North Melbourne AFLW captain Emma Kearney breaks down the key battles for Saturday’s qualifying final between Geelong and Collingwood. Follow our live blog from 4pm on Saturday for all the action from the Geelong-Collingwood qualifying final at the MCG, and stick around for Fremantle’s elimination final against Western Bulldogs at Perth’s Optus Stadium on Saturday night. Where will the Cats […]

Ricky Stuart can trace a part of his coaching philosophy back to a cup of tea with the late Ron Massey. It is in part a reason why the Canberra coach’s belief never wavered, even when the Raiders spent five months outside the top eight this season. Nor did it waver when Josh Hodgson’s season ended in six minutes, when […]

In today’s AFL briefing, your daily wrap of footy news: Leigh Matthews says Tom Lynch’s goal should have stood Simon Goodwin ill, and Tom McDonald ruled out of round one of finals. AFL teams and expert tips for week one of the finals. Check back throughout the day for updates. ‘Bit disturbing’: Matthews says Lynch goal should not have been […]

It’s the great debate that will keep emerging at this time of year: bye or no bye? Footy has long been a survival of the fittest – a grind for 22 matches across the home-and-away season before diving straight into finals. If we’d stuck with that tradition, then I think Geelong and one of Melbourne or Sydney would probably have […]

In today’s AFL briefing, your daily wrap of footy news: Simon Goodwin ill, and Tom McDonald ruled out. AFL teams and expert tips for week one of the finals. Check back throughout the day for more news. McDonald ruled out of September, Goodwin isolated with gastro Marnie Vinall Melbourne have confirmed they’ll be without forward Tom McDonald for their finals […]

When Maurice Rioli has a bad game, he watches highlights of Maurice Rioli. This isn’t another AFL player talking in the third person: Maurice Rioli jnr looks up old clips of his dad, Maurice Rioli snr, the man who forged a path for the extended family, whose members have had the biggest impact in finals of any family in the […]

How important is this match between Parramatta and Melbourne at CommBank Stadium? Put it this way: if the Eels can get through Thursday night and secure fourth place, I think they’ll meet Penrith in the grand final a few weeks after facing the minor premiers in the opening week of the play-offs. The finals series has arrived a week early […]

Hawthorn are looking at options for trading Brownlow medallist Tom Mitchell, with Collingwood expressing some interest in the ball-winning midfielder in the event Brodie Grundy were to leave the club. The Hawks have told Mitchell and his management they are open to him moving if he wants a trade as they will be looking to younger players through the midfield […]

Tom Lynch, Joe Daniher and, dare we say, Dustin Martin loom large in Thursday night’s elimination final, but can the Lions overcome their poor finals record? Jon Pierik looks at the key questions. Lion tamer? Star forward Tom Lynch can be the difference in Thursday night’s elimination final at the Gabba.Credit:Getty Images Are the Lions for real? That’s the big […]

They ripped into each other in the most brutal forward battle of the season, but New Zealand coach Michael Maguire is adamant there will be no issues when Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Nelson Asofa-Solomona come together for Test duty. Waerea-Hargreaves and Nelson Asofa-Solomona were engaged in a running battle throughout the Roosters’ win over Melbourne on Friday. Both received charges from […]