Interchange cap too extreme: Clarkson

Melbourne veteran Nathan Jones says it will be irresponsible for the AFL to cap the interchange at 80.

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson says the proposed interchange cap is too severe. Picture: Wayne Ludbey. Source: Herald Sun

HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson says the AFL's decision to slash the number of interchanges moves to 80 per game next season is too much too soon.

Clarkson is one of a long line of critics of the AFL's decision this week to dramatically reduce bench rotations from the average of 130 per game.

In some games last season, Hawthorn rotated players on and off its bench 150-plus times.

But after spending an inordinate amount of time counting players coming on and off the ground in Hawthorn's NAB Cup match against the Bulldogs on Saturday, Clarkson urged the AFL to spend this year exploring a better number, he suggests 120.

"Who knows what a cap of 80 will do to the game, no one really knows," Clarkson said yesterday.

"If you just took a slight variation and reduced it in a less significant way, say a cap of 120 in the first instance, then we can see what actually changes with the game."

He knew a change was in the wind, but not so severe.

"We knew at the end of last year there was going to be a cap in place," Clarkson said.

"To make such a dramatic change...it took a long time to go from the reserve system, to two interchange, then three interchange, then four interchange.

"That happened over a vast period of time, and coaches and players got an opportunity to become accustomed to those slight changes.

"But to go from an interchange system you've been used to, and both players and coaches have been used to a system where you've had on average 130 to a cap of 80, is too dramatic a change, both for the players in part and the coach

"They just need to spend the next 12 months working out what that cap should be."

The Hawks' coach, along with head of coaching Chris Fagan and injured star Brendan Whitecross (knee reconstruction) were at hard-hit Boomer Bay yesterday to help fire-affected farmers repair fences ahead of the NAB Cup clash with Richmond in Launceston on Saturday,

They will reunite with the rest of the team when they arrive in Launceston tomorrow for their NAB Cup clash with Richmond on Saturday.

"We need to play better than we have over the past couple of weeks," Clarkson said.

"We've been a bit down on form, a bit rusty.

"It's obviously a long season ahead, but we've got two NAB Cup games to start settling our side down for Geelong in round one."

Hawthorn is likely to bring back at least four front-line players for the match - Tasmanian defender Grant Birchall, veteran Shaun Burgoyne, ruckman Max Bailey and midfielder Xavier Ellis.

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Pies 'surprised' by Swan's interview

Dane Swan, left, at Collingwood pre-season training with coach Nathan Buckley. Picture: Wayne Ludbey. Source: Herald Sun

COLLINGWOOD remains "surprised" Brownlow medallist Dane Swan agreed to a paid interview with Channel 9 without the club's knowledge or permission.

Chief executive Gary Pert admitted the club's administration was unaware Swan had taken part in tonight's The Footy Show interview until last Friday -- days after it had been recorded.

"Dane's management negotiated and conducted the interview before the club's administration was advised," Pert said last night.

"While we encourage our players to do media work because our supporters enjoy it, we were surprised with the timing of this interview."

Pert was reluctant to comment any further.

But it is understood some within the club are concerned the controversial midfielder could potentially disrupt the club weeks out from the home-and-away season.

Paid interviews with former coach Mick Malthouse in 2011 and Travis Cloke last year caused serious tensions within the club.

It is believed Swan was paid more than $20,000 for the interview, in which he is said to have denied suggestions he had a drug problem.

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Substitutes on during head checks

Injuries are on the way down according to the injury survey of last year's AFL season.

Geelong doctors treat Joel Selwood after he was knocked out against St Kilda. Picture: George Salpigtidis Source: Herald Sun

THE AFL is one step away from allowing clubs to use their substitute while a player is being assessed for concussion.

The AFL Commission will soon rule on whether the proposed change, initiated by the AFL Medical Officers' Association, will be introduced this season.

It would allow clubs the option of a 20-minute window for the temporary use of the substitute while doctors determine whether or not a player has concussion.

If the injured player is able to return to the field, the substitute would be deactivated.

AFL medical director Peter Harcourt confirmed yesterday a submission had been referred to the league.

"The AFL, on the recommendation of the AFL Medical Officers' Association, is looking at activating the substitution to take the pressure off the team so that the doctors can go about their assessment (of the injured player)," Harcourt said.

"Hopefully it will be considered before the start of the season."

The AFL Commission has the power to veto any proposed rule change.

It knocked back the laws of the game committee request for an interchange cap this season, preferring to wait 12 months and to trial it in this year's pre-season competition.

But this is thought unlikely given this submission has been proposed by the AFL Medical Officers' Association for health and safety reasons.

Carlton coach Mick Malthouse, who met the laws of the game committee yesterday to discuss the contentious introduction of an interchange cap next year, wants greater flexibility with substitutes.

It comes as the latest AFL injury survey, released yesterday, saw a rise in the number of games players missed due to concussion.

While the overall injury rate for AFL players dropped last year, with the games missed per club at its lowest level since 2008, Dr Hugh Seward explained the rise in players missing games because of concussion was due to a more conservative approach and better management from doctors.

"The rise in concussion incidence over the last two years in the AFL corresponds with a worldwide trend among many sports to recognise the potential long-term effects of concussion and the adoption of a more conservative approach with return-to-play decisions," Dr Seward said.

Asked if this rise would continue, he said: "Yes, it might, and that would reflect not an increased number of head injuries, but a much more cautious and conservative approach."

The AFL will hold a two-day conference on concussion on March 20-21.

The survey showed hamstring, quadriceps and groin strains were lower than in 2011, but there were more calf strains and concussions.

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Fisher: I'm not off the rails

St Kilda's Sam Fisher at Mentone Beach. Picture: Hamish Blair Source: Herald Sun

DENIALS are the choice of the beholder and St Kilda's Sam Fisher says he's not in denial.

He smiles when he says it, seemingly not in a smarty-pants fashion, but in a way that reflects his personality: laid back and non-fussed .

If this was a Seinfeld episode, it would be titled The Smiling Denier.

He says his pre-season hasn't been much different to any other, although this one did create headlines.

In an article in The Age in late November, headlined ''Fisher on outer at Saints?", he was accused of antagonising teammates, being a bad influence on teammates, of having "off-field issues", and that he would be kicked out of the leadership group.

"The accusation, or the comments, made in a certain paper were disappointing and I was a little bit hurt by them," he said.

"But have I lost any sleep over them? No, I haven't."

Why wasn't there anger?

"Because I don't tend to worry about what's written about me, I never have and I never will, good or bad, and the way I look at it is, I can control what I control and whatever happens outside I can't control.

"My focus is on preparation, my effort at training and my performance and that's held me, from what I reckon, that's held me ... in pretty good stead for 10 years in the competition.

"So I must be doing something right, away from footy and at the club."

Fisher shakes his head at the fact his off-season behaviour was worthy of making headlines.

"I was surprised by it for sure," he said. "I went overseas during my break and had a good time like a lot of players do."

He visited America for three weddings, Zac Dawson's in Vegas, Nick Riewoldt's in Texas and that of another former teammate, Dylan Pfitzner, who married a Mexican woman.

He returned to Australia briefly, was written up in The Age, and then departed the next week for the Saints' pre-season in Colorado.

He told the Herald Sun his pre-season was not unlike most others, although when spoken to by senior St Kilda officials, he admitted he probably drank alcohol more than any other off-season, and flatly denied drug use.

The parents ... that's the most disappointing thing. They've got to read it and then you get asked questions by them.

The thing is, the rumour was Fisher was "off the rails".

"Again, that's the surprise," he said.

And the insinuation was drugs? "I gathered that, I put two and two together and that's how it came across," he said. "And that's why I was so surprised."

Any truth? "There's no truth at all to that.

"There's no issue with my state outside the footy club."

So, again, why wasn't he angry at the insinuation?

"I was. I said I was disappointed and hurt and, as I said, have I lost any sleep over it?"

At 30, Fisher is big enough and old enough to look after himself, but the hurt came when the accusations hurt his parents, and when it involved his teammates turning against him.

"The parents ... that's the most disappointing thing about it," he said. "They've got to read it and then you get asked questions by them.

"They know me closely enough and how I am away from the club, they know how I am at the club and they know how I am when I'm home with them.

"I'm happy with who I am and I don't need to change for anyone.

"There's a lot of speculation about many things in the AFL and if it's fair or unfair, it doesn't really matter.

"I'm not saying it didn't hurt me, it did, especially when your character is called into question ...

"But I thought, 'What's the best way to attack this?' Do I retaliate on social media or something like that, but that's not me.

"What's been successful for me is my focus, my effort, my preparation and that's the way I'm going to prove to people this hasn't been an issue."

As for his teammates and reading they didn't want him in a leadership group, that clearly stung Fisher.

He is out of the leadership group and he says it was his decisio, pointing out he's in the mentoring group with Lenny Hayes, Justin Koschitzke and Adam Schneider.

Sam Fisher and Jason Blake celebrate St Kilda's win against Sydney. Source: Getty Images

"That was definitely one of the hurtful things in the article because Schneids and myself and Lenny and Jason Blake have stood down from the leadership group," he said.

"I pride myself on my leadership and my role won't change. None of my teammates told me they wanted me out."

A Saints veteran, Fisher is due to play his 200th game this season and says he is enjoying footy as much as any time of his career.

While other players talk of the problems of living in the fishbowl that is the AFL, Fisher is the opposite.

I back myself in to play on the bigger key forwards. I love the challenge of doing that.

He is contracted for this year and next and wants another contract for 2015.

"I don't mind the lifestyle, I've never found it a problem, I've never got overwhelmed by it," he said.

"I'm pretty relaxed type of guy and I don't get to wrapped up by it.

"That's me. I enjoy my sport, full stop.

'I'm proud and privileged of what I have been able to achieve in the game so far.

"I still have things to learn and improve on, and I want dedicate myself as much as I can to the footy club over the next couple of years.

"I still have a passion, a hunger, and the body is reasonably good."

That attitude still pervades despite a more-demanding working environment.

Fisher fondly remembers the days when you could actually stand still next to your opponent.

"You would stand there waiting for the ball to come to him, walk all the time, but now there's no rest on defence, no rest on offence, and there's no rest when the ball is in dispute," he said. "You're always running up and down the ground, defending or attacking.

"It's demanding but I still love the game. No doubt.

"I love the competitive side to it, and it's probably more competitive than ever.

"I can't wait til it starts again."

One of the dominant running key defenders in the competition in the past five or six seasons, Fisher is likely to be more of a stay-at-home defender this season, which will allow the likes of James Gwilt, Sean Dempster and Arryn Siposs the scope to attack from half-back.

Fisher's role changed in the latter half of last season.

"It's a role I like," he said. "Run-off defender has been a trait of mine but I have played on key fowards throughout my career.

"I suppose people don't see that side as much, but I back myself in to play on the bigger key forwards.

"And I love the challenge of doing that."

At 95kg and 193cm, Fisher stands players such as Nic Naitanui (101kg, 201cm), Jonathan Brown (102kg, 194cm), Travis Cloke (108kg, 196cm) and Kurt Tippett (104kg, 202cm).

Again, he's not fussed about the size of the opposition.

"You get a lot of satisfaction beating players like that," he said.

He says he is not overwhelmed when he plays on West Coast's Naitanui, but he is when he watches him on television. "I back myself no matter who it is, you have to," he said.

"When he's on TV, I'm in awe of him, he's one of my favourite players to watch.

"But when he's standing next to me I'm too busy focused on what I have to do to stop him.

"I have my own techniques I use. (Naitanui's) quicker, more athletic, taller; however you want to put it, I still have my techniques to limit that.

"That's the game. Players have their strengths and weaknesses and and you try to use your strengths against them."

Fisher cites former teammate and now St Kilda part-time coach, Max Hudghton, as a wonderful teacher.

"It's all about heart and the will not to be beaten, the pride of the jumper, and the pride in your own performance," he said.

"I look at Max and think, if he can do it, why can't anybody else do it?

"All of his career he played on guys bigger than him."

While footy remains the priority, Fisher has an itch he wants to scratch.

It's called golf and, when his football days are over, he hopes to become a golf professional.

"I'm going to give golf a crack, but only when my footy is over," he said.

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Adams just too cool for training

North Melbourne coach Brad Scott says his team is more advanced this pre-season to ensure the Roos are ready for a brutal opening six rounds of the season proper.

MIDFIELDER Leigh Adams knew the jibes were coming when he trotted out in sunglasses for North Melbourne's training yesterday.

It had nothing to do with fashion or the sweltering conditions normally associated with the post-Christmas pre-season slog.

Adams was instructed to wear the sunglasses as protection after a minor medical procedure to an eye late last week.

"I had the weekend off and stayed in the gym early in the week. But I had to wear the sunnies when I came outside today," he said.

"They just thought my eye was going to be a bit sensitive to the light for a couple of days, so it was better to keep it shaded as much as possible for as long as I could."

So, why not wait for the eye specialist's all-clear? Adams has already been forced to bide his time after reconstructive surgery on both shoulders in the off-season.

The adaptable Adams, renowned for his clearance work and going forward to kick goals, is hoping to play his first NAB Cup game against Geelong on Saturday.

North Melbourne midfielder Leigh Adams training in sunglasses. Picture: Wayne Ludbey.

"I haven't played a game yet, so I'm itching to get back out there and I didn't want to give them any excuse not to play me," he said.

"I probably could've played a few weeks ago at the start of the NAB Cup, but they took a cautious approach because it's a pretty long season and, obviously, with my history.

"I hope to ease back in the last two games and be ready for Round 1."

Adams, who averaged 19 possessions and kicked 17 goals in 18 games last year, was hampered by several dislocations.

His shoulder was not helped by Carlton ace Chris Judd's , "chicken-wing" tackle in Round 16. (Judd was suspended for four matches.)

"Towards the end of last year, it was getting pretty bad and this (surgery) makes it a lot harder to pop out. Fingers crossed, that's the last of those problems," he said.

And how was the ribbing over the shades?

"I copped plenty of it, definitely. A few of the coaches weren't aware I had the operation, they thought I was a bit of a fashion statement out there.

"But once they figured out the glasses were actually needed, they were OK. They were just happy I could get out there."

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Lively Dogs fail to sing

Western Bulldogs young gun Mitch Wallis was keen to sing the club song after defeating Hawthorn. Picture: Mark Wilson Source: Herald Sun

SENIOR players decreed that the Western Bulldogs wouldn't sing the club theme song at Etihad Stadium last Friday night.

It was decided to channel the energy and excitment from the narrow NAB Cup win against Hawthorn into longer term goals.

Understandably, the younger Dogs were eager to belt out "Sons of the West'' for the first time since a round 12 home victory against Port Adelaide at the same venue on a mid-June night last year.

"I went up after the game, I was pretty excited, but I came back to reality that it is a practice match. But I'm still passionate about winning and I've only had a few, so everyone counts,'' midfielder Mitch Wallis said.

"In the rooms after the game, it was just a different feeling. It had been a while since our last win, eight or nine months, and to get that feeling again gives us confidence. Training this week has been great so far, how we feel and how we're going about it.

"It was great in the rooms after the game, it was great in the review. Just a feeling you want to sustain and have more than just a few.

"A lot of things we had put in place over the pre-season in terms of structures really came into play and was the reason why we won.

"Our ball movement allowed us to defend the ground better. We found targets and we weren't chasing them all day, they were chasing us. The way we were able to hit the scoreboard and hold onto the footy was probably the main thing.

"So, it gave the boys a lot of confidence that what we're doing is the right thing and moving forward to keep developing those things to hold us in good stead against the top teams.

"That has been a main focus, finishing off quarters and not leaking goals late in quarters. The last five minutes was really great and promising signs for this year.''

The developing Doggies face another stern test against Fremantle in expected 30-plus heat after the long flight and then a bus trip to Mandurah, south of Perth on Saturday.

"Going into this week, you're confident the structures and the game plan that we have can hold up,'' Wallis said.

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Players face 'carnage', coaches warned

Collingwood midfielder Dayne Beams heads for the interchange bench as Luke Ball runs onto the field. Picture: Stephen Harman. Source: Herald Sun

AFL coaches have been warned players will be subjected to "carnage" akin to cage fighting if the league leaves the game unchecked by rule changes.

As AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou warned an interchange cap would come in despite the objections of coaches next year, the dangers facing players if the league did nothing was laid bare.

Professor Kevin Norton, the author of an AFL-sanctioned research report about rules and former AFL general manager Adrian Anderson's confidante on the subject, said there was a link between game speed, serious injuries and concussions.

He says without the recent rule changes to make the game more continuous - fatiguing players and slowing them down - AFL would resemble mixed martial arts.

It would be carnage. The players are so big and so powerful. It is frightening

But Norton, a professor of exercise science at the University of South Australia, said football left unchecked would be a brutal, dangerous game which put players at risk.

"I watched AFL 360 last night and people were saying why don't they stop changing the rules," he said.

"I saw Greg Williams interviewed recently (about his brain issues). With the size and speed of players, if we hadn't changed the rules, the carnage would be unbelievable.

"If we let players go for 20 seconds and then rest for 20 seconds, it would be like watching MMA (mixed martial arts). It would be carnage. The players are so big and so powerful. It is frightening.

"If they get enough rest to completely recover they generate such huge power. It makes sense from a physiological point of view to try to take the edge off their power."

Norton, who worked for Adelaide for seven years and the AFL for 13, said the league's rules to make the game more continuous had dramatically lifted the time the ball is in play.

It went from an average passage of play of 21 seconds before a 21-second stoppage, to 40 seconds of continuous play with just 15 seconds of rest.

Player density has reduced those positive changes, but ideally players become tired, and hit with less force, doing less damage to opponents.

Norton said changes designed to protect players heads meant less cases of concussion, but said the connection to player speed could be made.

Norton's recent report - Changes in Player Density 2001-2012 - shows player density has doubled in the past four years, with vast numbers of players regularly crowding stoppages.

Demetriou yesterday was adamant the interchange cap was coming in 2014.

"The fact of the matter is, unless people have got amnesia, the AFL Commission has already passed the rule," Demetriou said.

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Blues hit pokies jackpot

Carlton leads its Victorian AFL rivals in pokies revenues. Picture: Sarah Reed Source: News Limited

CARLTON has hit a $16.8 million jackpot thanks to new Victorian poker machine laws.

And combined annual revenues for the nine Victorian clubs with pokies will climb by $42.9 million to $76.8 million.

A Monash University report reveals the Blues will gorge on gaming revenues this year -- more than doubling what they took in 2012.

Hawthorn will also cash in, with their cut of revenues under the industry's new tax regime set to soar to $13.3 million.

Collingwood and Essendon will also smash through the $10 million barrier.

The Blues control 290 money-spinning machines at four hotels gifted by club powerbroker and pokies king Bruce Mathieson.

Ten-year licenses to run Victorian pokies were auctioned at bargain prices by the Brumby government in 2010 and came into affect in August last year.

The new model has been criticised for being far too generous to venue operators.

Nine out of 10 Victorian AFL clubs control poker machines.

North Melbourne is the only Victorian club without pokies because of a no-gambling policy introduced by the club's board last year.

Critics say the move has made it "nearly impossible'' for North to compete financially.

The Western Bulldogs, who control just 50 machines, have proposed a plan forcing clubs to share the spoils of bumper pokies profits in a bid to close the gap between the AFL's richest and poorest clubs.

Carlton said the Bulldogs' plan "won't be happening''.

The Monash University report is based on modelling of the state's new pokies tax arrangements and player losses from 2011-12 tabled by the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation.

Blues chief executive Greg Swann said the figures did not take into account the club's $10 million debt and the expenses of running the venues.

"We've still got to pay for the machines and there's a lot of debt that we carry as well,'' Swann said.

"We would be lucky to net $3.5 million out of that.''

Mathieson and his pokies partner Woolworths also take a chunk of the profits in exchange for managing the venues.

But Swann admitted the club's pokies profits would soar in the back end of the 10-year licences after the debt was cleared.

Monash University gambling researcher Dr Charles Livingstone said the government's new tax regime had gifted pokies owners a licence to print money.

"How the venues -- in this case the AFL clubs -- manage this stream of revenue is their business,'' Livingstone said.

"The point is that they are cashing in on a bonanza essentially gifted to them by the government and which has clearly failed to deliver appropriate value to the people of Victoria.''

AFL POKIES LADDER

What your club reaps from the new pokies tax laws

                    Machines   Revenue to club   %increase
                        
Carlton             290                 $16.8m                  130%
Hawthorn         155                 $13.3m                    93%
Essendon        190                 $5.8m                    134%
Collingwood    180                 $5.6m                    119%
Geelong            180                 $5.2m                   141%
Melbourne        172                 $4.7m                    147%
W. Bulldogs        50                 $1.7m                    121%
Richmond           87                 $2.3m                    150%
St Kilda                83                 $1.6m                     203%
N. Melbourne       0                      0                             0

Total                   1397                 $42.9m                  127%

* See the full table in today's Herald Sun

Source: VCGLR, calculations by Monash University

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League chief set to play on

AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou says he's ready to kick on. Source: Herald Sun

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou has said his tenure will extend well beyond a decade, hinting he plans to be in the top job for a minimum of three more years.

Demetriou will mark 10 years as chief executive at this year's Grand Final, but football identities such as former Victorian premier and Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett have wondered aloud about whether he should move on.

Demetriou has consistently refused to say when he might call it a day, stating only that he is happy about the challenges of his role.

But when he accepted VicSport's Victorian Sports Leadership Award on Monday night, he made it clear he would be at the helm for the next television rights negotiation.

I am very enthusiastic about the future ... what you see on the park at the moment is brilliant

The AFL customarily signs its TV rights deal in the previous season - Seven and Foxtel agreed on a deal for the 2012-16 seasons in April 2011.

That means Demetriou is locked in for the next three years at least.

"I am very enthusiastic about the future," he said.

"We are about to appoint three new executives, we have some wonderful challenges with expansion to our competition, and we have the next broadcast rights just around the corner. We have a lot to look forward to.

"And football itself - what you see on the park at the moment is brilliant.

"We have been blessed with some wonderful Grand Finals, none as good as what we saw last year, so I am absolutely charged and ready to go."

Kennett argued that the AFL needed a cultural shift and that Demetriou and key members of his executive had stayed too long.

AFL Commission chairman Mike Fitzpatrick said last year of Demetriou: "When the commission feels he's starting to flag or tire we'll tap him on the shoulder."

But Fitzpatrick gave his total backing to Demetriou, who he said had "unfinished business" to "get up a good, stable, 18-team competition."

Demetriou joked on Monday that when he moved on from the AFL, "I look forward to putting the tracksuit pants on, and ugg boots and sitting in front of the television".

He said the public's support for him and his family made bearable the scrutiny he faced.

"The public have been very kind to our family," he said. "We don't get abused. We can go to the supermarket and people don't intrude in our privacy.

"From a personal perspective (the scrutiny) doesn't affect me.

"I have four young children and when you try to get them out of the pool and make sure they get dressed and have dinner and they are throwing food at you, it's a great leveller."

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The back room boys

AFLPA chairman Ian Prendergast, right, pictured here with chief executive Matt Finnis, is one of the most powerful men in football.Picture: Nicole Garmston Source: Herald Sun

EVERYONE knows the role Stevie Johnson played in Geelong's premierships.

But how many know the name or the face of the man who brought him to the club?

We know the ins and outs of Chris Judd's and Kurt Tippett's contract dramas, but virtually nothing about the man who polices them.

Bruce McAvaney is the one we associate with Channel 7's Friday night football, never the bloke on the other side of the camera who controls the footage beamed into our living rooms.

People like Stephen Wells, Ken Wood and Gary O'Keeffe heavily influence Australian football as we know it, and represent a cross-section of the invisible men and women of AFL football.

Geelong, with its three premierships, is the most successful AFL club of the past decade, however the Cats have tended to epitomise better than anyone the no-fuss low-key approach.

Two men who typify those understated methods are Wells, widely regarded as one of the best recruiters in the business, and team performance manager Steve Hocking.

Geelong's general manager of football, Neil Balme, suggested that the pair's low media profiles could be attributed to the fact that they felt secure in their own capabilities and standing within the club, and therefore "they don't feel the need to blow their own trumpets".

"It's not that they are happy being in the background - and they're very much not in the background from club's perspective - it's just that they're consumed by doing what they do, and that doesn't require them being in the public spotlight," Balme said.

Wells succinctly explained what motivated him when receiving Geelong's R.J. Hickey award in 2009 for outstanding service to Australian football.

"I'm so lucky," Wells said.

"It's a joy to come to work ... I think I might have the best job in the world."

THE LIST

1. KEN WOOD
AFL club compliance officer

WOOD is a somewhat mysterious figure loosely known as the AFL's salary-cap watchdog. He makes a conscious decision to keep out of the spotlight (no photograph of him exists in the Herald Sun data base) and the AFL prefers it that way, too. But make no mistake, he carries considerable clout. Wood, who is part of the AFL's football operations sub-committee, heads a team of five that constantly monitors and investigates clubs and players regarding their salary cap, marketing allowance and third-party payments. He is the AFL's go-to man for issues such as Kurt Tippett's contract or Chris Judd's Visy deal.

2. DEAN MOORE
Sydney Swans general manager of football

MOORE was the South Melbourne team manager in the late 1970s before moving to AFL headquarters, where he spent more than two decades, eventually settling into the role of projects manager. His intimate knowledge of the league's inner workings made Moore a great pick-up for the Swans he when returned to club land at the end of 2009. Insiders praise his professionalism, diligence and no-nonsense efficiency. He actively avoids being the focus of media attention and, as a result, most of the population would struggle to identify Moore even if he stood up in their porridge.

3. STEVE HOCKING
Geelong team performance manager

TEN years after his under-rated 199-game career ended with the Cats' 1994 Grand Final loss, Hocking returned to Geelong as chairman of the match committee. After a couple of seasons in that role he sold his picture-framing business and took on the full-time position as Geelong's training services manager. At the end of 2006, a review of the club by chief executive Brian Cook recommended that the straight-shooting Hocking should take on a greater role and relieve the administrative pressures on coach Mark Thompson, freeing him up to concentrate on improving the players and team. Now the quintessential back-room boy, the respected Hocking even fills in as chief executive when Cook takes annual leave.

4. CHRIS LYNCH
AFL commissioner

MOST of the other commissioners would be more recognisable publicly than Lynch, who played five games in the No.31 jumper for Geelong in the early 1970s. A former BHP chief financial officer and Transurban CEO, he has been on the AFL commission since 2008. He is part of the league's audit committee and has a big say in its financial affairs. Has also taken a close interest in the progress of the Suns and the club's administrators on the Gold Coast, where he has property interests. The AFL thinks so highly of Lynch's business acumen that it is attempting to keep him involved, even though he has accepted a London-based job as Rio Tinto's CFO.

5. PHIL WALSH
West Coast's strategy and innovations coach

WALSH, who played 122 games for Collingwood, Richmond and Brisbane in the 1980s, has been an AFL assistant coach for almost two decades, but his stocks have never been higher. His degree in physical education gave him a start as a strength and conditioning coach at Geelong, before a decade spent as Port Adelaide assistant coach, taking in the 2004 premiership. Walsh earned a reputation as one of the game's sharpest football minds, and at the end of 2008 he was poached by West Coast. The Power looked to return the favour a few years later, with Walsh earmarked for the senior coaching job at Alberton in 2012, but the Eagles offered him a new deal.

6. TONY PEEK
Assistant to the AFL chief executive officer

YOU might recognise the face from the days when he was the AFL's media manager and used to tap the freshly announced Brownlow medallist on the shoulder and let him know it was time to come up on stage. Peek, 63, started as a sports journalist and went into sports marketing before joining the then-VFL in 1989. He is now Andrew Demetriou's right-hand man and one of nine on the AFL executive, doing everything from organising Demetriou's diary to scheduling and mapping out AFL commission meetings.

7. IAN PRENDERGAST
AFLPA general manager of player relations

PRENDERGAST, who played 65 games for Carlton from 1999 to 2006, has a hands-on role supporting the AFL players. Has spent time with the Essendon players over recent weeks, as well as supporting and advising players such as Chris Judd and Joel Selwood over third-party deals and their "legitimate right to earn income through these commercial arrangements". Pendergast, who completed a law degree at Monash University, joined the AFLPA in 2009. Apart from acting as an advocate for players, he also oversees the accreditation and regulation of player agents.

8. STEPHEN WELLS
Geelong recruiting manager

WHILE some AFL recruiters strut around with their chests pumped out come draft time, Wells is a more self-effacing type. Yet his record tells you he is the best recruiter in the business. The Cats' under-19s assistant coach in 1986, he was appointed their recruiting manager in 1994. Not only has Wells since recruited the footballers who took the club to three premierships, he has done so with limited access to early draft picks. Players such as Paul Chapman (pick 31), Cameron Ling (38), Corey Enright (47), Steve Johnson (24), James Kelly and Harry Taylor (both 17) help prove why Wells is rated such an astute judge.

9. PAUL ARMSTRONG
AFL Coaches' Association operations manager

WHILE former St Kilda skipper Danny Frawley is the face of the AFLCA, it is Armstrong - who played a dozen games for the Saints in 1982 - who does the grunt work. "Arma" has held a variety of roles in football, ranging from country football and U18s to being football manager at three AFL clubs, most recently during Frawley's coaching stint at Richmond. He now works closely with dozens of AFL coaches and assistant coaches, primarily helping them develop personally and professionally and supporting them in difficult times.

10. GARY O'KEEFFE
Channel 7's co-ordinating producer of AFL

YOU'LL know all of the talking heads, you've probably even heard of a few of the big bosses. But O'Keeffe is the bloke who is largely responsible for how you watch your footy matches on Channel 7. He started out as a Channel 7 cameraman in Perth in 1986 before moving to producing and directing all manner of sports, including AFL Grand Finals, Melbourne Cups and Australian Open tennis finals. It involved plenty of hours sitting in the broadcast truck calling the shots. He now oversees Seven's coverage of AFL matches as well as production of Game Day on a Sunday morning.

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