Thursday
July 3, 2003
Week 373

Thursday, July 3

SUBI-CRAZY: COUNCIL VOTES AGAINST CHANGE
Subiaco Council on Tuesday unanimously voted against the WAFC proposal to change the name of Subiaco Oval.

The $5.5 million deal has also hit another snag – West Coast's existing sponsorship deal with rival telecommunications company Optus, believed to be worth $250,000 and $300,000 a year.

The WA Football Commission is scheduled to meet the council today to discuss the naming rights issue but holds little hope of changing the council's mind – The West Australian.

FIELD NARROWS FOR JACKSON REPLACEMENT
The list of replacements to fill the shoes of the retiring AFL chief executive WAYNE JACKSON has narrowed by the withdrawal of former St Kilda president ANDREW PLYMPTON on Wednesday, while PETER JACKSON, Essendon's chief executive has chosen not to apply.

The Age reports that ANDREW DEMETRIOU remains the frontrunner. Former CUB managing director JIM KING and Geelong chief executive BRIAN COOK will be interviewed by the AFL sub-committee of RON EVANS, COLIN CARTER and BOB HAMMOND in the next few days.

It is understood that Jackson will retire at the end of this month.

MERCURI COPS VFL SUSPENSION
The comeback of Essendon vice-captain MARK MERCURI has received a setback. The out of form Mercuri while playing in the VFL last Saturday with the Bendigo Bombers was cited on video evidence and charged with striking Geelong's BRENT MOLONEY in the second quarter. The VFL Tribunal on Wednesday found Mercuri guilty of the charge – he was suspended for two matches.

MAGPIES RE-SIGN TARRANT AND CLEMENT
The Collingwood FC has announced it has recontracted CHRIS TARRANT for the next four years on a deal estimated at between $1.6 and $1.8 million, an average of $400,00-$450,000. Defender JAMES CLEMENT has also been inked by the Magpies for a further three seasons.

<><><><>

FOOTYSTATS – SEASON 2003
Match Review, details of every game, every round
Stats Update from every round
Taylor's Terrible Tipping for Round 14
includes background information of all weekend matches

MWB delivers the much-awaited chart ... more ...

July 3

Dockers deny Croad trade
SCOT COUGHLAN and GREG DENHAM,
The Australian, July 3, 2003

The Fremantle Dockers yesterday vehemently denied suggestions that they would use highly paid forward Trent Croad as trade bait.

But three club officials involved in recruiting last season confirmed to The Australian yesterday that Croad was offered, by Fremantle, as a trade last year to two Victorian clubs.

Responding to a report in The Australian yesterday, which said the out-of-form Croad would be offered to Geelong at the end of the season, Dockers chief executive Cameron Schwab dismissed the story.

The story also said Croad was offered to Geelong and Carlton during the trade period last year, something which Schwab denied.

July 3

MATCH DAY WEATHER FORECASTS ...
check your local weather guides

300 – ROBERT HARVEY
269 premiership games (St Kilda 1988-2003)
21 pre-season, 8 State, 2 Internationals

300 — DARREN GOLDSPINK will umpire his 300th match (1989-2003)
276 premiership games, 19 pre-season, 5 State

200 — GARY AYRES will coach his 200th match
84 Adelaide 2000-03, 116 Geelong 1995-99

original prepared by COL HUTCHINSON

R1 – Sam MITCHELL (Hawthorn)

R2 – Luke BALL (St Kilda)

R3 – Trent SPORN (Carlton)

R4 – Jared BRENNAN (Brisbane)

R5 – Adam SCHNEIDER (Sydney)

R6 – Michael OSBORNE (Hawthorn)

R7 – Brendon GODDARD (St Kilda)

R8 – Ashley SAMPI (West Coast)

R9 – Graham POLAK (Fremantle)

R10 – Jarrad WAITE (Carlton)

R11 – Daniel WELLS (Kangaroos)

R12 – Brad FISHER (Carlton)

R14 – Byron SCHAMMER (Fremantle)

Wednesday, July 2

Round 13 – Tribunal
Troy Simmonds out one week

Fremantle's number one ruckman TROY SIMMONDS was suspended by the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night.

Simmonds will be absent from Fremantle's important game against Brisbane at Subiaco on Saturday.

HAWTHORN v FREMANTLE
TROY SIMMONDS (Fre) for allegedly striking SAM MITCHELL (Haw) in third quarter. The AFL Tribunal sustained the charge and suspended Simmonds for one match.

This was the only case from Round 13.

<><><><>

Subiaco Oval sponsorship wrangle
WAFC to meet with council

The WA Football Commission will meet with the Subiaco Council as it fights to keep the $5.5 million Crazy John's naming rights proposal for Subiaco Oval alive.

On Tuesday, the proposal was in danger of floundering after Crazy John's executive director Brendan Fleiter maintained there would be no deal unless the council relaxed its stance over signage at and around the ground.

Subiaco mayor Tony Costa has stressed that while the council can't stop the naming rights deal, it can stop Crazy John's putting signs and logos on the outside of grandstands and can prevent street signs being erected to point the way to Crazy John's Stadium – The West Australian.

<><><><>

2004 draw
Collingwood plan for two games in Sydney

CAROLINE WILSON reports in The Age: The AFL has joined forces with Collingwood in a bold new bid to take on the Sydney market next season that will give the Magpies two games in Sydney in 2004 – one a Collingwood home game – and seize a monopoly on next year's proposed split round.

The league's football operations manger ANDREW DEMETRIOU, a frontrunner in the search to replace WAYNE JACKSON, will talk to the NSW Government this month in a bid to underwrite a Collingwood-Sydney game at Homebush.

The match, which would be televised on Channel Ten on a Saturday night, would be the only AFL game over the second weekend of a split round. The Magpies' asking price for the game in Sydney is estimated at more than $500,000, with the figure being split between the Carr Government and Telstra Stadium.

The other Collingwood match against the Swans would be a Sydney home game at the SCG.

<><><><>

BYRON SCHAMMER – RISING STAR OF ROUND 13
Fremantle's BYRON SCHAMMER attracted the eye of selectors across last weekend and gained the nomination for the National AFL Rising Star award.

Recruited from SANFL club West Adelaide, he has made a strong mark in his debut year playing nine matches for the Dockers.

Taken by Fremantle as the 13th selection in the national draft, he enjoyed an outstanding record in junior footy, winning the Larke Medal in 2002 as best player in the National Under 18 championships. Byron also captained Australia in one of the Under 17 Tests against Ireland under International Rules.

TRENT CROAD ON OFFER TO GEELONG
The Australian reported: To relieve pressure on their salary cap, Fremantle have again sounded out Geelong to arrange a suitable exchange for TRENT CROAD. It is believed that Croad, who has been with Freo for 18 months, wants to return to Victoria despite being under contract until the end of 2005. Fremantle were unsuccessful in attracting an exchange last year from the Cats and Carlton.

GEELONG RE-SIGNS EIGHT TOP PLAYERS
Eight front-line players have been re-signed by Geelong. CAMERON LING and PAUL CHAPMAN agreed to new deals this week, joining recent new deals with COREY ENRIGHT, JOEL COREY, JAMES RAHILLY, DAVID JOHNSON, STEVE JOHNSON and JAMES KELLY. Other important players to the line-up STEVEN KING, MATTHEW SCARLETT, GARY ABLETT and DAVID SPRIGGS are secured to the end of 2004.

UMPIRE HUMPHREY-SMITH RETIRES
After 83 games since 1996, including one final, field umpire DEREK HUMPHREY-SMITH announced his retirement on Tuesday. The 34-year-old Humphery-Smith, who works as a lawyer, was keen to point out that pressures at work, rather than his recent spate of bouncing 'yips' made his decision to retire an easy one. His last match was a Subiaco Oval on Sunday, when because of wet weather, umpires threw the ball up, rather than use the bounce.

ESSENDON RUNNER UNDER SCRUTINY
JOHN BARNES, the runner for Essendon has fallen under the eye of the AFL for the third time this season. Football operations manager ANDREW DEMETRIOU has written to Barnes after umpires complained about his constant badgering of Geelong players on Friday night at Docklands.

The Age reports after the Bombers' Round 5 clash with Collingwood, Barnes was fined $7500 for staying on the field too long, an incident the AFL believed was his second offence. The league had fined him $2000 the previous week, after the Western Bulldogs match, but Essendon did not receive official notification. Because of the oversight, the league suspended the fines, which could now be incurred.

<><><><>

Tuesday, July 1

AFL Hall of Fame
Bill Hutchison named a Legend
Five new members added

The AFL's Hall of Fame has five more distinguished members, with Essendon champion BILL HUTCHISON elevated to Legend status.

The announcements were made on Monday evening at a black tie dinner in Melbourne.

Hutchison, the Bomber star of 290 matches (1942-57) was the Brownlow Medallist in 1953. He also finished third twice and was runner-up in 1955. Though Bill passed away in 1982 at just 59, his contribution was acknowledged when he was retrospectively awarded the Brownlow in 1989. Hutchinson won the Essendon best and fairest award seven times between 1946 and 1956 and together with Dick Reynolds and John Coleman is part of the game's "super elite".

Four players and one coach have been inducted to the Hall of Fame –

ARTHUR OLLIVER
One of Footscray's greats, a dedicated servant to the club he played for, captained and also coached during 16 seasons, 1935-50. He began his career as a full-forward but quickly became a long-kicking onballer. In 1941, he shared the club's best-and-fairest award with Brownlow medallist Norman Ware, and won again in 1944.

JOHN TODD
A football luminary in Western Australia, having been involved in the game for almost 50 years. A brilliant WAFL player, he won the Sandover Medal as a 16-year-old, in his debut season with South Fremantle. He coached South, as well as East Fremantle and Swan Districts to WAFL premierships and took West Coast to their first finals appearance in 1988.

JIM STYNES
Recruited from Ireland by Melbourne in the mid-1980s. He established himself as a champion ruckman winning the Brownlow in 1991. Of his 264 matches, he played 244 consecutively, surpassing a record that had stood for 50 years.

WAYNE RICHARDSON
The skilful rover from Western Australia played 277 game for Collingwood (1966-78) and captained the Magpies in 117 matches. He twice won the Copeland Trophy and his services extended beyond the field, returning to the club in 1986 as a director.

JOHN PLATTEN
One of Hawthorn's most decorated players – Brownlow medallist in 1987, four-time premiership player, five-time All-Australian and two-time club best-and-fairest winner. Originally from SANFL club Central District, Platten across 17 seasons played 258 matches for the Hawks (1986-97).

Committee members selecting the Hall of Fame are Ron Evans (chairman), Brian Atkinson (WAFL), Kevin Bartlett, Brendon Gale, Harry Gordon, Tim Lane, Jim Stynes, Tom Reynolds, Lou Richards, Mike Sheahan, Patrick Smith, Leigh Wicker and Caroline Wilson.

The AFL Hall of Fame committee considers candidates on the basis of record, ability, integrity, sportmanship and character.

<><><><>

PETER HUDSON, has been awarded life membership of the AFL. The former Hawthorn champion who booted 727 goals in 129 VFL games with the Hawks, was twice the club's best-and-fairest winner and a member of the 1971 premiership side. He also coached Glenorchy and held the same post at fellow TFL club Hobart before returning to Victoria to assume key administrative positions at Hawthorn and St Kilda.

Now 57, Hudson is a member of the AFL Tasmania taskforce – a committee established to attract AFL matches to the state.

<><><><>

Brisbane and Sydney: win some, lose sum
AFL scales back concessions

The AFL announced on Tuesday new salary cap concessions to the northern clubs, with the AFL pressured into watering down the allowances by threats of legal action by some Victorian clubs.

The system, to be phased in over three years, will see the Lions get only about half the concessions they now get in dollar terms.

The Sydney Swans will be about as well off as under the existing system.

The cap concessions are designed to allow Brisbane and Sydney to retain interstate players being wooed by clubs in their home States, but had been attacked by rivals which claimed the Lions and Swans were getting too much help.

Under the system, any club will be eligible for a location allowance if it has less than 40 per cent of its senior players sourced from its home State.

Eligible clubs would then be able to pay $30,000 to each interstate player who had been on their lists for less than five years, up to a maximum of 12 players and $360,000. Those payments would not be considered under the salary cap.

While Brisbane and Sydney would be the only clubs that qualified based on 2003 player lists, other clubs had significant numbers of interstate players and could become eligible from next year.

On top of the location allowance, Sydney's salary cap will be lifted 7 per cent under a housing allowance - an advantage of $420,000 on current cap figures.

The Lions and Swans will no longer receive AFL grants to pay their concessions, and instead must generate the money themselves.

Under the new concessions to be phased in over the next three years: Brisbane's allowance will be cut to 9 per cent in 2004 and 7.5 per cent in 2005.

Sydney's allowance will drop from 15 per cent to 14 per cent in 2004 and 13 per cent in 2005, which will include a 7 per cent housing allowance.

In 2006, both clubs will revert to a formula that will provide an allowance of $30,000 per player for a maximum of 12 players recruited from other states.

<><><><>

KANGAROO COACH ASKED TO EXPLAIN
DEAN LAIDLEY, coach of the Kangaroos will be asked by the AFL to explain his on-field actions toward umpires at three-quarter time and after the game at Subiaco Oval on Sunday. At a later press conference that day, Laidley said he felt the crucial 50m penalty awarded to Roo player JOHN BAIRD just before three-quarter time was marked short and far from the full 50 metres. Laidley said he was stating a fact, not making a comment.

<><><><>

July 1

MWB has produced a vast array of statistical updates for every dedicated statophile.

His efforts following Round 13 deserve your attention ... more ...

• Quarters Ladder
  Last Round in each ladder position
  Number of times in each ladder position
  Current Form Table
  Identical Streaks
  Most Consecutive Matches Conceding 100+ points

Richmond are in 10th place for the first time since 1999-R19 and Essendon are in 9th place for the first time since 1998-R16

West Coast are still yet to lose a *home* game and the Western Bulldogs, Geelong and Melbourne are yet to win an *away* game.

Finally –
With 9 rounds to go, there are 4,722,366,482,869,645,213,696 different possible results.

Whilst any team can still finish on the bottom and win the wooden spoon (including Port Adelaide), Western Bulldogs are the only team which cannot finish on top. They highest the Bulldogs can finish is 3rd.

And, so far there have been 19,973 points scored this season (192 per game).

June 30

June 29

June 30

Regular Footystats contributor KEN BOOTH has delivered his spin at *dockerland.com* on what is a very hot topic in Perth –

A quick quiz.

What is the name of the award given to the best AFL player of the year – yes, you know, the Rising Star? Was your first answer "Norwich", or "Ansett", or maybe "National Bank"?

Lets not give up discussion on the Naming Rights topic.

The stadiums around Australia have single title descriptions – Skilled Stadium, Telstra Dome, etc. Even 'AAMI' is pronounced like the girls' name 'Amy'. They're all single word prefixes.

So if we now turn to the proposal for Subi. The first thing is that it is two words - Crazy John's, unlike all the others.

The second thing is that the name is not in any way emotionally neutral, unlike all the others. Surely the 'crazy' part of the title is at the heart of the problem.

Would the WAFC have been better to take a smaller amount from a more acceptably named (single worded) sponsor?

Now let me return to the Rising Star question. We should remember that Paul Hasleby was the AFL Rising Star of 2000. The sponsorship is now irrelevant.

No matter what the sponsorship deal, we should still (like my Footystats friend Kevin Taylor) refer to the grounds by their traditional names – Subiaco, Princes Park, Kardinia Park, Football Park, Docklands, etc. Then, for the statophiles, there is no confusion across the generations.

I liked the talkback comment the other day that pointed to "The Davis Cup by NEC". No loss of identity for the tennis championship and no indignity caused by adding the sponsor's name. "Subiaco Oval, proudly sponsored by Crazy John's", I could tolerate.

I'll always go to Subi and I guess most of the rest of you will too. Tony Costa (local mayor) should not change a single road sign.

A test question. Let Crazy John offer his $5.5M to the Melbourne Cricket Club and see if they'll talk for more than a minute about renaming the hallowed ground. The WACA? How else could we know it?

<><><><>

What say you? ...

June 29

Saturday, June 28

Subiaco Oval
$5.5 million naming deal in jeopardy

THE $5.5 million proposal to rename Subiaco Oval as Crazy John's Stadium is in jeopardy because of a Subiaco Council threat not to allow signage advertising the name change. Subiaco mayor Tony Costa confirmed yesterday the council would block moves to put the name of the Melbourne-based mobile phone dealer on the outside of grandstands at the ground.

He said council would also oppose any moves to change street signs around the ground advertising the oval as Crazy John's Stadium.

Asked if Crazy John's could put its logo on the outside of the ground, he replied that it could not be done without council approval. "It is a signage and it is under the council's signage by-laws," he said.

Crazy John's officials claim they have told the WA Football Commission at meetings this week that if the council follows through with its threat, the deal is off.

The final decision on the stadium's name has been deferred twice in the past eight days, with the WAFC now claiming a decision would be made early next week.

Crazy John's, which is backed by Telstra, has offered the WAFC $1 million a year for five years, with a one-off injection of $500,000 into the WA junior football system for the naming rights to WA football's most historic stadium – The West Australian.

<><><><>

2003 Grand Final: Rose, Sutton, Baldock, Templeton
Four greats to present awards

Four football greats - Bob Rose, Charlie Sutton, Darrel Baldock and Kelvin Templeton - will present awards at this year's grand final.

The AFL announced yesterday that Rose, Collingwood's best and fairest and Brownlow Medal runner-up in the 1953 premiership season, will present the premiership cup to the winning captain and coach.

Sutton, captain-coach of Footscray's one and only premiership team in 1954, will present the winning coach with the Jock McHale Medal, named after the man who coached the Magpies to eight flags over 38 years from 1912 to 1949.

Baldock, captain of St Kilda's only premiership team in 1966, will present the Norm Smith Medal to the player judged best-afield and Templeton, the leading goalkicker in 1978-79, will present the John Coleman Medal to the leading goalkicker of the 2003 home-and-away season – The Age.

<><><><>

CHANGES EXPECTED TO FATHER-SON RULE
The AFL on Thursday moved a step closer to revising their father-son rule.

The push to afford clubs the right to more than one father-son selection a year is likely to be altered – one father-son selection for a third-round pick, two father-sons at the cost of a third and second-round pick and so on in descending order.

The minimum is age for the draft is expected to increase from 17-and-a-half years to 18 years. The Richmond club is the only club which appears to disagree.

<><><><>

June 28

Friday, June 27

Sydney to play future finals at Homebush

The Sydney Swans will play their next AFL final at the Olympic Stadium at Homebush and not the Sydney Cricket Ground.

TIM MORRISSEY in Sydney's Daily Telegraph notes that such a move has the potential to be a million-dollar windfall for the AFL.

However, for the Swans this year to leave their spiritual home of the SCG, a whole lot of moves would have to happen in the complicated mess the AFL have found themselves in, over the contractual arrangements they must meet to provide finals every week for the MCG.

The teams that finish first, second, fifth and sixth at the end of the home and away series are the nominal *home* teams in the first week of the finals.

The best crowd to see an AFL final in Sydney was the memorable 1996 preliminary when Tony Lockett's behind after the siren put the Swans into their first grand final since 1945. On that Saturday night 41,731 watched Essendon go down.

<><><><>

Who plays who between now and when the *big stuff* starts ... more ... THE ROAD TO THE FINALS.

<><><><>

This season, no side living east of the Nullarbor has won the following round after a game at Subiaco –

<><><><>

LINKS TO OTHER FEATURES

Martin Windsor-Black –
Pertinent Observations  

  Bruce Kennedy –
Perspective

WHERE TO GET THE AMAZING  *FOOTY WORKS* ... more

 NSW HISTORY – more

 *Full Points Footy* – more

IN THE ARCHIVES
Key Stats of Season 2002
Best of the Best, 1897–2002
Tribunal – 2003, 2002, 2001
Matches Played at 36 venues, 1897–2002
All–Time League Match Records, 1897–2002
includes 1997-2002 16-club Match Records and Rankings

2003 Wizard Home Loans Cup series

2002 Financial Forecasts and Results
2002 Major Awards
2002 Club Champions
The Carlton Crisis File

Footystats Diary, June 27-July 3, 2003 — Week 373
Information sources include:
afl.com.au, newslimited, The Age,
The West Australian, abc.net.au, sportal.com.au
Footystats™ is assisted by income from
Channel Nine, Fox Footy Channel

Heard something? – tell me — footystats

ABC News Online
Latest Australian & Worldwide News