Recent news

by Johnson Leung, reporting for AFANA in Melbourne

Michael Vozzo will officiate his first Grand Final on Saturday, alongside veterans Brett Allen and Darren Goldspink. Allen will line up for his fifth consecutive Grand Final, while Goldspink will be involved in his sixth premiership decider since 1993.    Allen is now within sight of the record of seven consecutive VFL / AFL grand held by Bob Scott, who controlled Grand Finals from 1929 to 1935. The all-time GF record for field umpires is 10, held by Jack Elder.   South Australian boundary umpire Darren Wilson has been appointed to his ninth consecutive Grand Final, and will be joined by Jonathon Creasey and Adam Coote. Victorians David Flegg and Mark Canning have been named goal umpires.

by Lisa, reporting for AFANA from Chicago

Sydney's Amon Buchanan is free to play in the Grand Final. The Match Review Panel viewed the incident between Buchanan and Docker Troy Cook and deemed that Buchanan had made a legitimate spoiling attempt. Although contact was also made to Cook's back, the Panel ruled that the nature of the contact was not a reportable offense. On the day, a free kick and a 50 metre (55 yd) penalty was awarded to Cook.

Fremantle's Jeff Farmer and Justin Longmuir were both cited for striking offenses by the Match Review Panel - Farmer for striking Sydney's Craig Bolton and Longmuir for striking Sydney's Barry Hall.

by Lisa reporting for AFANA from Chicago

The West Coast Eagles have earned the right to a rematch of last year's Grand Final by beating the Adelaide Crows, in Adelaide.   The Blue and Gold battled back from a 22 point deficit at half time and recorded one of the club's best wins in a Final ever.   The opening of the game was tight and tough as one would expect from two of the best performing teams of 2006. But it was the Crows who were the first to settle, and had the Eagles on the back foot with three goals to just two behinds from the Eagles.  Those goals had the home crowd roaring. The first was a long bomb from Bock, the next a clever snap from Welsh, and the third came from a strong mark from Burton in the goalsquare. The Eagles added just two more points for the term, giving the Crows a 17 point lead at quarter time.

by Frank Ienco, reporting for AFANA from Sydney

The Sydney Swans will play off in their second successive AFL Grand Final after a characteristically hard-fought 19.13 (127) to 14.8 (92) Preliminary Final win over a spirited Fremantle Dockers at Telstra Stadium.

The Swans, who led at every change, were challenged during each of the first three quarters, before slamming on the accelerator in the final term to secure a return trip to the MCG on the last Saturday in September. But unlike last year, they had over 61,000 red-and-white fans to celebrate with them.  Both sides entered the match in sparkling form, the Swans winning eight of their last nine; Freo nine of their last 10.

by Lisa reporting for AFANA from Chicago

SYDNEY
B: Richards, Barry, Malceski
HB: Kennelly, Roberts-Thomson, C. Bolton
C: Buchanan, Kirk, Ablett
HF: O'Keefe, O'Loughlin, J. Bolton
F: Schneider, Hall, Fosdike
FOLL: Jolly, Goodes, McVeigh
I/C: Mathews, N. Davis, Dempster, Doyle
EMG: Spriggs, Bevan, Vogels

FREMANTLE

by Lisa, reporting for AFANA from Chicago

The Adelaide Crows received a boost this week with the return of Andrew McLeod (foot) and Brett Burton (hamstring).  Both resumed training last week, while Ken McGregor (hamstring) resumed in the SANFL last week. Despite getting the all-clear to train, Mark Ricciuto (virus) still was not fit enough to play in this week's preliminary final.

In other news:

The woman who filed an assault complaint against former Swan player and Geelong/Brisbane assistant coach Darryn Cresswell withdrew the complaint last week.

A routine "clean-up" arthroscope revealed that Collingwood's Alan Didak had a partially torn anterior cruciate ligment (ACL) and will require knee surgery, delaying his start to the preseason. He hopes to be ready for Round 1 in the 2007 season.

Source: Melbourne Age

by Johnson Leung, reporting for AFANA in Melbourne

Australian Broadcasting Corporation Managing Director Mark Scott has warned of consequences for the AFL if the government-funded broadcaster is not allowed to cover the best Saturday afternoon match as part of the new radio rights.   In a newspaper interview, Scott, who joined the ABC in June, criticised the league of being more interested in money than letting the ABC take the game to a national audience, and not recognising the broadcaster's role of promoting Aussie Rules around the country.