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North Melbourne hosted the Collingwood Football Club at Marvel Stadium on Sunday afternoon.  While outside it was raining, match conditions were perfect under the retractable roof which was closed for the day. It was a big milestone match for American born player Mason Cox, who was honored on the banner running out even if he was second fiddle, it read "Steel Sidebottom 300 games, Mason Cox 100".  When Collingwood ran out through the banner Cox, as he traditionally does, remained at the back of the group and was the last to run through the banner.  

Cox started forward where he has played most of his time on the field in the AFL. In the sixth minute of the game Darcy more marked on the wing and looked for the lead of the big American. He was awarded the mark after the defender chopped his arms but his set shot kick went to the left for a behind. Not quite the fairytale start. 

The Essendon Bombers accounted for the West Coast Eagles in a match in which the Eagles recorded their ninth consecutive loss. The Eagles were more competitive than last week, but lacked the class of Essendon's forward entries. The Eagles made two more attacking forays than the Bombers but their delivery and goal kicking was poor. At the other end, Essendon were more efficient in attack and were far more accurate with their set shots at goal.

The Eagles began by applying good pressure in the midfield, but Zach Merrett and Mason Redman gained plenty of possessions for the Bombers and the run of Nic Martin gave the Bombers more opportunities. Within the first thirty seconds Jake Stringer had kicked to Kyle Langford who marked and goaled. The Don's next two goals came from snaps from Redmond and Archie Perkins. The Eagles didn't panic and kept to their game plan of using the ball across the field to spread play. At the fifteen-minute mark they moved the ball across the 50 meter arc to Oscar Allen who marked (caught the ball) and kicked truly from long range. Two minutes later a chain of passes out of defense ended with Allen booting his second. The quarter was then evenly balanced until Essendon scored the last goal, after Sam Draper laid a good tackle on Bailey Williams to win a free kick.

Just days after the heartbreaking loss to Essendon in the "Dreamtime" match, Coach Damien Hardwick announced he was stepping down. Hardwick is contracted through 2024 and has coached the Tigers for 13 seasons. The reason for his resignation was initially unclear, but some with inside knowledge believed he was just burnt out. The team has struggled this season with just three wins through Round 10. In a preseason interview with the AFL website, Hardwick said he would step away if he felt he wasn't fully motivated, "I think that's the challenge. I always ask myself the question ... as soon as you lose that drive to improve or that motivation level drops, that's when you really have to walk away. But I'm very fortunate. I love what I do, I love the club I work for, I love the people I work for, I love the playing group. I always say to the players that for people who work 9-5, the best night of the week is Friday night. My job ... is to make sure every day you walk in here feels like a Friday night. I'm going to have good days and bad days, but if I have that philosophy then I think we're going to be OK."

After the prematch activities celebrated indigenous Australian culture through ceremony and dance, the Tigers won the toss and play was underway.  A big crowd was in, and the atmosphere was electric. 

Rhyan Mansell, one of those in the game with indigenous heritage, appropriately kicked the first goal of the night as he was taken over the shoulder by Redman and he kicked the resulting goal.  Sam Weideman responded, and went one better at the other end when quick kicks inside 50 saw Weideman interfered with twice in two minutes.  On both occasions his kicks for goal were on target.   Alwyn Davey Jr added a third for the Bombers

The Fremantle Dockers have re-energized their season with their third consecutive victory to sit just outside of the top eight. The Geelong Cats were beaten by the Richmond Tigers last week and were determined to return to their best. However, with a number of players unavailable through injury, the Cats found the pressure on the ball and the run of the Fremantle Dockers too much to handle. With the afternoon temperature nudging 79 °F, the big Cats lacked the fitness and stamina to stay with the young Dockers.

Alastair Clarkson has temporarily stepped down from his coaching role at North Melbourne. There were unconfirmed reports that he was acting erratically in the lead up to his decision. The final straw was a withering half-time address to the North players during the Round Nine match against Port Adelaide. Reportedly, even a chair was thrown against a wall.

During a recent conference, Clarkson was very critical of his former club Hawthorn and the AFL over the racism investigations and the lack of progress being made. He called for Hawthorn to be investigated for the club's "shameful" handling of its report and said that reputations had been "scarred" as a result of the long-running process. He said the game was a "victim" of the ongoing independent investigation, which was commissioned by the AFL in October.

The Gold Coast Suns easily accounted for the West Coast Eagles at Optus Stadium, with a dominant second term and a powerful final term. The Suns won in most areas of play, winning contested possessions 150 to 116 and almost doubling the number of forward entries made by the hapless hosts. The Suns were led by Jarrod Witts who dominated in the ruck and Matt Rowell who collected twenty-nine possessions (13 contested) and laid a season high seventeen tackles. Tim Kelly was strong in the midfield for the Eagles picking up 26 possessions (17 contested) and laying six tackles. First-year player Reuben Ginbey gave him good support in the packs, laying sixteen tackles and picking up twelve possessions (9 contested), but the combination of Rowell, Noah Anderson, David Swallow, Will Powell, and first-year player Bailey Humphrey overwhelmed the undermanned Eagles' midfield.

The Fremantle Dockers returned to winning form by harassing and pressuring the Hawthorn Hawks with four quarters of attacking football. The Dockers returned to their game style of 2022; utilizing pressure around the ball, quick handpasses, running through the central corridor and direct transitions into attack, to record their highest score since Round 1, 2019. The Hawks matched the Dockers in the midfield for three quarters but fell down with poor delivery up forward. Most of the Hawthorn errors were a direct result of Fremantle's pressure on the ball, but even when the Hawks did find space they still made fundamental mistakes to allow the Docker defenders to regain the ball.

The day after Andrew Dillon was announced as the next league CEO, all 18 club presidents voted to approve the 19^th AFL license for Tasmania. The Tasmanian government recently authorized funding for a new stadium in Hobart. With that in place, the focus can be on all the logistics of setting up the team. Tasmania has been pushing for a license for years. Hawthorn and the Kangaroos have played "home" games in Tasmania for many years and it has proved moderately successful with some ups and downs over the years.

AFL executive Andrew Dillon has been appointed the successor to AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan. Dillon currently is the AFL's executive general manager of football operations, legal, integrity and general counsel. He has worked at the AFL in numerous roles since 2000. Dillon will officially take over in October, but will act as the CEO-elect for now. The general manager of competition management, Laura Kane, will take on the role as acting general manager of football. The general manager of legal and regulatory, Stephen Meade, has been appointed to replace Dillon as the AFL general counsel. The process of finding McLachlan's successor has stretched out for 14 months and not all of the reasons for the long delay are clear, particularly since an internal candidate was chosen in the end.