News 21st........

[MagpieMad]

Quick kick-in will slow the game: Buckley
Kevin Diggerson
afl.com.au
1:19:53 PM Fri 21 February, 2003

Much of the talk this week among AFL players has centred on rule changes for the Wizard Home Loans Cup that many feel will speed up the game.

In particular, the consensus is that a defender's ability to bring the ball back into play without waiting for the goal umpire’s signal will add to an already fast game. But Collingwood skipper Nathan Buckley has a dissenting view.


Buckley believes the game will slow down as a result of the new rule, as players will need to pace themselves to ensure they do not run out of steam.

“I don’t think it will make it quicker,” Buckley opined.

“You’ll be running for a greater proportion of the allocated time in a game, but it will slow the game down, simply because players won’t be able to get back to 100 percent recovery that you might be able to get from the break after a score. I think you’ll see toward the end of quarters and in the second half the game will be a little bit slower.”

A relaxed Buckley did foresee a change of style as a result of the nine points on offer for goals kicked from outside 50 metres. Buckley believes plenty of players will try their luck from ‘downtown’, and that could lead to increased blood pressure in the coach’s box.

“I think a few boys will be having pot shots outside the 50 pretty early,” Buckley said.

“I think you’ll see a few boys that wouldn’t normally have a shot from out there having a shot. Whether Mick’s going to be happy or the 16 AFL coaches are going to be happy with a few of those will be interesting.”

Buckley has been impressed by his team’s pre-season preparations, and he claimed the Pies are ready for their first game since last season’s grand final loss to Brisbane.

“We approach this game with a belief that we are as ready as we have been for a pre-season game. We’re match fit and physically fit and I am sure the young blokes and the new fellas are looking forward to pulling on our guernsey for the first time.”


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Innovation the buzzword for broadcasters
Barry Levinson
afl.com.au
10:03:56 AM Fri 21 February, 2003

While the 16 AFL teams have been putting in the hard yards over the pre-season, the three television broadcasters have also been working solidly on refining their coverage for the 2003 season.

After years of Channel Seven’s monopoly, television coverage of the game entered unchartered territory last season when Channel Ten, Channel Nine and Foxtel shared the rights in the first year of a five-year agreement.


All three broadcasters are eagerly anticipating the start of the Wizard Home Loans Cup this weekend, with two of the three boasting big name additions to their commentary teams.

While former ABC commentator Tim Lane will not be starting with Ten until the home and away season, former Carlton skipper Craig Bradley will be making his debut in expert comments when the Blues meet Collingwood at Telstra Dome this Sunday.

Channel Ten head of football David Barham said Bradley and football news reporter Gerard Whateley will be given trials over the first round of the Wizard Cup. Whateley will be calling the Crows-Power match at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night.

Last year’s core team of Stephen Quartermain, Anthony Hudson, Robert Walls, Michael Christian, Peter Daicos and Stephen Silvagni remains, but dual Adelaide premiership coach Malcolm Blight will not return.

3AW caller and host of Fox Footy’s White Line Fever, Clinton Grybas, will become a permanent member of Fox Footy’s commentary team this year, along with former Western Bulldogs’ coach Terry Wallace as a special commentator .

“We’re delighted to have a three-time premiership player and experienced coach like Terry joining us,” Fox Footy chief Rick McKenna said.

Wallace, who will also have a similar role with 3AW this year, and Grybas will call one of Fox Footy’s three exclusive matches each week.

Wallace's first gig is down at Skilled Stadium for his former team's opening Wizard Home Loans Cup game against Geelong on Saturday.

Former Carlton player and Channel Seven broadcaster Ian Robertson will not return, but the remainder of the Fox Footy team is unchanged.

Dennis Cometti, Jason Bennett, Matthew Campbell, Anthony Hudson, Kevin Bartlett, Tony Shaw, Russell Greene, Ben Allan, Ken Judge and Wayne Schwass will all feature again.

Channel Nine is the only broadcaster to enter 2003 with an unchanged line-up.

“We’re exceptionally happy with our commentary team,” Nine’s executive producer of AFL Cos Cardone said. “We said from day one that we thought we had the best team going around and we see no reason to change it.”

Eddie McGuire, Dennis Cometti, Garry Lyon, Dermott Brereton and Sam Newman will again lead the flagship of Nine’s coverage on Friday nights, with Gerard Healy, Dwayne Russell, Brian Taylor, Rodney Eade and James Brayshaw all to continue their contributions on Sundays.

In Quartermain, Hudson, Lane, Christian and Daicos, Ten will have one surplus commentator each week, for their two games on Saturdays.

But Barham said a rotation policy to fit five callers into four positions will not be a problem and will allow his team to remain fresh throughout the season.

“It will give everyone a couple of weeks off during the season,” he said. “They were pretty tired last year because they’ve all got radio commitments as well. I think it will just give everybody a break throughout the year and keep everybody fresh and make sure people are not exhausted when it comes to finals, which is our most important time.”

Ten and Nine both claim that their coverage will be innovative this year, without being prepared to go into detail.

“There’s a lot of new concepts and innovations that we’ve been working at since the end of last season, that people will see, not so much during the Wizard Cup, but more so the season proper,” Cardone said.

“Wizard Cup for us is about bedding the season down and getting back and consolidating our production. With the season proper, you’ll probably see us getting a bit trickier.”

Barham told a similar story.

“We’ve got a lot of new statistically-based stuff which we’ve worked on really hard over summer,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of things in development that are pretty exciting, which we’ll probably introduce early to mid-year.”

While always looking at ways to better their coverage, Fox Footy, on the other hand, will make few alterations. McKenna believes that their viewers appreciate the depth of the package that the pay-tv channel provides.

“We’ve tweaked our coverage to a degree, but nothing revolutionary,” he said. “I don’t think fans genuinely want a revolution in match coverage, as opposed to the volume and access to the game, which Fox Footy delivers in spades.”

Cardone said Nine remains committed to enhancing their coverage.

“We are constantly looking at and have come up with new measures, new camera angles and new innovations that we’re going to throw into our coverage, because that’s what we’re about. You’ll notice things markedly from day one of the season proper that have been done better, that are new and that I think are quite exciting and ground-breaking in the way that things are covered.”

All programming schedules for matches remain unchanged, with the exception of Channel Ten pushing their delayed coverage of their Saturday afternoon game back half an hour to 4pm.

A year after such a radical change to the AFL’s television deal, the three broadcasters are happy that they can each service their viewers, but still remain on good terms with their rivals in such a competitive industry. All bosses had positive things to say about their opposition.

“Before the start of last season, a lot of people were wondering, ‘How’s this all going to work with three broadcasters covering the one code?’,” Cardone said.

“But at season’s end, I think everybody came back and said, ‘I think it worked pretty well’ and I think Nine, Ten and Fox – not only did they acquit themselves very well – they provided a terrific product and certainly the football viewer is getting looked after as well as he or she ever has.”

“I think everybody was competing with each other, but it was a pretty friendly rivalry too,” Barham said.

“It wasn’t cut-throat with no-one talking to each other. We all get on really well. I’ve got a lot of respect for the other guys who do it. Everybody pushes themselves to try and do the best job, but I think that was a good thing for football and good for all of us and keeps us all on our toes.”

But McKenna added that events on the other side of the neighbour’s fence were always of interest.

“The Monday mornings in here, and I know for a fact that the other networks were the same as well, were, ‘Did you see what so-and-so did?’ And that could have been regarded as good, bad or indifferent. We all looked at what each other did and mulled over it and possibly encompassed that into our coverage and vice-versa.”

“But as a sport producer, that’s a natural thing, not just within our code, but in all sports. I’ve watched innovations with the cricket this year, the basketball and the Superbowl and thought, ‘I wonder how we could do something like that?’”

Channel Nine opens the batting this year with Richmond versus Melbourne on Friday night, while Channel Ten will follow-up with the Perth derby later on the same night. Foxtel swings into action when Hawthorn takes on St Kilda in Tasmania on Saturday.

As with the action on the field, the action on our screens will be most interesting to observe in 2003.

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MagpieMad
http://magpiemad.magpies.net/

[creedymagpie]

Bloody Hell mate thats almost as long as a Wilbur Smith Novel!

I agree with it maybe slowing the game down, watching the Derby tonight it definatly takes alot out of the players.

Also after watching the game tonight i think it might not have been a good idea as it does take alot out of the players and it is still Summer, and the season isnt very far away, so the fear of injury is there as well, i think maybe a 10 man bench is in order.

Im sure Malthouse wont disagree with me!!

Collingwood and Tottenham, what a great combination!!!!!!