The articles that make up Issue #016 of the FootyStars “Collector’s Edition” newsletter can be found in this newsletter archive by following these links.

Editorial
http://newsletter.footystars.com.au/2009/07/more-news-on-nrl-classic-and-afl-pinnacle/

Footy Card Collectors Tips
http://newsletter.footystars.com.au/2009/07/afl-pinnacle-series-2009/

Footy Card Spotlight
http://newsletter.footystars.com.au/2009/07/nrl-classic-series-2009-full-details/

Protecting Your Investment
http://newsletter.footystars.com.au/2009/07/do-you-need-to-protect-your-collection/

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I love this time of year!

There’s excitement building as the release date for the Series 2 footy cards gets closer.

2009 AFL Pinnacle is due for release on Monday 13 July and the 2009 NRL Classic is due out at the end of the month.

This issue of the “Collector’s Edition” newsletter focuses on both these new releases.

In the next section we share more tips on the AFL Pinnacle Series and then after that we put the spotlight on the NRL Classic Series release.

There’ lots to get excited about and the format and structure of both releases is set to see them both sell out in record time. I hope you like what you see.

Last week I shared the story of my nephew Thomas who is currently battling cancer. Just days later Jim Stynes revealed he’s battling cancer. Then over the weekend we saw the Carlton Blues and the Brisbane Broncos compete in rare Yellow strips to raise money and awareness for the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s LiveStrong program… Cancer awareness seemed to be everywhere.

Thank you to all the people who donated to the Cancer Council following our previous newsletter, and for those who sent messages of support to Thomas. We appreciate your support very much.

And thank you to those who wrote back to share their own experience with cancer — your courage is inspiring.

We trust you will gain some enjoyment in reading this issue of the “Collector’s Edition” newsletter.

Ian

AFL Pinnacle information has been leaking out slowly ahead of the release next week… and it seems Select are on track for release on Monday, 13 July.

We’ve updated our online shop so you can pre-order your AFL Pinnacle cards, sets and folders now so you will be one of the first in the country to have them. All orders received before 13 July will be sent as soon as they arrive… so order yours now.

We received more details on the AFL Pinnacle Set after sending our last newsletter. Here is a look at this years Case Cards. Only available with the purchase of a Factory Sealed Case (16 boxes) of AFL Pinnacle, these case cards are limited and individually numbered to 200 for each player.

Doug Hawkins from the Western Bulldogs and Dustin Fletcher from Essendon are featured on the Case Cards which recognise players who reach the 300 Game milestone throughout their career.

And as an added bonus for those lucky enough to find one, 1 in 8 Cases will have a Signed Case Card of Dustin Fletcher.

Only 50 Signed Case Cards have been produced but you can see the design here (shown without the signature).

If you are planning on busting open a factory sealed box of AFL Pinnacle yourself, here’s a look at the most valuable card in the collection… the one we all want to find.

It’s the Captain Signature Redemption card which you can redeem for one of only 60 personally signed Captain Signature cards.

In the last issue of the “Collector’s Edition” newsletter we let you know the Premiership Predictors were again in the Series.

We can now tell you what you will receive when you redeem either the entire set, or just the winning teams predictor.

We have confirmed with Di at Select, that you will receive an exclusive 16 card Rookie Sub Set along with a 3 card Mini Premiership Set of the winning team when you redeem a full set of 16 Predictors.

If you only redeem the winning teams Predictor you will get the 3 card Mini Premiership Set of the winning team and their Rookie Card.

We also have full details on the Double Trouble cards. Here’s a new image along with the full list of the players featured on each card.

• Adelaide Crows - McLeod and Porplyzia
• Essendon Bombers - Lucas and Lloyd
• Fremantle Dockers - Pavlich and Sandilands
• Kangaroos - Harvey and McIntosh
• Melbourne Demons - Miller and Davey
• Port Power - Motlop and Salopek
• Richmond Tigers - Morton and Richardson
• Sydney Swans - Goodes and Hall
• West Coast Eagles - Cox and LeCras
• Western Bulldogs - Johnson and Griffen

In the last newsletter I took a guess at the names of the players featured in the Rookie Sensation cards which are inserted 1 in 4 boxes. Unfortunately I missed the mark… but here are all the confirmed Rookie Sensation players.

• Aaron Joseph from Carlton
• Dayne Beams from Collingwood
• David Zaharakis from Essendon
• Liam Picken from the Western Bulldogs

Well that’s about all the information we have for you on the new AFL Pinnacle Series. All that remains now if for the cards to be released.

If you like the look of the Pinnacle cards please go ahead and pre-order the cards or boxes you want. Every indicator points to this Series being completely Sold Out by the end of July at distributor level. So don’t wait because you could miss out.

Would you like to see the Official Flyer? Click here to download the 2009 AFL Pinnacle Checklist in pdf format.

The 2009 NRL Classic Series 2 release from Select Australia is due for release at the end of July. You can get in now and pre-order what ever you would like on our site now by visiting here…

NRL Classic has some really good points, along with a few that will probably annoy some long time collectors — but more on that shortly. Here’s your introduction to the new series.

The 2009 Series is a limited edition release with 4800 boxes being produced, which is less than half the number released last year in the Centenary Series. Each Box contains 36 packets, and each packet contains 8 x Premium Quality cards plus 1 x Holographic Jersey Die Cut Card. Let’s take a look at the designs and inserts.

First is the Common Set. Once again each team has 12 cards made up of 11 player cards and 1 club logo card. With the 3 Checklist cards, this makes a 195 card complete common set.

Here is a look at the common card design.

The Holographic Jersey Die Cut Cards feature 6 players from each club, for a complete set of 96 cards… and unlike previous releases they are not a parallel set — some players on the Jersey Die Cuts aren’t featured in the common cards, whereas others are.

The Holographic Jersey Die Cut Cards are inserted 1 per pack, making it a challenging set to complete on your own.

The Club Player of the Year sub set is back again in NRL Classic — inserted 1 in 8 packs.

While some collectors are bored with the same old sub sets in each series, most collectors appreciate the set because it features the best players from each and every club.

This sub set is particularly sought after by people who collect ALL “their team’s cards”. Here is a look at the design.

This year the Club Player set includes:

• Sam Thaiday
• Andrew Ryan
• Joel Monaghan
• Paul Gallen
• Preston Campbell
• Brent Kite
• Billy Slater
• Kurt Gidley
• Aaron Payne
• Nathan Hindmarsh
• Petro Civoniceva
• Jason Ryles
• Luke Stuart
• Mitchell Pearce
• Simon Mannering, and
• Chris Heighington

The Team of the Year insert set is back again too. This is always a popular set because it features the best players in the competition… as voted in the Dally M Awards each year. It’s no surprise to learn that 6 of the 9 players in the set played in the 2008 Grand Final.

The Team of the Year cards are found 1 in 18 packets making it a challenge to collect the whole set. Here’s a look at the Team of the Year design.

The 2008 Team of the Year includes:

• Billy Slater - Fullback
• Colin Best - Winger
• Israel Folau - Centre
• Greg Inglis - Five Eighth
• Matt Orford - Halfback
• Alan Tongue - Lock
• Glenn Stewart - Second Rower
• Petro Civoniceva - Prop, and
• Cameron Smith - Hooker

Top Prospect Signatures will once again be a hot insert. These hand signed cards are limited to 300 per player and will be sequentially numbered as they have been in previous years.

On average you can expect to find 1 x Top Prospect Signature in every 36 packs (1 per box). Here’s a look at the design for the Top Prospect Signatures (no signature shown in this proof).

The Top Prospect sub set features one talented up and coming player from every club. Some have already been making a name for themselves, while others have all the potential in the world.

• Antonio Winterstein
• Jamal Idris
• Josh Dugan
• Mitch Brown
• Esi Tonga
• Tony Williams
• Joseph Tomane
• Akuila Uate
• John Williams
• Kris Keating
• Wade Graham
• Matt Prior
• Eddy Pettybourne
• Ben Jones
• Russell Packer, and
• Tim Moltzen

I’m especially glad to see the Premiership Predictors return to the NRL Series. The Predictors will be included 1 per box (36 packets) on average.

Collect all 16 Predictors and you can redeem from Select an exclusive 16 Card Sub Set featuring the Top Try Scorer for each Club in the 2009 season.

The redemption sets are limited to 300 sets at most assuming EVERY set is redeemed which is not very likely.

In an unusual move which will annoy many collectors, Select have introduced their first Acetate (plastic) card into a Series 2 release… and in doing so they have carried over a sub set from the Series 1 Champions release.

The Double Trouble cards will be inserted into packs at the rate of 1 card per 72 packs (which is 1 in every 2 boxes). There are only 12 cards released in the Classic Series because 4 were released in the earlier 2009 Champions Series 1.

• Broncos - Peter Wallace and Israel Folau
• Bulldogs - Brett Kimmorley and Josh Morris
• Sharks - Anthony Tupou and Trent Barrett
• Titans - Scott Prince and Preston Campbell
• Knights - Kurt Gidley and Jarrod Mullen
• Cowboys - Matt Bowen and Johnathan Thurston
• Panthers - Michael Jennings and Michael Gordon
• Dragons - Jamie Soward and Wendell Sailor
• Rabbitohs - Chris Sandow and Nathan Merritt
• Roosters - Braith Anasta and Mitchell Pearce
• Warriors - Stacey Jones and Manu Vatuvei, and
• Tigers - Robbie Farah and Benji Marshall

The design looks like this:

Carrying over a sub set from Series 1 to Series 2 is annoying for a number of reasons.

Firstly, Series 2 has long been a Premium Quality Series aimed at the Hobby Market. Series 1 has always been the “value” release aimed at kids via the newsagencies.

Many collectors (including me) don’t ever collect Series 1, instead preferring to collect only the more valuable limited release Series 2. All these collectors will now have a 4 card hole in their collection because the first 4 cards were released in Series 1. In my opinion the two Series’ should not be mixed together.

A second issue is the different release quantities of each card which will affect their scarcity, and therefore their value. Time for a little math…

Series 2 will be a limited release of 4800 boxes. The Double Trouble cards are found 1 in every 2 boxes which means there will be 2400 Double Trouble cards in Series 2 (4800 / 2 = 2400). With 12 cards in the release it means each team will have 200 Double Trouble cards in total (2400 / 12 = 200).

Series 1 on the other hand is an unlimited release, such that in previous years over 10,000 boxes have been released. In Series 1 the Double Trouble cards were found 1 in every 6 boxes which means there was 1667 cards in total (10000 / 6 = 1667). With just 4 cards in the release each team had 417 cards (1667 / 4 = 417). To have the same quantity as Series 2, the Series 1 release would need to have been limited to 4800 boxes also — but we all know that hasn’t happened!

It doesn’t make sense that cards of the “same” sub set would be released in different quantities. Some more valuable than others even before the player combination comes into it. Select should have waited until Series 1 2010 to continue the set rather than include it in the NRL Classic Series.

Enough about that… let’s move on to the biggest sub set in the NRL Classic Series.

There’s no doubt… the holy grail of the 2009 NRL Classic Series will be the Captain Signature Cards. There are 6 in the Series with just 50 cards signed by each of the Captains featured.

The design is very similar to the 2004 Captain Signatures and looks like this…

These will be the VERY hot items because of the extremely low number of cards per player (scarcity) but also because they feature many of the games top players (demand), including 2 Dally M Winners (Player of the Year) and 2 Golden Boot Winners (World’s Best Player).

The 6 featured Captains include:

• Darren Lockyer
• Andrew Ryan
• Cam Smith
• Kurt Gidley
• Johnathan Thurston, and
• Robbie Farah

The NRL Classic Series is due for release at the end of July. We’ve updated our site so you can go ahead and pre-order the cards and set you want.

If you’re keen to bust open packets you can pre-order your factory sealed boxes now for immediate delivery as soon as they are released.

Click here to download the 2009 NRL Classic Checklist in pdf format.

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Next month…

Each month we shine the spotlight on one of the most popular cards of the moment… and take a look a what it is that makes it so popular.

If there’s a card that you would like us to put the spotlight on please write to me at ian [AT] FootyStars.com.au with details of the card and why you feel it should be put “in the spotlight”.

What card will it be next issue? You’ll have to wait and see.

Sometimes, common sense is not so common. I’m sure you’ve seen this in your time.

We often write about the range of options available to collectors to protect their investment. Unfortunately some people just can’t be helped… they’ve got no common sense.

Back when I was a boy the only way to protect your cards was to put them inside your lunch box and keep them together with a thick red rubber band like you get from the post office. Needless to say, most of those cards belong on the scrap heap today.

Unfortunately we receive regular emails from people suggesting that they don’t need to protect their cards with proper accessories.

One case in point was an email we recently received from “Danny” (name changed to protect the guilty).

Danny told us about his disappointment when he realised his collection of cards from the last few years had been bent like a subtle C shape and how many of them had stuck together.

When we asked how he was storing his cards, he wrote back telling us proudly that he keeps them “safe” in an old shoe box at the top of his wardrobe.

As Homer Simpson would say… Doh.

It should be no surprise to anyone that Danny’s cards were damaged.

Thankfully, companies like Ultra Pro make an entire range of protection and display holders for your cards.

If you’ve been a subscriber to this newsletter for any length of time you know that we only use and recommend Ultra Pro accessories.

In my opinion, they offer the best protection at very reasonable prices. They are a small investment to protect your favourite cards… and in my opinion it’s a common sense decision to use them.