But not everyone is pleased at the draw

Hello fans:

After months of speculation and two delays, the 2002 AFL premiership season fixture was announced in Melbourne’s Colonial Stadium on Wednesday. The announcement was scheduled for Thursday but, for whatever reason, was pushed forward by one day.
This is the first time a VFL/AFL fixture has been fully aligned to a TV broadcast deal, following the trends of major sports in the US, where the coverage is split between numerous networks. This is also the first time a home-and-away season is launched before the pre-season, as a replacement for Ansett Airlines as the sponsor of the pre-season competition is yet to be found.
The highlights of next year’s fixture are:
*Eight matches each round will generally be split between Friday night (one match), Saturday afternoon (two matches), Saturday night (two matches) and Sunday afternoon (three matches).
*There are less Sunday games in Melbourne, with 67 of the 176 matches to be played at night.
*Only one Friday night fixture (Match of the Round) will be played outside Melbourne, with the other 21 games to be played at the MCG or Colonial Stadium. The blockbusters feature matches involving Collingwood (six), Essendon (seven), Richmond (six), Carlton (five) and Hawthorn (seven). Brisbane, Sydney (due to rugby league commitments by Channel Nine in both cities), West Coast and Fremantle will not play in Friday nights.
*Saturday afternoon matches will be played in Adelaide (5 matches) and Perth (6 matches) for the first time, with live TV coverage back into Victoria.
*Fremantle and West Coast home matches on Sundays will start on 3.40pm (AEST) because they are considered too early for a 1.10pm (AEST) start on Sundays due to time difference, which will be inconvenient for footy fans who go to church in the morning.
*The blockbusters between Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon will continued to be played twice each, as will the Adelaide and Perth derbies.
*Carlton will play four home games at Colonial Stadium, three home games (against Essendon, Collingwood and Richmond) at the MCG and four at Optus Oval. The quota at Optus Oval will be filled by six home games by other teams.
*Geelong will play seven games at its home groung Kardinia Park (recently renamed Baytec Stadium), three at Colonial and one at the MCG.
*Collingwood will play its first five games, and seven of the last eight, at the MCG.
*Essendon will play 15 night games, including six in a row from round 9 to round 14.
*Richmond starts with four of its first five games at the MCG, but finishes with two tough interstate matches.
*Sydney’s home games will be split between the Sydney Cricket Ground (eight) and Stadium Australia in Homebush (three). Sydney will play Essendon in round 9, Carlton in round 17, and Richmond in round 22 in the Olympic Stadium, which is being reconfigured to 80,000 capacity. All Stadium Australia games and five SCG games will be played at Saturday nights.
*Eight Brisbane’s home games at the Gabba will be played at Saturday nights. The Grand Final replay between Essendon and Brisbane will be played on Saturday night, April 13. However, the Lions wil play at the MCG only once in five games in Victoria.
*Hawthorn will play two home games in York Park, Launceston, Tasmania; and North Melbourne will play three games in Canberra’s Manuka Oval and one in Sydney.
*For the first time since 1994, Adelaide will not play one home-and-away game at the MCG, and is the only AFL club without a presence on the MCG next season. The Crows will have nine of its last 10 games on Sundays, but will finish the regular season with a trip to Fremantle (remember its shock loss to the Dockers in round 22 this year, which indirectly caused its elimination from the finals a week later?).
*Showdown XI between Adelaide and Port Adelaide is set for Saturday, April 27 as a night match at Football Park. It will the first derby played at night and the first on a Saturday. The last 10 showdowns were all played on Sunday afternoons.
*All away matches involving non-Victorian teams (Adelaide, Brisbane, Fremantle, Port Adelaide, Sydney, West Coast) will be shown in their home cities on free-to-air television, regardless which network (Nine, Ten or Foxtel) is covering the match.

The AFL used a cut-off of round 15 of the 2001 season to seed the teams for the next season. (In case you may forget, the leader positions after round 15, from top to bottom, are: Essendon, Port Adelaide, Brisbane Lions, Hawthorn, Carlton, Richmond, Collingwood, Sydney, North Melbourne, Adelaide, Western Bulldogs, Geelong, Melbourne, St Kilda, West Coast and Fremantle.)
The AFL said it had delivered on about 80 to 85 per cent of the requests received from clubs, including home games interstate for Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs. AFL football operations manager Andrew Demetriou said the 2002 fixture was designed to maximise attendances and the involvement of supporters, and also tried to balance the needs of the clubs. He said the league would continue to look at expanding the season to 24 matches.
The complete schedule will be available at the AFANA website soon. Below is the schedule for the first round of the AFL season is (times in AEST)
Thursday, March 28: Richmond v Collingwood (MCG, 7.40pm) (Nine)
Friday, March 29: no play (Good Friday holiday)
Saturday, March 30:
St Kilda v Carlton (Colonial Stadium, 2.10pm) (Foxtel)
Geelong v Essendon (MCG, 7.10pm) (Ten/Foxtel)*
Port Adelaide v North Melbourne (Football Park, 7.40pm) (Ten/Foxtel)*
Sunday, March 31 (daylight saving ends in Australia):
Sydney v Brisbane Lions (SCG, 1.10pm) (Nine)
Western Bulldogs v Adelaide (Colonial Stadium, 2.10pm) (Foxtel/Nine)*
West Coast v Fremantle (Foxtel/Nine)*
Monday, April 1: Hawthorn v Melbourne (MCG, 2.10pm) (Ten)
*denotes the host broadcaster will be determined six weeks before the matches.

Blues to play four home games at Colonial
Carlton has decided to play four home games at Colonial because crowds at the Blues’ traditional home, Optus Oval or Princes Park, have dropped by five per cent over the past two years. A statement released by the club said that parking and transport problems had contributed to the decline in crowd numbers at Optus Oval, particularly when the crowd was above 25,000.
As a result, Carlton will only play games at their home ground when a crowd of less than 30,000 people is expected.

Clubs fury at draw
Although the 2002 AFL fixture was generally well received, some clubs were still furious about some elements of their respective schedule.
For example, Melbourne starts its 2002 season with an away match at the MCG against Hawthorn on Easter Monday. After that its only home games are against interstate clubs (Port Adelaide at the MCG in round 2 and West Coast at Optus Oval in round 4).
Last weekend Melbourne chief executive John Anderson described the fixture as the worst in his memory and commercially disastrous for the club. Anderson said the Demons would play St Kilda at home at the MCG in round 7, but their first really attractive financial game is against Collingwood in round 11 in the traditional Queen’s Birthday fixture.
Anderson said the club’s requests for a home game against Essendon and early home games at the MCG were rejected, despite being told by the league the Demons would play 17 games in Victoria. Anderson said it was going to be terribly hard to attract new members in the opening rounds with the fixture, although from a football point of view it could be positive that the Demons only play Essendon, Brisbane and Carlton once.
Anderson telephoned AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson on Wednesday afternoon to qualify his comments. While Anderson agreed with the league that “on balance, the draw is not too bad” for his club, he said the draw overall had the potential to widen the gap between the top clubs and those which do not consistently draw big crowds. The Demons also remain upset with the start of their home and away season, with four of the first six games away.
The four clubs drawn to play home matches at Optus Oval – Melbourne, North Melbourne, St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs – are also outraged at the sponsorship restrictions to be placed at the ground. The four clubs received letters from Carlton and the AFL telling them they will not be allowed to display their sponsors’ signage at Optus Oval if they conflict the Blues’ sponsors.
Carlton’s main sponsors are Optus and Nike but also has a deal with Volvo, Melbourne has sponsorships with Powertel and Fila, the Roos are sponsored by Mazda (major sponsor), Primus and Russell Athletic.

WAFL not pleased at AFL’s Saturday afternoon intrusion
WAFL council of presidents chairman Peter Metropolis has accused the AFL of trying to destroy local football after it programmed 11 Saturday matches for Perth in 2002.
The AFL launched its drive into Perth’s Saturday football market by listing Fremantle and West Coast to play three Saturday afternoon games each, starting at 1.40pm (3.40pm AEST), and another five Saturday night games between them. The AFL had planned as many as 12 Perth games on Saturday afternoon, but the number was reduced after talks with WA football officials. AFL general manager of football operations Andrew Demetriou has not ruled out increasing the number of Saturday fixtures in 2003.
Metropolis was concerned whether the WAFL team Subiaco can find enough free Saturdays to fill its quota of home matches. He said the club had a legal right to play home games at Subiaco Oval and was prepared to fight to defend that right.
However West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett praised the Saturday afternoon experiment as a positive step, as it would allow a lot of juniors who play football on Sundays to watch the Eagles or the Dockers play.

AFL pre-season fixture
The AFL has also released the fixture for the 2002 pre-season competition, which will retain the round-robin format (the fixture will be published at the AFANA website soon). Once again, the 16 teams are divided into four groups of four, with teams in each group play each other once. Teams were grouped with clubs they had met only once in the 2001 home-and-away season.
The competition will carry prizemoney of $A600,000 and start on February 15 (right in the middle of Salt Lake City Winter Olympics) with the Grand Final on March 16. For the very first time, matches will be played in every Australian states and territories, with Stadium Australia hosting the Sydney-Collingwood clash on February 17. At the same night, Port Adelaide will start of its defence of the pre-season cup at home against Essendon.
A new rule will be trialled during the pre-season competition. A small 3m diameter circle inside a larger, 10m diameter circle will be painted in the centre of the ground in the latest bid to reduce injuries to ruckmen and clear congestion at bounces. A ruckman from each side (but no one else) must be inside the 10m circle at the bounce. The ball is then bounced inside the 3m circle.
And the umpires will only bounce the ball in the centre square. Around the ground, it will be thrown up. The AFL will also permit the use of rookie-list players, giving them a chance to boost their chances of being promoted to the senior list. Each squad will have 24 players, with two extra interchange players.
The AFL has yet to find a new sponsor to replace Ansett Australia (which is now fighting to stay in the air) as the sponsor of the pre-season competition, but is confident a decision will be made by Christmas. The league is considering signing up Qantas as its official carrier.

AFL radio coverage under serious threat
As reported previously, the overseas coverage of AFL matches is under threat with the league in danger of losing two key radio broadcasters next season following a breakdown in recent talks with Southern Cross Broadcasting (owner of 3AW) and Triple M.
Both networks threatened to withdraw their five-year submissions because of what they called “savagely unrealistic” demands, such as:
*radio coverage can be only provided via the AFL website only but not their own websites;
*both networks have to pay as much as four times for 2002 the amount they paid to broadcast the 2001 season. Triple M wants to cover footy for free next year and 3AW has made an offer to the AFL significantly smaller than what it paid this year;
*both networks cannot enter into 2002 agreements against the AFL’s protected sponsors (CUB, Coca-Cola, Westpac, Volkswagen, McDonalds, News Corporation, etc.), another big shift from last season.
They also fear the league is setting them up to end successful agreements that attracted millions of listeners last season in attempting to appease the new TV broadcasters. Next season the radio coverage will have to compete against delayed coverage of Friday night matches, live telecasts of interstate matches or delayed coverage of Melbourne matches on Saturday afternoons, and Channel Nine double-headers on Sunday afternoons.
The AFL has not ruled out starting its own commercial footy broadcast if negotiations collapse. AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson refused to comment on whether the league could become a commercial radio stakeholder, except to say he hoped both 3AW and Triple M would cover football next season. AFL spokesman Tony Peek said the league expected new deals would be signed by Christmas.
*3AW commentator Rex Hunt had used his station to to blast Channel Nine and the AFL on the impasse on negotiations on new radio broadcast agreements. Hunt, who also works for Channel Seven on his weekend fishing program and the Footy Panel, launched the tirade after he revealed he had been told by 3AW that the station may not broadcast AFL matches next season.
Speaking on 3AW’s Sports Today program on Thursday evening, blamed the impasse on the “bullies” at Nine, a key member of the new AFL TV consortium. He said the TV partners had won so many concessions from the AFL that radio was being squeezed out of the picture.
Hunt said only an arrogant AFL would force radio stations to pay so much for broadcast rights that they would turn away from the table, which would be a huge setback for the game’s development, particularly in country areas.

Demons president names his ticket for election showdown
Melbourne president Gabriel Szondy has launched the group that will contest the club’s election in December, with the name “TeamVision” as its focus. The team will challenge the five-person ticket put forward by former president Joseph Gutnick.
Taking a shot at Gutnick, the name of the Szondy-led group is placing a team ethic at the top of its agenda, in direct opposition to the leadership style of the former president and mining magnate.
“For too long the debate about who should run the Melbourne Football Club has centred on individuals,” stand-in chairman Szondy said. “In some instances we want to gain and in others we want to regain the respect of Australia’s oldest football club.
The team of 10 includes five existing directors and five new faces, including former Demon great and skipper Robert Flower, vice-president and ABC broadcaster Beverley O’Connor, board member and Melbourne Team of the Century player Gary Hardeman, neurosurgeon Peter Dohrmann, senior counsel Peter Hayes, advertising boss Paul Gardner, marketing manager Craig Perrett, finance broker Stephen Bickford and lawyer Robert Jamieson.
Missing from the ticket though are several former board members who have resigned in recent times, including ex vice-presidents Bill Guest and Ian Johnson, former player Stuart Spencer and former Victorian state government treasurer Alan Stockdale.
Flower said he wasn’t pressured into joining the ticket, saying the instability of the club in recent months prompted him to act.

Misiti stays a Bomber
Essendon midfielder Joe Misiti has ended weeks of speculation of his playing future by rejecting lucrative deals from Geelong and Collingwood, and re-signing with the Bombers for two more years.
26-year-old Misiti put his name on paper just hours before he married his girlfriend Nora Keogh in Melbourne last Friday. He told his teammates at the wedding that he decided to stay because his loyalty to his club and his teammates and because his club had unfinished business.
Misiti came out of contract at the end of the 2001 season and it has taken some time for both parties to agree on the terms of the new contract. The Bombers had pitched a two-year, $A650,000 offer to Misiti, but had to compete against offers from Geelong and Collingwood, who are both interested in securing him through the pre-season draft.

Bulldogs re-sign Grant and gets a new CEO
The Western Bulldogs have re-signed captain Chris Grant for another four years and appointed a new chief executive officer.
Former Harness Racing Victoria boss, Bernard Saundry, replaces Mark Patterson who stepped down as CEO earlier this year.
However the club is still without a major sponsor for next season, after the withdrawal of telco giant Vodafone, and is facing a $1.5 million operating loss this year. Bulldogs president David Smorgan says the club is confident of finding a new sponsor and remaining viable next year.

Dockers sack assistant coach
Fremantle has announced assistant coach Terry Bright will not be part of the club’s match committee under new coach Chris Connolly.
Bright, who has been at the Club for the past three seasons was informed of this decision by Connolly late last Monday. Connolly said Bright did not fit the coaching structure he wanted to install, and a replacement would be named in coming weeks.
Fremantle chief executive Cameron Schwab said Bright is remaining positive and looking forward to remaining in the football environment, and forecasted further changes would be made.
Bright has indicated that he will look for other opportunities within the football system, either in Victoria or Western Australia.
*Former West Coast champion forward and South Fremantle coach Peter Sumich has decided to return to West Coast as assistant coach. Sumich had been pursued by both John Worsfold and Chris Connolly since they were appointed Eagles and Fremantle coach respectively last month.

Watts quits as St Kilda CEO; Harvey and Loewe re-sign with the Saints
St Kilda has promoted Brian Waldron to chief executive after the shock resignation of Jim Watts, who will remain on the club’s board.
And Waldron’s first official line of business was to announce a contract extension for captain Robert Harvey and the re-signing of veteran Stewart Loewe for a final season.
The 38-year-old Waldron had worked as football manager at Moorabbin for the past two years after previously being employed at Richmond as a recruiting manager and football manager.
The 30-year-old Harvey’s contract was due to expire at the end of next year, but he has agreed to a three-year deal that will secure him at St Kilda until at least the end of 2004. Harvey will now be placed on the veterans’ list in 2003.
33-year-old Loewe will remain on the veterans’ list with fellow 300-game teammate Nathan Burke. Loewe, who like Harvey seriously injured his knee this year and should be ready to play from the start of next season, was expected to be delisted to make way for Harvey on the veterans’ list.
Waldron said Harvey was on target to play in the opening round next year after a mid-season knee reconstruction this year.
Watts, who replaced present Carlton chief executive Don Hanly in October 2000, said he would help Waldron on a regular basis over the next 12 months.

Port re-signs 10 players
Port Adelaide has moved to re-sign 10 players, including 1993 Brownlow medallist and former captain Gavin Wanganeen. The other players who agreed to new contracts were vice captain Stephen Paxman, defender Adam Kingsley, Michael Wilson, Roger James, Brendon Lade, Brent Guerra, Cain Ackland, Paul Koulouriotis and Toby Thurstans.
Power football operations manager Rob Snowdon said the commitments from the players emphasised the expectation of future success that existed at the club.
The club does not release financial details or length of contracts.

TipStar under fire again for low turnover
The controversial TipStar footy tipping competition, only in its first year, has come under fire again from the Victorian State Opposition, which has called on the State Government to come clean over the financial state of the competition.
The gaming spokesman for the opposition Liberal Party, Ted Bailieu, said the party’s own analysis of the competition has revealed a turnover of only $A1.3 million, way down from the
$A20 million turnover touted by the government with the money promised to help fund grass roots and women’s sport.
Tipsters invested an average of $A60,000 a week, well short of the expected $A1 million weekly turnover. About $A100,000 a week was wagered in the first few rounds of the 2001 AFL season, but this slumped to about $A50,000 a week towards the end of the year.
Victorian Gaming Minister John Pandazopoulos told the State Parliament the privately-run competition could make a loss if it wanted to. Corporate affairs manager of lottery and pokies operator Tattersalls (part of the consortium which runs TipStar), Phillip Ryan, said the competition would not be cancelled.
Bailieu said the government has refused to reveal the financial state of the competition and the government must reveal the extent of any losses. “There’s been considerable expense engaged by the government in setting up this competition and we don't have figures on what that's involved, but clearly for all the hype and all the pump that this minister went through and it wasn’t just Pandazopoulos, it was (Sports Minister) Madden and the Premier (Steve Bracks) himself. This has been a financial disaster and a debacle,” he said.

Eagles delist Cummings and Turnbull
West Coast has finally run out of patience and delisted full-forward Scott Cummings. The 1999 Coleman medallist played just nine games and kicked 16 goals for the Eagles this year. 27-year-old Cummings has booted 343 goals but has battled weight problems throughout his 123-game career with Essendon, Port Adelaide and the Eagles. He struggled for form and fitness and lost his spot as the club’s leading forward to Troy Wilson.
The Eagles also delisted 1994 premiership ruckman Ryan Turnbull, who played 129 games for the club.
Describing the decisions as tough, coach John Worsfold said it was central to the club’s plan of building from the ground up and bringing quality youngsters into the club who would be expected to play key roles in the West Coast Eagles future.
The de-listings of Cummings and Turnbull mean the Eagles will have at least four selections in the national player ballot on November 25, with selections at 3, 6, 22 and 38, following the de-listing of David Antonowicz and the retirements of Dean Kemp and Andrew Donnelly.

AFL list changes
The 16 AFL clubs had made the following list changes by the October 31 deadline when all clubs must submit a list that contains a maximum of 35 players.
*Adelaide
Delisted: Adam Richardson and Ricky O’Loughlin (brother of Sydney midfielder Michael O’Loughlin), Stuart Bown, James Byrne.
Promoted: James Gallagher.
Veterans: Mark Bickley, Nigel Smart.
*Brisbane Lions
Delisted: Ben Robbins, Nathan Clarke.
Veterans: Marcus Ashcroft and Shaun Hart.
*Carlton
Delisted: Adam Chatfield, Murray Vance, Jordan Doering, Heath Culpitt, Brett Backwell (joint winner of this year’s Liston Trophy in the VFL), Adam Mathews, Adam White.
Promoted: Jim Plunkett, Ian Prendergast and Adam Pickering.
Veteran: Craig Bradley.
*Collingwood
Delisted: Andrew Ukovic, James Wasley, Brent Tuckey, Dale Baynes and Nick Stone from the senior list; Leigh Sheehan, Chris Odell, Jason Heath and Nathan Lovett-Murray from the rookie list.
*Essendon
Delisted: Jonathan Robran (from senior list), David Johnson and Adam Switala (from the rookie list). Marcus Kenny has been demoted to the rookie list.
Promoted: Damien Peverill has been promoted to the senior list.
Veterans: Steven Alessio, Michael Long.
*Fremantle
Delisted: Adrian Fletcher, Adam Butler, Brad Wira, Ashley Clancy, Dwayne Simpson.
Promoted: Robert Haddrill, Daniel Haines.
Veteran: Dale Kickett.
*Geelong
Delisted: Paul Corrigan, Adam Houlihan, Daniel Lowther, Jason Mooney, Joel McKay, Hamish Simpson.
Veteran: Tim McGrath.
*Hawthorn
Delisted: Brett O’Farrell, Chris Obst, Aaron Lord.
*Melbourne
Delisted: Ben Beams, Shannon O’Brien, Steven Pitt, Mitchell Craig, Matt Collins, Nick Gill.
Veteran: Steven Febey.
*North Melbourne
Delisted: Mark Ainley, David Calthorpe, Christian Woodley, John Spaull, Clayton Lasscock. Mick Martyn was also delisted to make room for Wayne Carey and Anthony Stevens on the veterans list. The Roos could redraft Martyn if they can fit him under the cap.
Veterans: Wayne Carey, Anthony Stevens.
*Port Adelaide
Delisted: Fabian Francis, Brayden Lyle, Jared Boulton, Mark Harwood, Nathan Steinberner.
Veterans: Darren Mead, Stephen Paxman.
*Richmond
Delisted: Paddy Steinfort, Aaron James, Ben Haynes, Lionel Proctor, Michael Barker.
Veteran: Matthew Knights.
*Sydney
Delisted: Robbie Ah Mat, Gerrard Bennett, Simon Feast, Brent Piltz.
*St Kilda
Delistings: Brett Knowles, Matthew Young, Tim Elliott, Tony Delaney, Ben Walton.
Veterans: Nathan Burke, Stewart Loewe.
*West Coast
Delisted: Scott Cummings, Ryan Turnbull, David Antonowicz.
Veteran: Peter Matera.
*Western Bulldogs
Delisted: Adam Contessa, Simon Cox, Todd Curley, Paul Dooley, Brad Fuller.
Veteran: Tony Liberatore.

McRae’s future in doubt
Brisbane could be without Craig McRae next year after contract negotiations with the premiership forward stalled.
McRae, who did not play in a losing Lions side in 2001, could nominate for the pre-season draft despite wanting to remain in Brisbane. His management is seeking a two-year contract but Brisbane has offered the 28-year-old only a one-year contract on reduced terms.
Brisbane chief executive Andrew Ireland said McRae was part of Leigh Matthews’ plans for 2002, but McRae’s manager Adrian Battison said his client could leave Brisbane if they failed to offer a better deal.
McRae has kicked 150 goals for the Lions in 132 games since making his debut in 1995.

Media news: AFL to be shown on Foxtel and Optus
Pay-TV operator Optus Vision have confirmed that they will broadcast the AFL next year but it won’t be the Foxtel Fox Footy Channel format, instead it will do what it did with the NRL (rugby league) on Optus channel. That means the channel will be broadcast from fridays 9:00am to Mondays 12:00am (Midnight) during the AFL season proper.
The only Foxtel content on the channel will be the 3 games Foxtel will broadcast live, with the games from Channels Nine and Ten broadcast on delay. The will also be classic games from the defunct Sports AFL channel from 1996 & 1997 as well as games from Channel Seven’s extensive archive of the past 45 years.
The channel Optus Vision will broadcast AFL on its service will be channel 13, which currently is C7 Sport Blue (which was the designated AFL channel by the channel’s provider, Channel Seven), which Optus have already removed from their web site & advertising promotions.
Optus will not charge customers who have the deluxe service but will charge customers who have the Optus Access + Sports lovers package. (The same it does with NRL on Optus)
(This will only affect about 5% of the total Optus Television customers).
There were doubts whether AFL would be shown on Optus after its arch-rival Foxtel won the pay-TV rights in January this year, as part of the consortium that won the AFL TV rights from Seven.

In Brief
*Sydney has shown faith in tough but injury-prone defender Rowan Warfe by signing him for another three AFL seasons. Half-back flanker Warfe, 25, played just five games for the Swans in 2001 before a serious shoulder injury sidelined him and forced him to undergo surgery.
Sydney has re-signed Brad Seymour and Ryan O’Keefe. Andrew Dunkley, Ben Mathews and Leo Barry are still negotiating.
*Gary Moorcroft, who defied gravity to take the mark of the year, has produced another remarkable feat to remain on Essendon’s senior list. The Bombers’ salary cap difficulties were expected to force Moorcroft, 25, and teammate Judd Lalich, 26, into the draft market, particularly when Joe Misiti agreed to remain at Windy Hill last Friday. However, when the Bombers submitted their club list by Wednesday’s deadline, Moorcroft’s name remained on the list.
*Former Adelaide Crows dual premiership ruckman David Pittman has been appointed as a ruck coach at rival club Port Adelaide. Pittman played 131 games for Adelaide in eight seasons, including the 1997 and 1998 premierships, retiring at the end of 1999. Port Football Operations Manager Rob Snowdon said Pittman, who has been working as an AFL radio commentator in Adelaide, had an impressive current knowledge of ruck strategies at AFL clubs and would be an asset.
*Former Fremantle player Daniel Schell is now an Adelaide Crow, fulfilling a childhood dream of playing with the 1997-98 premiers after a stint in Fremantle that allowed him to play alongside idol Tony Modra. 21-year-old Schell, who played 16 games with the Dockers, was recruited by the Crows with a view to filling the full-forward void left when Modra was traded to the Dockers three years ago.
*Adelaide is ready to pounce on out-of-contract full forward Saverio Rocca should he not sign a new contract with North Melbourne. Rocca kicked 48 goals after being recruited from Collingwood via last year’s national draft on a one-year contract on minimum wages. But the 28-year-old and his new management, Elite Sports Properties, have yet to agree to the Roos’ offer of a two-year deal.
*Fremantle player Ashley Prescott has indicated the he wishes to retire from AFL football. 29-year-old Prescott, a 128 AFL game veteran who came to the club from Richmond in 1999 decided to retire after speaking with members of the match committee at Fremantle, his family, and Fremantle CEO Cameron Schwab, who co-incidentally recruited Prescott to Richmond in 1989.
*Melbourne’s Steven Febey has the opportunity to pass Robert Flower’s club games record of 272 after he and fellow veteran David Schwarz signed one-year contracts with the club. 32-year-old Febey is just 14 games shy of Flower’s record.
*Port Adelaide’s Shane Bond has retired from AFL football, after several frustrating seasons, with knee and hamstring injuries causing him to miss much of the 2001 season. Only a fortnight ago coach Mark Williams declared he wanted Bond to stay in training and defer any decision until the pre-season draft. 26-year-old Bond played 91 games since his debut with West Coast back in 1994. He played 34 games with the Eagles between 1994 and 1996, and was part of the Eagles’ 1994 premiership team. Bond switched to Port in 1997 and played a further 57 games.
Bond felt his left knee - which was reconstructed in May last year after being damaged in the opening minutes of the clash with the Kangaroos at the SCG - could no longer stand up to the demands AFL football. Bond’s manager, Max Stevens, revealed Bond had informed the Power of his retirement six weeks ago.
*Geelong has decided to use Pick 40 in the coming national draft to secure Gary Ablett junior, the 17-year-old son of former Cats forward Gary Ablett, under the father/son rule. Geelong chief executive Brian Cook said the club has signed Ablett Jr to three-year deal. He is not expected to begin training with the club until after the national draft late next month.
*Meanwhile, Ablett’s management has approached Geelong radio station K-Rock about an on-air role next season. It means Ablett could be analysing the performances of his son Gary Jr. The player touted by many as the greatest ever has tried to keep a low profile since he retired from the Cats in 1997.
K-Rock general manager Bryce Nielsen confirmed the station hoped to use Ablett Sr in an on-air and promotional role next season. He said Ablett Sr would not be part of the permanent commentary team, but might be used on-air from time to time.
*Carlton has used its second draft pick (no.46 overall) to recruit Jarrad Waite, son of former dual rremiership player Vincent Waite, under the father/son rule. Vin Waite played 153 games for Carlton between 1966-1975. In 2001 Jarrad Waite played for the Murray Bushrangers Under-18 team, however he was able to play two games for the Carlton VFL side.
*Retired Western Bulldogs midfielder Jose Romero will remain with the club next season as a fitness coordinator and part-time assistant to coach Terry Wallace. Romero, who quit after 211 games following a frustrating year with injury, will also work with the Bulldogs’ young players and run for Wallace on match days.
*St Kilda’s Justin Peckett has been banned from driving for one year and fined $A500 for drink driving and careless driving in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court. 28-year-old Peckett was charged after an accident at the south-eastern suburb of Caulfield in February, in which he allegedly drove his car past a red light and collided with another car. He was also charged with failing to stop at a red light and driving an unregistered vehicle. Peckett told the court his alcohol reading of 0.632 was a result of drinking the previous night.
*A decision on the redevelopment of Waverley Park in Melbourne is expected by the end of this month. The AFL is considering six short-listed bids for development of the contentious 80ha site.
The main focus is on housing, between 1000 and 1500 lots, with industry, health care and school uses also part of the mix.
AFL consultant Andersen Real Estate said the bidders had taken different paths on the requirement to preserve a link with the land’s use over the past 30 years, including retaining part of the stadium. The AFL has budgeted to receive up to $A85 million by selling the land or developing it in partnership.
The derelict stadium became a political football, with Victorian Opposition Leader Denis Napthine accusing the Bracks Labor Government of breaking an election promise to retain Waverley Park as an AFL venue. But a spokeswoman for Victorian Premier Steve Bracks, Jane Wilson, said that Labor had made no such promise.

Finally, betting agency Centrebet has formed its market on who would be the first coach to be sacked next season. St Kilda’s Grant Thomas and Geelong’s Mark Thompson are among the favourites at 4/1 (that’s a $A5 dividend for a $A1 investment). Adelaide’s Gary Ayres, who opened as favorite last year (before he was overtaken by the eventual “winner”, Damian Drum), is third favorite at $A6.50, followed by first-time coach, Fremantle’s Chris Connolly at $A9, ahead of Melbourne’s Neale Daniher and another first-timer, West Coast’s John Worsfold, who are both $A11. Brisbane’s premiership coach Leigh Matthews is at $A126 (that’s 125/1), while none of them being sacked at all next season is quoted at $A3.25.

That’s all for today. I will be away for two weeks to sit for the university exams. See you then.

Regards,