Welcome to The Big Deal.

Footy is still a couple of months away but the pre-season bombs have begun dropping with a number 6 pick telling his club he’s done!

The Tasmanian stadium drama continues to rumble on with negotiations over who pays what and Cricket Australia is breathing a sigh of relief as fans turned up to watch the rain at the SCG!

If you haven’t already been following our summer podcast series, you should catch up with The Art Of The Deal, where top AFL agent Marty Pask has been joining Tredders to unpack the details and process for securing the prized signature of sports star. Don’t miss it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

In the meantime, there’s plenty going on.

IN THIS WEEK’S WRAP OF THE BIG DEALS

• Crows blow as pick 6 quits

• Federal government crunches numbers on Tassie team

• List management biggest blocker in contract negotiations - Pask

• Sydney’s cricket diehards witness ‘cover-up’

• Another tennis player faces deportation from Australia

• EPL heavyweights Manchester City become heavier

• NFL dominates American TV ratings

• Americans dig deep for Damar

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CROWS BLOW AS PICK 6 QUITS

The Adelaide Crows’ forgettable history with high draft picks has continued with Fischer McAsey quitting the club, citing a loss of passion for the game.

He had been on personal leave from the club since November.

The 21-year-old was the number 6 draft pick in 2019.

He played 10 AFL games in his debut season but none since.

“Unfortunately, I have lost a lot of the enjoyment and desire to improve which is required to make it at the top level,” McAsey said.

“It has been an extremely difficult decision to come to, and one that I haven’t taken lightly, but through discussions with close friends and family, the club and my management, I feel that it is the right decision for my long term future and well-being.

“Not everyone will understand the decision, but I’m comfortable with the path that I’m headed, and am excited by the ability to pursue other interests.”

McAsey, along with Josh Rachele, are Adelaide’s equal-second highest draft picks, behind 2020 number 2 pick Riley Thilthorpe.

He joins a string of top 10 misfires at Adelaide including 2000 pick 7 Laurence Angwin (no games for Crows), 2004 pick 8 John Meesen (6 games) and 2008 pick 10 Phil Davis (18 games before being traded to GWS).

The jury still remains somewhat out on 2018 pick 9 Chayce Jones who has had his challenges, playing 58 games in four seasons, although he is coming off his best year when he played 20 times.

Other players selected by Adelaide with its first pick have also failed to deliver for the club, most notably Tom Gilligan (1996 pick 13 - 3 games), Lance Picioane (1997 pick 17 - 4 games), Fergus Watts (2003 pick 14 - 5 games), James Sellar (2006 pick 14 - 21 games), Jake Lever (2014 pick 14 - 56 games before requesting a trade to Melbourne) and Jordan Gallucci (2016 pick 15 - 27 games).

Adelaide is expected to place McAsey on its inactive list and could replace him with a free agent before the season or at the mid-season draft.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CRUNCHES NUMBERS OVER TASMANIAN AFL TEAM

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has thrown his support behind a Tasmanian AFL team but says he expects some games would still be played in Launceston, even after the proposed development of a new stadium at Hobart’s Macquarie Point.

“Part of the business case as well has to look at the development of the Launceston ground as well. You would need, I think, to make sure games are played in the north as well as the south,” he told SEN.

“I’m not a Tasmanian but I’ve been to Tasmania enough times to know that’s an issue to rival Melbourne-Sydney.”

The Big Deal has been told Launceston’s quota of games could be reduced to as little as one or two matches per season when the Tasmanian team is admitted to ensure the financial viability and success of the new ground in Hobart.

Despite this, Albanese said the federal government will need to tip money into the maintenance and redevelopment of the Launceston ground, as well as Hobart’s new showpiece.

The current proposal has the Commonwealth spending $240m on the new Hobart ground with the Tasmanian government posting the lion’s share of $375m.

A further $85m would come from private investment with the AFL contributing just $15m towards the $715m bill.

Work is slated to begin in late 2025 or 2026 and not expected to be completed until mid-2028, meaning the new side would have to play its matches at Bellerive Oval and Launceston if it was admitted, as proposed, in 2027.

LIST MANAGEMENT BIGGEST BLOCKER IN CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS - PASK

Top AFL agent Marty Pask says contract negotiations between a player, their agent and their club are often stalled by sluggish list management committees.

“Good clubs will explain to you what their list management procedure is, how many people need to vote on it, what they need to do … a lot of other clubs might not,” Pask revealed on The Big Deal’s The Art Of The Deal podcast series.

“That can sometimes create frustration on the player’s and agent’s side. Because it’s like, ‘we’re sitting here waiting, what are you doing? We need to know!'

Despite the tensions, Marty said the majority of negotiations are more honest and upfront than most people would realise.

“One numerous occasions, hand on heart, I’ve told a club that a player is meeting with another football club, and then that player has stayed. I’d like to think that the industry has matured from that aspect.

“Yeah there’s always tricks, there’s different elements, and different (tactics) people use … but (that comes down to) your values. You go in eyes wide open, you know what you’re dealing with and you know what can happen.

“(Its not) ducks and drakes, low ball offers, getting angry, beating the chest, slamming doors and carrying on … I mean who would want to work in an environment like that?

“I actually think you want to get from point A to point B as quickly as you can because you’re so well prepared and knowledgeable that you understand what you’re dealing with and not trying to get your client through any undue stress they don’t need.”

The final episode in our Art Of The Deal series will be published later this week on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

SYDNEY’S DEVOTED CRICKET FANS WITNESS EMBARRASSING ‘COVER-UP’

Committed Sydney cricket fans may have bought their city more time in the New Year holiday period as debate ramps up about whether the Test should swap time slots with Adelaide.

Despite nearly two full days, including the entire third day being lost to rain, an incredible 122,476 fans turned out for the Pink Test, including 23,915 on the Friday when not one ball was bowled.

The final day attendance of 20,470 was also excellent by Test cricket standards, although by that stage, Cricket Australia had thrown open the gates, asking for just a gold coin donation.

While NSW-centric forces inside Cricket Australia are likely to strongly resist any attempt to bring the Sydney Test forward to December, the city has lost more full days of Test cricket to rain than every other Australian venue combined.

Equally, Adelaide’s weather is more prone to rain in early December than early January.

Sydney’s position was further embarrassed after a gaffe involving covers in the centre square saw ground staff scampering to dry run-ups with hair dryers.

New wet weather covers, emblazoned with a sponsor’s logo for the NRMA, leaked and were eventually dispensed with.

While the blunder did not cause any further delays to play, the potential for such an outcome existed, triggering choruses of criticism from commentators.

Fox commentator Isa Guha noted: “You would think they could invest in some better covers. I’m pretty staggered that it’s not better equipped.”

In all, only 280.5 overs of a potential 450 were bowled in Sydney and while allowing for slow over rates, it still represents nearly two full days lost.

ANOTHER TENNIS PLAYER FACES POTENTIAL DEPORTATION FROM AUSTRALIA

Novak Djokovic has warmed up for what would be an historic tenth Australian Open title with victory at the Adelaide International 1.

Djokovic saved a match point before beating Sebastian Korda 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 and will recharge his batteries over the next week, including playing a possible scratch match against Nick Kyrgios, before tackling Melbourne Park.

But 12 months after his return to Australia after being deported for refusing to show proof of COVID vaccination, Italy’s Camila Giorgi is facing scrutiny for allegedly entering the country last year with a fake COVID vaccination certificate.

Italian newspaper la Repubblica broke the story before another newspaper Corriere del Veneto quoted Giorgi’s doctor, Daniela Grillone, admitting she had never been vaccinated for COVID-19.

Grillone was arrested last February for ‘vaccinating’ more than 100 people with fake serum.

"She had come asking for the possibility of obtaining false attestations of all the mandatory vaccines, as well as the COVID vaccine,” Grillone said.

"I can confirm with absolute certainty that none of the vaccines against the Giorgi family has actually been administered. I have not received any payment in that case.

"I am deeply upset and sorry for my action."

Giorgi lost a qualifying match on Saturday for the Adelaide International 2 tournament.

She may yet become the second tennis player to fall foul of Australia’s COVID policies, albeit 12 months down the track, and could be deported if she is found guilty of entering the country with a false document.

MANCHESTER CITY LINKS UP WITH INDIAN HEAVYWEIGHT

EPL heavyweights Manchester City are about to become even heavier!

The winners of the Premier League six times in the last decade have joined forces with the world’s richest sporting team owner, Mukesh Ambani, who owns the IPL’s Mumbai Indians.

Ambani also owns the tech giant Jio Platforms that has signed City to a lucrative broadcasting deal.

It involves the creation of a streaming subscription service known as CITY+ that will also feature exclusive content including match highlights and women’s games.

Forbes lists Ambani as having a net worth of US$88.7 billion ($A128.8 billion).

City is rated the sixth-most valuable soccer team in the world, worth an estimated US$4.25 billion.

Ambani has previously expressed an interest in a takeover of rival giants Liverpool.

Meanwhile, Manchester City is exploring an upgrade of its Etihad Stadium, boosting capacity by more than 10% to 60,000 that would also include the building of a lavish hotel and museum.

NFL DOMINATES AMERICAN TOP 50 SHOWS

In Australia, we are obsessed with AFL. In England and most of the rest of the world, soccer is number one. And in America, the latest TV ratings have confirmed that the Yanks just love their NFL more than anything else.

SportsMediaWatch has revealed that American football filled 45 of the top 50 sporting shows watched in 2022.

The Super Bowl topped the tree with more than 100 million viewers while the next 31 positions were all filled by NFL content.

The first non-NFL entry was, wait for it, college football.

The Beijing Winter Games and the FIFA World Cup final were the only non-American football sports to break into the top 50.

But there was an honourable mention for women’s college basketball which out rated the US Formula One Grand Prix.

AMERICANS DIG DEEP FOR DAMAR

Americans are voting with their wallets too with a GoFundMe page set up by recovering Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin passing US$8 million in donations in just four days.

Hamlin collapsed after suffering a cardiac arrest in last Monday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals but had his breathing tube removed on Friday when he also FaceTimed his team-mates.

The page was set up in 2020 to collect money for The Chasing M’s Foundation supporting kids in his community.

It had an initial target of raising US$2500 but has since surpassed that by a factor of 3200.

Talkback With Tredders is coming up on The Big Deal podcast soon! Got a question or talking point? Get in touch

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