Renowned footy balladeer Greg Champion knew singing appearances at the AFL grand final were to be cherished. But with 12 grand finals since he last graced the MCG stage — and, bar a change in policy, 13 by late September — Champion told Fairfax Media's  Jesse Hogan he is becoming more than a little wistful about performing on football's biggest day.

Champion has thrice been part of the grand final entertainment: in 1987 (when he and the other five Coodabeen Champions performed on hovercrafts), 1995 and 2002. That he has not been invited back since then is an increasing source of conversation with well-wishers who encounter him, generally in relation to them lamenting the absence of That's The Thing About Football, his anthem that triggered his past two grand final invitations.

"Quite often strangers say to you, 'I'm not pissing in your pocket, mate, but that's just the best song ever' . . . I get that message regularly: why isn't that song on at the grand final?" Champion says.

"When 10 years went by I thought, 'Well, I must be due now', and now it's 13 so it's well and truly due."

Champion has two reasons to have renewed hope of another chance to play on football's biggest day.

The first is his satisfaction with a revised version of a song he wrote four years ago, One True Religion.

"Well summer was OK, but now it's passed, and that means the real stuff is on at last," the song opens, before declaring it is "time to get back to the one true religion".

The second is the recent 20-year anniversary of the release of That's The Thing About Football, which was adopted by Channel Seven as the official accompaniment to its football coverage.

Champion, who turned 60 this year, is frank about the positive effect on his profile a grand final appearance would generate, but insisted his motivation for another appearance went well beyond a commercial boost for his latest CD, featuring both his new and well-established football anthems.

"With the backlash to Meat Loaf [in 2011], so many people in their backlash said, 'We want Australian music, we don't need retro rock and pop legends'," he said. "The public asks me enough — even badgers and harasses me — about 'Why isn't that song on?' "

He said he was appreciative that influential media presenters such as Neil Mitchell and Gerard Whateley had endorsed his credentials to return on grand final day, just as Mike Brady returned in 2013 and 2014 after, like Champion, not being on the playbill since 2002.

"At this stage in my life I'm philosophical about those things but, yes, in short it would be a hell of a buzz. I think it's time," Champion said. "Twenty years, let's do it."

Zoned out

Having already expressed his displeasure about mooted future trading rules, Hawthorn president Andrew Newbold also has reservations about suggestions the AFL could reintroduce recruiting zones. "If I put a Hawthorn hat on, I am happy with that. We will finish top four one year and we will go and pick the eyes out of our zone and end up with some cracking players because we will be smart enough to set up a good academy and all of that stuff," he said. "Wearing an industry hat, I reckon that is a really bad look. It's equivalent to when Sydney won a premiership and then recruited Tippett and Franklin in the next two years. I think that is the situation you will be creating. I don't think that is a good look for the industry. From a Hawthorn point of view, if you want to create academies and bring back zones, I'll back our people to develop and create very good players. I think from an industry point of view, I would be concerned about everyone's ability to do that."

Nothing surer

We liked this line from Carlton's Dylan Buckley through the week. Chris Judd could have been forgiven for thinking the pressure was no longer on him. But when it comes to helping to pick the Blues' new coach, of which he is on the five-man subcommittee, there's no such chance.

Said Buckley when discussing John Barker's hopes of being given the top job permanently: "I think if we can improve the way we are going this year, and just keep that standard up, then John would be a great coach for us. But I am just going to leave that up to the board. They have got Juddy on it - I am sure they are going to make the right decision." It's over to you, Chris.

Net gain

Larry Kestelman, the multimillionaire owner of Melbourne United who has taken a controlling interest in the National Basketball League after a $6 million takeover, has spent the past few days in south-east Queensland assessing venues for a new a club. Whether it's eventually the return of the Brisbane Bullets, only time will tell. Kestelman also said a second Melbourne-based club was part of his agenda, provided the finances add up. One recent plan to field a community-based club, involving local councils, has fallen over. "Everything comes back to the broadcast - I need to make sure these venues are suitable for broadcasters. A lot of how we look at future expansion will be together with our partner," Kestelman, working to deliver a new broadcast rights deal, said. "I actually think Melbourne, apart from Brisbane, is the most logical one [for a new club]. There is a huge amount of following for basketball. We have a great venue out at Knox and they could certainly play at other venues around Melbourne, and the blockbuster home derbies would be played at Hisense Arena or Margaret Court or potentially Rod Laver Arena." He also said there was interest in having franchises in Tasmania, Darwin, Canberra, Wellington and a second team in Perth.

Bash siblings

Melbourne Renegades chief Stuart Coventry has given Pssst a few snippets of what we should be expecting in the Big Bash League fixture, set to be released in the next week or two. "For us it's very fan positive, it's a good spread of our four home games," Coventry said. The current draft fixture has three of the Renegades' home games starting at the slightly earlier 7.10pm at Etihad Stadium, and all four in prime time during the school holidays. After the success of last season's move to a more compact schedule, Cricket Australia will repeat the dose next year. "I understand that the whole tournament begins around mid-December and going into late January." The fixture for the inaugural women's BBL will not entirely correspond with the men's competition. "It's going to be a more weekend type-arrangement with the girls, they're in a different economic circumstance to the men."

Retiring type

Now that he has retired as a director of Rio Tinto after nine years on the board, some in the football world are speculating when Mike Fitzpatrick will call stumps on his time as AFL chairman. The former Carlton premiership captain and successful businessman was appointed to the AFL board in 2003, and has been chairman since 2007. He angered clubs earlier this year with his handling of the reinstatement of commissioner Chris Langford, when there had been support for media rights guru Jeff Browne to come aboard.

The Watchman

Two minutes to midnight for...Chris Rogers

Nothing quite going right for the Australian veteran as he fights to cement a spot alongside David Warner atop the batting order for the first Ashes Test. Concussion forced him out of the two Tests in the West Indies, allowing Adam Voges to secure a spot in the middle order with a ton. Then his ticketing scheme didn't pass muster with the authorities, and even when he made 84 in the tour game against Kent, opening partner and rival Shaun Marsh made 114!

Numbers Up

74... The age of banned US baseball great Pete Rose, who was found to have bet on the sport as a player, as well as while a manager.

26...Years since Rose was originally banned for betting.

4256... the number of hits Rose had during his career, more than anyone else in MLB history.

Approximately 100... The percentage of US sports networks who discussed Rose's hall of fame bona fides on air during the week.

Local Hero

Nice work from reader Peter Curnow who sent in this note during the week about a memorable footy occasion with his son Ben. "Even the last time Melbourne beat Geelong in Geelong back in 2005 it was monumental. We took a photo." 

Last night we re-created it with The Age. Melbourne beating Geelong in Geelong doesn't happen every day ... about once a decade!" 

LOCAL HERO (2)

Former Socceroo captain Paul Wade’s epilepsy was revealed on national television in 2001 when he suffered an attack during an interview. These days Wade is keen to assist young people who have the condition. He is offering two children with epilepsy, aged between six and 16, the chance of a complimentary place at a three-day soccer camp he is running in Melbourne early next week at Brunswick's Clifton Park. See the Epilepsy Action Australia Facebook page for details.

Got a tip? Contact Daniel Cherny or Jon Pierik. Twitter: @danielcherny or @pierik_agesport