Australian Football Association of North America

The AFL trade period commenced at the beginning of October and ended on October 13. Just ahead of its start, George Hewett left the Swans and signed with Carlton as a free agent. Originally from South Australia, Hewett was drafted by Sydney in 2013 and played 120 games. The tough midfielder can win the ball and putting plenty of tackling pressure on the opposition. As compensation, Sydney received an end-of-second-round draft selection.

Collingwood has signed Nick Daicos on a four-year deal as a father-son selection. The Magpies had already indicated they would match any bid from rival clubs to secure Daicos. Gold Coast was interested in him but struck a deal with the Pies. Collingwood traded their 2022 second, third and fourth-round selections to the Suns in exchange for picks 22, 46, 58 and 79 in this year’s Draft as well as a future fourth-round pick for next year. This gives Collingwood the draft points needed to secure Daicos.

Two days after Melbourne's Grand Final victory, it was back to business for the club with three players being delisted, one retiring and another deciding to look for better opportunities elsewhere. Jay Lockhart, Aaron Nietschke and Austin Bradtke were delisted, while Aaron vandenBerg will seek opportunities elsewhere and Neville Jetta announced his retirement. Lockhart played twenty-two games since joining the club as a preseason supplemental selection in 2019. Bradtke and Nietschke never played a senior game with the latter suffering three ACL injuries in his time at the club, vandenBerg played 51 games for the club.

 Congratulations to the Melbourne Demons!

Winners of the 2021 AFL Grand Final

Melbourne Demons:  4.5 5.9 12.11 21.14 (140)
Western Bulldogs:  1.2 6.3  8.3  10.6   (66)

Norm Smith Medalist: Christian Petracca
Attendance: 61,118 at Optus Stadium in Perth
A full match report will be available soon.

The day after the Blues announced Michael Voss as their new coach, they announced the passing of long-time president John Elliott, just 10 days shy of his 80th birthday. His son Tom, a talk show host on radio station 3AW, confirmed the news, "It is with great sadness that we announce the death of John Dorman Elliott. He died Thursday evening at the Epworth Hospital in Richmond after a short illness. Dad will be greatly missed by his four children Tom, Caroline, Edward, and Alexandra. Their partners Elise, Craig, and Georgia plus grandchildren Henry, Sebastian, India, Ava, Lottie, and Mathilda will remember forever their 'Grandpa Jack'. Others to mourn his passing are his brother Ross, sister-in-law Jenny, former partner Joanne, and second wife Amanda. There are also numerous nieces, nephews, grandchildren." Elliott, who also served as federal president of the Liberal Party, suffered a fall at his home in early September.

Finals matches between the Demons and Bulldogs have been sparse over the years. Of course, the Demons are well ahead of the Bulldogs with 12 premierships to two. The first finals match was a semi-final in 1946 which Melbourne won 17.18 (120) to 15.12 (102). They played a Preliminary Final in 1961. The Bulldogs won it 13.7 (85) to 8.10 (58). In between those two matches was the 1954 Grand Final - the only Grand Final between the Demons and Bulldogs until now. The Bulldogs prevailed 15.12 (102) to 7.9 (51) for their first premiership since entering the competition in 1925. The Demons went on to appear in four more Grand Finals since 1954, winning two against Collingwood in 1960 and 1964 and losing two against Hawthorn in 1988 and Essendon in 2000.