![James Hird has endured opprobrium and scuttlebutt about his personal life.](/web/20170209191244im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/m/k/q/s/image.related.landscape.460x307.gtmod4.png/1483658224920.jpg)
James Hird 'health scare' the culmination of four years of turmoil
Unrelenting pressure on a sporting field or a coaching box is one thing. But that ceases, at least temporarily, when the game is over.
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.
Unrelenting pressure on a sporting field or a coaching box is one thing. But that ceases, at least temporarily, when the game is over.
For all the hand-wringing over its abolition, the third man up at ruck contests has hardly been a cornerstone of AFL football.
Fairfax Media's top 10 people of the football year aren't necessarily the most popular, or the most successful, but each left a sizeable imprint on the game's landscape in the past 12 months.
The 2016 AFL season saw great comebacks, neck and neck tussles, and several kicks to win games, one in a final no less. These, in our view, were the 10 best games of 2016.
His desire to move back to his native Adelaide was thwarted, but Carlton's Bryce Gibbs has reassured the Blues that with three years left on his contract, he's more than content to see out his AFL career at the one club.
The Carlton on-baller has plenty he wants to get off his chest. And in an exclusive interview with Fairfax Media, the first since the drama blew up, he does.
Sam Docherty confident Blues midfield powerhouse Patrick Cripps will be fit and firing in 2017.
Highs, lows, quotes, controversies, stories and stars - but the year's biggest news-makers were the premiership drought-breaking Western Bulldogs.
Geelong’s Sam Simpson found out he'd been taken by the Cats in the recent AFL rookie draft in pretty unusual circumstances
Richmond stars Dustin Martin and Alex Rance have been honoured with life membership of their club.
Search pagination
Save articles for later.
Subscribe for unlimited access to news. Login to save articles.
Return to the homepage by clicking on the site logo.