AFL Footy News Wire

Alan Didak provides a police statement detailing his experience after being offered a lift home from Christopher Wayne Hudson whom he met at the Spearmint Rhino strip club.

"He held the gun in his right hand and showed it to me," Didak said in his statement.

"I didn't know what to do, I didn't want to upset Huddo in any way, so I sort of gave him a half smile to acknowledge the fact that he had the handgun.

"Huddo put down the driver's side window and put his right arm out the window.

"Even though the music was blaring I could hear Huddo firing shots from the handgun.

"I don't remember how many shots Huddo fired, but by this stage I was s----ing myself."

Hudson has pleaded guilty to firing shots from his handgun while in a Mercedez Benz with police in pursuit over the Bolte Bridge.

Wayne Carey is charged in Melbourne with three counts of assaulting police and three counts of resisting arrest.

If the charges are pursued as indictable, each charge will carry a maximum five years' jail.

Essendon is fined $5,000 after Bombers coach Matthew Knights instructed captain Matthew Lloyd to approach the umpires at quarter-time during their loss to Port Adelaide.

Knights was, at the time, perplexed at tackles being laid by his players for no reward by the umpires.

There doesn't seem to be a holding-the-ball rule any more," Knights said after the game.

"You make tackles and even if there is prior opportunity, there's just a restart. I spoke to Matthew just to go and ask on a clarification, but the umpires sent Matthew away."

North Melbourne express their displeasure at the AFL over their handling of a 19th opposition player being present on the field during their clash with Sydney which resulted in a draw.

The Swans received a $50,000 fine for their transgression but the AFL would not award North Melbourne an additional two points after it was concluded that Swan Jesse White apparently did not have any influence on the result.

Kangaroos chairman James Brayshaw was furious at AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson who stated that North Melbourne coach Dean Laidley "had the ability but chose not to call for a count pursuant to the Laws of the Game".

"The thing I railed against a bit last night was the AFL coming out and saying North Melbourne could have done something about it and they didn't," Brayshaw said.

"What we could have done, I think, would have been horrifically embarrassing to the competition, so surely they're not suggesting it would be a good thing to stop a game dead and request a head count.

"One of the things we're saying to them is, if we achieve nothing else out of making a protest, surely you're going to change this farcical rule that was probably put in the 20s, that is far from appropriate now."

Laidley concurred with Brayshaw saying that it would have been inappropriate to call for a head count saying that he "didn't want to be remembered as the Trevor Chappell of football".

Barry Hall stays in the Swans leadership group despite being suspended for eight weeks after striking Eagle Brent Staker.

"The leadership group are keen for him to stay. They have made that very clear to him," Swans coach Paul Roos said.

"They still see him as very much a leader and they have also shown that they support him and the fact they believe this incident was out of character."

Akermanis apologizes to Michael Braun for implying that the West Coast midfielder had used performance-enhancing drugs when he failed to keep up during a match in Brisbane.

"I apologise to him without any reservations. I am truly sorry for the hurt and trouble I have caused him. I just hope one day he can forgive me for the trouble I have caused," Akermanis wrote on the Bulldogs' website.

Braun was awarded damages of $60,000 and an apology by the Seven and Fairfax Radio Network after his name was leaked to the media as the subject of an earlier article written by Akermanis for the Herald Sun.