St Kilda president Andrew Bassat unleashed another stinging assault on the AFL’s player movement system at the club’s best and fairest awards night, surprised that premiers Brisbane may wind up with two of the top draft selections.

After expressing his displeasure at a club presidents’ meeting earlier this year, he again targeted the AFL’s draft system, namely how interstate teams construct their rosters through academy talent and the low cost of father-sons.

“The system is not a level playing field as you know and the more I look at the system, it is designed to favour the wealthier clubs and to favour the northern clubs,” he said CNN.

“Our responsibility is to make up the numbers, not whine about them.

“In terms of what we’re doing about it, it’s fair to say that our club is sick and tired of simply tolerating it.

“It’s awful, and as a club, we’re totally committed to fighting tirelessly to ensure that we’re given a fairer chance at success.

“We led the charge this year to ensure a fairer price is paid for father-sons and academy.”

In addition, Sam Marshall is scheduled to join the Lions owing to Northern Academy access discounts.

“Unfortunately the AFL in its wisdom chose to make the changes next year, so I had a great time after half-time after it was clear that Brisbane was going to win, every commissioner I found I gave them my idea,” according to him.

“How about giving the best player in the draft to Brisbane this year?” They would begin to walk away from me.

“The system is complete nonsense.” It is just nonsense, and we will fight this war until my final day as president and beyond.

“We’ll fight it. And we’ll make progress because justice is on our side. Don’t get discouraged since change will come slowly. We should utilize this to motivate ourselves.”

Meanwhile, Josh Battle missed the Saints’ best-and-fairest night.

Despite coming third, SEN’s Sam Edmund reports that the defender was advised not to attend the awards ceremony after revealing his desire to join Hawthorn as a free agent.

Bassat has pledged to continue his struggle against AFL HQ, mentioning that he faced commissioners at the grand final.

He expressed his displeasure that the prospective No. 1 talent Levi Ashcroft, Will’s brother, may be heading to the Premier League under the father-son rule, making the club even stronger.

Perryman is likely to join Collingwood in AFL deal.

Harry Perryman, a defender, is poised to join Collingwood as an unrestricted free agent during the AFL trade period after turning down an offer to stay with GWS.

Perryman has turned down a long-term offer from Port Adelaide to join the Magpies, dealing another blow to the Giants before the trade market starts.

St Kilda president Andrew Bassat unleashed another stinging assault on the AFL’s player movement system at the club’s best and fairest awards night, surprised that premiers Brisbane may wind up with two of the top draft selections.

After expressing his displeasure at a club presidents’ meeting earlier this year, he again targeted the AFL’s draft system, namely how interstate teams construct their rosters through academy talent and the low cost of father-sons.

“The system is not a level playing field as you know and the more I look at the system, it is designed to favour the wealthier clubs and to favour the northern clubs,” he said CNN.

“Our responsibility is to make up the numbers, not whine about them.

“In terms of what we’re doing about it, it’s fair to say that our club is sick and tired of simply tolerating it.

“It’s awful, and as a club, we’re totally committed to fighting tirelessly to ensure that we’re given a fairer chance at success.

“We led the charge this year to ensure a fairer price is paid for father-sons and academy.”

Bassat has pledged to continue his struggle against AFL HQ, mentioning that he faced commissioners at the grand final.

He expressed his displeasure that the prospective No. 1 talent Levi Ashcroft, Will’s brother, may be heading to the Premier League under the father-son rule, making the club even stronger.

In addition, Sam Marshall is scheduled to join the Lions owing to Northern Academy access discounts.

“Unfortunately the AFL in its wisdom chose to make the changes next year, so I had a great time after half-time after it was clear that Brisbane was going to win, every commissioner I found I gave them my idea,” according to him.

“How about giving the best player in the draft to Brisbane this year?” They would begin to walk away from me.

“The system is complete nonsense.” It is just nonsense, and we will fight this war until my final day as president and beyond.

“We’ll fight it. And we’ll make progress because justice is on our side. Don’t get discouraged since change will come slowly. We should utilize this to motivate ourselves.”

Meanwhile, Josh Battle missed the Saints’ best-and-fairest night.

Despite coming third, SEN’s Sam Edmund reports that the defender was advised not to attend the awards ceremony after revealing his desire to join Hawthorn as a free agent.

Perryman is likely to join Collingwood in AFL deal.

Harry Perryman, a defender, is poised to join Collingwood as an unrestricted free agent during the AFL trade period after turning down an offer to stay with GWS.

Perryman has turned down a long-term offer from Port Adelaide to join the Magpies, dealing another blow to the Giants before the trade market starts.

“Harry Perryman has informed the club of his decision to explore his options as an unrestricted free agent,” the Giants announced in a statement on Tuesday.

“Perryman has selected Collingwood as his club of choice.”

Isaac Cumming, another unrestricted free agent, has left GWS and will join Adelaide after contemplating an offer from Port.

The Giants will get draft-pick compensation for losing both players; depending on the contract’s monetary and duration terms, the choices might be in the first round.

Cumming, 26, played 81 games for the Giants in seven seasons, while Perryman appeared in 129 games over eight seasons.

Perryman has long been associated with Port, who were said to have offered $850,000 each season for the 25-year-old.

However, the Magpies came in late with a comparable monetary offer for the versatile utility who grew up supporting Collingwood.

Collingwood coach Craig McRae has made it known to his list management team that he prefers players above draft selections from the trade period.

“I’m a coach that wants to bring players in,” McRae told SEN radio last week.

“It’s a competitive market, but instead of making picks, let’s bring in players to improve.”

“We’re somewhat deliberate on that and we think Harry can make us better.”

The AFL’s free agency period begins on Friday and lasts until October 11, while the trade period begins on Monday and ends on October 16.

AFL acknowledges smart ball blunder in Suns’ defeat to Pies.
The AFL has admitted that the newly implemented score assist technology mistakenly reversed a critical goal for Gold Coast in their AFLW defeat to Collingwood.

Suns player Jamie Stanton’s goal in the second quarter of their round five match against the Pies was ruled out after sensors within the ball revealed it had been touched.

Muireann Atkinson, a Pies defender, nudged Stanton before she snapped for goal, but no touch with the ball was shown on television footage.

The ball also cleared defender Stacey Livingstone in the goal square, prompting the on-field umpire to give the goal.

Stanton’s overturned major was costly for the Suns, who lost by three points.

Cam Joyce’s team is at the bottom of the standings after four losses and one tie.

“The protocols for overturning a decision require that it must be conclusive that the ball and vision align, so this was a case of human error,” the Australian Football League’s spokesman stated.

“The ball-tracking system wrongly recorded that the ball was touched after the kick, which happens seldom as the ball improves and collects more data.

“The score assist official on the ground saw one angle of vision that was aligned with the ball and intervened to reverse the decision to award a goal.

“Subsequently, further vision angles were viewed at halftime that whilst available, weren’t inspected at the time of the review which showed the decision to overturn was incorrect.”

Gold Coast has asked the AFL to offer a full presentation of the score-assist technology method.

The men’s competition does not have a smart ball in its score review system.

Field umpires who are doubtful of the score will issue a provisional decision before reviewing film from several angles to decide the final conclusion.

“The official at the ground should not have overturned the on-field umpires’ decision, and we understand the possibility for human error,” the club wrote in a statement.

“We are more concerned about the ball tracking equipment falsely recording that the ball was touched.

“Given the potential influence on game outcomes, we need to understand the technology and method for overturning scores.

“We have arranged with the AFL for a full demonstration and explanation of the technology and processes involved.”

Despite the fact that there were no Victorian teams, the AFL grand final had high television ratings.

Brisbane’s resounding grand final victory against Sydney was the most-watched AFL final since 2021.

However, the large television audience fell well short of the Matildas’ record-breaking Women’s World Cup run last year.

The Seven Network announced Saturday’s game had a national reach of 6.09 million and a national total TV audience of 4.024 million, including 655,000 on 7plus Sport, making it the most-watched program in 2024.

The 2023 decider between Collingwood and Brisbane attracted more over 20,000 total television watchers.

The statistic may have reflected the fact that the game was between two non-Victorian teams, with interest coming from Queensland and New South Wales.

“In a fantastic story for football in Australia’s northern states, we are thrilled to have captured every corner of the nation on Australian sport’s biggest day,” Seven’s head of AFL and sports innovation Gary O’Keeffe said.

The 2021 viewing target (4.11 million) is impossible to meet because that year’s grand final between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs took place in Perth when many Victorians were under COVID-19 lockdown.

Saturday’s total was also significantly lower than the Matildas’ efforts last year.

Last August, the Matildas’ semi-final versus England set a new record as the most-watched television show in almost two decades.

It had an average audience of 7.2 million and a reach of 11.15 million, not including viewers from partner Optus Sport.

Except for Saturday’s game, the AFL finals attracted 8.5 million viewers, with the two preliminary finals drawing more than three million apiece.

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