Medal Named For Kangaroo, Bomber Becomes Legend

G'Day Footy Fans -

TWO PLAYERS HONORED
The AFL has bestowed honors on two players in vastly differing circumstances.
AFL Hall of Fame member Bill Hutchison has been elevated to Legend of The Game status. He is the 18th Hall of Famer to gain the honor. Essendon has been pushing for the elevation for several years and finally got its wish last week at the annual Hall Of Fame induction ceremony (see below for the new inductees).
Hutchison was a time BF winner with the Bombers. He played 290 games for Essendon 1942-57 and kicked 496 goals. He also represented Victoria in 67 games and played in Essendon's 1942, 1946, 1949, 1950 premierships.
He was All Australian 1950, 1953, 1956, won the Brownlow Medal in 1952 and 1953.
Essendon Best and Fairest: 1946, 1948, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1956. Essendon Leading Goalkicker 1948.
Essendon Team of the Century.
Essendon captain 1951 - 1957
Victorian captain 1953, 1956.
Hutchison joins Ron Barassi jnr, Kevin Bartlett, Haydn Bunton snr, Roy Cazaly, John Coleman, Gordon Coventry, Jack Dyer, Graham Farmer, Peter Hudson, Leigh Matthews, John Nicholls, Bob Pratt, Dick Reynolds, Barrie Robran, Bob Skilton, Ian Stewart, and Ted Whitten snr as one of the 18 Legends of the Game.

A perpetual medal honouring Bali hero Jason McCartney was awarded for the first time this weekend. The Jason McCartney Medal from now on will be presented to the player voted the most courageous performer during clashes between the Kangaroos and Collingwood, the 2 clubs McCartney played for.
McCartney was one of the judges to determine the winner of the inaugual medal. The other judges were Age columnist Robert Walls, Tim Lane, and Stephen Quartermain.

Hall Of Fame
Collingwood's Wayne Richardson, Melbourne's Jim Stynes, Hawthorn's John Platten, and Footscray's Arthur Olliver, and one coach -- John Todd from Western Australia -- were inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996 and serves to recognise players, coaches, umpires, administrators and media representatives who have made an outstanding contribution to Australian football.
A Hall of Fame Legend is a special category to honour those players who have had a most significant impact on the game and caused Australian Football to change for the better.
The inductees:
Arthur Olliver: 272 games for Footscray from 1935-1950 for 354 goals. Footscray Best and Fairest 1941 and 1944. Footscray Leading Goalkicker 1937, 1937 and 1949. Footscray captain-coach 1943-46 and 1948-50. Footscray Team of the Century.

John Platten: 258 games for Hawthorn from 1986-97 for 228 goals. 15 games for SA, Six International Rules Matches. Hawthorn Premiership 1986, 1988, 1989 and 1991. All Australian 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1992. Brownlow Medal 1987. Hawthorn Best and Fairest 1987 and 1994. Hawthorn Team of the Century. Magarey Medal 1984. Central District Best and Fairest 1984 and 1985. 

Wayne Richardson: 277 games for Collingwood from 1966 – 78 for 323 goals. Five games for Victoria. Collingwood Best and Fairest 1971 and 1974. Captain 1971-75. Collingwood Team of the Century.

Jim Stynes: 264 matches for Melbourne from 1987-98. 10 games for Victoria, Eight International Rules Matches. Melbourne Best and Fairest in 1991, 1995, 1996 and 1997. Brownlow Medal 1991. All Australian 1991 and 1993. Melbourne Team of the Century. Record 244 AFL matches in succession.

John Todd: 132 games with South Fremantle 1955 – 1966.Won Sandover Medal in debut season after starting as a 16-year-old. South Fremantle Best and Fairest 1955, 1958 and 1961. All Australian 1961. Captain 1959, 1961, 1962.Coached South Fremantle for 172 games in 1959, 1966-68 and 1995-98. Coached East Fremantle for 87 games in 1973-76. Coached Swan Districts for 417 games in 1977-87 and 1990-94. Coached West Coast Eagles for 45 games in 1988-89. Premiership coach 1974, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1990, 1997. WA State Coach for 13 games 1975-88. Australian Championship wins in 1983 and 1984. 734 games as player or coach in total.

Jackson Successors Interviewed
The search for Wayne Jackson's successor has been narrowed to a shortlist of 5 candidates. They are: current Operations Manager Andrew Demetriou, former CUB managing director Jim King, and Geelong CEO Brian Cook. All 3 will be interviewed by an AFL Commission sub-committee in the next few days.The other two on the list remain the subject of some speculation, but International Cricket Council chief executive Malcolm Speed, based in London, and former Seven Network managing director Bob Campbell have both been approached by the headhunter, Highland Partners.
Former St Kilda president Andrew Plympton withdrew from the race and Essendon chief executive Peter Jackson - Wayne Jackson's first cousin - has chosen not to apply.
Highland Partners boss John Hood, who in 1996 nominated Wayne Jackson to replace Ross Oakley, has run an international search for the new AFL chief executive - and communicated the message from the commission that the league was prepared to pay in the region of $850,000 for the right corporate candidate. Jackson, who announced his retirement in April, is understood to earn between $600,000 and $650,000.
The commission sub-committee consists of chairman Ron Evans, Colin Carter, and Bob Hammond. That trio will reduce the list of candidates to two or three, and those remaining in the running will be interviewed by the full commission towards the end of this month.

AFL Reduces Cap Concessions
The Lions and the Swans will no longer enjoy an extra 10 and 15 per cent allowance on their respective salary caps after months of campaigning to end the allowances by Victorian clubs led to last week's decision by the AFL.
Their allowances will be slashed to 14 and 9% respectively next season and by 2006 the Lions and the Swans’ salary cap allowance will have decreased dramatically.
Under the plan - to be phased in over the next three years - the Swans will still be able to pay their players an extra seven per cent due to the higher cost of housing in Sydney while the Lions will have no extra allowance.
Both clubs will still be able to pay up to 12 players each season an extra $30,000 allowance provided they continue to have less than 40 per cent of players from their own state on their list.
Other clubs will also be eligible for this allowance if they drop below 40 per cent local players on their list but this is unlikely to happen as only Sydney and Brisbane are based in non-traditional AFL states of the current 16 teams.
What this effectively means is while the Swans’ total salary cap allowance will only drop by one to two percent – the Lions’ salary cap allowance has been slashed from an extra $600,000 this year to a maximum of only $360,000.
And while that decision was immediately hailed as a major step forward by Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, who along with Essendon counterpart Graeme McMahon had campaigned for months to reduce Brisbane’s salary cap – the AFL was immediately forced to defend its decision.
McGuire wasn't entirely happy, saying it still left some clubs "behind the 8 gall" for the next 3 years. He did say at least the AFL was admitting the rules were out of line.
Jackson said he did not believe the Lions had won the past two premierships because they have been allowed to pay their players an extra ten percent.
McMahon in particular has continually stressed the allowance has helped the Lions keep their champion team intact, in stark contrast to his club – which does not have the allowance and as a result was forced to trade four premiership players at the end of last season in order to stay under its salary cap.
While McMahon would not comment on the new salary cap allowances – McGuire said they were fairer than the previous allowances which he believed were being used by Sydney in particular to snare players from rival clubs.
Jackson said the seven per cent housing allowance would only go to Sydney because of the higher cost of buying or renting a house there compared to other cities.
“The housing factor in Sydney can be up to 35 per cent (dearer) relative to other parts of the country,” he said in justifying the decision to only grant the Swans the housing allowance.
To qualify for the "out of state" allowance, players must be in their first five years with a club, because, as the AFL explained yesterday, players were far more likely to return home early in their careers.
If it applied this year, only Sydney and Brisbane would qualify for the "location" allowance for non-local players ($360,000 maximum). The Swans and Brisbane have 27 and 26 per cent locals on their lists, respectively, while Melbourne and Port Adelaide are closest to qualifying, with about 55 per cent local content. Collingwood has slightly above that.
While the Swans said they were happy to accept the new conditions - pointing out that they are paying well under their cap this year - the Lions expressed concern about the lesser allowance that will take effect by 2006. Brisbane chief executive Mike Bowers said that going from $600,000 to $360,000 was a worry. But on the other hand, he was pleased the AFL recognised there were special circumstances for the Lions.
Brisbane coach Leigh Matthews said the new system would not hurt the Lions so much while they were near the top, but it could become an issue when they were mid-table.
In announcing the change, AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson said some presidents believed the housing allowance should be applied across the country, not just Sydney.

CBA Clause In Dispute
The so-called "Heffernan clause" included in the recently released AFL collective bargaining agreement could be short-lived, with criticisms of it emerging from both sides of the player-club divide. The clause, designed to protect contracted players from unilateral trade and restore a degree of faith in the contract system, was to forbid the trading of a contracted player who has not served at least 12 months of his agreement. But last week, at a meeting of football managers and the AFL, it was decided that an attempt should be made to have it rewritten to protect only players on multi-year contracts and not those tied to one-year agreements.
The AFL Players Association has not agreed to this - the union is considering its position - but an influential agent attacked not only the idea of removing protection for players on one-year contracts but the original clause itself.
Paul Connors, who has a stable of players that includes Chris Tarrant, Chris Judd and Trent Croad, said that until the practical workings of the clause were better known, it should be removed from the collective agreement and the terms of agreements enforced by players who do not want to be traded.
Connors said that any removal of protection for one-year contracts would be even more dire, given that clubs would still be able to contract a player with the intent of trading him on their terms at a season's end. Chris Heffernan, who has given his name to the clause, signed a three-year contract mid-season with Essendon last year, only to be traded months later to Melbourne.
He said clubs could manipulate players by puting players on one year contracts and then renewing those deals only at the end of the year. He feels it would make trading period more volatile.

Ad Ban Endangers MCG Work
A decision by the AFL to refuse two advertisements placed by the Electrical Trades Union in the AFL Record may lead to construction work on the MCG's new grandstand being brought to a halt. The union is angered by a last-minute decision by the AFL to remove two full-page advertisements - one promoting the union's involvement in the reconstruction of the MCG and the other promoting the union's position in a long-running industrial dispute with Smorgon Steel - and says it will attempt to re-submit the advertisement.
Dean Mighell, the state secretary of the ETU southern states branch, said if the ads were refused again without a satisfactory explanation, he could not rule out workers walking off the job at the MCG.
The AFL's media manager, Patrick Keane, said the decision to pull the advertisements was in keeping with the league's policy of not running political advertising in the AFL Record.
He said the "hard-and-fast" policy was put in place four years ago after the league received feedback from football fans about the placement of political advertisements in the Record during the 1999 state election campaign. Keane said the negative feedback led to the policy of keeping the Record as a pure footy publication.
Mighell, though, did not accept the AFL's view that the advertisements were of a political nature, describing them as "positive and inoffensive". He said the AFL had not told the union of its reasons for not running the ads, and accused the league of being evasive.
"If the initial response was it's editorial policy, (we'd say) can we have a look at the policy and see where it offends so that we might be able to construct the ads so they don't offend," he said. Mighell spoke with union members on the construction site at the MCG about the AFL decision to pull the ads. He said if the ads were refused again this week, the members would be seeking a written explanation.

Umpire Retires
AFL umpire Derek Humphery-Smith announced his retirement last week after more than seven years of officiating. Last week was his first game in the seniors after being dropped to the VFL for 2 months for poor bounce execution.
It is believed the Queenslander, who relocated to Melbourne to pursue umpiring, has cited his growing commitments as a lawyer as the reason behind his retirement.

His retirement has allowed the league to promote another. Rookie umpire Craig Hendrie has joined the senior list. Umpire Hendrie is 28 and hails from Perth. He was one of four umpires to be trialled for a spot on the senior AFL list during the pre-season period and has continued to perform well in state league football this year, umpiring the WA v SA state game at Fremantle Oval last month.He will now be eligible to umpire senior AFL matches.

Footy Future On Display
The 2003 National AFL Under 18s Championships commenced this weekend in Melbourne:

Saturday July 5
Division Two
Match 1 -- Tasmania v NSW / ACT at the MCG
Match 2 -- Northern Territory v Queensland at TEAC Oval
 
Sunday July 6
Division One
Match 1 -- Vic Metro v South Australia at the MCG
Match 2 -- Western Australia v Vic Country at the MCG
 
Tuesday July 8
Division Two
Match 3 -- Winner Div 2 Match 1 v Loser Div 2 Match 2 at Skilled Stadium
Match 4 -- Winner Div 2 Match 2 v Loser Div 2 Match 1 at Skilled Stadium
 
Wednesday July 9
Division One
Match 3 -- Winner Div 1 Match 1 v Loser Div 1 Match 2 at Optus Oval
Match 4 -- Winner Div 1 Match 2 v Loser Div 1 Match 1 at Optus Oval
 
Saturday July 12
Division Two
Match 5 -- Loser Div 2 Match 1 v Loser Div 2 Match 2 at Optus Oval
Match 6 -- Winner Div 2 Match 1 v Winner Div 2 Match 2 at Optus Oval
 
Sunday July 13
Division One
Match 5 -- Loser Div 1 Match 1 v Loser Div 1 Match 2 at the MCG
Match 6 -- Winner Div 1 Match 1 v Winner Div 1 Match 2 at the MCG

TRIBUNAL
Docker Troy Simmonds was suspended for one game after being found guilty of striking Hawk Sam Mitchell.
Simmonds pleaded not guilty to striking Mitchell as the pair wrestled during the third quarter of the match.
He said he had only been trying to break Mitchell’s hold on his jumper but admitted he did make contact to the head of the young Hawk.
He said it was only an attempted block to break free of Mitchell.
However tribunal chairman Brian Collis said the panel accepted the evidence of reporting umpire Scott Jeffery – an emergency umpire on the day who was just two metres away and looking directly at the incident.
“I saw player Simmonds swing his arm and strike player Mitchell to the nose and right cheek with his fist or wrist area,” Jeffery said.
Collis said the blow was ‘sufficient to warrant a charge of striking’ and described Simmond’s actions as ‘reckless’.
It was Simmonds' first suspension in 73 games.

Bad news for the Bombers as well at the VFL tribunal where Mark Mercuri was suspended for 2 games.for striking Cat Brent Moloney. Mercuri was reported on video evidence.

MILESTONES
AFL Life Membership: Robert Harvey, St Kilda. Harvey qualifIed for automatic AFL Life Membership this week with his 300th official match. Since his debut, he has played 268 premiership matches, 21 pre-season matches, eight State of Origin matches and two International Rules matches.
AFL Life Membership: Darren Goldspink, AFL Umpire. Goldspink qualified for automatic AFL Life Membership this week with his 300th official match. Since his debut, he has umpired 275 premiership matches, 19 pre-season matches and five State of Origin matches.
200 games -- Justin Peckett, St Kilda
200 games coached -- Gary Ayres, Adelaide
150 games -- Scott Burns, Collingwood
150 games -- Scott Lucas, Essendon 
100 games -- Heath Black, St Kilda
100 games -- Mark Johnson, Essendon
50 games -- Stephen Milne, St Kilda
50 games -- Ian Perrie, Adelaide
100 consecutive games -- Andrew Kellaway. Kellaway began his streak in Round 6, 1999.
 
TEAM NEWS
The Round 19 MELB/GEEL game will celebrate Foundation Day for Aussie Rules:
· 1858 was an active time for the establishment of Australian football. On 10 July 1858, Tom Wills literally kick-started the competition with his letter to Bell's Life In Victoria, inviting cricketers to consider taking up football or athletics, or creating a rifle club in order to supplement the fledgling colony's defence. In coming weeks, this led to invitations to take part in matches, and set in motion the evolution of the game into the shape and sides we know today.

· One match that has gained legendary status took place between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College. It was played across three weekends from 7 August 1858, in the surrounds of Yarra Park. It had an important part to play in the development of the game. This was by no means the first game of Australian football ever played. However, the organisation and formalisation of the game and its rules was given recognition by the scheduling of this 'grand football match' between two clubs/schools sides. Tom Wills umpired on behalf of Melbourne Grammar, while Dr John Macadam filled this post for Scotch.

· Melbourne and Geelong both have long and proud histories. Melbourne, formed in 1858, has the status of the oldest organised sporting club in the world, while the 'Pivotonians', as Geelong was known in its early years, was founded less than a year later. In the first formative seasons, the two sides shared players, including Tom Wills - prominent in the setting up of both clubs - and his cousin, Henry Harrison. With the advent of steam trains in the early 1860s, a trip to Geelong to play the provincial side at the Argyle Street Ground was a once or twice a year event. Players were strongly advised to exercise on the train to prevent cramping and stiffness. In the 1870s, Melbourne is recorded as having sung 'Auld Lang Syne' on the way to the train after a win - a link to the 'Grand Old Flag' Club song of today. During the same game, it was recorded that the players ate a roast beef dinner and drank ale during the half-time break.

· Melbourne also had a pioneering role to play in yet another football innovation - nighttime football. Pre-League, Melbourne played against Carlton on the MCG on the night of 13 August 1879. This came a week after Collingwood Artillery and East Melbourne played under arc lights in glass shades, suspended from poles, provided by W.H. Masters and Company.

· Melbourne and Geelong have met 194 times throughout the history of the VFL/AFL. Melbourne has won 80 of these encounters, and there has been just one tie, back in Round Two, 1911, at the old Corio Oval.

· Wartime has taken a unique toll on both clubs. Geelong did not compete in 1916, and Melbourne also stood out of the competition from 1916 to 1918. Due to travel restrictions, Geelong did not compete in 1942 and 1943 - but did continue training, with Dr Donald Cordner joining the Geelong side for training in the 1943 pre-season. In 1941, Corio Oval was taken over by the Defence Department, and Geelong moved to Kardinia Park, while Melbourne, with the MCG being used by the American Marines and RAAF personnel, shared Punt Road Oval with Richmond for the duration.

PORT ADELAIDE
Injury Update:
Cain Ackland, Hamstring, 1-2 weeks
Scott Borlace (rookie), hand, 1 week
Kane Cornes, hand, 2-3 weeks
Adam Kingsley, hand, 2-3 weeks

Matt Primus finally returned from injury. Brendon Lade was dropped to make way but was named as an emergency this week.

CARLTON
Carlton premiership player Vin Waite – the father of current Blue Jarrad Waite – has died suddenly early Saturday morning after suffering a heart attack.
Waite, 54, was a member of Carlton’s 1970 and 1972 premiership teams.
Originally from Morwell in Victoria, Waite was well regarded for his strength and left-foot kicking and played 153 games for the Blues between 1966 and 1975.
Carlton president Ian Collins said the entire club was saddened by Vin's sudden death. Vin was a team-mate of Collins, and both were recruited from the Latrobe Valley in the 1960s.
His son was drafted to the Blues in the 2001 National Draft under the father-son rule.
But Jarrad spent the entire 2002 season playing in the reserves before making his debut for Carlton in round one this year, wearing his father’s No.30 guernsey.
He was the round 10 National AFL Rising Star nominee and has played 11 games this season, missing two matches due to suspension.
Vin had become a more regular visitor to Optus Oval in the last two seasons to watch Jarrad play.
Collins said that at least Dad got to see his son play wearing the #30 guernsey he also wore in his day.
The team wore black armbands in the game this weekend.

Disgraced Carlton ex-prez John Elliott lost his court case over poor business dealings last week. He has been banned from corporate life for 4 years and has to pay part of a $1.43 million compensation bill to creditors of the failed rice miller, Water Wheel Holdings.
Announcing his intention to appeal, Mr Elliott, 61, said he was "stunned and shocked" by the decision delivered by Justice Philip Mandie in the Victorian Supreme Court.
The ruling is the latest in a series of legal, financial and personal setbacks that have dramatically reversed the fortunes of a man once counted among the nation's leading businessmen and touted as a possible future Liberal prime minister.
In his ruling, Justice Mandie found Mr Elliott had "showed continuing disregard" for unsecured creditors of Water Wheel by allowing the company to trade when it could not pay its debts. Two other company directors were also charged under the rules of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
ASIC had asked the court to ban Elliott from being a company director for five to seven years, and to fine him $200,000. Instead, the judge penalised him just $15,000 and limited the ban to four years.
Last month, Elliott pleaded that he did not have sufficient income or assets to pay fines and penalties that were being demanded by ASIC as it sued on behalf of aggrieved Water Wheel creditors.
According to Mr Elliott's declaration of his financial situation, he also would be unlikely to have the estimated $2 million that ASIC is seeking to meet its legal costs. Elliott's own legal bill so far runs close to $1 million. Asked if he could afford to pay the penalties and costs, Mr Elliott said simply that he would appeal against the order.
Elliott previously told the court that any corporate ban would unfairly prejudice his family, as most of his directorships were on companies either wholly or partly owned by companies related to the John D. Elliott Family Trust. Elliott is not a beneficiary of the trust, yet Justice Mandie yesterday noted that Elliott had the power to appoint trustees and make himself a beneficiary.
The judge stressed that he believed Elliott was "significantly less culpable" than his fellow directors. Harrison, the company chairman, was banned for seven years and Plymin for 10 years. Both Plymin and Elliott must find $1.43 million to pay Water Wheel's unsecured creditors, while Harrison has already paid $300,000 into an ASIC trust fund.

Coach Denis Pagan has developed a plan to resurrect the club's fortunes, in the face of an ageing core of players and crushing draft penalties. Pagan, who says the Blues' on-field stocks are worse than he expected when he arrived at Carlton, says he and the club's football department have a plan that involves recruiting a mix of three types of player. He said a rise in the team's fortunes would take time.
Pagan and his recruiting department have worked hard on developing a strategy to improve the weak list - rated by most observers, including some club insiders, as the competition's worst, when the age of the elite players is taken into account.
While he was reluctant to divulge details of the plan, he explained that the Blues would recruit a blend of untried youngsters, middle-tier players from other clubs to support the kids, and also hoped to attract at least one top-shelf young player from another club. Pagan admitted that a lack of leg speed needed to be addressed, though it was among "half a dozen or eight areas" that required list surgery.
The Pagan plan covers the next 12 months and will be reassessed next year when the Blues regain what former coach David Parkin called a club's "lifeblood" - the early draft choices it was deprived of because of AFL penalties for cheating the salary cap.
Pagan defined the recruit "at the top" as a "young gun" who was either uncontracted, "or disgruntled or whatever", and whom the Blues - who will have significant room in their salary cap at season's end - could attract.The Blues understand that they need a significant injection of young talent to support potential long-term players Jarrad Waite, Brad Fisher, Bret Thornton and Karl Norman, but they are also mindful of the need for seasoned bodies to remain competitive and protect developing players.
Pagan justified the decision to promote rookie ruckman Laurence Angwin, a 20-year-old former Crow with a chequered off-field history, on the grounds that he was precisely the type of "elite" talent that Carlton would be unable to recruit this year because of the draft penalties.
Angwin, a top-10 draft pick (2000) did not fare well in Adelaide, suffering a variety of injuries, including some scrapes and bruises from a car carsh, and walked on the club to return to Melbourne. He eventually was allowed to join the Box Hill Hawks last year while remaining on Adeliaide's list, so they might arrange a suitable trade if Angwin decided to continue his football career. A shoulder injury prevented him playing last year and the Crows delisted him, allowing Carlton to name him to their rookie list.
Carlton promoted Angwin to the senior list after a string of impressive performances for the Northern Bullants. He battled the dreaded OP in the first half of the season before playing his first game for the Bullants reserve team four weeks ago. Since then he has been a shining light for the senior Bullants team.
He will take the spot of Scott Freeborn who was placed on the long-term injury list because of OP, thus bringing his season to an end. Scott had been looking to play his first game for the season in the next two weeks, however, the injury flared once again causing a severe setback

Injury Update:
Scott Freeborn, OP, indefinite
Adam Mathews. dislocated shoulder, indefinite
Brett Ratten, dislocated/fractured shoulder, 4-5 weeks.
Trent Sporn, fractured foot (metatarsal), 3-4 weeks.
Simon Wiggins, strained medial ligament, 2-3 weeks

BRISBANE
Coach Leigh Matthews admits his club will be worse off under the AFL’s new salary cap allowance but says he can live with the league’s decision.
The Lions – provided they still have less than 40 per cent of local players on their list – will only be able to pay up to 12 players a relocation allowance of $30,000 each.
The Lions had argued the salary cap allowance was necessary to help prevent the many players they are forced to recruit from outside Queensland – due to the fact they are based in a non-traditional AFL state – from returning to their home states once their initial contract expires.
The Lions remain concerned that the new salary cap allowance does nothing to help the club bolster the number of players from its own state on its list with even Andrew Demetriou admitting that New South Wales and Queensland were still not producing enough AFL players.
Matthews said the Queensland local league was not as strong as it was but was at least still strong enough to enable the Lions to field their reserve team in the competition – a situation which does not exist in Sydney.

The Fitzroy guernsey will be seen in all its glory on an AFL ground next month for the first time since the club disappeared seven years ago. Brisbane will wear one of Fitzroy's five post-war strips, probably a 1950s' version, against Collingwood at the MCG on Foundation day, August 9, when some, but not all clubs, revert to original guernseys. Crucially for Fitzroy fans, it will prominently feature the FFC monogram. The old Fitzroy club still exists in Melbourne - separately from the Lions' branch office - still with Dyson Hore-Lacy as chairman. It supports an amateur team, the Fitzroy Reds, who will play in the curtain-raiser to the Collingwood match, and secretary Bill Atherton expects a larger crowd than usual that day.
Atherton said.Brisbane has rejected previous importuning to wear the Fitzroy guernsey in all Melbourne matches for fear of disaffecting its new constituency in Brisbane, and churlishly had demanded $100,000 from Collingwood to compensate it for next month's change.
But chief executive Michael Bowers said yesterday that after winning the past two premierships, the Brisbane club was confident enough of the strength of its new identity to recognise its old.
Brisbane would seek, on a future foundation day, to play a home match wearing the colours of the Bears, the other arm of the club's history. But Atherton said since the classic Fitzroy and South Melbourne guernseys still had drawing power, Brisbane and Sydney should wear them in Melbourne to boost the gate for low-drawing clubs such as the Kangaroos and the Western Bulldogs.

Alastair Lynch was ruled out of the Fremantle match while Jonathan Brown (hamstring) made a welcome return from injury. Chris Scott (ankle) also returned.
Although he is fully fit and in the best goalkicking form of his career, 35-year-old Lynch's health is affected by longer flights, leaving him with a feeling of severe jet lag for prolonged periods afterwards It is part of his battle with chronic fatigue syndrome.
When he has made the long trip, it has adversely affected him for 3-4 weeks afterwards. And with the team pushing for a top 4 finish, it was decided by one and all not to risk him.
He was not well for three weeks after the trip to Adelaide in round two. Lynch hasn't travelled to Perth to play since 2001.

Injury Update:
Anthony Corrie, finger tendon surgery, long term injury list, 5 weeks
Tim Notting, dislocated/fractured elbow, 3 weeks
Daniel Pratt (rookie), suffered a badly damaged tendon in his finger, identical to the injury suffered by Anthony Corrie, in last week's reserves game, 12-16 weeks
Chris Johnson, hamstring, 1 week

SYDNEY
Paul Roos has given a cautious welcome to the AFL’s new ‘cost-of-living’ allowance – which has effectively halved the Swans’ 15 per cent allowance to a seven per cent ‘location allowance’.
However, unlike Brisbane whose concessions were halved, Roos believes the new system – to be phased in over three years - should not affect his team in the wash-up.
Currently Sydney has 11 players from NSW. Therefore it qualifies for the entire allowance which effectively means the Swans’ total salary cap allowance will only drop by one to two percent.
However the former Fitzroy defender finds it hard to fathom how the AFL found the magic figure of seven per cent.
“To me that’s the most frustrating point of the whole issue if anyone has ever lived in Sydney as opposed to living in Melbourne (as) it is much more expensive. “It cost me $27 to park for an hour and ten minutes in the city now ... you know … it’s a lot more than seven percent everyone knows that".

Canberra local Craig Bolton made a quick visit to Canberra to promote the upcoming "Canberra Day at the Sydney Cricket Ground".
The Swans defender, one of the real success stories of 2003, played his junior football in Canberra and is delighted that the Swans have seen fit to honor Canberra AFL at next weeks Swans v St Kilda game at the SCG.
The concept of "Canberra Day at the SCG" is for eight junior AFL teams from both the Under 10's and 12's to contest a Lightning Premiership which will be played on the SCG and Lakeside Oval (opposite the SCG).
These games will commence at 12.30pm with the finals to be contested at half-time of the Swans v St Kilda game on the SCG. In the meantime there will also be the top of the table clash between the Swans Reserves and Belconnen in the AFL Canberra competition.

The teams competing in both the U10 and U12 Lightning Competitions are from eight clubs: Marist, Eastlake, Belconnen Cats, Tuggeranong Bulldogs, Weston Creek Cubs, Queanbeyan Tigers, Belconnen Magpies and Jerrabomberra
Children from the Weston Primary School will be participating in the Canberra Day Lightning Competition.
The Trophies for the U10 and U12 competitions are named after local stalwarts of AFL in Canberra, Helga Sullivan and Jill Weickhardt. Helga Sullivan is a past Secretary of AFL NSW/ACT and has spent 13 years service with Canberra Junior AFL Clubs. She will be in attendance for both a photo opportunity and questions about Canberra Day.

Injury Update:
Stephen Doyle, knee articular cartilage damage, 3-4 weeks
Brad Seymour, hamstring strain, 3-4 weeks
Ben Mathews, ankle sprain, 1-2 weeks

WESTERN BULLDOGS
A cheer squad member will be banned from her club's next three AFL games as a penalty for spitting on Collingwood's Anthony Rocca. The Bulldogs have suspended the 19-year-old woman for three weeks after she spat on the Magpie forward late in Saturday's match.
Rocca was spat on after a controversial umpiring decision awarded the Magpies a goal. The woman, a cheer squad member for four years, was also banned from attending the club's games interstate. She has expressed remorse over the incident and has also been urged to be a leader in discouraging such unacceptable behavior.
She, the cheer squad, and the club have written letters of apology to Rocca and Collingwood.

Injury Update:
Marcus Picken, Knee, 2-3 weeks
Wayde Skipper, Rib, 4 weeks

Regained Steve Kretiuk (hamstring) this week

MELBOURNE
The Melbourne Football Club has appointed Rob Ewart as the Club's Chief Operating Officer. This is a newly created position that is a continuation of the Club's restructure and improved financial position.
Rob Ewart was previously the Finance Manager for the Hawthorn Football Club and comes with the highest of credentials.

Injury Update:
Peter Vardy, groin soreness, 1 week
Daniel Bell, ruptured finger tendon, 3 weeks
Nick Walsh, groin, 2 weeks.
Michael Clark (rookie), ruptured spleen, 5 weeks

ADELAIDE
Injury Update:
Simon Goodwin, broken wrist, 5 weeks

Regained Matthew Bode (knee) this week

ESSENDON
Runner John Barnes is in hot water again and faces a $7500 fine after umpires complained about his constant badgering of Geelong players at Telstra Dome last week. Andrew Demetriou has written to Barnes over the incident, the third time the former Essendon and Geelong ruckman has caught the eye of the league this year. It is believed Barnes was talking to Geelong players for much of the night and even playfully tapped former teammate Ben Graham on the head during the match. The Cats were unfazed by Barnes, but Demetriou was less than impressed.
After the Bombers' round-five clash with Collingwood, Barnes was fined $7500 for staying on the field too long, an incident the AFL believed was his second offence. The league had fined him $2000 the previous week, after the Western Bulldogs match, but Essendon did not receive official notification. Because of the oversight, the league suspended the $7500 fine, which could now be incurred.

James Hird (calf) was back in the side this week as were Steve Alessio, who had been dropped to the VFL. Back in the VFL were rookie Jobe Watson and Paul Barnard, who has struggled for form.

Injury update:
Jordan Bannister, collarbone, 6 weeks (injured in VFL)

RICHMOND
Richmond is exploring the potential of a mooted increase in the number of players that can be drafted under the father-son rule by inviting Tom Roach, the son of Tigers great Michael Roach, to train with the club over the next fortnight.
The presence of the fresh-faced schoolboy raised the tantalizing prospect for Tigers fans of reliving the club's halcyon days of the late 1970s and early '80s, and again seeing Raines pass to Roach.
Andrew Raines, the son of premiership wingman Geoff Raines, is a talented teenager who has represented Queensland at junior level. Richmond assistant coach Darren Crocker said the club was examining Roach, Raines and the son of another 1980 premiership player, Greg Strachan, as possible draftees if the AFL went ahead with a plan to allow multiple father-son selections.
It has yet to be determined what the likely cost of those selections might be, but Crocker said the club would be thorough in its assessments.
Roach, who plays for Oakleigh Chargers and his school team, Carey Grammar, will train with the senior squad during the school holidays. His lack of height make it unlikely he will emulate his father's deeds in the goal square, but Crocker said Roach the younger had a good goal sense and was full of enthusiasm.

Injury Update:
Duncan Kellaway, foot, 3-5 weeks      
Ray Hall, psoas, 1-2 weeks 

Wayne Campbell (calf) returned from injury this week

ST KILDA
Coach Grant Thomas has suggested that representations made by individual players were contributing to more generous allocation of free kicks. Last weekend, Melbourne forward David Neitz was awarded three free kicks against St Kilda - he had received only seven for the season to that point - after he and coach Neale Daniher had spoken to AFL umpires' director Jeff Gieschen about his treatment.
Sydney sent Gieschen a video of umpiring incidents it felt showed Barry Hall was not getting the free kicks he deserved earlier in the season, and Richmond said it would take up Matthew Richardson's cause.
Gieschen responded by saying there had been absolutely no change in the interpretation of rules as they applied to forwards, pointed out that Daniher and Neitz had visited a full six weeks ago, and rejected as "ridiculous" any notion that umpires were reacting to personal pleas.
But Thomas, who spoke to Gieschen on the phone about the issue, appeared aggrieved at the treatment the Saints received, when Melbourne scored five goals from free kicks.
Thomas advocated a monthly forum where clubs could air grievances if they wished.
Gieschen said umpires were not influenced by any meetings with individual players or clubs, and judged every contest on its merits. He felt there was plenty of communication between clubs and the umpires department, and encouraged it.
Gieschen also refuted the notion that individual players were being umpired and said he was satisfied with the overall performance of the umpires this season.
He said there were no set rules about free kicks being paid and that in any given weekend, frees are going to vary from match to match. He cited an example of
one weekend in which 12 frees were paid in one match and 44 were paid in another.

Aaron Hamill returned from injury this week

COLLINGWOOD
James Clement and Chris Tarrant have both signed new 3 year contracts.
Tarrant's deal is actually an extension and renegotiation of his previous contract which still had one year to run.
Both players accepted deals for less money for salary cap reasons and the club has acknowledged both for doing so.
The Magpies' salary-cap position will also be improved next year by Nathan Buckley's eligibility for veteran status. Buckley, one of the AFL's highest-paid players, will open up significant room in the cap, since only half of his wage will count in the total player payments.

The AFL has joined forces with Collingwood in a bold new bid to take on the Sydney market next season that will give the Magpies two games in Sydney in 2004 - one a Collingwood home game - and seize a monopoly on next year's proposed split round. Andrew Demetriou will talk to the NSW Government this month in a bid to underwrite a Collingwood-Sydney game at Homebush's Telstra Stadium.
The match, which would be televised on Channel Ten on a Saturday night, would be the only AFL game over the second weekend of a split round. The Magpies' asking price for the game in Sydney is estimated at more than $500,000, with the figure being split between the Carr Government and Telstra Stadium. The other Collingwood match against the Swans would be a Sydney home game at the SCG. The Magpies' chief executive Greg Swann revealed that the club was also on the verge of reaching a deal with the Western Bulldogs that would hand Collingwood members rights in an 11th game contested in Melbourne at Telstra Dome.
Swann said the Magpies, the only Victorian club not forced to travel to Subiaco Oval this season, with most clubs playing there twice, had applied to the AFL to take on Sydney at the SCG over the Easter break and again in a split round that the club hoped to move back in the draw to round 14 or 15.
Both parties have argued that the match would assault the Sydney market in the manner rugby assaulted Melbourne and that it would be played in a grand final atmosphere. Magpie coach Mick Malthouse is understood to have backed the plan. The match would be televised live into the Sydney market on a Saturday night - such a move would be impossible on a Friday night because of Channel Nine's rugby league commitments - and played the weekend after the 14 other AFL clubs had completed their round of games. The Ten network is understood to have unofficially canvassed handing the Nine network the right to televise both the Easter Monday and Queen's Birthday Monday public holiday games in return for the exclusive rights to the second half of the split round.
The Magpies have proposed a carnival weekend of football in Sydney over the split round and have already talked to a receptive Carr Government determined to lift attendances at the Homebush stadium. Sydney chairman Richard Colless has also unofficially given his support. It is not known whether the Magpies will again be given the luxury of not traveling to take on either West Coast or Fremantle on their home turf next season.

Tarkyn Lockyer is set to resume group training within the next month, continuing his strong recovery from knee surgery. While the midfielder maintains he has "no chance" of making a comeback in time for the club's potential finals campaign, he hopes to have returned to full training by the end of the year. Lockyer ran for the first time on his reconstructed right knee three weeks ago, eight weeks after his operation, and last week upped his workload to include some agility running as more aggressive gym work on the knee.
Provided there are no setbacks, he could resume full training in another 5-6 weeks.
The 23-year-old joined the Magpies' rehabilitation group for the first time during the club's midseason trip to Darwin, to do some stationary skills work. Lockyer has been spending match days helping Mick Malthouse and the Collingwood hierarchy note various statistics.

Andrew Williams, fractured ribs, was expected to miss up to 5 weeks more but has recovered to return to the side this week. Also back from injury were Simon Prestigiacomo and Rhyce Shaw.

KANGAROOS
Coach Dean Laidley was asked to explain his criticism of a 50-metre penalty paid to his side just before three-quarter-time against West Coast last Sunday. Laidley, who approached the umpires on the ground on two occasions after the incident, said he considered the 50 metres had been "short" and had cost his side a crucial goal.
Andrew Demetriou said he believed the umpire, Scott McLaren, had "got it right". "It was pretty close to 50 metres. I can understand Dean's frustration; it was a pretty exciting game," he said.
The two met several days ago and Laidley apologized for his actions. He was fined $2500 with another #2500 suspended until the end of the season.

Welcomed back Leigh Harding and Adam Simpson from injury

WEST COAST
Ben Cousins has agreed to a new three-year contract that will tie him to the club until the end of 2006.
Cousins, who turned 25 last Monday, is expected to sign the new deal next week. He will remain the highest-paid player at the club.
His latest deal could be worth $1.5 million over three years in football earnings alone. His high profile in the sport also guarantees lucrative contracts away from the game.
Cousins is managed by his father Bryan, who confirmed that the latest contract was all but sealed.

The brilliant onballer's rise to AFL stardom has been one of the great success stories at West Coast, which drafted him in 1995 under the father-son rule.
He is ranked among the top 10 players in the competition.
Cousins made his AFL debut in 1996 and has now played 158 senior games.
He has won the club's best and fairest in the past two years and has been selected four times as an All-Australian.
Cousins finished fifth in the 2001 Brownlow Medal, with 18 votes, and was equal-sixth last year, with 16.

West Coast's merchandise sales are booming, with the expecting a $1 million profit for the year.
Captain Ben Cousin's jumper is still the best seller, but quickly catching up is the No. 3 jumper of Chris Judd.
The Eagles know that, in Judd, they've not only got a "total package" on the field, but a very marketable commodity as well.
West Coast this year will achieve a profit of close to $3 million. The improvement of its on-field performance has meant an upward spike in ticket sales. This year, the average attendance at its home games has surpassed 36,000 - a record.

The Eagles have also joined forces with a company which is run by former rugby coach Rod Macqueen and is a sponsor of the Rugby World Cup
They have formed a joint venture company called Sail WA with a company called Sail Australasia, run by former Wallabies coach Rod Macqueen.
Sail WA is selling sponsorship and corporate entertainment packages for the World Cup games at Subiaco. That means West Coast makes money out of corporate sponsors who prefer rugby to AFL, getting a foot in both camps.
CEO Trevor Nisbett says the Sail WA concept can be adapted to the company selling sponsorship deals involving any team and in any sport. That even extends to the hypothetical situation of a Western Australian company that wants to sponsor Collingwood and Sail WA does the deal, which results in West Coast sharing the profits.
Nisbett says the club has been doing so well in the AFL this year that it decided to sell the sponsorship rights of the team for its away games - which means a different sponsor's logo on the team's away jumper.
The deal, worth another $500,000, is currently being sold.
This year, West Coast has 34 sponsors who contribute $50,000 or more to the club. AFL statistics show that in 2002 West Coast earned $11.7 million in corporate and sponsorship income. By comparison, St Kilda earned $3 million and even the so-called powerhouse Essendon or Collingwood earned $6 million in corporate income.
West Coast operates out of the recently enlarged Subiaco Oval, which has a capacity of 42,000. But when you've got a membership of between 34,000 and 38,000, there is a strong incentive for members who want a guaranteed seat to also buy a season's reserved seat.
That means West Coast earned $2.8 million from its membership fees in 2002, but another $4.2 million from selling reserved seating.
Compare that with some of the MCG tenants, where if you buy a club membership, you are guaranteed a seat, given the stadium's capacity.
Richmond, for instance, earned $2.6 million from membership income, yet only $648,000 from those members who also wanted reserve seating.
Many of the Victorian clubs try and make up the revenue gaps with their interstate rivals by milking their poker machine gaming income - West Coast does not have pokies. But these non-football sources of income can be fickle. This season, with the tightening of the smoking laws, most Victorian-based clubs are reporting somewhere between a 10 and 30 per cent decline in gaming revenue.
West Coast knows the responsibility it has to keep making big profits because it is funding WA football. About 80 per cent of the profits it makes each year are automatically pumped back into the WA Football Commission - which owns the Eagles' licence.
The WAFC is currently more than $30 million in debt and needs the cash flow. So does Fremantle, which indirectly (via the WAFC) lives off the Eagles' dividends to service its $8 million-plus debt.

Injury Update:
Travis Gaspar, foot, 4 weeks
Chad Morrison, knee, 4 weeks
Phil Matera, knee, 1 week
Ashley McIntosh, hamstring, 1 week

Welcomed back Phil Read (ankle) from injury

HAWTHORN
Injury Update:
Chance Bateman, OP, 2-4 weeks
Daniel Harford, quad, played for Box Hill Hawks this weekend
Tim Hazell, labral tear-shoulder, Box Hill Hawks this weekend
Nick Holland, 1 week

Nathan Thompson returned this week but Peter Everitt missed again - he twinged his hammy at training last week.

GEELONG
Geelong paid tribute to its record-breaking teams of 1952-53 on Sunday at Skilled Stadium. The Cats of '52-53 went an AFL record 26 straight games without defeat, including a win in the 1952 grand final. One of the games was a draw and after that the Cats racked up 23 consecutive wins.
Nineteen of the 36 players from the record-breaking team were guests of the club and enjoyed a lap of honor prior to the match
Geelong, who were coming off the 1951 flag, began its streak in round nine, going onto repeat the premiership success with a grand final win over Collingwood. The Cats picked up where they left off in '52 by winning the opening 13 games of the campaign to run the record to 26 matches.
It wasn't until Collingwood inflicted defeat in round 14 that the Cats tasted a loss. No club has come close to bettering the record since, despite Essendon in 2000 and Brisbane in 2001-2002 both winning 20 straight.
The last Geelong premiership (1963) coach, Bob Davis - the "Geelong Flyer" in playing days, was among the guests. He currently hosts, with Kevin Bartlett, Fox Footy Channel's Grumpy Old Men.

High-profile social commentator the Reverend Tim Costello has urged the football community to forgive troubled former champion Gary Ablett, saying the former Geelong star should be included into the AFL's Hall of Fame.
Although undisputed as one of the greatest footballers ever to have played, his connection with the drug-related death of Alisha Horan in 2000 is behind his consistent omission.
Costello, a Baptist minister, offered an impassioned defence of Ablett, saying it was "absolutely hypocritical" for him to be judged for the Hall of Fame on anything other than football criteria.
Costello said that he admired Ablett for going back to drug rehab and keeping his faith.
A furore erupted earlier this year when the Federal Government awarded Ablett a Centenary Medal. Horan's family was distressed by the accolade.
While Costello sympathized with the pain that Horan's family would endure if Ablett was inducted, he believed the league's Hall of Fame selection committee should
"Look, I understand that Alisha Horan's family and many in Geelong would be shattered if Gary is inducted into the Hall of Fame - we saw their response over the Centenary Medal - but unlike the Centenary Medal the Hall of Fame is purely football."
Wayne Jackson remained tight-lipped on the issue, saying only that the AFL Commission had been happy to adopt the recommendations of the selection committee throughout his time as the AFL's chief executive.

Coach Mark Thompson also believes Ablett should have already been inducted into the Hall of Fame despite his troubled past.
The AFL Hall of Fame selection committee has the option to consider a character clause in the criteria for Hall of Fame inductees.
The committee, which comprises 13 football experts, has again decided against inducting Ablett. He has been an eligible candidate for four years.

Geelong has secured the futures of eight of its core of key young players with the announcement that Cameron Ling, Corey Enright, Joel Corey, James Rahilly, Paul Chapman, David Johnson, Steve Johnson and James Kelly have agreed to contract extensions to remain with the Cats.
The signings ensure that the club can continue to build around the core group of youngsters that have been nurtured in recent years.

Geelong is preparing a list of uncontracted key forwards and is prepared to part with up to $400,000 in a bid to persuade one to join the club next year. And the Cats, who are likely to have an early draft pick at season's end, favor trading a pick, or trading picks with another club, rather than giving up one of their talented youngsters to secure a key forward.
The Cats insist, however, that they will be conservative in offering dollars because it was difficult to generate the dollars at Geelong. The Cats are preparing to lower their total player payments to about 95 per cent of the salary cap and would be in a position to spend in the vicinity of $300,000-$400,000 on the right player.
Essendon's Scott Lucas, Collingwood's Anthony Rocca and Josh Fraser, Carlton's Brendan Fevola, Hawthorn's Nathan Thompson and Jade Rawlings, and Brisbane's Daniel Bradshaw are all uncontracted at season's end. Bulldog Nathan Brown is also uncontracted and while he is only 182 centimetres and is not a conventional tall target, he has booted 35 goals this year and would add potency to the threadbare Geelong attack. Brown's future has been the subject of much speculation, as the Bulldogs attempt to re-sign several of their better players.

Injury Update:
Daniel Foster, knee, 2 weeks

FREMANTLE
Luke Webster has been upgraded to Fremantle's senior playing list as a long term injury replacement.
Webster's promotion has occurred as a result of Greg Edgcumbe being placed on the long term injury list. Edgcumbe, Fremantle's second selection at the 2002 National Draft (48th overall) will undergo surgery for patella tendonitis. This surgery will enable Edgcumbe to complete his recovery and rehabilitation to be available to commence preseason training in November 2003.
For 21 year old Webster, who has been on the Fremantle Rookie List since being drafted in 2001 this has been a reward for his dedication and hard work after the setback of suffering a serious knee injury in a practice game in 2002 that required a full knee reconstruction ending his 2002 season, his second knee reconstruction in three years.
Webster has been in outstanding form with East Perth this year and was selected in the Western Australia state team that played South Australia on 21st June, a game in which Luke was awarded the Simpson Medal as best on ground for Western Australia.

GENERAL SILLINESS
Bomber Bill Hutchison was a quiet man off the field.
He was so youthful looking when he debuted as a teenager that he was almost kicked out of the Essendon rooms before his first game when a club official mistook him for an on-looker.

Lion Jonathan Brown is hoping the mirror he broke last year doesn't mean 7 years bad luck. Prior to that, he played 40 consecutive games. Since then, he has had a string of injuries - ankle, fractured cheekbone, and a hamstring

On to the scores

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