Recent news

In mid-April, Collingwood signed a basketball player from Senegal. Bassirou Faye, 18, has committed to the Pies on an International Rookie Scholarship. Currently still in his homeland, he will relocate to Australia in late May. Faye, who stands 202 cm (6'5") has never played Australian Rules but had been training with the Oakleigh Chargers in the NAB league and looked impressive with his athleticism. He was forced to return to Senegal due to visa issues.

Faye originally arrived in Australia hoping for a career in basketball but switched to footy through former Tiger and Hawk Tyrone Vickery. Oakleigh's general manager put Faye through a two-month training program at the beginning of this year before Faye joined the Chargers for several sessions.

In the buildup to the AFLW Grand Final, Brisbane Lions coach Craig Starcevich was named AFLW coach of the year by the AFL Coaches Association (AFLCA). The voting is done by fellow coaches. Opposing Grand Final coach Matthew Clarke came in second, followed by Melbourne Coach Mick Stinear. Starcevich, who has coached the Lions since 2018, has led his team into three Grand Finals in the past five seasons with Brisbane taking out the premiership in 2021. He was rated as the best-performed coach throughout the season and the Association considered the team's performance, available resources, player talent, and team management.

In accepting the award Starcevich paid tribute to the team, "I’m absolutely chuffed and humbled ... It’s completely related to the quality of our coaching group overall, medical and fitness teams, all of our staff, and most importantly our players. It’s a direct reflection of what they’ve churned out this year."

AFLCA CEO Alistair Nicholson praised Starcevich,

Carlton legend Kade Simpson has decided he wants to return to AFL football. Simpson, who turns 37 in May, was not offered a new contract by the Blues and, according to the 2020 AFL Record Season Guide he "retired". He has been out of the game for a little over six months but said he wants to return after watching the opening rounds of the 2021 season. Simpson, who played 342 games across fifteen seasons, spoke on a podcast hosted by former teammate Dylan Buckley (Dyl and Friends), and said, "I still wish I was playing, like 100 percent. Even now, for some stupid reason, I still run and flog myself. In the back of my head, I’m like, just imagine if someone now with the mid-season draft and all that sort of stuff. I’m pretty fit still. If someone did "come knocking, I’m ready. I wouldn’t be like ‘oh f--k I haven’t done a thing for six months’. I’m still fit."

Under AFL rules, a player must be retired for a year to be eligible for the midseason draft, but he could be eligible since it seems he was

Just as Round Five was getting underway, Jonathon Patton announced his immediate retirement from all levels of football. Patton, 27, was the number one draft selection in 2011, being snapped up by the Giants. He has struggled with injuries across his eight-year career. He played 89 games for GWS before being traded to Hawthorn at the end of 2019 but has managed just six games for the Hawks. The injury issues are only one part of the story. In January, he was stood down from Hawthorn after at least four women complained that he sent them lewd and explicit photos, videos, and messages on social media. He was later hospitalized for mental health issues and released in March. Since his release, the AFL Integrity Unit is free to interview him and ramp up their investigations. 

In making the announcement, Patton said, “I have made the difficult decision to retire ... to focus on my health, wellbeing, and future outside of the game.

ADELAIDE CROWS
BACK          Foley     Rajcic
HALF BACK     N. Allen  S. Allan  Thompson  
CENTER        Varnhagen Marinoff  Jones
HALF FORWARD  Martin    Ponter    Woodland
FORWARD       Gould     Scheer
RUCK/ROVERS   Metcalfe  Phillips  Hatchard
INTERCHANGE   Considine Button    Mules
              Charlton  Cox

The AFLW Grand Final will be between the Adelaide Crows and Brisbane Lions - for the third time in five seasons. Adelaide won in 2017 and 2019, defeating Brisbane in 2017 and Carlton in 2019. They missed the 2018 Grand Final which was played between the Lions and the Western Bulldogs. The Bulldogs won in 2019, so Brisbane will be hungry to reverse the trend. The 2020 season was cut short due to the pandemic with the finals and Grand Final canceled.

It can be said that the Crows and Lions are the most dominant teams in the league, but their paths to success have been quite different. From the outset, the Crows did not - and still don't - share their state with a rival club as Port Adelaide opted not to bid for a license for an AFLW side, even when the AFL announced new teams would be added in 2019. This gave the Crows the advantage of accessing talent not only from South Australia but the Northern Territory as well due to Adelaide making a joint bid with the AFL NT for a license. The partnership with the NT ended in 2019 with Gold Coast entering the competition.

HOW THE TWO SIDES HAVE EVOLVED

Just ahead of Melbourne's match against Geelong in Round Four, Melbourne Demons president Glen Bartlett announced during his president's address at the MCG, that he would step aside as club president. He does intend to stay involved at the board level.  Bartlett, who has been at the helm since 2013 and was up for re-election in six months, said he believes the time was right to step down. Co vice-presidents Kate Roffey and Mohan Jesudason are believed to be the candidates to take over on an interim basis.

Club CEO Gary Pert confirmed the news to foxfooty.com.au in an email late Saturday night so as not to distract the players or coaches from the Sunday game. Former Demon Jordan Lewis, who does footy commentary for Fox, said of Bartlett, “The beauty about Glen was he wasn’t really seen. He was in the background and provided great stability for a club that was on its knees. He’s done a fantastic job and has always been good to me. I love how he’s staying on the board because he has plenty more to offer.”

Carlton's team song has come under fire from an indigenous activist. Dr Stephen Hagan, who campaigned successfully to have the name of a cheese brand changed from "Coon", has criticized the song because of its original lyrics which he has labeled as racist. He has urged the club to change the melody. 

The melody is taken from the 19^th-century song "Lily of Laguna" with the lyrics concerning a black man in love with a Native American. The song was often performed in blackface makeup. Hagan describes the tune as “one of the most racist songs of all time”. In an interview, Hagan said he was shocked to learn from the Carlton club that past and present indigenous players supported the song, saying that the lyrics written for the team had “effectively removed the original song’s racist connotations”. Of this attitude, he said, “I’m absolutely shocked they would defend the racist theme song music rather than fight against the clearly racist origins of the melody. It doesn’t make the song any less racist that a couple of Aboriginal players who are very loyal to the club defend it.”

With a rare tropical cyclone approaching Perth’s inland areas, the Fremantle Dockers withstood a stormy challenge from the Hawthorn Hawks to win a second home game. The Hawks were again slow to start, allowing Fremantle to dominate in the first term. If the Dockers had kicked accurately for a goal in the blustery conditions, the game would have been over at quarter time.

Returning from a forced layoff due to concussion, Nat Fyfe began in the center of the ground for the Dockers and the home team dominated clearances in the first quarter. When Fyfe was not winning clearances, it was veteran David Mundy or Caleb Serong.  Sean Darcy and Matt Taberner were active in the forward line and Taberner finished with two goals for the quarter. The Hawks had scored only two behinds (worth a point each).

In a hot autumn afternoon when the mercury sat at 89 degrees as the game opened, the Greater Western Sydney Giants wilted and allowed the Fremantle Dockers to run out easy winners. It was only the Dockers’ kicking inaccuracy that saved the Giants from a complete belting. To make matters worse this was the first time since 2013 that the Giants have lost their two opening games. The Giants started with strong intent in an opening spurt, which saw Jacob Hopper swoop on a loose ball and kick truly to open the Giants’ account within the first minute of play. However, from there it was the Dockers who got players to the contested ball to outnumber the Giants in packs. The Dockers won contested possessions 145 to 113 and then outran the Giants in open space to rack up 278 uncontested possessions to 113. The Giants simply did not have the desire to work hard in close and appeared not to have the will to run with the Dockers when the ball found open territory.