Try this? It is hard not to reckon that Ablett jnr has some regret all these years on for, seemingly, pursuing the money alone. The dual Brownlow medallist was the star of Geelong, just as his father before him, and was already on good coin before taking a colossal dollar to go to the Gold Coast where ... pretty much nothing happened. A good half of the career of the most stupendously talented player in the game will simply read, "and then he went to the Gold Coast for six years ... "

True, if Ablett weeps now, it will at least likely be on silken sheets, which is something. But in the case of Tedesco - according to the figures provided by Andrew Webster on Friday - it looks like Tedesco would be asked to take a pay cut, from a likely $1.1 million offer by the Tigers, to a close-to $800K offer from the Roosters.

Get it? Ablett was offered huge money to go from a great team to a terrible team. Tedesco is being offered less money to go from a low-ranking team, to a potentially great team. What should he do?

For my money, he should stay with the Tigers. Be the bloke they build the team around. Be the one who steps up and makes the point, 'yes, right now we are on the bones of our arse, but only on the competition table ... we actually have the makings of a freaking dynasty here, if we just hang tight together and play our hearts out'.

The bottom line? Tedesco has the rare opportunity of taking the huge money, and staying with the team of his heart.

All up, it can't be that hard a decision?

Are you serious?

Which brings us to you, Sports Medicine Australia CEO, Anthony Merilees, and the views you expressed on 7.30, on Thursday evening: "There just aren't enough good studies that link [concussion] to long-term degenerative brain diseases like CTE or to other psychological issues, for example, depression," you said. Yes, that is all mere "speculation," according to you.

Mate, you are kidding. You've got that gig, and you are prevaricating on whether or not constantly having your brain bashed into the side of your skull does damage to the brain? Are you freaking serious? In that gig? Again, I point to the possible legal ramifications. 7.30 notes that Sports Medicine Australia educates the NRL trainers on how to recognise concussion. If I was the lawyer for a player prone to concussion in this era, and developed brain troubles any time in the next thirty years, I would point to quotes like that, in an effort prove that the NRL was still not up to the mark in providing a safe working environment because, as late as 2017, long after the issue was beyond dispute, they were training the trainers with a group led by someone who appears not to believe there was an issue in the first place!

As to the clubs fighting the fines imposed for not observing the concussion protocols, maintaining - no, really - they weren't concussed, please, we are all still waiting for a plausible explanation. I have asked several times, in various forums, and have not received so much as a peep, even from a member of the public, or colleagues for that matter.

So, I'll be specific. Can you tell us, this? If when Josh Dugan went down like a felled steer after being inadvertently pole-axed by Russell Packer, and laid face down for two minutes, what do yers think was ailing him, if not concussion? And you defenders of the Newcastle situation, can you tell us what was wrong with fullback Brendan Elliott, while you're at it? You keep insisting he wasn't concussed. WHAT THE HELL WAS IT THEN?

. . .

. . .

Told yers.

Crickets.

Oldies but goodies

TFF894

Meantime, even as Tiger Woods appears to have cartwheeled off into a ditch, too old or too perpetually injured to take his place in the Masters, his own juxtaposition is Roger Federer who, at the age of 35, has rarely played better or looked stronger! If anything, Woods disappearance is now the exception to the rule as we are now, officially, in an age where superstars actually decline to go, and simply play on and on. Another example is the New England Patriots Tom Brady, no less than the incumbent Super Bowl winning quarterback who, at the age of 39, last month said, "I'd like to play until my mid-40s".

Our own Sally Pearson, this week, at the age of 30 nailed her fastest time for the 100-metre hurdles in the last four years!

Sport, overall, is changing. The old notion that 30 years old should be close to lights out for everyone, and 33 means it is past midnight for everyone is no more. But we still lack one thing.

We need someone genuinely middle-aged at least to nail one world-class event against younger players. You may recall the great golfer Tom Watson in the British Open of 2009, who at the age of 59, just lost in a four-hole play-off to a player 23 years his junior, Stewart Cink, who, before and since, has been the most unheard of golfer we've never heard of. Golf could be the final frontier in this. In this Masters, if we can't have it won by an Australian, let's have it won by someone born in the 1950s or 60s.

Rah!

(The best hope we have is Fred Couples who is one-over after the first day, and is 57. But we can also cheer for Ernie Els, born in 1969, and I'd even settle for Phil Mickelson, who is a year younger at 46.)

THEY SAID

Masters first round leader Charley Hoffman: "A few weeks ago, on a week off, I sort of sat back and asked some people what I need to do better and I asked myself what I need to do better. I just had to believe a little bit more. I'm just starting to believe."

Stuart Appleby reminisces about when Tiger Woods was in the process of winning the 1997 US Masters: "I think we all felt like we were watching a highlight reel at a tournament we weren't participating in ..."

Tiger Woods, pulling out of this year's Masters: "I did about everything I could to play, but my back rehabilitation didn't allow me the time to get tournament-ready. I'm especially upset because it's a special anniversary for me that's filled with a lot of great memories. I can't believe it's been 20 years since I won my first green jacket."

The Sharks' James Maloney, on the news that Melbourne's Cooper Cronk is moving to Sydney to be near his fiancee: "Shit, I might lose my job!"

Gai Waterhouse on retiring: "The saddest thing when people retire is that they become very unnecessary. When you are working, people need you. They have a reason to pick up the phone and ring you. When most men retire, suddenly nobody calls them. If you stop working for the paper, nobody is going to call you. There's a reason for you to get up every day."

Sally Pearson on her mortality: "I'm only 30, I know I keep saying that but that's old in athletics age I guess. I really have to look after my body, I have probably a 60-year-old body in a 30-year-old person."

Danni Roche on the attacks on her character, for having the temerity to stand against John Coates for the presidency of the AOC: "It's just background noise. What I will say is that I am my own person. I am an Olympian. My father was an Olympian. I have a successful business career and have sat on the boards of a number of sporting clubs and organisations. I can see that Australian sport is not functioning at the very top level. The relationship between the AOC and the ASC is dysfunctional, and I am the person who can rectify that relationship."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: "I will not retire. Retiring is for young people. For old people retirement is dying."

Newcastle Knights coach Nathan Brown: "The teams that generally are at the top ... they win the clutch games. The sides that don't win them end up in the situation we're in at the moment."

Nick Kyrgios: "I feel like my level of tennis has always been high, but mentally I'm competing for every point. That's making the difference. I need to keep putting that in every day. I've got a lot of work to do. I'm 16 in the world. There are 15 players better than me." My own take is there are probably 15 players harder-working than him, but with the potential, he could be No.1.

Cooper Cronk to move to Sydney to be closer to his fiancee: "There are a few things in life more important than football. You know, like family, getting married and a future."

Rod Kafer on Australian players vis a vis Kiwi players: "All the players hear is how far ahead the Kiwi teams are and eventually, as resistant as you try to be as a player, those things over time seep in, through the smallest cracks in a player's psyche."

One of the stars of the show in India, spinner Stephen O'Keefe accepting a $20K fine imposed for drunken bad behaviour on his return: "At an official Cricket NSW function I became intoxicated and made highly inappropriate comments. There is no excuse for this and I take full responsibility and offer an unconditional apology."

Tiger's fullback James Tedesco, hinting a move might me on the cards, perhaps to the Roosters: "The Tigers have always been down the bottom, we've always had off-field dramas and that stuff gets quite annoying over the years when you have to put up with it. That stability at other clubs is tempting I guess when you think about it."

Team of the Week

Roger Federer. Won the Miami Open.

NSW Waratahs. Lacked lustre against the Crusaders and lost at the SFS. So far this year, Australian teams up against Kiwi teams have won - dot three, carry one, subtract two - zero matches.

Patrick Hunt. The long-time basketball stalwart was inducted into the Basketball New South Wales hall of fame last Friday evening, at the Albert Palais, Leichhardt, described as "one of the finest educators the game of basketball has known".

Adrian Hurley. At the same Basketball NSW hall of fame dinner, the coach of the 1988 Australian basketball team at the Seoul and Barcelona Olympics was given the Legend award. He was also the foundation coach at the Australian Institute of Sport.

Chloe Esposito. The breakout star of the Rio Olympics was everyone's pick to be Australia's favourite daughter for 2017. Strangely, I have just seen her for the first time since, in some ad for the Randwick Carnival. Talked to her on Thursday, however, and she sounds happy and is training hard. If I was in charge of the marketing money of some big company, looking for a "brand ambassador", or the like, she would be my first pick.

Broncos. Completely destroyed the Roosters on Thursday evening, putting 30 odd points on them.

Buddy Franklin. Played his 250th game in the AFL last night, in the Swans vs Collingwood match. Had a stunning seven minute stretch last week against the Bulldogs, where he nailed three goals in seven minutes, one of them from well outside the 50 metre line. By gawd, when he kicks the ball, it stays kicked.

RIP Mike Hall. The 35 year-old. Died near the Australian capital, Canberra, during the final stages of the Indian Pacific Wheel Race, from Perth to Sydney, on Friday. The 3,400-mile (5,500km) race began with about 70 cyclists on 18 March in Fremantle, western Australia, and was due to finish at the Sydney Opera House.

Twitter @Peter_Fitz