The kill was always coming. Thankfully, for all involved, it wasn’t too messy.Mark Neeld was finished as Melbourne coach the moment media powerbroker Gerard Healy stated it would be a case of “bye bye in the bye”.Healy, impeccably connected at Demon...
June 17, 2:20 pmCredit to Jonathan Brown for breaking the players’ code and telling it like is.Acting, or more specifically over-playing contact, is a blight on our game - and it hasn’t gone away.The AFL’s “Logie Awards” crackdown gathered steam in 2010, but has ev...
June 7, 11:10 amThis was disgusting from the moment Adam Goodes spun around in disbelief.But it went to a new level shortly after 11am today. Disgusting wasn't a strong enough word.Goodes, champion player and champion person, faced the media and revealed the 13-yea...
May 25, 12:10 pmAFL chief executives have never been better at sugar-coating exits.Melbourne’s Cameron Schwab won sympathy sitting next to his president Don McLardy, telling it like it was: “I was told to resign”.And whatever you think of Ian Robson, the latest CEO...
May 23, 3:23 pmThis time, it was impossible for the spin doctors to get their way.In past years the percentage of failed tests was on the decline, allowing the AFL to say it was winning the war on illicit drugs use.Yet today, as the league’s heavy hitters fronted ...
May 16, 12:01 pmKangaroo Lindsay Thomas could be the last player to escape under the contentious “accidental head clash” loophole.New AFL football operations manager Mark Evans has told Seven the Match Review Panel guidelines regarding the bump are under review - a...
April 26, 4:20 pmWe in the media should never criticise clubs for opening up their inner-sanctum.Some commentators ridiculously slammed the Demons and coach Mark Neeld for recently allowing footage of a pre-game address to be aired on Channel 7.What would they prefe...
April 19, 4:12 pmRichard Ings was a busy man when he headed up ASADA, but his phone is running hotter in another life.Ings has become a mouth-piece and go-to man for the media as the James Hird saga rolls on. No one at ASADA will talk publicly and Hird himself keeps...
April 16, 2:33 pmNorth Melbourne coach Brad Scott should never be discouraged from speaking his mind, as his media conferences are as compelling as anyone’s.But he must temper his behaviour away from the microphones in the press room.Scott’s attack on an AFL officia...
April 9, 10:59 amMelbourne fans are unfairly pigeon-holed.Sure, there are Volvos in Yarra Park every time the Dees play, but there are Valiants too. Having watched countless games involving the club at the MCG over the years, the fans under the press box on the memb...
April 1, 1:28 pmAdelaide made 24 interchange rotations in the first 15 minutes of last year’s preliminary final against Hawthorn.Well played to the Crows for attempting to use the bench to their advantage, but those numbers are madness.Sure it was a big occasion, b...
March 12, 7:29 amIt did not take long for the usual calls for a draft lottery to surface once tanking hit the headlines again this week.Presidents and former coaches joined in the free-for-all, banging on about the bottom team not having the certainty of the top pic...
February 21, 7:10 pmChief AFL reporter and football writer for 20 years Mark Stevens gives his views on the biggest issues facing the sport.Melbourne have been a soft target from the moment Brock McLean took tanking talk to a new level in a TV interview last year.The d...
February 20, 12:12 pm| Rank | Team | Won | Lost | Points |
| 1 | Hawthorn | 10 | 1 | 40 |
| 2 | Geelong Cats | 10 | 1 | 40 |
| 3 | Essendon | 9 | 3 | 36 |
| 4 | Sydney Swans | 8 | 2 | 34 |
| 5 | Fremantle | 8 | 2 | 34 |
| 6 | Collingwood | 8 | 4 | 32 |
| 7 | Richmond | 7 | 4 | 28 |
| 8 | Carlton | 6 | 6 | 24 |
| 9 | West Coast Eagles | 6 | 5 | 24 |
| 10 | Port Adelaide | 6 | 5 | 24 |
