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...
The Swans star cements his place in the annals of AFL history amid wild scenes that, like his 1,000-goal mark, are unlikely to be seen againI’ll never forget the first time I saw Lance Franklin play football. Hawthorn was playing at the MCG and I was there under extreme sufferance. The Hawks were unspeakably bad that year. My eyes were glazing over when this beanpole of a second gamer suddenly swooped on a loose ball, shoved Brent Hartigan aside, gathered it one handed, and threaded a left foot goal from the forward pocket. It all happened in a tick over two seconds. He waltzed in and out of the stoppage like he owned the sport, like the MCG was his...