Fox Footy Podcast: Nas signs, Rankine in strife & big final round preview

Max Laughton, Ben Waterworth and Ben Cotton review Round 23 and preview Round 24 of the 2025 AFL season on the Fox Footy Podcast, with breakdowns of Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera's record-setting new contract, the Izak Rankine situation, a big preview of the final round and its finals implications, plus Fair or Farce, the Mailbag, Sheeds' Wisdom and much more.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The big footy issues from every angle, dissected by a
team that follows the game closer than anyone else wherever
you are around the planet. This is your ultimate guide
to the AFL. This is the Fox Footy Podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
The stakes are high and the news lines are rampant.
On the eve of the final home and away round
on the field, A genuine cutthroat final before the finals
awaits us as the Dogs host the Dockers, with the
loser set to miss with fourteen or maybe fifteen wins
this season. That is unless the Son's choking their final
two games and there are some doubters out there at

(00:38):
the moment. Off the field, Adelaide facing a major blow
after one of the club's most significant wins in years,
while some Kilda fans are rejoicing ahead of a monster
off season. We'll discuss all of the aforementioned and more
on the Lace edition of the Fox Footy Podcast. Ben
Waterworth with you as is the man coming to the
end of run home season, Max Lawton.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
Hello, MAXI god, I'm glad not to be hosting this week. Ben.
Thank you for being back.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
How'd you go last week?

Speaker 3 (01:03):
It was fine. It's just so reassuring to have you
back in charge leading the ship. Yes run home season. Well,
it's arguable was that prelim final night was a Sunday
night when we had to do all the permutations and
the Grand Final is the actual round twenty four. It's
not as dramatic as it could have been. I think
Free Oh winning against Brisbane would have made it more interesting,
but still a mini elimination final on the Sunday involving

(01:26):
the Bulldogs for basically the sixth time in seven years.
It is crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
I did see that also joining us preparing for his
Grand Final in a few months the AFL trade period.
Ben Cotton, Hello BC.

Speaker 4 (01:37):
Hello gentlemen, thank you for having me on. And I
feel like with two times David Kings here, we've got
two guys with laptops and Max both of the laptops.
Laptops here, Yeah, all systems go.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
I think ours were a little newer than keys. He's
had a laptop replacement recently.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
It's true his was prehistoric before that.

Speaker 4 (01:56):
It was making weird sounds in the other room the
other night, though, I'm a bit concerned for Kiev.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
He actually ran on Doss so not a lot of
people in Dos.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yes have all these picture of Windows ninety five.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
Just yes, he's got a screenscave with the bouncing yeah logo.
It's great stuff.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
With the two massive stories on Monday. Normally Monday this
year hasn't been a massive newsday, but two reasonably significant
stories on Monday. Let's start with Isaac Rankin. As we record,
we don't know the likely punishment for Isaac Rankin. I
think everyone in the industry thinks this is heading for
a suspension after an alleged homophobic slur. The latest homophobic

(02:33):
slur in the AFL Maxi jerreed on three sixty last
night caught it a scourge for the AFL for the
past eight eight months. Is that a fair statement because
this will be the sixth AFL listed player to be cited.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
We get two in the VFL, yeah, and then four
at AFL level. Yeah. No, I think that's entirely fair.
We're thinking four or five weeks, well, no, probably by
the time you're listening to this exactly how much time
he's missing. But we're pretty sure he's missing the Grand
Final if they get there, which is an absolutely massive blow.
He is one of their most important players, Isaac Greenkin.
So it sucks for the Crows, but for Isac rankins

(03:06):
perpective you. As I've said before when discussing this topic,
I have some level of sympathy for the player making
what is clearly a very bad mistake. There is no
malice generally towards gay people in him saying this. But
at the same time, the IFL is completely right to
crack down on this as hard as it is, because
it's not about the specifics of saying one word, and

(03:27):
it's not about free speech. As much as Damian Hardwick
wanted to sort of make it about that, don't NFL
three sixty. He discussed that topic and he has his viewpoint.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Did he make it? Did he make it about free speech?

Speaker 3 (03:36):
Do you think? I think his comments about what we
can and can't say.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
That was a bit odd?

Speaker 3 (03:42):
Was if you look at his Twitter follows, he and
I are on different ends of the political spect I
will say that said coming.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
No, because he did. He did say that, but I
think he was specifically talking about the length of penalty
he had his coaches coaches had on when he was
talking about that topic on I think that wasn't a
wise comment in the context.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
I understand where he's coming from, but I think that
perspective is born from his broader viewpoint on the world,
and the severity of the penalty is based on the
fact that these words and the use of them, that
coming out flippantly in the heat of battle, are why
we still don't have an openly gay AFL player. It's
why there's still a culture where it's not felt to
be safe enough for gay players to come out, even

(04:25):
though there's plenty in AFOW they have that problem there. You know,
junior players, if they're gay, are going to be less
willing to come out and less willing to get into
footy in general because of these sorts of situations. That's
why you have to take them seriously.

Speaker 4 (04:37):
There's probably a lot of people out there that would
see these what people are saying on a foot field
and they probably think, oh, it's in the heat of
the moment, it's not too bad. But I think you've
also got to remember, like, this is people's workplaces. If
someone said that in your workplace, how would you feel,
How shocking would it come across? So I think you
do have to remember that this is a workplace for people,
even though it is footy and it's a game and
we all love it and stuff like that, but that

(04:59):
is just one thing. Keep in mind that this is
twenty twenty five and there's some things that you just
can't say anymore. And look, it's a big, big blow
for the Crows. Lo this is arguably the biggest story
of the year, guys, in my opinion.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
I think that's a fair comment, Like this is.

Speaker 4 (05:12):
The most improved team, one of the premiership favorites, their
star recruit that's helped them get to this point is
now going to miss potentially a Grand Final and a
rough twenty four hours after losing the signature of the
Siwangon and Miller as well. So tough weekend. But as
you guys just spoke about, like there is lessons that
clearly need to be learned and there's some evolution for
the AFL.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
Still like he's the X factor that could be the
difference in a one kick game that could potentially win
at a later final. King he's being big on the
Crows won't necessarily lose a flag because of this, or
they more like going to win the flag because of
their work behind the ball that's the moment and their
three prong forward line really does seem like a bit
of a weapon heading into September, but there are a

(05:55):
few players with his match winning inate ability in the compition.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
No, the hope would be that Josh Rochelley comes back
in and plays that role, but it's not going to
be exactly the same. We've seen teams overcome the loss
of their best arguable player West Coast and twenty eighteen
comes to mind with Nick nat but jeezus, still that
much harder.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
Did you mentioned Decius before him? That's the big That
was the other big story that dropped on Monday. And
you know, Nasiah and his management have done so well
to keep this as in house as possible, have kept
everyone guessing. A lot of reporting that around this has
been done by speaking to those close, I think to
the respective camps, but it seems like the most important

(06:35):
people in the story have done pretty well to keep
things close to their chest. Were you surprised that he
stayed at Saint Kilda BC?

Speaker 4 (06:41):
I was surprised, but I never had a really strong
inkling what was happening, and that's why I didn't really
report much myself, because I was hearing at one moment
it was port Adelaide's noses are in front. Next you
were hearing Adelaide's noses were in front. Then you heard
like an Eddie Maguire on the foot on Channel nine
last week saying that he thinks and Kilda is moving
in front. So there was so many different angles that

(07:02):
to me it was not a guessing game. But I
just think no one genuinely knew you would have thought
that the fact that it got up to around twenty
three and having not made a decision by then, that
was leaning towards an exit. I think that's kind of
what everyone was thinking. But there is the added layer
of the fact that he has increased his value, probably
more than any player in the history of the game,
maybe besides Dusty Mardin in twenty seventeen.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
Dusty was good enough in twenty seventeen before that that
he it's literally gotten an extra million dollars a year
now because of his play this year.

Speaker 4 (07:28):
Potentially more because the reports are that the original offer
was in the eight hundred k range and now he
signed for two million bucks, so it's a fair jump.
But yeah, I think he kept everyone guessing to the
bitter end.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
I think everyone was feeling like they had to guess
because no one knew because Nas didn't know. I think
it's as simple as that he made the decision on
Monday morning. For all reports, it was a weird sort
of situation where one report said he told people on Saturday,
and one report said that he said himself that he
knew last week, even though ross Lyin found out on
Monday and was apparently the first person he was to.

(08:00):
The timelines don't match up at all, but I think
it's very very clear that he was leaning one way
and then leading another and then trying to make up
his mind, and it just so happened that that perfectly
suited the manager's needs for gaining as much leverage as possible.
And this is a reminder that Nas is not the
best player in the AFL. He might be top ten
right now, it's not the best player in the AFL.
But contracts are about leverage and talent. He had immense leverage,

(08:22):
and the fact he's signed a short term deal means
he'll have immense leverage in two years when he comes
out of contract and he's not a free agent.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
It's worked out really really well for Nasiawan and a
Miller is he worthy of the two million dollar price tag,
because that's certainly the numbers being thrown around for Harley
Reed who doesn't have as many runs on the board,
but has been in the system for two years, less
for Zach Bartus, who's been in the system for three
more years, I think, than nas Miller Miller who's and

(08:49):
he's out of contract the end of next year and
likely to whatever he does, he's going to decide next
year as well. But considering some Kilda's standing, the fact
they've missed out on lots of rival club players in
the past, but this is seen as a huge win
to retain a player of this talent because probably they
haven't had a play of this talent for quite some time.
Is he worthy of this two million dollar tag?

Speaker 4 (09:10):
I think so yeah, And I must admit, over the
last six weeks in my head I was thinking, surely
he is worth two million dollars compared to say Matt Row,
who's doing some great things. I think he signed for
maybe one point three to one point four. We're hearing
Harley Reids in that neighborhood like the things that Nasai
has done in the last six to eight weeks are
as good as any patch of any player this season.

(09:32):
So you combine the fact that he's out a contract,
that he's got two clubs really into him as leverage
that Max pointed out, and just I think what he
means to sink Kilda right now. He's probably their best
player since Nicko Raywold. I think you combine all the elements,
the way that the salary caps moving the CBA. Clearly
it was only a matter of time before someone was
going to be the first two million dollar player, and
I thought the riding was on the wall in the

(09:53):
last six weeks, that he was getting very close to
that mark, and then bearing him on that Tdka is
reportedly signing for one point seven.

Speaker 5 (09:58):
I think the side's a much better player.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Is there a chance that this is even more dusty
like twenty seventeen like in that he could win the
Brownlow Medal this year?

Speaker 3 (10:08):
This year, I don't think they wont enough games for that.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
I probably not, but he will. It feels like he
will come with a rush.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
Oh certainly. And he What you've often seen the Brownlow
is that players who are part of the narrative of
the season gained more attention, and he has certainly been
part of the narrative of the season. So the umpires
are going to think of him certainly and Sinkilda's with
like you three votes in the Melbourne game. It's for
damn sure, plenty of options like that, and looked sin
Kilda had to sign him for this much because they
had all that money and they had to keep him.

(10:35):
I think Ross Alyin was very honest on Monday Night
on Seventh Show when he talked about how it would
have been catastrophic to lose him. It would have set
back their entire list, build their entire plan, which is
presumably to contended in what two years time by the
end of this deal, revolved around him being their best
player in that period and adding people in with the
salary cap space we know they have. So if they
didn't keep him, it would have set them back another

(10:55):
two three years of mediocrity.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yep. From a Securita perspective, now PC they we know
that they want to try and get Tom daconing in.
I think there's a sense among the industry that it's
almost a done deal. Plus on top of Lekalier, who
if you reported about extensively, so there there are other
two main targets But then as I spoke to Brad
Johnson about the size decision yesterday and he talks about

(11:19):
there is going to be a domino effect at the
bottom end here where some players will either one take
pay cuts or two can't take the pay cuts because
they don't think they deserve it and will look elsewhere
as well. So the likes of Marcus Winheger, I think
falls into this category what Roald Marshall wants to do
with deconing coming in and then reports around Wilkin Steele
who've publicly deny that they want to seek for greener pastures.

(11:41):
But I think there will naturally be a domino effect, won't.

Speaker 5 (11:43):
There one hundred percent?

Speaker 4 (11:44):
My initial reaction was the size is getting paid this
much money plus the TEDDK money plus Lekaler. It's a
lot of money to be.

Speaker 3 (11:52):
Four points five million for three players.

Speaker 4 (11:54):
Naturally, my first thought was, well, someone's going to fall
out at the bottom. But I spoke to a few
people today and the feeling is that Nasaiah re signing
with Saint Kilda is like a massive win and a
vote of confidence in the club and a much loved
player in the club, to the point that players actually
prefer to stay now because they think that they're in
a better environment, more likely to win. If Desai sees

(12:17):
a great future, then why wouldn't you want to stick around.
So I think, like in Marcus Winnaeger's case, for example,
his housemates with an Asia, they're best mates. I think
it's more likely now he actually stays.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
Okay, but clearly this.

Speaker 4 (12:29):
Club sniffing around and his head will need to get
turned by potentially bigger offers like Hilda won't be able
to match some of the offers that he's getting. I
think like Essenon and Melbourne are probably the two clubs
to watch there, maybe.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
The Giants too.

Speaker 4 (12:42):
Yeah, so there's clearly a few clubs into him, so
I think that one is separate. And then I think
Marshall was clearly very linked to the coning. I think
that's likely that he would leave at the end of
the season. And then I think Jack Steele would probably
just come down to if the suitors for him. I
think in a perfect world, since Kilda would move him on.
I'm just not sure how much interest there is in
him at the moment. So I think they're all very separate,

(13:04):
and I think at the end of the day they
could probably afford to keep them all, but it'll be
fascinating how it all plays out.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
It's a good problem for Seculita to have and good
news for their fans who were rejoicing no doubt on Monday.
Let's have a look at the run home. Well, yes,
one week to go, Max, and it isn't it. It's
actually not quite nice because you've we've got ten games
rather than nine games.

Speaker 3 (13:27):
Sorting out the tipping article for the week and seeing
ten games just feels wrong.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
We really mess with your OCD, Max. So we know
that Adelaide, Brisbane, Geelong, Collingwood Hawthorne Giants are definitely playing finals.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
Look if GWS loses by one hundred points and Fremantle
loses a high scoring game to the Dogs by a
one point, the Giants could miss right, that's it. Otherwise
the top six are locked in.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
Yes, and the Giants this weekend are playing Securita, so.

Speaker 3 (13:56):
Good luck to them. Maybe a nas inspired demolition job.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
What what are the key touch points here for we're
clearly Western Bulldog's freeman, but is any like are there
any other touch points that are crucial in the race
for the eight here? And the positions that they could
fall in.

Speaker 3 (14:11):
Well, you can split into three. The top eight race
just to get in is pretty much purely dogs free.
If the Suns beat Port and then that game is
officially an elimination final, winner gets in if the if
the Sons lose to Port, it will come down to
them still needing to beat Essenton. You think they would,
but you never know, so at least we'll have some
more stakes. Then you've got the top four race. You've
probably realistically got three teams fighting for it for if

(14:35):
you really rate the giants. Collingwood playing first is actually,
for the first time in history disadvantaged by an AFL fixture.
Congratulations on that, because they play first, and then gold
Coast will know exactly how much they need to win
by to catch up to them and possibly not them
out of fourth. Hawthorne also a chance if they win
well against Brisbane. I think that's that's more about them
winning the game at all, because that Brisbane Hawthorne game

(14:55):
is critical. Winner of that Brisbane definitely makes top four.
Hawthorne has a chance to lose, are probably going to
an away elimination final, so it's still a very high
stakes game. Even if those teams are locked into the
eight and then simply enough, your top two adel age
along and that's one of them is losing to North
Melbourne or Richmond. I think they're just the top two
and therefore by default your Premiership favorites.

Speaker 2 (15:15):
It's an amazing result for the Cats in particular.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
They're sort of just walked in and as everyone fell over,
like they've got all these easy games, like okay, yeah,
now we.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
Have been forecasting sometimes of their draw.

Speaker 3 (15:25):
Yeah, this is what was always most likely to happen.
Everyone would stumble at some point, you know, not everyone.
I thought gold Coach would lose to JWS or Brisbane
losing random games and things like that. It just things happen,
and then the Cats took advantage. It was a draw
that we forecast in the preseason, was easier than quite
a few others. And they've still got their second meeting
with Richmond to come this weekend, which they'll gladly enjoy.

(15:46):
And if the Crows lose to North Melbourne they could
still finish on top, which.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
Is that is remarkable. Who is most vulnerable do you
think BC heading into this.

Speaker 5 (15:55):
Weekend most vulnerable?

Speaker 4 (15:57):
I think probably well to miss the ape really Fremantle
that that is a tough assignment. There's the demons of
what happened last year, dropping out in the last few rounds,
going to going to Marvel Stadium to play the Bulldogs.

Speaker 5 (16:09):
That's always a really hard task. Will Hayd and Young
came back? Come back? Will he not?

Speaker 4 (16:14):
There's a lot of pressure on Fremantle, but they are
at the same time, Like I was probably harsh on
them last week in my own mind thinking oh they've
stuffed up again. They're going to miss out again, but
they are going to miss the finals with if they
do lose fifteen wins, which is extraordinary.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
It's never happened in vfla F history that the team
has won fifteen games and not played finals.

Speaker 4 (16:31):
They've improved from last year. I think they won thirteen
last year mats. You might know off the top of.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
You well, because they dropped the last one.

Speaker 4 (16:37):
And this is the stat that or the number that
blew my mind the most is that they have won
the same amount of games that Geelong won last year,
who made a prelim final and just went down to
Brisbane and one of the chief premiership favorites.

Speaker 3 (16:47):
So won more games in Brisbane one last year in
the home and.

Speaker 4 (16:49):
Away clearly then, but then obviously the sort of elephant
in the room, if you will, is Collinwood potentially missing
the top four. Like that would be ross talking about
it being catastrophic about losing this if I left, that
would be catastrophic if colin would missed the top four
when they've led on top of the ladder for the
majority of the season and they haventy.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
Eggs into the twenty twenty five basket.

Speaker 4 (17:09):
Yeah, And I think it's hard because the loss to Adelaide,
like at the end of the day, they just needed
to get the result, Like how they played was almost irrelevant.
Their performance was really good because they didn't get the result.
So you can look at that in two ways as
if to say they're somewhat back and there's still a chance,
but they just didn't get the four points. And now
they're in a really precarious situation. But like they can

(17:32):
somewhat still control their destiny if they come out and
have a really strong performance against Melbourne and win by
sort of five, six, seven plus goals, that could set
them up. So it's an intriguing week and ahead.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
Even if they finished fifth, I think they can still
win the flag. I know it's harder, but you're talking
about the difference between away qualifying final, which they'll feel
they could beat Adelaide in that match, but it's still
going to be tough, or hosting elimination final.

Speaker 4 (17:56):
Now.

Speaker 3 (17:56):
Obviously a top four path is going to be simpler
and a season like this where the top so even
the seeding matters even more because any advantage is almost multiplied.
But Collingwood is still good enough. They've won four games
by a kick or less, like they are clearly a
very good team those fours.

Speaker 2 (18:11):
They've lost a lot of games though, by kick or less.

Speaker 3 (18:14):
That's what I'm saying. They're three and four in close
games this year, So a losing record in close games,
it can happen to anyone, apparently, and so that tells
me that they are still clearly a very good team.
You think about those games. The Freemantle game absolutely in
the balance. The Geelong game they would have felt they
should have won that with the rundown tackle tripping too
soons Adelaide game very close than the Gold Coast game

(18:35):
that was very weird in its own way. They came back,
it took it was the exact same as last year's
game Coast that could end up being a semi final,
and I think based on my predicted top eight right
now that would be a semi final. Is Gold Coast
host in Collingwood, which that's a fifty to fifty game.
If that happens, winner of that gets a prelium against
Geelong or Brisbane winnable. You know, anyone who makes the

(18:58):
eight this year is good enough. Maybe you don't trust
the Bulldogs to win fall in a row, but they've
got so many positives going their way and maybe they
just put it all together. GWS is absolutely dangerous. Brisbane
or Hawthorne, whoever finished the seventh or eighth out of
that duo, absolutely dangerous. We know you can win it
from the bottom half of the eight. We saw it
last year. It can happen again.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
It could be. It could be the best final series
for it we've seen for a number of years. A
couple of I'm trying to think was tw tw twenty
twenty three. There were a lot of closers. I want
to say twenty twenty two because I remember getting to
the Geelong Sydney Grand Final that was so against the
grain of yes, the final series.

Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yes, those two Collingwood dominated final series had a bunch
of incredible games, as Ben Wodwell, good memories, some of
them good, some of them bad initially, but yes, but
then you've also had some blowout. This is a very
much like a twenty sixteen top eight. I think where
you knew the top eight for a long long time.
That was the year North Melbourne started ten and zero
and then fell off to finish eighth, and then I

(19:54):
think the top seven at all one fifteen games, the
Bulldogs in seventh. You know where the Bulldogs are finishing
on my predicta top eight seventh, seventh, seven, big.

Speaker 4 (20:03):
Chance and just another game that I on a highlight
and I'm sure we're going to speak about it a
bit later. But gold Coast versus Port Adelaide, like that's
a big litmus test for gold Coast because it's Ken's
last game, Travis Boke's last game. Everyone's sort of penciling
in gold Coast to win both their games, but they
are going to have to beat a team on the
road under a little bit of advertise he packed house.
That will really be their test as to whether or

(20:25):
not they're good enough for top four.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
It's as if Ben has read the rundown because it's
a beautiful segue into this and now.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
On the Fox Foody podcast, another strong edition of Australia's
favorite segment, Fair or.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Fast, Large, Fair or Fast. Max ken Hinckley's postmatch presser
after the Carlton loss proved even he's sick of the
handover fair or fast Fair.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
He said as much, and I think is very understandably
sick of both waiting for a decision he's known is
coming through about nine months, and sick of answering questions
about it, because every single press conference with him for
the last nine months has been exactly the same.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
I think the journals are sick of asking the question
what else? What else do you ask?

Speaker 3 (21:04):
The moment and it was entire and so he asked
up about a question about He said, oh, I've been
sick of this, and then a journalist asked him, I said,
do you regret the handover situation? And then he got
all annoyed at that, which seemed unreasonable an incredibly reasonable
follow up question to literally what he had just said,
But is this not a clear message that a handover

(21:24):
plan like this is incredibly risky? And probably shouldn't be
embarked upon, because, yes, if Port was a contender, maybe
there's some emotion to try and win it for Ken,
but they have a motion every under can that wasn't
going to do anything. And if you want to talk
about emotion making a team play well for someone, well
they're four or their five last losses thirty eight points,
ninety eight points, eighty eight points, fifty four points. They're
a crap team right now. So yes, if you believe

(21:46):
in the Colts of King Hinckley, maybe they can upset
Gold Coast, but that's really all you're relying on right now.
On the field, they're not that good. So sure there
are some possible positives, but also the understandable negatives of
a team that no those that its coach is going
knows that it has nothing to play for for about
half the season. This is what happens. You did.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
You did mention about the Suns potentially being vulnerable the
last time they played at Adelaide Oval. I know, a
different quality of opposition, but they were goalss I think
in the first half the Suns Adelaide Crows Sunday Nights Special.

Speaker 3 (22:18):
That was when we had the Collingwood Frio game was
going on, thankfully to distract people from how bad the
Sun's Crows game was, which could be a qualifying final
hopefully not as bad this time.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
Well, the qualifying final like game between the Sons and
the Crows was at people first stayed him. That was
very good.

Speaker 3 (22:34):
Well, we'll definitely be see highlights of that in the
build up and not of the other game.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
That's fair BC. Jamara hugil Hagen won't be on an
AFL list next year.

Speaker 4 (22:44):
Fair or fast, I think right now I would say fair, right,
I would say fair. Well, he's contracted the Bulldog, so
technically he should or would be there unless he's breached
some part of his contract where they're allowed to cancel it.
But yeah, this is a really sensitive, you know, off

(23:04):
field troublesome story that we're talking about. I think clearly
when he had that leave of absence, he came back
sort of several weeks ago. Now, I think all that
you would have wanted to see from a Dog's or
a rival club perspective is get back, get back into
some sort of routine. Maybe he plays some VFL footy
if you're lucky, but above all else you just want
to see him get back into some sort of normal routine.

(23:25):
And clearly the reports that came out about some sort
of being caught up in a shooting of some sort
over the weekend.

Speaker 3 (23:31):
The Love Machine at two am close to where. I'm
not going to say it's a lovely part of the
world because it isn't that it's not the best part
of Chapel Street.

Speaker 4 (23:40):
Chapel just riding my backyard as well, so.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
You're away from that bit I was from the I
was in the dirty bit of Breann, very nice bit.

Speaker 5 (23:49):
Brand is a nice area.

Speaker 4 (23:51):
But yeah, and then obviously I think he's had some
family things going on as well, But there's just enough
happening right now where if I was another, if I
was a rival club, I would be seriously concerned about
investing in this guy. The only real club that you're
hearing often is Sydney, and I think Sydney's watching the
situation with interest. But even them, I think they'd be
getting pretty spooch right now. So if you ask me

(24:11):
right now what's going to happen, I'd say it's unlikely
because his life is clearly off the rails to some
degree at the moment. But clearly things could change in
the coming months.

Speaker 3 (24:21):
There's some bad things happening around him is the problem.
So it's worth stressing that he has not been found
to have done anything wrong, but the people he has
been associated with and the fact he's been spoken to
by police twice in three months in relation to shootings
is not a great implication for the people he is around.
I think that's really the dynama he finds himself in,

(24:43):
which is about his decision making and is about can
he be trusted to get back into an AFL environment
and fully commit to it. That's the problem he now
faces and the reason why clubs would be less willing
to talk Max.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
Everything about the Adelaide Collin would result was calma fair
or fast everything. Yes, the Crow's finally winning.

Speaker 3 (25:01):
Well, it's true the Crows when look, I'm not going
to say that I come as a strong word. I
didn't think about the fact of the close game stuff.
Just the one thing I like about so it looks fair.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
Sure.

Speaker 3 (25:17):
The one thing I like is that Collingwood has got
this new strategy this year. Because everyone's everyone else is
getting gotten really good at shutting down games, Collingwood is
having to come back in these games. They're much better
at shutting them down, and our team's doing that to them,
so that's fair enough. Their new strategy that umpires do
not believe in at all is half tackling someone, stopping
tackling someone, putting their arm up saying look, I'm not
tackling him. He's not getting rid of the ball, and

(25:38):
the umpires aren't saying, oh, yes, no, you're right, he's
holding it in and they're saying, no, you're tackling him.
I know what you're doing. I'm not going to call that.
Maybe by the letter of the law they should be
calling it, but I like that by the spirit of
the law they're not letting them get away with that
and just calling a ball up.

Speaker 5 (25:52):
I actually really like that.

Speaker 4 (25:55):
But it's.

Speaker 3 (25:57):
Everyone through it.

Speaker 5 (25:58):
I reckon that. I can't remember who.

Speaker 4 (26:00):
But there was that last one right at the end.
I reckon it was right on a knife's edge. They
quickly got it out. But if that did have come
back in, I reckon they would have got pings. I
think it's actually really smart because no one else has
done it before. And yeah, it might not be working,
but it is in theory opening up space.

Speaker 3 (26:15):
It shows they're thinking about the game in a different way,
which I can appreciate. They're at least trying to find
new tricks. It's just that things balance out in the end.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
BC. This is a dangerous one. The Riley Philop kick
away was the biggest non free kick of the year,
fair or fast biggest non free kick aser Gary Lyon
in the emotion might not have been as big as
the collingwoodong one the rundown there.

Speaker 4 (26:42):
Yes, I'll look for let's just go fair for theatrics
will continue on this. But yeah, I mean, I mean
maybe the decision itself, like there may have been worse
decisions this year. I don't think phil Thoughpe was purposely
trying to kick the ball away or time waste, but
letter of the law it probably should have been paid.
But I just in terms of the ramifications of the

(27:03):
free kick, maybe that's where you could go into that
territory that it was the worst free kick of the year,
because maybe then that gives the Collingwood the opportunity to
score again. Obviously they ended up getting an inside fifty
anyway and trying to score again, so it didn't really
matter in the end.

Speaker 5 (27:15):
But letter of the law it was there.

Speaker 4 (27:18):
It was controversial, but as we've just spoken about good
you know it swings and roundabouts with luck, Collingwood's had
their fair share. Maybe they were just jufis and bad luck.
So it felt like all their Christmases for in the
wrong end came at once.

Speaker 3 (27:32):
Yeah, it's fair to point out that Collingwood, despite the perception,
has not been the beneficiary of free kicks all year.
I think they're negative overall for the season count Richmond,
like during the Richmond dnasty a little bit. It's less
ill disciplined and just more they're balanced out. I think
that free kick gets cold if it's at the MCG
probably yeah, because the crowd makes a big deal out
of it and then the umpires reaction of affirmation. Absolutely,

(27:53):
that is that free kick is the definition of home
ground advantage.

Speaker 4 (27:57):
And it's probably one that you would have felt they
would have got two years ago when everything was kind
of just working and it's just sort of a healing
of it's just not quite their year or it's not
quite their nights.

Speaker 3 (28:06):
So when does the feeling give inevitability disappear? Because I
certainly still watch Collingwood close games. Think, oh, probably right,
Probably although Saturday night I was atle Bit like, I
don't know Adelaide's defense is done. Damn well, they've stood
up to what seventy one inside fifties.

Speaker 2 (28:20):
Maybe if they lose a close final, well.

Speaker 3 (28:22):
They lost two in twenty twenty two and that didn't
stop them.

Speaker 4 (28:25):
I mean, you know that they'll always be in a
position to win a game. It's just you can't always
rely on getting over the line. But they are very
good at making sure that if they're down or what
have you, that they'll be there.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
I genuinely think now because of the close losses they've
had in this sort of five or six lost streak,
people are actually underrating Collingwood like they are actually better
than the ladder suggest and in an a normal season
they would still be definitely top four, maybe top two.
You've got to remember that the equalization of the top
eight and how jam packed it is is impacting everyone
in different ways.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
The loss of the Lines and the loss to Hawthorne
were quite stark.

Speaker 3 (28:58):
That too bad results, and the ged Areous game in
opening round wasn't as bad as the margin said, but
fifty points to fifty points, those are their three bad
games for the year.

Speaker 4 (29:06):
I think just sorry lasting on the pies, like to
go glass up fall on them as well, Like there
were baby steps in terms of getting their game back
on track on the weekend, like their pressure was incredible,
that they looked a little bit better.

Speaker 5 (29:18):
Around the ball and stuff. It's just that.

Speaker 4 (29:20):
And you think that their defense will get settled again
by finals. I think it will at least. It's just
that forward connection.

Speaker 3 (29:25):
At them and Bobby Hill's absence, which seems like it's
going to be for the rest of the year, is notable.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
Max Rossline is the country's greatest value for tweet operator
fair or.

Speaker 3 (29:35):
Uss Well, I don't remember. Look, I tweet a lot.
I don't think Giddy Images ever taken a photo of
me tweeting, certainly not intentionally anyway. That was quite funny
when he was complaining about Marvel Stadium roof being left open.
It's quite good. So what is he tweeted about? It
tweeted about that?

Speaker 2 (29:52):
Was it strap yourself in?

Speaker 3 (29:53):
Was it Tom Sheridan sunglasses which Frio player had sunglasses
that he was tweeting about.

Speaker 5 (29:58):
Tom Sheridan does have a say Glasses brand.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
Now I have to look up real ross Line on Twitter.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
I talked about that when Nick Revolt was tired, I
want to say he did something then.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
That sounds right. And now at real, ross Line on
Twitter has a whoppy.

Speaker 2 (30:11):
He's had a few He's had a few replies. If
there's a few replies.

Speaker 3 (30:15):
We only follows five people. Who do we think ross
Line follows Channel nine? Nope, No, se Lenny Hayes, Matthew Pavlich,
AFL dot Com, Arrow Minerals, a West African exploration company
focused on creating shareholder value. Yes, they love mining, and

(30:38):
a guy who I think is political, so let's just
keep that alone. Anyway, ross Line an interesting tweeter. Yes,
not worth following because when he tweets, everyone will retweet Ale.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
That's right, And that's the.

Speaker 3 (30:50):
Twitter review for this week.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
Yes, at BC, despite Nasaiah staying the AFL trade period,
we'll still have lots of juice in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 5 (31:00):
Fair, definitely fair.

Speaker 4 (31:02):
It's hard to say how many of these stories that
we're kind of watching at the moment will actually play
out in terms of Harley Reid, what happens with Melbourne
with Petrarca and Oliver Carlton. How aggressive do they get
in reshape in their list. There's a lot of what
ifs right now, and it's hard to know how many
of them will play out, but I do think there will,
as per usual, be a very busy trade period. It's
just a matter of will there be the big, big

(31:25):
names that we thought might be on the trade block
because we know we can cross off Nosiah, We're not
sure about Harley Reid, and there's probably three or four
others Petrarca, Oliver, Keron O Mackay that are sort of
what ifs right now, so.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
They're all most likely to stay. But if one goes,
that unlocks a few others potentially going to Yeah, because
your big moves below big moves.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Do you think your eyes are on the D's.

Speaker 4 (31:47):
Yes, definitely, And obviously a lot of it's going to
come down to the coach coming in. If it's Nathan Buckley,
what does he think about Petrarca and Oliver and these
kind of guys. But certainly the D's are a big
watch that they just might be. Question with them is
who's actually running the club at the moment, Like what's
going on with the leadership. Brad Green's the interim president
of the moment, but he's outgoing, So they just need

(32:09):
to get their house in order before anything happens. And
I think that sort of unsettled nature of them at
the moment means that a lot of players would rightly
be asking questions.

Speaker 2 (32:17):
So I think Steve Smith is the incoming president. He's
due to come in soon. Paul Gware is the incoming
chief executive. He's a September start date.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
Along with the coaches is their current.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
Along with hopefully, I think they need to move pretty quickly.

Speaker 3 (32:29):
Because they established that they want to have him by
the end of September.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
It almost has to be earlier than that because what
Melbourne or Melbourne season is about to end on Friday
night and.

Speaker 3 (32:40):
That's, oh, come on, they can we make more games mid.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
That's mid to late midwa Well, that's late. We're pushing
late August now, right, Stuff happens pretty quickly, and we're
talking off edis beforehand that off season central The number
one article on Fox sports dot commedy you every year.
Its Grand Final week is the week after the final
home in or a round season. That's where exit meetings happen,
Managers ramp up talks with their clients. You're talking about

(33:06):
Melbourne potentially having a big same the trade period. I
think the D's if they do want to try and
find some leadership and have some things in order, need
to move downe quickly.

Speaker 3 (33:14):
I don't remember the specifics, but it feels like Brad
Scott came in at the start of the finals. I
want to say, that's the sort of period you usually
try and hire a coach so they can be part
of those decisions. So if you've got a strong footy department,
yes you can make those calls for them and they
can maybe be consulted as part of the process. But yeah,
they have a problem with that timeline, and it will
at least allow them to go into the trade period

(33:34):
knowing who's in charge, which will give the players confidence
or at least the confidence to make a decision. But yeah,
it's sill the problem.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
Alan Richardson faces a big couple of weeks, I think,
in particular the footy boss.

Speaker 3 (33:45):
But his future was even in question too, and whether
he's going to be there. I think he's gonna be
there next year, but maybe after that we don't know.

Speaker 4 (33:50):
Yeah, I've even heard that he's potentially in danger of
going at the end of the year, which is surprising
given that he's on the coaching selection committee. But yeah,
my point is that the guys that are going to
pick the next co right now, there's an unsettled nature
about everything that's happening and it doesn't bode well and
it doesn't the outlook. It is a bit of a
hard sell Melbourne at the moment for some of those
key players.

Speaker 3 (34:10):
If it's Nathan Buckley who gets the job, he's the
favorite of the moment. It's the established coach who is
at least willing to be part of the process. We
know he's been at a club that has made big
moves in the past. Yep, Colin Wood when they had
ned guy running things, they had quite a bit of
trade period quite famously soon, So he would be someone
who would be willing to foresee it. But the problem
is a new coach is not going to want to

(34:30):
come in and say let's get way worse unless he's
really willing to be a rebuild coach, which makes things
more dangerous for your job security going forward. And then
you're going to want to try and be successful the
next year and whether that matches up with their timeline.
Maybe with an established coach coming in rather than an assistant.
It buys you more time because you know, a fresh
face might get three years at a rebuild, whereas Buckley

(34:51):
would get four or five. Maybe that gives him more leverage,
more leniency.

Speaker 4 (34:54):
And to go back one step, do you get the
job if you think that it is a need for
a rebuild? Because is Nathan Buckley the only person that
could walk into a room with Melbourne officials and say
I think we need to rebuild or some form of
a rebuild and have enough credibility for them to be like, yeah,
we trust him enough to get the job and to
do that as opposed to a untried coach, and then

(35:15):
they say, well, we don't want to go in that.

Speaker 2 (35:17):
Two parts to that. I think I believe what a
lot of our commentators on Fox have been saying throughout
the year about Melbourne is I think they've been rebuilding
on the run already in terms of two four first
round picks in two seasons, and I think there's certainly
three of them have showed promise of probably a couple
of question marks over Colton Thostrup and he'll get through.

(35:38):
So I think they've been rebuilding as they go and
they've been they've been aggressive in their moves and that's
certainly justified. Is from a coaching perspective, is ken Hinckley
potentially the guy there? John Ralph Rode a fascinating piece around.
Ken Hinckley might be the guy in his late fifties
who might want to retire, but sort of a couple

(35:58):
of weeks in a retirement is getting very bored already,
and maybe that the best seasoned to actually have a job.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
It would just be so quick to turn that around.
Maybe if you've got to the end the September to
make up your mind, that could work. Maybe, And if
Buckley says no when they have to delay things a
little bit. I just want to keep in mind with Melbourne, like,
they're not terrible, right, they're seven and fifteen with the
percentage of ninety three point four.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
It's just that first six weeks of the season costs.

Speaker 3 (36:20):
Well. They change everything after being zip five and Simon
Goodmam did a great job coaching them, I thought for
the rest of the season, just not quite enough. They
lost a few close games. Keep in mind last year
Adelaide was fifteenth, right, they won eight and a half games.
The percentage of ninety nine. Clearly not a bad team
that were always going to rise, maybe not this much,
we didn't think, but they were always going to rise
back up. And so Melbourne has that potential if everything

(36:41):
goes right next year. Certainly you've got so many of
their gun players who aren't performing at the level we
know they can. Maybe it all comes together and they
play finals next year. It's certainly not impossible.

Speaker 4 (36:49):
And that's probably the difference between Adelaide and Melbourne is
that their Adelaide's core leaders are locked in, they want
to be there, whereas Melbourne there's a lot of uncertainty
among that absolute core and a lot of them right now,
body language and the way they're playing doesn't look great.
So that would be the thing i'd say about that
with Adelaide and just on ken Hinckley, I think it's
probably more likely we'll go into some sort of footy

(37:09):
boss role next year.

Speaker 5 (37:10):
Maybe it's Melbourne, maybe Carlton.

Speaker 2 (37:11):
Yeah, okay, keep your eyes on that. It's now time.
That was some really hard hitting questions, but there are
more hard hitting questions coming up right now.

Speaker 1 (37:19):
On the Fox Foody podcast. It's time to open up
the mailbag. Have a question for the panel tweet us
every Monday morning at Fox Footy.

Speaker 3 (37:27):
Well, I think the mail bag's done quite well this week.
Just a couple of entries from our lovely listeners who
wrote in after we tweeted out on Monday morning. They
gave us the questions we give them the answers that
they're after. So Ben and Ben's one from Ben, Yes,
who asks, is it actually a standout team in the
top nine? You'd confidently call premiership favorite Brisbane confidently?

Speaker 2 (37:51):
Of the nine teams, the team I'm most confident in.
So whether that's confident, I'm not sure.

Speaker 3 (37:56):
I'm going to say an answer that began with is
not confid No.

Speaker 5 (38:01):
I would say Geelong.

Speaker 4 (38:02):
My three front runners all season long Evan, Collingwood, Brisbane
and Geelong in no real order. And I think, as
we just spoke about earlier, they're sort of just going
about their business quietly. No one really is talking them
out that much. But their games in great shape, their
prime for another deep run, and their stars are all
in great.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
For it, and they're healthy.

Speaker 5 (38:19):
The Cats, they're healthy.

Speaker 4 (38:21):
I just think of every club right now, you look
at who's best positioned, I would say Geelong, but I'm
not ultra confident that they're going to win the flag,
but I think they're in the best spot.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
The narrative around Geelong having a soft draw heading into
the finals is I think he's ridiculous after twenty twenty
two because they had a really soft draw heading into
twenty twenty two. They had that mighty qualifying final win
over Collingwood which is probably their Grand final, and then
comprehensive wins over Brisbane and then Sydney in the prelim

(38:49):
in the Grand final. So I don't think after that
soft draw in the homeway season, I think that that's
an irrelevant argument heading into twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (38:57):
I think you think of the teams that have had
incredible runs to get into finals, teams that have been
playing finals before the finals. You can go back to
Richmond when they had to win nine in a row
to make it in twenty fourteen. The Bulldogs every year
have to play in around twenty four to decide their season,
and those teams don't do anything when they get to
September because you're tie it, because you're exhausted, because you
might have some injuries. It's not a bad thing like

(39:19):
there will be teams that lose in the finals and
don't have a result that reflects their ladd of positions.
That just happens anyway, It's not nothing really to do
with a soft draw. Speaking of a perfect follow up
question from Mitchell in a hypothetical Cats versus Lions qualifying
final at the MCG, which is what I'm predicting, Yes,
who goes in.

Speaker 4 (39:36):
As favorites geelongly mainly because of probably the injury situation,
because we probably think Hipward's not going to be there.

Speaker 5 (39:43):
I'm not sure what's happening with Jared Berry.

Speaker 3 (39:45):
Hip wot's out. Berry's a chance by this week, but
it puts out for four weeks.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
I would think they wouln't play Berry.

Speaker 4 (39:50):
There would be some question marks around lockey new So
I just think Geelong probably home grand advantage and probably
just a bit more continuity and who's been out of
the park.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
How dare you say home ground advantage when you're talking
about why do we get a home state final? I'm angry.

Speaker 5 (40:07):
Well you could even just say the Grand final?

Speaker 3 (40:10):
Well you could, that could be the match up there.
Keeping in mind that Brisbane has now won five straight
at the MCG. Wow, they I think.

Speaker 2 (40:19):
They're playing better away from home than at the Gabba.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
They've lost four games at home this season. I think
you can very genuinely make the argument that Brisbane are
scarier at the MCG than at the Gabba. I think
the expanses of the MCG suit their game right now,
the way they're able to chip it around and use
the wings and all that stuff. The Gabba just whatever
it is, they seem to have problems there. So I
think it's why Hawthorne's a chance this week. I would

(40:41):
be more confident tipping Brisbane this week if it was
Hawthorn Brisbane at the MCG.

Speaker 2 (40:45):
I think imagine saying what you just said about Brisbane
saying that two years ago, well.

Speaker 3 (40:48):
That's e quickly things can change. That's why people buying
the trends all the time. And yeah Brisbane had a
bad record at the MCG, it's because they were playing
two finals a year.

Speaker 4 (40:55):
Brisbane did a number on Hawthorne at the g earlier this.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
Year, did they did? That's what would have mixed confidence.
So what they've won obviously the Grand Final and then
three games there this year, all won by five goals.
Pretty good team.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
Brisbane also has the best record against the top nine.

Speaker 3 (41:08):
They do well, they've got the most winds and I
think it's now the best win rate that they're eight
and four, but they've I mean eight and four. More
than half of their draw has been against the top nine.
Geelong I think it's played seven or eight games against
the top nine. It is. You can genuinely make the
case that if that game is at the MCG, it's
because Geelong had a softer draw. So these are the
advantages that teams sometimes get. And that is the mailback.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
That was a strongly issue of the Mailbag, of course. Now,
just to lighten things up a little bit, one of
our favorite segments, Oh, we go into a Touch of Cunning, gentlemen.

Speaker 3 (41:51):
We didn't have any Kevin Sheedy last week, and I
know everyone was very upset by this, yes, obviously just distraught.
And what we love about Sheets is the romance he
has for the game. Now, the love of footy is
a footy man through and through, and he's a romantic
in his personal life too, is he. Jeez, And let's
read this deep pat This is of course Kevin Cheney's

(42:13):
first book, a biography entitled A Touch of Cunning, and
here is a portion of that book discussing he and
his wife Geraldine. Okay, when we were on our honeymoon,
Geraldine and I probably visited every football club in and
around Adelaide. Sheety recall sixteen years later, Geraldine knew that

(42:33):
was part of the deal, part of my life. It
probably wasn't the most romantic way of having a honeymoon,
but I think we both enjoyed it. I know I did,
and we both learned a lot about what our future
lives would be like. I asked, Geraldine, would you consider
these football clubs as my future employers? Are there any
of these places where you would like us to live
and us to have our children? Geraldine said there were,

(42:54):
but as it happened, of course, we chose Essendon, or
rather Essendon chose me. Sure it may sound cold blooded,
but when you're taking a girl away from her mum
and dad, the least you can do is ask her
if she'd be happy with the place you'd be working
and she'd be living. Maybe it wasn't very romantic, but
that was the way it happened, and I think Geraldine
and I have been okay since. I certainly have been.

(43:17):
Geraldine is a good wife. We have four good kids,
a night home and some good friends. We even have
a good football team. What more could any girl want?

Speaker 2 (43:26):
That's extraordinary?

Speaker 5 (43:28):
Do you have a nickname for Geraldine? That's a lot,
that's a gal that's gonna be.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
I wonder if I wonder if he has really turned
off which samful Cuby might have been surely.

Speaker 3 (43:41):
District bulldogs or lovely parts of the world for him
to consider coaching. But no, she got to live in
beautiful maybe in Strathmore. Lenn Birviie who knows.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
Don't know too many people from Oh no, Adelade's a
bit sexy these days to probably take your do your
honeymoon there, I reckon.

Speaker 3 (43:58):
I mean you got the I don't think. I don't
think he just stayed in the CBD or they stayed
out to penfolds look brundle them all.

Speaker 2 (44:07):
Yes, I was. I was in Adelaide on.

Speaker 3 (44:09):
Sunday for the af w W.

Speaker 5 (44:12):
How hasn't been?

Speaker 3 (44:13):
How was around one of the ad one of the.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
Tyron Yeah, tying it did get lost quite a fair
I suppose, And that's the reality of putting the competition.
At this time of the year, Fox are showing thirty
six games in two weeks extraordinary.

Speaker 3 (44:28):
And we're watching them all.

Speaker 2 (44:29):
Of course, thirty seven if you include the round twenty
four game.

Speaker 3 (44:31):
Of course do we have to include had to tip.
Oh that's a good point.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
Just a couple of quick talking points on AFOL. They
had the new holding the ball interpretation.

Speaker 3 (44:42):
Right, this sucks. Yeah, I hate it.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
So if you go back and watch, maybe some highlights
of they wanted to know. There was a Essen's got
eighty five points is good. But the game that Charlot
and I did Giants and Essenon and Canberra on Saturday,
there were forty three free kicks paid during the game,
twenty six to sen and a lot of them were
holding them ball with this I think the intention of
the new interpretation, but there was just they had next

(45:05):
to no prior.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
It looks really bad at times, especially if they get
it wrong at all and go a step too far,
then it looked insane a decision.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
There were some games or only twenty nine free kicks
for the whole game that were paid. I think Charlot
and I just got too bad. We have port Adelaide
and free with some touchy calls as well. But the
Carlton Collingwood on Thursday night. Didn't start Razor was doing
that game.

Speaker 3 (45:24):
No, there were two bad calls earlier in that game
that you were like, oh god, what have they done
at the game now?

Speaker 2 (45:28):
So I think I'm not jumping up and down about
it and putting on watch. But if it's the same
in four weeks time, I think we need to recant.
The whole point of the new interpretation is to, in
Jared Heally's words, set the share and free and hopefully
lead to more scoring. But besides, we didn't probably see
a massive uptaken in scoring this week. And the other

(45:49):
other thing is the young girls that came through from
last year's draft are so much better prepared for AFLW
now compared to certainly ten years, ten seasons ago, but
four or five years ago.

Speaker 3 (46:00):
These are girls who were nine years old and could
dream of playing senior level footy professionally. So that's why
they're going to be so ash. Center, of course is
going to be good. Look how much footag she's got
to play growing up compared to the girls who've been
there for five ten years.

Speaker 2 (46:12):
Yeah, they they they the game sense and their kicking
ability and their running ability. They're more conditioned, Shiloh said,
So that makes them beautifully set up for afl W.
So they'll be yes another nine games across this weekend.

Speaker 4 (46:26):
You'd think there'd be some sort of correction with the
holding the ball right, like they'll.

Speaker 2 (46:30):
Get it, give it a four week four weeks we had.

Speaker 4 (46:32):
The same thing and the men's started last year. It
was really hot and holding the ball and they're not.

Speaker 3 (46:36):
Like this, this is a reward the tackler do an
extreme but there will be a correction of s.

Speaker 2 (46:41):
Yeah. I think that will be done privately amongst the
umpiring group this week. But so if we don't see
a correction in the next two to three weeks, I
think alarm.

Speaker 3 (46:50):
Bells kill to beat Anelaide.

Speaker 2 (46:52):
US they did. That was the biggest up set because
I think, so this is Matthew Clark's last season as coach,
which is already.

Speaker 3 (46:59):
I know handover in South Australia. No wonder they're struggling.

Speaker 2 (47:02):
Well, there's no there's no coach ready to take over.
But so they don't even have the positive part of
the do they do they what's the mindset of the players,
like heating into the season knowing.

Speaker 3 (47:12):
That adelaide A perennial contender with Brisbane and North.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
And Brisbane lost again in round one at Springfield for
the third straight season to Hawthorne. Hawthorne.

Speaker 3 (47:21):
Hawthorne is one of them.

Speaker 5 (47:23):
Was it a last dance kind of mentality as well?
Let's give this one last crack Adelaide Adelaide.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
Potentially the Adelade's list has changed a little bit, obviously,
every Maronov's their star. Yes, India Rashid Roger Rashid's daughter
Debiitanti kicked the goal on Big Port.

Speaker 4 (47:42):
Can you give us AFL a young AFL W player
that people aren't really talking about that you really.

Speaker 5 (47:46):
Liked the look of over the weekend spot on with this.

Speaker 2 (47:49):
One week I really liked. I'll come back to you. Yes,
Essendon and Carlton the AFL competition. Oh yes, the men
play on Thursday for the Jordan Banister Cup.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
Tribunal member Jordan Bannis.

Speaker 2 (48:02):
Yes, and I think he is one of the umpires
that come back with Razor and Chris Donland to help
out with the.

Speaker 3 (48:09):
Let's hope he's on the blockbuster Alex Davies trope tonight,
which we haven't previewed at all because well, you know.

Speaker 5 (48:16):
Carlton's Yes, Carlton.

Speaker 4 (48:18):
I just bought a fifty seven dollars visitor ticket via
the MCC.

Speaker 5 (48:22):
Thanks MCC for my lovely partner.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
Jess fifty bucks g seven bucks.

Speaker 3 (48:27):
Yes, so losing money not to go.

Speaker 4 (48:30):
Hopefully they put on a show that I think the
Blues should finish off it. What's been a sort of
solid few weeks for them.

Speaker 3 (48:36):
Zach Merritt two fiftieth truy good, good, good celebration for him.

Speaker 2 (48:40):
Yeah. Collingwood and Melbourne for the Ben Kennedy Cup.

Speaker 3 (48:43):
Oh yes, Collinwood cold playing for top four.

Speaker 5 (48:46):
I think Collingwood, but I'm more nervous about this than
I should be.

Speaker 3 (48:49):
Look, Melbourne are okay, Collingwood's not.

Speaker 4 (48:52):
You don't have great confidence with what Collingwood was going
to produce at the moment.

Speaker 3 (48:55):
Do you nearly nearly beat the dogs? Should have beaten
some kilder.

Speaker 5 (48:59):
I think it'll be than what people think.

Speaker 3 (49:01):
Okay, and then then that costs the Pies top four.

Speaker 2 (49:03):
You you respect Port Adelaide and Gold Coasts for the
Nathan Cracker.

Speaker 4 (49:09):
Cup, Sons the Suns, But this is to me a
big upset watch just because I know we spoke before
put Adelide's not in good form.

Speaker 5 (49:16):
They're missing a lot of players.

Speaker 4 (49:18):
But I just think if you're ever going to put
in one big, big, big last effort, guys like Zach
Butter's kind of rosy playing for their coach, this would
be it.

Speaker 3 (49:25):
But surely I think I.

Speaker 2 (49:27):
Think it's the only reason why Ollie Wats is challenging
his suspension.

Speaker 3 (49:30):
Oh yeah, true, Yeah, it doesn't realistically matter.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
I don't doubt. There's probably more nuanced to that. But
that's surely playing a.

Speaker 3 (49:35):
Big, big role that I know they've got a motion,
but the percentage of seventy nine, yes, they're not good.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
North Melbourne and Adelaide For the Brad Moran cuff.

Speaker 3 (49:44):
Adelaide clinches the minor premiership at Marvel You suspect, yes,
the cron How about Harry.

Speaker 2 (49:48):
She's getting fifty four disposals in the game.

Speaker 3 (49:51):
Look, I'm not going to say he had the toughest competition,
but the crowd was into it though.

Speaker 5 (49:56):
That was the best part of it.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
That was the cheers for every added touch. That and
the moment that he got his fiftieth but then didn't
because he got run down by Maurice Roli.

Speaker 4 (50:04):
All of us in the office as wellering for him
it was extraordinary exciting time.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
It's good Richmond and Geelong for the Oren Stephenson Cup.

Speaker 3 (50:11):
Geelong gets it done and finishes second.

Speaker 2 (50:15):
Yeah, the Cats, it will be a drubby How many
goals for Jeremy Cameron who was held goalless last weekend.

Speaker 3 (50:22):
Twenty one? Yeah, he's gonna get get the hundred.

Speaker 2 (50:25):
So get down to the game. Sur pass Fred frowning
by three.

Speaker 3 (50:28):
Well, it's gonna be a big night.

Speaker 4 (50:30):
I think this will be a real look for Jazz
sort of operation. I reckon he'll get eight.

Speaker 3 (50:35):
I genuinely think he will kick like three. Like I
don't think they're looking for him. I think they're trying
to almost ignore it. So it's no Shannon Neil though
this week. Well that's true, and Neil's I think he said,
like the second most contested marks for all forwards of
us stuff.

Speaker 4 (50:48):
What if the game's over at three court a time,
sixty points surely a bit of party time for this.

Speaker 3 (50:54):
I guess, I guess. But I think you could genuinely
make the case that the Cats are worse off if
he is on like ninety goals going into finals, then
on eighty three true and it becomes.

Speaker 5 (51:03):
A thing, all right, Jesse Cameron, don't try to kick goals.

Speaker 3 (51:06):
This week's be ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
West Coast and Sydney for the Mark Cebe Cup.

Speaker 3 (51:11):
Sydney a bit of a slight dead rubber here.

Speaker 5 (51:13):
You'd suggest, yeah, the Swans.

Speaker 2 (51:15):
But if it was a disappointing performance from the Swans
against Gelong, they were expected to yeah, challenge him and
a banana Hill game, but they didn't quite come to fruition.
The Giants and St Kilda. This kicks off the Sunday ticket.
This is for the Josh Bruce Cup.

Speaker 3 (51:30):
Not a huger number of GWS Saints double ups players.
You do your research, obviously, just him and Jack Steele.
I think you can't play for your own cup.

Speaker 2 (51:40):
Oh well we've got someone coming up.

Speaker 3 (51:42):
Well, if you have to, you can play for your
own cup.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
But it's the absolute last priority.

Speaker 3 (51:48):
Giants. They went big. Yeah, there are chants to sneak
in the top four, but it's more with results going
their way. They probably made Collingwood to loze and Hawthorne
to lose. But now the Giants get it done. What's
the Giants persona situation one hundred and fifteen point five,
Collinwood Hawthorne both around hundred and twenty three. Gold Coast
will be above that and twice.

Speaker 5 (52:07):
It need to be like a proper mauling.

Speaker 3 (52:09):
Yeah, no, it's not going to happen. But I think
it's more that they just do it safely.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
Yep, the elimination final, before the elimination final, the Bulldogs
and the Dockers for the Stephen Coops Cup.

Speaker 3 (52:21):
It's like the wild cards here early. This is basically
a preview. This is Andrew Dillon's dream come to life. Yes,
and I think the Bulldogs win. I think, what are
they ten and two at Marvel this year? And Frio
is zip and one losing, losing told by sixty points.
And so the thing is, I'd bring up that game
sort of jokingly. That game is going to end up
ruining their season if they miss on percentage. A ten

(52:44):
goal loss to a bottom nine team is what has
made their percent That and a bunch of close wins
where maybe they should have kicked a few more goals.
But yeah, it's a result like that that give them
a terrible percentage for their record.

Speaker 4 (52:55):
Yeah, the Dogs are just better, more weapons on the field,
more play the grand better. But you do have to
highlight that this is a huge game for Freer because
they've got a lot of people talking all of them
at the moment and they get drawing a lot of scrutiny,
and I just think that they would know that that
this is a huge chance for them to make a statement.

Speaker 5 (53:12):
But I don't think they were the dog.

Speaker 2 (53:14):
What hot the dogs lose.

Speaker 3 (53:16):
Cost It's worse if the Dogs lose, If Frio loses,
everyone's gonna be auldramatic. And how did they miss finals?
But fifteen wins after winning twelve they are clearly on
an upward trajectory and any gear ever they play finales
with that record. It's not their fault that there were
eight better teams for the Bulldogs. They have almost the
best percentage in the comp. They're point seven of Adelaide

(53:38):
and could miss the eight like that. They are the
ones who have cost themselves by not being able to
beat contenders all the year. Over the course of the season,
the Bulldogs have been more disappointing, even if the final
result ends up going in their favor.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
Just on the Dockers you talk mentioned in afl W
player to keep an eye who's not talking about Georgie Brisbane,
who was from the Eastern Rangers out east, beautiful part
of and she was I think in the picking the
teens early teens for his first pick last year, and
she doesn't didn't get the same plau It's Zippy Fish
and CenTra and Havana Harris who played for the Suns.

Speaker 3 (54:11):
How are there so many incredible names in this crack it?
Havana Harris is the most Gold Coast name I could
possibly think of. It played really well to so good.

Speaker 2 (54:19):
She's Hugh Georgie Brisbane, just bess out in her first goal,
but like a great example of physically being ready for
AFLW from a presence perspective marking and just looks so dangerous.

Speaker 5 (54:32):
Forward, crafty forward.

Speaker 2 (54:33):
Key Ford Yeah, one hundred key Ford's one hundred and
seventy five centimeters AFL dub Yeah.

Speaker 3 (54:39):
No, like her for sure, surely by just like they
should have had a rule in the draft that she
had to go to Brisbane.

Speaker 2 (54:45):
Look, it's gonna be very confusing with the dockers and
the lines play.

Speaker 3 (54:47):
So the reason the reason Ritro played for Richmond, right,
that's nominative determinism.

Speaker 2 (54:51):
Brisbane speaking of Brisbane for the Brisbane Lions host Hawthorne
for the Jordan Lyle Cup.

Speaker 3 (54:57):
If you are, let's say, theoretically you were in a
been comp where you were tied with your joint leader going.

Speaker 2 (55:03):
Around the season, you sense this is a this is
a defining game.

Speaker 3 (55:06):
I would sense that this is the defining game? Is
it not?

Speaker 4 (55:08):
Now?

Speaker 3 (55:09):
Is this? Is this not the most likely upset in
the round.

Speaker 4 (55:12):
Hey, I'm watching that Ports game with Are are you
going to tip Port? I just there's just something about
that game like Port at home.

Speaker 3 (55:20):
But look, all I'll say is I jokingly offered a
Ben Stokes style early handshake. So let's share the championship.

Speaker 5 (55:29):
Max is speaking sort of riddles here.

Speaker 4 (55:30):
Hey and I are tied at the moment dot Com leaderboard,
so it's a big weekend. But there's Yeah, there's only
one two games that you'd maybe.

Speaker 3 (55:39):
This is one. So this is one where I could
genuinely see Hawthorne winning the some great form at a
great time of year. Brisbane, as we've known, has been
flaky at home. I'm tipping Brisbane just because I do
have belief in the same way Ben that you're saying
that they would be your Premiership favorite because you trust
in the most. It's the same to me. I think
I usually on the Sunday night. Well it'll be Wednesday
night now. Once the final eight is locked in, I

(56:00):
tweet out my predicted bracket. I think I'll probably tip
Brisbane to win it, but wow, it depends on how
they get there and if they lose, they're going to
have a really hard path.

Speaker 4 (56:07):
I'll go Brisbane as well. But I think something has
changed at Hawthorne in the last two weeks. They look reenergized,
they look different. They've got the four key forwards now
and a group that just sort of fears no one
and will just go out there and play their brand.
So they are a team that I could see pulling
a rabbit out of the hat this September.

Speaker 2 (56:23):
So I had their mid season loll and sort of
peaking at the right time of the year.

Speaker 3 (56:26):
Well, they've really had five good weeks because they've beat
Port and Carlton, then they had that Adelaide game where
they absolutely could have won it Oval and then the
two really good wins back to back, so they're in
pretty good form.

Speaker 2 (56:35):
Just no Day unfortunately, No Day, and then we finish
with the makeup opening round cycling game Gold Coast and Essendon.
We've been waiting. We've literally been waiting for it all season,
for this game for the Peter Wright Cup.

Speaker 3 (56:49):
I mean literally we have yes, literally, I have not
actually been waiting for this game in any sense. I
think it was the most obvious thing in the world
that Essendon would not be playing for anything in this
and putting it in at any other point of the
victure would have been really nice.

Speaker 2 (57:03):
I think Brad Scott said on three sixty last night,
we would have very much liked to have played and
knocked this game over earlier, but from a pew up
from all parties, machinations hard to do.

Speaker 3 (57:12):
But he says that, but wasn't the entire point that
they didn't do it so that both teams could have
their buy That's why we didn't get the Round nineteen
around twenty games, because both teams had their buye instead.
And so we've got this weird look. Maybe maybe Port
does beat Gold Coast and maybe this is the Suns
needing to win to clinch their first finals, and that's lovely,
or at worst it should be then playing for top four.

(57:33):
There's some stakes in it. But it's just feels so
wrong to have a team playing completely for nothing on
a Wednesday night. It's like COVID times. It does feel
like you know, at that stadium too.

Speaker 2 (57:43):
Do you know why it feels like COVID times because
they do AFL three sixty before the game.

Speaker 3 (57:47):
Yeses, the Suns will win and they'll play finals and
everyone will be excited about that. But they made a
mess of this seven.

Speaker 4 (57:54):
They could get ugly Essendon just missing so many players.
So yeah, Soun's comfortably.

Speaker 2 (57:59):
Okay, that is the end, but this is at Vermiakably.
We'll probably do a podcast before that game talk about
it again.

Speaker 4 (58:07):
Yes, it could be key ramification, but will just say.

Speaker 3 (58:11):
Is Essendon is gonna lose. It doesn't even matter.

Speaker 2 (58:13):
That Will Essen the seventy part of our brutal reviews
which will drop. That's truly next week. As you're looking
forward to, Maxwell has composed himself. In the meantime, keep
looking back to Foxfooty dot com dot Yes.

Speaker 1 (58:24):
Thanks for listening to the Fox Footy podcast. Like what
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