Players and fans are making a strong stance for greater inclusion in the game through their guernsey designsWith only three rounds remaining in the regular season of the AFLW, this weekend’s Pride round is pivotal as teams make their last dash for the finals and look to cement their place in the top eight.That this round, which is important to so many fans and players of the women’s game, comes at such a meaningful time adds to its gravity and underlines the seriousness with which the issue of LGBTQ+ inclusion is taken within the sport. While rainbow flags, guernseys and socks will add colour and joy across all the grounds during round eight, the white-line fever will step up a...
Fortune favoured the brave as six teams became four in week two of a thrilling 2022 AFL finals seriesAt Melbourne, they often speak of learnings. There aren’t many more weasel words than learnings. It’s a word that’s popular with chin strokers, with LinkedIn loiterers, and with football coaches. In the past, there haven’t been many learnings (sorry) to take from the second week of finals. Semi finals are often a reordering of the top four, a reminder not to be seduced by the previous week’s winner.But this weekend was different. This weekend taught us a lot. We learnt, for instance, that Melbourne simply isn’t good enough. After Round 10, they were the shortest priced premiership favourites in the history of...
As Essendon decided Ben Rutten’s fate, diehard fans were already making their way to the MCGDavid Barham, who took over as Essendon president this week, was the producer of the 1996 documentary ‘100 Years of Australian Football’. From Jezza to Jacko, from John Coleman to John Bourke, it showcased the best and worst of the sport. Heading into round 23 – whether it was Essendon refusing to return Ben Rutten’s calls, Kevin Sheedy speaking sideways, or Tom Browne offering $1.05 on Alastair signing with the Bombers – a century of footy’s folly and folderol was crammed into a few days.By Friday, people who should have known better were floating the idea of James Hird returning as senior coach. A few...
Billy Picken would have loved round 19, a vintage weekend which finished with a flourish off Jamie Elliott’s boot“The game provides the same entertainment for a bloke who’s a million-dollar company director as it does for a bloke who shovelling dirt in a trench.” Billy Picken said that in 1981. He died on the weekend, aged 66. He was a magnificent, if unorthodox, footballer. A big-occasion performer, a beloved figure at Collingwood and a player who entertained suits and ditch diggers in equal measure.Billy wouldn’t have had much time for duckers and shruggers, for midweek rule changes and sub-rule shifties. As a man who used to commentate his own play, he was probably more informative and erudite with a mouthguard...
Anderson’s clutch goal was the exclamation mark on a season in which Gold Coast have finally earned respectNoah Anderson barracked for Richmond as a kid. It was a strange choice, given that his dad was a two-time premiership player with Hawthorn. Noah was 11 when a rugby league player beat the Tigers with a kick after the siren. His dad Dean was on the Gold Coast this weekend. That day, he’d learnt that former teammate Paul Dear had died of pancreatic cancer. That night, he watched his son kick the most important goal in the history of the Gold Coast Suns.It shouldn’t have got to that point. The Suns were 40 points down and playing as badly as they have...