A Fairfax report said under the proposal, the ground would undergo a redevelopment that would double its crowd capacity to 25,000.

Sydney and Carlton attracted a capacity crowd of 10,000 to Blacktown Olympic Park last month when the ground hosted a round-one NAB Cup game.

Blacktown and the Showground are the two most obvious options for GWS’s home ground when the team become the 18th AFL team in 2012.

The AFL Commission will not vote on the GWS proposal until the team have a confirmed home.

The league are guarded about their stadium negotiations, only saying they are talking to a “range of stakeholders”.

“We can’t talk too much about the stadium,” AFL chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan said last week.

“We’re optimistic, but it’s a difficult one and stadium redevelopment, they’re big projects.

“It’s important, but we’re going okay.

“There are a few different options – there’s a preferred venue, which I can’t talk about.”

Gold Coast will become the league’s 17th team in 2011 and the AFL is determined that it will have an 18th club in greater western Sydney for 2012.

AFL administrators would no doubt prefer to put a licence proposal to the commission by mid-year.

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The contracts of the Dockers’ two key figures – five-time best and fairest Pavlich and coach Mark Harvey – are both entering their final seasons.

Harvey, who has presided over bottom-three finishes in his first two full years at the helm, starts the year as the AFL coach most under pressure to keep his job.

But Pavlich was confident that neither the coach’s future nor his own contract status – amid a background of the incoming Gold Coast franchise’s hunt for established players – would be a distraction.

“I’ve been at the club for 10 and a half years now and been committed for a long time, so I would think that would remain the case,” Pavlich said.

“But there’s no timeline on my contract (negotiations).

“My agenda has never been worrying about myself, it’s all about making sure the players are ready to play this season, that’s what the role of a captain is.

“I’m sure my contract will be resolved at some point, but it’s certainly not on the agenda right now and both the club and I are satisfied with that.”

The 28-year-old doubted he would be a Gold Coast target, but said regardless his ambition was to guide the Dockers – who have made the finals just twice in their 15-year history – to success.

“I’m absolutely committed to the football club and I’m really looking forward to Fremantle having sustained success at some point soon.”

But he said the Dockers, who blooded a remarkable 11 debutants last season, did not feel any pressure to play finals this season.

“Not particularly, we drafted another nine guys probably all under the age of 22 again last year,” he said.

“You talk about half our list being new, and under the age of 22, in the last two years.

“So I guess from that perspective we understand that it’s a really exciting time for the club … but at the same time that can present its challenges, because they are young and they’re still developing.”
The skipper declined to speculate on what Harvey would need to achieve to secure his job.

“I’ve got no role in what happens there,” Pavlich said.

“I think Mark’s developed into a good coach and he’s got a really good rapport with the players.

“I’m sure he’s confident of getting another contract at some stage.”

Ratten said new Tigers coach Damien Hardwick’s combativeness had been his hallmark as a player and that would be mirrored in his team.

“They’ll be coming out swinging, I know Damien very well through playing days … they’ll be hellbent on every possession and making us fight for everything,” the Blues coach said.

Carlton burst Richmond’s bubble in the opening round of last season, inflicting an 83-point belting to spark a chain of losses which led to the eventual dismissal of then-coach Terry Wallace and ultimately Hardwick’s appointment.

Ratten forecast this year’s Tigers would be out to prove from the outset they were up for the fight.

“They’ll be in our face, I’d say, straight from the first bounce,” he said.

“Every play will be a contest and nothing will change from probably the way (Hardwick) played to the team that he coaches.”

Ratten will also be urging his own charges to quickly stamp themselves on the game physically.

“If you sit out and think you can just run round the edges and hopefully get a possession, I think when you get in it and roll your sleeves up and cop a bump or a tackle you feel a part of the game,” he said.

Stars Jarrad Waite and Marc Murphy will both play, after finalising their build-ups by playing half of a practice match with VFL affiliate the Northern Bullants on Friday.

It will be Waite’s first senior game since badly injuring his knee in round nine last year, while Murphy has been working his way back from a hip operation in January.

“Murph looked like he was running over the top of the ground really well and Jarrad’s second and third efforts were fantastic in the game, so they’ll both play,” Ratten said.

With captain Chris Judd missing through suspension for the first three rounds, the coach said the Blues were still tossing up whether to nominate one player to act as skipper over that period, or rotate it.

Andrew Carrazzo and Kade Simpson led for a game each during the pre-season.

Experienced recruits Brock McLean, Lachie Henderson and Robert Warnock – who did not play last season in his first year with the club because of injury – are in line for their first Blues matches, while draftee Kane Lucas is in contention for his AFL debut.

McPhee returned to Fremantle at the end of last year after seven seasons at Essendon, where he won the club’s best and fairest award and All-Australian honours in 2004.

But the 27-year-old, who underwent shoulder surgery over the summer, admits he has failed to fire during the pre-season, with his fumbling efforts resulting in numerous turnovers.

“It’s probably not the best form going into round one but to be honest I can’t remember playing a great NAB Cup game in my whole 10-year career,” McPhee said.

“I’m looking forward to round one.

“The preparation going into this year is probably not what I exactly wanted but I’m not concerned about that.

“I’ve just got to look forward, use my experience and go into round one confident that I can get over the line and that my 10 years of AFL experience is going to get me through.

“You always like to be playing well and that’s what you strive to do but sometimes you go through periods where you’re not playing your best football and you have to try to find the answers … to make sure it comes back as quick as possible.”

McPhee, who left Fremantle as a 20-year-old but returns as the eighth oldest player on the senior list, said he would jump at the chance if offered an official leadership role at the club.

“Yeah definitely I would,” he said.

“I had a leadership role at Essendon and really enjoyed that, really enjoy helping the young guys out and really like to voice my opinion if it helps in any way.

“I like to have control in where the team’s going.”

McPhee felt he was still capable of playing a vital role in Fremantle’s midfield but conceded he would most likely work his way back into form via the backline.

“It will be best to adjust back to playing half-back, settle into a role and generate some positivity in my game and confidence,” he said.

“I think that’s where I’ve played my best football. I understand that role really well.

“And once I’ve got that then it would probably allow me to move up the ground and settle in and move in with the next midfielding group.”

McPhee is optimistic about what Fremantle can achieve in 2010 despite most pundits already writing off the club’s finals chances.

“It’s certainly a very exciting group and a group that could possibly do anything,” he said.

“That’s the reason why I came back, I saw the excitement in the side, saw the mix between experience and youth and really thought that going forward with a few more games under the belts of the likes of the Subans and Hills that this team can really go forward.

“If it’s not this year, then in the years to come they’ll be an exciting team to watch and hopefully have sustained success.”

But the salary divide between an elite few and the bulk of the competition remains.

Of the 547 men who played at least one AFL match last season, all but 29 of them earnt less than $500,000, with most of those – 307 players – earning between $100,000 and $300,000.

Seven players were paid more than $700,000, with two of those topping the $900,000 mark.

The salary figures include club payments to players for marketing services – Additional Service Agreements (ASA) – which are capped, but do not include independent third party deals.

The fall in income of the game’s best-paid players makes an interesting contrast to that of AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou.

The league announced earlier this week that Demetriou was paid $1.8 million last year, a $200,000 rise, including superannuation and performance-based bonuses.

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The AFL wants television networks to show matches live when the next broadcast rights deal is brokered for the 2012 season and beyond.

The next five-year agreement is expected to be worth more than $1 billion and AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said the league would also seek a commitment to screen games live.

Currently, the four games per week shown on free to air television are usually delayed telecasts.

“Regardless of what people have thought in the past and regardless of what my personal view is one way or the other, the world is demanding to see their sport live,” Demetriou told the Ten Network, one of the current rights-holders, along with Seven and Foxtel.

“The consumer, the viewer out there, wants to watch their sport live and you can’t stop the tide coming in.”

Demetriou said the current delayed telecasts were partly due to a past AFL belief that live screenings caused reduced attendances, but that had since been shown to be false.

“We’ve always believed in a delay on Saturday afternoon, for example, for 30 minutes or 40 minutes,” he said.

“On the Friday night that was the choice of the Seven Network to delay.

“We’re finding, there’s no doubt now, that certainly when you go live it doesn’t affect the gate, which is one of those misnomers that have been perpetuated over a long period of time.

“We’re going to kid ourselves if we think the consumer and the viewer at a point in time (will) tolerate not getting their sport live.”

With a number of second-year players, including Nick Naitanui, retaining their eligibility, the race for this year’s Rising Star award is already looking like it will be the one of the most hotly-contested since the award began.

Contesting the award alongside the second-year players will be a number of 2009 draftees that look set to make an early impact.

In recent years, the award has been the domain of the first-year players. In fact, the previous three winners have all eerily been the No. 7 draft pick from the year before – Joel Selwood (2007), Rhys Palmer (2008) and Daniel Rich (2009).

(For the record, last year’s No. 7 draft pick was Brad Sheppard, who went to West Coast. He is considered an outside chance at this stage, however.)

Nick Naitanui (West Coast)
Naitanui is the one candidate most likely to burst out of the blocks early on and never be caught up to. In fact, if the award was solely for flashes of brilliance, or for simply dominating games at an age they’re not supposed to, they could hold the ceremony before the season begins.

But before you start jumping up and down yelling “why the heck wouldn’t Naitanui win it?” consider this: Since the award began in 1993, there’s only been one “ruckman” to win it, and that’s Justin Koschitzke, who never really thrived as a ruck.

That’s not to say Naitanui can’t match Kosi in the versatility stakes. He can. It does suggest, however, that winning the award mightn’t be such a cakewalk and that Naitanui will need to improve his consistency to go all the way. Still, you have to like his chances.

Dustin Martin (Richmond)
2005 was the last time a top three draft pick took out the award. It’s a long time when you consider that at the turn of the century, high draft picks were really starting to get the job done. Paul Haselby, a No. 2 pick, took out the award in 2000, as did Koschitzke a year later. Nick Riewoldt, a No. 1 pick, got it the year after that.

If pre-season form and hype are anything to go by – a scary thing at Richmond, I know – then Martin could be the drought-breaker. The No. 3 overall pick from last year has slotted straight into the team and has seen plenty of the ball already.

Better still, a bit like Rich last year and Selwood two years before that, the midfielder won’t get anywhere near the opposition’s best tagger, considering he’s got Ben Cousins and Brett Deledio to hide behind.

Tom Scully and Jack Trengove (Melbourne)
Scully and Trengove are the AFL’s conjoined twins. They cannot be separated, especially not in a column about who will win the Rising Star award. For those who think that’s a cop out, the Demons said they were too close to split when they drafted them with picks No. 1 and 2 last year and since then, nothing has changed.

They both played all four pre-season games. They both played okay, without setting the world on fire. They both improved steadily as the weeks progressed. Heck, even in that completely accurate statistical analysis known as Dream Team points, they both scored practically the same each week (one ended up with an average of 66, the other with an average of 67).

It would not surprise me in the slightest if they became the first ever joint winners of the award. Which has to be possible, given that they are set to get plenty of game time and have been talked about so highly since their drafting. Time will tell whether they can match it with the other contenders. Just don’t ask me to separate them. Ever.

Jack Ziebell (North Melbourne)
Ziebell is another of the second-year crew that (just) hung on to eligibility. The kid burst on to the scene in the first seven rounds last season before injury set in and eventually made him miss the second half of the year.

If he can re-capture that form of early 2009, it won’t take very long at all for the youngster to earn another Rising Star nomination. His pre-season form hasn’t been overly impressive, but there’s a lot to like about his chances if he gets going.

Michael Hurley (Essendon)
If Matthew Knights and whoever else at the Bombers is involved in deciding such things can ever forgive Hurley for a certain off-field indiscretion and eventually let him on the park, then he’s got to be a contender for the Rising Star award.

The versatile key position player earned a lot of praise for his phenomenal job on Riewoldt in his side’s incredible round 20 victory over St Kilda last year. Two weeks later he won praise again, this time as a forward, kicking 4.2 in the Bombers’ finals-clinching win against Hawthorn.

As if it wasn’t tight enough already, Hurley’s presence – when he is finally allowed to play – makes the Rising Star race even more tighter.

As reported in this article in The Age:

“T. Ananda Krishnan, who has extensive satellite television interests in Asia through his Astro network Fetch, has put the idea of a joint bid for sporting rights to the commercial networks, sources have confirmed.”

Foxtel is deemed as the likely loser given that currently the free to air commercial TV networks on sell the rights with AFL endorsement to Foxtel and Austar for a figure of $315.5M over five years.

The article suggests channel 10 is already interested in Fetch’s offer which would see a breakup of the current agreement with channel 7 should channel 10 go it alone.

Fetch would deliver any AFL content through a broadband service which would include other programming.

Importantly they are looming as a challenger to Foxtel/Telstra on many fronts if this quote from the article is accurate:

“Fetch will provide pay TV to internet service providers, such as iiNet, Internode and TPG, so they can offer a bundled deal of unmetered pay TV, fixed-line telephone and broadband internet for a monthly fee, allowing them to compete more effectively compete against Telstra, a 50 per cent shareholder in Foxtel and current holder of the online rights.”

This type of content delivery has its dangers for Fetch given that Australians have been slow to take up digital TV, but there is no doubt the convergence of the internet and TV is getting closer every day.

Delivery of ‘content’ via mobile phone on the other hand is booming with the iPhone almost a part of the daily vernacular with the explosion of apps. [Download The Roar's iPhone app here, if you're interested. Ed.]

What is unequivocal though is the level of competition this brings to the TV rights table for the AFL.

Coupled with the proposed changes to the anti siphoning legislation and the boom in technology, sport is seen as a prime vehicle to bring about mass change in how we fans / consumers watch our sport.

Fetch apparently has deep pockets and, if willing to put in the hard yards, it will need every penny. Australians on mass need ‘plug and play’ technology and time to adjust.

For Foxtel though, this is a massive wake up call. Telstra as part owner certainly won’t stand idly by and allow another player to ride the ‘techno’ wave of internet and mobile phone delivery for sport in Australia.

For the AFL, the timing is ideal given Foxtel were difficult to bring to the table last time without offering more live content and four games a week.

Who knows what Foxtel might have expected from the AFL this time around as far as more games, Monday Night Football, etc. Now potentially they will be scrambling just to hang onto their AFL content.

In a speech at Thursday night’s official season launch, Demetriou has made it clear that the AFL will not let soccer dictate terms if the bid to host the cup is successful.

Earlier this week, Demetriou told a meeting with Australia’s other football codes and the federal government that Etihad Stadium was off limits for the World Cup bid.

“Over the coming years we’ll also have to confront a changing sporting landscape in Australia, we have to be ready for the possibility of the World Cup,” he said.

“The AFL has always said we are happy to accommodate major sporting events, we have a track record to prove it.

“But we do not – and will not – accept second place for Australian football.

“We welcome other sports and major events, but we won’t allow seven million fans to be deprived of Australia’s indigenous game, nor put at risk the jobs of so many associated with our game.”

Demetriou also said the league was not obsessed with how much money it will earn from the upcoming television rights agreement, but was more concerned with what it can do with the expected financial bonanza.

The league will probably earn at least $1 billion from the next five-year agreement, which will start in 2012.

“This new agreement, when it’s finalised, will underpin the future of the competition and be invested back into the game and the generations to come,” Demetriou said.

“This is a critical point that sometimes gets overlooked by those fascinated by dollar signs.

“As a community organisation, the AFL is not driven by the money generated by broadcast rights.

“What drives us is the impact this revenue can have when re-invested in our clubs, supporters, facilities,volunteers and better career paths and opportunities to attract the best athletes.”

On Wednesday, Demetriou raised the possibility of a top-nine finals format once the league expands to an 18-team competition.

The top eight currently make the finals, but the league is conducting a wide-ranging review of the competition ahead of the entry of Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney by 2012.

“When we have 18 teams, are we going to have 22 rounds? Are we going to have 23 or 24?,” Demetriou told Channel Ten.

“What will the bye look like next year? Do we have a final eight or final nine? Are the finals four weeks or five weeks? We don’t know.

“We would be remiss if we were not looking at all options.

“We have a top eight with 16 teams and that’s 50 per cent of the teams – 18 teams, a top nine is 50 per cent of the teams, that’s one way of looking at it.”

Demetriou also defended his hefty $1.8 million salary, which the AFL revealed on Tuesday.

“It has a bonus component where I have to achieve certain requirements – if I don’t … I don’t earn that,” he said.

“I think that’s fair, ultimately I’m judged by the remuneration committee and I can’t ask for a fairer process than that.”

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The Cats have won two of the past three flags, with a grand final loss in between.

But in the league’s annual pre-season poll, they received only three of a possible 15 votes from rival skippers as the opponents they most expect to meet if they made the grand final.

Last year’s runners up St Kilda and beaten preliminary finalists the Western Bulldogs each polled six votes, while the other member of last season’s top four, Collingwood, snared one.

The Saints and the Bulldogs played off in last weekend’s NAB Cup final, won by a Barry Hall-inspired Dogs.

One undisclosed skipper even tipped Geelong to follow Hawthorn’s path from last season and miss the finals altogether a year after claiming the premiership.

The Saints, Bulldogs and Magpies all received a maximum 15 votes as expected finalists, with the Cats level with Brisbane on 14 and Adelaide (13) and the Hawks (12) the other fancies.

That suggests the battle for eighth spot is wide open, with no other club receiving more than five votes and two of last year’s finalists, Essendon (two votes) and Carlton (one), widely expected to fall.

Three clubs – Richmond, Melbourne and Fremantle – were overlooked by every rival skipper.

Reigning Coleman Medallist Brendan Fevola’s off-season switch from Carlton to Brisbane is not expected to hurt his goal tally, rated the most likely winner of this year’s honour with five votes.

Hall’s strong pre-season form has also made an impression, sharing second place with Hawthorn’s Lance Franklin on four votes.

Geelong star Gary Ablett is tipped to go back-to-back as Brownlow Medallist, although opinions are widely split, with Ablett polling just three votes.

Eleven different players received at least one vote to take out the league’s top individual honour, including Hall.

West Coast’s Nic Naitanui and North Melbourne’s Jack Ziebell were the clear captains’ favourites for the Rising Star award, with five votes apiece.

CAPTAINS OF ALL 16 AFL CLUBS WERE POLLED ON THURSDAY ON THEIR EXPECTATIONS FOR THE SEASON AHEAD:
Which seven other clubs do you think can make this year’s top eight?
Collingwood (15), St Kilda (15), Western Bulldogs (15), Brisbane (14), Geelong (14), Adelaide (13), Hawthorn (12), Port Adelaide (five), Essendon (two), North Melbourne (two), Sydney (two), West Coast (two), Carlton (one), Fremantle (nil), Richmond (nil), Melbourne (nil)

Which other club is most likely to reach the Grand Final?
St Kilda (six), Western Bulldogs (six), Geelong (three), Collingwood (one)

Who do you think will win the 2010 Brownlow Medal?
Gary Ablett, Geelong (three), Joel Selwood, Geelong (two), Nick Dal Santo, St Kilda (two), Chris Judd, Carlton (two), Simon Black, Brisbane (one), Adam Goodes, Sydney (one), Barry Hall, Western Bulldogs (one), Brent Harvey, North Melbourne (one), Lenny Hayes, St Kilda (one), Leigh Montagna, St Kilda (one), Dane Swan, Collingwood (one)

Who do you think will win the 2010 Coleman Medal?
Brendan Fevola, Brisbane (five), Barry Hall, Western Bulldogs (four), Lance Franklin, Hawthorn (four), Daniel Bradshaw, Sydney (one), Jonathon Brown, Brisbane (one), Nick Riewoldt, St Kilda (one)

Who do you think will win the 2010 NAB AFL Rising Star?
Nic Naitanui, West Coast (five), Jack Ziebell, North Melbourne (five), Jack Trengove, Melbourne (two), Ben Cunnington, North Melbourne (one), Dustin Martin, Richmond (one), Andrew Moore, Port Adelaide (one), Anthony Morabito, Fremantle (one)

The Western Bulldogs will head into their 2010 campaign expected to be in contention for their first premiership in 56 years.

Rightly or wrongly, there has been much hype surrounding the Western Bulldogs. For the first time, the club will find themselves in an unfamiliar position.

Unlike previous years, they aren’t the underdog.

A lot of the hype is credited to latest recruit Barry Hall’s on-field performances throughout the NAB Cup. It seems that Hall is blossoming at the kennel, which isn’t suprising given the delivery he is receiving from the club’s skillful fleet footed midfielders.

Barry Hall is considered to be the missing piece of the puzzle that will be able to take the Dogs that one step further in 2010 and add a second premiership to the cabinet.

If a Grand Final berth does not eventuate for the Western Bulldogs in 2010, key defender Brian Lake believes that the club has “gone backwards”, deeming the year as a “failure”.

The Western Bulldogs shouldn’t let outside expectations get in the way, they should just focus on their own internal expectations.

The Doggies must take an advantage of their opportunity this year. Premiership windows don’t last forever.

Michael Tuck medallist Barry Hall couldn’t have started life at the Western Bulldogs any better, prompting many pundits to believe the Dogs have solved their ‘power forward’ problem and are now 2010 Premiership favourites. But some maintain it’s a matter of time before ‘Big Bad Barry’ has another brain-snap.

The 33-year-old, who controversially ended his time at the Sydney Swans last year after a series of on-field incidents, appears to have given the Dogs what they need.

Seventeen goals in three games, including a man of the match performance in the Grand Final, certainly is a glowing endorsement for Hall.

Even St Kilda coach Ross Lyon acknowledged Hall after his side were beaten by the Dogs in Saturday’s Grand Final.

“I think the story is Barry Hall, isn’t it? Seven goals… Delivered a pre-season premiership, it’s a pretty big effort,” Lyon said.

There’s no doubt people are getting excited about the Dogs, but the worry remains Hall’s brain-snaps.

Could he lose the plot again, like he did too often in his difficult last two years at Sydney?

Nobody will forget his reckless punch on West Coast’s Brent Staker in early 2008, but there was also his attempted strike on Collingwood’s Shane Wakelin later that season, before his double 50m penalty melt-down against Hawthorn in 2009 and his crude hit on Adelaide’s Ben Rutten in what was his final game for the Swans.

There’s no doubt Hall was a frustrated figure during those last two years at Sydney, so has he got over it?

After sealing his trade to Whitten Oval in October, Hall was asked about his on-field aggression and responded: “There’s always going to be question marks and I don’t shy away from that but I want to repay the Bulldogs for showing some faith in me.

“I can’t promise anything … but I think I can get on top of it. Because it can end very badly if I don’t.”

At the time, Hall still had plenty to prove. After all, actions speak louder than words and his words offered ‘no promises’ at all.

But barely six months later, Hall certainly has won over his fair share of critics.

He appears to have a renewed zest about his footy.

The internal frustration which blighted his last two years in Sydney seems long gone.

Hall affably told the media after Saturday’s NAB Cup triumph: “One of the things I wanted to concentrate on (since joining the Bulldogs) was enjoying my football because it’s not going to last forever.

“A two-year contract is not a long time, so I really want to enjoy my football and not put too much pressure on myself. And it’s working at the moment.”

And the big man went onto give an insight into what went wrong at Sydney, as well as what’s going right for him, so far, at Footscray.

“I think particularly in Sydney I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform and I had a lot of good years there but towards the end it was unhealthy with the high expectations… it really weighed heavily on me,” Hall said.

“The Bulldogs gave me a chance, so I just want to enjoy it and not put too much pressure on myself. I’ve slotted in pretty nicely.”

Hall, though, stopped short of declaring his brain-snaps were gone for good, admitting he still wanted to remain intimidatory to opponents.

“I played my best footy doing that. In saying that, it has been damaging in the past and I’ve stepped over the line,” he said.

“Enjoying my football and using that as well, there’s a fine line, I don’t want to cross that again so I’m really conscious of how to use it.”

On the evidence of the pre-season, though, Hall appears a wiser and more-relaxed man which suggests he won’t be venturing across that fine line any time soon.

And you fancy playing with the club he supported as a kid, who are one of this season’s Premiership favourites, he will find it easy to enjoy his footy again in 2010.

The league want the Kevin Sheedy-coached “GWS” team to join the competition in 2012, a year after Gold Coast make their AFL debut, but first the 18th team needs a home stadium.

The AFL Commission will not vote on issuing the GWS licence until the stadium issue is revolved.

AFL administrators would undoubtedly prefer to put a licence proposal to the commission by mid-year.

There is plenty of speculation about where GWS will call home, with Blacktown Olympic Park and the Sydney Showgrounds two frequently-mentioned possibilities, but AFL chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan would not go into specifics
“We can’t talk too much about the stadium, but we’re talking to a number of stakeholders,” he said.

“We’re optimistic, but it’s a difficult one and stadium redevelopment, they’re big projects.

“It’s important, but we’re going okay.

“There are a few different options – there’s a preferred venue, which I can’t talk about.”
McLachlan called the stadium the “next big” issue in the league’s ambitious project to create GWS.

The league is determined to have the 18th team in the competition for 2012, but McLachlan admits there are variables yet to be overcome.

“I’m not trying to create a headline – we’re pretty definitive about that – but if you can’t get everything done (that) you need to able to award the licence you want … if it was an absolute ’set in stone’, then you would just award the licence,” he said.

“We’re very keen and as much as we can set it in concrete, it’s 2012, but we have to get these things done.

“It’s as certain as we can be without having the certainty over the things we need to get done to award the licence.”
Despite the obvious challenges, the AFL has been making progress with GWS.

Sheedy’s appointment has been a public relations coup.
“He’s a star, isn’t he?,” McLachlan said.

Other well-known AFL figures such as Tom Harley, Paul Kelly and Graeme Allan have also joined the club.

“People’s mindsets have changed in the last three or four months, everyone instinctively understood and embraced the Gold Coast, but they found Greater Western Sydney more of a challenge,” McLachlan said.

“They’ve seen the announcements we’ve had, the momentum it’s delivered and the people of Greater Western Sydney have started embracing the concept.

“What we’re really pleased to see is people (in the GWS area) are looking for sport, they’re looking for something to identify with and they can see the benefits, whether they are social, community, economic or health.”

Key AFL figures for 2009 announced on Wednesday:
* Record revenue of $303.5 million, up from $302.1 million in 2008.
* Record operating surplus, before grants and distributions, of $213.5 million, up from $207 million.
* Record of $135.8 million distributed to the AFL clubs, up from $131.8 million.
* Record membership of AFL clubs of 586,748, up from 574,091.
* Total season attendance of 7,341,310.
* Record participation of 732,803, up from 693,052.
* Record Auskick participation of 169,000.
* Grand final watched by an average national audience of 3.848 million, the most watched TV program of any kind in Australia.
* Stadium funding deals for Adelaide Oval and Gold Coast Stadium.
* Improved deals for MCG and Etihad Stadium tenant clubs.
* Salary package of $1.8 million for chief executive Andrew Demetriou.
* Other 10 members of AFL executive paid total of $5.02 million.

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Demetriou’s salary – including superannuation and performance bonuses – was made public as part of a report into the league’s key achievements over the past year, released on Wednesday.

The other 10 members of the AFL executive made a total of $5.02 million.

Fitzpatrick said they had guided the game through a difficult financial period in which they were able to deliver a record revenue figure of $303.5 million, up $1.4 million from 2008.

They also struck some important stadium deals both with governments and stadium operators, Fitzpatrick said.

“The executive team, under Andrew Demetriou, has taken the game through a difficult period,” he said.

“During that time (they have) managed to secure $116 million funding for the Gold Coast stadium, renegotiated the MCG and Etihad stadium contracts, which will see more than $150 million returned to AFL clubs across the life of the contracts, and also secured a promise of $450 million from the SA Government to redevelop Adelaide Oval.

“Their work has ensured the AFL is not only the leading sport in the country, but one that is committed to growing our game at every level.”

The AFL had an operating surplus of $213.5 million for 2009, of which $135.8 million was distributed to the AFL clubs.

They also broke records for the membership of AFL clubs, which totalled 586,748, for participation in the sport (732,803) and in the kids football program Auskick (169,000).

The league said the 3.848 million people who watched last year’s grand final between Geelong and St Kilda also made it the year’s most watched television program in Australia.

Goodes, who has won Brownlow Medals as both a ruckman and midfielder, is part of a revamped Sydney forward line following the departure of Barry Hall and the retirement of Michael O’Loughlin.

He is expected to start at centre half forward with Bradshaw and emerging youngster Jesse White providing the other tall targets.

Speedy high draft picks Lewis Jetta and Gary Rohan are expected to push for time up forward, recruited ruckmen Mark Seaby and Shane Mumford are also likely to spend time in attack.

Goodes stressed the Swans would be less reliant on a couple of key forwards for their scoring output as they were during the Hall-O’Loughlin era.

“The main thing is there’s going to be a number of goal kickers, it’s not going to be one or two blokes kicking the majority of goals,” Goodes told reporters on Wednesday.

“It’s going to be spread evenly across the forward group and with some midfielders chiming in there as well.

“I think we can really stretch people with myself, Jesse White and Daniel Bradshaw all in the same forward line at any one time and we can even chuck a ruckman in down there at the same time so that gives us a few more different looks.”

Former Brisbane star Bradshaw is on course to make his Sydney debut in the round one clash with the Saints at ANZ Stadium, despite missing all of the Swans pre-season games with a knee injury.

“He’s done a bit of ball work today and he will do a bit more on Friday and he will train next week so at this stage he’s on track to play, but we’ll obviously have to see heading into the game,” coach Paul Roos said of Bradshaw.

Neither Roos or Goodes had any worries about Bradshaw’s lack of opportunity to play alongside his new forward colleagues.

“He understands our game plan and it’s not as if he’s going to play a high half forward role,” Goodes said.

“He’s going to be out of the goal square and we’ve just got to get use to his leading patterns and the way that he’s going to bring the ball to ground.”

Jetta believed his pace would be “handy” against St Kilda and was happy with his pre-season but down played his prospects of earning selection for round one.

Asked where his speed came from, Jetta joked: “probably just chasing the kangaroos in the paddock.”

Senior Lecturer in Health Sciences at the University of South Australia, Dr. Graham Dodd concurs: “role models for society, such as elite sports stars, are expected to reinforce the messages, and when they do not, they attract media attention.”

While there has been no shortage of alcohol-fuelled sporting incidents of late, has there ever been a clean living, controversy free sporting society? Do we place our sporting icons on such an unrealistic pedestal that they will inevitably fall?

“Alcohol is detrimental to elite performance”, Dr. Dodd says. “If they wish to perform at their peak constantly, then abstinence is the way to go.”

Brendan Fevola and his recent antics at the 2009 Brownlow Medal Count continues to dominate the backpages of the sports section.

Is it any surprise that out of a group of highly charged, testosterone-filled, male sportsmen, who have been restricted in their alcohol consumption, one may fall foul of the boundary line?

We all do stupid things when we are drunk. Our place in society determines our accountability and, in return, should influence our actions.

Are we placing an excessive degree of accountability on our sporting elite who at the end of the day are only human like the rest of us?

In part two of my series, I look at who will make the top eight and declare who I think will win the 2010 AFL Premiership.

1. Geelong
Despite the loss of Harley and the drama of Stokes, Geelong remains formidable and still is the best side. Ablett, Bartel and Selwood will again dominate. While Gold Coast talk surrounding Ablett will continue to linger, Geelong are so well drilled, don’t expect it to hamper the team.

2. Western Bulldogs
Two kicks short of a Grand Final last season; something Barry Hall will provide. Expect a good showing from the Bulldogs with an exciting yet aging forward line in Hall, Johnson and Akermanis. This, however, is the Bulldogs’ last chance, I feel, to break the drought stretching back to 1954 for a while as midnight approaches on the Premiership calendar.

3. St Kilda Saints
Getting rid of Luke Ball was a silly mistake (he was their best player in the first half of the grand final) and his replacement was an even worse for the club. The dynamics have changed, and while the Saints are a good team, the stench of a recruiting mistake will hang over the club. It won’t be like 1998, where they went completely off the rails and sacked their coach, but it won’t be as successful.

4. Brisbane Lions
The dark horse for the premiership. Voss was aggressive in trade week and it should pay dividends. Much of the focus will be on Brown and Fevloa, but Buchannan and Clarke are also solid recruits. Expect Top 4, Brisbane fans, as they have the team to make it and possibly surprise the Top 3.

5. Adelaide Crows
Again another dark horse. Pushed all the top sides in the minor round last year and flopped in the finals. The team has proven it can make finals, yet it can’t win them. You are only remembered for what you do in September and the Crows under Craig have underachieved. While Otten will be a huge loss, the forwards Tippett, Knights and Porplyzia will carry the club. Must make it to the Preliminary final to prove the doubters wrong.

6. Collingwood Magpies
While recruiting Jolly and Ball is great for the club, their forward structure still doesn’t convince me. Cloke is erratic at best and Fraser is inconclusive. Didak and Medhurst cannot be relied on to save the Maggies forward line every match. Still their midfield will be boosted by Jolly (Premiership ruckman) and Ball (Hard nut). But goals win matches and Collingwood lack someone.

7. Hawthorn Hawks
After the hangover, Hawthorn begins the rise to the top. Croad and Campbell are huge losses. Josh Gibson’s defection will help but the team needs at least this season to recover. Franklin looked solid and a big season will help the Hawks. Mark Williams’ trade will put pressure on the Hawks forward line to find a potent third scoring forward. Expect finals, but not another premiership.

8. Sydney Swans
I thought Sydney were unlucky to not make finals last year. They played well but had the Hall affair hanging over them. Getting rid of Hall helps both parties, and the recruitment of Daniel Bradshaw covers Hall and O’Loughlin’s absence. Jessie White is primed for a big year, while Ben McGlynn will provide more grunt in the midfield. In Paul Roos’ final season, it seems fitting that the most successful South Melbourne/Sydney coach in 70 years should bow out in the finals.

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Gary Ablett’s contract is threatening to completely derail Geelong’s premiership defence. Make no mistake, this story will dominate the headlines every week until a decision is made: will he stay or will he go?

The rumour mills will be in overdrive as every media outlet endeavours to break the story before Ablett breaks his silence.

For a club that has in recent years done everything possible to try and fly under the media radar, this constant speculation surrounding its star player could have a negative impact on the team and it’s on field performance.

I’m not debating whether he’ll leave, but more the significance of how the uncertainty surrounding his future has the potential to hurt Geelong – whether he stays or not!

Ablett’s manager Liam Pickering has given little away and is understandably keeping his cards close to his chest.

The only whisper is a decision will be made by the middle of the year. If he does choose to stay at Geelong a mid-season announcement of course wont be a problem, but what happens if he decides to go?

Out of respect to his team-mates in the midst of their premiership defence I very much doubt he would announce mid-season he’s going to the Gold Coast. Unlike in rugby league, this is simply not common practice in the AFL and would be frowned upon.

Thus leaving Ablett with no choice but to delay any public announcement, and in effect shine an even greater media spotlight on the issue.

The cruel irony and harsh reality for Ablett is no matter what decision he makes, his contract may inadvertently end up being the clubs downfall in 2010.

He has the lure of the reported 1.9 million offer, his dad lives on the Gold Coast, he would probably be named captain and his brother Nathan has resurrected his career and began training with the new team.

All these incentives make it hard to begrudge him if he chooses to move North.

Interestingly coach Mark Thompson has for the first time publicly pleaded with Ablett to reject the Gold Coast and stay a Cat.

Speaking at the clubs season launch, Thompson remarked to the Geelong faithful “seven hundred people in this room heard Gary Ablett say the only reason he plays is to play in a premiership.

“So Gary, you’d be more of a chance (to win one at Geelong) than at the other mob that are offering all that money.”

A nice subtle reminder to his star player that football isn’t all about money and the club is keen to swiftly resolve the issue and avoid the avalanche of speculation coming the Cats way.

President Frank Costa added to the guilt trip spruiking Geelong’s culture

“That’s what makes this club such a great place, such a wonderful place to play footy and be part of the whole Geelong family.”

If he remains at Geelong he will be praised for his loyalty but questions about third party payments will be rife.

If he goes to the Gold Coast, he’ll set himself up for life and be reunited with his family but he’ll also be accused of selling out for money and deserting the place that made him the star player he is today.

Not to mention the unenviable position he finds himself in having to determine the best timing of going public with his decision.

And not forgetting the domino effect and pressure this puts on the Cats salary cap and the clubs ability to secure other players beyond 2010, the most notable is young star and future captain Joel Selwood.

The club is helpless to sign any other player until the Ablett deal is signed off, just imagine the outcry from Cats supporters if they lose Ablett and Selwood in one year!

There’s no doubt this is a classic catch 22 situation, but the longer Ablett waits, the larger discontent will become.

Finally, the real stuff is next up. The NAB Cup undoubtedly provides important preparation for AFL teams and allows the chance for the game to reach community centres, but it deprives us of a better and fairer season.

Without a NAB Cup, and with the expansion of the season on the horizon as the competition expands with the addition of Gold Coast FC and Greater Western Sydney, the AFL could not only strive to make its season more egalitarian but also crowd out other codes.

When discussing the possibility of an elongated season, a new finals format and the future of the NAB Cup, chief executive Andrew Demetriou said, “Not having a NAB Cup or Regional Challenge would provide four or five weeks of no football coverage. And as other codes elongate their seasons we actually want football to be talked about.”

He has, in my opinion, missed the point here.

By doing away with the NAB Cup, it would allow the AFL to elongate their season, meaning there’s no concern of no football coverage.

But also we need to ask, from an AFL perspective, if the NAB Cup really does help the AFL with awareness? For many fans it’s simply an unsatisfying entrée, which this year served up a surprisingly tasty grand final.

What’s interesting, in my opinion, is that the AFL under the current Demetriou administration has been so aggressive in its opinions of rival codes – think to last season’s advertising campaign which baited other codes and their stance on Australia’s World Cup bid – yet they persist with such a weak start to the AFL year with the NAB Cup at a time when the NRL gained significant traction with the Indigenous All Stars game, the Super 14 is well underway and the A-League is in its final series.

The NAB Cup and the NAB Challenge have some positives.

As Demetriou said, “We get to showcase the game, we allow people around the country to touch their players and connect to their teams that they wouldn’t normally see.”

But who is to say that preseason matches can’t still be played at suburban grounds? Teams, in association with the AFL, could still organise preseason matches to be held at these grounds over the course of, say, three weeks before the season proper. They won’t need the NAB Cup moniker and the tournament system to “connect” with fans.

The other argument for the NAB Cup, that it provides necessary preparation, needs to be examined.

Yes, it is crucial AFL teams build in to a season with the necessary training and preparation, but why do they need a whole tournament to do so? Could a handful of practice matches not achieve the same result? The tournament element is not the crucial ingredient in the preparation but merely playing competitive matches, which, for the teams who get knocked out of the NAB Cup in round one, seems to be sufficient enough anyway.

The NAB Cup doesn’t guarantee preparation without risk, and the injury toll from this season’s rendition, which includes Sam Fisher, Liam Jurrah, Ed Lower, Simon Taylor, Brad Sewell and Daniel Bell, robs their teams of these players when it matters most.

By elongating the season into the time the NAB Cup takes up, the AFL can not only counter rival codes but also increase fixtures so there can be more fairness in the draw. The more fixtures means the more teams playing each other twice and the more closer the AFL gets to an egalitarian season. It can also help build toward a more equal system in terms of how many times teams travel and how many leading contenders each team are forced to play twice.

Some will counter that a longer season is not possible due to fatigue and need for extended preparation.

But the AFL could simply allow for more rotations with bigger squads and perhaps bigger benches.

More rotation, with players rested if needed, will only add more intrigue to the season proper as clubs balance players’ longevity with putting their best team on the park.

The AFL needs to give the fans what they really want.

Let’s have less buildup and more of the real thing.

Hall was noteworthy for both his goals and his attitude throughout as the Bulldogs won their first piece of silverware in four decades.

So calm did Hall appear that his mother went as far as describing him as “placid” since he returned to Melbourne following an eventful stint in Sydney with the Swans.

Carey argued that Hall would face more unwanted attention during the premiership season, and reckoned that he would have taken a relentless approach if ever asked to stand the key forward.

“In general I think you just continually niggle, continually keep pushing him while the ball’s up the other end, continually keep pushing him under the ball, continually bumping him, maybe talking to him, that type of thing,” Carey told the sports website BackPageLead.com.au.

“And it doesn’t have to be necessarily anything derogatory, but just continual chatter and talk, might be about what he got up to a couple of days prior to the weekend or whatever, just to take his focus off what he’s there to do.

“I’m sure he’ll get plenty of that. He’s certainly going to cop some, no doubt about that, probably most of it against Sydney – they might say ‘why are you doing this now when you couldn’t do that for us’, that’s something they might say.

“He’s going to be tested more in the season proper than he was in the (pre-season) cup, there were a couple of little niggles, you saw (Luke Hodge) have a go at him and a couple of other when they played the other week, and that’s going to be intensified once the real stuff starts.

“They’re going to put him under the pressure to lose his cool, and let’s hope that he has cooled his jets.”

Some have mused that Hall’s outstanding early form – which included 17 goals in three games – may have been wasted on matches of little importance, but Carey disagreed.

“That type of form going into a season is good for you, a lot of people say you waste games in the (pre-season) cup playing well, I don’t believe in that, I think the fact (is) he’s in good nick, he looks super fit,” he said.

Carey and Hall sparred occasionally when the former was North Melbourne captain and the latter a young firebrand with St Kilda.

In the 1997 preliminary final between the clubs, Hall spent time standing Carey at centre half-back and on one occasion late in the game stood intimidatingly over a prone Carey after tackling him across the boundary line.

“There’s one place that I don’t think I’ve ever been intimidated and that’s on the football field,” Carey recalled.

“You’ve got 45 million cameras around and 50-100,000 people watching you, so you’re pretty safe I would think.”

According to this article, the teams would include the reserve teams of the Sydney Swans, Brisbane Lions, Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney, with representative teams from the ACT and NT, plus four of the premier clubs in the Queensland AFL (QAFL).

Currently, the Brisbane Lions reserves and NT Thunder are already in the QAFL, along with clubs such as Southport, Morningside, Mt Gravatt, with a total of ten teams.

This would probably be viewed as an expansion and vote of confidence in the QAFL, with the retention of the six current teams and expanding to include teams from NSW/ACT.

I’d imagine the remaining four QAFL teams would form another tier under this league (second Division?)

A couple of weeks ago, a report in the Melbourne AGE suggested the AFL was looking at several options from 2012, which included an expansion of the VFL, which currently hosts the Gold Coast, to include the NSW/ACT teams or a proposed eastern-northern seaboard league like this one.

Currently, the Sydney Swans reserves play in the AFL ACT competition and it was thought GWS would do the same for its reserves after serving an apprenticeship in the TAC Cup and VFL following in the Gold Coast’s footsteps.

It’s great news for the NT Thunder, who only recently joined the QAFL, as it propels them one step closer to the elite competition.

The ACT, it appears, will get a team in its own right in this second tier league. Currently a combined NSW/ACT representative team plays in the Under 16 and 18 junior championships.

Of course, the remnants of the QAFL and ACT leagues will need to be managed carefully. There is no detail at this stage as to what their fate holds.

Although a second division of the QAFL exists, maybe this could be expanded to include an AFL Cairns team as a representative North QLD along with the recently introduced team from PNG that currently plays in the AFL Cairns competition.

At the time of writing there was no official word from the AFL as to the veracity of this report. However, it appears this structure, at the very least ,is being seriously considered at AFL House.

One thing is for sure: the two new AFL teams of GC and GWS are potentially creating significant shifts in the whole structure of the game in NSW, ACT, QLD and NT.

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The non-stop drenching of cricket, and the circus that accompanies it, has worn thin. A large portion of the country is breathing a massive sigh, indicating that AFL is well and truly back.

Oh yes, it’s an exciting time sports fans.

Supercoach and Dreamteam nerds are working double overtime, while the shattered fans of last year are buying new team merchandise to replace the gear that was incinerated following the 2009 debacle.

The final siren of the NAB Cup is like an angel singing to footy fans. Round one is around the corner. Guernseys can once again be worn to work.

The uncomfortable six month silence at smoko is washed away by constructive “footy talk”.

The wife goes from happy to not so happy, as she prepares to ask you “is the footy on tonight”, every Friday for the next six months.

Pure bliss, I tell you.

By now we are completely over the fancy salad diet we’ve been trying. It’s such a relief to welcome back the pies and beer.

It’s been too long. Up there Cazaly!

Less can often mean more but, in the case of the AFL, more is always best if it boosts the bottom line. As reported on The Roar on Saturday, the league is likely to move to a nine or 10-team finals series once the new clubs, Gold Coast (2011) and Greater Western Sydney (2012), enter the competition.

There is room for constant change in the AFL. The rule changes tell us that. But, surely, a final eight is sufficient? And if the league continues to expand, where does it stop?

League boss Andrew Demetriou offered the following last Friday: “What do the finals look like? Do we still have a final eight? That’s being done at the moment,” he said.

“We have a top eight with 16 teams, which is 50 per cent of the competition. When you go to 18 teams someone could run the argument ‘why haven’t we got a top nine?

“There’s no reason why we can’t have a top nine. Someone sent me a proposal the other day suggesting a top 10.

“We’ll look at all those things and we’d be remiss in our duties if we weren’t looking at and canvassing all the options.”

People might want to run the argument, but it is a poor argument.

Adding an extra few matches to the finals series may boost revenue, but it will eat into the quality of football we see. During finals, fans can expect to see the best of the best do battle over four weeks for the ultimate prize.

If the league moved to, say, a top-10 format, I’m not sure fans could reasonably expect to see what they have become accustomed to. Some matches, in the first week especially, would have a regular-season feel to them. I’m not sure anyone wants that.

Just because the competition is expanded does not mean the finals have to follow suit.

The addition of two teams should be applauded if the AFL’s aims of entering new markets and increasing the quality of the competition are achieved. But increasing the number of teams in the finals will, without doubt, lessen the achievement of qualifying for final.

And the addition of two teams should not be an excuse for such a radical move.

It might make the bottom line look a little more attractive, but I have a feeling the fans won’t warm to it. Last year, for example, in a top-10 system, Hawthorn and Port Adelaide would have made the finals with a 9-13 win-loss record.

Teams with a winning percentage of just over 40 per cent during home-and-away matches do not deserve a finals spot.

You may argue that, in an expanded competition, the records of teams just outside the top-eight are likely to look more attractive.

But, do we then draw a line through teams with a winning percentage of 50 per cent or more? Do we simply allow all teams to qualify, and play 1 versus 18 and so on?

The top-eight system has been proven a success. If we keep topping up, the quality of the September action will be on the downhill slide.

AFL boss Andrew Demetriou last week floated the possibility of a 24-round season, an expanded finals series and the continuation of the NAB Cup once Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney enter the league.

Whilst the notion of the home and away season expanding to 24 rounds is nothing new, and seems fair enough considering the entry of two new teams, the other two talking points provide much more conjecture.

The concept of an expanded finals series, in particular, doesn’t stack up.

Like clockwork, every five or so months the AFL have been putting out this idea. Back in September 2008 they announced they were looking into it, and Champion Data came out with the best possible way a final nine could be structured. Since then, they have done their best to both talk down the idea and then talk it back up again, leaving fans uncertain as to how things will pan out.

Whilst in theory, just like the 24-round season, the idea makes sense, anyone who spent longer than five seconds looking at the Champion Data model would know there is no way the AFL should let it happen.

The model turns the finals into a game of snakes and ladders. The best sides would get more than one week off over the five-week series, even though weeks off in finals haven’t always been the most beneficial things for clubs in the past.

Worse still, the side that wouldn’t make it under the current system, the team that finishes ninth, is nothing more than a token addition. They’d have to beat the fourth-placed team in the first week, and then two top-three teams over the next two weeks, just to qualify for the preliminary final. Does anyone seriously think a side in that situation will be able to lift the premiership cup?

If the AFL move to a final nine, they can be assured of more one-sided contests that fail to capture the imagination of the footy public.

Leaving the present set-up, especially with more sides fighting for spots, is the obvious way to go. The fact the AFL keep pushing the idea, though, is worrying to say the least.

Meanwhile, Demetriou’s defence of the NAB Cup, whilst certainly not the dominant view among footy fans, did have some validity.

Responding to Matthew Lloyd’s comments that the competition should be scrapped, the AFL boss said, “I think Matthew’s entitled to his opinion but every club tells us they need preparation to get these elite athletes ready for the season.”

“They can’t just throw them into round one. I can assure you that … if we didn’t have a NAB Cup competition, particularly a NAB Regional Challenge, it would be to the detriment of the preparation of the players.”

And when you look at the chaos caused by the cancellation of the Geelong-Brisbane Lions game two weeks ago, with the Cats scrambling to arrange an extra intra-club game and the Lions even appealing to the AFL to schedule them another match, it’s hard to disagree.

The players and the clubs need preparation, so there’s always going to a pre-season of some sort.

If the NAB Cup was scrapped and the pre-season shortened, as so many have suggested, then that is likely to remove, or at least restrict, the ability for that preparation to take place in two key areas – free-to-air television and regional areas.

What other code can boast the sort of coverage footy’s pre-season gets?

And would it really be in the game’s best interests if regional centres, and even suburban grounds for that matter, aren’t able to get a first-hand taste of AFL football?

Obviously, there are constraints caused by the new clubs. But it’s not like the AFL don’t have options. You could give the previous year’s grand finalists an extra week off. You could revert to a simple ladder format to decide a winner.

Two new clubs doesn’t mean the end of the world.

But one thing is clear. The AFL shouldn’t use those two clubs as a vehicle for mass change. Sometimes it is best to just stick to the status quo.

On-field, they are desperate to break a 20-year premiership drought and will be one of the sides to beat this season after making the last four finals series.

Eventual premiers Geelong thrashed them in last year’s preliminary final and Collingwood have recruited well, picking up ruckman Darren Jolly from Sydney and midfielder Luke Ball from St Kilda.

Jolly has been so impressive that he is already in the leadership group.

In late 2008, president Eddie McGuire told the Magpies annual general meeting that the club aimed to win the flag within three years.

On Monday, McGuire would only say about this year’s prospects that they had enjoyed a strong pre-season.

“The best way … for teams to progress is to get used to playing finals football, get some wins up along the way,” McGuire said.

“The Bulldogs are in that position at the moment, they’re preliminary finalists.

“We’re in a good position to start the season and it’s a long season, a season of attrition these days.

“You need a bit of luck going your way, but you also need to do everything right – touch wood, so far we’re very happy with the way everything has gone.”

Captain Nick Maxwell said there was strong resolve among the players to improve on last year’s fourth placing, the second time in three years they have reached a preliminary final.

“You put it all together and you think, on paper, yes, we’d be looking to move forward,” Maxwell said.

“But having said that, `on paper’ doesn’t always add up.

“It’s something we’ve worked really hard at over the pre-season and we have a real drive among us to make 2010 our year.”

McGuire and Maxwell were speaking at Monday’s announcement of the five-year extension of the sponsorship from Emirates airline.

Emirates have backed the club financially since 1999 and the new five-year deal is understood to be worth more than $5 million.

“It goes without saying that it is an enormous filip at the start of the 2010 season to have the mighty Emirates aboard with the mighty Magpies.

“If ever there was a time for an airline to justify pulling the pin after 10 or 11 years together, that was it,” McGuire said, in reference to the global economy.

Collingwood are trying to sign a new naming-rights sponsor for their club headquarters after car company Lexus reduced their sponsorship late last year.

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The Magpies have added the 24-year-old defender to their leadership group, with the August, 2008 off-field disaster now just a bad memory.

Then, Collingwood suspended Shaw and Alan Didak for the rest of the season because they lied about a drink-driving incident.

The pair then made an impressive transformation, with Shaw finishing third in the club’s best and fairest last season and Didak ranked fifth.

“There’s never been any doubt about Heath’s leadership on the field, it’s just some things off the field,” said current captain Nick Maxwell.

“He’s only 24 years old now, you take time to mature and mature into an AFL player on and off the field.

“We’ve seen a real transformation in him and there’s no reason to say why he won’t be a captain in future years at Collingwood.”

President Eddie McGuire also strongly praised Shaw and Didak on Monday for the way they had reacted to their club suspensions.

“One of the great things in life is if you muck up, you stand up and cop your whack and Heath did that, by losing his licence and (being) fined by the football club and also being put out of action for the finals campaign, he and Alan Didak,” McGuire said.

“That’s long behind them and (they have) turned into men as far as their professionalism is concerned and they’ve been nothing other than fantastic.

“If you punish someone for mucking up, so to do you reward them for what they need to do and what they’ve been able to do.”

The other notable addition to the team’s leaders is ruckman Darren Jolly, who has joined the Magpies from Sydney.

Maxwell said Jolly made an immediate impact when he joined the team for their off-season training camp late last year in Arizona.

“He came straight in and he didn’t stand back for things to happen, he really wanted to take control himself and he’s just amazing the way he’s come and done that,” Maxwell said.

The Magpies skipper said he had been particularly keen to talk to Jolly about Sydney’s highly-rated leadership group.

“He just sees things differently, coming from a different culture,” Maxwell said.

“On top of that, just the way he’s run the midfield and really helped in conjunction with Josh (Fraser) and Cameron Wood – not only developing Cameron and some of our younger guys, but also in terms of the setups around stoppages.

“I spoke to someone up at Sydney and they said he was almost running their meetings in terms of stoppages towards the end of last year.

“He had so much control, he knew the opposition back to front, he’s been great in that aspect.”

In-form defender Harry O’Brien is the other new addition to Collingwood’s leadership group.

Scott Pendlebury will be vice-captain and Dane Swan will be deputy vice-captain, while Shane O’Bree also remains among their official leaders.

Collingwood said veterans Josh Fraser and Tarkyn Lockyer had decided to give up their official leadership roles.

Demons football manager Chris Connolly said the club would accept the panel’s decision on the incident that left their midfielder Colin Sylvia with a broken jaw.

Sylvia was chasing Chris Masten in Saturday’s practice match at Casey Fields when Kennedy laid the shepherd that broke the Demon’s jaw, putting him out of action for a month.

“Firstly, Melbourne will accept the umpire’s decision,” Connolly told 3AW.

“There’s no doubt there is some greyness in and around the interpretation of this rule, so it was going to be an interesting test case.

“Our understanding going into the season is that the head is sacrosanct and if you make contact (to) the head, even if there is greyness around the reason, that you wouldn’t get the benefit of the doubt.

“On this occasion, young Kennedy has got the benefit of the doubt and that will set a precedent for the rest of the season.”

The panel ruled that the contact was not unreasonable in the circumstances.

“The panel determined that Kennedy could not contest the ball and was not able to tackle the Melbourne player, as he did not have the ball,” the AFL said in a statement.

“Sylvia was actively involved in the play, he would have reasonably been expected to influence the contest and the force of the bump was not excessive for that situation.

“Kennedy did not run far to apply the bump, an elbow was not part of the contact and Kennedy did not leave the ground to deliver the bump.

“Sylvia was not in a vulnerable position and could reasonably expect contact to be made.”

The panel also cleared Brisbane forward Amon Buchanan of a match-day report, for making front-on contact with Hawthorn’s Xavier Ellis.

Carlton’s Aaron Joseph and Western Bulldogs veteran Nathan Eagleton can accept reprimands for their charges.

The panel handed Joseph a level-two charge for striking Adelaide opponent Jared Petrenko.

Eagleton was charged with attempting to trip St Kilda utility Farren Ray during the NAB Cup final.

But Eagleton will probably miss round one after suffering a hamstring strain in the final.

Richmond defender Jake King is already booked to face the tribunal on Tuesday night for striking Collingwood’s Travis Cloke two weekends ago in a practice match.

King is risking a three-match ban by going to the tribunal.

They scraped home by a point in two matches they could easily have lost (and would have been beaten by the Swans if not for Seaby’s brain fade) and they were comprehensively beaten on Saturday night when they broke even for two quarters and were out-played in the other two.

More specifically, St.Kilda’s bottom six players were noticeably inferior to the Bulldogs bottom six, and there were at least four players who wouldn’t have gotten a game with the Bulldogs.

Last season the Saints were the pace setters, with an innovative and discliplined game-plan somewhat akin to a “full court press” in basketball. The strategy stifled opposition forward entries and put the opposition under pressure every time they did go inside 50.

This masked the flaws of several individual players in the St.Kilda defence (notably Zac Dawson, Jason Blake and Sam Gilbert) and covered for the fact that several St.Kilda players can’t hit a target consistently by foot (Clint Jones, Sam Gilbert, Jason Gram for example).

However, all clubs have had a full summer and pre-season to work out counter-strategies (play on at all costs, run and carry, quick precise kicking), so St.Kilda’s game-plan won’t be dominant this year.

And whenever a club cracks the code, they can take advantage of Saints’ deficiencies. Never was this more apparent than on Saturday night when the Bulldogs were able to get the ball quickly to Barry Hall, exposing Zac Dawson’s deficiencies against a power forward.

The Saints have five or six superstars and are a disciplined unit so they will probably have a good year in 2010. But history tells us that only nine of the last 20 grand finalists played in the Grand Final the year before.

Western Bulldogs president David Smorgon promises the “lid” will stay firmly on at Whitten Oval in the wake of their stirring victory in the AFL’s pre-season competition.

Saturday night’s memorable 40-point win over St Kilda at Etihad Stadium gave the Bulldogs their first premiership of any sort since 1970, when they won the league’s night series.

They have won only one home-and-away season premiership, in 1954, and there are great expectations that this season the drought will break.

High-profile recruit Barry Hall was best afield in the final with seven goals, giving him 17 goals in three pre-season games.

If Hall can stay fit and away from the tribunal, he will be the key forward the ‘Dogs have missed so badly in the last two years, when they lost preliminary finals.

Smorgon said the team’s focus will turn immediately to the round-one game on March 28 at Etihad Stadium against Collingwood, another side expected to challenge for the premiership this year.

“I can assure you, the lid is firmly on,” Smorgon said.

“On Monday morning, the boys are back – round one.

“We’ve said from round one of the NAB Cup, Collingwood is our priority, we won’t do anything to put ourselves at a disadvantage, that’s what our plan was.”

But Smorgon is also demanding the Bulldogs, so often the league’s battlers, keep developing a winning mindset.

The only result that will satisfy the Bulldogs this year will be the premiership that counts.

“We’re building a club, we’re developing it season by season and we have to develop a harder edge,” he said.

“I say we go into season 2010 (thinking) we fear no-one and nor should we – we’ve beaten Geelong last year, we kicked away from the Saints, the way we demolished them (last night), albeit in a practice match.

“We have to go into season 2010 confident of our ability to take on everyone and let every club worry about playing the Bulldogs.

“If we finish eighth, seventh, sixth, fifth, fourth, third, second – we’re not going to be happy.

“That’s what the attitude has to be, but we’re not getting carried away.”

Coach Rodney Eade said outside expectations would not affect what is happening within the team.

“We have no control over that, we talk about it internally, what we need to go through and I suppose the processes, the way we measure our effort and intensity and the things we value as a team,” he said.

“There’s a really good culture in the club and outside focus or distractions I don’t think will have any impact.”

The Bulldogs will have a solid four-day block of running from Tuesday to ensure they are fully-fit for the Magpies and no doubt to make sure their minds are back on the job after the pre-season title.

Captain Brad Johnson should be fit for round one after missing the pre-season final through injury, although Eade is concerned about his lack of match practice.

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The 2008 All-Australian rolled his ankle in the first quarter of Saturday night’s game at Etihad Stadium and the injury is worse than what the Saints originally thought.

“It’s probably not as good as what we would have hoped,” said Saints football manager Greg Hutchison.

“It looks potentially like it might be up to about four weeks, so once we get the full results of the scans, which have been done today, we’ll sit down with our medical team tomorrow and plan out where he’s at.

“We know it’s a significant injury.”

Coach Ross Lyon revealed the severity of Fisher’s injury at the club family day in Frankston.

Despite the 40-point loss to the Bulldogs, Lyon said the Saints were ready to improve on last year’s runner-up finish behind Geelong.

“We’re in really good shape, there’s been a little bit of a hiccup with Sam Fisher, it’s probably a little bit worse than we thought – he’ll miss a few weeks,” Lyon said.

“That just means someone gets an opportunity to stand up and we’re confident we’ll go out there and play Saints footy.

“We’re ready to go again, we’re really hungry.”

Lyon said the Cup final had reminded the Saints that they must maintain last year’s intensity and keep improving if they are to win the club’s second premiership.

“We all start equal, it was a real eye-opener last night – if you drop your effort, you get embarrassed quickly,” he said.

Predictably, when Lyon spoke to the crowd he was asked about last September’s narrow grand final loss to the Cats.

He said it was vital that the Saints not dwell on that game, but become stronger.

“We need to improve, we gave the loss meaning and the meaning was, well, there are things we can do better in the lead-up and our preparation, our practice and our goalkicking,” he said.

“There’s a lot of little things that can all add up to help improve us.

“But I think we’re in trouble as a club if we all continue to look back.

“2009 is gone, Geelong are premiers, we’re runners-up and it all means nothing now.”

Lyon was particularly unhappy that the Saints had dropped out of Saturday night’s game in the final term, after mounting a strong challenge to the ‘Dogs through the middle of the final.

“We were certainly in a mode of the game had gone, but it was disappointing that they dominated that last quarter, I would have liked to see a sustained effort throughout the course of the game,” he said post-match.

“So if you talk about what do we need to work on, persistence and our perseverance is a hallmark of a very good team and that’s what we’re aiming to be.”

Vice-captain Lenny Hayes missed the Cup final through injury, but is expected to be available for the round-one match on March 27 against Sydney at ANZ Stadium.