Key posts
AFL round six teams and tips
Richmond star Noah Balta has been named to face the Suns on Saturday night, despite awaiting sentencing later this month after pleading guilty to assault.
Balta’s return comes after he served a four-match ban (plus another two pre-season games) for the incident outside Mulwala Water Ski Club in December. The 25-year-old is due to be sentenced on Tuesday.
Pre-game thoughts from the Gabba
The new member of the Lions’ next generation brigade will take the field for the first time. Sam Marshall drew high praise from his teammates throughout the preseason, with veteran Dayne Zorko lauding his speed across the ground and gushing he had been “certainly showing us all up”. The midfielder and Lions academy product was selected with pick 25 in the draft, and joins a bench boasting his former Sandringham teammate Levi Ashcroft. Given Brisbane’s tendency to start slowly this year, forced to mount comebacks in each of their five triumphs, expect Marshall to inject plenty of enthusiasm for this sold-out Gabba crowd to throw some unpredictability at the Magpies and turn the momentum if that narrative repeats.
Full congrats to this Magpie
Teams as named on Wednesday
BRISBANE LIONS
B: D. Zorko, J. Payne, R. Lester
HB: N. Answerth, H. Andrews, D. Wilmot
C: J. Fletcher, Z. Bailey, J. Berry
HF: C. Cameron, E. Hipwood, H. McCluggage
F: C. Rayner, S. Day, C. Ah Chee
FOLL: O. McInerney, J. Dunkley, L. Neale
I/C: W. Ashcroft, L. Ashcroft, L. Morris, S. Marshall, J. Tunstill
EMG: D. Robertson, D. Gardiner, D. Fort
IN: S. Marshall, J. Tunstill
OUT: W. McLachlan (omitted), B. Reville (injured)
COLLINGWOOD
B: B. Maynard, B. Frampton, J. Howe
HB: J. Daicos, D. Moore, H. Perryman
C: J. Crisp, S. Sidebottom, P. Lipinski
HF: B. Hill, B. Mihocek, L. Sullivan
F: B. McCreery, D. McStay, J. Elliott
FOLL: D. Cameron, N. Long, N. Daicos
I/C: J. De Goey, I. Quaynor, S. Pendlebury, E. Allan, W. Hoskin-Elliott
EMG: T. Membrey, O. Markov, M. Cox
IN: J. De Goey
OUT: T. Membrey (managed)
A late change for Collingwood
Think footy games are dragging on this season?
Once upon a time, an AFL coach simply had to ask their players for “120 minutes of effort”.
But fresh analysis of the most recent AFL match data shows the real number is now closer to 130 minutes.
The sample size for 2025 is modest but significant – through six rounds, including opening round, the average length of each quarter has gone past the 32-minute mark, pushing the average length of a match to 128 minutes and 42 seconds. It’s an increase of more than three minutes per game on the 2024 season, when the average match length was almost exactly 125 minutes.
The recent history
Good evening and welcome
Hello and welcome to our Good Friday eve match coverage. Tonight’s it’s the traditional match between Brisbane Lions and Collingwood at the Gabba to launch the Easter weekend of footy.
