The Roar’s AFL top 50 players, 10-1: Why the reigning Brownlow Medallist couldn’t even crack the top five

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The 2024 AFL season is here! Not officially – no, the first bounce of the season proper isn’t for another few weeks, but The Roar’s annual countdown of the league’s top 50 players has arrived. If you’re new here, it’s all very simple. Five Roar AFL experts – Liam Salter, myself, Dem Panopoulos, Cameron Rose […]

Tuesday team list system isn’t a level playing field but a relic of the past that won’t go away

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There is an inherent inequity in all NRL coaches having to name their squad on a Tuesday afternoon.  Depending on the fixtures for any given round, a team could be playing a little more than 48 hours later or as much as six days after the squads are announced.  Due to integrity reasons (ie, the […]

The problem with Australian sporting codes having effective ‘second tier’ divisions for its major football leagues

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Aussies sure love the major footy code leagues; whether it is the AFL, NRL, A-League or Super Rugby – they all draw substantial public interest. But with Australia having a population of around 26 million with just 14 cities with populations above 100,000, I ask the question can our major football leagues have effective second […]

Despite the overblown hysteria around boom West Coast recruit Harley Reid, the Eagles are still likely to finish last

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West Coast boom recruit Harley Reid is one of the most dynamic young players to head west since Chris Judd, but my feeling is that not even his prodigious talent will stop the Eagles from picking up another wooden spoon. Most of the clever pundits regard Reid as a godly talent. After two of the […]

The new Tasmanian AFL franchise needs to succeed financially without truckloads of support from the game’s administration

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The AFL, the federal government, and the Tasmanian state government have all supported the concept of getting a team on the Apple Isle and playing in the top-tier competition. But even if they do get the stadium built the presumed ‘Devils’ have to make money on their own and the AFL would ideally like it […]