Respected Roo joins NBA team

North Melbourne's charge towards the 2016 finals series has hit a speed bump with the sudden departure of its long-standing and respected strength and conditioning coach, Dan Meehan.

Meehan has been instrumental in helping injury-prone star recruits Jarrad Waite and Shaun Higgins, among many others, get their bodies right and enable them to take the field with astonishing regularity given their medical histories.

Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

But given North's 8-0 start to the season, Meehan might have been expected to see through the year, perhaps watch his boys in September and revel in the fruits of his labours.

So what has forced him to abandon his post in the middle of such an exciting season?

NBA franchise the Brooklyn Nets approached Meehan with an offer he simply couldn't refuse, having become aware of his work via the recommendation of another Australian fitness guru who works in the NBA. So he will leave the Roos mid-season and take up his post in New York in a few weeks.

Meehan visited the gym facilities at several NBA clubs, including San Antonio Spurs, Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors, last November before the club's high-altitude camp in Utah.

The development has blindsided the Kangas. Head of the Roos' football department, Geoff Walsh, told ESPN: "It's a great opportunity for him, and he goes with our blessing, but the timing isn't necessarily ideal."

Meehan has been the head strength and conditioning coach at Arden St for almost six years, having worked in a similar role at the Victorian Institute of Sport before that.

There is no word through yet on whether his Green Card will allow him to pursue his other line of work - as a part-time male model.

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Giant to return?

Adam Tomlinson is one a host of GWS players who are burning it up in the NEAFL - but can't break into the senior team.

At 193cm, Tomlinson has been used as a key position player for most of his short career but this season been thrown into the midfield by the Giants' reserves coaches and has been their standout player. At the weekend, he picked up 29 kicks in a dominant 44-possession game.

Yet, given the paucity of spots available in the runaway senior side, he could be dangled as juicy trade bait come October. The former Oakleigh Charger, a top-10 draftee, was almost grabbed by Carlton late in last year's trade period but a deal could not be completed.

If the Giants' AFL side continue on their barnstorming run, we're tipping that Tomlinson will be headed to a Victorian club in the off season.

Umpires admit Bruce howler

The AFL's umpiring department has acknowledged that an error was made in the deliberate out of bounds call against St Kilda's Josh Bruce that caused so much commentary after the Saints' smashing by West Coast at Subiaco last weekend.

But the league says it is largely happy with the new interpretation adopted this season, pointing to the increased scoring and reduction in stoppages that it has helped bring to the game.

Bruce was penalised when he fumbled a ball out of bounds late in the St Kilda-West Coast game, and the look of astonishment on his face was priceless.

St Kilda's Jack Billings and Josh Bruce celebrate a goal during the gutsy win against Collingwood. Michael Dodge/Getty Images

One radio station was promoting a video of the incident this week asking: "Is this the worst deliberate call of all time?''

Average boundary throw-ins in the first eight rounds are 34, compared with 42 to the same stage of the 2015 season, a drop of around 20 percent.

Scoring is running at 93.3 points per team, per game, up from 86.1 points in 2015.

Lloyd in elite company

Sam Lloyd's after-the-siren heroics for Richmond last weekend is the 38th documented case of a player kicking a goal to win a game in VFL-AFL history.

The first known case was Billy Schmidt of St Kilda in Round 15 of the 1913 season, and while there was a run of such things a few years ago, Lloyd's 50-metre bomb was the first since 2013.

The previous case was Ash McGrath of Brisbane Lions against Geelong at the Gabba in 2013, from a step further out that Lloyd's kick.

Arguably the two most famous are Gary Buckenara's long kick to win for Hawthorn over Melbourne in the 1987 preliminary final at Waverley, and Malcolm Blight's enormous torpedo for North Melbourne against Collingwood in 1973 at Carlton.

Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

RANDOM STAT OF THE WEEK (1):

Defence wins premierships, you say? If that is the case then watch out for Geelong.

The Cats took over as the No. 1 defensive team (taken from the points-against total) with their win in Adelaide last weekend, edging out Western Bulldogs, who had led that category all season.

Chris Scott's team is conceding just 66.4 points per game. That is an improvement of better than 20 points a match on their 2015 efforts.

RANDOM STAT OF THE WEEK (2):

The Bulldogs are plus-227 in contested possessions through eight rounds, beating their opposition by almost 30 a week on average. This is an astronomical figure, by far the best in the AFL.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"It was the only good kick I did all night.''

-- Sam Lloyd on his match-winning 50-metre goal for Richmond against Sydney last Friday.