AFL Results Round 16

Adelaide 74 def Geelong 63 at AAMI Stadium

Collingwood 100 def St Kilda 52 at The MCG

Hawthorn 118 def Brisbane 43 at Aurora Stadium

West Coast 132 def Essendon 100 at ETIHAD Stadium

Western Bulldogs 83 def Port Adelaide 47 at TIO Stadium

Sydney 107 def Carlton 68 at ETIHAD Stadium

North Melbourne 103 def Richmond 53 at The MCG

Fremantle 82 def Melbourne 71 at Subiaco Oval

LADDER

1. Collingwood
2. Geelong
3. St. Kilda
4. Fremantle
5. Bulldogs
6. Sydney
7. Hawthorn
8. Carlton
9. Kangaroos
10. Adelaide
11. Melbourne
12. Essendon
13. Brisbane
14. Port Adelaide
15. Richmond
16. West Coast

AFL want lights at Skilled Stadium

The AFL is encouraging Geelong to install floodlights at Skilled Stadium to give the club and the league more scope to have games played in prime evening timeslots.

The AFL's chief operating officer, Gillon McLachlan, confirmed last night the AFL wanted Geelong - which has grand plans for the redevelopment of the ground - to include floodlights in its plans to ensure greater flexibility in scheduling games.

McLachlan has held discussions with Geelong chief executive Brian Cook.

The Cats, as the best-performed team of the past 3½ seasons, hold major appeal for television audiences but games at their home ground can only be played in the afternoons, which attract fewer viewers.

The push for the Cats to have lights at Skilled Stadium also fits with the league's ''emerging preference'' for Saturday twilight games to fill the extra timeslot in an expanded 18-team competition.

McLachlan said he had told the Cats that ''ultimately, they need to be thinking about lights because, one, flexibility of fixturing, two, to get themselves into other slots.

''If we had a twilight fixture, or even just in terms of getting into different positions, I think you need to have lights.''

Geelong is the only significant AFL venue, besides Canberra's Manuka Oval, that does not have the capacity to host night football.

''They're going through another phase of redevelopment,'' McLachlan said of Geelong. ''I've discussed with Brian that they should be, [that] we'd like if they [were] considering lights in that design.''

McLachlan agreed that Geelong was a popular team to watch, but the lack of lights at its ground was an issue. ''It restricts when they can play, which is not necessarily perfect for them and it means there's … not a lot of flexibility.''

McLachlan, who handles broadcasting and fixturing arrangements for the AFL, said the Cats had secured $25 million in state government funding for phase three of their ground redevelopment. ''I've certainly raised, from our perspective, it made sense if they include lights in [their plans].

Geelong is seeking significant federal government funding ($36 million) for the proposed $75 million redevelopment of the ground, which would boost capacity to more than 35,000.

The club would be in line to receive 10s of millions more of federal funds if Australia was successful in winning the bid for soccer's 2022 World Cup, with Skilled Stadium proposed as a 44,000-capacity venue.

McLachlan said the Saturday twilight slot was viewed as ''an emerging preference'' to pick up the extra games created by the 17th and 18th clubs. ''The decision's not made, but it's an emerging preference,'' he said. ''But we have yet to have detailed discussions with any of the broadcasters.''

Geelong has seven of its home games at Skilled Stadium this season, with four of those scheduled in the 1.10pm timeslot.

SCORCE: http://www.austadiums.com/news/news.php?id=438

Melbourne Storm's Future

All four Melbourne Storm independent directors have been axed as the club's owners News Ltd revealed the extent of salary cap breaches by the club between 2006 and 2010.In a media announcement today, News Ltd chief executive John Hartigan confirmed the club had committed $3.17 million worth of breaches, and named 13 players who received illegal payments.The players were Billy Slater, Cameron Smith, Greg Inglis, Cooper Cronk, Ryan Hoffman, Anthony Quinn and Brett White and former players Dallas Johnson, Will Chambers, Mick Crocker, Matt Geyer, Steve Turner and Antonio Kaufusi.

Source:http://www.nrl.com/