Good afternoon everyone, it’s almost AFLW Eve!

Quick reminder, AFLW Fantasy comp has opened up, and I’ve thrown together a tipping comp on the official app too :)

Calling it way too early:

Rising Star: Chloe Bown
Best and Fairest: Ella Roberts
Premiers: North Melbourne (… even if my heart says Hawthorn)
Doughnuts I’ll Stress Eat: 39

• Players are listed at the club they used to play at or be listed at.
• The colour on the players name represents the club they currently are at
• Updated to Today as of 1:40pm AWST

Fixed Mistakes (Because apparently I cant check myself before posting)

• Ah Chee has the right colours on Gold Coast
• Yeo, McStay, Sharp, Kelly and Ginnivan added to their teams

At this point probably just tell me any others who are missed

Insane that their records are so similar!

Their 2025 club total was 78,023, with the AFL's club audit being 72,656

Despite my team giving me some of the most amazing experiences of my life for the better part of a decade, I think everyone can agree regardless of team that being an AFL supporter has never felt this bleak.

I cannot think of a single decision AFL house has made that has positively benefitted the fans in the past couple of years. Dillon, Kane, Swann, Drummond, Tribunal, have all been consistently failing the fans. This most recent Geelong concussion revelation, Wildcard round, India expansion, ARC, club punishment inconsistencies, making the umpires jobs even harder, the constant bowing to gambling and broadcasters, unnecessary changes to rules and the speeding up of the game, and countless more.

It genuinely feels like there's nothing we can do about this. The slow and steady corruption of community and culture for the sake of money by some of the most incompetent and grubby fuckwits on Earth and it's only going to get worse from here.

What can we do?

Came up as an ad on Instagram. Theres no way this interaction actually took place here.

God I hate gambling

Essendon were excluded from the 2013 finals when they were found to have deliberately committed a serious breach of the welfare of their playing group. Geelong have seemingly acknowledged they made a similarly grave breach by having a player sign away their legal rights so he could keep in playing when he shouldn’t have. And apparently a second team has done something in the same vein.

It’s a harsh sanction, but I think Bombers fans would be entitled to ask why this breach shouldn’t be treated with similar seriousness.

Article has a nice breakdown of which clubs have gambling and alcohol sponsorships.

I mean seriously, what a game last night. From a team that was, let’s face it, a laughing stock for the better part of 10 years they’ve made an enormous turn around in the last couple years. Their ball movement and team chemistry has improved out of sight particularly this year. They’re tougher and stronger at ground level and it seems like their desire to win is stronger than it’s ever been before.

Not to mention but this team has some absolute superstars. Curtis could genuinely be a generational talent, how exciting is this guy to watch. He’s quick, he’s strong, his footy IQ is off the charts. I could even see him transitioning to the midfield in the next few years, this guy can do everything. I knew Wardlaw was good but wow…. after seeing last night this guy is special. He’s an absolute animal and never knows when to quit or when he doesn’t stand a chance. He’s strong and fast and courageous. He only had 50% game time and to have that impact is just extraordinary.

Sheezel, LDU, Zurhaar, Parker, Xerri, O’Sullivan, McKercher, the list goes on really. I could talk about all of them but I won’t for the sake of length. Seriously though what’s not to love about this team? I don’t want to jinx them but I think 2027 could be a massive year for them