Rhys Palmer

by Lisa Albergo reporting for AFANA from Chicago 

With the trade period concluded, clubs embarked on the next phase of list changes in the form of delistings. Two veterans, Shane Mumford and Travis Cloke also announced their retirements.

Brook “Boris” Kilpatrick reporting for AFANA from Australia

A cold and dreary Skoda Stadium greeted players from Richmond and Greater Western Sydney (GWS) in a match that was expected to be won comfortably by the Tigers. Whilst the Giants had shown they could compete for periods with the top sides, they had struggled to perform over a full four quarters, clearly tiring as their matches wore on. Richmond, coming off a frustrating loss to a well drilled Fremantle team, was desperate to go into the bye with a win to even its season win-loss record at 6-6.

Fremantle’s hopes of playing Finals may have been washed away after their loss to Hawthorn in a torrential rain-soaked Round 19 game. A crowd of over 30,000 fans braved the weather to watch a one sided contest that, in reality, was decided in the first quarter of the match. There was an air of anticipation before the game as last time the two teams met, Fremantle outplayed the Hawks until a spirited fight back saw the Hawks victorious. Coming into the match, Hawthorn was on Final Four pace, having won nine out of their last 11 games.

TRIBUNAL

Charges Laid:
James McDonald (MELB), striking North Melbourne's Andrew Swallow: assessed as intentional conduct (three points), low impact (one point) and body contact (one point), equaling five activation points, a Level Two offense, 125 demerits, and a one game suspension. His five year good record reduces the penalty 25% to 93.75 demerits. He accepted, reducing the penalty a further 25% to 70.31 demerits. As a result, he comes away with a reprimand with the demerits held over toward his future record.

The following is the time line for the the Grand Final day events including key times for match and TV related activities.   All times are listed first in Australian AEST and then in US EDT.  This is based on information from the AFL and past history.  (We have an article on the days events and entertainers with details here.)  (Updated with honored legends, olympians, etc.):

Time AEST/US EDT  Event             
9:00 AM / 7:00 PM NAB AFL U/16 Division 2 Grand Final - Northern Territories v Tasmania (live on AFL.com.au)  Coverage on the AFL web site will commence from 8.50 AM AEST / 6:50 PM EDT and be hosted by Peter Donegan and Jason Bennett. AFL Youth and High Performance Coordinator Jason McCartney and AIS-AFL High Performance Coach Alan McConnell will provide special comments.
10:40 AM / 8:40 PM NAB AFL U/16 Division 2 Grand Final concludes
10:55 AM / 8:55 PM NAB AFL U/16 Division 1 Grand Final - Victoria Metro v Western Australia
11:37 AM / 9:37 PM Division 1 half time - Grand Final Sprint heats
12:39 PM / 10:39 PM NAB AFL U/16 Division 1 Grand Final concludes
12:43 PM / 10:43 PM On-field presentation of Div. 1 and 2 Grand Final awards       
12.55 PM / 10:55 PM On-field pre-match set up
1:10 PM / 11:10 PM Delivery of match footballs to Umpires
1.15 PM – 1.30 PM / 11:15 PM – 11:30 PM On-field warm-up opportunity for competing clubs
Stage and sound set in centre square
1:30 PM / 11:30 PM International TV feed begins including coverage on Setanta

Finals time is awards time, too

Fremantle's Rhys Palmer is the 2008 Rising Star. The presentation of the Ron Evans Medal was made this week at a function which also included the naming of the 2008 All-Australian team. Palmer, 19, won with 44 votes. Hawthorn's Cyril Rioli polled 37 votes and Richmond's Trent Cotchin polled 21 votes. The next three were Carlton's Matthew Kreuzer (11 votes), Fremantle's Garrick Ibbotson (seven) and West Coast's Ben McKinley (six). Collingwood's Nathan Brown (three), Melbourne's Cale Morton (three), Port Adelaide's Alipate Carlile (two) and Demon Austin Wonaeamirri (one picked up the remaining votes.