Category: AFL – Australian Rules

In August their season was dangling, and on grand final day they were meant to be the banged-up ones. Then they went into hyperdrive

This time last year, Dayne Zorko collapsed to the ground like Sergeant Elias in Platoon. Twenty minutes later he was in the rooms, firing out XXXX cans from the esky, like Greg Williams from the bottom of a pack. By that point Chris Fagan had already been in his players’ ears – be humble, stay fit, don’t come back heavy the way Hawthorn did in 2008, and don’t squander the opportunity to build on this success.

As Brisbane basks in their back-to-back premiership, it’s worth reflecting on a hinge moment early in the 2024 season. The Lions were 13th, had won two from seven, and had just been smacked by GWS in Canberra. Weighed down by the ongoing Hawthorn racism allegations, Fagan was having health problems and had asked the club for several weeks off. Against Gold Coast in round eight, they lost Brandon Starcevich in the warm-up. Lincoln McCarthy, a popular and talented forward, ruptured his ACL. An hour later, Darcy Gardiner wrecked his knee as well, the fifth player on the list to do so. But they beat the Suns, in a win Fagan described as one of the most significant in his time in football, and they were up and away.

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Geelong followers’ sustained hunger for success is really about wanting a club that has been this good for this long to get its adequate reward

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In the week leading up to the AFL grand final, official footy media has been united in polite admiration. Geelong may not be the finalist that most excites the narrative, but there is mutually agreed praise for the fact that they are here again, contending again, another year defying the AFL cycle driven by salary caps and draft picks that sifts teams down to the bottom half of the competition after a season or five near the top. Deeper into the crevices of the internet, politeness fades, with diehards of other footy allegiance more likely to say that they are sick of the bloody Cats who should piss off and give someone else a turn.

On pure statistics, this is fair. As a fully disclosed Geelong person claiming no objectivity while anxious for another win, I might be accused of gluttony at the buffet. In truth, though, in 2025 I want this one bad. It doesn’t feel like one more inevitable year in an era of unbridled success. Let me explain before you put a foot through your screen. The numbers are admittedly awesome in the last 22 seasons: 19 finals series, 14 prelims, seven grand finals, four premierships and hunting a fifth. Rich pickings, especially to supporters of teams that have finished most of those seasons outside the top eight.

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Geelong’s success has made it easier to manage the veteran in his final years and they can now reap the rewards at an opportune moment

• All your questions answered in our ultimate guide to the AFL grand final

Patrick Dangerfield hit last week’s preliminary final like a typhoon. Early in the game, as distress signals flared up all over the field, he’d shown enough to suggest that he was sharp and engaged – a slips catch that ended in a Shannon Neale goal and a smother on Jack Ginnivan, just when Hawthorn had all the momentum.

But with a couple of minutes to go in the first half, he adopted an interventional approach. When play resumed, he was thrown into the middle and Hawthorn copped the full brunt. Any shred of malice or anger he possesses was directed at a bobbling ball. He’d see the footy, stick his bum out, put his head down and steamroll anyone in his path. I’ve never seen a footballer better at scrambling on his hands and knees, and at generating power and momentum from that position. I’ve never seen anyone better at rummaging and absconding with a ball, at bringing a dead footy to life when it seemed certain to be heading for a ball up.

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“This job changes you,” Chris Scott tells author Anson Cameron in his book, Neil Balme: A Tale of Two Men. “It has the real potential to negatively affect your life. Neil used to say to me, ‘Don’t let this turn you into a maniac.’ I mean, I respect Bomber as a coach. But what did it do to him?”

The book is full of fantastic little nuggets like that. Nathan Buckley’s thoughts on Mick Malthouse warrants its own column. So does Cameron’s sketch of Eddie McGuire: “A man who can scan a room and rank everyone it in from greatest to least before he blinks, a mix of blokeish bonhomie and clear analytical smarts, a man to be reckoned with.”

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• Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera vote prompts disbelief from crowd

• Decision puts process and umpires’ polling under scrutiny

How the Brownlow medal is decided has come under fresh scrutiny after a controversial vote at the 2025 count on Monday left those in the audience at the glitzy ceremony in Melbourne visibly stunned.

Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera’s outstanding individual performance during St Kilda’s remarkable round 20 win over Melbourne was widely hailed at the time as the greatest of the season – and perhaps even the best seen in recent memory.

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• Midfielder beats favourite Nick Daicos to top honour

• Bailey Smith and Jordan Dawson make up top four

Gold Coast midfielder Matt Rowell has pulled off a Brownlow Medal upset by beating red-hot favourite Nick Daicos to collect the AFL’s highest individual honour.

Surging to 20 votes after 11 rounds, Rowell could not be stopped as he denied Collingwood superstar Daicos, who for a third-straight year had been one of the major fancies.

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Wondering what time the game starts, how you can watch it live and what happens it it’s a draw? We’ve got you covered

Geelong and Brisbane will meet in the 2025 AFL grand final with both sides out to cement their place as arguably the best team of recent years.

The Cats and Lions have shared two of the past three premierships but for the first time in their 126-year VFL/AFL history now cross paths in a grand final.

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When Scott Pendlebury zipped up his tracksuit top, you knew it wasn’t the Magpies’ day. But make no mistake: Brisbane were the superior team

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Darcy Cameron executed the perfect tap, Nick Daicos executed the perfect kick and Mason Cox executed the perfect stuff up. Sometimes in life, and in football, you just know it isn’t going to be your day. And when the ball ballooned off big Mason’s belly button, a bad Collingwood moon was rising. A few minutes later, Scott Pendlebury was zipping up his tracksuit top, done for the day and the year. He’s their compass and their second coach but he also plays a critical defensive role at stoppages. Several times in the opening quarter, the Lions waltzed out the front of packs where Pendlebury would normally have been the doorman.

One thing Collingwood had in their favour was precedent. So you’re three goals down at quarter time, all at sea and without one of your best and most experienced players? Sound familiar? But unlike Geelong’s violent wrenching of the contest the night before, Collingwood’s was more of a stabilisation, a reset, a gradual ratcheting up of the pressure. As Brisbane conceded a 100-metre penalty, Ryan Lester was having his head stitched up, Ty Gallop was being tested for concussion and Collingwood had kicked six goals from 15 entries. Watching the Lions trudge to their rooms didn’t inspire confidence.

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• Lions defeat Magpies 15.10 (100) to 11.5 (71) in preliminary final at MCG

• McCluggage stars with 37 disposals to lead second-half fightback

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Reigning premiers Brisbane will meet Geelong in next Saturday’s AFL grand final after blowing away Collingwood in the last quarter of their preliminary final.

Lachie Neale watch will now be a key feature of grand final week after the Lions kicked away in the last quarter on Saturday at the MCG and won 15.10 (100) to 11.5 (71) before a crowd of 96,033.

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The “too old, too slow” slight is as old as football. In the AFL era, Hawthorn in 1991 and Geelong in 2011 both played like they were insulted at the idea of being pensioned off. But by today’s standards, the age composition of those two premiership teams shouldn’t have been cause for concern. Michael Tuck was 38 but it felt like he’d been 38 since the early 1980s. Chris Mew was 30 and Gary Ayres turned 31 on grand final day. Within six months of that game, Dermott Brereton’s body was shot to bits. But he was still only 27. Similarly, the Geelong side of 2011 wasn’t the dad’s army that they’re sometimes remembered as, with only five 30 or older and Matthew Scarlett the oldest at 32.

The Collingwood team that will run out in the preliminary final really is old. If Jeremy Howe plays, he’ll be the ninth player who is 30 or over. Two more, Jordan De Goey and Darcy Moore, will soon join them. It’s a trend we’re seeing in all sports. Tom Brady retired at 45. Novak Djokovic won a dozen grand slams in his 30s. Serena Williams won nine, including an Australian Open at 35 when she was pregnant.

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• Victoria to play Western Australia in Perth on 14 February next year

• Last time a game was contested between state teams was in 1999

The AFL’s marquee State of Origin fixture will return next year to end a 27-year hiatus, with Western Australia to host Victoria in Perth on Valentine’s Day. After a clamour from fans and players for the state-based rivalry’s return, the 2026 game will be played at Optus Stadium.

The last time an Origin game was contested between state teams was in 1999, when Victoria beat South Australia by 54 points at the MCG, but South Australia was overlooked this time after strong lobbying from the Western Australian government.

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Week three of footy finals features past three premiers, as well as a club with all the momentum, belief and history on their side

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Hawthorn ran through a banner on Friday night that read: “Their House. Our Terms.” And for the first half hour, it was entirely on Jai Newcombe’s terms. He destroyed Adelaide out of the middle, hitting the ball full chested, at top speed, and with lip-smacking relish.

Saturday night’s Q Clash was quickly on Brisbane’s terms too. We all know what that looks like. It means laser-beam kicks through the centre of the Gabba. It means waiting, probing, testing, teasing and then launching. It means a midfield that bats six, seven and eight deep. For their opponents, it means a night of chasing tails.

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• Lions beat Suns by 53 points in first QClash final at the Gabba

• Reigning premiers to face Collingwood in preliminary final

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Q1: 15 mins remaining: Brisbane 1.1.7 – Gold Coast 2.0.12

Haphazard in the forward line from Brisbane, but they’re on the board. Zorko’s pinpoint pass from half back into the centre sets it up, then follows up with the one-two. Kick inside 50 is spoiled, Cameron gets ironed out in the contest, the ball is knocked around via Ashcroft, little kick inboard isn’t marked on the full, Logan Morris gets the snap away as he’s tackled, but he gets enough purchase and it sails through.

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• Hawks 14.17.101 beat Crows 10.7.67 in semi-final at Adelaide Oval

• First minor premiers to exit in ‘straight sets’ for 42 years

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Five goals from veteran Jack Gunston and another Jai Newcombe midfield masterclass have powered Hawthorn to a stirring 34-point semi-final triumph against Adelaide.

The Hawks will meet fierce rivals Geelong in a preliminary final after their 14.17 (101) to 10.7 (67) victory win at Adelaide Oval on Friday night.

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Winning a premiership would not heal the hurt felt after the death of Phil Walsh 10 years ago but it would mean something to some

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Given how appealing humans find metric milestones and closure, there exists a nice thought about an awful story. Adelaide finished this year on top of the ladder, with a second shot at a preliminary final if they can get past Hawthorn this Friday night. Ten years since former coach Phil Walsh died in 2015, the Crows are a chance of a flag. It would not heal any principal hurts, but it would mean something to some.

The mid-season death of a coach would have shaken the club whatever the circumstances, especially after losing assistant coach Dean Bailey to cancer the year before, but Walsh’s case was even harder to fathom given it came from a domestic tragedy: a father fatally injured while his son suffered a psychotic episode. Given that any coaching role has a parental aspect, such a tragedy within a family felt obscenely unfair on all involved.

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