Long-time Essendon champions Scott Lucas and Dustin Fletcher heads Essendon’s part in this week’s AFL news.
Lucas is set to play his 250th game for the club against Hawthorn on Saturday night while Fletcher and his dad will move to 550 father/son combined games, just one game off equaling the all-time record.
North Melbourne v Geelong at Telstra Dome, 7.40pm
Saturday, June 7
Richmond v Adelaide at the MCG, 2.10pm
Essendon v Hawthorn at Telstra Dome, 7.10pm
West Coast v Sydney at Subiaco, 5.40pm
Sunday, June 8
Brisbane Lions v Fremantle at the Gabba, 1.10pm; Curtain Raiser - Suncoast Lions v Redland, 9.20am
St Kilda v the Western Bulldogs at Telstra Dome, 2.10pm
Port Adelaide v Carlton at AAMI Stadium, 4.10pm; Curtain Raiser - NAB AFL Under 18s Championships, Round Two, SA v WA, 12.35pm
Monday June 9
Melbourne v Collingwood at the MCG, 2.10pm
IMPENDING MILESTONES
Most Games Father / Son Combination - The Fletchers. This week, Dustin Fletcher is due to play his 286th senior game, bringing the total games played by he and father Ken (264 games for Essendon) to 550 games. They are the second father / single son combination in the history of the game to reach this milestone. The five leading families are as follows: Silvagnis (551 games comprising 239 games for Serge and 312 games for Stephen); Fletchers (549 games comprising 264 games for Ken and 285 games for Dustin); Tucks (505 games comprising 426 games for Michael and 79 games for Shane); Whittens (465 games comprising 321 games for Ted snr and 144 games for Ted jnr) and Tucks again (431 games comprising 426 games for Michael and five games for Travis).
450 Games Coached - Leigh Matthews. Leigh is due to coach his 450th senior game this week, making him the eighth person in the history of the game to reach this mark. The 10 leading coaches in history are Jock McHale (714 games with Colllingwood), Kevin Sheedy (635 games with Essendon), Allan Jeans (575 games with St Kilda, Hawthorn and Richmond), Mick Malthouse (574 games with Footscray, West Coast and Collingwood), Tom Hafey (522 games with Richmond, Collingwood, Geelong and Sydney), David Parkin (518 games with Hawthorn, Carlton and Fitzroy), Ron Barassi (514 games with Melbourne, Carlton, North Melbourne and Sydney), Leigh Matthews (449 games with Collingwood and the Brisbane Lions), Norm Smith (449 games with Fitzroy, Melbourne and South Melbourne) and Dick Reynolds (415 games with Essendon).
250 games - Scott Lucas, Essendon
Most consecutive games - Adam Goodes, Sydney. Adam is due to play his 202nd consecutive game this week, equalling the third-best streak in the history of the game, established by Jack Titus (202 games for Richmond between 1933-43). The only better streaks in history are those of Jim Stynes (244 games for Melbourne between 1987-98) and Adem Yze (226 games for Melbourne between 1997-2007).
150 games - Leon Davis, Collingwood
150 games umpired - Kieron Nicholls
100 games as captain - Adam Simpson, North Melbourne. Adam will become the third player in the history of the club to captain 100 games, joining Wayne Carey (184 games between 1993-2001) and Wayne Schimmelbusch (150 games between 1977-87).
50 games - Shannon Byrnes, Geelong
50 games - Jason Laycock, Essendon
50 games - Damon White, Port Adelaide
TRIBUNAL MATCH REVIEW PROCESS
The following players reported from the weekend's matches:Robert Murphy, Western Bulldogs, reported by umpire Stephen McBurney for engaging in rough conduct against Xavier Ellis, Hawthorn, during the second quarter of the Round 10 match between the Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn, played at Aurora Stadium on Saturday May 31, 2008.
TRIBUNAL HEARING LOCATION
The AFL Tribunal is held in the AFL media room on Level LB2 at Telstra Dome. The AFL wishes to advise that all media covering the Tribunal hearings at Telstra Dome need to park in the B2 car park (entry off the Bourke St extension) and report to Telstra Dome security to gain admittance via the internal ring road. There will be no access via AFL House to any AFL Tribunal hearing through the season, as our offices will have closed by 6pm each day.
2008 AFL ATTENDANCES
The AFL's round 10 attendance figure of 271,534 took the overall season attendance tally to 3,082,943, representing the first time in the history of the game that attendances have reached three million people by round 10. The previous all-time record to round 10 was established in 2005, with a mark of 2,955,521. At this point of the 2008 Toyota Premiership Season, AFL attendances are 7.06 per cent ahead of last year's figures. AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou said the AFL was delighted with the continued support for the game across the country, particularly with the attendance figures being reached in light of the number of matches being played at restricted capacity venues in Launceson, Canberra, Carrara and, later in the season, Darwin.
AFL LONG TERM INJURY LIST
The AFL wishes to advise the following changes have been made to the long-term injury list over the past seven days, as per the AFL Player Rules.
Essendon - Placed Andrew Lee on the long-term injury list, with no replacement named at this stage.
St Kilda - Placed Fraser Gehrig on the long-term injury list, with no replacement named at this stage.
