The calamity ended his season, and had some writing off West Coast’s at the same time, until potential replacements Ashton Hams and Gerrick Weedon brightened the mood with two wins in the NAB Cup opening round.

Worsfold admitted that before those wins against Essendon and Fremantle, LeCras’ injury had cast a huge shadow across the 2011 preliminary finalists.

“It was a pretty flattening day … when Lecca went down there was a silence went across the field and we all had our hearts in our mouths,” Worsfold said.

“We had a short meeting regarding Lecca a couple of days later where we had to acknowledge it was disappointing but we are in it as a squad.

“The boys have got to push on, the season does not stop for one player. We lose Lecca, most clubs are going to lose a key player at some stage.

“It all evens out over the course of the year, we copped ours early.”

LeCras’ horror injury will keep him off the field for up to 12 months, with the club planning ways of keeping the 25-year old involved.

“We will talk about what he wants to do for the rest of the year, but there is a period where he does not do much rehab – he will be keen to come in and help out,” Worsfold told AFL Central.

Meanwhile, the optimistic Eagles coach says emerging star Luke Shuey could become the club’s best midfielder this season, while saying his veterans such as Dean Cox and Darren Glass were still at their peak, and not in decline.

“He (Shuey) could be (our best). It's going to be a judgement call,” Worsfold said.

“Kerr could be our best midfielder by the end of this season, Scott Selwood could be, we talked about his progression.

“It'd be nice to know that they're all making it tough for each other.

“(And Darren Glass, Dean Cox, Daniel Kerr and Andrew Embley) They're not 33 years old - at some clubs they'd still be fairly young players.”

Demetriou was the most vocal, claiming Optus' offer of the mobile streaming servive which allows football to be played virtually live, was "akin to stealing".

In reply, Optus has lodged an action with the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney, listed for hearing on Thursday, seeking a ruling on what it claims are "misleading and deceptive" public comment.

"Optus believes the recent statements made by Mr Demetriou in the Herald Sun are misleading and deceptive in relation to stealing and lifting content," said Optus general manager corporate and government affairs Clare Gill.

"We are disappointed to see the AFL continue this line and as a result Optus is taking the relevant legal action to defend our name.

"Optus is simply providing a recording and storage service that enables Australians to play back Free to Air TV content, including all associated advertising, at a time more convenient.

"As the court held on 1 February 2012, all Australians are entitled to use personal video recording devices such as these and to suggest otherwise is misrepresenting what this case about.

"Optus will continue to defend what we believe are the rights of our consumers now and into the future."

The AFL confirmed via its website it had received notification of the Optus action.

"We are aware of the legal proceedings and we will be defending,'' AFL media relations manager Patrick Keane said.

In an interview with News Limited newspapers last weekend, Demetriou launched an all-out assault on the Optus service.

"The Optus situation has serious implications for sport, not just the AFL," Mr Demetriou said.

"Optus should take a good look at themselves. If you are an Optus subscriber, switch to Telstra.

"Do everyone a favour (and) get out of that company. Stop subscribing to them. We are not the only sport saying that at the moment."

"The thought of Optus deciding to lift our content and not pay for it, and pretend and purport to be doing it for the consumer, is a complete disgrace.

"They should be ashamed of themselves because what they are really doing is charging for a start, so that they can benefit their shareholders, not the consumers.

"They are not paying for it; they are lifting it. It is akin to stealing and all it will do is that if sports can't rely on that revenue, they will slug the consumers."

Newman will feature on Friday night’s 'The Rub' alongside Luke Darcy, Garry Lyon and Jason Dunstall.

Newman will also be a regular on McGuire's breakfast show, alongside Mick Molloy and Darcy and Brayshaw's drive-time show with Footy Show regular Billy Brownless.

“We are genuinely thrilled and a tiny bit nervous to have Sam back at Triple M. In all seriousness, we’ve been keen to get Sam back for a while now and it will be great to have him back where he belongs," Southern Cross Austereo Melbourne General Manager, Ben Amarfio said.

Newman joins a football team that includes Wayne Carey, Dennis Cometti, Wayne Schwass, Brayshaw, Lyon, Dunstall, Danny Frawley, Darcy, Dr Peter Larkins, Mark Ricciuto, Michael Christian, Warren Tredrea, Hamish McLachlan, Brownless and Nathan Brown.

“I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about coming back to Triple M - so, I won't try to," Newman said.

It is understood that Lions officials are hopeful the important Merrett will be back into full training early next month and able to press for selection in the opening AFL home-and-away outing against Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday, March 31.

The powerhouse full-back was among a host of horrible injury troubles with the Lions last year when he was forced to miss the entire second half of a horror season with a serious back injury.

He will be a major casualty from what is expected to be a strong Lions contingent to play their tri-series NAB games at Metricon Stadium on Saturday against Gold Coast and Melbourne.

The Lions already have ace defender Josh Drummond who is sidelined with a hip problem, but star forward Jonathan Brown and Jed Adcock are among a big contingent of stars expected to be in Brisbane's opening NAB line-up.   

Merrett had been a leading candidate to play on former Lions teammate Mitch Clark, who will make his first official appearance for Melbourne since walking out on Brisbane at the end of last season after six years and 82 games.

Clark, 24, eventually headed for Melbourne on a multi-million dollar package after looking certain to continue his career back in his home town Perth with Fremantle.

Clark is expected to play as a power forward for his adopted outfit and could now reacquaint with rugged Lions veteran Matt Maguire.

Maguire, 27 and with 128 AFL games under his belt has impressively resurrected his career after crossing to Brisbane from St Kilda after a succession of injury horrors and 99 senior outings at the end of 2009.

He spent Brisbane’s in-house practice match last week matching talents with the superstar Brown.

Brisbane plays Clark’s Demons in the second match of their opening tri-series NAB engagements after Melbourne starts against the Suns.

The Lions are likely to continue to nurture Irish import Niall McKeever as a key defender with Merrett again out of action.

McKeever, 23, played the last 10 senior games of 2011 with Merrett sidelined.

But he has been given special dispensation to play with the Suns in their NAB Cup pre-season triple-header on Saturday night against Brisbane and Melbourne.

The Suns were so keen to get O'Meara, they gave their No.4 national draft pick to Greater Western Sydney, with the Giants having the rights to trade a select group of 17-year-olds to other clubs under their expansion concessions.

While AFL recruiters have likened him to a young Chris Judd, O'Meara shrugged off comparisons with the two-time Brownlow Medallist, saying he ignored the media hype as much as possible.

"I don't like to look into it at all. I don't like to read the papers," he told reporters after training on Wednesday.

But he admitted being excited about the prospect of playing with one of his heroes, skipper Gary Ablett.

"I've looked up to him most of my life so I'm definitely excited to play alongside him," he said.

O'Meara and Adelaide's Brad Crouch, also recruited at 17 under the same rule, are the only two players eligible for this year's pre-season competition, but unable to play in the home-and-away season until next year.

But O'Meara said that will at least allow him to ease into an AFL career in low-pressure style this year.

"I'll just be looking at injury management and getting my body right for 2013 and I think I'll be going home a fair bit as well," the West Australian said.

"I'll be playing in the seconds in a range of different positions and working alongside (assistant coach) Shaun Hart, so I'm looking forward to that."

Matthew Warnock, who was traded to Gold Coast by the Demons in October, says he's impressed by O'Meara's dedication and attitude.

"He's in pretty good shape and he trains really well.

"It's a pity people won't be able to see him this year because he's so young but I think he's going to be a pretty good player."

But he thinks comparing the youngster to people like Judd and Ablett is unfair.

"You've just got to let him go and do his own thing and show everyone what sort of player he is."

Removing the possibility of handing over more high draft picks to already advantaged Gold Coast and GWS Giants, the league also killed off any talk of teams manipulating the system to benefit in the draft.

But Malthouse said the rule should have been scrapped years before, as it encouraged and rewarded mediocrity.

“(It was) 15 years too late - goodness gracious me,” Malthouse told radio Fiveaa in Adelaide.

“It was just a disgraceful rule - it was supporting the bottom side for being inept, or having bad year and an unlucky year.

"It encourages people not to win.

“It does not encourage players, but players cannot win if they are sitting on the bench, or sitting out of the game. That is high time.”

Under the outgoing system, a club which earnt 16 premiership points (four wins) or fewer in a season was given an extra pick before the second round of the national draft.

If a club earnt 16 points or fewer in consecutive years they were awarded an extra selection before the draft's first round.

The new formula for 2012 and beyond takes into account premiership points, percentage, finals appearances and injury rates for a club over several seasons.

And the new formula will make it harder for a club to be granted a priority pick after just one poor season, or that a pick will be given before the first round of a draft.

Despite the change, Malthouse still sees major issues brewing between the haves and the have-nots in the AFL, saying the advent of free agency at the end of 2012 could see an AFL premiership become the kingdom of the competition’s financially powerful clubs.

“Get ready for two-tiered football like we have never seen it,” Malthouse said.

“Once free agency comes in we are doomed to a two-tiered competition - make no mistake about it.

“I have coached in the VFL where there were four or five dominant clubs and anyone else who stuck their head up with a good player, he was gone within a year.”

"Blease missed a compulsory meeting on Tuesday morning after arriving late at the club," the Demons said.

Coach Mark Neeld said he was setting the example to the rest of the squad that disciplinary lapses, no matter how small, would not be tolerated.

"The match committee made the decision to stand Blease down for this weekend’s game, as well as handing down a financial sanction," Neeld said.

“We are building a high performance environment at Melbourne.

"We value greatly the need for preparation.

"By missing this meeting Sam has compromised his preparation for this weekend’s game and therefore won’t be available for selection this week.”

Blease will be available for selection for Melbourne’s Round 2 NAB Cup game against Collingwood.

Along with another off-season recruit, ex-St Kilda man Tom Walsh, Morton will debut up front for Sydney in Friday's NAB Cup games against St Kilda and Geelong.

Morton admitted on Tuesday his career had been inconsistent but felt well-placed to turn that around with the Swans.

He said he'd taken longer to mature than most players, but took heart from the performances of a number of late-blooming players around the league.

"I've probably matured a bit the last 12 months and grown up a little bit and my fitness testing has improved," Morton said.

"I feel like I'm in a position now to really have a crack at it and I think the culture of the club has helped everyone that has come up here.

"I think just the work rate that we show and the work rate we train with, I'm looking forward to taking that into games and playing with that higher intensity than I've probably ever played with before.

"I certainly think I'm in a position physically to play the best footy I've played and consistently."

Morton took heart form the lengthy line of players who have boosted their careers by joining Sydney.

Among them are former Hawthorn duo Josh Kennedy and Ben McGlynn, who have the same manager as Morton.

Sydney coach John Longmire said another recruit, ex-Adelaide defender Tony Armstrong (knee) and utility Matt Spangher (hamstring), are both unlikely to be fit by the opening AFL round.

He also confirmed veterans Adam Goodes and Jude Bolton will play on Friday.

Hayes missed almost the entire season after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament against Richmond on a cruel April Fools Day.

The conventional surgery led to a rigorous rehabilitation, which will be put to the test in the NAB Cup opener against Geelong and Sydney on Friday night.

And Watters said Hayes’ comeback will be handled appropriately, given his injury and experience.

“We have been pretty transparent from prior to Christmas how well Lenny has been going,” Watters said.

“I have just viewed it as a normal pre-season, it has been really solid, really consistent.

“He has not missed a beat, and so as an experienced player he will play the appropriate amount of minutes come Friday night and over the four games leading into Round 1.”

St Kilda will field 14 players with less than ten games' experience, with new coach Watters keen to see who and how copes best with his game style.

“Some of them have been exposed to a higher level, and the majority of them are really challenging for Round 1,” he said.

“It says we have got a really healthy 30 - 35 (players).

“The pressure will be a step up and we are looking forward to see how the younger players respond, and the senior player accept the challenge of welcoming those younger players in the side and resetting their own personal challenges.”

Terry Milera, Jack Newnes, Sebastian Ross, Ahmed Saad, Cameron Shenton, Tom Simpkin, Arryn Siposs, and Beau Wilkes will all get the chance to state their case.

“It is about balancing preparation and performance,” Watters said.

“There are certainly players ... that we want to make sure they play the right amount of minutes for the four games.

“There are other players we are really interested to see how they go

“You want to see how the players react and potentially changes to a game plan hold up heightened pressure.

“At the same time we know we will come out of this game with numerous areas we want to improve a get better.”

Versatile big man Jared Brennan could also spend a lot more time in defence, lurking behind the Suns dangerous on-ball brigade.

Brennan, 27, was a regular member of the Suns midfield last season and was best-afield in a landmark first-time derby victory over his old club Brisbane in Round 7 at the Gabba.

Hunt, 25, looks set for continued use on the ball when the young Suns confront Melbourne and arch local rival Brisbane in their NAB Cup opening at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast on Saturday.

Hunt played the entire Suns intra-club match last Saturday as a midfielder as one of the most impressive contributors along with the switch of former Adelaide All-Australian and veteran back man Nathan Bock into a key goal-mouth forward.

Hunt gathered plenty of possessions in his starring midfield role with mounting expectations the former Brisbane Broncos premiership star and Maroons State-of-Origin hero will be used on the ball.

He was trialled primarily in defensive duties through 16 games in his debut AFL season last year.

Hunt was matched against highly regarded West Australian mature-aged rookie Kyal Horsley in the scratch match.

Observers of the one-on-one duel declared Hunt a clear winner against the experienced Horsley, 24, who was taken by the Suns at number two overall in last year’s rookie draft after winning his WAFL club’s fairest-and-best and runner-up in his state’s coveted Sandover Medal.

The dual Brownlow medallist missed Carlton's intra-club match last week, but said today he was now itching to get back into competitive action.

He will not feature in the NAB Cup clashes with Adelaide and Port Adelaide on Sunday - but is primed for a return against Western Bulldogs on March 4.

But the cautious Carlton physios would prefer Judd to wait another week until the date with Brisbane on March 10 

"My shoulder is really well and I'm doing full training with the rest of the team," Judd said at the launch of a Visy environmental program.

"I won't be playing this weekend, but I'm keen to play the weekend after. The fitness coach is trying to get me to play the third NAB Cup game so we'll wait and see who wins that battle."

It will be the first time Hayes has played since tearing his anterior cruciate ligament against Richmond in Round 2 last year.

Classy on-baller Leigh Montagna and antagonistic forward Stephen Milne were also included.

Saints youngsters Sebastian Ross, Ahmed Saad and Terry Milera will get their first chances to impress new St Kilda coach Scott Watters.

Geelong has named a youthful side for its games, with just 10 of its premiership players included in the squad.

The Cats named new skipper Joel Selwood, big man Harry Taylor and Jimmy Bartel in a largely inexperienced squad.

Highly-touted youngster Billie Smedts will get his chance to impress for the Cats, as will mature-age big man Orren Stephenson and young West Aussie draftee Shane Kersten.

Geelong will be without a host of established stars including Matthew Scarlett, Joel Corey and Steve Johnson for the first-round hit-out.

Sydney has named a relatively stronger squad, with dual-Brownlow medallist Adam Goodes, co-captain Jarrad McVeigh and veterans Jude Bolton and Ryan O’Keefe all set to make the trip south.

The Swans also named ruckman Shane Mumford and star on-baller Kieren Jack for the pre-season matches.

Round one, NAB Cup
Geelong, St Kilda, Sydney Swans
Etihad Stadium, Friday 24 February, 6.40pm AEDT

GEELONG
Joel Selwood (captain), Mitch Brown, Billie Smedts, Jimmy Bartel, Andrew Mackie, Harry Taylor, Josh Hunt, Trent West, Tom Lonergan, Jordan Schroder, Shannon Byrnes, Taylor Hunt, Mitch Duncan, Orren Stephenson, Tom Gillies, Tom Hawkins, Mathew Stokes, Cameron Guthrie, Steve Motlop, George Horlin-Smith, Simon Hogan, Cameron Eardley, Shane Kersten, Jesse Stringer, Josh Walker, George Burbury, Jonathan Simpkin, Ryan Bathie.

ST KILDA
Daniel Archer, David Armitage, Jason Blake, Jamie Cripps, Sam Crocker, Sean Dempster, Sam Fisher, Jarryn Geary, Sam Gilbert, Brendon Goddard, Jason Gram, Lenny Hayes, Clint Jones, Justin Koschitzke, Tom Ledger, Ben McEvoy, Terry Milera, Stephen Milne, Leigh Montagna, Jack Newnes, Brett Peake, Dean Polo, Farren Ray, Nick Riewoldt, Sebastian Ross, Ahmed Saad, Adam Schneider, Cameron Shenton, Tom Simpkin, Arryn Siposs, Rhys Stanley, Jack Steven, Beau Wilkes, Nick Winmar

SYDNEY SWANS
Mark Seaby, Rhyce Shaw, Jarrad McVeigh, Ryan O'Keefe, Nick Malceski, Mitch Morton, Jed Lamb, Josh Kennedy, Andrejs Everitt, Craig Bird, Kieren Jack, Gary Rohan, Tommy Walsh, Jesse White, Sam Reid, Ben McGlynn, Jordan Lockyer, Jude Bolton, Ted Richards, Luke Parker, Dylan McNeil, Martin Mattner, Lewis Jetta, Jarred Moore, Alex Johnson, Campbell Heath, Adam Goodes, Michael Pyke, Heath Grundy, Nick Smith, Shane Mumford, Harry Cunningham, Nathan Gordon, Shane Biggs

Schedule:

6.40pm: St Kilda v Sydney
7.25pm: Sydney v Geelong
8.50pm: St Kilda v Geelong

Krakouer, 29, was granted a month of leave to work out family and financial troubles in his hometown of Perth.

But the lively high-flyer, who last year won the AFL's Mark of the Year competition, has been in constant contact with the Magpies since he was granted the time off.

Buckley said the Magpies were not willing to provide details of Krakouer's return. 

"It's part of the plan," Buckley said.

"We won't be giving blow by blows on where 'Krak' is at.

"We've released a statement about his month to himself to make sure he gets things sorted, and things are on schedule.

"(I'm) in constant contact with 'Krak' and the welfare of all our players is important and he's no different."

Buckley said Krakouer, who was rumoured to have returned from Christmas break overweight, is in "OK" shape as the Pies track toward Round 1 of the AFL season.

Buckley admitted it had been positive to see the former Richmond goalsneak attend a training session. 

"Obviously consistent training is going to be important for him but first thing's first and that's why he's got that time to focus on other things first," he said.

Buckley also played down the seriousness of the Magpies' ever-growing injury list.

Forward Brent Macaffer suffered a season-ending knee injury during Collingwood's round one NAB Cup outing, while defenders Harry O'Brien (hand), Nathan Brown (knee), Chris Tarrant (foot) are all restricted.

Alan Didak (adductor), Ben Johnson (hamstring) and Ben Reid (shoulder) are also on the comeback trail.

Buckley said most of the senior players should be available for Round 1.

"We're in fairly good shape," he said.

"We're going to have the majority of our list available for selection in a couple of weeks but that's not the be all and end all either.

"Andrew has been well documented and 'Taz' has still got a way to go (but) four or five weeks away though he should be right to go.

"Nathan Brown will be thereabouts (for Round 1) and we expect to see Ben Reid in a couple of weeks.

"(Macaffer) has been a disappointment for us and he won't be there.

"'Johnno' should be up and running in the next couple of weeks and 'Dids' will be very close."

He is considered a priority in Blues premiership plans somewhere in the next few seasons as a significant force in Carlton’s powerful midfield troop alongside champion Chris Judd and Marc Murphy.

The AFL is expected to confirm a revision of standard player contracts by June 30.

In the meantime though, settlement for any new agreements has left negotiations for the likes of Gibbs, St Kilda champion Brendon Goddard and Richmond’s Brett Deledio on hold.

Collingwood premiership heroes and All-Australians Scott Pendlebury, Travis Cloke, Heath Shaw and Harry O’Brien, Carlton big man Robbie Warnock, budding Adelaide star Patrick Dangerfield and brilliant West Coast Eagles youngster Andrew Gaff are among players who are believed to have put contract talks on hold.

Essendon big man Michael Hurley and Port Adelaide’s reigning joint fairest-and-best winner Travis Boak are also understood to be unwilling to take new deal negotiations any further until league officials clarify standard contracts for beyond this year.

Melbourne’s 2010 All-Australian ruckman Mark Jamar is an important Demons star also understood to be baulking at signing any new deal.

Central to negotiations over standard agreements is dividing a player’s earnings into three categories of football earnings, marketing and promotions for his club and the game overall as well as additional income for use of their images.

Players and their agents, as well as their association, want a more defined share of income clubs and the league can make for using their images which assist in generating overall revenues.

Deledio is also central to the league’s new free agency regulations which must determine if the Tigers star will be considered a restricted or unrestricted player at the end of any new deal to extend his Richmond days beyond 10 years with a new deal this season.

Original free agency rules had called for a clause that every player serve at least one period of ‘restricted’ free agent if they considered a move after eight years.

AFLPA heavies and agents want clarification that allows a player to avoid any restriction in his decision to move after a 10 years, regardless of what stage during his time at one club he might sign his last contract.

The league will announce a complete free agency list of players by March 20 on the eve of launching the 2012 AFL season.

AFL heavyweights headed by football operations boss Adrian Anderson and player’s association chief Matt Finnis appear certain to confirm that Deledio will be declared an unrestricted player after his 10-year Tigers service if he signs a new deal during 2012.

Goddard, 26, will be deemed an unrestricted player and free to move wherever he wants to go after 10 years with the Saints, even though it has surfaced that the brilliant on-baller signed a new contract in his eighth season.

It seems Goddard will be declared an unrestricted free agent along with Deledio with expectations the Tigers veteran will sign a new deal during the season.

All 18 clubs were notified in writing.

In future drafts, the allocation of priority picks will consider a much wider criteria, including how clubs perform over a period of years and injury rates.

The AFL commission will retain the power to hand out the priority picks, but under much stricter conditions and only in extreme circumstances.

"The commission accepted a recommendation that stricter conditions for any special assistance should be developed," AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said.

"The old rule had become a permanent feature of the draft that skewed the draft in favour of the bottom clubs of that particular year, relative to other clubs near them on the ladder.

"The draft, along with the salary cap rules, are designed to ensure an even spread of talent between the clubs and clubs should not be over-compensated for a short period of poor performance.

"As clubs have become more sophisticated with talent identification and development of young players, the success around early picks in the draft has become much greater."

The priority picks rule has come under constant scrutiny since its introduction, with some clubs accused of 'tanking' to receive the picks.

Under the old rule, a club earning 16 premiership points (four wins) or fewer in a season was given an extra pick before the second round of the draft.

Two consecutive seasons of such poor performance earned a club a priority pick before the draft's first round.

If the rule had stayed in place, Brisbane, Port Adelaide and Gold Coast would have been eligible for a pre-first round pick if they have a poor season this year.

Brisbane won just four games in 2011, while Port and the Suns only scored 12 premiership points each from three wins.

Redden has, remarkably, not missed a senior match since making his debut in 2009 and enjoyed a particularly stellar season in 2011.

He finished inside the top three at the Lions in total disposals, marks and tackles and laid the second most amount of tackles out of any player in the AFL.

Redden was rewarded for his efforts when he came third in the Lions club champion awards and was also the recipient of the Shaun Hart most courageous player award.

His quiet, ‘no fuss’ attitude has earned him a following among Lions supporters who have watched the young South Australian go from strength to strength since arriving at the club from Glenelg in the 2008 AFL draft.

He now joins the like of Tom Rockliff, Matthew Leuenberger, Daniel Rich, Patrick Karnezis and Jared Polec to recently sign new long-term deals with the club.

The rest of the leadership group consists of Jude Bolton, Ryan O'Keefe, Rhyce Shaw, Kieren Jack and Jarred Moore. 

"We're thrilled," Sydney coach John Longmire told reporters on Tuesday.

"We think we've got a good spread of players experience-wise, position-wise all over the ground and we're looking forward to hopefully these players helping drive the club cultures on and off the field for 2012."

The retirement of Irish import Tadhg Kennelly left one spot open in the leadership group, but the players decided to add two new faces, in Richards and Smith.

Longmire said he believed the players had made the correct call.

"The players vote on it, so they obviously saw enough in Nick and Ted's consistent performance and preparation for games to put them in the leadership group," Longmire told sydneyswans.com.au.

"I think it's a great effort from both of them.

"They've been very reliable, solid defenders for us and lead by example in that part of the ground, which is good."

Richards finished fifth in the Swans' fairest-and-best count last season after playing 23 out of a possible 24 games.

Smith, 23, won Sydney's Most Improved player award in 2011.

Longmire said Smith will be vocal on the field when he has to.

"He won't talk for the sake of it, but he'll say things he believes in and he's listened to because he's a smart kid and he's quite considered in his comments," Longmire said.

"We really value his preparation and his competitiveness, which have really come to the fore."

The 189cm Smedts was Geelong's first pick in the 2010 draft, taken at No.15 overall as a round one compensatory selection for Gary Ablett.

Smedts is yet to play a senior game and sat out all of last season with a hip injury.

However the North Warrnambool product has been training well and has the potential to be a true utility player, Scott said on Tuesday.

"Billie hasn't played a lot of footy full stop, even as a junior," Scott said.

"He has good speed and agility so he can play through the midfield. Early on we see him more as a defender than a forward.

"If his training form can be replicated on a bigger stage then we'll be very excited and Orren will play significant game time in the ruck.

"We're confident that he can do the job but until we see him against genuine opposition we're still not sure."

David Wojcinski (foot), Travis Varcoe (foot), ruckman Nathan Vardy (hip), big forward James Podsiadly (shoulder) and young forward Daniel Menzel (knee) are among the Cats players to be rested this week.

But Scott said he was confident the Cats would still field a strong side.

"On paper to people who don't know the Geelong list all that well, it will probably look pretty inexperienced," he said.

We've got a few guys who have had two or three years in the system. They haven't had much exposure to AFL football but they're ready to perform at least at this level.

"In terms of our experienced players, we'll be a little lighter on there."

Scott also said Mitch Brown, Josh Cowan and premiership player Allen Christensen won't play this week.

The AFL announced on Tuesday that there would not be a tribunal hearing after all match review findings from the opening NAB Cup games had been accepted.

Conca was one of four players to accept sanctions handed down by the review process.

Under new pre-season rules introduced this year, the Tigers second-year on-baller can serve his suspension through the NAB matches with all games "live" as part of the summer competition.

The league announced that sanctions were also accepted for North's Lindsay Thomas, Fremantle's Josh Mellington and Essendon's Leroy Jetta.

The sanctions were:

Conca has accepted a three-match sanction for engaging in rough conduct against Adams during the first half of theirat Etihad Stadium on Friday February 17.

Thomas accepted a reprimand for striking Conca during the second half of that match.

Mellington accepted a $900 sanction for wrestling Jetta during the second half of theirat Patersons Stadium on Sunday.

Jetta was also fined $900 for wrestling with Mellington.

Crows football operations general manager Phil Harper said: “Luke was out on Saturday night with some friends when a fight started near his group and unfortunately, although he was a bystander, he was hit in the face.

“Luke left the venue immediately and reported the incident to police outside the venue before he went to hospital to repair his teeth.

"He will need some further dental work but should not be ruled out from playing for any extended period.”

Brown, 19, was recruited at the end of last year from Norwood.

Club officials have spent the past two days investigating the incident.

As the matter is now under police investigation, there will be no further comment from the Club at this time.