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Long-time feud finally finishes One of footballs longest cold wars finally thawed this week when, after 14 years, North Melbournes football boss Geoff Walsh broke bread again with Kangaroos former dual premiership coach, Denis Pagan.The pair, who guided the Kangaroos to the 1996 and 1999 premierships and were once great friends, had not spoken since late 2002. That all changed on Tuesday at OConnells pub in South Melbourne.The source of their angst revolved, of course, around money.Walsh, as CEO at the time, put a revised contract to Pagan in 2002 but it was considerably less than the coach felt he deserved. The club was in a precarious financial position at the time and Pagan was being handsomely remunerated as it was, so Walsh suggested a revamped deal that was more performance-based and involved a smaller base salary.Their last conversation was at the Hilton Hotel at the end of that season when Walsh said to Pagan: So what are you doing: are you staying or going?Pagan knocked back the deal, and shortly afterwards accepted an offer from Carlton president John Elliott to coach the Blues, causing a massive rift with not just the Roos but his old mate Walshy.These days a successful real estate agent in Moonee Ponds, Pagan, at 68, was philosophical when discussing the get-together with Walsh, and veteran football journalist Mike Sheahan, and how age mellowed even the fieriest of temperaments.You get older and a bit more mature, Pagan told ESPN this week. And I realised Id been shooting the messenger, which is unfair.We had a great lunch together talking about some of the funny things that happened in our time at North - and there were plenty. You forget what a good bloke he is ...!The pair will catch up again at Norths 20-year premiership anniversary gala ball on Friday night, and then again at a players reunion at a pub on Saturday, when they will have the even bigger job of reconciling the clubs captain and vice-captain from that era, Wayne Carey and Anthony Stevens.Ross as ruthless as ever Fremantle coach Ross Lyon has proved he is as ruthless as ever, even though his team is languishing near the bottom of the ladder with a 3-11 win-loss record.Following the Dockers lacklustre 48-point loss to Collingwood at the MCG on Friday night, Lyon refused to allow his Victorian-raised players to stay in Melbourne ahead of the clubs bye weekend.Ten players took to the field in the Round 14 loss who were recruited from Victoria - David Mundy, Zac Dawson, Hayden Crozier, Nick Suban, Zach Clarke, Michael Barlow, Matthew Taberner, Darcy Tucker, Tom Sheridan and Sam Collins.Instead, they were forced to return to Perth for three days of recovery and review, before being allowed to fly back home.Players are traditionally allowed to return to, or remain in, their home state immediately after their last match leading into the bye round.But the notoriously hard-nosed Lyon decided his players hadnt earned that privilege, as last years minor premiers endure a season from hell. Their only wins have come against lowly-ranked Essendon, Brisbane and Port Adelaide.MCC search begins All eyes now turn to the Melbourne Cricket Club, which is seeking a new chief executive for the first time in 17 years following the retirement of Stephen Gough.Goughy as everyone knows him, had a fair old innings. He started out as a teacher and part-time scout at Carlton before joining the Blues full-time as recruiting manager.From there he became football manager and then chief executive, before taking the job with the MCC, one of the plum assignments in Australian sport.Gough was the first MCC CEO (before he started the quaint job title was secretary) with a football background and with former Melbourne ruckman Stephen Smith now the club president, it is the first time the winter game has delivered the two most powerful positions at the MCC.Some would say, given the revenue the winter game delivers to the MCC, it was about time.The MCC has promised a global search to find Goughs replacement, but youd have to think it is the sort of position to be filled by a local. Brit Paul Serjeant replaced Ian Collins as the head of Etihad Stadium and his failure to understand the role and the importance of the AFL is one reason why he didnt last all that long.The shame is that Brian Cook recently signed a contract extension to remain as chief executive of Geelong, because to run the MCG would be the crowning achievement of what has been a brilliant career in sports administration.Perhaps an administrator with a background in cricket will take charge once again.Whoever gets the job at the MCC will come well credentialed and well prepared. It is hard to think of a peak Australian sports organisation that goes about its business with as little fuss and controversy.Mosquito fleet? Continuing a long tradition of exotic names in Australian football, Vic Country last week fielded a youngster in the under-16s carnival called Irving Mosquito.Joining the likes of Nakia Cockatoo and Che Cockatoo-Collins, Mosquito is an indigenous player who hails from Maffra in Gippsland.A small forward-flanker type with plenty of skill, he played in Vic Countrys under-16 team last weekend, alongside (among others) Bill Brownless son Oscar, against Vic Metro.And the word is he goes all right, making newspaper headline writers around the country positively rub their hands together with glee.Ex-VFL star saunters over the ditch One of the greatest players to never play AFL has been poached to lead a rugby fortress across the ditch.VFL legend Nick Sautner has been appointed general manager of New Zealands Eden Park - the countrys largest stadium.Sautner, a nine-time Ian Frosty Miller medallist as the VFLs leading goalkicker, was previously chief commercial operator and general manager at Melbournes Etihad Stadium, where he was being groomed to be the heir to outgoing chief executive Ian Collins.But he was sensationally sacked in June 2013 after it was revealed he traded lucrative Medallion Club tickets for goods and services, including meat from a butcher, a car battery, and flowers for his girlfriend.The Sandringham Zebras champion later became chief commercial officer of the West Australian Football Commission.The flamboyant Saunter, who booted 873 goals in an outstanding 260-game VFL career, is considered one of the unluckiest players to never make it onto an AFL list after more than a decade dominating the goal square in second-tier leagues.His most recent appointment could prove a coup for St Kilda. Sautner, a Saints fan, should be in the ideal position to help the club achieve its goal of playing regular games in New Zealand.The fix is in The anomalies in the dogs breakfast known as the annual AFL fixture are many and varied.There are so many non-negotiables that have to be factored into the draw - blockbusters between the biggest-drawing Melbourne teams, two derbies in the four AFL states outside Victoria, Anzac Day, Queens Birthday and Dreamtime games, and so on - that the end result becomes a contrived, compromised mess.This means that North Melbourne have more consecutive six-day breaks (six) in 2016 than any other team. Yet four of their likely top-eight opponents (Geelong, Adelaide, Western Bulldogs, GWS) have precisely zero consecutive six-day breaks.Its the first time in a couple of years any club has had more than two consecutive six-day breaks in a season. Little wonder the Roos were looking a little tired and bedraggled against Adelaide last Thursday, having come off two straight six-day breaks, against a team that had just enjoyed a bye round.GWS played Geelong in Round 2 and Round 11, and cross-town rivals Sydney in Round 3 and Round 12, but dont play North Melbourne at all until Round 23. Then, if both teams have shored up places in the top-eight and cant improve their finals position, its possible itll be dead rubber anyway.As we say, a contrived, compromised mess.RANDOM STATS OF THE WEEK:218 - The number of games Geelongs Joel Selwood has played before reaching 50 losses. Which is a heck of a record, but still some way behind Harry Collier who played 231 games in Collingwoods all-conquering era of the 1920s and 30s before experiencing his 50th defeat.435 - Most disposals by a Brownlow Medallist after 14 rounds - St Kildas Robert Harvey in 1998. Funnily enough, the same number as Paddy Dangerfield has racked up at the same stage this year.212 - ESPNs very own Nick Riewoldt is set to join Ted Whitten in third spot on the all-time VFL/AFL captains ladder when he leads St Kilda out in his 212th game this weekend. Stephen Kernahan (Carl) leads the way as the most capped captain with 226 games, followed by Dick Reynolds (Ess) on 224 and now Riewoldt and Whitten on 212.Air Max 720 Uomo . -- Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson asked his players a simple question during Fridays morning shootaround: How many of them had ever been on a team 14 games over . Air Max 97 Uomo Saldi . Argentina winger Ezequiel Lavezzi and France midfielder Blaise Matuidi scored, with star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic setting up both despite having a poor game by his high standards. Forward Eduardo gave Ajaccio the lead in the sixth minute after being set up by right winger Benjamin Andre, and the Corsican side looked comfortable in the first half, with the lively Johan Cavalli causing problems with his probing runs from midfield. http://www.nikejustdoit.it/air-vapormax-scontate/vapormax-inneva.html . -- PGA TOUR Canada member Steve Saunders took a three-stroke lead Saturday in the Web. Nike Air Max 270 Donne . Miller reached right to deflect Mikhail Grabovskis attempt with just over 2 minutes remaining in regulation, and then made two more saves in the shootout Sunday to give the Sabres a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals. Nike Just Do It Scarpe Uomo . LOUIS -- Theres no telling how these wacky World Series games will end.MANCHESTER, England -- Its been one long love letter between Michael Bisping and this city all weekThe support you guys show me melts my heart every time, he said in his postfight interview in the Octagon at the Manchester Arena. He had just secured a dramatic unanimous decision win over Dan Henderson to ensure a successful first middleweight title defense in the UFC 204 main event.Thank you all from the bottom of my heart, Manchester. Come on!The 37-year-old who grew up down the road in the Lancashire town of Clitheroe had a face resembling that of the Elephant Man, courtesy of a few H-Bombs thrown by Henderson. The retiring American knocked Bisping down once in each of the first two rounds but was unable to finish him.Somehow, the Briton found a way both times to get to the buzzer and survive. The 21,000-strong partisan crowd roaring him on can surely take some credit for that.Each time Bisping fell to the mat, the British fans leaped to their feet and urged their man to get to his. They went through their entire songbook, with favorites such as? Stand up if you love Bisping and Walking in a Bisping wonderland.The middleweight champion was in serious danger of suffering the same fate that befell him in his first fight against Henderson, at UFC 100 in 2009. That brutal knockout is often on display in the all-time UFC highlight reel and Bisping avoided watching it for seven years until the rematch for this fight was booked and his preparations for UFC 204 had started.This guy knocked me out cold. Cold. Worst knockout in UFC history, Bisping said, as he paid respect to Henderson, who confirmed this would indeed be his last fight. The jitters I had this week -- look at my face, for crying out loud. You know what this guy can do to you.What Henderson can do to you is put you in the hospital -- and he did precisely that to Bisping, who skipped his post-fight press conference to get his facial wounds checked out by a doctor.Henderson, on the other hand, was applauded in and out of his news conference by every member of the media present.?Thank you, I appreciate that, he said. In doing so, he bowed out with the same humility that has made him such a well-respected and loved figure in mixed martial arts.One last impassioned plea -- had he changed his mind at all about retiring?No, no, Henderson said with a smile. Unfortunately that was the last one, and itll have to be an L on my record. But I left it all in there. I felt I did everything I needed to do to win the fight. Unfortunately everybody didnt see it that way.That was also the topic of his conversation with White inside the Octagon after the fight.I think we were talking about the score, and he was surprised that it wasnt a 10-8 round [in the first round], which wouldve made it a draw at the very least, depending on that fifth round. That was about it. He just expressed to me that it was an awesome fight.That first round couldve indeed been a 10-8 -- in the end, all three judges scored the fight in Bispings favor: 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47 -- with Bispings face rendered a bloody mess.The H-Bomb in the opening round left Bisping with massive swelling below his good left eye, not the right eye in which he suffered a detached retina from a knoockout head kick in a defeat to Vitor Belfort in 2013, an injury which kept him out for over a year.ddddddddddddHenderson looked gassed as he strolled to his chair after his unsuccessful efforts to finish Bisping in the first two rounds. Bisping was then able to take control with his continual movement and superior cardio in the third.For the first time in five years, Henderson went into a fourth round, and perhaps luckily for him, was able to catch his breath when referee Yves Lavigne allowed him some time to recover, having been caught by an accidental low blow.He then appeared to have been galvanized by a pep talk from his corner as he prepared for one final battle.This is your entire life, his trainer screamed at him, fighting to be heard above the din of 21,000 screaming British fans, who showed no signs of tiredness despite the clock ticking past 5:30 a.m. local time, when all was said and done.You want that belt? Lets go get it. This is your last-ever one.?Henderson came out swinging in the fifth, looking to land one final H-Bomb to give a fairy-tale ending to a storied career, to ride off into the sunset with UFC gold at the age of 46.The first round, it was almost finished real close, said Henderson in his news conference. I thought that was obviously a 10-8 round. But you never know. I thought I won the first two rounds, he won the third and fourth. And I wanted to make sure I went out and won the fifth. And I felt like I did that, went out and took him down. Landed some decent shots on him. I didnt feel hurt once in the whole fight from anything, with the exception of one leg kick that hurt my thigh a little bit. Obviously by looking at him, he felt some of the shots that I hit him with.?Before this fight I felt like I accomplished enough in this sport, and I was satisfied with that. But obviously there was one more thing I really wanted to do, and really worked my ass off during training camp and thought I was ready to get it done. Yeah, Im a little frustrated feeling like I did get it done, and didnt get any credit for it, I guess. It is what it is now, theres no changing that. I just gotta live with it.Henderson had initially been given the pantomime villain treatment -- his name was roundly booed in the introductions but was chanted by almost everyone inside the Manchester Arena after the fight.?Give it up for Dan Henderson, Bisping urged the crowd, who responded with a unanimous chorus of Hendo! Hendo!?He just kicked my ass, man. Dan, good job. Hes tough as old boots. Youve gotta respect a legend.Henderson finishes with a 32-15 record and a legacy as one of the great MMA fighters.When it comes time to close the book on his own career, Bisping may also be afforded the status of legend, for this was a record-breaking 20th UFC victory for him.More satisfying for Bisping, though, was doing his hometown proud. As he promised in the buildup to the fight, there was no way he was going to lose in Manchester, not in front of his entire family, and the emotion he showed when he was announced the winner proved this was the sweetest moment of his career. ' ' '