Podcast | AFL Unpopular Opinions
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Special Interest
Podcast | NRL Unpopular Opinions
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Redrafting the 2024 Draft
Just two years after a “legacy” draft, where Richmond had four picks in the top 15 including the first overall pick, the Tigers are 2-17 and below an Essendon team in the middle of an identity crisis that Steve Carell in Crazy Stupid Love would be embarrassed by. Poor skill execution is dearly hurting Richmond, according to head coach Adem Yze.https://t.co/nNywSM4uAF— AFL (@AFL) July 26, 2026 With the senior pillars of the club fading, in particular Nathan Broad, the young players taken highly in the 2024 draft either aren’t playing or aren’t stepping up. Sam Lalor from 50 🚀#AFLDogsTigers pic.twitter.com/HYlsL4sljm—…
How Far Can the Pies Go?
Two things are indisputably true: Linear TV is dying a slow but certain death because of social media, and Newscorp makes a profit mostly because of Fox News. It’s the same thing with oil companies versus AI. AI companies haemorrhage cash and will probably never make a profit but their share prices will continue to rise on the promise of what they could be. Exxon just keeps on printing cash quarter after quarter, especially these days. Collingwood is Exxon. They’re Fox News. They have been a full year older than the next oldest team over the last five games (Geelong)…
Every AFL Team as a Character from The Odyssey
I saw Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey last night. From a guy that didn’t like Oppenheimer and hasn’t loved a Nolan film since The Dark Knight, holy shit it was so good. Every story beat felt incredibly familiar but it was somehow fresh because of Nolan’s freakish ability to do kind of just enough re-imagining to make himself different. You saw it in the Batman trilogy just like you saw it in putting the Trojan Horse in the water rather than on wheels to make it seem more believable. I don’t generally love his movies, but this one was so good. …
The Socceroos and the Weight of Opportunity
A lot has been made of what Mark Milligan and the rest of the SBS crew said about the future of Australian football. In the aftermath of yet another painful Socceroos World Cup exit, this time against Egypt on penalties, Milligan asked the FFA to decide what it wants to be. When will it decide that just qualifying isn’t enough? When are we going to scale the way that we play so we can compete at the World Cup? These are the right questions to be asking. They’re also the questions that we asked after we lost to Argentina in Qatar last…
The Gold Coast Tribute Band
Brisbane and Gold Coast played in the “I’m not desperate yet but I’m getting there cup” on Saturday evening, also known as the Q Clash. In the end, Brisbane got back to what they have done well and ultimately beat the Suns pretty easily. The Lions spent nearly 58% of the game in their front half, took about 100 marks, handily won clearance and contested ball, and held Gold Coast to 20 front half points. It was the Brisbane formula from the last few years applied again to an opponent that simply could not go with them. But why couldn’t Gold Coast go with them? They…
The Fremantle Fighter Jets
There’s something strange happening in Fremantle. With the new rule changes, footy is having a Woodstock season. It’s all free love and forward handballs baby. Sydney is the AFL’s Hendrix leading the charge with the 755 metres gained by handball per game over their last five, which is more than 200 more metres than the second leading team, but others are doing it too. We saw it on Thursday night with Hawthorn, for example. The Hawks are a run and gun team but under Sam Mitchell they’ve historically relied on long wide exits from defence by foot, then short, sharp and aggressive…
The 2026 AFL Table: Part 1
Do you have a seat at the Table? What table? It’s like the High Table in John Wick. All of the most powerful teams in the AFL are on this table together, as equals and as competitors. Among them, they’ll decide who gets to win the premiership. But what is it? The Table is a group of six teams that can win the premiership. That’s it. Only six. I will check in on the Table at about the ¾ mark of the season and then on the eve of the finals and, if all goes well, one of the teams on the Table will win the premiership. You…
Pendlebury and the Pies: Thank You and Goodbye
I remember going to Dusty Martin’s 300th game a couple of years ago. Just like old times, hordes of Tiger fans flocked to the MCG to watch the person that lay at the heart of so much of our happiness over the previous five or so years play. But it was about much more than watching him play again, which we’d all done a hundred times. It was more about saying thank you. Thank you for all the memories you brought us. Thank you for the brightness you brought after a long fallow period. He spoke to Jack Riewoldt over the loudspeaker after yet another…