The Australian streaming service and podcast hosting service Whooshkaa has signed the AFL as it's latest big name client. The NRL is already a client as are News Corp and Fairfax. The announcement comes in the lead up to the Grand Final. A press release was issued by the company though so far, at least, we haven't received it directly nor has the AFL publicly confirmed the new arrangement via its media department. (Ed. note: we will update this story if more is received.) From the release it's apparent the company wants to target those unable to get access to AFL content via other means.

The company press release states:

"As millions of diehard fans count down the hours to the biggest sporting event of the year, the Toyota AFL Grand Final, the AFL has signed on with Whooshkaa to step up its podcast game.

This will be the first time Collingwood and West Coast will meet in a Grand Final. However, both do have recent Grand Final histories, albeit losses the last time either side played in a Grand Final. The Eagles lost to Hawthorn in 2015 and the Magpies lost to Geelong in 2011 after winning the replay the year before. Speaking of drawn matches, Collingwood and West Coast played against each other in a drawn Qualifying Final in 1990 with Collingwood victorious in the replay.

(Ed. note: This story is club by club for easier scrolling to the team(s) of interest. For the earlier posts in this series: Part 1 and Part 2.)

BRISBANE

Defender Liam Dawson has been delisted by Brisbane. Dawson, 22, played 18 games for the Lions in four years. He played only one game in the past two seasons but failed to add to that tally in 2018. Rohan Bewick, Claye Beams, Jake Barrett, Marco Paparone and Tom Bell have also been delisted while Cian Hanley has retired.

Bewick, the nephew of former Essendon 1993 and 2000 premiership player Darren, played 103 games for the Lions in eight seasons. Bewick, 28, celebrated his 100th AFL game milestone in 2017 and kicked 71 goals for the Lions throughout his career. In 2018,, he played three senior games.

In front of the largest crowd for a sporting event in Western Australia history (59,608), the West Coast Eagles demolished the Melbourne Demons in a one sided contest that crushed the Demon faithful. It took Melbourne a full half of football before they scored their first goal of the match and left their supporters bereft at what might have been in 2018.

Hours before Friday’s semi final between Hawthorn and Melbourne, the AFL announced The Black Eyed Peas and Australian rock music legend Jimmy Barnes will entertain footy fans at the MCG, and millions of viewers around the world, in the pre-game show of the AFL Grand Final on September 29. It will be the first time since 2009 that The Black Eyed Peas will perform on Australian soil, but it will also be the band’s first Australian performance since Fergie quit last year.

A packed house at the MCG for the two clubs with (probably) the biggest following in Melbourne made the most noise heard all year at the MCG. It began in the lead up to the sides running onto the arena for the first Preliminary Final.  Richmond were undeniable favorites going into the game, but there has been something special building at Collingwood this season under a more relaxed coach Nathan Buckley, Perhaps taking his lead from the 2017 Damien Hardwick success story.

Melbourne rolled to a 29-point win over a hapless Geelong on the back of a scintillating first quarter at the MCG on Friday night. Long suffering Demons fans celebrated wildly as their team broke a decade long finals drought and the party might not stop here. The dominant performance would have resulted in a much larger winning margin had the Demon forwards brought their kicking boots, with Melbourne managing just 1 goal, 10 behinds in two quarters of football to give Geelong a sniff of a comeback after halftime.

It took until the dying minutes of the game for the West Coast Eagles to overcome a spirited Collingwood Magpies in the 2nd Qualifying Final. It was the second trip to Perth for the Pies in as many weeks, and they proved that they are not overawed at the prospect of playing in front of nearly 60,000 hostile fans in the cauldron of Optus Stadium. There were a dozen lead changes over the course of the game and it could have gone either way as time ticked down. Both sides were spent, but it was Lewis Jetta who danced on a dime to put the Eagles in front when it mattered – five minutes out from the final siren.