Here follows the AFL news list for this week.

1 PROGRAM OF MATCHES (all times are local)

AFL (2017 Toyota AFL Grand Final)
Saturday September 30
Grand Final, Adelaide Crows v Richmond at the MCG, 2.30pm AEST


2 IMPENDING MILESTONES

100 club games – Tom Lynch, Adelaide Crows

Brothers in a premiership team – Brad and Matt Crouch. The Crouch brothers have the opportunity to become the 24th family of brothers in VFL/AFL history to play together in a premiership team and the fifth pair of brothers in the AFL-era since 1990. They would join the following families - Grace (Mick/Jim, Fitzroy 1898-99); Leach (Arthur/Fred, Collingwood 1902); Weatherill (Bob/George, Richmond 1920); Lockwood (Teddy/George, Collingwood 1902-03); Coventry (Syd/Gordon, Collingwood 1927-30); Collier (Albert/Harry, Collingwood 1927-30, 1935-36); Murphy (Frank/Len, Collingwood 1928-30); Hardiman (Les/Peter, Geelong 1931 and 1937); Strang (Doug/Gordon, Richmond 1932); Cordner (Don/Ted, Melbourne 1941); Reynolds (Dick/Tom, Essendon 1942); Lambert (Harold/Chris, Essendon 1946 and 1950); Cordner (Don/Denis, Melbourne 1948); Richards (Lou/Ron, Collingwood 1953); Rose (Bob/Bill, Collingwood 1953); Twomey (Bill/Mick/Pat, Collingwood 1953); Hay (Sted/Phil, Hawthorn 1961); Lord (Alistair/Stewart, Geelong 1963); Matthews (Leigh/Kelvin, Hawthorn 1976); Scott (Brad/Chris, Brisbane Lions 2001-02); Cornes (Chad/Kane, Port Adelaide 2004); Burgoyne (Peter/Shaun, Port Adelaide 2004); Ablett (Gary junior/Nathan, Geelong 2007).

Premiership at Three Clubs – Damien Hardwick, Richmond. Damien has the opportunity to become the fourth person in VFL/AFL history to be a part of premierships at three clubs, having been a premiership player at Essendon in 2000 and Port Adelaide in 2004. The three other men in history to have achieved this feat are Ron Barassi (Melbourne as a player 1955-57, 1959-60, 1964 / Carlton as a coach 1968, 1970 / North Melbourne as a coach 1975, 1977), Leigh Matthews (Hawthorn as a player 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983 / Collingwood as a coach 1990 / Brisbane Lions as a coach 2001, 2002, 2003) and Michael Malthouse (Richmond as a player 1980 / West Coast as a coach 1992, 1994 / Collingwood as a coach 2010).

Longest premiership gap as player / coach – Don Pyke, Adelaide Crows. Should Adelaide be successful this week, Don Pyke will have had 25 years since he was a player in West Coast’s 1992 premiership. This would represent the sixth-longest gap in VFL/AFL history between premierships for a player turned coach:
32 years – Leigh Matthews. First premiership 1971, last premiership 2003.
31 years – Kevin Sheedy. First premiership 1969, last premiership 2000.
30 years – Michael Malthouse. First premiership 1980, last premiership 2010.
28 years – Checker Hughes. First premiership 1920, last premiership 1948.
26 years – Jock McHale. First premiership 1910, last premiership 1936.
25 years – Norm Smith. First premiership 1939, last premiership 1964.
25 years – Mark Thompson. First premiership 1984, last premiership 2009.



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 AFL PHOTOGRAPHER ONFIELD VESTS – 2017 GRAND FINAL

As part of increased security management for the Grand Final, all accredited photographers working with on-ground roles for the 2017 Toyota AFL Grand Final, there will be match-day vests specific to the Grand Final. These vests will differentiate between those staff who may access the playing surface inside the boundary line for the quarter breaks and post-game presentations, and those photographers who must remain between the fence and boundary line at all times under the AFL’s normal accreditation terms. All Grand Final day vests will be available for collection on match-day on a sign-in / sign-out basis with details provided to department editors this week.


6 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.


7 NO FURTHER MEDIA SEATING AVAILABILITY – 2017 Grand Final

The AFL advises that no further seating requests can be accepted for this week’s 2017 Toyota AFL Grand Final, as all seating in the main press box and the overflow area has already been assigned after the weekend’s matches. All successful Grand Final requests have been advised to sports editors. A seating plan will be issued later this week.


8 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.


9 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.


10 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.


11 OFFICIAL FINISHING ORDER – Geelong Cats / GWS Giants

As a reminder to any media who may be unaware, the Geelong Cats will officially finish third for the purposes of selections at the 2017 National Draft and the GWS Giants will finish fourth. Of the two sides that lost preliminary finals over the weekend, the Cats finished higher at the end of the home and away season and are therefore placed third.


12 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).
Richmond – Ivan Soldo (mid-season).


13 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.
Richmond has upgraded Jason Castagna from the rookie list as the replacement for Nathan Drummond, who is on the long-term injury list.


14 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


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.