Here follows the AFL news list for this week.

1 PROGRAM OF MATCHES (all times are local)

AFL (Week Three, 2017 Toyota AFL Finals Series)
Friday September 22
First Preliminary Final, Adelaide Crows v Geelong Cats at Adelaide Oval, 7.20pm ACST / 7.50pm AEST

Saturday September 23
Second Preliminary Final, Richmond v GWS Giants at the MCG, 4.45pm AEST


2 IMPENDING MILESTONES

250 games – Brett Deledio, GWS Giants
100 games – Rory Laird, Adelaide Crows
100 games – Rhys Stanley, Geelong Cats
50 games – Jed Bews, Geelong Cats

Most Games, Pair of Brothers – Shaw family. The Shaw brothers (Rhyce 237 games and Heath 261 games) are due to draw level with the Rocca brothers (Saverio 257 games and Anthony 242 games) in ninth spot for most games by a pair of brothers in VFL/AFL history. The leading families are Madden (710 games comprising 378 for Simon and 332 for Justin), Burgoyne (581 games comprising 240 for Peter and 341 for Shaun), Nankervis (578 games comprising 325 for Ian and 253 for Bruce), Cornes (555 games comprising 255 for Chad and 300 for Kane), Coventry (533 games comprising 227 for Syd and 306 for Gordon), McVeigh (532 games comprising 232 for Mark and 300 for Jarrad), Richardson (518 games comprising 277 for Wayne and 241 for Max), Wakelin (513 games comprising 252 for Darryl and 261 for Shane), Rocca (499 games comprising 257 for Saverio and 242 for Anthony), Shaw (498 games comprising 237 games for Rhyce and 261 games for Heath).

Most Club Finals – Harry Taylor, Geelong Cats. Harry is due to play his 23rd finals match for the club, taking him to equal fifth position with Joel Corey and Steve Johnson in club history. The most finals for Geelong are Jimmy Bartel (28 finals), Andrew Mackie (25 finals), Joel Selwood (25 finals), Corey Enright (24 finals), Joel Corey (23 finals), Steve Johnson (23 finals), Harry Taylor (22 finals), James Kelly (22 finals) and Matthew Scarlett (22 finals).

50 Finals Goals – Steve Johnson, GWS Giants. Steve has kicked 44 goals in finals so far in his career for the Geelong Cats and the GWS Giants. He needs six goals to become the 23rd player in VFL/AFL history to reach this mark.


3 TRIBUNAL MATCH REVIEW PROCESS

The expected process for the 2017 AFL Season under the AFL Match Review system is that the AFL will issue a media release late on the Monday after each round detailing the penalties to be offered to players for incidents from that round of matches, or the reasons why no further action was to be taken.

The clubs and players then have until 11am on the Tuesday morning to decide whether to accept the penalty on offer, or whether they wish to contest the charge at a Tribunal hearing, to usually be held on the Tuesday night. The AFL will formally detail all instances on the Tuesday of whether cases will proceed to the Tribunal or not.

There were no players reported from the weekend’s matches.


4 TRIBUNAL HEARING LOCATION

The AFL Tribunal is held in the AFL media room on Level LB2 at Etihad Stadium. The AFL wishes to advise that all media covering the Tribunal hearings at Etihad Stadium need to park in the B2 car park (entry off the Bourke St extension) and report to the Etihad Stadium security office to gain admittance via the internal ring road. There will be no access via AFL House to any AFL Tribunal hearing through the season, as our offices will have closed by 6pm each day.


5 CURRENTLY SUSPENDED PLAYERS

The AFL wishes to advise the players that have completed and currently serving MRP suspensions across the competition are as follows:

Completed:
Nil.

Currently Suspended:
Jack Redpath, Western Bulldogs. One match to serve at start of 2018 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. Three matches from round 21.

Two Classifiable Offences in 2017 season.
As a reminder to all media, the following players competing in finals already have two classifiable financial sanctions against them for this season from the MRP.
Adelaide Crows – Charlie Cameron.
Richmond – Trent Cotchin, Dustin Martin.


6 NO FURTHER MEDIA SEATING AVAILABILITY – 2017 Grand Final

The AFL advises that no further seating requests can be accepted for this week’s Preliminary Final at the Adelaide Oval, or the 2017 Toyota AFL Grand Final, following last week’s call for seating applications. All seating in the main press box for the three remaining matches of the season will be assigned by the AFL. All successful Grand Final requests in the press box and media overflow area will be advised to sports editors next weekend, once the competing teams for the Grand Final are determined. A seating plan for each game will be issued prior to the match.


7 NAB AFL DRAFT COMBINE AND NAB AFL DRAFT – RETAIN YOUR MEDIA ACCREDITATION

Media is reminded AFL accreditation will be required to attend both the Draft Combine – October 2-6 in Melbourne and Draft – Friday November 24 in Sydney. Please retain your 2017 accreditation if you are going to be covering either event.


8 PLAYER RACE AREA – PRE MATCH EXCLUSION ZONE

As per recent seasons, there will be an exclusion zone around both player races at the MCG in the pre-game period for all finals matches. This area will be restricted to the match broadcaster. All radio personnel and or photographers working on-field in the pre-match period will have a defined area between the races for interviews / photographs.


9 BROWNLOW MEDAL – INELIGIBLE PLAYERS

The AFL wishes to advise the following players are ineligible for the 2017 Brownlow Medal, after being suspended at some point during the home and away season:
Nick Robertson, Dayne Zorko - Brisbane Lions; Levi Greenwood, Brodie Grundy, Travis Varcoe – Collingwood; Conor McKenna, Zach Merrett – Essendon; Sean Darcy, Cameron McCarthy – Fremantle; Patrick Dangerfield, Mitch Duncan, Tom Hawkins, Sam Menegola, James Parsons – Geelong Cats; Matt Rosa – Gold Coast Suns; Toby Greene, Shane Mumford – GWS Giants; Luke Hodge – Hawthorn; Tomas Bugg, Jesse Hogan, Jordan Lewis, Christian Salem, Bernie Vince – Melbourne; Ben Cunnington, Scott Thompson, Jarrad Waite – North Melbourne; Tom Jonas, Paddy Ryder – Port Adelaide; Bachar Houli, Toby Nankervis - Richmond; Tim Membrey, Koby Stevens, Jimmy Webster – St Kilda; Zak Jones – Sydney Swans; Jack Redpath, Easton Wood – Western Bulldogs.


10 OFFICIAL FINISHING ORDER – Sydney Swans / West Coast

As a reminder to any media who may be unaware, Sydney Swans will officially finish fifth and West Coast will finish sixth for the purposes of selections at the 2017 NAB AFL Draft. Of the two sides that lost semi finals over the weekend, the Swans are rated in fifth position due to the fact they finished above the Eagles at the completion of the home and away season.


11 UPGRADED ROOKIES

As a reminder to all media, the following players for clubs competing in the finals have been upgraded to senior lists under the provisions of the pre-season / mid-season nominated rookie rules:
Adelaide Crows – Jonathon Beech (mid-season).
GWS Giants – Daniel Lloyd (pre-season).
GWS Giants – Sam Reid (pre-season).
GWS Giants – Jake Stein (mid-season).
Richmond – Ivan Soldo (mid-season).


12 LONG TERM INJURY LIST

The AFL wishes to advise the following changes are in place for those clubs competing in the finals, via the long-term injury list rules;

The Adelaide Crows have upgraded Hugh Greenwood from the rookie list as the replacement for Cam Ellis-Yolmen, who is on the long-term injury list.
The Adelaide Crows have upgraded Alex Keath from the rookie list as the replacement for Elliott Himmelberg, who is on the long-term injury list.
The Adelaide Crows have placed Jordan Galluci on the long-term injury list, with no replacement named from the rookie list at this time.
The Geelong Cats have upgraded James Parsons from the rookie list as the replacement for Cory Gregson, who is on the long-term injury list.
The Geelong Cats have upgraded Zac Guthrie from the rookie list as the replacement for Quinton Narkle, who is on the long-term injury list.
The Geelong Cats have upgraded Sam Simpson from the rookie list as the replacement for Josh Cowan, who is on the long-term injury list.
The Geelong Cats have upgraded Jack Henry from the rookie list as the replacement for Lincoln McCarthy, who is on the long-term injury list.
The GWS Giants have upgraded Tendai Mzungu from the rookie list as the replacement for Matthew Buntine, who is on the long-term injury list.
The GWS Giants have upgraded Zac Sproule from the rookie list as the replacement for Adam Kennedy, who is on the long-term injury list.
Richmond has upgraded Jason Castagna from the rookie list as the replacement for Nathan Drummond, who is on the long-term injury list.


13 KEY DATES, NAB AFL TRADE PERIOD / DRAFT PROCESS

Please find below the key dates for the 2017 season around club list requirements, NAB AFL Trade Period and the NAB AFL Draft Process:

Tuesday 3 October – Friday 6 October – AFL Draft Combine
Friday 6 October - AFL Restricted Free Agency Offer and Unrestricted Free Agency Period Commences
Monday 9 October 9am - NAB AFL Trade Period Commences
Saturday 14 October - South Australian Draft Combine
Sunday 15 October - West Australian Draft Combine
Sunday 15 October 5pm - Close of AFL Restricted Free Agency Offer and Unrestricted Free Agency Period.
Wednesday 18 October - AFL Restricted Free Agency Matching Offer Three-Day Period Ends
Thursday 19 October 2pm – NAB AFL Trade Period Closes
Friday 20 October 5pm - Application to Relist a Player Close
Tuesday 31 October 2pm - List Lodgement (1) ; Rookie Promotion to Primary List; Retained 2nd & 3rd Year Rookies; International Scholarship Player; Alternate Talent Player Nominations; Club Notification of Rookie Players Not Accepting a Contract of Offer; Nomination of Draft Eligible Father/Son; Northern Academy, Next Generation Academy Players Lodged; TPP Pre-Season Estimates (1).
Wednesday 1 November - AFL Delisted Player Free Agency Period (1) Commences
Wednesday 8 November - AFL Delisted Player Free Agency Period (1) Closes, Out of Contract Listed AFL Primary List Players Draft Nomination Form and Player Request for Removal from List Form Lodged with AFL
Thursday 9 November 2pm - List Lodgement (2); TPP Pre-Season Estimates (2)
Friday 10 November - AFL Delisted Player Free Agency Period (2) Commences
Friday 17 November 2pm - Delisted Primary List Draft Nomination Form Lodgement; Non–Retained Rookie Players Draft Nomination Form Lodgement; Players Not Registered or Played for Three years Rookie List Form lodgement; New or Expired (after 3 years) Draft Nomination Form Lodgement, AFL Father-Son Bidding Nominations, Final Draft Nomination Form Lodgement.
Friday 17 November 5pm - AFL Delisted Player Free Agency Period (2) Closes
Friday 24 November - NAB AFL Draft Selection Meeting (Sydney, time and location tbc) including Father/Son & Academy Players Bidding.
Saturday 25 November - AFL Delisted Player Free Agency Period (3) Commences
Sunday 26 November 2pm - AFL Delisted Free Agency Period (3) Concludes
Monday 27 November - AFL Club List Lodgement (3).
Monday 27 November 5pm - NAB AFL Pre-Season Draft Selection Meeting (Telstra Webex)
Monday 27 November 5.05pm - Notification of Pre-Selected Rookies if not selected in the Pre-Season Draft.
Monday 27 November 5.10pm - NAB AFL Rookie Draft Selection Meeting (Telstra Webex)
Wednesday 29 November 2pm - Final AFL Club List Lodgement; Final TPP Pre-Season Estimates


14 AFL PHOTOGRAPHER ONFIELD VESTS

For all accredited photographers for the 2017 Toyota AFL Premiership Season, only those with an on-field vest may access the playing surface inside the boundary line for the quarter breaks and post-game when players are leaving the field. All other photographers must remain between the fence and boundary line under the accreditation terms. 2017 FINALS vests are fluro ORANGE with 2017 FINALS on back (accredited organisations), dark blue (AFL photos) and light blue (club/AFL social media).


15 2017 NAB AFL DRAFT – TRADED FUTURE SELECTIONS / DRAFT PENALTY

As a reminder to all media, the following selections at this year’s 2017 NAB AFL Draft were traded during last year’s trade period.

Round One:
Brisbane Lions, received from Port Adelaide.
St Kilda, received from Hawthorn.
Richmond, received from the Geelong Cats, via Carlton and GWS Giants’ on-trades.

Round Two:
Geelong Cats, received from Carlton.
Gold Coast Suns, received from Fremantle.
Gold Coast Suns, received from Richmond.
Gold Coast Suns, received from Hawthorn.
GWS Giants, received from Collingwood.
GWS Giants, received from St Kilda.
Hawthorn, received from GWS Giants, via Carlton.

Round Three:
Brisbane Lions, received from Collingwood.
Collingwood, received from the Brisbane Lions.
Western Bulldogs, received from North Melbourne.
Richmond, received from the GWS Giants.
North Melbourne, received from the Western Bulldogs.

Round Four:
Collingwood, received from the Brisbane Lions.
Fremantle, received from the Gold Coast Suns.
St Kilda, received from North Melbourne, via Western Bulldogs on-trade.
North Melbourne, received from the Western Bulldogs.

Round Five
Western Bulldogs, received from St Kilda.

Further, the GWS Giants had a penalty of 1000 draft points imposed by the AFL Commission at a hearing in Melbourne on December 22, 2016. The penalty of 1000 points will be deducted from the round one pick the club is assigned after the completion of the 2017 Toyota AFL Finals Series.


16 2017 CLUB NEXT GENERATION ACADEMIES, 2017 DRAFT ELIGIBLE PLAYERS

The following players, who are registered with Club Next Generation Academies, are draft-age eligible for the 2017 NAB AFL Draft:
Carlton – Ethan Penrith (Reservoir); Artan Cabdi (Heidelberg Heights).
Essendon – Daniel Hanna (East Keilor).
Geelong Cats – Titak Nyak (Corio).
Hawthorn – Tony Olungu (Marrara); Changkuoth Jiath (Morwell); Bol Jok (Pakenham); Tyrone Hayes (Lakes Entrance).
Richmond – Derek Smith (Mildura); David Smith (Shepparton); Anthony Walker (Kialla).


17 MEDIA ENTRY TO THE MCG / POST GAME ACCESS FOR NON-RIGHTS HOLDERS

The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) wishes to advise all media working at matches at the MCG they should enter the ground through Gate 3, including non-rights organisations accessing post-match conferences, unless they have underground parking for particular matches. Access control at the ground does not allow entry at Gate 2, for AFL accreditation passes. Further, the MCC also wishes to advise that any equipment being taken up to the host radio boxes or television broadcast boxes should be taken up via goods lift 8, and not the patron lifts 5-7.