I'm comfortable with what I've done: Dane Swan
Dane Swan's emergence from run-of-the-mill AFL player to genuine midfield star seemed to sneak up on much of the football world. Maybe even him as well.
Rohan Connolly, a senior football writer for The Age and radio broadcaster with sports radio station 1116 SEN, has been covering the game since 1983. A multi-AFL Media Association award-winner known for his passion and love of the game, he analyses the AFL for the newspaper and contributes a blog and weekly video, "Footy Fix", for The Age's football website, Real Footy.
Dane Swan's emergence from run-of-the-mill AFL player to genuine midfield star seemed to sneak up on much of the football world. Maybe even him as well.
Nice one, Melbourne. Here we were, all set up for nailbiting climax to the home-and-away season, and you fluffed your lines.
Just how West Coast and Hawthorn react to the loss of ruckmen Nic Naitanui and Jonathon Ceglar may have a lot to do with determining this year's premier, as well as a perennial football debate.
Racists and their apologists can't ignore the evidence right before their eyes, and Port Adelaide should be commended for moving swiftly in response.
It was 1995 when Robert Walls, his side scheduled to play back-to-back games in Perth, had his Brisbane Bears spend an entire week in the western capital. It failed to work, the Bears losing the first game of the extended road trip by 66 points, and the second by 45.
Overlooked Collingwood veteran Travis Cloke is in line for another senior recall for the Magpies' last game of the season against Hawthorn after an injury to boom forward Darcy Moore.
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said on Friday night that he had no doubt he would lose his job if the Magpies failed to make the finals in 2017.
Adam Simpson knows his West Coast team hasn't hit the same heights as last year. But the Eagles keep winning. And who's to say they can't still end up in the same place?
Six years on, there has been no "era of dominance". The picture at Collingwood is of change pushed too swiftly.
Melbourne still have a lot of work to do to reach this year's finals. But the Demons have form when it comes to unlikely charges at September, in fact, one of the most famous of them all.
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