AS YOU'D expect, the announcement of the $1.25 billion television rights deal was big news on Friday. Given afl.com.au has been at the forefront of this coverage and will continue to keep you up-to-date with all of the latest developments - including a live chat with AFL chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan on Friday - Media Watch will focus on what else has been making news.
Firstly, Robert Walls' column on the substitute rule in The Age caught our interest.
Unless you've been living under a rock, you'd have heard the initial scepticism that greeted the rule's introduction at the start of this season. Led primarily by the competition's coaches, opponents' main gripe was that by reducing the interchange bench from four players to three and a substitute, players would be forced to spend more time on the ground and, hence, be at greater risk of injury.
However, Media Watch has noticed support has been growing for the rule in recent weeks.
First, elite Collingwood midfielder Scott Pendlebury wrote in his Herald Sun column that he enjoyed the increased premium the rule had put on gut running.
After starring in his side's round five win over North Melbourne, Richmond youngster Dustin Martin said the rule had helped him develop another dimension to his game as a dangerous medium forward.
And now Walls says AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson is his "hero of the week" for introducing the rule.
Walls said the rule was a "winner" because of the affect it was having on the game. It had helped ensure more long kicking, more contested marks, more one-on-one contests, more positional play, and fewer interchanges and handballs, Walls said.
He said the rule's other positives had included better players staying on the ground longer and players being forced to become more versatile, while the rule, itself, had sparked fan interest in when sides would activate their substitutes.
Significantly, Walls also wrote the rule had made games fairer for sides with injured players who could not go back on the ground. He pointed to the two early injuries Essendon suffered in its round four game against Carlton, saying the rule had meant it was effectively only one player down, with a two-man interchange bench against Carlton's three-man bench.
Drop-in pitches are not a problem
The future home of AFL football in South Australia will be decided on Monday when South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) members vote on the proposed $535 million redevelopment of Adelaide Oval.
Under the redevelopment, the Adelaide Oval will be transformed into a 50,000-seat venue that will continue to host cricket, but also all Adelaide and Port Adelaide matches from 2014.
But before that can happen 75 per cent of SACA members have to give it the go-ahead.
Regular Media Watch readers will know the project has not been without its opponents. One of their concerns is that football's return would require drop-in pitches be used at Adelaide Oval for the first time, something they argue could affect the quality of Adelaide's renowned pitches.
Adelaide Oval curator Les Burdett has already publicly dismissed those concerns and now Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) chief Stephen Gough has weighed in with his support.
On Friday, Gough told The Advertiser using drop-in pitches at the MCG had not resulted in poorer playing conditions.
"Cricket Australia's ratings show the MCG pitches stand up well," Gough said.
"There is no reason why the characteristic of the Adelaide pitch would be lost with a drop-in (pitch) developed on-site."
Gough also threw his support behind AFL football's proposed return to Adelaide Oval. Like the AFL had done in Melbourne when it closed Waverley Park, Gough said it made sense to move games from West Lake's AAMI Stadium to Adelaide's city centre with its better infrastructure and public transport.
We agree. Hopefully at least 75 per cent of SACA members do, too.
AFL and state-league alliances breed tension
When you have two different clubs in two different leagues with two different agendas you're bound - at the very least - to see differences of opinion.
That's the situation the AFL's South Australian, West Australian and most Victorian clubs find themselves in, with their 'reserves' players now farmed out to play with state-league clubs.
In the case of the South Australian and West Australian clubs, their players are spread out among all of the SANFL and WAFL clubs respectively via player drafts.
In Victoria, all clubs, bar Collingwood and Geelong which field their own VFL sides, are aligned with one VFL club, except North Melbourne which is aligned with two.
We've already seen this season the conflict these alignments can produce when the Casey Scorpions recruited two-time Coleman medallist Brendan Fevola. While the Scorpions were excited by what Fevola could being to their side, and the extra fans he could drag to their games, their AFL partner Melbourne was understandably concerned Fevola's presence would stunt the development of their young forwards with the Scorpions.
More recently, Fremantle has been at odds with WAFL club East Perth over its use of their ruckman Zac Clarke.
On Friday, The West Australian reported Clarke would not swap his WAFL allegiance despite Freo's earlier concerns East Perth was not giving him sufficient opportunities in the ruck.
Fremantle's concerns were so deep-seated it withdrew Clarke from East Perth's side that played Subiaco on Good Friday.
There's little doubt the tensions between the two sides were heightened by moves by Freo and West Coast to introduce their own WAFL sides next year. Both sides will make submissions to the WA Football Commission on their proposal in May.
Given Collingwood and Geelong have won three of the past four premierships while fielding their own state-league sides, it was inevitable other sides would do the same.
Media Watch awaits the WA Football Commission's determination with interest.
Dan the worrying man
It seems Sydney Swans midfielder Daniel Hannebery is his own harshest critic.
The 2010 NAB AFL Rising Star told The Age he can be overly self-critical, finding the negatives in his own performances too readily.
Hannebery's self-inflicted form of tough love was so apparent his former skipper Brett Kirk intervened to try and pass on some of his renowned inner Zen.
Kirk passed on books on Eastern philosophies hoping they would help Hannebery tap into more positive and less negative energy, while Hannebery also took a mediation course with his former coach Paul Roos' wife, Tami.
As hard as Hannebery's relentless focus on self-improvement has made it on himself at times, new Swans coach John Longmire told The Age it made him a dream pupil.
While Longmire has had to encourage Hannebery not to think about football so much and to limit his focus to two or three simple tasks during a match, he said having a player so focused on improving was "a great problem to have".
Hannebery's mindset reminds Media Watch of a young Nathan Buckley. While Hannebery may not match Buckley's on-field deeds, if, like Buckley, he can learn to slightly temper his single-minded approach to the game, we reckon he'll get the best out of himself for years to come.
In short
Richmond assistant coach Justin Leppitsch told the Herald Sun the Tigers' poor record in first quarters this season was a mental issue.
The AFL will not move to shorten quarters from their current duration of 20 minutes plus time-on despite the average length of AFL matches increasing by five minutes in the past five years, AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson told The Age.
GWS' rugby-league convert Israel Folau will play on the MCG for the first time this Saturday when his side takes on the Northern Bullants in the Foxtel Cup, the Herald Sun reports. Folau will play at full-back in the match that will be played as a curtain-raiser to the Richmond-Brisbane Lions clash.
Bryce Gibbs told the Herald Sun Carlton would use the pain of last year's elimination final loss to the Sydney Swans as motivation ahead of the sides' clash at the SCG on Friday night.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
