Amid the devastation were beacons of light – in particular, West Coast’s dazzling victory over St Kilda to finish off the round, and honouring their premiership hero in the only way they could, felt appropriate.

There was, as always, plenty to talk about from Round 10 – and a lot of it is too important to waste any more time. Let’s begin.

1. A Mental Health Round isn’t enough

You couldn’t possibly not be rocked to the core by the news on Saturday that Adam Selwood, West Coast premiership hero and a member one one of football’s most famous modern families, had died at just 41.

Selwood’s death itself, leaving behind wife Fiona and two children, is tragic enough; for it to come just months after the death of twin brother Troy is just unspeakably devastating.

No words can sum up the footy world’s sorrow, but Craig McRae’s palpable grief in his post-match press conference.

Naturally, calls have never been louder for the AFL to bring in a full Mental Health Round, an extension of St Kilda’s current ‘Spud’s Game’, both to honour those who have been lost over the years and to raise awareness for what has become one of society’s most pressing issues.

To be brutally honest, though, I’m not sure, sad as it is to say, that that would address the heart of the problem.

The reality is that men’s mental health, and a heartbreakingly high rate of male suicide, are not things that can be addressed with a minute’s silence before every game in a round, or a former player encouraging men everywhere to speak up and not say silent, as Tom Boyd did so eloquently before Spud’s Game last week.

Would it reduce the stigma around asking for help? Maybe – who knows how many other Adam and Troy Selwoods have been avoided by men inspired by St Kilda’s dedication to the issue – but it’s not enough to merely encourage people to seek support.

This is a government matter, at both a state and federal level. Making access to mental care and support easier, and more importantly, cheaper, would in my view contribute infinitely more to reduce suicide rates – and without it, an AFL-themed round can only do so much.

The AFL can do far more good behind the scenes, if it wishes. As one of the most powerful and well-resourced institutions in the land, it can lobby government to introduce more programs to help vulnerable people seek help, perhaps with league backing and (and this is key) funding – after all, it’s their primary target audience of men between 18 and 54 who are most at risk here.

They could run programs at footy clubs around the country and pay dedicated professionals to have sessions, or even help groups, with anyone struggling, rather than leave it to the clubs and non-profit groups to conduct these off their own bat.

An organisation with the money and influence the AFL has can be a true force for good in ways more profound than can possibly be achieved with a Mental Health Round – and frankly, limiting their duty to merely the latter is letting them off easy.

Joel Selwood, Adam Selwood and Scott Selwood embrace during Troy Selwood’s funeral service in February. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

That’s without even mentioning the impact of CTE on former players which include Danny Frawley himself – though what exactly the AFL can do to combat this in a code where accidental head contact is an occupational hazard is the most complex problem in the modern game.

On top of all this, this is a sporting body that has an unfortunate history of window-dressing key issues.

All the glitz and glam of Indigenous Round, all the ways in which the AFL publicly glorifies the great First Nations footballers of yesteryear and the modern era, all the ways the clubs pay tribute to Indigenous culture before and during the game, ring a tad hollow when you consider how the league have repeatedly mismanaged Indigenous issues on anything that requires a fraction of backbone, from the Adam Goodes booing saga a decade ago, to Willie Rioli of the past week and a half, to the racism allegations levelled at Hawthorn, Alastair Clarkson and Chris Fagan by a group of former Indigenous Hawks, to the shambles of the league’s most senior Indigenous representative, Tanya Hosch, leaving the organisation amid claims of being hamstrung on addressing key issues.

I’d like to see the AFL take a broader responsibility in addressing the causes – and solutions – of the ongoing mental health crisis than a mere themed round to raise awareness and reduce stigma. They can do a mountain of good if they’re willing, and if we demand it of them.

2. It’s time for Hinkley and Port

Six weeks ago, I wrote in Six Points that Ken Hinkley’s time at Port Adelaide had reached breaking point.

They followed that up with three consecutive wins, including a barely believable first half mauling of Hawthorn, that suggested there might be life yet in the Power’s 2025 campaign … but no sooner has the lift come than it has abated, with three straight losses, two of them wallopings.

The Power sit, at the time of writing, 15th, with a dire percentage of 82. They might only be a game outside the eight, but they’re honestly nowhere near it, as a 76-point hammering to Geelong in Saturday’s afternoon carnage at the Adelaide Oval attests.

Given how unpopular the later years of Hinkley’s reign have been, especially among their own fans, it’s easy to overlook just how seismic this drop is. Port are a team good enough to finish in the top four in four of the last five years, and top-two in three of them. And if their sluggish start to 2025 could be partially explained by the absence of Zak Butters, then his presence when the team was mauled by the Bulldogs two weeks ago and the Cats now suggests injuries can’t be blamed either.

Hinkley will again be in the gun this week, the eyes of the footy world firmly on Alberton, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Port, as is their want, lifted in support of their maligned but still beloved coach and stormed Fremantle next Saturday to keep the wolf from the door for another month.

Surely, though, the kindest, most dignified solution for all, given the Power’s already established commitment for Josh Carr to be coaching this team in Round 1, 2026, is to pull the bandaid off now.

When it comes to coaching succession plans, this is uncharted territory in the AFL world: Mick Malthouse to Nathan Buckley at Collingwood and Paul Roos to John Longmire at Sydney had equal season-long handover periods, but both teams remained in premiership contention until deep into September.

Hawthorn planned an even longer transition between Alastair Clarkson and Sam Mitchell, from mid-2021 to the end of 2022, but it took them mere weeks to realise this was a farce and embarrassing for all parties, which history has proved to be the right move.

Hinkley is a dead man walking, and his team, which he has so often inspired to play above themselves over the years, is playing like it. He is a man on a hiding to nothing, and he is coaching like it.

If Port think they are respecting a man whose tenure has been successful without the ultimate triumph – or even a grand final berth – by delaying his walk to the gallows until year’s end, they are kidding themselves.

If they think a team not run publicly and privately by Carr when everyone knows his status as the next coach is anything but destablising, they are kidding themselves.

Give Ken a farewell game, if you wish – maybe against Melbourne in Round 14, the Power’s next home game.

But with every passing week, every extra disastrous loss, every extra week of disgruntled supporters scornful of his lack of grand finals in a 13-season span at the helm, chips away at his legacy and turns even more people against him. And nothing could be more disrespectful than that.

Ken Hinkley. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

3. Just when I was out with Freo, they pull me back in again

Damn it, Fremantle.

I was just about ready to quit on you.

I was just about to give up on Justin Longmuir as coach, on a safe, ultra-boring game style featuring bomb after bomb into an outnumbered forward 50, and on the Dockers’ chances of even making finals, never mind following through on my pre-season prediction of them challenging for a flag.

And then you go and dismantle GWS on their own turf for your best win of the year by a country mile, and leave the footy world completely unsure of just what to make of you again.

The Dockers were brilliant on Saturday afternoon, and so was Longmuir in the coaches’ box.

Encouraging run and carry, and being far more aggressive from stoppages than at any point this year, Freo set up scoring shots at will, with five goals from clearances one of the keys to victory.

Caleb Serong and Andrew Brayshaw were superb as ever, Shai Bolton had his second outstanding game in a row as a fully-fledged midfield to give a one-paced unit more than a dash of speed, agility and plain old footy smarts, and Luke Jackson’s superb showing as a follow-up ruckman will only give the Sean Darcy naysayers more ammunition.

It was speed winning the day up forward, too, with Bolton and Michael Frederick banging through three goals apiece as they ran the Giants off their feet with similar devastation to what GWS did themselves to Collingwood back in Opening Round.

It was a performance that showcased just how spectacular Freo are at their best; play like this even two-thirds of the time, and they’re a bona fide premiership contender. The key, as it has been for them for the past three seasons, is finding it consistently.

Amid all the criticism, much of it my own, the Dockers are ninth on the ladder, just percentage out of the eight, and with a fixture that opens up on either side of their bye in a fortnight’s time.

They’ll probably start as favourites in each of their next six games, with Gold Coast on the road by far their biggest challenge: they’ve also got a second West Coast game to come and two fixtures against a Port Adelaide outfit they should be beating twice.

But can you count on the Dockers not crashing back to earth against the Power next week? Can you back them to keep this same electrifying style that torched the Giants and not return back to tame, safety-first ball movement the minute someone applies more pressure?

I’m not ready to say Fremantle are back yet. But I’m definitely ready to get hurt again.

4. The dumbest act of the year

I can’t put into words just how idiotic Joel Amartey’s high bump on Jordan Boyd on Friday night was.

In the final two minutes of a match already won, on return from a lengthy injury lay-off, Amartey earned himself a three-week ban by arriving late, opting to bump with the ball already on its way forward for Carlton, and ironing out Boyd with a hit heavy enough to leave him with a concussion.

It’s exactly the action the league wants to stamp out, and for that to get an equal suspension to Paul Curtis’ for a nearly legal tackle, or countless other incidents where concussion was accidental, is problematic for reasons I’ve spent the better part of two years outlining.

I don’t think anyone would object to that being worth four weeks – yet more reason to tweak the Match Review Officer guidelines to distinguish deliberate bumps from things like accidental tackles gone wrong. Frame one as ‘reckless’ and the other ‘accidental’, in my book, and dole out suspensions accordingly.

The result of Amartey’s brain fade is that Sydney, having breathed life into their season with a gritty win at the SCG, now have to cope without their spearhead again – this time, for reasons entirely of his own making.

If I’m Dean Cox, I’d have given him the mother of all bollockings after the match.

5. What’s going on with Brisbane?

Who saw that coming?

Melbourne, having trailed all day yet still kept themselves within arm’s width of Brisbane, poleaxed the Lions with a stirring final quarter at the Gabba, storming the reigning premiers’ fortress for a famous win.

The Dees were scintillating in that term, and really could and should have won by more if not for errant kicking – but with brute strength from stoppages, dashing run from half-back, elite kicking inside forward 50, brutal pressure and your standard Max Gawn magnificence, this was still quite clearly their best performance of the year, and probably best since at least 2023 too.

Bayley Fritsch is worth a mention, too – demoted to sub duties after a topsy-turvy year which has seen him spend time in the VFL too, the premiership hero was incredibly influential when the game was on the line, kicking a key goal and impacting all over the field with lead-up marks frequently rewarded by his teammates.

It’s a touch bizarre to see them play this dynamically, having slogged through much of the last 18 months with tepid, low-scoring footy thanks mainly to a dysfunctional forward line.

Best on ground? Probably Jake Melksham in my book, who not only prevented Harris Andrews from exerting much of his usual influence in the air, but hurt him with his forward smarts, finishing with four goals and probably a few enemies among Lions players.

Whether it’s a corner turned is anyone’s guess, but at the very least, a performance this outstanding is a reminder that no one can take the Demons lightly this season.

But it has also been a long time since I’ve seen Brisbane play that badly.

In the last quarter especially, the Lions were off: simple targets were missed, 50/50 contests comprehensively lost, and the flag-winning midfield of last year, that usually bullies rivals into submission, was well and truly beaten.

Sure, Darcy Fort was given a bath by Max Gawn, but if he was good enough to play his role in the grand final triumph, you can’t use the loss of Oscar McInerney pre-game as much of an excuse.

The moment that summed up the whole last quarter came, for me, with Brisbane mounting one last forward foray: Dayne Zorko attempted to find a free Cam Rayner in the central corridor, the crowd roared in anticipation … and the ball sailed over his head, with Rayner giving away a free for good measure by taking Xavier Lindsay’s head half off.

The Lions have more than enough credits in the bank to cop a loss, regardless of how surprising it was, and move on. But coming off the back of last week’s lethargic draw with North Melbourne, from which you’d have expected a statement to be made, to lose again, especially in the manner they did with a meek last quarter and poor defensive effort, feels a little troubling.

A percentage of 110 – second-lowest of the current top eight – tells you that the reigning champs aren’t firing on even half their cylinders, too.

That’s either a bad thing – there’s nothing to inspire them to hit another gear now that they’ve won a flag – or a good thing – they’re 7-1-3 and second on the ladder while going through a rough patch that every good team is bound to have eventually.

Up next? Hawthorn at the MCG. Strap in – this one’s going to be a beauty.

6. The real problem with the umpiring in 2025

I don’t think it’s controversial to say that the public’s opinion of umpiring has rarely been lower than it is in 2025.

Controversial calls blow up on social media, are debated rigorously in the media, and all the while Andrew Dillon’s quote that the standard of umpiring is ‘as good as it’s ever been’ is sarcastically thrown back in the AFL’s face.

But you know what? I said it two weeks ago and I’ll say it again: the umpiring is no better, or worse, than it was in 2024, or 2020, or 2015, or 2005.

Shockers happen – but they’ve always happened. I think we forget that every week since footy began a howler has been made, only now they’re intensified by multiple camera angles of every decision, and inflamed further by the ease with which those moments can be shared, rewatched, and used to form a perception of umpiring as a whole.

You know what is worse than ever before? Knowledge of the rules from those in the game meant to educate us fans, and from us fans ourselves.

Case in point: the insufficient intent out of bounds rule. There were a number of them paid on Thursday night between Carlton and Sydney, virtually all of them heavily disputed by every man and his dog.

But you know what? This is a correct decision by the letter of the law. No, Patrick Cripps hasn’t deliberately kicked the ball out of bounds – but that was the rule a decade ago, before it was changed, and before a serious of further tweaks have made leeway given to players tighter and tighter.

Cripps was free-kicked because he did not show sufficient care to keep the ball in play; in short, he kicked off the ground with the intent to run onto it, but also with the intent of gaining territory for his team, with the worst result a boundary throw-in.

We need our broadcast media, therefore, to ensure that the general public understands this, and accepts that you can’t get away with this sort of play anymore.

Not doing what Dermott Brereton did on Sunday afternoon at the MCG, where he was incensed by Luke Parker being pinged for this hack out of congestion – and incidentally, you could not convince me that the ball ricocheted off the Tiger attempting to smother and wasn’t primarily directed to the boundary by Parker kicking it that way.

But it’s not all their fault – more than at any point in the game’s history, and more than any other sport in the world, the rules the umpires are instructed to follow are virtually entirely vibes-based.

Take the ball out of bounds? In nearly every sport, it’s the other team’s possession – in footy, it’s a neutral contest unless the umpire thinks you didn’t do all you could to keep the pill in.

Holding the ball? Well, that depends on whether you had enough time to dispose of the ball, or whether you attempted to break a tackle – an umpire has to decide both of those things on the fly, while also making sure the tackle is legal, because if it slips high or if he takes the player to ground too roughly, well, that’s another free kick.

Push in the back? If you’re holding your own space, then it’s fine – but an umpire is apparently supposed to crack out the mental protractor and determine if the pusher’s arms straighten by enough for it to be an infringement.

The AFL have responded to every evolution of the game that takes it away from what they think the fans want to see, and in the process scrambled the rules so as to become unrecognisable to 20 years ago, and indecipherable for most of us.

Given all that, the poor sods with the task of trying to apply the laws of the game (and as part-time employees, mind you) are actually doing a pretty good job.

Random thoughts

– Ed Richards has gone from reasonable half-back to a genuine top 10 midfielder in the comp in 12 months. Crazy.

– Tyler Brockman seems like the sort of player who will become a problem if West Coast ever get good.

– Ben Long, Jack Higgins, Jamie Elliott, Rhylee West, Nick Watson … small forwards are back, baby!

– Anyone who thinks footballers were better at any point in the game’s history before now should be forced to watch Mabior Chol’s goal on Thursday night on repeat until they change their mind.

– If you think footy was better 10 years ago, then you’d have loved North Melbourne and Richmond’s one zillion stoppages, because that’s basically what footy was like in 2015.

– Fremantle and West Coast should change their names permanently to Walyalup and Waalitj Marawar. They’re unbeatable when they’re called that!