VFL Round 2 TAC Cup Round 4 21 - 23 April 2017 $3.00 Photo: Cameron Grimes Representative opportunities It’s great to have the season underway in both the Peter Jackson VFL and TAC Cup for 2017. Strong crowds greeted the six matches across the Easter weekend in the VFL and we welcomed back the Channel 7 broadcast games – in the new Saturday aft ernoon timeslot – with an average viewership of 45,000. With the season now in full swing, we have a number of representative squads be- ing named over the next month. It begins with the Vic Country and Vic Metro U18 and U16 Academy squads for TAC Cup players, as well as the Country and Metro squads for the TAC Cup Girls. For all players selected in these initial squads, grasp the opportunity to learn and develop your game. You will have the chance to train with some of the best players in the competition and hear from a number of new coaches, so make the most of it. Whether you make the final squad or not, know that you have been given an opportu- nity that is not off ered to every player in the competition, so absorb as much as you can to help further your game when you return to football at local or TAC Cup level. At VFL level, we host the WAFL on May 27 at North Port Oval, with the initial squad to be named next week. State representative football is a rare commodity at senior level now, so it provides an opportunity for a number of VFL-listed players to showcase their skills at the highest level possible. Casey coach Justin Plapp has been handed the reins of the state team this year, attempting to return the first win for the VFL since beating the TSFL in 2012. We look forward to seeing these squads announced and wish everyone involved all the best on the training track leading up to final selections. Steven Reaper AFL Victoria CEO Contents 342017 Vic Metro Academy 12 15 TAC Cup weekly content 20 AFL Vic News 67Tom Curren story 16 The Big League 22 25 Club Notes 811VFL weekly content 18 19 Get Social 64 Quiz Who’s playing who 34 35 Geelong vs Port Melbourne 52 53 Bendigo vs Oakleigh 36 37 Box Hill Hawks vs Coburg 54 55 Dandenong vs Sandringham 38 39 Sandringham vs Richmond 56 57 Eastern vs Geelong 40 41 Northern Blues vs Williamstown 58 59 Western vs Gippsland 42 43 Werribee vs Footscray 60 61 Northern vs Murray 44 45 Casey Demons vs North Ballarat 62 63 Calder vs GWV 46 47 Essendon vs Collingwood Editor: Ben Pollard [email protected] Contributors: Anthony Stanguts, Kirstie Fitzgerald Design & Print: Mystique Photos: AFL Photos (unless otherwise credited) Advertising: Rosanna Butler (03) 8341 6021 Ikon Park, Gate 3, Royal Parade, Carlton Nth, VIC 3054 GPO Box 4337, Melbourne, VIC 3001 Cover: Western Jets co-captain Nick Stuhldreier Phone: (03) 8341 6000 | Fax: (03) 9380 1076 in action in 2017 www.aflvic.com.au www.taccup.com.au 1 Television Online VFL Online Website: www.vfl.com.au Twitter: @VFL #PJVFL #VFLWomens Facebook: www.facebook.com/vflfooty Saturday April 22 – 2.30pm Northern Blues vs Williamstown TAC Cup Online Download the PLUS7 Live app to stream games live Website: www.taccup.com.au or watch a replay at au.tv.yahoo.com/plus7/vfl Twitter: @TACCup #TACCup #TACCupGirls Next week: Port Melbourne vs Richmond Facebook: www.facebook.com/taccupfooty Radio L VFL Live I Sunday April 23: Essendon vs Collingwood from 12.45pm Live on the Red Time Sport iPhone and Android apps, V plus online via vfl.com.au E Next week: Coburg vs Northern Blues 3WBC Saturday April 22: Box Hill Hawks vs Coburg from 1pm Tune to 94.1FM, online at www.3wbc.org.au or on the Tune In Radio app on your smart phone. Next week: Williamstown vs Box Hill Hawks Casey Radio Saturday April 22: Casey Demons vs North Ballarat from 6.30pm Tune to 97.7FM in Melbourne, online at www.caseyradio.com.au or on the Tune In Radio app on your smart phone. Next game (Sunday May 7): Werribee vs Casey Demons VFL Rewind Listen to VFL Rewind each Monday night from 7-8pm, covering the Peter Jackson VFL and Swisse VFL Women’s. Tune to 94.1FM 3WBC, online at www.3wbc.org.au or on the Tune In Radio app on your smart phone. Previous shows are available at www.soundcloud.com/afl-victoria or subscribe to the podcast via iTunes by searching for ‘AFL Victoria’. R TAC Cup Radio A Sunday April 23: Northern Knights vs Murray Bushrangers / D Calder Cannons vs GWV Rebels from 11.45am I Listen live on the Red Time Sport iPhone app or via taccup.com.au O Next week: Oakleigh Chargers vs Geelong Falcons Calder Cannons Radio Listen to ‘Pathway to the Top’ with Tim Michell on North West FM each Wednesday from 5-6pm. Tune to 98.9FM or stream the program online at www.northwestfm.org Video Streaming Visit vfl.com.au on Sunday April 23 for a live stream of: Essendon vs Collingwood from 1pm Watch the action and listen to the call from the VFL Live team. Visit taccup.com.au on Sunday April 23 for a live stream of: Northern Knights vs Murray Bushrangers / Calder Cannons vs GWV Rebels from 12pm Watch the action and listen to the call from the TAC Cup Radio team. 2 www.vfl.com.au Metro’s mix of old and new Martin Allison coaching Vic Metro in 2013 Martin Allison first coached the Vic Metro Academy for a year in 2013, and with the program now undergoing change at the top, his steady hand has been passed the “keys to the Ferrari” once again. Allison took a talented Vic Metro group to within one “I see myself as one of the luckiest coaches in win of the 2013 NAB AFL U18 Championships crown, Victoria,” Allison said. “I’m given the best players in narrowly losing only once – to eventual title-winners metropolitan Melbourne, and they listen, they want to South Australia in the carnival’s defining match. learn and they want to get better. Back then, he was guiding the likes of the subsequent “I compare it sometimes to someone giving me the top three picks at the 2013 AFL Draft – Tom Boyd keys to a brand new Ferrari and they say: ‘Drive this (ex-Eastern Ranges), Josh Kelly (ex-Sandringham around for a couple of months, go as fast as you like, Dragons) and Jack Billings (ex-Oakleigh Chargers) – in go as far as you want, push it beyond limits and give their football development. the keys back when you’re finished – just don’t break Today, the Academy is being headed by former it!’” 228-game AFL player and dual North Melbourne Martin Allison said this year’s Metro model isn’t premiership forward Brett Allison, who this year exceptionally tall or fast, but that quick ball became AFL Victoria’s Metro Talent Pathways movement would be the name of its game. It reflects Manager. a subtle change in his approach to coaching since he With new blood at the top, Martin Allison’s experience last held the reins at Metro. in the Metro program will be highly valued. “I’d like to think my style has changed,” Allison said. He previously took the Calder Cannons to TAC Cup “I’m watching AFL footy evolve and I think we need premierships in 2009 and 2010 before coaching Metro to evolve with it, so we want to be a more attacking in 2013. Allison then worked at Essendon developing team. the likes of AFL father-son prospects Jake Long and “We’ll still defend with a lot of vigour but hopefully Tom Wallis as well as the club’s Irish recruit Conor we’ll play with a lot more flair and willingness to McKenna before returning to Metro as an assistant attack than when I last coached Metro. The coaches coach under David Flood last year. want to create an environment where players feel When Flood – named the 2016 U18 All Australian they can play with a lot more freedom.” coach for taking Metro to last year’s U18 Martin Allison said players such as Western Jets Championships title – moved on, Allison was called midfielder/forward Cameron Rayner and Eastern on to assume the driver’s seat. teammates Joel Garner and Adam Cerra were among www.taccup.com.au 3 those to have impressed him early in Metro’s training Melbourne from 2010-13 and Melbourne from 2014- program. 16 – meant he can prepare Metro players for exactly And Brett Allison backed his head coach to get the what they’ll face if they eventually join AFL clubs. best out of them. “I think I have a good idea of the challenges players “Marty’s a real people person and a really face once they get to an AFL club,” Allison said. good communicator,” he said. “He builds good “That’s one of the things I hope to make a diff erence relationships with the players, is able to talk to them in – to make it easier for them to transition from the on their level and from what I’ve seen they feel really TAC Cup to AFL level. It’s a pretty big step and I think a comfortable with him. lot of the players feel they have a good understanding “He knows the system pretty well and I thought of how diff erent it’ll be, but in reality that’s not the with myself coming on board and not having a case.” great deal of experience in how it all runs, it was Working under Paul Roos in a successful era at the pretty important to have some people involved who Swans, Brett Allison played a part in developing have had the experience and know how to run the players such as Nick Malceski (ex-Eastern) and Nick program.” Smith (Oakleigh) into AFL premiership players and All Brett Allison said it was important that former Australians.