Goal review debacle and shock results killed off some suspense but last weekend’s upheaval shows nothing is certain in footballAs the AFL was reminded again last weekend, to its significant chagrin, there is no such thing as a certainty in sport after a round that damaged reputations and decimated finals hopes. Not only did a goal review farce sink Adelaide and further dent the battered commodity known as the integrity of the competition, a string of shock results in the penultimate round has largely robbed the AFL of a fairy-tale lead-in to the finals series.The suspense is not completely killed off as flag contenders jostle for position but the final round of the season is not the blockbuster envisaged earlier...
The rise of Geelong and Collingwood proves the game has changed since Richmond’s premiership years. Can the Tigers evolve to find success again? “As a football club, I reckon we fail well,” Richmond CEO Brendan Gale said in the lead up to Saturday’s clash with West Coast.He’d just been pipped for football’s top job by the company man. His team couldn’t take a trick. His coach was cranky. Half his list was sidelined. Against Gold Coast, at a ground they hate, against a team that always brings out the worst in them, they looked tired, confused and frustrated. They gave away 50 metre penalties, flubbed kicks across goal, and sprayed easy sets shots. They’d addressed their deficiencies, but completely regressed...
It depends whether John Longmire’s young team can buck a dispiriting historical trend dating back almost four decadesAs Sydney looks to create modern history in 2023, selective memory across the Swans’ collective is critical to their ability to contend for this season’s AFL premiership.Among the truisms in football is a trend Sydney must reverse after their humiliating 81-point loss to Geelong in last year’s grand final to claim their first flag since 2012. Continue reading...
The Geelong captain entered the MCG carrying Gary Ablett Jnr’s son and exited it handing his boots to the Auskick boyThe team Joel Selwood led out on Saturday was the oldest to ever take the field in a VFL/AFL game. It was his 40th final. At the top of the race, Gary Ablett Jnr nodded to his former captain and handed over his son, Levi, who has a rare degenerative disease. Selwood, one of the most booed footballers in the history of the game, could have been elected, unopposed, the first Australian president at that exact moment.Thirty years ago, almost to the day, young Levi’s grandfather ran onto the MCG with murder in his eyes. He spent the first half...
The compelling storylines recede and the bread and circuses all seem a bit silly given what we now knowEverything was going so well for the AFL. They’d just signed off on a mind-boggling TV rights deal. The football had been exquisite. The stadiums had been heaving. The Brownlow Medal count was compelling. The outgoing CEO was on a giant victory lap. The grand final was one of the most eagerly anticipated in years.That all changed with Wednesday morning’s piece on the ABC website. It evoked a sense this entire competition is built on bullshit, that it’s hard to take anything coming from the mouths of clubs seriously. Football clubs, and the entire industry that feeds off the game, throw around...