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Samantha Lane

Samantha Lane joined The Age in 2005 and has specialised in the coverage of Australian Rules football, cycling, Olympic sports and drugs in sport. A Quill award winner and part of the Fairfax team that won a Walkley award in 2014 for its coverage of the AFL’s doping scandal, Sam has rich multimedia experience. She is part of the Seven network’s Saturday night AFL television coverage and was previously a panellist on network Ten's Before the Game. Sam was The Age’s Olympics reporter for the 2012 London Olympics, and covered the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games for Fairfax. Her work has won awards from the Australian Sports Commission, the Victorian Institute of Sport, the AFL Players Association and the AFL Coaches Association.

Reminder: The message on Eddie Betts' wrist stands for "start well" which was the last thing coach Phil Walsh said to ...

The meaningful mantra on Eddie Betts' wrist

Noticed that Eddie Betts wears tape on his wrists? Looked closer and seen "SW" written on it? It stands for start well. It stands for 'start well', which was the last message star Adelaide forward Betts got from Phil Walsh the night before the AFL coach met a tragic death.

Eddie Betts: ''I'm a forgiving person.''

We're here for you: Goodes to Betts after crowd racism

When Adam Goodes picked up the phone and called Eddie Betts it felt to the Adelaide star that something good, at least, had come from the AFL's latest blatant episode of crowd racism. Four weeks after a Port Adelaide spectator hurled a banana in Betts' direction during his 250th senior match, the forward has explained how events that made national news prompted private rallying from Indigenous and football leaders that genuinely lifted him.

Patrick Dangerfield won the AFL Players Association MVP award by a massive 906 votes.

Patrick Dangerfield scores runaway win as AFLPA's most valuable player

There are landslide victories and then there's Patrick Dangerfield's blitz of the 2016 AFL Players Association most valuable player award. The powerhouse midfielder, reborn as a Cat this season, has won a convincing collective nod from his contemporary footballer peers, polling 926 more votes than runner-up Rory Sloane, one of his former Adelaide sidekicks.

The Bulldogs sing the club song with gusto after their tremendous win in Perth.

Perth glory up with Dogs' finest wins

Western Bulldogs boss Peter Gordon has stopped short of declaring his club's mighty elimination final triumph the greatest on-field result in his football memory, but ranks it in his top two.

CAS secretary-general Matthieu Reeb.

CAS expects Essendon player appeal verdict in November

  • EXCLUSIVE

The AFL will enjoy clear air during finals from a drug case that has haunted it for four years, provided the timing of the Essendon player appeal verdict expected by world sport's chief arbiter - which is party to the landmark dispute - proves correct. The Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled 34 Bomber players would incur 12-month suspensions for banned substance use, has told Fairfax Media it does not expect ultimate judgment on the matter until November; at least four weeks after this season's AFL grand final.

Banned Bomber Michael Hurley gave an emotional interview to Channel Nine's Footy Show.

Don't talk to me about 'Danksy', says an emotional Hurley

Stepping back into football after a year where he sought refuge abroad and returned with half his face covered by hair, banned Essendon player Michael Hurley has invited broad questioning with one clear no-go zone: Stephen Dank. In a filmed nine-minute interview to be broadcast by Channel Nine on Wednesday night, Hurley makes no secret of the fact he entertained changing clubs due to the drug scandal that halted him at peak of his AFL powers.