The Demons will be able to draw on three of their six rookies, given their injuries and list situation.
At the moment, ruckmen Max Gawn and Jake Spencer are sidelined with knee injuries, and are on the long-term injury list. Melbourne can therefore elevate two rookies to the primary list, since Gawn and Spencer are on the long-term injury list for at least eight weeks, which is the minimum requirement.
The Demons can also name a ‘nominated rookie’ for 2012, since Brad Green is the club’s only veteran listed player. (A veteran player must have attained the age of 30 as at September 30 in the relevant AFL season and be on the primary list of an AFL club for at least 10 years)
Melbourne has 38 primary listed players, plus one veteran (Green), bringing the number to 39 players. As Melbourne doesn’t have a second veteran, a nominated rookie brings the number of senior players to 40, plus six rookies, for a total of 46 listed players.
In the opening round of NAB Cup, Melbourne had three rookies - Tom Couch, James Magner and Daniel Nicholson - play against the Gold Coast Suns and Brisbane Lions.
With Michael Evans (back) out indefinitely and Leigh Williams (back) sidelined for another month, it leaves second-year Demon Kelvin Lawrence and 19 year-old newcomer, Jai Sheahan, as the only other eligible rookies in contention.
General manager of list management, Tim Harrington, highlighted the reason why clubs were able to utilise the nominated rookie rule, when they don’t have a full list of 40 players (38 primary and two outside veterans).
“[It’s for] clubs who don’t have players or enough players who qualify to be a veteran. By utilising the rookie rule, we don’t get disadvantaged in terms of the number of players who are eligible for senior selection in any particular year,” he said.
“On top of that, we’ve got Max Gawn out all season. So we’ve got the opportunity to elevate a separate rookie to the primary list, given that Max is on the long-term injury list.
“How it works is that a nominated rookie gets classified at the start of the season, and as soon as we think there is someone else who could be selected in the senior team - and that might not be until round one, round five or 10 or not at all - we elevate that player onto the primary list for Max Gawn. And, we’ve also got a potential spot thanks to Jake Spencer, who is on the long-term injury list.”
A nominated rookie is eligible for senior selection throughout the season, as Harrington explained.
“If you’ve only got one veteran, you can nominate one of your rookies, so they effectively become a proxy veteran to fill the numbers on your list,” he said.
“The nominated rookie gets classified on the Tuesday before round one of the AFL season.
“We can play all our rookies during the NAB Cup, so we get a good look at all those who we think could vie for that spot as the nominated rookie, and this is what we’re doing at the moment.”
Harrington said that the reason Spencer was placed on the long-term injury at this stage of the season was to give him a better chance of returning earlier in the year.
“Jake’s eight weeks started a couple of weeks ago. In his rehab program, he should be up and running and playing competitive footy by about round seven or eight,” he said.
“By that time, his time will be well and truly extinguished, so he’ll go back to the primary list.”
Harrington said that all clubs will be able to nominate a ‘mid-season nominated rookie’ for the third successive year.
“After round 11, we can nominate a further rookie, called a mid-season nominated rookie. This means we can have a permanently selectable third rookie for the season. Every club has this, regardless of how many players they have on their list,” he said.
“It’s reasonably common that a club has one or two on a long-term injury list at any stage.
“So there may be a scenario - and it’s happened before - where, say, Jake Spencer comes back and is ready to play footy, but he replaces another injured primary list player who has gone onto the long-term injury list, instead of that initial rookie.
“In this case, that rookie, who is supposed to go back onto the rookie list, could stay on the primary list, due to the player having been placed on the long-term injury list.
“That rookie can stay on and be eligible for senior selection.”
