Category: AFL – Australian Rules

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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There was an awful lot of booing over the weekend. Donald Trump was booed at Flushing Meadows, a short drive from where he was born. A rather bewildered Australian prime minister was booed in Western Sydney – never a good sign for a Labor politician. There were howls of derision over the umpiring on Friday night. And the Crows crowd didn’t stop booing for three hours at the Adelaide Oval.

In that instance, it was not only puerile and incomprehensible, but self-defeating: it helped perpetuate the siege mentality in which Collingwood thrives.

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Former Suns co-captain David Swallow played in some awful teams but they now have the firepower and coaching nous to make a deep AFL finals run

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David Swallow is a Perth boy. He had just turned 17 when Gold Coast called his number. Of the players taken after him in the 2010 draft, there would be 27 premiership medallions, several of them around the necks of his former Suns teammates.

Swallow played in some unspeakably awful teams. He was captain of a club with no pulse, no purpose, few fans and, for a long time, substandard facilities. The former No 1 pick, like his club, didn’t play in a final for a decade and a half. He played just seven home and away games this year, four of them as the sub. Then, in the dying moments of an intense game against Fremantle, it looked as though he’d cost his team its first finals win. His dinky little kick ricocheted straight up the other end for a Dockers goal.

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• Suns set up first Q-Clash final with one-point win over Dockers

• Lions midfielder Lachie Neale to miss semi-final due to calf injury

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Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick has declared his club will no longer be stomped on or forgotten after beating Fremantle in dramatic fashion to set up a blockbuster Q-Clash semi-final.

The Suns blew a 26-point lead against the Dockers on Saturday night but managed to regain their composure in the dying minutes to seal a famous one-point elimination final win at Optus Stadium.

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• David Swallow behind sees Suns win 11.4 (80) to 12.7 (79)

• Late drama sets up semi-final against local rivals Brisbane

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Retiring Gold Coast champion David Swallow has kicked a behind with nine seconds remaining to lift his team to a thrilling one-point elimination final win over Fremantle at Optus Stadium.

Fremantle fought back from 26 points down late in the third quarter to take a six-point lead with three minutes remaining in Saturday night’s blockbuster in front of 57,507 fans.

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• Hawks beat Giants 16.11 (107) to 13.10 (88) at Engie Stadium

• Hawthorn set up semi-final with Adelaide; season over for GWS

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Hawthorn sensationally prevailed in a fourth-quarter shootout to claim a 19-point elimination final win over GWS. The Giants had clawed back a game-high 42-point deficit in the third quarter to level the scores at 13.7 (85) early in the fourth at Engie Stadium on Saturday.

But after the Hawks steadied, Sam Butler kicked truly to give them a seven-point lead 17 minutes into the last term, before Mabior Chol slotted two straight goals for the cherry on top in a 16.11 (107) to 13.10 (88) win.

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• Lions tamed 16.16 (112) to 11.8 (74) at Melbourne Cricket Ground

• Cats to play Crows, Giants or Hawks for place in grand final

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Perennial AFL premiership contenders Geelong have marched into a home preliminary final with a scintillating and spiteful 38-point qualifying final win over reigning premiers Brisbane.

The Cats dominated from the outset as they shrugged off the demons of last year’s preliminary final loss to the Lions, prevailing 16.16 (112) to 11.8 (74) in front of 86,364 at the MCG on Friday night.

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Earlier this year, Charlie Curnow marked on the lead, feigned to his right, cut to his left, left his Bulldogs opponent tottering and lashed a goal from outside 50. The ball didn’t spin normally but thudded through the air, a bit like a hammer throw. It was soundtracked by an ascending, guttural “CHAAAAAAARLIEEEE”. Michael Voss turned to the crowd, pumped his fist and screamed “You beauty!”

It was moments like that where it was easy to be seduced by Curnow. It was moments like that, under the Docklands roof, where the Carlton crowd would crackle with optimism. By the end of that night, as with so many others in 2025, the adrenaline wore off and the Blues were overhauled. In the warm-up, Curnow would be gambolling about and he’d almost always start the game well. But as his team stalled, he’d be a frustrated, peripheral figure.

This is an extract from Guardian Australia’s free weekly AFL email, From the Pocket. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions

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