Category: AFL – Australian Rules

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It starts with a sore toe, difficulty tying a shoelace, a tingle in a finger. Author Joe Hammond found himself “like a passenger in the aisle of a plane going through gentle turbulence”. For Ross Lyon’s mum, Louise, it started with a twitch in her calf muscle. Within a few months, she couldn’t move her arms or legs. Within a year, it was in her throat, and she was unable to breathe.

For Don Pyke’s father, Frank, it started with difficulty swallowing. He was a professor and a sports scientist and a member of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. In the early 1970s, he played a key role in rehabilitating Dennis Lillee’s back. Motor neurone disease (MND) killed him in 16 weeks.

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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GWS Giants veteran sustaining a potentially career-ending knee injury delivers a tender, human moment that shines a light on the player and his club

AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon would have to rank among the most wooden media performers I have seen or heard. Many in the industry speak highly of him and his ability to distil and diffuse, the sort of operator every leader wants by their side. But he is no frontman. Last week, he did the radio rounds justifying the latest executive shakeup. As always, it sounded like he was reading off well-thumbed, suggested speaking notes. Look, he droned; crowds, ratings and revenue are all up – we’re doing so much right!

It was an AI response to a very human sport. The best of Australian rules football can’t be explained in media releases, or in org charts, or in SEN Fireball Friday hot takes. The best of this sport can be found at the grassroots level, or on hall of fame night, or in thousands of little moments around the country each weekend.

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• Laura Kane demoted and Tanya Hosch to depart organisation

• Movements are ‘the right thing for the AFL’, says Dillon

AFL chief Andrew Dillon insists there’s nothing personal in the demotion of Laura Kane while brushing off fierce criticism of the umpiring standard.

Dillon has gone on the Friday hustings after his reshuffle of the AFL executive cost Indigenous identity Tanya Hosch her role and pushed Kane down the pecking order.

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Three of the best marks I’ve ever seen on a footy field were from players sprinting back with the flight of the ball. If I was trying to explain the appeal of the sport to someone who’d never seen it, I’d show them the marks of Mark Harvey, Nick Riewoldt and Jonathan Brown. But why? I’d probably mumble something about courage and commitment and any of the other cliches peddled by coaches and commentators. The truth is there is something visceral about an act like that, a sort of car crash fascination that gets us out of our seats even more than a screamer or a close game.

It’s a young man’s act. Young men will do silly things under orders and out of fear of embarrassment. One of the first things you notice about older footballers, at least when the prefrontal cortex fully develops, is the different way they assess risk. Even Harvey, as reckless and as fearless a footballer to play the game, had a measure of restraint and self-preservation in his later years.

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A stellar performance at the MCG that included five goals – and much more – helped put the Dees’ early-season rut in the rear-view mirror

Kozzie Pickett’s dad Kevin is an artist, a sculptor and perhaps incongruously, a stand-up comedian. He also designed the Demons’ Indigenous guernsey. His son sculpted the game to his will on Sunday, booting five goals, having a hand in many more and playing a major role in a 53-point trouncing of Sydney.

The little missile of muscle began to impose himself on the game at the MCG early in the second term – a burst out of a stoppage here, a rundown tackle there. Alan Jeans once said that Gary Ayres was “a good driver in heavy traffic” and the same could be said of Pickett, albeit in a completely different way. Ayres navigated traffic with minimum fuss, eyes in the back of his head and an imperious air. Pickett is more like a dragster in the way he explodes out of heavy congestion.

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It was all trundling along nicely for Essendon. The club spent the past month gently tempering expectations, reminding everyone that this is a long-term project, that there will be bad losses and barren patches, but to stay the course. On field, they weren’t beating much, but they were winning, they were defending, and they were having a crack. Coach Brad Scott was getting the most out of a limited but willing team.

That all came unglued on Saturday night, when they were trounced by a red-hot Western Bulldogs. Essendon reverted to type and sank back into the pack. Almost immediately, the club was batting away suggestions that Scott’s coaching tenure was under threat, and that Bombers great James Hird was the man to replace him.

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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After the death of Adam Selwood followed that of his twin brother Troy, all we can do is afford the family the full measure of their unspeakable grief

The great Scottish newspaper writer Hugh McIlvanney often spoke of “the magnificent triviality of sport.” He wrote beautifully on so many things, but especially boxing and horseracing, sports where death is always at your elbow. He saw boxers die in the ring and jockeys die at the track, and he wrote about them with the right mix of detachment, precision and compassion.

Those columns were thankfully rare. Underpinning everything else he wrote was the belief – that agreement between writer and reader – that the great joy of sport lies in its insignificance. We obsess over it, analyse it, and argue about it, but ultimately, it really doesn’t matter.

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• Midfielder played 187 games for Eagles, including 2006 premiership
• Selwood family says ‘words cannot express the grief and sadness we feel’

The West Coast premiership star Adam Selwood has been remembered as the ultimate teammate with an infectious personality, after his death aged 41.

Selwood’s death in Perth on Saturday came three months after his identical twin and fellow former AFL player Troy Selwood died.

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Walls, who has died aged 74, will be remembered as a teacher, a competitor and a hard but fair man after he chose voluntary assisted dying over a second cancer fight

The Walls family statement was succinct: “Robert did it his way and chose to end a fight that had seen him spend more than 250 nights in hospital in the past two years.” He always did it his way. But there were other influences that shaped the way he played, the way he coached, the way he lived and ultimately, the way he died. It was the uncompromising ways of Ron Barassi. It was the imperial Carlton of the 1970s. It was the pitiless, often violent sport of that era. It was the wretched death of his wife, Erin, who succumbed to lung cancer in 2006. It was the Brunswick he grew up in. It was the French village he retired to.

As a 15-year-old, he was gawky, gangly and nervous as hell as he rode his bike to training at Princes Park. But he had good timing. It was the summer of 1966 and Carlton was poised to be a powerhouse. Ron Barassi – much like Walls himself as a coach later on – was not a man to be trifled with. He demanded perfection and total commitment. He had some of the greatest footballers of the generation at his disposal. But he also had young players like Walls – players who were malleable, who would run through brick walls for him and who could be relied upon on the big stage.

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The two clubs that won all four AFL premierships between 2017 and 2020 squared off Sunday in a clash that didn’t look particularly enticing when the fixture was released last November. Heading into 2025, there were predictions of winless seasons and comparisons with the darkest days of Fitzroy. But the game between Richmond and West Coast boiled down to a last-gasp tackle. It was the kind of tackle that was supposedly given its last rites a fortnight ago, a tackle that saw a goal-bound but moribund fourth gamer ambushed like a cheetah on an impala. These things are a mix of technique, speed, luck and, most crucially, will. Tom Brown had all four in spades, and Richmond had another win.

Back in early March, if the Tigers’ coach, players and supporters had been offered three wins by Mother’s Day, they wouldn’t have hesitated in accepting. All they really wanted was to be as competitive as possible, to get some games into their draftees, and to steal four points here or there. They’ve achieved all of that already. Hell, they achieved that in their first game against Carlton. Throw in an unexpected victory over a not entirely beloved triple-premiership coach now at the Suns, and a hard-fought win over the Eagles, and the Tigers have much to be positive about.

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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• Andrew Dillon says ‘we don’t react to media criticism’ after forward’s ban
• League CEO wants united front of players and clubs in ongoing battle

The AFL is appealing for the entire industry to unite and use the fresh Indigenous round as a landmark in the code’s fight against racism.

But AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon says headquarters can’t fix the problem itself as fallout continues from the Willie Rioli case.

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The reigning Coleman medallist drags the Giants over the line to claim their fifth victory in as many matches at the Cats’ home ground

Jesse Hogan is one of those footballers who could easily have been lost to the game. He could be kicking bags and collecting cheques in local and country footy. He gradually fell out of favour at Melbourne. He was miserable at Fremantle. He was a worrier and catastrophiser. The key forward was a speculative pick up for GWS Giants.

All the things that were missing in his life – a clean bill of health, a sound body, a quiet mind, a stable home life, a good team and a coach who believes in him – have aligned at the Giants. Against Geelong, Hogan kicked seven goals and helped drag his team over the line. He’s had some big hauls in recent years – he kicked nine on a West Coast debutant a month ago – but this was in a hot game, in front of a hostile crowd and against one of the best backlines in football. Sam De Koning, a fine player and athlete, had no answers.

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Inconsistency at head office has resulted in a tedious, toxic, utterly avoidable mess. The whole thing could have been handled so much better

After a week of threats, statements, weasel words, revelations and negotiations, the AFL finally landed on what they do best – a sanction. Willie Rioli can seize a dead ball, swivel his backside, slalom through a trio of defenders and slam home a goal in about 2.5 seconds. That’s how long it should have taken the AFL to deal with his alleged threats. Instead, in their eternal struggle between being progressive and punitive, they were caught in the middle, swinging in the wind.

There are a lot of factors at play here, the most glaring of which is the way the AFL responds to these incidents. The weekend’s controversy needed to be dealt with decisively and coherently. Indeed, in recent times, the AFL has been the most punitive of organisations. Last year, they suspended one of their umpires for dressing up as Osama Bin Laden. It begged a few questions. What sort of rollicking knees-up is an umpires’ dress up day? And given the state of umpiring at the moment, can we afford for one of their brethren to be in the sin bin for such an atrocity?

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• AFL hands one-game ban to Port Adelaide forward
• Player will miss Saturday night’s Showdown in Adelaide

Willie Rioli has made himself unavailable for Port Adelaide’s Showdown with the Crows, calling his threatening message to an opponent “unacceptable”. The Power forward will sit out Saturday night’s blockbuster at Adelaide Oval, telling the club on Thursday he was mentally in no position to play.

The AFL later released a statement, saying they were suspending Rioli for one game and requiring him to participate in “education on respectful/non-violent language and conduct”.

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A few days after they’d been trounced by an All-Indigenous team in February, Fremantle’s president addressed the faithful at Crown Perth. “This morning’s event is not just another routine AFL season launch,” Chris Sutherland said. “I think we are as ready as we’ve ever been to chase that cup. We definitely feel like the foundation is sound and we certainly think we’ve got nearly all the pieces in place. May the season be filled with moments of courage, connection and success. I’ve kept this speech very short because I’m actually done with talking. It’s time for action.”

The speech was short, but the message was clear – we’re ready, no more excuses, no more loser’s limp. It echoed thoughts of the CEO, the coach, the players and the wider commentariat. They were confident they had the right coach, the right list, the right age profile, and the right recruits.

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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