The first of the bye rounds is done – and while there were fewer games than usual, the presence of a Sunday night game in Perth made this a longer round than most!
Bookended by tremendous displays of gumption from young Essendon and West Coast teams to push flag contenders Brisbane and Geelong all the way, and culminating in the middle with Sydney’s nightmare Saturday night (and the subsequent post-match controversy), it was a fascinating weekend in which most of what we hold to be true about the 2025 season remains solid … just.
With Fremantle on the rise, Gold Coast suffering a setback, Adelaide surging back into the top four and Hawthorn’s form slump hitting a new low, there’s a fair bit of moving and shaking at the top end of the table in particular!
Let’s dive in.
1. Why did Milera apologise?
The reaction to Adelaide defender Wayne Milera branding Sydney as ‘a bit of a rabble’ in an ABC interview following the Crows’ 90-point demolition job on Saturday night was predictable.
A footy media that feasts on the barest hint of controversy duly had a field day; on Fox Footy in particular, it was perfect fodder for a post-match debate featuring the fierce criticism of Jack Riewoldt, who branded it ‘100 per cent inappropriate’, to the more mild-mannered rebuke of David King, who suggested it was a poor choice of words.
Realistically, we should expect it: much of the media plea for players to show originality and lament robotic, cliched answers to questions, but the reality clearly is that they want that as fuel for the eternal content machine, where a simple off-handed remark can provoke a week’s worth of debate to fill endless panel shows and radio dead space.
I suppose I’m leaning into that too right here: because Milera and the Crows’ choice to both apologise to the Swans for the comment, and publicly admit to it, was a baffling response to outcry that was entirely confined to the media.
No one in the public, not even Swans supporters, took umbrage to an entirely realistic assessment of the Swans’ nightmare Saturday night at the SCG. If reports are to be believed, the Swans themselves had no issues with it either side of the proffered apology.
And if the Crows think saying sorry is going to prevent Dean Cox from using it as ammunition for the Swans’ next game, as well as to try and fire his team up when next they lock horns with them, then they’ve probably got another thing coming. If I’m Cox, I’m putting up that quote on the whiteboard first thing Monday morning.
No doubt the media, myself included, needs to resist the urge to make mountains out of molehills – but then again, their job is to report on interesting events, and a player straying from the standard ‘credit to the boys, they’re a great side and it took our best to beat them’ is always going to merit reporting on, even in this case the reaction from Riewoldt in particular was seriously overblown.
But clubs should also, to be frank, show a bit of backbone when dealing with other clubs, just as they are now increasingly pushing back at overly harsh or inaccurate media reports.
GWS’ social media team don’t walk back anything they say, from their public dig at Isaac Heeney last year following his bizarre apology video after being suspended that the Swans absolutely despised, to a rather poor-taste final siren tile after their win over Richmond featuring former Giant Tim Taranto in his old colours.
Others, including Adelaide, would do well to not assume even the slightest of barbs are spotfires that need to be stamped out.
The Crows didn’t need to apologise for Milera’s entirely accurate comments. And I don’t think it was entirely the media’s fault that they did.
2. There’s life in the Eagles
During the second and third quarters on Sunday night at Optus Stadium, it was possible to remember just how terrifying a trip west to face the Eagles once was.
The noise was palpable even through the TV screen, the crowd at fever pitch sensing the mighty Geelong having their mettle tested by a young, sparky rival – and it was both electric and scary to witness.
If and when the Eagles progress from being awful to even mediocre, it will be very hard to beat them on their own turf.
The signs were there during those quarters that that time might not be that far off, either.
Taking the game on with daring handball chains, streaming through the corridor with an intent to take the Cats on and getting the footy in the hands of Oscar Allen with frantic speed, the Eagles youngsters were all over their older, wiser counterparts.
Elijah Hewett was popping up everywhere, Harry Edwards doing a fine job in defence, Reuben Ginbey matching Jeremy Cameron step for step; and of course, every Harley Reid touch rightly lifting everyone’s pulse.
But for plenty of wonky kicks just when they seemed poised to break the Cats open, they’d probably have been in front at three quarter time – and even when they messed up, there was plenty to like about their desire to make amends and win the footy back, which they did frequently.
Sure, the bottom fell out when the Cats steadied in the final quarter, and the last ten minutes were a bloodbath – Ginbey in particular was incredibly stiff to see Cameron, held brilliantly all day, kick four goals at the death for a five-goal haul – but it shouldn’t be discounted just how long they kept themselves within arm’s reach of a premiership contender, and how manful their effort was.
These are dismal times for everyone associated with West Coast – but the dark times will pass, and the building blocks of a competitive team are in place.
3. If this is the end for Callan Ward … it’s a good one
In 99 per cent of cases, the sight of any player, let alone a great of the game, limping from the field for the final time with a serious knee injury would be the most brutally unjust end to a career.
But Callan Ward’s inspirational response to Saturday’s heartbreak at ENGIE Stadium, which looks likely to be the final act of a 327-game lifetime of service to the AFL and GWS, might be a rare exception.
Make no mistake – the 35-year old deserved better. A man known from his earliest days at the Western Bulldogs as ‘Cement Head’ has spent 18 years proving it’s possible in the modern game to be tough without resorting to thuggery, and has become one of the most admired and universally respected players in the league.
Few athletes get a happy ending in sport, but at the very least, Ward earned the right to set his own retirement date, lead the team he once captained onto the field, maybe slot a farewell goal for his trouble and d be chaired off the field at the end of his final match, win, lose or draw.
But it rarely works like that. Chris Judd’s final moments as an AFL player were being stretchered from the MCG after his knee gave way; Lance Franklin’s last match saw him subbed out early with a calf injury; Gary Ablett played out his farewell with a wrecked shoulder that he couldn’t even lift to salute a cheering crowd at the end of the 2020 grand final.
If it is, as suspected, a serious knee injury, then Ward will surely not return for another season, having spent much of this one already separated from his family for one last crack at an elusive premiership.
Ward, though, was a different kind of champion. An ultimate professional whose greatness was in his work ethic, commitment to the cause and inspiring leadership – and as he showed at three-quarter time in the Giants’ comeback win over Richmond, just hours after the cruellest of blows, he didn’t need to be actually playing to showcase all that in spades.
If there’s a right way to remember Callan Ward and all he stood for in the AFL, then the sight of him urging his teammates to lift from a 28-point deficit, and inspiring them to an unlikely win, is just as poignant as if he were given the on-field ending his standing in the game warranted.
From start to finish, he was the type of player who made others around him better. That has never been more apparent than at – we suspect – the very end.
4. Critics miss the mark on AFLW fixture
It’s usually not a good idea to disagree with Marnie Vinall on anything women’s footy – but her displeasure with the AFLW fixture, a sentiment apparently shared by players, isn’t something I can get behind.
With the full draw being released during the week, the main point of contention is a lack of double-headers to run alongside men’s games during the final home-and-away rounds, as well as an absence of games at the major venues the men’s competition features at.
On both counts, though, I’m not sure the league could have done much better.
Double-headers are, I feel, a double-edged sword, if you pardon the pun.
On one hand, bigger crowds are almost a given for a women’s match played before a men’s game, with plenty of fans surely willing to go a few hours early to attend both matches; on the other, though, it would be exceedingly difficult to ticket the women’s match as a separate game, and if you could access both on the same ticket it would lock out fans of the women alone – the main demographic that the league should be encouraging – who won’t stump up a heftier than usual price that is entirely based on the men’s game that follows it.
We had that problem, albeit on slightly different parameters, back in 2022, when women’s games were played as ‘curtain-raisers’ to men’s finals; North Melbourne fans were effectively locked out of clash with Melbourne played prior to the Demons men’s team’s qualifying final clash with Sydney.
I personally attended the Western Bulldogs’ women-men double-header before the Dogs’ elimination final last year, and the atmosphere for the women’s game against Port Adelaide was a farce: barely anyone was interested in the game, and it’s slightly farcical that the 23,000-strong crowd, almost entirely early arrivals to see the Dogs and Hawks play that night, is the biggest crowd of the last AFLW season.
Which brings me to my reasons against needing to play women’s games at high-profile venues: having that match at the cavernous MCG was a hollowing experience, a stark contrast to AFLW matches I’ve seen at suburban venues where smaller crowds still felt more packed.
No, the women’s game shouldn’t be denied room to grow because of smaller crowds necessitated by smaller venues, as has reportedly been the case over the last two years; but I’d argue the game is a far better spectacle in front of 5,000 at an Ikon Park or Whitten Oval with the stands packed than with 7,500 watching at a near-empty Adelaide Oval or Marvel Stadium.
Women’s footy, at the moment, has great ties with the communities their clubs represent; and it’s a great starting point, and a unique aspect of the women’s game.
Until the game grows naturally, and begins to draw crowds that can justify playing more often at bigger venues, it’s fine being it’s own thing – and more mistakes have been made by the AFL trying to grow the game beyond what it’s capable of.
5. Shai Bolton is a recruit of the year smoky
In discussions about who is 2025’s recruit of the year, the debate has mostly revolved around Bailey Smith and Matthew Kennedy, amid outstanding seasons for Geelong and the Western Bulldogs respectively.
But a third star has most definitively entered the chat – and it’s the man many would have tipped as the biggest player to change clubs in last season’s trade period: Shai Bolton.
After a seven-disposal game in Fremantle’s disastrous loss to St Kilda a month ago playing primarily as a small forward starved of supply, the dual-premiership Tiger has divided his time between the midfield and attack – and it has added a menacing spark to Freo’s on-ball brigade.
Bolton’s last month – which has featured a loss to Collingwood and then three straight wins to resurrect the Dockers’ season – have featured 28, 24, 18 and 20 disposals and a combined eight goals, including two bags of three.
His performance in a surprise win over Gold Coast was his most influential yet: zippy around stoppages, a menace in attack and tremendous defensively, he was a difference-maker even before his superb chasedown tackle opened the door for Jye Amiss to snap the match-sealing goal.
This is exactly what the Dockers recruited Bolton for: as a genuine X-factor player capable of dazzling stints on the ball and making goals out of half-chances up forward.
No one wearing purple – no, not even Luke Jackson and Caleb Serong, both of whom were again tremendous in torrential Gold Coast conditions – have had a bigger impact on Freo’s season turning around.
With a draw that suddenly opens up, and suddenly back inside the eight having seemed shot just three weeks ago, the Dockers can dream big for as long as Bolton can keep up this stunning form.
6. Seven’s brutal broadcast war reality check
News during the week that Kayo Sports’ viewing numbers are significantly up in 2025, particularly on Thursday and Friday nights, is a fascinating new development in what is increasingly becoming a broadcast war between Fox and Seven.
The intriguing part of this is that Fox have been heavily criticised for several aspects of their coverage this year to a far greater degree than Seven, in particular their tendency to call games from the studio as well as their monopolising of all Saturday football (and then bragging about it in ads); yet the spike in audience suggests the decisions they are making are having an effect.
The most fascinating element of the numbers released is that the biggest spike isn’t on Saturday nights, where Fox now broadcast alone instead of simulcasting with Seven; it’s on Thursdays and Fridays, when they are competing directly with the free-to-air network for eyeballs.
My suspicion is that it is indeed Fox’s exclusive Saturday coverage, rather than a direct rebuke of Seven’s broadcast, that has caused this; people who want to watch footy on Saturday now have to buy a Kayo subscription, and once they have that option they’d rather watch the ad-free Fox feed on Thursdays and Fridays rather than deal with ads on Seven.
But central to the debate has been intense criticism of Brian Taylor, the most polarising commentator in the land and who provoked endless social media frustration in his calling in the decade when his voice was the only one on television you could get for games he was covering.
Whichever way you slice it, Kayo’s number spike should serve as a reality check for Seven.
Channel 7 commentators Matthew Richardson and Brian Taylor. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Never before have consumers had an option to actively not listen to their broadcast; now that they are, and there is an actual option to not listen to Taylor in particular, the numbers aren’t lying.
The quality of Seven’s broadcast has for too long taken fans for granted. Hopefully, the broadcast war will result in both sides lifting their standards in a desperate attempt to one-up the other – and if the sight of Fox sending far more of their commentary teams to the matches they’ve covered this weekend is any indication, the early signs are good for us fans.
Random thoughts
– Is Patrick Voss … actually good, and not just a meme player?
– 28 disposals and five clearances while holding Kozzie Pickett to 12 touches and goalless. One of the great tagging jobs from Marcus Windhager.
– No one cares about it because they won, but Freo using Luke Jackson as a midfielder when he’s not rucking still feels a little bit wasteful, right?
– Richmond could genuinely have been a finals chance this year if they’d kept Bolton and Rioli.
– I don’t think we’re talking about Ed Allan enough.
