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‘Responsibility lays with me’: North Melbourne CEO Ben Amarfio resigns
By Jon Pierik
North Melbourne has begun a search for a new chief executive after Ben Amarfio resigned, the latest domino to fall in a year of tumult for the club.
Amarfio had been in the top job since late 2019, having replaced Carl Dilena, who had held the position for seven years.
Ben Amarfio (left) has stepped down as North Melbourne chief executive, coming as coach Alastair Clarkson and president Sonja Hood rebuild the club.Credit:Getty Images
The former Cricket Australia executive had been under enormous pressure as the season unfolded, leading to an extensive club review led by veteran football administrator Geoff Walsh.
This culminated in the axing of coach David Noble, replaced by four-time Hawthorn premiership coach Alastair Clarkson.
We’re off in the AFLW!
And we’re underway between North Melbourne and Melbourne.
This is the first AFLW home and away clash played at the MCG and game for points.
All four previous encounters between these two sides have been at Casey Fields but the ’G has so far brought a growing crowd for the Friday afternoon clash on the big stage.
Listen: Real Footy Podcast – ‘Playing with house money’
This week on the Real Footy podcast, Michael Gleeson, Jake Niall and Caroline Wilson look ahead to finals and an intriguing first week of match-ups.
All the finals action kicks off on Thursday night when Brisbane host Richmond at the Gabba. Can the Tigers go all the way this year? How much will their recent home-and-away clash be a guide for this elimination final? Will the weight of expectation help Richmond and hurt Brisbane? Are the Lions good enough to win the flag?
Two in-form teams
Both North Melbourne and Melbourne finished in the top four of the last AFLW season (which was only four months ago, mind you) and last week, convincingly won their matches.
Melbourne beat reigning premiers Adelaide with 18-points and North Melbourne outclassed the Gold Coast Suns and secured a 26-point victory.
The winner of the this late afternoon game will head straight to the top of the ladder ahead of the weekend.
Ash Riddell picking up yet another possession last weekend.Credit:Getty Images
Greetings, footy fans
Hello and welcome to our live rolling coverage of what promises to be a thrilling Friday night of footy with the men’s qualifying final between reigning premiers Melbourne Demons and the in-red-hot-form Sydney Swans.
The winners will head straight to a preliminary final and the losers will face off against the Brisbane Lions, who beat Richmond in last night’s elimination final by 2-points at the Gabba.
First bounce at 7:50pm.
But before we get stuck into that, we’ve got North Melbourne and Melbourne in the AFLW kicking off the first instalment of the double header at the MCG.
You can leave a comment on the blog at any time to let us know your thoughts on the games!
Ok, here we go.
