The 2025 off-season began at half-time of the 2024 grand final. At the AFL’s official function, many of the most powerful people in the country yawned into their lobster rolls. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, nearly every state premier, and the heads of News Corp, Tabcorp and Seven West Media mingled and nattered and lamented Sydney’s limp midfield. Few worked the room harder than the Carlton president at the time, Luke Sayers, one of the best-connected men in Australia. Sayers knew all too well what Brisbane’s midfield was capable of. A more carefree summer beckoned – maybe try and land Jagga Smith in the draft, and perhaps a spot of skiing in Italy.
It was the off-season when long-serving Sydney coach John Longmire handed the reins to Dean Cox. After round 14, the Swans were three games and a healthy percentage clear of the second-placed team. But they were a shell of that side on grand final day. Longmire’s side lost by 10 goals or more only six times in his 14-year tenure and three of those were in grand finals. As the Lions partied, Longmire dusted his players’ names off the whiteboard, sat down and wept.
It was the off-season when an AFL hall of famer, a member of Geelong’s team of the century, and a man Eddie McGuire once described as “one of the world’s great entertainers”, Sam Newman, scrunched up the latest version of his face and was met with widespread public rebuke for platforming two white nationalist neo-Nazis on his podcast. Even by his standards, it was a shameful performance.
It was the off-season when Sayers stepped down from the Carlton presidency after a lewd image was briefly posted on his X account. He was PwC’s youngest ever chief executive and a master networker. He was an important figure at Carlton, securing the most highly regarded CEO in football and sticking firm with coach Michael Voss. Sayers denied posting the image and investigations by Carlton and the AFL cleared him of wrongdoing, accepting his account had been compromised.
It says a lot about the sport and indeed the country that he copped considerably more scrutiny and criticism for these allegations than when he was drawn into the scandal at PwC. He survived a Senate committee inquiry. The Bigfooty scandals page and SEN text line are crueller beasts.
It was the off-season when three former players and coaches died within 48 hours. Troy Selwood’s youngest brother almost had the perfect career. Joel’s final season, and especially his final game, was a coronation. Troy’s career was the opposite. He was a tagger, a scrapper. His career ended in hospital. He was involved in one of the more sickening collisions you’d see on a footy field. Along with Dale Tapping, he was one of those men whose career crossed over with so many facets of the game – at academies, at schools, at amateur teams. Selwood, Tapping and Adam Hunter were 40, 59 and 43, and they were mourned by thousands.
And it was the off-season when an inordinate number of players suffered serious injuries. In a way, the AFL and the players association asked for this. They want the season to start earlier. They want a leg-up in the northern states. They want a festival of football in South Australia. They want more games, more bums on seats, and more money. Just invent a round. Build it, and they will come. Playing football for points less than a week out from summer – what could go wrong?
Not only does the early start hopelessly compromise the fixture, the league is losing its best players at a rate we’ve never seen. And we’re not just losing them for a fortnight. We’re losing them for months. Here’s just a few – Marcus Bontempelli, Zak Butters, Tom Green, Errol Gulden, Jordan De Goey, Charlie Curnow, Sam Walsh, Cody Weightman, Ed Richards. That’s a crying shame. In the Western Bulldogs’ case, it’s a cluster.
In 2018, the season started in the third week of March. Only a decade ago, the season began in April. Yet the AFLPA has negotiated terms which mandate significantly more time off over summer. Conditioning staff hold their breath and try and cram as much work in as they can in January and February. In many ways, the players are being set up to hurt themselves.
And now, 24 hours out from when the season was supposed to start, players and locals are sandbagging their houses as a tropical cyclone zeroes in on Queensland and the northern New South Wales coast – suboptimal conditions for unfurling a premiership flag and playing football. Tragedy, high farce, handovers, white nationalists, dick pics and cyclones – all in all, a standard off-season in the AFL.
Crunching the numbers
The Swans will be without as many as six players from last year’s grand final side on Friday night, while the Bulldogs have been hit even harder by injury and have 1,363 games of experience on the sidelines.
From the archives
The younger generation think you’re having a lend when you tell them this, but the pre-season competition used to be a big deal. It meant a lot to the clubs that needed the money and were desperate for silverware. When I interviewed him in 2023, Nicky Winmar said St Kilda’s 1996 night premiership was the highlight of his career – an even more vivid and cherished memory than the marks, the awards and the September win.
Just 18 months later, in a grand final they went in as heavy favourites but the sorcery of Adelaide’s Andrew McLeod and Darren Jarman denied them their first premiership in more than 30 years. At a club function afterwards, coach Stan Alves ordered his half-cut players up on stage, told them to link arms and belt out When the Saints Go Marching In. It sounded like a dirge.
They said what?
Brisbane’s coach was calling for his side’s clash with Geelong to be postponed before the AFL announced just that later on Tuesday, with Tropical Cyclone Alfred threatening the Queensland and northern NSW coast.
View from the stands (or the couch)
“I do like Jamarra, all those rumours aren’t true.”
Rory Lobb goes some way to addressing reports that a rift has formed between himself and Western Bulldogs teammate and former housemate Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, with a comment on his own TikTok video.
Footy quiz
Which team was Brisbane hosting when play was suspended for more than half an hour after the lights went out at the Gabba? Bonus point if you remember the year.
Answers in next week’s newsletter, but if you think you know it, hit reply and let me know!
Last week’s answer: Which club has had the longest wait for its first VFL/AFL flag? It took St Kilda 69 years to win their first premiership in 1966 after being part of the inaugural VFL season in 1897.
Congratulations to Ben G, who was first to reply with the right answer.
Want more?
’Tis the season for predicting how the ladder might end up including which clubs will miss the finals and the sides that can expect to be challenging at the pointy end.
Opening round will be delayed until Friday night in Sydney after the AFL postponed both matches scheduled for Queensland due to safety concerns.
Gambling companies are threatening to ramp up betting promotions to counter an AFL revenue grab even amid a spike in “integrity risks”.
Got a story tip?
Reply to this email and drop me a line, or email fromthepocket@theguardian.com.
Enjoying this newsletter?
Have a friend who might? Forward this to them, or tell them how to get it.
