Here follows the AFL news list for this week.

1 PROGRAM OF MATCHES (all times are local)

NAB Challenge:
Thursday March 19
Hawthorn v St Kilda at Etihad Stadium, 7.10pm

Friday March 20
Melbourne v Essendon at Etihad Stadium, 5.50pm
Gold Coast Suns v Brisbane Lions at Metricon Stadium, 7.40pm

Saturday March 21
Richmond v North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium, 1.10pm
Port Adelaide v Adelaide Crows at AAMI Stadium, 3.40pm
Western Bulldogs v Collingwood at Etihad Stadium, 7.10pm

Sunday March 22
Sydney Swans v GWS Giants at StarTrack Oval, 1.10pm
Carlton v Geelong Cats at Etihad Stadium, 4.10pm
West Coast v Fremantle at Patersons Stadium, 4.10pm

2 IMPENDING MILESTONES

AFL Life Membership – Robert Murphy, Western Bulldogs. Robert is due to qualify for AFL Life Membership with his 300th official game since his debut in 2000, comprising 271 premiership games, 24 pre-season games, one State of Origin game and three International Rules matches.

3 TRIBUNAL MATCH REVIEW PROCESS

The expected process for the 2015 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 the weekend’s matches:
Joe Daniher, Essendon, reported by umpire Heath Ryan for striking Phil Davis, GWS Giants, during the fourth quarter of the NAB Challenge match played at Spotless Stadium on Friday March 13, 2015.

Michael Walters, Fremantle, reported by umpire Nick Brown for engaging in rough conduct against Craig Bird, Sydney Swans, during the third quarter of the NAB Challenge match played at Drummoyne Oval on Sunday March 15, 2015.

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 (for the premiership season):
Chris Dawes, Melbourne. One match. One match to serve at start of 2015 season from round 23.
Tom Lynch, Gold Coast Suns. One match. One match to serve at start of 2015 season from the NAB Challenge.

6 AFL CAPTAINS DAY

The AFL will bring together all club captains for its pre-season media opportunity on Wednesday March 25. This opportunity will be open to all accredited media. Further details will be provided next week.

7 LONG-TERM INJURY LIST CHANGES

The AFL wishes to advise the following recent changes have been made to the long-term injury list.
Port Adelaide – Placed Billy Frampton on the long-term injury list with no replacement upgraded from the rookie list at this time.

8 GWS GIANTS EXPANSION COMPENSATION PICK

As a reminder to all media, the AFL wishes to advise the following GWS Giants expansion compensation pick MUST be used at this 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 the 2015 AFL Exchange Period.

9 2014 LAWS OF THE GAME – INSTRUCTION DVD

A video on the AFL Umpiring Department approach to the 2015 Toyota AFL Premiership Season can be found at this link - http://www.afl.com.au/video/2015-02-18/how-the-game-will-be-umpired-in-2015. In 2015, umpires have a number of cues to look for when paying a stricter interpretation of Holding the Ball, and also how to adjudge blocking / shepherding in marking contests when it is a 2v1 contest. The full explanation is detailed here for all interested media.

10 2015 NAB AFL U18s CHAMPIONSHIPS

Please find attached the fixture for the 2015 NAB AFL Under 18s Championships. Please note the fixture is subject to change (all times are local).

Division One
Round One
Saturday May 23 – WA v SA at Lathlain Park, 11am
Sunday May 24 – Vic Metro v Vic Country at Simonds Stadium, 11am

Round Two
Saturday May 30 – SA v Vic Metro at AAMI Stadium, 10.45am
Sunday May 31 – WA v Vic Country at Medibank Stadium, 12pm

Round Three
Saturday June 6 – SA v WA at AAMI Stadium, 12pm
Sunday June 7 – Vic Country v Vic Metro at Simonds Stadium, 12pm

Round Four
Saturday June 13 - WA v Vic Metro at Domain Stadium, 11.20am
Sunday June 14 – SA v Vic Country at AAMI Stadium, 11am

Round Five
Friday June 26
Vic Country v SA at Simonds Stadium, 12.35pm
Vic Metro v WA at Simonds Stadium, 2.35pm

Round Six
Wednesday July 1 – Vic Metro v SA at Etihad Stadium, 5.05pm
Thursday July 2 – Vic Country v WA at Simonds Stadium, 1.15pm

Division Two
Round One
Saturday June 20
NSW/ACT v Tasmania at Gold Coast, 10am
Queensland v NT at Gold Coast, 12.30pm

Round Two
Saturday June 27
Tasmania v Queensland at Simonds Stadium, 12pm
NSW/ACT v NT at Simonds Stadium, 2.10pm

Round Three
Wednesday July 1 – NT v Tasmania at Etihad Stadium, 3.05pm
Thursday July 2 - NSW/ACT v Queensland at Simonds Stadium, 11.05am

11 2015 AFL KEY DATES

Please find below the INDICATIVE key dates for the 2015 season around club list requirements, AFL Trade Period and the NAB AFL Draft Process:

Friday 9 October - NAB AFL Restricted Free Agency Offer and Unrestricted Free Agency Period Commences.
Friday 9 October by 2pm – NAB AFL Father-Son Bidding Nominations; Academy Bidding Nominations lodged with AFL.
Monday 12 October 10am - Father/Son & Academy Players Bidding Meeting; NAB AFL Trade Period Commences.
Sunday 18 October at 5pm - Close of NAB AFL Restricted Free Agency Offer and Unrestricted Free Agency Period.
Wednesday 21 October - NAB AFL Restricted Free Agency Matching Offer Three-Day Period Ends
Thursday 22 October at 2pm – NAB AFL Trade Period Closes.
Friday 30 October by 2pm - List Lodgement (1); Rookie Promotion to Primary List; Retained 2nd & 3rd Year Rookies; Scholarship Players; Alternate Talent Player Nominations, TPP Estimates.

12 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.

13 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.