Port Adelaide’s first quarter on Friday night at GMHBA Stadium was the best any team has played in 2024 to date. The next three quarters were… less so. In a nutshell, that’s the problem with the Power, and the reason why they’re almost impossible to get a read on from week to week. For three quarters of a game – actually, three quarters of a season – they’re a mediocre, defensively vulnerable outfit that get punished on the turnover and struggle to lay hands on the ball; and then, with little warning, they’ll explode into a devastating beast of a team that wins every centre clearance, kicks th ..read more

Disgraced former North Melbourne player Tarryn Thomas is once again at the centre of a police investigation, after being accused of harassing an ex-partner. According to the Herald Sun, Thomas has repeatedly called the woman, whom he allegedly sent a threatening message to earlier this year in an accusation that was one of the key triggers for the AFL handing down an 18-match suspension, at all times of the day and night in recent weeks. No charges have been laid, with a Victoria Police spokesperson telling the Herald Sun the investigation is ongoing. More AFL AFL News: Police investigate new ..read more

Port Adelaide’s unsustainable style mixed with Ken Hinkley’s unacceptable approach will lead to disastrous results. Here’s the truth of the situation – the Power isn’t playing the sort of footy that lasts for an entire season, demanding so much from its midfield group. How about a bit of a reality check? Hinkley shouldn’t get any credit, nor does he deserve a pat on the back for admitting it was wrong to play the underdone, injured Connor Rozee, as some in the media have seemingly suggested. More AFL 'Make decisions now, apologise later': Ken Hinkley and Port Adelaide are heading for disaster ..read more

In Round 2 of last season, Jeremy Cameron took on Carlton at the MCG and nearly beat them singlehandedly. Fast forward a year and six weeks, and it was another modern great fighting a lone hand against an overwhelming Blues assault at footy’s Mecca – and Christian Petracca managed to will his team seven points closer than even Cameron managed. Superlatives don’t really do justice to Petracca’s performance, after quarter time especially. He was the only Demon who looked any chance of making anything happen inside 50 as a miserly Blues defence tightened the screws on the 2021 premiers’ most glar ..read more

A leaked email has revealed North Melbourne CEO Jen Watt has warned rivals about signing disgraced former Kangaroo Tarryn Thomas, saying the club was ‘not able to meaningfully change his behaviour’. Thomas was sacked by North in February after the AFL issued an 18-match suspension for ‘conduct unbecoming’, after allegations were made that he sent a woman threatening messages following several years of similar claims. With the league attempting to take a stand against gender-based violence in recent weeks, the prospect of Thomas returning to play at the highest level has proved controversial, w ..read more

After a supremely tough Round 8 on the tipping front, Round 9 brings up a whole new host of difficult games to decide on. But it’s fair to say if we thought times are hard for us tipsters, it’s nothing compared to Luke Beveridge’s predicament, with the Western Bulldogs coming off a week of even heavier than usual scrutiny and facing a major banana-skin game against Richmond where nothing short of a comfortable win is an acceptable outcome. The eyes of the footy world might be on the MCG on Saturday night, but it’s certainly not the pick of the matches: with a Melbourne-Carlton blockbuster to k ..read more

Season 2024 is now one third of the way complete, and it’s fair to say that Western Australian-based fans will be enjoying what they’ve seen. West Coast have put together a block of rigid, yet exciting football, while Fremantle have resembled their swashbuckling 2022 form, compared to their stagnant 2023 efforts. Plenty in Justin Longmuir’s side have taken significant steps forward, but one that has perhaps gone under the radar is Luke Ryan, the peroxide-coated defender who has put together a legitimate case for a second All-Australian selection in the opening stanza of the season. The art of ..read more

With the ladder starting to take shape and a bumper Round 9 where all the top 8 teams are slated to play against each other, we ask some of the big questions we have ahead of a massive round of footy. Geelong v Port Adelaide Can Hawkins regain some much-needed form? For the first time in his career, it seems age may have caught up with Tom Hawkins. The champion Geelong forward, who has been so impressive in the twilight of his career, has gone goalless in each of his last four games and has lacked the speed and agility that made him such an asset to this Geelong forward line. The one saving gr ..read more

The Western Bulldogs’ football chief says he has been “blown away” by aggressive and personal attacks on under-fire coach Luke Beveridge. The Dogs’ general manager of football Matthew Egan is staunchly defending Beveridge as “an incredible coach”, amid mounting scrutiny. “I have been blown away with how aggressive some of the comments have been in the media about a guy who has been coaching 10 years at the footy club with a grand final win and obviously being in the grand final only three years ago,” Egan told SEN radio on Wednesday. Luke Beveridge. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Ge ..read more

Following in the lead of competitions like the NRL, NFL and NBA, the Australian Football League is considering introducing a radical plan to present premiership rings to every player who plays a senior men’s or women’s game in a flag-winning season. Such a proposal to introduce rings – worth more than $50,000 each – has reportedly been in discussion throughout the summer, with four separate businesses pitching to partner with the AFL on delivering the luxury items. While the AFL is set to officially commit to a plan, they have maintained that the time-honoured premiership medallion for the 23 ..read more