ration of France has publicly backed Ceferin, as has Poland federation presiden

Melbourne NRL coach Craig Bellamy says criticism of his teams ruck tactics by North Queensland coach Paul Green is a ploy to gain an advantage in their qualifying final.On the eve of their playoff at AAMI Park, Green said the ruck interpretation from referees Ben Cummins and Grant Atkins was his biggest concern in Saturday nights showdown at AAMI Park.The Storm have long been accused of using wrestling tactics to slow down the ruck so they can set their defence and Green says he wants his team to be afforded the same latitude.But Bellamy said Green had no issue with their ruck play in their two meetings this season and the Cowboys coach raised the matter as a predictable way to get a benefit from the whistleblowers.The Storm mentor said the officials had had no issue with Melbournes actions throughout the season.Paul came into the press conference and made a statement; it was a very pre-conceived message from him which is all very predictable at this time of year, Bellamy said.We havent changed anything in five or six weeks (since we last played them); we havent changed anything in 24 weeks so hes just trying to get an advantage there from the referees.But Im sure the referee is just going to go out there and do their job.Bellamy questioned whether Greens comments were acceptable given the NRL rules that coaches werent allowed to criticise referees in media conferences.That sounds like criticism to me, he said.Their last meeting at AAMI Park was last years preliminary final, which the Cowboys won convincingly en route to their maiden NRL title.Bellamy admitted the loss had been a turning point for the Storm and made him reassess the team and their game plan.There were things we got out of that game we saw we had to change and improve.It was a circumstance you come across in your career when you realise you have got to change and that was a nudge to say the line we were travelling on needed to change.With so many new faces in the Storm line-up, he said the team didnt carry any scars from the preliminary final loss, or take too much out of their two wins this season over North Queensland.Last year was hugely disappointing but that doesnt come into our reckoning this week, he said.Bellamy hinted there might be some late changes, which could include hulking prop Nelson Asofa- Solomona who missed their last-round regular-season clash through suspension.STORM v COWBOYS - KEY MATCH STATS:* The Storm and Cowboys have met twice previously in finals, with the Cowboys winning on both occasions (2005, 2015)* This is the sixth straight season both teams have made the finals, with each winning one title in that period - Melbourne in 2012 and North Queensland last season* The Cowboys have never won two matches in a row at AAMI ParkAir Max Clearance . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. Air Max 95 Cheap Authentic . There are some early surprises in the race for the Hart Trophy, but two of the contenders are the leagues biggest stars over the past decade. There are many more players in contention for the awards than just the three that Ive named, and a good or bad week can easily alter the landscape, but through the first 20 or so games of the NHL season, this is how the awards races look to me. http://www.airmaxwholesaleforsale.com/discount-air-max-tn-wholesale.html . Tests earlier this week revealed a Grade 2 left hamstring strain for Sabathia, who was hurt in last Fridays start against San Francisco. Its an injury that will require about eight weeks to heal. He finished a disappointing campaign just 14-13 with a career-worst 4. Air Max 95 Wholesale . Having already announced that the race will start May 9 with three stages in Northern Ireland and Ireland and finish in Trieste on June 1, the rest of the route was unveiled Monday. Cheap Air Max 720 Clearance . In the response filed Wednesday to the complaint by 30-year-old Alexander Bradley, attorneys say the former University of Florida player is invoking his Fifth Amendment right that protects people from incriminating themselves.ATHENS, Greece -- Michel Platini will be allowed to address European soccer leaders before his successor as UEFA president is elected, despite serving a four-year ban from the sport.UEFAs eagerness to ensure Platini can deliver a speech in Athens on Wednesday is in keeping with how the body has stood by the disgraced Frenchman since he was first suspended in October. No interim leader was installed as Platini was allowed to exhaust all legal routes in an attempt to overturn his ban over a payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($2 million) from FIFA in 2011.The ban prevents Platini from holding any position of power in soccer or carrying out any activity that gives the impression he is still acting as an official. But the FIFA ethics committee said UEFA asked for an exception for Mr. Platini to be able to make a short farewell address at the congress in the Greek capital.The chairman of the adjudicatory chamber, Mr. Hans-Joachim Eckert, granted this exception as a gesture of humanity, the judges office said in a statement to The Associated Press.After being led since 2007 by Platini, a former France captain, UEFAs next president will be a largely unknown administrator -- either UEFA vice president Michaael van Praag of the Netherlands or Slovenian federation leader Aleksander Ceferin.ddddddddddddPlatinis home federation of France has publicly backed Ceferin, as has Poland federation president Zbigniew Boniek, a former teammate of Platini at Juventus.In Athens, Platini is due to be publicly re-united with former UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino, who seized on his boss being banned to pursue the FIFA presidency.Sepp Blatter, who was banned along with Platini for authorizing the payment, was not allowed to deliver a similar farewell address to the FIFA congress in February when Infantino was elected president.The careers of Platini and Blatter effectively ended when Swiss police raided FIFA after an executive committee meeting last September and questioned both about the payment.Switzerlands attorney general opened criminal proceedings against Blatter, while Platini is being treated as between a witness and an accused person. There has been no recent update on the status of the case.---Rob Harris is at www.twitter.com/RobHarris and www.facebook.com/RobHarrisReports ' ' '