Key posts
Players almost ready to go
Just ten minutes till first bounce. How we feeling Bombers and Kangas fans?
Can North Melbourne cause an upset and get their first win of the season, or will Essendon be able to notch another victory and climb into the top two?
LDU warming up before clash with Bombers.Credit: Getty
Dyson Heppell of the Bombers.Credit: Getty
‘Football act’: Longmuir, Lyon defend Webster clash with Frederick
Jimmy Webster’s sickening clash with Walyalup’s Michael Frederick, which left Frederick concussed and subbed out of Saturday night’s game, was a football act according to the Dockers’ coach Justin Longmuir.
Frederick was flattened after Saints defender Jimmy Webster collected him across the head with his hip during a marking contest in the first quarter. Frederick was sitting under the ball when Webster closed in quickly from the side.
As the Saints defender arrived at the contest, he jumped high to spoil the mark, but in the process slammed into the Fremantle forward.
Frederick barely moved as he lay on his back and trainers called for the medical cart so that he could be stretchered from the ground. But just as the cart arrived at his side, he climbed to his feet and jogged to the interchange bench, taking no further part in the game.
Webster, who was banned for seven games for a late bump on North Melbourne’s Jy Simpkin during pre-season, is expected to come under scrutiny from the Match Review Officer over the incident, but both Longmuir and Euro-Yroke coach Ross Lyon said he had eyes for the ball.
Jimmy Webster and Michael Frederick collide.Credit: AFL Photos
Opinion: To those saying no to an NT team in the AFL, your arguments are a crock
By Greg Baum
The arguments advanced against the introduction of a Northern Territory team into the AFL in the near future sound very much like the arguments against a Tasmanian team reheated. Well, in Darwin, they would be hotter.
But they don’t hold any more water now than they did then. Twenty teams is too many? Let’s put that in historical context. A century ago, when the VFL expanded from nine teams to 12, Victoria’s population was 1.7 million, an average of about 140,000 per club. All 12 teams muddled through.
TIO stadium on Thursday night: a home of footy?Credit: AFL Photos
When the competition next expanded to 14 teams by embracing West Coast and Adelaide in 1987, Victoria’s population was more than 4 million and the VFL’s reach stretched across three other states, too, making for a vastly bigger catchment.
Footy’s senior competition now consists of 18 clubs, drawing on a notional population of 26 million. Even allowing for a large couldn’t-give-a-stuff element on the other side of the Barassi line, that’s still a demographic of more than a million per club. The pyramid is getting higher, but the base is even broader.
Bombers swing late change
In not ideal news for Dons fans, the Bombers have been forced to make a late change with midfielder Darcy Parish out with calf tightness.
In good news, they’ll be able to watch young gun and top ten draft pick Elijah Tsatas in action, while Dylan Shiel might see a senior game as the named sub.
For North Melbourne, it’s all going to plan (so far) with Eddie Ford as the sub.
Meanwhile, Bombers key defender Jordan Ridley is back in action in the VFL.
Elijah Tsatas runs out for the Bombers warm up.Credit: Getty
Every team’s indigenous jumper
At the crossroads, Richmond’s next decision could sink or save the Tigers
By Caroline Wilson
The Richmond Football Club board will sit firmly at the crossroads on Tuesday night when it gathers to plot its future beyond Brendon Gale.
President John O’Rourke says he is not daunted by the responsibility he faces, even though the difference between the correct leadership decision and a misstep is sustained success or another journey into the wilderness for the Tigers, who sit second-last on the ladder with one win, only ahead of North Melbourne.
Big job: Richmond president John O’Rourke.Credit: Joe Armao
Nor does he give any credence to suggestions that Gale, who will steer the AFL’s 19th team Tasmania into the competition in 2028, should leave now and that in even some subtle way has already mentally checked out of Tigerland.
While O’Rourke said Gale would no longer play a role in strategic talks or long-term planning apart from the Punt Road redevelopment, the Tigers’ president said his outgoing CEO had two key jobs to perform before he left. He did not rule out Gale departing sooner should his replacement from the plethora of candidates be chosen sooner than expected.
Welcome
Hello and welcome to our AFL live blog for some Sunday footy.
First bounce between Essendon and North Melbourne is set for 1.10pm AEST.
Then, it’s Yartapuulti v Hawthorn at 3.20pm and Waalitj Marawar v Narrm at 6.20pm.
Let’s get to it, shall we?
