Footy's back!
The best and most exciting sport in the world (in my opinion) - and thankfully mostly devoid of the cheating, play-acting and general bad sportsmanship that infects our football these days, even in the bloody Third Division, if you don't mind - returns for another seven-month spell taking us through to the last Saturday in September.
Brisbane are the reigning AFL champs having demolished Sydney by an even 10 goals in last year's Grand Final and they'll be confident of defending their title ... but equally there'll be a number of clubs who are just as confident that they can win it. Brisbane will have to buck a weird recent trend in that three of the last four Premiers have not qualified for the Finals (2023 Collingwood, 2022 Geelong, 2020 Richmond) and the 2021 Premiers, Melbourne, made it to the Finals in 2022 but didn't win a match, losing a Qualifying Final and then the Semi Final.
The coaching merry-go-round was very quiet in the off-season with only two clubs boasting new men at the top: West Coast are now fronted by Andrew McQualter in his first senior coaching role (although he was caretaker coach at Richmond a couple of years back) replacing 2018 Premiership-winning coach Adam Simpson, who stepped down midway through last season, and Sydney's new man is West Coast legend Dean Cox, also in his first senior gig, after long-time Swans leader John Longmire quit in the aftermath of last season's battering by the Lions, Sydney's fourth Grand Final defeat under Longmire and the second shellacking in three years (having also copped a mullering in 2014 ... he did lead the Swannies to a flag in 2012 so it wasn't all bad).
The AFL 2025 season gets underway this weekend with the Opening Round based solely in the Rugby League heartland states of Queensland and New South Wales ... although the two games scheduled for Brisbane (today) and Gold Coast (Saturday) have been postponed due to Tropical Storm Alfred leaving just two matches:
Thursday Brisbane v Geelong, Gabba - postponed
Friday Sydney v Hawthorn, SCG 8:40am GMT
Saturday Gold Coast v Essendon, Carrara Stadium - postponed
Sunday GWS v Collingwood, Sydney Showground Stadium 4:20am GMT
Round 1, starting on Thursday next week, sees all 18 clubs involved.
My ladder prediction for this year:
1. Brisbane Lions
2. Geelong Cats
3. Fremantle Dockers
4. Hawthorn Hawks
5. Collingwood Magpies
6. Sydney Swans
7. GWS Giants
8. Gold Coast Suns
9. Port Adelaide Power
10. Western Bulldogs
11. Carlton Blues
12. Adelaide Crows
13. Melbourne Demons
14. Essendon Bombers
15. St Kilda Saints
16. North Melbourne Kangaroos
17. West Coast Eagles
18. Richmond Tigers
Last year the competition was so even (apart from North, Eagles and the Tiggers) that it was a tipping nightmare and this season probably won't be much different. I'd be fairly confident of having the right teams in the top seven (although the order will probably be wildly different!) but eight spot is well and truly up for grabs. I've put Gold Coast in the last Finals spot (which would be their first time in post-season action after 14 years in the comp) but, to be honest, you can throw a blanket over them and the teams down to the Demons.
North have been in rebuilding mode for what seems like an eternity having taken up permanent residence of the bottom two in recent years and West Coast have been in the doldrums in the last four years following a lot of serious injuries and retirements of club greats. Both should improve this year but not really enough to push too far up the table. I'd love to see the Eagles back at the top of the tree but that ain't happening just yet!
Richmond, on the other hand, are making up the numbers this year with a very young side after a couple of huge years at the national draft and a number of their Premiership stars either retiring or moving clubs.
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Comments
Cannot justify paying the individual price to add it on.
Come on the Saints and if not them, then Brisbane to repeat.
This week sees the other fourteen clubs make the entrance for 2025 with the traditional (Victorian) season opener on Thursday between Richmond and Carlton at the MCG although this year it'll probably be an exceptionally one-sided affair. Even with Carlton's injury problems they should have enough points on the board by half time and a big enough lead to declare and still win by an innings.
On Friday there's a real grudge match between bitter rivals Hawthorn and Essendon, and on Saturday there's a Grand Final rematch between the Swannies and the Lions. I doubt the Lions will win this one by 10 goals unlike last time!
Round 1 Fixtures:
Thur 13 Mar
Richmond v Carlton 8:30am GMT, MCG
Fri 14 Mar
Hawthorn v Essendon 8:40am GMT, MCG
Sat 15 Mar
Geelong v Fremantle 2:20am GMT, Kardinia Park
Sydney v Brisbane 5:15am GMT, SCG
Western Bulldogs v North Melbourne 8:35am GMT, Docklands Stadium
Collingwood v Port Adelaide 8:35am GMT, MCG
Sun 16 Mar
Adelaide v St Kilda 1:35am GMT, Adelaide Oval
Melbourne v GWS 4:20am GMT, MCG
West Coast v Gold Coast 7:10am GMT, Perth Stadium
I'd even put money on Gold Coast reaching the last Saturday in September before the Saints get back there.
The AFL might have plenty of equalisation policies - salary cap, national draft, easier schedule for teams finishing in the bottom six compared to the top six etc - but it is harder for the smaller clubs compared to the big beasts like West Coast, Collingwood, Richmond, Hawthorn. When they have a down period and go through a rebuilding phase it lays them low for 3-4 years at most and then they're back up challenging for the top eight and reaching Grand Finals (even if Collingwood struggle to win them
Apart from that brief spell in the late 2000s under Ross Lyon when they reached and the Grand Finals in 2009 and 2010 the Saints have struggled with any kind of success (a Grand Final in the late 1990s is all I can think of) since their one and only flag in 1966.
Hawthorn (1st, 4-0), Brisbane (3rd, 3-0) are at the top and playing well, as expected, joined by Adelaide (2nd, 3-0) and Gold Coast (4th, 2-0) who have improved this year. They are the only unbeaten sides.
At the other end of the ladder West Coast (18th, 0-3) and Richmond (15th, 1-2) are playing as badly as most people expected (although West Coast came close to causing a massive upset in Round 2 at the Gabba against the Lions) and there are a couple of other winless sides - Carlton (16th, 0-3) and Melbourne (17th, 0-3) - keeping them company. So far Carlton has coughed up big leads in all three of their matches so far, the biggest stuff-up being the Round 1 41-point first-half lead they held over a Tigers side that some pundits were tipping to go through the entire season without a win. Melbourne has just been poo but there's more chance of them recovering than the Eagles or Tigers.
There are a couple of intriguing games this week with traditional rivals Collingwood and Carlton facing off at the 'G to open the round - the Maggies looking to condemn the Blues to an 0-4 start ... and probably taking great delight in causing misery to their bitter rivals - and then Saturday's clash between the finally-up-and-coming Suns and the resurgent, free-scoring Crows - two unbeaten starts on the line.
Elsewhere I'm hoping that GWS take it easy on Sunday and don't belt my poor Eagles too badly.
This week's matches:
Thursday
Collingwood (6th, 2-1) v Carlton (16th, 0-3) MCG, 9:30am BST
Friday
Geelong (9th, 1-2) v Melbourne (17th, 0-3) Kardinia Park, 9:40am BST
Saturday
Gold Coast (4th, 2-0) v Adelaide (2nd, 3-0) Carrara Stadium, 3:20am BST
Richmond (15th, 1-2) v Brisbane (3rd, 3-0) MCG, 6:15am BST
North Melbourne (10th, 1-2) v Sydney (11th, 1-2) Docklands, 9:35 BST
Sunday
GWS (5th, 2-1) v West Coast (18th, 0-3) Sydney Showgrounds, 4:10 BST
Port Adelaide (12th, 1-2) v St Kilda (7th, 2-1) Adelaide Oval, 6:20am
Fremantle (13th, 1-2) v Western Bulldogs (8th, 2-1) Perth Stadium, 8:10am
Essendon and Hawthorn have an early bye due to their involvement in Opening Round even though Essendon's game with Gold Coast was postponed. The AFL haven't set a date for that fixture yet (the other postponed fixture, Brisbane v Geelong, was slotted in last week as both sides had been scheduled a bye week) and is due to be played in an expanded final round; whether that's before or after the main set of Round 24 fixtures will probably depend on what's riding on the result.