The AFL are pumping free money into your economy, what's not to be grateful for?

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/blacktown-council-uses-almost-all-sports-funds-for-afl-oval/story-e6freuy9-1111116932924

This for a start.

$15 million for an AFL stadium that isn't even going to be used any more, whilst football gets the other $5mil.

52 27 at the end. Much better performance from GWS.

Much better than that first game, that was just ugly.

This might have been asked already and I can't really be bothered looking, but what's happening with the bye this season? I mean...you've got 17 teams right, which means one team plays a bye each week...what about the other 5 rounds in the season?

They have a bye each round plus they also have the split rounds at some stage during the season.

You misunderstood the question. What I was looking for was that 3 teams will have a bye some weeks to fit in the additional required bye for each team.

Lions to offer sacked Brendan Fevola a $1million payout

Andrew Hamilton From: The Courier-Mail February 22, 2011

THE Brisbane Lions will present axed forward Brendan Fevola with a take-it-or-leave-it payout offer of about $1 million.

Fevola's AFL career is finished.

The 30-year-old two-time Coleman Medallist leaves the game with 623 goals from 204 games and a highlight reel few players can match.

But he also possesses a scrapbook bulging with negative headlines and the Lions are determined to end the 12-month stream of image-damaging publicity that followed his controversial arrival in Brisbane.

The key component of the offer will be a clause that prohibits Fevola from making any public comments about the Lions club, but it is understood they would not block his attempts to sell an exclusive interview about the next stage of his life.

The Lions are desperate for a quick resolution and have admitted they have a continuing responsibility to the player.

Lions chairman Angus Johnson confirmed the club would make a generous payout offer to Fevola as well as the assistance to ensure he could receive treatment "so he can prepare for his future life".

"While he is no longer part of our playing group the club will not be abandoning him," he said.


The AFL paved the way for the Lions to sack Fevola by bending the salary cap rules.

AFL football operations boss Adrian Anderson confirmed the league had agreed to let the Lions give Fevola a lump sum payout immediately but to have the figure spread over the two years that had remained on his contract which means the club will not breach the salary cap.

"We do support the Lions' decision (to sack him). Ultimately this is a matter for the club, and we would have supported the Lions had they chosen to keep Brendan," he said.

Anderson said the AFL would not block any attempts by Fevola to return to league football if he could get his life back on track.

If Fevola rejects the club's deal a bitter legal battle will follow.

The Lions yesterday refused to confirm breaches Fevola had committed. Johnson was only prepared to say he had been sacked to "to uphold the culture and the reputation of the football club" after "repeated breaches" of his contract.

"The club has therefore lost confidence in Brendan meeting his obligations as an AFL player due to these persistent breaches," he said. Johnson also defended the timing of Fevola's sacking, saying it had been done on the advice of his doctor.

He said Fevola's health remained the club's top priority but it was also time he took responsibility for his actions and accepted the consequences of failing to meet the standards set by his teammates.

"Make no mistake, this was an extremely difficult decision," Johnson said. "But we believe it to be the right decision."

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/afl/lions-to-offer-sacked-brendan-fevola-a-1million-payout/story-e6frepex-1226009835626

The AFL's shame

Rebecca Wilson From: The Daily Telegraph February 26, 2011

THE AFL has always held itself up as the most professional sporting body in the country - a big business run by smarter people than in any other football code. But the scandal surrounding player agent Ricky Nixon and a 17-year-old girl has left the AFL looking like a bunch of rank amateurs who sit about a decade behind rugby league in the way they handle a crisis.
The 47-year-old Nixon has been allowed to run rampant in Melbourne for more than a decade.

His power may have been diminished somewhat by a string of alcohol-related controversies, but he remains a big-time player agent in control of some of the country's brightest AFL stars.

Nixon has now been caught in an extremely compromising situation with a girl young enough to be his daughter.

She is the same teenager who has held St Kilda and the AFL to ransom for several months now, refusing to just go away or to be placated by offers of assistance from the club.

The obviously deeply troubled - but very wily - young woman continues to post dozens of messages on her Facebook and twitter sites, where she now has more followers than Julia Gillard. A young woman whose social networking skills know no bounds.

She may be street savvy with a mobile phone, but her psychological welfare is obviously in grave danger.

This scandal started as a classic case of young professional footballers not knowing where to draw the line when it came to moral and social responsibility.

They did the wrong thing by the girl and, no matter how anyone wishes to defend them, placed themselves in an abhorrent situation with an underage female. She may be physically mature, attractive and the rest of it.

But she was 16 when she claims to have had sex with at least one of the St Kilda stars at the centre of the trouble.

This was when the AFL should have intervened. They did not. They allowed the club to "handle" it. We now know St Kilda simply tried to sweep the girl under the carpet, discredit her and fix their initial mistake by making another 20 errors of judgment.

Player agent Ricky Nixon manages the two players. He befriended the girl, allowed himself to be drawn in by her and then allegedly supplied her with alcohol. He denies he had sex with her but video from her phone suggests it is hard to believe his version of the events.

This week, he was allowed to keep working and travelled to Ireland to sign up more players.National Rugby League boss David Gallop would have stepped in to sort out this mess weeks ago. Sadly very used to trouble, Gallop knows only too well the perils of allowing clubs and managers to handle their affairs "in house". He is so jaded and hardened to the impact of players behaving badly that he has adopted a zero tolerance policy.

The AFL has done absolutely nothing and continues to sit on its hands. Andrew Demetriou finally said on Thursday that he would prefer it if Ricky Nixon returned home and stood down while the accusations were aired.

"The tenor of my conversation with Ricky was along the lines of how disappointed I was," he said.

"He understood fully my disappointment and how I believed his actions were unacceptable."

That is the weakest response I have ever heard to one of the biggest scandals in AFL history. Demetriou will not make any further comments until a bunch of Nixon's peers and AFL players decide his fate. A prominent lawyer has been brought in to head up the investigation. Ultimately, though, it

is the AFL Players' Association that

will determine whether Nixon is permitted to continue in the job.

Demetriou is a dominant personality who rules most of his sport with an iron fist. Why he has refused for months to step into this imbroglio remains a mystery. It is fast becoming apparent that processes the AFL should have had in place for such big scandals simply do not exist. Allowing one of the game's most powerful men in Nixon to publicly discredit the sport by getting involved with an unstable teenager is inexcusable.

The fact that he is still plying his trade with so many accusations hanging over his head is a disgrace.

His ties with the game and the young players he manages should be curtailed immediately. Andrew Demetriou prides himself on being a straight shooter.

But he has gone into hiding on the biggest scandal to have hit the AFL in recent memory.

Perhaps he believes his sport is above other professional football codes and that those who are part of it deserve

to be treated as though they are in possession of certain sensibilities.

The fact is that every single person involved in this tawdry story is culpable and each one of them must pay a price for dragging the game into the gutter.

rwilson@dmgradio.com.au

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/the-afls-shame/story-e6freyar-1226012198035

Brown out of Nixon stable

Caroline Wilson
February 26, 2011


GEELONG forward Mitch Brown has moved to sever his ties with Ricky Nixon's Flying Start management group, emerging as an early domino in what is looming as a significant player exodus from the talent stable of the disgraced football manager.

While Nixon's football client list, estimated to total at least 50 players, have largely chosen to wait until the findings of an inquiry into the player agent scandal the 20-year-old Brown has told the Cats he will no longer be managed by Nixon. The decision was made in consultation with the player's parents who did not want to comment to The Saturday Age last night.

Brown is the last Geelong footballer to be managed by Nixon with Tom Hawkins moving on from Nixon last year - another family decision although unrelated to the ugly drama.

Nixon's admitted ''inappropriate dealings'' with a 17-year-old girl continued to test the mechanisms of the football industry yesterday with several players reporting approaches from rival agents attempting to take over their financial affairs in the wake of Nixon's downfall, a move attacked by the AFL Players' Association as potentially illegal.

Players' union boss Matt Finnis warned AFL player managers approaching Nixon clients that their actions were ''premature, opportunistic and potentially unlawful''. He also pointed out that some players involved in contract negotiations could still require Nixon to act on their behalf.

While Mitch Brown appears to be the first to go at least two Adelaide players have been identified as likely to follow soon including Richard Tambling. Crows chief executive Steven Trigg, in the strongest response yet from a club boss to the scandal, told the ABC earlier this week that Nixon's behaviour had been ''clearly poor form''. He added that at least two of his players had expressed ''deep concern'' to the club upon learning of the allegations against Nixon.

It also emerged yesterday that footballers holding contracts negotiated by Nixon could be forced to continue to pay the player manager - facing allegations he engaged in sexual activity and drug use with the 17-year-old - three per cent of their wages until those contracts expired whether or not they sacked him.

The situation was not lost on Nixon players who have met Finnis in recent days. Coincidentally, the AFLPA chief executive had meetings scheduled with the Western Bulldogs, St Kilda and Richmond - all of whom boast high-profile Nixon clients with the Bulldogs heading the Flying Start list with seven players along with coach Rodney Eade.

Although Nixon's clients - certainly those connected with the St Kilda online photograph scandal - could allege he had broken his agreement with them by bringing them into disrepute, they could still be forced to pay him. The players' union has insisted that bringing in a Queen's Counsel to investigate Nixon could reinforce their legal stand against him should his accreditation be removed permanently.

Most player agents charge their clients three per cent of their total playing contracts with other commercial deals secured by the managers worth 20 per cent.

But the players' association and its agent accreditation board remained under fire yesterday for refusing to take immediate action on Nixon by at the very least removing his manager status pending an inquiry. AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou, largely silent on Nixon until Thursday, appeared at odds with the AFLPA by expressing a desire for Nixon to at least be temporarily suspended.

Certainly the legal argument seems difficult to justify when you consider the flimsy nature of the entire structure of the AFL and its rules. To remove Nixon's accreditation makes sense, just as the AFL draft system generally does. Both could be tested as a restraint of trade in court but given the horrendous week of headlines the game has endured, even the symbolic rejection of Nixon by his players could have made a difference.

The AFLPA said it was conflicted where Nixon was concerned. This from the union given the power to remove accreditation when it won the right to grant it. And the AFL? Occasionally its best decisions are made when it ignores procedure and acts with common sense.

This happened at the end of 2007 when the AFL Commission deregistered Ben Cousins for bringing the game into disrepute. For all the emotion and angst surrounding that decision it highlighted the determination of the game's governing body to act within its own rules. It certainly didn't require the investigative powers of a QC to justify it.



http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/brown-out-of-nixon-stable-20110225-1b8na.html

Final eight could become final 10 in expanded fixture

Michael Gleeson
March 9, 2011

These polls are not scientific and reflect the opinion only of visitors who have chosen to participate.
WITH 18 teams in the competition next year, the AFL is considering a 10-team finals series to be played over five weeks.

An AFL working party has come up with a shortlist of more than 10 options for how best to fit an 18-team competition into the 28 weeks between cricket seasons.

Cutting the season to 17 weeks and playing each team once was not an option, AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said.

''At the moment there is very strong support for maintaining 22 rounds. And we haven't fallen on a number for the finals,'' Demetriou said.

''We have looked at 22 weeks, 23 weeks, 24 weeks for the season … we have not fallen on whether we will have extra premiership games or not but it does stand to reason if you extend the season you have a reduced NAB Cup.''

''There is a model that has a final 10 with a five-week finals series. There are at least 10 options we have and we have not got a preference.''

Demetriou, a fan of the NAB Cup, said fatigue, particularly for the fans of lowly clubs during a longer season, was a factor to consider.

He said the AFL would only cut the NAB Cup if the season were extended, saying the pre-season competition ''is four weeks where we get to talk about AFL football and we are not going to give up that space to other codes''.

Demetriou said the options, developed by a working party including club chief executives Gary Pert (Collingwood), Steve Rosich (Fremantle), Cameron Schwab (Melbourne) and Andrew Ireland (Sydney), were with the AFL executive. A version had been shown to the AFL commission and a final decision would be made by June.

The AFL remained committed to a rematch in the event of a drawn grand final.

Demetriou also said the AFL was looking to simplify how money was distributed to the clubs, with a view to replacing the multiple payments with a single one.

''We have our distributions to the clubs, we have the special dividend from the last broadcast rights of $1.2 million a year, the [Annual Special Distribution] fund of about $6 million a year, we have the strategic partnership fund of about $1.8 million and the equalisation levy which comes out of the gate, which is $2 for every adult that attends, and then things like prizemoney, ''Demetriou said.

''We think we can look at all those funds and see if we can come up with a much simpler and transparent way of distributing money to the clubs and take away all these layers of funding. That is the intention, whether we get there is another thing.

''The clubs have said to us very clearly, if you ask Collingwood Hawthorn, 'please don't tax us, we would rather you increase and disequalise the distribution than tax us'.

''So if there is $6 million in the ASD, one argument is we would rather you have more than $6 million and distribute more money to the disadvantaged clubs - if that is the word you want to use - than tax us and disadvantage us.''

http://www.watoday.com.au/afl/afl-news/final-eight-could-become-final-10-in-expanded-fixture-20110309-1bo0t.html

AFL to grow to 20 teams as Oz population grows

Glenn McFarlane From: Sunday Herald Sun March 13, 2011

THE AFL has forecast more teams in the competition as Australia's population swells.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said expansion to include a 19th and 20th club had been tentatively discussed at the top level, with possible targets including northern Queensland, Tasmania and the prospect of a third side in Western Australia.

Demetriou conceded any move to add clubs would be a number of years down the track and could only be seriously considered once the two new franchises, Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney, were well established.

"I don't think we should close our minds to the prospect (of 19 and 20 teams)," he said this week.

"Put football aside for a minute - the population is growing and the economy is growing.

"When you consider people say that in 2035 the population of Australia will be 45 million . . . It will be a much more diverse population, based in different parts of Australia."

Asked if the timeframe could be in the next 10-15 years, he said: "Why not?"

In an interview with the Sunday Herald Sun, involving columnist Shane Crawford, Demetriou also said:

THE intricate broadcasting negotiations were edging closer to a conclusion.

THE AFL brand had not been seriously damaged by a number of off-field incidents in the pre-season.

HE hoped the NAB Cup and rookie system would be retained.

THE contentious three interchange/one substitute system would help limit high-impact injuries.

THE offer of help to the "St Kilda schoolgirl" was still open.

When asked about the TV rights negotiations, the AFL boss said: "I think we have done more work than we have ever done on these broadcasting rights.

"Whatever the outcome is, one thing I will promise is that we will see Australian Rules football in more homes in every corner of the land than ever before."

Demetriou said he would continue to push for more live football on television.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl-to-grow-to-20-teams-as-oz-population-grows/story-e6frf9if-1226020440515

Eddie McGuire urged to free Mick Malthouse

Jon Ralph From: Herald Sun March 22, 2011

FORMER premiership coach Malcolm Blight has called on Pies president Eddie McGuire to release Mick Malthouse from his contract, so he can break the AFL's coaching games record elsewhere.

Blight pondered whether McGuire was "selfish" to keep Malthouse at Collingwood just because he was under contract at the club.

Blight said he believed Malthouse and Greater Western Sydney coach Kevin Sheedy would be eyeing each other as they considered Jock McHale's record of 714 games.

In a blog for oneHD.com.au to be posted today, the dual premiership coach with Adelaide said Malthouse must coach elsewhere next year.

"Mick is as modern as Facebook and Twitter. Why are we even considering he shouldn't coach again?" he writes. "Who hasn't made a decision then changed their mind because circumstances have?

"Is Collingwood president Eddie McGuire selfish?

"By contracting triple premiership coach Mick Malthouse beyond this season, will the football world be missing out on the most successful coach in today's competition?"

Malthouse is still 76 games short of McHale's record and Blight believes he has plenty of coaching left in him.

"The downside for all is that we may never see the 'impossible' feat in football surpassed - the record of legendary Collingwood coach Jock McHale's 714 games," Blight writes.

"Lurking in the GWS background is Kevin Sheedy.

"I am certain the competitive nature of two icons of our game would have ensured both keeping an eye on the tallies of games coached. Sheedy sits on 635 games - could he be only four years away from the Holy Grail?

"In the past two decades we have witnessed Michael Tuck's record-breaking 426 games and the great Tony Lockett's exhilarating 1360 goals.

"Come on Eddie, let's have the final football 'Everest' in the name of Michael Malthouse."

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/eddie-mcguire-urged-to-free-mick-malthouse/story-e6frf9jf-1226025665300

Freo are going to destroy us and set the tone for the season early. I'm afraid of a real annihilation.