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The first of the bye rounds is finished – and whilst there have been fewer video games than standard, the presence of a Sunday night time sport in Perth made this an extended spherical than maximum!
Bookended by way of super shows of gumption from younger Essendon and West Coast groups to push flag contenders Brisbane and Geelong all of the method, and culminating within the heart with Sydney’s nightmare Saturday night time (and the next post-match controversy), it used to be an enchanting weekend through which maximum of what we grasp to be true concerning the 2025 season stays cast … simply.
With Fremantle on the upward thrust, Gold Coast struggling a setback, Adelaide surging again into the highest 4 and Hawthorn’s shape hunch hitting a brand new low, there’s a good bit of shifting and shaking on the best finish of the desk specifically!
Let’s dive in.
1. Why did Milera apologise?
The response to Adelaide defender Wayne Milera branding Sydney as ‘a bit of a rabble’ in an ABC interview following the Crows’ 90-point demolition activity on Saturday night time used to be predictable.
A footy media that feasts at the barest trace of controversy duly had a subject day; on Fox Footy specifically, it used to be best fodder for a post-match debate that includes the fierce complaint of Jack Riewoldt, who branded it ‘100 per cent inappropriate’, to the extra mild-mannered rebuke of David King, who urged it used to be a deficient selection of phrases.
Realistically, we will have to be expecting it: a lot of the media plea for avid gamers to turn originality and lament robot, cliched solutions to questions, however the fact obviously is that they would like that as gasoline for the everlasting content material gadget, the place a easy off-handed statement can galvanize every week’s price of dialogue to fill never-ending panel displays and radio useless area.
I guess I’m leaning into that too proper right here: as a result of Milera and the Crows’ option to each apologise to the Swans for the remark, and publicly admit to it, used to be a baffling reaction to outcry that used to be completely confined to the media.
No one within the public, no longer even Swans supporters, took umbrage to a completely practical review of the Swans’ nightmare Saturday night time on the SCG. If reviews are to be believed, the Swans themselves had no problems with it all sides of the proffered apology.
And if the Crows assume announcing sorry goes to forestall Dean Cox from the usage of it as ammunition for the Swans’ subsequent sport, in addition to to check out and hearth his group up when subsequent they lock horns with them, then they’ve almost certainly were given some other factor coming. If I’m Cox, I’m hanging up that quote at the whiteboard very first thing Monday morning.
No doubt the media, myself incorporated, wishes to withstand the urge to make mountains out of molehills – however however, their activity is to file on fascinating occasions, and a participant straying from the usual ‘credit to the boys, they’re an ideal facet and it took our perfect to overcome them’ is all the time going to advantage reporting on, even on this case the response from Riewoldt specifically used to be critically overblown.
But golf equipment will have to additionally, to be frank, display a little bit of spine when coping with different golf equipment, simply as they’re now an increasing number of pushing again at overly harsh or erroneous media reviews.
GWS’ social media group don’t stroll again anything else they are saying, from their public dig at Isaac Heeney ultimate yr following his extraordinary apology video after being suspended that the Swans completely despised, to a quite poor-taste ultimate siren tile after their win over Richmond that includes former Giant Tim Taranto in his previous colors.
Others, together with Adelaide, would do neatly not to suppose even the slightest of barbs are spotfires that want to be stamped out.
The Crows didn’t want to apologise for Milera’s completely correct feedback. And I don’t assume it used to be completely the media’s fault that they did.
2. There’s existence within the Eagles
During the second one and 3rd quarters on Sunday night time at Optus Stadium, it used to be conceivable to bear in mind simply how terrifying a go back and forth west to stand the Eagles as soon as used to be.
The noise used to be palpable even during the TV display, the gang at fever pitch sensing the mighty Geelong having their mettle examined by way of a tender, sparky rival – and it used to be each electrical and horrifying to witness.
If and when the Eagles development from being terrible to even mediocre, it’s going to be very exhausting to overcome them on their very own turf.
The indicators had been there throughout the ones quarters that that point is probably not that some distance off, both.
Taking the sport on with bold handball chains, streaming during the hall with an intent to take the Cats on and getting the footy within the palms of Oscar Allen with frantic pace, the Eagles children had been far and wide their older, wiser opposite numbers.
Elijah Hewett used to be shooting up far and wide, Harry Edwards doing a high quality activity in defence, Reuben Ginbey matching Jeremy Cameron step for step; and naturally, each and every Harley Reid contact rightly lifting everybody’s pulse.
But for a variety of wonky kicks simply after they gave the impression poised to damage the Cats open, they’d almost certainly had been in entrance at 3 quarter time – and even if they tousled, there used to be lots to love about their need to make amends and win the footy again, which they did steadily.
Sure, the ground fell out when the Cats steadied within the ultimate quarter, and the ultimate ten mins had been a massacre – Ginbey specifically used to be extremely stiff to look Cameron, held brilliantly all day, kick 4 objectives on the dying for a five-goal haul – but it surely shouldn’t be discounted simply how lengthy they saved themselves inside arm’s succeed in of a premiership contender, and the way manful their effort used to be.
These are dismal occasions for everybody related to West Coast – however the darkish occasions will cross, and the development blocks of a aggressive group are in position.
3. If that is the tip for Callan Ward … it’s a excellent one
In 99 in keeping with cent of circumstances, the sight of any participant, let by myself an ideal of the sport, limping from the sphere for the general time with a major knee harm will be the maximum brutally unjust finish to a occupation.
But Callan Ward’s inspirational reaction to Saturday’s heartbreak at ENGIE Stadium, which appears more likely to be the general act of a 327-game life of provider to the AFL and GWS, could be a unprecedented exception.
Make no mistake – the 35-year previous deserved higher. A person identified from his earliest days on the Western Bulldogs as ‘Cement Head’ has spent 18 years proving it’s conceivable within the fashionable sport to be difficult with out resorting to thuggery, and has change into one of the crucial admired and universally revered avid gamers within the league.
Few athletes get a cheerful finishing in game, however on the very least, Ward earned the best to set his personal retirement date, lead the group he as soon as captained onto the sphere, possibly slot a farewell target for his hassle and d be chaired off the sphere on the finish of his ultimate event, win, lose or draw.
But it hardly ever works like that. Chris Judd’s ultimate moments as an AFL participant had been being stretchered from the MCG after his knee gave method; Lance Franklin’s ultimate event noticed him subbed out early with a calf harm; Gary Ablett performed out his farewell with a wrecked shoulder that he couldn’t even carry to salute a cheering crowd on the finish of the 2020 grand ultimate.
If it’s, as suspected, a major knee harm, then Ward will definitely no longer go back for some other season, having spent a lot of this one already separated from his circle of relatives for one ultimate crack at an elusive premiership.
Ward, despite the fact that, used to be a unique more or less champion. An final skilled whose greatness used to be in his paintings ethic, dedication to the purpose and provoking management – and as he confirmed at three-quarter time within the Giants’ comeback win over Richmond, simply hours after the cruellest of blows, he didn’t want to be if truth be told enjoying to exhibit all that during spades.
If there’s a proper method to bear in mind Callan Ward and all he stood for within the AFL, then the sight of him urging his teammates to raise from a 28-point deficit, and provoking them to an not going win, is simply as poignant as though he got the on-field finishing his status within the sport warranted.
From begin to end, he used to be the kind of participant who made others round him higher. That hasn’t ever been extra obvious than at – we suspect – the very finish.
4. Critics pass over the mark on AFLW fixture
It’s normally no longer a good suggestion to disagree with Marnie Vinall on anything else ladies’s footy – however her displeasure with the AFLW fixture, a sentiment it seems that shared by way of avid gamers, isn’t one thing I will be able to get in the back of.
With the whole draw being launched throughout the week, the principle level of rivalry is a loss of double-headers to run along males’s video games throughout the general home-and-away rounds, in addition to a lack of video games on the primary venues the lads’s festival options at.
On each counts, despite the fact that, I’m no longer certain the league may have completed significantly better.
Double-headers are, I believe, a double-edged sword, if you happen to pardon the pun.
On one hand, larger crowds are virtually a given for a ladies’s event performed earlier than a males’s sport, with a variety of fanatics definitely prepared to move a couple of hours early to wait each suits; at the different, despite the fact that, it could be exceedingly tricky to price tag the ladies’s event as a separate sport, and if it’s good to get admission to each at the identical price tag it could lock out fanatics of the ladies by myself – the principle demographic that the league will have to be encouraging – who gained’t stump up a heftier than standard value this is completely according to the lads’s sport that follows it.
We had that downside, albeit on fairly other parameters, again in 2022, when ladies’s video games had been performed as ‘curtain-raisers’ to males’s finals; North Melbourne fanatics had been successfully locked out of conflict with Melbourne performed previous to the Demons males’s group’s qualifying ultimate conflict with Sydney.
I in my opinion attended the Western Bulldogs’ women-men double-header earlier than the Dogs’ removing ultimate ultimate yr, and the ambience for the ladies’s sport towards Port Adelaide used to be a farce: slightly any person used to be within the sport, and it’s fairly farcical that the 23,000-strong crowd, virtually completely early arrivals to look the Dogs and Hawks play that night time, is the most important crowd of the ultimate AFLW season.
Which brings me to my causes towards wanting to play ladies’s video games at high-profile venues: having that event on the cavernous MCG used to be a hollowing enjoy, a stark distinction to AFLW suits I’ve noticed at suburban venues the place smaller crowds nonetheless felt extra packed.
No, the ladies’s sport shouldn’t be denied room to develop on account of smaller crowds necessitated by way of smaller venues, as has reportedly been the case during the last two years; however I’d argue the sport is a some distance higher spectacle in entrance of 5,000 at an Ikon Park or Whitten Oval with the stands packed than with 7,500 looking at at a near-empty Adelaide Oval or Marvel Stadium.
Women’s footy, at the present time, has nice ties with the communities their golf equipment constitute; and it’s an ideal start line, and a singular facet of the ladies’s sport.
Until the sport grows naturally, and starts to attract crowds that may justify enjoying extra continuously at larger venues, it’s high quality being it’s personal factor – and extra errors had been made by way of the AFL looking to develop the sport past what it’s able to.
5. Shai Bolton is a recruit of the yr smoky
In discussions about who’s 2025’s recruit of the yr, the controversy has most commonly revolved round Bailey Smith and Matthew Kennedy, amid remarkable seasons for Geelong and the Western Bulldogs respectively.
But a 3rd famous person has maximum definitively entered the chat – and it’s the person many would have tipped as the most important participant to modify golf equipment in ultimate season’s industry duration: Shai Bolton.
After a seven-disposal sport in Fremantle’s disastrous loss to St Kilda a month in the past enjoying basically as a small ahead starved of provide, the dual-premiership Tiger has divided his time between the midfield and assault – and it has added a menacing spark to Freo’s on-ball brigade.
Bolton’s ultimate month – which has featured a loss to Collingwood after which 3 directly wins to resurrect the Dockers’ season – have featured 28, 24, 18 and 20 disposals and a blended 8 objectives, together with two luggage of 3.
His efficiency in a wonder win over Gold Coast used to be his maximum influential but: zippy round stoppages, a threat in assault and super defensively, he used to be a difference-maker even earlier than his excellent chasedown take on opened the door for Jye Amiss to snap the match-sealing target.
This is precisely what the Dockers recruited Bolton for: as a real X-factor participant able to dazzling stints at the ball and making objectives out of half-chances up ahead.
No one dressed in crimson – no, no longer even Luke Jackson and Caleb Serong, either one of whom had been once more super in torrential Gold Coast stipulations – have had a larger affect on Freo’s season turning round.
With a draw that opens up, and again within the 8 having gave the impression shot simply 3 weeks in the past, the Dockers can dream large for so long as Bolton can stay up this surprising shape.
6. Seven’s brutal broadcast warfare fact test
News throughout the week that Kayo Sports’ viewing numbers are considerably up in 2025, specifically on Thursday and Friday nights, is an engaging new building in what’s an increasing number of changing into a published warfare between Fox and Seven.
The intriguing a part of that is that Fox had been closely criticised for a number of sides in their protection this yr to a some distance larger level than Seven, specifically their tendency to name video games from the studio in addition to their monopolising of all Saturday soccer (after which bragging about it in commercials); but the spike in target audience suggests the choices they’re making are having an impact.
The most enticing part of the numbers launched is that the most important spike isn’t on Saturday nights, the place Fox now broadcast by myself as a substitute of simulcasting with Seven; it’s on Thursdays and Fridays, when they’re competing without delay with the free-to-air community for eyeballs.
My suspicion is that it’s certainly Fox’s unique Saturday protection, quite than an immediate rebuke of Seven’s broadcast, that has brought about this; individuals who wish to watch footy on Saturday now have to shop for a Kayo subscription, and as soon as they have got that possibility they’d quite watch the ad-free Fox feed on Thursdays and Fridays quite than maintain commercials on Seven.
But central to the controversy has been intense complaint of Brian Taylor, probably the most polarising commentator within the land and who provoked never-ending social media frustration in his calling within the decade when his voice used to be the one one on tv it’s good to get for video games he used to be protecting.
Whichever method you slice it, Kayo’s quantity spike will have to function a fact test for Seven.
Channel 7 commentators Matthew Richardson and Brian Taylor. (Photo by way of Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Never earlier than have customers had an method to actively no longer pay attention to their broadcast; now that they’re, and there’s a real possibility not to pay attention to Taylor specifically, the numbers aren’t mendacity.
The high quality of Seven’s broadcast has for too lengthy taken fanatics without any consideration. Hopefully, the published warfare will lead to either side lifting their requirements in a determined try to one-up the opposite – and if the sight of Fox sending way more in their observation groups to the suits they’ve lined this weekend is any indication, the early indicators are excellent for us fanatics.
Random ideas
– Is Patrick Voss … if truth be told excellent, and no longer only a meme participant?
– 28 disposals and 5 clearances whilst keeping Kozzie Pickett to 12 touches and goalless. One of the nice tagging jobs from Marcus Windhager.
– No one cares about it as a result of they gained, however Freo the usage of Luke Jackson as a midfielder when he’s no longer rucking nonetheless feels just a little bit wasteful, proper?
– Richmond may just in actuality had been a finals likelihood this yr in the event that they’d saved Bolton and Rioli.
– I don’t assume we’re speaking about Ed Allan sufficient.
![Rohit Sharma autographs teammate’s helmet after PBKS vs MI IPL 2025 Qualifier 2 [Watch]](https://i1.wp.com/staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2025/06/b9f41-17488578758015-1920.jpg?w=310&resize=310,165&ssl=1 "Rohit Sharma autographs teammate’s helmet after PBKS vs MI IPL 2025 Qualifier 2 [Watch]")