricket on 30 occasions.Having been regaled with stories by Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri about how they were encouraged by senior players in their youth, Im aware this is not a situation unique to Australia. Gavaskar continued the trend by gifting a pair of his ppads to encourage a young Sachin Tendulkar, so its not hard to understand why Mumbai gained and retained a reputation for producing highly competitive cricketers.dddddddddddd On further reflection I pondered the effect of what today would be called mentoring but was simply good old common courtesy back in 1952 on sports-mad young kids.In addition to Martins part in siring three boys who all played Test cricket, he shaped both our attitude and aptitude for sport. However, he wasnt alone, as many of the names on that scoreboard helped and encouraged a number of kids in the Glenelg district. At that time there was also a ten-year-old running around the club named David Sincock, who went on to be a prodigious spinner of the ball for both South Australia and Australia.At the regular Sunday Glenelg club picnics, the adults would organise a game of cricket with the kids before they got on with the serious business of tapping the keg and conducting a beer-sculling competition. To be not only recognised by these famous names in the district but also encouraged was a big boost to kids who had their own dreams of playing at Adelaide Oval.I have fond memories of time spent in the dressing room with these players I looked up to, and it had a positive effect on my development. In addition to being good sportsmen, many of them prospered later in life.In their midst were some great characters. I loved to hear tales of the end-of-season club trips. How Haddrick clambered onto the bar of a country pub to recite Shakespeare and then, in the interests of providing light and shade, club stalwart Howard Sam Starling followed with his version of The Farting Contest.Our reunion in Sydney was a chance to reflect on my good fortune in growing up surrounded by the strong smell of success. Id love to say it made two old guys very happy but Id be lying; it gave great joy to three old men. ' ' '