The Australian Football League Commission on Monday "delegated power to the league's General Counsel Andrew Dillon to oversee temporary list concessions to Essendon for the NAB Challenge and to implement further changes" in the event of suspensions arising from the Anti-Doping Tribunal hearing, according to Greg Denham of THE AUSTRALIAN. In the preseason series Essendon will be "allowed to use players from their VFL list and also use players from other state league teams to enable them to field a team." The commission agreed that:
- Essendon may sign temporary playing contracts with "any player not currently on an AFL list but who have been on an AFL list in the past two seasons."
- With the exception of their own VFL listed players, Essendon is "restricted to signing a maximum of two players from any club."
Dillon has the power to "agree to exceptions to these guidelines, but only in the circumstance that it does not unfairly disadvantage any other club" (
THE AUSTRALIAN, 2/17). In Melbourne, Jon Pierik reported rival AFL clubs will "reluctantly allow their VFL talent to join
Essendon as top-up players," realizing this is the "most practical option
to ensure the NAB Challenge and the AFL season proceeds amid the ongoing
supplements saga." Several clubs on Monday "privately admitted it 'wasn't ideal' that they could lose players to the Bombers," even though
these players were not on their primary AFL list. However, all clubs "are
keen for as less distraction as possible heading into the new season" (
THE AGE, 2/16).
AGENT CALLS FOR LEVY: Pierik reported in a separate piece AFL player agent and "concussion campaigner" Peter Jess has called on the AFL to put 1% of revenue from ticket sales into a fund "to be used for independent analysis of head knocks." Jess said that this would help research centers fund "crucial long-term research into concussion and the threat of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)." Jess: "Every research institution is screaming out for money to do research in the concussion field. The most obvious thing is, the people that go and watch the athletes face possible damage, then they should be paying for it" (THE AGE, 2/16).
