Here follows the AFL news list for this week.

1 PROGRAM OF MATCHES (all times are local) 

AFL Practice Matches (All times are local)

Thursday March 6

West Coast v Fremantle at Patersons Stadium, 4.40pm

Friday March 7

Richmond v Essendon at Punt Road, 1pm

GWS Giants v Adelaide Crows at Blacktown, 2pm

Carlton v Western Bulldogs at Visy Park, 4pm

Geelong Cats v North Melbourne at Simonds Stadium, 7pm

Saturday March 8

Port Adelaide v St Kilda at Alberton, 12.30pm

Melbourne v Hawthorn at Casey Fields, 1pm

Brisbane Lions v Sydney Swans at Burpengary, 2.30pm

2 IMPENDING MILESTONES

Nil.

3 TRIBUNAL MATCH REVIEW PROCESS

The expected process for the 2014 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.

The following players were reported from NAB Challenge matches played in the last seven days:

Billie Smedts, Geelong Cats, reported by umpire Craig Fleer for striking Jimmy Toumpas, Melbourne, during the third quarter of the NAB Challenge match between the Geelong Cats and Melbourne, played at Alice Springs on Friday February 28, 2014.

Maverick Weller, St Kilda, reported by umpire Jason Venkataya for striking Tomas Bugg, GWS Giants, during the third quarter of the NAB Challenge match between St Kilda and the GWS Giants, played at Wagga on Saturday March 1, 2014.

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  AFL PRACTICE MATCHES – BROADCAST RIGHTS HOLDERS ONLY

As a reminder to all media outlets, only the AFL’s broadcast rights holders – the Seven Network and Fox Sports / Fox Footy Channel – are able to gather match-day vision from this week’s official club practice matches. As per normal in-season arrangements, non-rights stations are able to attend the post-match media conferences but may not gather any vision within a venue while a match is in progress.

6 2014 SEASON LAUNCH / GATHERING OF AFL CLUB CAPTAINS

The launch of the 2014 Toyota AFL Premiership Season will be held in Adelaide this Wednesday March 5. As per recent seasons, the AFL will again gather the captains of the 18 clubs to be available to media in a general opportunity on the season ahead. Full details will be confirmed later today but media should plan for the captains will be available in a 45-minute window between 10.45am – 12pm at Adelaide Oval. The season launch will then be held that evening, March 5, at Adelaide Oval.

7 AFL INJURY LIST

The AFL wishes to advise the following recent changes have been made to the long-term injury list:

Sydney Swans – Placed Tommy Walsh on the long-term injury list, with no replacement named at this stage.

8 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 (for the premiership season):

Patrick McGinnity, West Coast. One match. One match to serve in 2014 from the NAB Challenge.

Nick Suban, Fremantle. One match. One match to serve in 2014 from the Grand Final.

Cyril Rioli, Hawthorn. One match. One match to serve in 2014 from the Grand Final.

Leigh Montagna, St Kilda. One match to serve at start of 2014 season. One match from round 23.

Jake Melksham, Essendon. Two matches to serve at start of 2014 season. Two matches from round 23.

Brian Lake, Hawthorn. Three matches. Three matches to serve in 2014 from the Grand Final.

9 UPGRADE OF NOMINATED ROOKIES TO SENIOR LIST

The AFL wishes to advise the following list changes have been made in the pre-season period under the AFL player rules regarding Nominated Rookie Players. Under the Nominated Rookie Rule, a club is eligible to nominate a rookie player who can play during the premiership season and finals series if a club has 38 players on its list (not including veteran players) and it satisfies the Total Player Payments requirements.

Carlton – Jaryd Cachia.

Carlton – Heath Scotland.

10 GOLD COAST SUNS EXPANSION COMPENSATION PICKS

As a reminder to all media, the AFL wishes to advise the following Gold Coast Suns’ expansion compensation picks MUST be used at this year’s 2014 NAB AFL Draft. Expansion picks were able to be activated and used in any of the five drafts in the period 2010-2014 and the following three still-unused selections must therefore be used this year.

Gold Coast Suns, round one selection. Received from the Geelong Cats (compensation for the loss of Gary Ablett) in a trade in 2012.

GWS Giants, end round one selection. Received from the Brisbane Lions (compensation for the loss of Jared Brennan) via a trade to the GC Suns in 2010 and then a trade to the GWS Giants in 2012.

Gold Coast Suns, round three selection. Received from Collingwood (compensation for the loss of Josh Fraser) via a trade to West Coast in 2010 and then a trade to the GC Suns in 2013.

Clubs are able to trade these selections during the 2014 AFL Exchange Period.

11 GWS GIANTS EXPANSION COMPENSATION PICK

As a reminder to all media, the AFL wishes to advise the following GWS Giants expansion compensation pick can be used at either this year’s 2014 NAB AFL Draft or next year’s 2015 NAB AFL Draft. Expansion picks were able to be activated in any of the five drafts in the period 2011-2015 and the following selection remains available.

Gold Coast Suns, end round one selection. Received from Fremantle (compensation for the loss of Rhys Palmer) via a trade to the GWS Giants in 2011 and then a trade to the GC Suns in 2012.

The club is able to trade this selection in any AFL Exchange Period in 2014/15.

12 AFL INTERCHANGE CAP – IN-MATCH TRACKING OF ROTATION NUMBERS

The AFL has introduced an interchange cap at all matches in the 2014 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. The AFL Commission has determined that a cap of 120 interchanges per match will apply for Seasons 2014 and 2015.  The AFL will be electronically counting interchange numbers through all matches with the information relayed in real-time to clubs, media and the football public via Champion Data's normal statistical service. All media should note that any interchanges made at quarter breaks and due to the blood rule will not counted. An interchange as a result of a substitution, stretcher, concussion or other medical assessment will also not be counted, with that player not allowed back on the field for 20 minutes (and in the case of the substituted player, not at all). All media should note that AFL Interchange Officials have been instructed to count all interchange rotations during the match, with the scenarios listed above (where a player is not counted) subsequently recorded. All media should note that this will mean the interchange count will decrease by one on some occasions during matches. For example, where a team activates their substitute, the substituted player will be counted when leaving the field of play and, subsequent to that, the count will be decrease by one when the AFL Interchange Official is formally notified of the substitute. 

13 2014 LAWS OF THE GAME – INSTRUCTION DVD  

The AFL media department and umpiring department are currently in the process of booking dates with various media companies wishing to view the Laws of the Game instruction DVD, in preparation for the 2014 season. The 2014 Laws of the Game video is also now available on the AFL site for any interested media to view: http://www.afl.com.au/afl-hq/laws-of-the-game.

14 MEDIA ENTRY TO THE MCG

The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) wishes to advise all media working at matches at the MCG they should enter the ground through Gate 3, 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.

15 MEDIA ENTRY TO ETIHAD STADIUM, PRIOR TO PUBLIC GATE TIMES / COLLECTION OF AFL RECORDS

All media who require entry to Etihad Stadium before public gates are open can do the following: Media may enter via Gate 9 from Level B3 (carpark) and Level 1 (concourse) one and a half hours prior to gate entry time. There will be a staff member at each entry point who will check AFL accreditation and will grant access to the Corporate Suites Level where they can access the Press Box, Radio Boxes and TV Broadcast area. A match day AFL record can be collected (one per person) from the customer service staff on the corporate suites level.

Ends

Patrick Keane