Here follows the AFL news list for this week.
1 PROGRAM OF MATCHES (all times are local)
AFL (Week Two, 2017 Toyota AFL Finals Series)
Friday September 15
Second Semi Final, Geelong Cats v Sydney Swans at the MCG, 7.50pm AEST
Saturday September 16
First Semi Final, GWS Giants v West Coast Eagles at Spotless Stadium, 7.25pm AEST
(Week Three, 2017 Toyota AFL Finals Series)
Friday September 22
First Preliminary Final, Adelaide Crows v Winner Second Semi Final (Geelong Cats v Sydney Swans) at Adelaide Oval, 7.20pm ACST / 7.50pm AEST
Saturday September 23
Second Preliminary Final, Richmond v Winner First Semi Final (GWS Giants v West Coast Eagles) at the MCG, time tbc
2 IMPENDING MILESTONES
300 games – Jarrad McVeigh, Sydney Swans. Jarrad is set to become the fourth player in club history to reach 300 games, joining Adam Goodes (372 games, 1999-2015), Jude Bolton (325 games, 1999-2013) and Michael O’Loughlin (303 games, 1995-2009).
150 games – Tom Scully, GWS Giants
100 games – Rory Laird, Adelaide Crows (in Preliminary Final)
Most Club Finals, Jarrad McVeigh, Sydney Swans. Jarrad is set to play in his 27th final, which will take him to outright second in club history. The most finals for South Melbourne / Sydney Swans are Adam Goodes (28 finals), Jarrad McVeigh(26 finals), Jude Bolton (26 finals), Ryan O’Keefe (24 finals), Ted Richards (21 finals).
Most Club Finals – Andrew Mackie, Geelong Cats. Andrew is set to play in his 25th finals match, which will take him to outright second in club history. The most finals for Geelong are Jimmy Bartel (28 finals), Corey Enright (24 finals), Andrew Mackie (24 finals), Joel Selwood (24 finals), Joel Corey (23 finals), Steve Johnson (23 finals).
Most Club Finals – Joel Selwood, Geelong Cats. Joel is set to play in his 25th finals match, which will take him to equal second with Corey Enright in club history. The most finals for Geelong are Jimmy Bartel (28 finals), Corey Enright(24 finals), Andrew Mackie (24 finals), Joel Selwood (24 finals), Joel Corey (23 finals), Steve Johnson (23 finals).
Club Record Goals – Josh Kennedy, West Coast. Josh has kicked 507 goals for the club since his debut in 2008. He needs seven goals to equal Peter Sumich (514 goals, 1989-97) with the most career goals for the club.
Most Goals in Finals – Lance Franklin, Sydney Swans. Lance Franklin needs three goals to draw level with Leigh Matthews in fourth spot for most goals kicked in VFL/AFL finals in history. The most goals kicked in finals are Gordon Coventry(111 goals for Collingwood from 31 finals), Jason Dunstall (78 goals for Hawthorn from 21 finals), Jack Titus (74 goals for Richmond form 24 finals), Leigh Matthews (72 goals for Hawthorn from 29 finals) and Lance Franklin (69 goals for Hawthorn and the Sydney Swans from 22 finals).
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:
Tom Jonas, Port Adelaide. Two matches from round 22.
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.
Sydney Swans – Lance Franklin, Zak Jones.
6 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.
7 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.
8 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.
9 OFFICIAL FINISHING ORDER – Port Adelaide / Essendon
As a reminder to any media who may be unaware, Port Adelaide will officially finish seventh and Essendon eighth for the purposes of selections at the 2017 NAB AFL Draft. Of the two sides that lost elimination finals over the weekend, Port Adelaide is rated in seventh position due to the fact it finished above Essendon at the completion of the home and away season.
10 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).
West Coast – Fraser McInnes (mid-season).
11 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.
The Sydney Swans have upgraded Lewis Melican from the rookie list as the replacement for Darcy Cameron, who is on the long-term injury list.
West Coast has upgraded Drew Petrie from the rookie list as the replacement for Nic Naitanui, who is on the long-term injury list.
West Coast has placed Sam Butler on the long-term injury list, with no replacement named from the rookie list at this time.
12 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
13 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).
14 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.
15 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).
16 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.
