Ryder earns nomination

RISING STAR Essendon's Patrick Ryder has won the round-one nomination as the Rising Star for 2007 after his performance at centre half-back in the Bombers' upset of Adelaide on Sunday. Ryder, who stood the Crows' Nathan Bock, had 14 possessions and five marks in an impressive display at AAMI Stadium. "Sheeds said, 'You're not going to be in the ruck for a full game'. They're looking at giving me another position so I can be on the ground for the full game, and it worked well. It was very new to me. I played full-forward and centre half-forward (in junior football), but never centre half-back or full-back." Ryder played nine games in his debut season in 2006.

Riewoldt on hold again

ST KILDA Co-captain Nick Riewoldt will have another week on the sidelines to recover from the hamstring injury that has delayed his start to the season. Riewoldt, who did not play during the pre-season, trained yesterday at Moorabbin but will not travel to Brisbane for tomorrow night's match against the Lions. Football manager Ken Sheldon said the club would take "the conservative route" and give Riewoldt one more week off. "He'd be disappointed if he wasn't available (for round three)," Sheldon said. MARTIN BOULTON

Duo cleared for weekend

AFL TRIBUNAL Two players successfully challenged the AFL's new rough conduct rules last night, with Kangaroo Jess Sinclair and Adelaide's Nathan Bassett free to play. Bassett was cleared after his clash with Essendon's Leroy Jetta, while the tribunal found Sinclair had no case to answer for his bump on Collingwood's Ryan Lonie. Risking a two-match ban if found guilty, Bassett presented his own defence and put in an impressive performance, taking the three-man jury of Stewart Loewe, David Pittman and Wayne Schimmelbusch through the video footage frame by frame. Bassett said he had only 0.17 seconds to react to Jetta's movements. Speaking afterwards, Bassett said he was comfortable presenting the case. Sinclair said in his evidence he "didn't touch (Lonie's) head". Also giving evidence in support of Sinclair was field umpire Stuart Wenn, the man who short-changed the club late in the match against Collingwood.

Roos behind coach Laidley

KANGAROOS Players have thrown their support behind embattled coach Dean Laidley in the wake of stinging criticism from club great Wayne Carey. Laidley and Carey went head-to-head on television on Monday night, where Carey promised not to publicly criticise the coach again. But Carey made it clear he would continue to pass comment on the struggling Kangaroos. Laidley's appearance drew praise from two-time best-and-fairest winner Brady Rawlings, ruckman Hamish McIntosh and defender Michael Firrito. Rawlings said he would not be comfortable having Carey around the club during this year after his comments, but thought that position could change "down the track".

Davis out for three weeks

SYDNEY Swans star Nick Davis will be sidelined for up to three weeks after the forward aggravated a foot injury in last weekend's loss to West Coast. Davis will miss Saturday's trip to take on Richmond, with Adam Schneider his replacement. Davis will miss the following match against the Brisbane Lions and possibly the trip to Adelaide to face the Crows in round four. "He won't play this week, he's probably going to miss two to three (weeks), which is obviously disappointing," coach Paul Roos said. "But it's important to get it right at this time of year." Jared Crouch will have to wait to return having most recently played in round 12 last year, the final of his record 194-game streak since his debut.

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