"Mummy's boys are home now"

Happier times... Brisbane's draft class of 2011 (from left) Sam Docherty, Elliott Yeo, Patrick Weardon and Billy Longer. Source: News Limited

THE "Go Home Five" will not be missed at the Gabba.

The homesick Lions quintet of Billy Longer (St Kilda), Jared Polec (Port Adelaide), Sam Docherty (Carlton), Elliot Yeo (West Coast) and Patrick Karnezis (Collingwood) all returned to their home states in the last two days of AFL Trade period, effectively wiping out the 2010 and 2011 draft for Brisbane.

Lions stars Tom Rockliff and Pearce Hanley took to Twitter to fire parting shots at the departing players, with Hanley tagging his message #mummiesboysarehomenow.

Senior Brisbane players are also livid at the five young guns suggesting homesickness struck when they were unable to secure a regular place in the senior side.

New Brisbane senior coach Justin Leppitsch did his best to convince Longer, Yeo and Docherty to stay.

Karnezis and Polec were lost causes. Neither attended the Brisbane club champion dinner last month while Karnezis left for Melbourne before Brisbane's NEAFL commitments were completed.

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$50m plan for Perth to play Hollywood

WA film producer Stephen Van Mil at the proposed site for the $50 million Warner-Bros style film studio at Murdoch University. Picture: Will Russell Source: PerthNow

A $50 million Hollywood-style film studio is being proposed for Perth.

Perth film producer Stephen Van Mil said he hoped work would begin on the new complex next year and that it would open in 2016.

He said the studio would include a 260-room hotel for cast and crew, bars, restaurants, a convention centre, cinema and a gymnasium.

An artist's impression of the $50 million film studio at Murdoch University. Picture: Will Russell Source: PerthNow

Mr Van Mil said the facility would allow the local film industry to become internationally competitive.

Talks were under way with Murdoch University for the complex to be built on university land.

"We don't have a proper studio here and no post production studios of any note,'' Mr Van Mil said.

WA film producer Stephen Van Mil at the proposed site for the $50 million Warner-Bros style film studio at Murdoch University. Picture: Will Russell Source: PerthNow

"It's remarkable we're getting any films made here.''

What do you think of the plan? Have your say below

WA has had a number of hit films made in the state in recent years.

In 2011, local producer Nelson Woss's Red Dog made more than $21 million at the box office, becoming the eighth highest grossing Australian film ever.

The 2010 film adaptation of the stage show, Bran Nue Dae, was filmed in Broome, with stars including Jessica Mauboy and Missy Higgins.

This year, major film projects in Perth have included Son of a Gun, starring Ewan McGregor, The Turning (based on a Tim Winton novel) with Cate Blanchett and Kill Me Three Times with Simon Pegg.

Mr Van Mil said the studio complex began to take shape after a chance meeting with an executive of a UK film studio franchise company, Extraordinary Ltd.

The project was hoped to be run as a joint venture between Murdoch university and a WA company set up to manage it.

Overseas investors were expected to take equity in the local company, through Extraordinary. It was also hoped to attract local investors.

An artist's impression of the $50 million film studio at Murdoch University. Picture: Will Russell Source: PerthNow

Mr Van Mil said local film makers were currently using make-shift facilities at a former nursing home on the Nedlands foreshore.

"The beauty of this design is that no studio anywhere has the foresight to put in the accomodation for the cast and crew,'' he said.

"This way everyone stays at the one place.''

He said a 1973 book which looked at the critical elements that made Los Angeles the film capital of the world mentioned Perth's similarity.

Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies noted: "Los Angeles' notable rival, in fact, is Rio de Janeiro (though the open ocean-beaches of Los Angeles are preferable in many ways) and its only rival in potential is, probably, Perth, Western Australia", Mr Van Mil said.

Mr Van Mil's production company Impian Films is currently working on a several projects, including The Drowner, based on the life of CY O'Connor.

He said production and post-production film companies would be invited to take up residence at the new facility, creating a local film hub.

Murdoch University vice chancellor Professor Richard Higgott said today the university was excited about the proposal.

He said he met with Extraordinary Ltd CEO Chris Samwells and Mr Van Mil last week.

"I certainly share their excitement and enthusiasm for the possibility of having WA's first studio facility as part of our campus,'' he said.

"I was also able to meet with some of the investors who will underwrite the project.''

Mr Higgott said the university was looking forward to receiving a formal proposal for the project soon.

"It is anticipated that such a complex would be located on Murdoch's eastern precinct, however an exact location would not be determined by the university until we have seen the formal proposal,'' he said.

Professor Higgott said the facility would give Murdoch students the chance to get practical experience in world-class facilities.

The hotel would also provide a conference facility for the university.

Extraordinary Ltd CEO Chris Samwells this week reportedly told US film industry news site Hollywood Reporter that he hoped complexes in Perth and Spain would become the first of six micro-movie studios around the world.

The company also had eyes on Goa in India, the Caribbean island of Tobago, Winnipeg in Canada and Las Cruces in New Mexico.

Mr Samwells' attempt to launch a studio operation in Spain a few years ago failed amid an economic crisis in the country, according to the news site.

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Miners evacuated after pop star visit

Jessica Mauboy performs at Cloudbreak shortly before the evacuation began.

The fire as seen from the camp at Cloudbreak yesterday. Source: PerthNow

Jessica Mauboy was playing a gig at the Cloudbreak mine shortly before the camp was evacuated. Source: PerthNow

Smoke billows above the Cloudbreak mine as buses line up outside. Source: Supplied

Fire appears dangerously close to miner's  accommodation dongas at Cloudbreak. Source: Supplied

TIRED workers have been evacuated from the Cloudbreak iron ore mine after a fire started by lightning escalated overnight.

Up to 2000 workers are being transported from the Fortescue Metals Group mine site in the Pilbara region to their nearby Solomon Hub.

The bushfire as seen from Cloudbreak yesterday. Source: PerthNow

An FMG worker told PerthNow the fire broke out at the Cloudbreak site, about 170km north of Newman, some time early Wednesday morning, possibly from lightning.

Are you near the fire? Send us pics or let us know here

Workers were at the Cloudbreak pub last night watching Jessica Mauboy live on stage when they were told to evacuate.

"Everyone was partying and having a good time, watching Jess, and then we went to bed but soon got evacuated," the FMG worker said.

Jessica Mauboy performing at Cloudbreak last night, shortly before the evacuation began. Source: PerthNow

The group of workers were evacuated at 11.30pm and driven 50km to the Christmas Creek mine site in the middle of the night, where they waited on an oval and in a dining room until flying to the Solomon Hub at 6am this morning.

"It hasn't been fun, there's a lot of people who need to be evacuated and we're all tired but it's been handled pretty well," the worker said.

The bushfire at the Cloudbreak mine site, which escalated this morning. Source: PerthNow

Remaining employees at the Cloudbreak site are expected to arrive at Solomon later today, with six to seven planes required to evacuate the entire camp.

Another worker told PerthNow a lightning strike caused the fire.

"There was a lightning strike 200m from the camp on which left an area of bush smoldering," he said.

"It managed to escalate to a large bushfire in the early hours of this morning."

The bushfire at the Cloudbreak mine site, which escalated this morning. Source: PerthNow

It is unclear how much damage the fire has caused but the Shire of East Pilbara is helping to fight the blaze.

FMG today said its accommodation village at Cloudbreak was evacuated overnight due to the close proximity of the bushfire.

"Personnel were evacuated to Christmas Creek mine, 50km east of Cloudbreak, and will be returned to the accommodation village when it is safe to do so," FMG said in a statement.

"There have been no injuries or significant damage and we are working to contain the fire."

And did pop star Mauboy make it out safely?

"She flew to Perth from Christmas Creek this morning on the flight she was originally booked on," a spokesperson said.

"She stayed at Christmas Creek while she visited the Fortescue Chichester Hub and was not impacted by the evacuation at Cloudbreak."

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Utility's $50k splurge before job cuts

WESTERN Power has come under fire for spending $50,000 on two workshops in the wake of proposed job cuts.

The power utility spent $25,850 on a weekend workshop in July and $24,940 on another weekend workshop in October – at the Novotel Vines Resort.

The spend-up was despite plans to cut 150 jobs from its head office.

But Western Power's chairman Alan Mulgrew said it was money well spent.

"In response to customer expectations, Western Power has embarked on a reform process aimed at placing downward pressure on electricity prices,'' he said.

"The 2013 review was conducted by 36 staff representing the core functions of the business.

"The total cost of the review is approximately $20,000.

"The board is satisfied that this is money well spent ... and is encouraged by Western Power's progress over the past 12 months, in particular a $25 million dollar reduction in operating costs.

"The board has required Western Power to conduct an annual review, to ensure this momentum is maintained.''

State Opposition energy spokesman Bill Johnston said the spend-up was excessive.

"Mike Nahan promised that the culture of excess was in the past,'' Mr Johnston said.

"It's about time he accepted responsibility for his own failings.''

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Perth couple feared ruin after holiday drug trap

Elderly Perth couple used as $7m drug mules after competition 'win'

Part of the haul of drugs which an elderly Perth couple were duped into smuggling into WA from Canada. Picture: Andrew Nelson Channel Nine Source: Supplied

An AFP officer with the drugs an elderly Perth couple were duped into smuggling into WA from Canada. Picture: Andrew Nelson Channel Nine Source: Supplied

A PERTH couple who were unwittingly conned into become multi-million dollar drug mules after winning a dream trip to Canada feared they could have spent the rest of the lives in prison.

The elaborate con duped the couple by taking them to Canada as 'winners' of an all-expenses paid trip, which included accommodation and new luggage.

But after a dream week in North America, the couple became suspicious about their bags on their return to Western Australia and reported themselves to Customs.

Australian Customs discovered $7 million worth of methamphetamine in rock form in the luggage, with 3.5kg of the drug found hidden inside each case.

The 64-year-old woman, who only wants to be known as Sue, said they were looking online for a holiday, and after entering an online competition she was contacted.

"Be very careful if you win anything,'' Sue said.

"I could have ended up in jail for 25 years, and they could have ruined my life.

"So be very wary, be very careful and check everything out.''

The cruel scam was uncovered by the AFP and Australian Customs officials earlier this month.

The alleged con involved a Canadian-based website targeting elderly Australian couples with the potential to win the all-expenses paid trip.

Authorities today detailed how the WA couple, a man aged 72 and woman, 64, were the "lucky'' winners.

The AFP will allege their luggage was swapped while in Canada, with the couple having no clue they were then being duped into carrying the drugs home.

The couple were due to be met on arrival, which set AFP officers into an investigation which led to a search warrant of a car and a room in Scarborough, where documents related to the con, more bags similar to the ones seized, and $15,000 in cash were found.

Australian Federal Police arrested a 38-year-old Canadian man at the airport that day and search warrants were carried out at a hotel in Scarborough.

The man was charged with importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.

AFP Perth Airport Police Commander David Bachi said further investigations revealed a complex and highly-organised scam, in which older Australians are being targeted by a bogus Canadian-based tour company identifying itself as 'AUSCAN Tours'.

"The organisers of this scam went to great lengths to provide a façade of legitimacy. Thankfully the travellers contacted Customs and didn't dismiss their concerns, allowing us to make the arrest," Commander Bachi said.

"We will continue working with local and international law enforcement partners, targeting all elements of this drug syndicate."

ACBPS director of airport operations in Perth, Jan Hill, warned travellers about carrying luggage on behalf of someone else.

"If you've been asked to carry something on behalf of another person, make the right choice and alert local authorities," Ms Hill said.

"Do not allow another person to pack your bag and do not carry luggage on behalf of another person."

Anyone who has been offered a similar travel offer, or who has been the victim of a similar scam is asked to call 131 AFP or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

- with AAP

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'Demolition derby' at murder scene

The murder trial continues of the two men accused of killing businessman Peter Davis.

Murder victim Peter Davis, whose body was found at the Great Eastern Motor Lodge. Source: PerthNow

A MAN who was staying at the Rivervale motel when the body of Perth businessman Peter Davis was found has described seeing a "demolition derby" take place in the carpark the night before.

Bronston Haenow was giving evidence in the trial of brothers Ambrose John Clarke and Xavier Gerard Clarke who stand accused of murdering the 57-year-old.

Both have denied killing Mr Davis, whose body was found in the boot of his car which was parked at the Great Eastern Motor Lodge on May 31, 2011.

During the hearing today, Mr Haenow, who was testifying via videolink from Busselton, told the court he had been staying at the motel with his wife and daughter after flying in from Derby.

The former immigration detention centre officer said he woke up around midnight after hearing a loud "banging" sound.

When he looked out the window he told the court he saw two 4WDs "smashing into each other".

He said he remembered seeing a blue and a silver type car but could not recall which coloured car was trying to block the other from leaving but did recall that the one on his right was preventing the other car from exiting.

He told the court the cars then began smashing into each other up against the wall of the car park before ramming into other cars that were parked in the lot.

"It was like a demolition derby," he said.

Mr Hanow's wife Taylor also gave evidence today saying she witnessed both cars collide with each other.

She told the hearing she had also heard a loud banging noise just after midnight and went to the window, where she saw two 4WD-type cars ramming each other.

She said remembered seeing a light and dark coloured car and that there were two people in one vehicle because
she remembered seeing "two sets of legs" and one person in the other.

Mr Davis' son Kurt testified earlier this week that he had been searching for his father at the Great Eastern Motor Lodge when Ambrose Clark was a passenger in a blue Hilux that rammed his silver Tritan ute in the motel carpark.

Kurt Davis called police after the incident, who arrived at the scene and found his father's car in the boot of his Mitsubishi Pajero.

The trial continues.

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Dozens of hospital staff walk off the job

Protesters react to revelations jobs will be axed at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. Source: PerthNow

Opposition health Spokesman Roger Cook at a press conference talking about redundancies at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. Source: News Limited

Around 40 workers walked off the job at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital today, in response to revelations hundreds of positions are set to be axed at the facility.

The Sunday Times and PerthNow this month revealed between 200 and 500 FTE positions would be cut at the hospital.

United Voice WA Secretary Carolyn Smith said both the Barnett Government and the hospital were refusing to meet with the union about the proposed cuts.

"They are refusing to give us any information," she said.

"500 jobs going from SCGH is going to affect the level of patient care.

"It's going to mean people are going to have to work harder and longer.

"It means things are going to be missed."

Ms Smith said the Barnett Government was attempting to balance the State Budget by "ripping money out of hospitals."

"We have seen the Government over the last couple of months decide to balance their budget by ripping money out of schools and now we see money being ripped out of hospitals," she said.

"Unfortunately at the end of the day it's going to be the people of Western Australia that's going to suffer. It's going to be patients. It's going to be the people who and sick and expect good care in our hospitals."

Opposition Health spokesman Roger Cook said Health Minister Kim Hames had refused to detail the extent and timing of the cuts when question in Parliament.

"The staff at this hospital (are) not only working under trying conditions, trying to provide care for patients, are now working with a cloud over their heads; working with a lack of job security and that's just not good enough," Mr Cook said.

"We know why the Government is trying to axe jobs at this hospital.

"It's because they have mismanaged the state's finances and because they have lost the AAA credit rating and as a result of that hospital workers in this hospital are now faced with redundancies and having their jobs axed.

"And patients at this hospital are now faced with cuts to their services."

In a response to PerthNow earlier this month, Mr Hames confirmed the hospital was overstaffed and that about 200 jobs were expected to be impacted.

"It is essential that taxpayer funds are managed responsibly to ensure hospital staffing levels match demand for patient care, and current staffing levels at SCGH exceed those required for the hospital's projected patient numbers," he said.

"SCGH is considering a range of strategies to responsibly manage its budget and staffing levels. "Patient safety remains the top priority, and SCGH will ensure that staffing levels are such that patient care will not be compromised.

"Strategies being considered include a reduction in staff achieved through natural attrition, expiration of contracts and transfer of staff to other hospitals."

He said the opening of the Fiona Stanley Hospital would "contribute" to the redistribution of staff.

Hames refutes United Voice

Today, Mr Hames came out swinging against claims he refused to meet with United Voice, saying the union has a "long history" of inflammatory comments and deception.

"My experience with United Voice is they deliberately garble messages to create the fervour that they want to get and the media attraction that they want to get," Dr Hames told the media.

"You guys know them, you have seen them do it over and over again; this is just another example."

He also denied claims he has refused to meet with the union.

"In terms of the meeting, they did write to me to request a meeting to clarify it and I said why don't you meet the director of North Metropolitan Health Service," he said.

"Meet him because he is the one co-ordinating it and he can explain to you exactly what he proposes to do.

"In fact my understanding is that he invited them and he hasn't had a response."

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Secret explanation of JFK's killing

Colin McLaren at his restaurant and accommodation Villa Gusto Source: News Limited

Historians and former Secret Service agents have created a documentary shedding new light on the JFK assassination.

COLIN McLaren got the bad news the week he started at the police academy: his much-loved Uncle Neil had been killed in a shooting accident.

Neil McLaren was a sensible and seasoned shooter but he'd made a mortal error, getting into a car after a shooting trip without checking his shotgun. The car hit a bump, the gun went off and he was dead.

His nephew always had that loss hanging over him. He would spend years living dangerously in heavy squads and undercover jobs, dealing with the Walsh St murders and infiltrating Australia's Calabrian mafia. He carried guns, but carefully. He knew mistakes could be fatal.

During his time in the force, a policeman called Neil Clinch was shot dead by a policewoman aiming at an "offender" - who was, in fact, a householder fearing the police in his backyard were intruders.

Then there was Constable Clare Bourke, shot dead at Sunshine police station by a policeman fooling around with an "empty" pistol.

Meanwhile, plenty of other incidents went unreported, such as the one in which a future Assistant Commissioner and another cop were chasing a suspect in Windsor. One of them accidentally shot a passing taxi. The bad guy escaped; the innocent cab driver surrendered immediately.

Anyone who has handled guns knows mistakes happen - and that we don't always hear about it. McLaren was reminded of that in 1992 when he took a trip to New York to recover from a tough year investigating the "Mr Cruel" child abductions.

He picked up a book in Times Square for the flight to Chicago. The book, Mortal Error, outlined how a ballistics expert called Howard Donahue had proved beyond reasonable doubt that John F. Kennedy was hit in the head by a hollow-point bullet, not the conventional military rounds fired seconds earlier by Lee Harvey Oswald.

Donahue identified the origin of the fatal hollow-point - a Secret Service agent with an assault rifle in the open-top escort car behind the President's. The iconic Zapruder film of the Dallas motorcade shows the alarmed Secret Service man clutching the weapon as he tries to stand just after Oswald's shots strike from above.

The force of a simple story that fitted the facts satisfied McLaren's detective instincts. To an expert, the bullet fragments revealed a tragic accident caused by Oswald's crazy assassination attempt. This was no convoluted conspiracy theory, of which there were many, including the one peddled by Oliver Stone in his fictionalised hit film JFK. It seemed common sense.

But a dry, factual ballistics analysis was never going to compete for public attention with Kevin Costner starring in Stone's fictionalised entertainment.

McLaren realised the case needed an independent investigation to test if the other evidence supported Donahue's conclusion that Secret Service agent George Hickey had accidentally finished what Oswald had begun. Who better to do it than an outsider: an Australian investigator with no axe to grind?

McLaren was keen but first he had to see out his police career and finish other projects. He wrote two successful books based on his undercover work and built his hospitality business from scratch in northeastern Victoria.

Nearly five years ago, he started on the JFK project. As a detective, he says, he was happy to go "where the evidence takes us". He bought a 26-volume set of the official Warren Commission report. Then the 5000-page Assassination Records Review Board finding of 1993, which lifted secrecy provisions on material from 28 Government agencies.

It seemed clear that key players had strived to save the Secret Service huge embarrassment by hiding the fact that Kennedy's brain (which vanished immediately after autopsy) had been pulped by one of their own bullets.

Book cover - JFK The Smoking Gun , Colin McLaren Source: Supplied

McLaren traced 22 witnesses who saw Kennedy shot. Ten had smelled gun smoke and 12 of them saw it at ground level near the Secret Service car. Hickey normally drove but had been handed the weapon because the security detail was shorthanded.

Witnesses revealed they had been intimidated and gagged before and during the Warren Commission hearings in 1964. But now they could tell all.

McLaren worked with a Canadian production house to film a documentary, which will be aired in North America and Australia (on SBS) next month to follow this week's launch of his book JFK: The Smoking Gun. Hickey died in 2011, which makes it easier to tell the story without the fear of a lawsuit. Hickey had attempted to sue Mortal Error's publishers but failed.

McLaren knows that the fact most Americans don't believe the official account of the assassination does not guarantee they will "buy" what he calls his "brief of evidence". But when he launches a three-week publicity tour of the US and Canada today (including the David Letterman show and a Wall Street Journal interview) at least he gets the chance to argue it was a fumbling accident, not a murky assassination conspiracy.

Diehard conspiracy theorists might consider the fact that in September 2006, a Secret Service agent accidentally fired his shotgun while guarding the visiting Iranian President. It would the Secret Service years to acknowledge that embarrassing fact, now the subject of a book.

Then there's the scandal of the death of an all-American hero, the former NFL footballer Pat Tillman who became a patriotic poster boy for the Afghanistan campaign when he quit a $3 million football contract to join the army after the 9-11 attacks.

Tillman's enlistment was such a public relations coup that when he was killed by a trigger-happy American soldier in 2004, the cover-up ran from his own commanders to the White House. Tillman's family were lied to for months about who killed their son. Which would make perfect sense to the Secret Service bosses who apparently covered up George Hickey's blunder for 50 years.

One thing is certain: guns go off in the darnedest ways and places. When Lee Harvey Oswald was a marine, he once accidentally shot himself in the leg with his service pistol.

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Fortysomething mums on the rise

A new study suggests, older, richer and more educated women are more likely to drink alcohol while pregnant. Courtesy: Chat Room, Nine News Now

More Australian women are having babies later in life. Source: Supplied

More Australian women are waiting until later in life to become mothers.

Figures just released show a significant jump in the number of births last year to mums aged 45 to 49 - a record 736 children in 2012, up from the then record 661 born in 2011.

The continuing social trend means mothers over the age of 40 are now more common than teenage mums. While ten years ago there were 3,838 more babies born to teenagers than women over 40, the older category now exceeds the younger by 1,854 births.

"There are a number of factors for this," said Bjorn Jarvis, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. "It includes education, legislation, employment opportunities as well as economic conditions."

Peter McDonald, professor of demography at the Australian National University, said women were placing a greater emphasis on other aspects of their lives when they were young.

"Women want to pursue their careers, education and interests and babies get in the way of them," he said.

However, Prof McDonald doubts the social change will start producing mothers over the age of 50.

"I don't think many women would want a baby in their 50s," he said.

Instead, he predicts the age of mothers will "level out" as the next generation of women do the opposite of their mother.

"In the past the pattern was to get married, have babies and then work," Prof MacDonald said. "Now work comes before babies. The next generation is less likely to delay births like their mothers are."

Collette Dinnigan with daughter Estella (l) and son Desmond (r). Picture: Sunday Style Source: Sunday Style

The ABS report shows more than 309,000 babies were born in Australia in 2012, increasing almost 8,000 from the previous year.

The national fertility rate grew to 1.933 (1.933 births for every 1,000 women), an increase of 10.1 per cent from 1.756 a decade ago.

"This is just below the replacement level of 2.1," explained Mr Jarvis. "But in the 1950s the fertility rate was around 4. We have seen a dramatic social change since that time."

In other trends, multiple births are down, with only 4,480 women giving birth to twins, triplets or more.

But there is a rapid growth in the number of foreign-born parents starting new families in Australia. The number of babies born in Australia to foreign parents, both from the same country, was 54,588. This has more than doubled from 26,055 recorded in 2007.

Victoria was the state with the biggest baby increase, jumping 5,961 since 2011, while New South Wales saw the biggest decline with 546 less babies.

Tasmania was the only other state with a decrease in births.

Nationally, Wyndham in Victoria was the region with the single biggest baby boom, increasing by 643 births since 2011.

March continues to be the most popular month for births in Australia with 25,798 babies born, making June the most productive month for conception.

And for names, parents were going with Charlotte and William as the top choices in 2012.

###

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Demetriou: Buddy great but risky

Lance Franklin in his new colours. Picture: Phil Hillyard Source: DailyTelegraph

AFL boss Andrew Demetriou says the nine-year deal Lance Franklin has signed is "risky"' for the Swans but he's over the moon to have the code's biggest star in Sydney where he can have the greatest impact in the battle of the codes.

Next door to Franklin's new home at the SCG both Alessandro Del Piero (Sydney FC) and Sonny Bill Williams (Sydney Roosters) will be in action.

While the Giants needed Franklin much more than the Swans, Franklin will still be leading the AFL's push in the harbour city.

"Absolutely it is good for the code to have Lance Franklin in Sydney,'' Demetriou told The Daily Telegraph.

"He's a star, he's one of the biggest names playing the game.

"From the code perspective it is tremendously positive he's in Sydney."

Missing out on Franklin was a blow for the AFL's newest team but Demetriou thinks the Giants have recovered well in the trade period and they will still benefit from having the superstar forward in the same city.

"I think missing out on Buddy could be a blessing for them," Demetriou said.

"It's freed up money to pursue (Shane) Mumford and Heath Shaw who are both great gets.

"Jed Lamb is another and they have managed to keep their No.1 draft pick in (Tom) Boyd and trade for the second pick.

"They have (Jeremy) Cameron and they have (Jonathon) Patton coming back. I think it's all upside for the Giants.

"With those three forwards — Cameron, Boyd and Patton — they will be a very exciting team.

"The fact Buddy is in Sydney is good for the Giants because he's in this market and he will be a drawcard.

"He's probably going to help them sell out their first game when they play the Swans."

While Franklin's mere presence is promoting the AFL in Sydney neither his management nor the Swans have approached the game's governing body about an ambassadorial role in the growing market.

"I don't know if Buddy is interested in doing any ambassadorial roles, he's not the sort of guy who you think would," Demetriou said.

"Any person who is of value we will consider."

During the week Giants CEO David Matthews called Franklin's nine year contract with the Swans 'irresponsible.'

The AFL's integrity department investigated the deal and despite its length found there was nothing wrong with it.

"It's a bone fide deal," Demetriou said.

"The Swans have acknowledged it's got risk attached to it we've acknowledged it's got risk attached to it.

"We don't see many nine year deals but it is what it is. They are aware and have acknowledged in writing the money has to go into the cap for all of the nine years."

The signing of Franklin has been described by some as a loosening of the Swans' famous no-dickheads policy but the AFL boss believes the assessment is unfair on the former Hawk.

"I don't share these views about his off field behaviour, I'm not privy to information about that," Demetriou said.

"In my conversations with Buddy I've found him to be a good person. He's a larger than life figure, he's very charismatic.

"He'll probably do what most footballers do when they come to Sydney, he'll settle in well and be a great contributor because people adjust pretty well here."

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