Cats conjure up a ninth life against the Swans

The Cats, down in estimation, confidence and personnel, summon up one of the great counter-intuitive finals wins against the Swans.

Swansong is a cruel tune for Bombers

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One minute, the Dons were basking in the glow of Joe Daniher's towering mark and opening goal and the vibe that created. The next, Sydney had kicked 10 in a row, then 10 in a quarter,

Yellow and back, don't you forget it

This was written before Friday night's mega final, but chances are that if you are not yet of a certain age and you don't have a dog in the finals race, you have woken up on Saturday morning either feeling warmly disposed towards Richmond in their newfound success, or at least thinking that there is still next week for them, without a hint of the schadenfreude you might direct towards another team.

Cotchin, Tigers change their stripes – now for a new tale?

Trent Cotchin had spent much of his footy career trying to live up to an almost impossible ideal, of a man, a footballer, a captain. It was wearying. This season, he has learned to accept himself for who he is, and it has proved to be liberating.

From the year of the Dog to a dog of a year

Much as the AFL celebrates a competition in which anyone can win on a given day, the damnable corollary is that anyone can lose. For that reason as much as any other, the Western Bulldogs Cinderella premiership will turn back into a pumpkin at midnight on Friday night, long before the 2017 ball even begins.

Pull plug on pokies: AFL chairman Goyder

AFL commision chairman Richard Goyder says he "hates" pokies, and will seek to wean clubs off them.

No-pokies North come up aces

Kanga Tech is a patented system for reducing soft-tissue injuries developed at North Melbourne under high-performance manager Steve Saunders. The Roos swear by it, and are now selling it to the world. Hockey, soccer and basketball clubs are on board, including two in the NBA.

For Bob Murphy, the gig is up

In the super-band of this season's retiring AFL players, Bob Murphy is the singer-songwriter.

Tackling CTE can do your head in

A study has found that all but one of 111 former NFL players showed signs of CTE, a nasty degenerative brain disease caused by repeated hits to the head.