Rockliff set to join Adelaide Crows
Jaded Brisbane Lions captain Tom Rockliff is ready to sensationally defect to Adelaide in a trade coup that could launch the Crows into 2017 premiership favouritism.
And the two-time best and fairest winner could play alongside Richmond's Dustin Martin, as the Crows look to assemble a formidable midfield.
Rockliff, from the Victorian town of Benalla, is favouring a move to the South Australian club, despite his manager, Tom Petroro, saying the 26-year-old is "99 percent certain" to remain at the besieged Lions.
Rockliff had sought an extension to his Lions' contract, which expires at the end of next season, but withdrew the offer mid-year, fuelling speculation of a possible move.
Negotiations waned as the Lions prioritised its search for a new senior coach after installing former Adelaide Crows football chief David Noble as its football operations manager.
The Crows are also attempting to lure Tiger superstar Martin in a lucrative deal tipped to be worth $6 million across five years.
The club has one of the brightest football lists, with seven players nominated in the AFLPA's under-22 squad, and six named in the All-Australian squad of 40.
Since Patrick Dangerfield's departure to Geelong, the Crows' on-ball brigade has been the club's Achilles heel.
Already boasting the game's most attacking forward line, and with defensive pillars Daniel Talia and Jake Lever holding the backline, Rockliff's possible inclusion to the side would add much-needed grunt to the Crows' lacklustre midfield.
Petroro failed to return calls form ESPN.
Premiership coach reveals recipe for draft camp grilling
As dozens of the country's brightest prospects prepare for next month's AFL draft combine, their football fate can be determined in just 15 heart-racing minutes.
That's all Port Adelaide premiership coach Mark Williams needed during intense player interviews to work out whether a player had what it took to be a part of his next flag-winning ensemble.
"You only have 10 to 15 minutes and you're trying to make some sort of judgement on them, which is really unfair," Williams told ESPN this week.
"It's about how willing they are to join the team but also how willing are they to stand on their own principles. That's what I'm looking for."
Williams, until recently an assistant coach at Richmond, was one of the camp's most feared interviewers, regularly bamboozling the promising youngsters with mind-game trickery.
Williams says his infamous interview techniques have been embellished, but regardless, are entrenched in the combine's folklore.
Like the time he asked a player if he would jump out of the room's second storey window to be drafted.
Or when he pulled up a deck chair in lane two of the athletics track during the 3km time trail and lambasted those trailing at the back of the pack.
"During interviews I would often ask what happened after their footy finals. That allows me to find out a bit about their social lives," he told ESPN.
"'Did you go out with everyone?' They say yes or no. If they say no, I might say: 'Aren't you a team player? Don't you go out with everyone?' If they say yes, I might go: 'Why did you go with everyone and just follow everyone else?'
"The last thing would be, so you do whatever anyone says? What if someone told you to jump out the window, would you do it?
"There isn't a right answer. I just muck around just to see how they handle a little bit of pressure."
As some wither under the intense grilling, Williams recalls Jimmy Bartel, Darren Glass, Travis Boak, Dom Cassisi and Jude Bolton standing out during his rigorous assessment.
But he does admit he judged one superstar player incorrectly.
"(Nick) Dal Santo was someone when I interviewed him, I didn't think he would ever work for me," Williams said.
"That's not saying he wasn't going to be a good player. To see him play over so many years, I was wrong with that.
"It teaches me to be more open-minded with that personality.
"You make assessments and you try to see if those assessments are right. You want to be black and white."
Williams, who was a victim of Richmond's football department overhaul, still has the passion to remain in the industry. "I'm looking around for whatever is available," he said. "I'm not sure what that will be."
Skipper Swallow set to hand over reins to Ziebell
Stand by for an announcement from Arden Street that Andrew Swallow will soon hand over his captaincy to Jack Ziebell for the 2017 season.
Swallow, 29, has been North Melbourne's skipper since 2012, when he took over the role from Brent Harvey.
While no-one could doubt Swallow's commitment to the cause - the West Australian's grunt work and tackling (he was second on the AFL tackling table this season with 165) are still elite -- he has got progressively slower, and his kicking now lacks any penetration.
He might even struggle to get a regular game in Brad Scott's new-look midfield next season which consistently gets exposed for a lack of pace.
Swallow and Ziebell were part of a five-man leadership group in 2016 that featured Shaun Higgins, Scott Thompson and Jamie Macmillan.
Expect Macmillan, 25, whose form this season across half-back was outstanding, to become Ziebell's vice-captain in 2017.
Cordy still chasing his AFL dream
Former Western Bulldog big man, Ayce Cordy, could receive an AFL lifeline and have his career resurrected, as seasoned ruckmen become hot property.
With clubs more desperate than ever to secure mobile, mature-bodied talls, Cordy has garnered some interest from AFL clubs following a solid season with VFL side, Williamstown.
The 26-year-old has proven to be a valuable ruckman-cum-forward, kicking multiple goals in 11 of his 21 matches this year, including three goals or more on six occasions.
Cordy, taken at pick 14 in the 2008 draft, was delisted last year after mustering a mere 27 games.
The gangly 202cm is one of three Seagulls players who are attracting attention ahead of November's draft.
Ball magnet Michael Gibbons, who recently won the VFL's JJ Liston Trophy, has had a masterful season, winning best afield honours in last year's grand final as well as this season's state representative match.
"The standout for us has been Michael Gibbons. He's had about three or four clubs interested in him," Williamtown's football development manager Chris Dixon told ESPN.
"He's our best chance of getting someone picked up. There's no-one that's committed to him as yet. But hopefully it might become a bit clearer one the footy season wraps up."
Former St Kilda forward Sam Dunell, son of Essendon premiership player Frank, is also a chance of making an AFL revival following consecutive VFL Team of the Year gongs.
"Sam's been on the radar for the past couple of years," Dixon said. "It's going to be a club that has a specific need for him. It's whether a club sees a role for him as a third tall that works hard up the ground."
Sharpshooters' skills blunted on the big stage
It's funny how finals pressure can turn even the most skilful, composed, sure-footed player into a jibbering wreck.
Two of the straightest goalkickers in the game -- the Bulldogs' Tory Dickson and Hawthorn's Luke Breust -- were pitted against each other in the second semi-final last weekend.
Before the match, they sat at No.1 and No.2 respectively on the set-shot accuracy table, Dickson converting at 73.3% (33 goals from 45 shots) with Breust not far behind on 72.8% (43 from 59).
Yet, playing in front of 87,823 at the MCG, Dickson went to jelly in the first half, missing three sodas from straight in front -- before eventually finding the target, once, in the last quarter.
At the other end, Breust also showed uncharacteristic nerves.
His miss in the second quarter, from 30 metres dead in front, has been pinpointed by some as the turning point in the match. It would have put the Hawks 29 points ahead and well on the way to victory. But he poked tentatively at the shot and sent it wide.
Breust finished the match with a tally of 1.2, and Dickson 1.3.
Random stats of the week:
The four finalists' record against each other in 2016:
GWS 4-2 (117.7%)
Geelong 3-2 (110.4%)
Sydney 2-3 (95.3%)
Western Bulldogs 1-3 (72.9%)
1212 - The number of matches that have been played since the Western Bulldogs' last grand final appearance, in 1961. This is the longest wait of any club in VFL/AFL history. After that, the teams to round out the top five are: Fitzroy (1070 games, from 1945-1996); South Melbourne/Sydney Swans (1041, from 1946-1996); St Kilda (883, from 1914-1965) and Richmond (755, from 1983-present.)
4 - The number of times Sydney midfielder Josh Kennedy has racked up 20 contested possessions in a final. No-one else has done it more than once.