A summer of tabloid fodder has given the AFL a torrid opening to one of the most important years in their history.

The image of the game has taken a belting through the off-season, courtesy mainly of a technologically-savvy teenager with an almighty grudge.

The AFL and St Kilda must wish that once the Ricky Nixon saga is resolved, Cyclone Kim will start losing its destructive power.

Kim Duthie caused uproar late last year when she released explicit photographs of nude and semi-nude Saints players.

It was her retaliation after her affair with a St Kilda player had gone sour.

Then came the stunning revelation in February that Nixon, a prominent player agent, had self-confessed "inappropriate dealings" with the teenager.

The players association has suspended Nixon's accreditation as an agent, but is yet to decide what action to take against him.

The verdict against Nixon was handed down on the day of the official season launch and completely overshadowed that event.

Now Nixon has a week to respond, meaning the saga could well play out until March 24 - the day of the season opener between Carlton and Richmond.

It's another potential PR nightmare for the AFL.

Given the game's constant front-page discomfort over the last few months, it would also be bizarrely appropriate.

Brendan Fevola's sad decline has been the other ongoing saga through summer.

Brisbane sacked the two-time Coleman Medallist for off-field misbehaviour and he spent 66 days in a rehabilitation clinic.

Fevola wants to try a comeback through the VFL, but he now cannot even play poker in a casino without attracting controversy.

Such drama is magnified because the AFL is so big - and poised this year to become even more of an Australian sporting monolith.

"I say this most years, but this is a bloody busy year," AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said at a March media briefing.

The league will welcome the Gold Coast Suns as its 17th team this season and is preparing Greater Western Sydney for their 2012 debut.

The two expansion teams are a six-year, $220 million project to broaden the league's popularity in the northern states.

Parallel to expansion, the AFL will soon finalise the new broadcast rights deal and this should be worth more than $1 billion.

From that will flow a new collective bargaining agreement with the players and the vital financial distributions from the AFL to clubs.

It will also be a big year for the game itself, with the league introducing the controversial substitute rule to curb the use of the interchange bench as a tactical weapon.

Magnifying the constant pressure on the senior coaches, nearly half of them will be out of contract at the end of the season.

Three-time premiership coach Mick Malthouse is scheduled to hand over to Nathan Buckley in Collingwood's succession plan, although that deal is a magnet for speculation and debate.

Adelaide have taken the steam out of any speculation about Neil Craig by making him a member of staff.

But that leaves Brisbane's Michael Voss, Carlton's Brett Ratten, Gold Coast's Guy McKenna, Hawthorn's Alastair Clarkson, Melbourne's Dean Bailey and Rodney Eade of the Western Bulldogs.

All need successful seasons to retain their jobs.

History says there is no way they will all be at their current clubs by this time next year.

Premiers Collingwood deservedly start the season as favourites and will surely finish in the top four.

St Kilda are coming off a wretched off-season which also featured the club suspension of four players for misbehaviour during a New Zealand training camp.

But Ross Lyon's Saints, runners-up for the last two seasons, remain a potent team. They can still win the flag.

The coaching debuts of James Hird at Essendon, Chris Scott at Geelong and John Longmire at Sydney will be fascinating, plus no-one quite knows how the Gary Ablett-captained Suns will perform in their debut season.

But after all the sordid topics of the off-season, the footy cannot start quickly enough.

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