Where to for Ryder, how much strife is Essendon in, can Robbie Gray win the Brownlow, will Rioli play and how the Crows players were given the news about their sacked coach – here are five things you need to know on the Monday of Grand Final week.
Adelaide Crows star Patrick Dangerfield said the players remain in the dark about the club’s coaching position.
Dangerfield told radio station FIVEaa the players remain in limbo until they get back together on November 6.
“That’s a decision for the board,” he said.
“As soon as we found out (about Sanderson), as a leadership group, we spoke immediately and then phoned every player on the list.
“We have players on every side of the country and we don’t get back together until November 6.
“We’ll get back into pre-season and go through the game plan, whatever that may be be.”
Essendon’s Paddy Ryder is in Adelaide today for talks with Port Adelaide.
The disgruntled ruck/forward has told the Bombers he wants out as the club struggles to deal with the implications of its lost legal challenge to investigations by Australia’s anti-doping authority ASADA.
Port, now an established top four side with good premiership prospects, will be an attractive proposition for Ryder.
He suits the Power’s needs as the club searches for more ruck support for lion-hearted Matthew Lobbe, who went one out again on Saturday against Hawks duo David Hale and Jonathon Ceglar.
“I reckon Lobbe would have liked a rest at some stage,” coach Ken Hinkley said after the preliminary final.
“But what a season when you think about how much work he’s had to do.
“Every game bar one he’s had to ruck on his own – that’s courageous.”
Port Adelaide are one of three clubs – along with Brisbane and Greater Western Sydney – to have been linked to Ryder.
Essendon is in turmoil after its legal challenge to the ASADA investigation into his club’s drug program failed on Friday.
The Age reported today all 34 Essendon players facing anti-doping bans will “distance themselves from any further legal manoeuvring by the Bombers”, with some now contemplating a deal with ASADA.
The report said the paper understands “lawyers for the players will outline a series of choices and recommend the players move forward, regardless of Essendon’s next move”.
Essendon chairman Paul Little is feeling the heat after it was revealed he recently met the discredited sports scientist Stephen Dank.
Coach James Hird’s support at board level has decreased further, with a growing push from key directors to retain Mark Thompson as coach.
There is a definite move on by senior Essendon backers to challenge Little’s power base on the board.
The attention will shift back to the 2014 season with tonight’s Brownlow Medal count expected to be one of the tightest in years.
While Port Adelaide utility Robbie Gray is one of the favourites, the accolade he received from the AFL Coaches Association does not necessarily boost his claims.
The best season of Gray’s eight-year AFL career at the Power earned him the Coaches Association Champion Player of the Year award.
Sydney’s Adam Goodes won the coaches’ award award in 2003 and then shared the Brownlow that season with Collingwood’s Nathan Buckley and Mark Ricciuto from Adelaide.
But since then, Gary Ablett’s first medal in 2009 is the only other time a player has won the two prestigious awards in the same season.
No Port player has won the Brownlow. Gavin Wanganeen’s came in 1993 when he played with Essendon.
Gray is third in this year’s betting behind Geelong captain Joel Selwood and Ablett.
Gold Coast captain Ablett was well on the way to becoming only the game’s fifth triple Brownlow Medallist when he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in round 16.
That has thrown this year’s count wide open for players such as Selwood and Gray.
Will Cyril Rioli play? That’s the biggest selection question in the build up to Saturday’s Grand Final.
After Rioli’s latest hamstring injury three months ago, he returned to football Sunday and played his first game for Hawthorn’s VFL affiliates Box Hill.
Rioli sat out the last quarter of the 22-point loss to Footscray, but later said he was happy with his comeback.
Fellow Hawks players Brad Sewell and Ben McEvoy were taken out of Box Hill’s grand final team earlier today, indicating they are also in the selection mix for next Saturday.
