Third club needed for Tippett trade

A third club is need to facilitate a trade that will send disgruntled Adelaide forward Kurt Tippett's to Sydney. Picture: George Salpigtidis Source: Herald Sun

KURT Tippett's stalemate in moving from the Crows to AFL premier Sydney enters Day 15 today with little prospect of a third party acting as a deal maker.

Just as the Swans have no player to immediately satisfy Adelaide's needs to seal the trade for Tippett before Friday's deadline, Sydney also has no player to unload to a third party to find an early draft pick to onpass to the Crows.

Former Western Bulldogs and Richmond coach Terry Wallace says a third-party deal for Tippett is not obvious.

"I can't see how that works if Sydney is not going to give up a premiership player," Wallace said yesterday.

"Putting up the 25th, 26th or 27th-best player in Sydney to a third party is not going to do anything."

To advance its offer of out-of-favour forward Jesse White and first-round draft pick No. 23, Sydney would need to get a draft pick before Adelaide's first call at No.20.

There are 12 clubs holding the first 19 draft picks - Greater Western Sydney (1, 2, 3 and 14) Melbourne (4), Western Bulldogs (5, 6), Port Adelaide (7), Brisbane (8), Richmond (9), Carlton (11), St Kilda (13), North Melbourne (15), Geelong (16), Fremantle (17) and Collingwood (18 and 19).

Essendon has used pick No.10 in the father-son deal for Joe Daniher.

The much-speculated deal of Sydney moving grand final substitute Luke Parker to Carlton for draft pick No. 11 - that is on-passed to Adelaide for Tippett - is far from a reality.

But Crows list manager David Noble remains eager to find a third party to strengthen Adelaide's return for losing Tippett.

"We're exploring those third-party options all the time," Noble said yesterday.

"We're looking at all avenues to get the best deal for our club."

After declaring "no progress" was made yesterday, Noble noted the Tippett deal may still drag to the final hour of trade talks on Friday.

"And in the last moments you find things that were not possible early in the trade talks do unfold," Noble said.

"A coach will suddenly agree to release a first-round draft pick."

Adelaide yesterday remained open-minded on ruckman-forward White.

"He's still there in our negotiations," said Noble of the 24-year-old Queenslander who remains on contract to the Swans for next season.

If Adelaide does not strike a deal with Sydney before the AFL's longest trade period ends, Tippett will fall into the draft pool, leaving the Crows without any compensation.

The Swans are considered the only player in the market for Tippett because of his salary demands that average at $1 million a season.

Tippett outraged Crows fans by nominating Sydney as his preferred team after months of speculation it was a move home - to Brisbane or Gold Coast - that he desired.
 

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Port wants draft picks, not players

Port Adelaide is seeking early draft picks for Ben Jacobs, who has nominated North Melbourne as his preferred destination. Picture: Sarah Reed Source: The Advertiser

PORT Adelaide seems keener on North Melbourne's early draft picks than any Kangaroo player in return for losing young defender Ben Jacobs.

Despite being at Alberton for just two seasons, 20-year-old Jacobs has behaved as a "pseudo free agent" by walking out of Port after completing his first contract and declaring his go-home preference to be a Kangaroo.

This follows Jacobs being chased by fellow Victorian clubs St Kilda and Essendon.

"Talks with North Melbourne have become more meaningful (with Jacobs declaring his club of preference)," said Power football chief Peter Rohde yesterday.

"But we have a long way to go before anything will be done," added Rohde, noting the Kangaroos have been consumed with trading out Cameron Pedersen.

Speculation of a four-club deal taking Jacobs to North Melbourne - while other players and draft picks criss-crossed the nation - is far from Port's thinking.

"We're trying to keep out of multi-club deals," Rohde said.

North Melbourne currently has draft picks 15, 38 and 39.

These are more appealing to the Power than Kangaroos forward Matt Campbell and defender Luke Delaney.

Jacobs was a first-round draft pick (No.16) in 2010. He played 26 games - 14 in the past season - for the Power.

Port's search for defenders to support Alipate Carlile and Jackson Trengove after the free-agent move of Troy Chaplin to Richmond may still involve Carlton's South Australian draftee Jordan Russell. He was not claimed as a free agent last week.

"It's said we fell in love and then fell out of love with Jordan," Rohde said.

"But all along we've said we will look at Jordan at the end of the trade period."

Port also may join St Kilda in moving on Fremantle's 26-year-old defender Greg Broughton as the Power seeks to replace former vice-captain Jacob Surjan, who was delisted last week.

Broughton is on contract to the Dockers for next season.

The month-long AFL trade period ends at 1.30pm on Friday. There was no deal lodged with the AFL yesterday.

The AFL's first free agency period closed on Friday with Adelaide and Hawthorn bewildered by the compensation rulings from the league.

Geelong chief Brian Cook says the compensation draft picks should be scrapped.
 

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Umpires wired for in-game coaching

AFL umpires, including multiple grand final whisteblower Brett Rosebury, could receive in-game coaching from their mentors via a two-way radio under a plan proposed by former Adelaide coach Neil Craig. Picture: Stuart Milligan Source: Herald Sun

NEIL Craig failed to put his Crowbots on remote control when he was Adelaide coach, but he has convinced the AFL to do more with its wired-up umpires.

AFL umpires will trial during the NAB Cup pre-season series taking messages from their coaches sitting in the grandstands.

Craig, who is currently the high-performance director at Melbourne, sold the idea to the AFL after sitting in the umpiring observers' box during the past season.

He questioned why the umpires - who are wired up to take direction on score reviews - are not sent direct messages from their coaches.

AFL football operations chief Adrian Anderson thought the concept sound enough to merit a trial in the pre-season competition starting in February.

"Neil was saying, 'You could've helped that umpire by alerting him to this or that or telling him he needs to adjust his positioning - why don't you talk to them?"' Anderson said.

Craig trialled sending direct messages to his players at training in 2008 when he was coaching Adelaide.

The concept never developed beyond training because the AFL objected to players being wired-up.

Anderson says the radio messages from AFL umpiring director Jeff Gieschen and coaches Rowan Sawers, Hayden Kennedy and Bryan Sheehan are not to influence umpires' decisions.

"It wouldn't be telling them what decisions to make or anything like that, it'd just be in terms of their positioning, or anything they might need to look out for," he said.

"They might say, 'You need to keep your eyes on what's happening in the goalsquare'."

The trial in the NAB Cup will determine if the concept becomes a routine for umpires in the premiership season.
 

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The sun rises for coach Primus

Ex-Crows fitnees guru Stephen Schwerdt and former Power coach Matthew Primus at Gold Coast training. Picture: David Clark Source: Gold Coast Bulletin

THREE years ago, when Matthew Primus was an assistant coach at Alberton, Port Adelaide made a play for Crows fitness coach Stephen Schwerdt.

Yesterday, that plan came together...at Gold Coast.

Primus started his return to AFL football - two months after being sacked as the Power's senior coach - as an assistant to Guy McKenna at the Suns.

Schwerdt, the Gold Coast's new high-performance manager, launched the new training regime for the third-year Suns players.

They will all move off shore next week when the Gold Coast squad takes up high-altitude training in Arizona.

Beyond Primus and Schwerdt, McKenna has a dramatically changed coaching panel that includes Mark Riley and Sydney premiership player Ben Mathews.

"Matty Primus has been a senior coach and an assistant for five years," McKenna said.

"Certainly the coaching ranks have improved."

Absent at training were Tom Hickey and Joshua Toy, who are linked to trades - Hickey to St Kilda and Toy to several Victorian clubs.
 

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Plenty of life left in the Big O

Orren Stephenson is not giving up on his AFL dream despite being delisted by Geelong. Picture: Peter Ristevski Source: Geelong Advertiser

ORREN Stephenson is hopeful his AFL fairytale has another chapter left in it despite his departure from Geelong.

The mature-aged recruit played eight games this season with the 'Big O' becoming a crowd favourite, but the drafting of Hamish McIntosh meant his services are now no longer required.

Stephenson holds no grudge towards the Cats, but believes he will be a better AFL player next year.

"I understood that they thought the best thing for the footy club is to go for a guy who is younger and played some really good AFL footy," he said.

"That's the ebs and flow of it and you have to roll with the punches. They were certainly forthright with it so I understood where they were looking to go.

"But there is still an urge there (to play AFL).

"The biggest thing is that now I've got a little bit of experience and I know there is still improvement in me.

"Even though people will say, 'He's old, he's 30', I know I've definitely got more improvement in me so I'll see what pans out."

After playing in three consecutive VFL flags with North Ballarat, Stephenson was taken by the Cats with pick No.78 in last year's national draft to cover the retirement of Brad Ottens.

He made his AFL debut in Round 1 against Fremantle and played six games in the first half of the season before breaking back for two at the business end.

However, a broken hand suffered against West Coast in Round 20 was a blow.

Stephenson returned for the VFL finals series and led the Cats to the premiership, his fourth in five years.

"Twelve months ago if someone had said. 'You will play a season of AFL footy, win another VFL flag and improve your footy', I would never have believed them," he said.

"I've been very blessed, I've played Friday night footy on the 'G against Hawthorn and it was all very exciting times.

"The biggest thing I got out of it was that I certainly know I am capable of playing AFL footy.

"You used to sit back and wonder if I got that opportunity, would I go alright? Now, I know I'm capable."

Stephenson, a father of three, who works as a Telstra technician in Ballarat, has put his life on hold as he waits to see if opportunity comes knocking again.

"I've said to my employer, who has been terrificly supportive, that if the opportunity arises again I'm not going to say no," he said.
 

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Deal will free up MCG

Cricket Victoria is set to seal a move to the Junction Oval, thereby freeing up the MCG for the start of the AFL season. Source: Herald Sun

A SOLUTION to the long-running feud between cricket and footy over use of the Melbourne Cricket Ground is in sight.

The Herald Sun can reveal plans to shift Cricket Victoria to a new centre of excellence at the Junction Oval are back on the State Government's agenda.

It means the AFL could secure access to the MCG in early March each year -- allowing room in the fixture for a second mid-season break. In return, Cricket Victoria would get a revamped 7000-seat Junction Oval to stage key domestic matches, such as the Sheffield Shield final.

Cricket has contractual rights to the MCG from October 1 to March 31 until 2019 and has been unwilling to bow to the AFL's demands for earlier access.

In March, MCG groundstaff will have just 48 hours to prepare the surface for the Carlton-Richmond Round 1 blockbuster if the Bushrangers host the Shield final.

Plans to revamp the historic Junction Oval were approved by the former Brumby government before the 2010 state election, but were shelved after Ted Baillieu's surprise victory.

Cricket Victoria has bemoaned for years that it's the only state without a designated facility for the sport.

Its wish list for the Junction Oval is in three parts -- capacity to host first-class matches, a high-performance training facility and a community centre. Most domestic cricket matches would remain at the MCG.

Cricket Victoria chief executive Tony Dodemaide said the development was great news, following lengthy consultation with the Government.

"I think, for us and the AFL, it seems a pretty logical solution to what is an ongoing problem," he said.

"Having played our first four matches of the domestic season on the road, the need for an alternative first-class facility outside of the MCG, which continues to be caught in the middle of conflicting needs of cricket and football, remains pivotal."

Dodemaide said the needs of Victoria's elite and developing cricketers had outgrown the MCG facilities, some of which aren't available year-round.

If plans were finalised soon, it would be logical to free the MCG from Cricket Victoria's requirements in time for the 2015 World Cup.

The MCG is battling Adelaide and Sydney for the right to host the final, scheduled for late March 2015.
 

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Giants on fast track to success

Giants coach Kevin Sheedy is urging caution with preparing a large group of youngsters for the rigours of AFL. Source: Getty Images

A KEEN racegoer and successful horse owner, Kevin Sheedy used a turf analogy to describe the massive task of preparing his stable of young players at Greater Western Sydney.

Sheedy said that, unlike the racing industry, he did not have the luxury of allowing colts to mature.

"Bart Cummings wouldn't train 35 horses as two-year-olds for a Melbourne Cup," he said yesterday.

"He would be questioning our theory behind all of this, but that's the task we have as a group of coaches.

"Our players need to be able to do a number of pre-season training years in a row. It's very important we understand that because, if you don't do that, you won't be anywhere in four or five years. And you'll probably muck up the whole list."

The Giants and fellow expansion club Gold Coast had no alternative, but to start focusing on 2013 before the end of last season.

The Giants had 13 players suffering season-ending injuries, and the Suns 17 before Round 23.

"We've sent some out for minor operations -- not major surgery, but to get them back in time for the start of pre-season," said Sheedy,  who described the his team's debut season as a juggling act.

"We needed to get as many players as possible to 10 games or more to give them the attitude, 'I can play this game; nothing worries me now'.

"I would rather get it over and done by playing a lot of young players.

"We will recruit a little bit differently again this year as we build this list up."

Suns coach Guy McKenna said midfielder Jackson Allen was typical of the challenge between satisfying the weekly demand for success against ensuring the longer term development of his players.

Displaying early signs of osteitis pubis, Allen, 19, was ordered to rest after only one game so he would be ready for the high-altitude training camp in Arizona next month.

"There comes a cut-off point. We keep pushing him and he won't be up and running for Arizona. Then it's a no-brainer," McKenna said.
 

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Training is no sweat for Ablett

Suns skipper Gary Ablett made a brief appearance at the start of Gold Coast pre-season training yesterday. Picture: David Clark Source: Gold Coast Bulletin

HE barely raised a sweat, but Gary Ablett made a brief cameo at Gold Coast training yesterday.

The Suns started their pre-season campaign in sweltering heat at Carrara's Metricon Stadium and despite not being required to attend, Ablett made a short appearance to boost his troops.

The Gold Coast captain cut an upbeat figure as he participated in handball and goalkicking drills before retiring to get treatment on a stiff back.

Ablett and the Suns' playing list will leave for the US on Sunday for their two-week high-altitude training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna said he was not surprised to see Ablett show his face.

"He's done it every year he's been captain," McKenna said.

"He's had his break, he's out here ... he understands.

"It's typical of Gazza's keenness to make sure we finished off the season well last year, and to maintain that momentum."

Trade targets Tom Hickey and Josh Toy did not train yesterday even though players with less than eight years' experience were required to attend.

Hickey is seeking a trade to St Kilda while Toy has attracted interest from several clubs.

The Suns unveiled the last addition to the coaching panel for 2013 yesterday with 2005 Sydney premiership player Ben Mathews joining former Carlton assistant Mark Riley and ex-Port Power senior coach Matthew Primus as the newcomers to McKenna's staff.
 

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Lake building up for a big year

In this file picture, Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson announces Brian Lake has been traded to Hawthorn from the Western Bulldogs. Picture: Nicole Garmston. Source: News Limited

HAWTHORN'S prized trade Brian Lake is already hard at work in the gym at Waverley Park.

Club football manager Mark Evans said the former Western Bulldogs full-back wanted to make an impression when pre-season training resumed next month.

"He's keen to make a really positive start and he's chipping away slowly at a strength program," Evans said.

"His season finished earlier than ours, so he's ready and back doing mostly weight training.

"We've got a few players doing a few things, but he's obviously four weeks further rested than most of our guys.

"We've got quite a few guys who are off enjoying the sun somewhere.

"But some of the guys who are in Melbourne are still calling in to continue with their strength programs or rehab programs."

The Hawks nabbed Lake in one of the surprise early trade deals, and the dual All-Australian will provide height and strength to the backline next year.

"It was well publicised that there were a couple of games during the year where we could have used Brian," Evans said.

In other news, Hawthorn is leading the fight for AFL clubs to get more information on the formula used to decide free agency compensation.

The Hawks are still studying whether they can challenge receiving draft pick No.66 in return for running defender Clinton Young's move to Collingwood.

"We'll go back through our documentation to see whether there's (grounds) for an appeal or not," Evans said.

"There doesn't appear to be one at first look."

Evans said clubs wanted more details about the new system, claiming they are "flying blind" when not even being aware of an offer to a player who is an unrestricted free agent, which was the case with Young.

"We'll all get used to it, but we need to have a system that has some equity in it," he said.

"And we need to be able to understand why some things come out the way they do.

"I know it was an agreement between the AFL and the Players' Association and that the formula be kept secret, but it doesn't help us understand the system.

"We certainly need some better detail on why we ended up getting pick 66 for Clinton Young."
 

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Blues bring big hitters to table

Australia Post chief Ahmed Fahour has officially joined Carlton's board. Picture: Nicole Garmston Source: Herald Sun

AUSTRALIA Post chief Ahmed Fahour and Pricewaterhouse Coopers boss Luke Sayers have been officially added to Carlton's bulging board.

Australia Post chief executive Ahmed Fahour and Pricewaterhouse Coopers boss Luke Sayers have been officially added to Carlton's bulging board.

Its members now total 13 -- the most across the league -- with businessmen Ryan Trainor and Craig Mathieson, the nephew of pokies benefactor Bruce Mathieson, also appointed at last night's meeting.

One of Fahour or Sayers will replace Stephen Kernahan as president at the end of next season under a peace plan agreed upon last month.

Kernahan had been under pressure to keep his job, despite the signing of coach Mick Malthouse.

"This brings about orderly change while introducing new people and fresh ideas to the board table," Kernahan said last night as Carlton's new-look board met for the first time at Visy Park last night.

Mark Harrison and Ari Suss have retired, while Jeanne Pratt will remain as vice-president for 2013.
 

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