u/CreditToDuBois

r/sydneyswans r/brisbanelions r/FremantleFC r/collingwoodfc r/hawktalk r/weareportadelaide r/AFL r/melbournefc r/GeelongCats r/CarltonBlues

▲ 41 r/melbournefc

The Character Assassination of Jacob van Rooyen by the Coward Ken Hinkley

Will freely admit this is not an unbiased piece, but I hope it does a reasonable job laying out what I think the potential grounds for appeal are (as well as some more general partisan moaning)

emlynbreese.substack.com

u/CreditToDuBois — 2 days ago

▲ 17 r/hawktalk

Hawks 2026 AFLW list

https://preview.redd.it/5mxzrn1pawhh1.png?width=3165&format=png&auto=webp&s=5342b4d292e8b473698950afa670a5d2866740c7

Hi all,

For the past couple of years I've put together some charts on how squads have been assembled, with my main distinction ending up being Homegrown (entered the league first via their current club) vs Headhunted (were first listed by a different club).

I thought you might like to see the 2026 AFLW ones for the Hawks.

I've got charts for all 18 teams in today's edition of This Week In Football along with my co-contributors discussing the merits of a send-off rule and fixture double headers.

Some notes for reading the charts:

I have drawn the player data from the official AFL api. It isn't completely accurate and up-to-date. Some players who played in practice games appear on lists despite not actually being elevated to the main list.
Similarly, names are drawn from the most recent name on the official lists - hence Zipporah Fish not Zippy.
The first chart looks only at players on the list for the 2026 season. Players above the line entered the AFLW system through their current club, players below the line were on another club's list first.
A team with more players below the line represents a bigger proportion of their current list coming via other clubs, more players above the line indicates heavier reliance on bringing new talent into the AFLW (although potentially through VFLW and other competitions).
A bar that stretches far to the left represents a player who has been at the club for a long time, players who just arrived for this season have no bar.
The lighter colour for a player represents the games played by the club in that season, if the player participated in that game the bar is darker.
If a player polled any AFLCA votes in a game (or if they polled in the grand final MVP voting) a dot is placed for that match.
Two players who extend the same distance left arrived at the club in the same year, there’s also a slightly bigger vertical gap between groups of players arriving in the same year to help distinguish this.
For the second chart, the vertical line in the middle represents the point each player joined a club, not a specific year.
So if two players joined the club in 2017 and 2019, the first seasons to the right of the bar for each of them would be 2018 and 2020.
More bars to the left of the player means a longer career at different clubs before joining the subject club.
More bars to the right indicate staying at the subject club longer.
Notation for potential games, games played, and votes polled is the same as the previous charts
A “»” before the player’s name indicates they are currently at the club, while a “||” indicates they have left.

u/CreditToDuBois — 13 days ago

▲ 7 r/GeelongCats

2026 Cats AFLW list build

Hi all,

I thought you might like to see the 2026 AFLW ones for the Cats.

I've got charts for all 18 teams in today's edition of This Week In Football along with my co-contributors discussing the merits of a send-off rule and fixture double headers.

Some notes for reading the charts:

I have drawn the player data from the official AFL api. It isn't completely accurate and up-to-date. Some players who played in practice games appear on lists despite not actually being elevated to the main list.
Similarly, names are drawn from the most recent name on the official lists - hence Zipporah Fish not Zippy.
The first chart looks only at players on the list for the 2026 season. Players above the line entered the AFLW system through their current club, players below the line were on another club's list first.
A team with more players below the line represents a bigger proportion of their current list coming via other clubs, more players above the line indicates heavier reliance on bringing new talent into the AFLW (although potentially through VFLW and other competitions).
A bar that stretches far to the left represents a player who has been at the club for a long time, players who just arrived for this season have no bar.
The lighter colour for a player represents the games played by the club in that season, if the player participated in that game the bar is darker.
If a player polled any AFLCA votes in a game (or if they polled in the grand final MVP voting) a dot is placed for that match.
Two players who extend the same distance left arrived at the club in the same year, there’s also a slightly bigger vertical gap between groups of players arriving in the same year to help distinguish this.
For the second chart, the vertical line in the middle represents the point each player joined a club, not a specific year.
So if two players joined the club in 2017 and 2019, the first seasons to the right of the bar for each of them would be 2018 and 2020.
More bars to the left of the player means a longer career at different clubs before joining the subject club.
More bars to the right indicate staying at the subject club longer.
Notation for potential games, games played, and votes polled is the same as the previous charts
A “»” before the player’s name indicates they are currently at the club, while a “||” indicates they have left.

u/CreditToDuBois — 13 days ago

▲ 15 r/FremantleFC

Freo 2026 AFLW squad

Hi all,

I thought you might like to see the 2026 AFLW ones for the Dockers.

I've got charts for all 18 teams in today's edition of This Week In Football along with my co-contributors discussing the merits of a send-off rule and fixture double headers.

Some notes for reading the charts:

I have drawn the player data from the official AFL api. It isn't completely accurate and up-to-date. Some players who played in practice games appear on lists despite not actually being elevated to the main list.
Similarly, names are drawn from the most recent name on the official lists - hence Zipporah Fish not Zippy.
The first chart looks only at players on the list for the 2026 season. Players above the line entered the AFLW system through their current club, players below the line were on another club's list first.
A team with more players below the line represents a bigger proportion of their current list coming via other clubs, more players above the line indicates heavier reliance on bringing new talent into the AFLW (although potentially through VFLW and other competitions).
A bar that stretches far to the left represents a player who has been at the club for a long time, players who just arrived for this season have no bar.
The lighter colour for a player represents the games played by the club in that season, if the player participated in that game the bar is darker.
If a player polled any AFLCA votes in a game (or if they polled in the grand final MVP voting) a dot is placed for that match.
Two players who extend the same distance left arrived at the club in the same year, there’s also a slightly bigger vertical gap between groups of players arriving in the same year to help distinguish this.
For the second chart, the vertical line in the middle represents the point each player joined a club, not a specific year.
So if two players joined the club in 2017 and 2019, the first seasons to the right of the bar for each of them would be 2018 and 2020.
More bars to the left of the player means a longer career at different clubs before joining the subject club.
More bars to the right indicate staying at the subject club longer.
Notation for potential games, games played, and votes polled is the same as the previous charts
A “»” before the player’s name indicates they are currently at the club, while a “||” indicates they have left.

u/CreditToDuBois — 13 days ago

▲ 14 r/collingwoodfc

Pies 2026 AFLW squad

Hi all,

I thought you might like to see the 2026 AFLW ones for the Pies.

I've got charts for all 18 teams in today's edition of This Week In Football along with my co-contributors discussing the merits of a send-off rule and fixture double headers.

Some notes for reading the charts:

I have drawn the player data from the official AFL api. It isn't completely accurate and up-to-date. Some players who played in practice games appear on lists despite not actually being elevated to the main list.
Similarly, names are drawn from the most recent name on the official lists - hence Zipporah Fish not Zippy.
The first chart looks only at players on the list for the 2026 season. Players above the line entered the AFLW system through their current club, players below the line were on another club's list first.
A team with more players below the line represents a bigger proportion of their current list coming via other clubs, more players above the line indicates heavier reliance on bringing new talent into the AFLW (although potentially through VFLW and other competitions).
A bar that stretches far to the left represents a player who has been at the club for a long time, players who just arrived for this season have no bar.
The lighter colour for a player represents the games played by the club in that season, if the player participated in that game the bar is darker.
If a player polled any AFLCA votes in a game (or if they polled in the grand final MVP voting) a dot is placed for that match.
Two players who extend the same distance left arrived at the club in the same year, there’s also a slightly bigger vertical gap between groups of players arriving in the same year to help distinguish this.
For the second chart, the vertical line in the middle represents the point each player joined a club, not a specific year.
So if two players joined the club in 2017 and 2019, the first seasons to the right of the bar for each of them would be 2018 and 2020.
More bars to the left of the player means a longer career at different clubs before joining the subject club.
More bars to the right indicate staying at the subject club longer.
Notation for potential games, games played, and votes polled is the same as the previous charts
A “»” before the player’s name indicates they are currently at the club, while a “||” indicates they have left.

u/CreditToDuBois — 13 days ago

▲ 15 r/CarltonBlues

How the Blues 2026 AFLW squad was assembled

Hi all,

I thought you might like to see the 2026 AFLW ones for the Blues.

I've got charts for all 18 teams in today's edition of This Week In Football along with my co-contributors discussing the merits of a send-off rule and fixture double headers.

Some notes for reading the charts:

I have drawn the player data from the official AFL api. It isn't completely accurate and up-to-date. Some players who played in practice games appear on lists despite not actually being elevated to the main list.
Similarly, names are drawn from the most recent name on the official lists - hence Zipporah Fish not Zippy.
The first chart looks only at players on the list for the 2026 season. Players above the line entered the AFLW system through their current club, players below the line were on another club's list first.
A team with more players below the line represents a bigger proportion of their current list coming via other clubs, more players above the line indicates heavier reliance on bringing new talent into the AFLW (although potentially through VFLW and other competitions).
A bar that stretches far to the left represents a player who has been at the club for a long time, players who just arrived for this season have no bar.
The lighter colour for a player represents the games played by the club in that season, if the player participated in that game the bar is darker.
If a player polled any AFLCA votes in a game (or if they polled in the grand final MVP voting) a dot is placed for that match.
Two players who extend the same distance left arrived at the club in the same year, there’s also a slightly bigger vertical gap between groups of players arriving in the same year to help distinguish this.
For the second chart, the vertical line in the middle represents the point each player joined a club, not a specific year.
So if two players joined the club in 2017 and 2019, the first seasons to the right of the bar for each of them would be 2018 and 2020.
More bars to the left of the player means a longer career at different clubs before joining the subject club.
More bars to the right indicate staying at the subject club longer.
Notation for potential games, games played, and votes polled is the same as the previous charts
A “»” before the player’s name indicates they are currently at the club, while a “||” indicates they have left.

u/CreditToDuBois — 13 days ago

▲ 14 r/brisbanelions

Lions 2026 AFLW squad build

Hi all,

I thought you might like to see the 2026 AFLW ones for the Lions.

I've got charts for all 18 teams in today's edition of This Week In Football along with my co-contributors discussing the merits of a send-off rule and fixture double headers.

Some notes for reading the charts:

I have drawn the player data from the official AFL api. It isn't completely accurate and up-to-date. Some players who played in practice games appear on lists despite not actually being elevated to the main list.
Similarly, names are drawn from the most recent name on the official lists - hence Zipporah Fish not Zippy.
The first chart looks only at players on the list for the 2026 season. Players above the line entered the AFLW system through their current club, players below the line were on another club's list first.
A team with more players below the line represents a bigger proportion of their current list coming via other clubs, more players above the line indicates heavier reliance on bringing new talent into the AFLW (although potentially through VFLW and other competitions).
A bar that stretches far to the left represents a player who has been at the club for a long time, players who just arrived for this season have no bar.
The lighter colour for a player represents the games played by the club in that season, if the player participated in that game the bar is darker.
If a player polled any AFLCA votes in a game (or if they polled in the grand final MVP voting) a dot is placed for that match.
Two players who extend the same distance left arrived at the club in the same year, there’s also a slightly bigger vertical gap between groups of players arriving in the same year to help distinguish this.
For the second chart, the vertical line in the middle represents the point each player joined a club, not a specific year.
So if two players joined the club in 2017 and 2019, the first seasons to the right of the bar for each of them would be 2018 and 2020.
More bars to the left of the player means a longer career at different clubs before joining the subject club.
More bars to the right indicate staying at the subject club longer.
Notation for potential games, games played, and votes polled is the same as the previous charts
A “»” before the player’s name indicates they are currently at the club, while a “||” indicates they have left.

u/CreditToDuBois — 13 days ago

▲ 157 r/AFL

Concussion bombshell: Player signs secret deal to absolve Vic club

AFL club strikes secret deal to make player liable for future brain injuries

A Victorian AFL club has secretly forced a concussion-affected player to assume all legal responsibility for future brain injuries in a bid to exonerate itself and its medical staff from future court action.

A Victorian AFL club has struck a secret deal requiring a player who has suffered multiple concussions to assume all legal responsibility for any further on-field brain trauma.

In a bombshell escalation of footy’s concussion crisis, it can be revealed the club brokered the extraordinary agreement with one of its most vulnerable players in a bid to exonerate itself and its medical staff from future court action in the event he suffered more head knocks or concussion related health issues.

The contract also explicitly acknowledged that the player was at a higher risk due to his concussion history and faced potentially significant long-term or even permanent neurological damage if he suffered any more head hits.

AFL Players’ Association boss James Gallagher has hit out at the secret agreement, which he said could set a dangerous precedent and should not be repeated across the league.

Leading neurophysiologist Professor Alan Pearce said: “I am stunned and appalled that, given what we know about the science of repetitive brain injuries and CTE (degenerative brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy), an AFL football club would exploit the vulnerability of an individual desperate to play the game they love, putting their brain at risk of further damage and risk of CTE.”

It is understood that the agreement was viewed by the club at the time as the only way it could allow the player to continue their AFL career after a series of brain injuries and not leave itself open to a massive potential damages claim if he was re-injured.

Senior executives sought approval from the club’s board to go ahead with the deal, signed two years ago by the footy star who is still playing.

The disclosure agreement required the individual to “take upon yourself the physical and legal risk of loss, damage or injury” arising from any more concussions.

The player, who this masthead has chosen at this stage not to identify, signed the document in a desperate bid to continue playing at the top level.

Whistleblowers say the move by the club to shift the legal risk back on to the player is ethically scandalous, with concerns the club could expose him to an unsafe workplace given his concussion history.

Clause 7.3 of the AFL’s standard playing contracts require the AFL to provide a working and training environment “free of any risk to the health, safety and the welfare of the player”.

Mr Gallagher said: “The game has a duty to provide a workplace that protects the health, safety, and wellbeing of players and all clubs hold this duty as employers.

“Clubs cannot unilaterally contract out of their obligations under the CBA and Standard Playing Contract, nor attempt to avoid their responsibilities under health and safety laws.

“Importantly, no player is permitted to return to play or train unless they have been deemed medically fit to do so.

“We are in discussions with AFL to better understand the circumstances of this case and ensure this issue is not replicated further at the elite level.”

Concussions campaigner Peter Jess, who has managed hundreds of players, said: “The process is contracting out the basic legislative safety net for players in breach of their basic human right to a safe workplace.

“This is the most retrograde step witnessed in any professional sport for safety and duty of care by an employer. This walks players back to the dark ages of health and safety for profit.”

Whistleblowers have also suggested the secret deal is in breach of AFL rules, as agreements outside the players’ standard contracts are forbidden.

Rule 4.3 of the Australian Football League rules says “no player shall be engaged by a club other than the contract of service lodged with the AFL”.

When approached about the secret deal this week, club sources initially denied any knowledge of it.

A senior official later backtracked, admitting to the deal.

The official could not confirm whether the agreement had been run by the league’s executive or legal counsel, but did not inform the powerful players’ union.

Industry sources this week expressed shock, if the club had proceeded with the arrangement without AFL and AFLPA approval.

The club, which this masthead has chosen not to name at this stage to protect the identity of the whistleblowers, declined to provide any official comment on the arrangement.

League sources also initially suggested they had not been notified of any such deal, before seeking to explain it, describing the player’s situation as “unique” and “complex”.

The AFL did not respond to questions about exactly when it learned about the agreement and if it was aware of any others, or provide clarity on whether it considered it valid.

A spokesman instead issued a statement saying: “The health and safety of players is the AFL’s highest priority. Like all contact sports, football carries a risk of injury, including concussion.

“In cases of serious injuries, decisions about a player’s return to play or retirement are made by the player, their families, their club and qualified medical professionals.”

Whistleblowers added that they believed one other player, who is now retired, had previously brokered a similar arrangement with a different club, though the Herald Sun has not yet been able to confirm this.

Meanwhile, some rival club officials who have become aware of the arrangement have questioned whether they could sign their most at-risk players to similar agreements.

Prof Pearce said the deal was outrageous, describing it as “a clear weaponisation of the science of concussions and CTE”.

“This demonstrates that those who work at the coalface of the AFL acknowledge the scientific truth of repetitive brain injuries we have been publishing for the last 20 years, and are exploiting vulnerable players to waive their rights as a professional athlete,” he said.

The revelations come amid a $1 billion class action involving more than 100 former AFL players, which is set to go to trial next year.

Geelong utility Max Rooke, who suffered up to 30 concussions during his nine-year 135-game career, is the lead plaintiff.

Geelong has named 12 doctors, including former medical chief officer David Long, in a third-party notice as part of the class action.

The Cats are seeking damages from the doctors who worked at the club between 1985 and 2023 if the club is ordered to pay damages to Rooke or other players.

The secret deal illustrates the increasing concern and tension at club level over the game’s concussion crisis and, in particular, the increased risk of litigation that medicos, administrators and the league face.

The AFL’s playing cohort already take the field every weekend without any insurance for head trauma and any mental health-related problems, after Zurich removed its coverage under the Players’ Association policy this year.

Latest expert research shows CTE is caused by repeat head impacts including low to medium force blows.

Worryingly, players can be knocked out more easily after each concussion, pending their brain impact threshold.

Devastating symptoms of the degenerative disease include mood and movement disorders, suicidal tendances, memory loss, impulsivity, aggression and sleeping problems.

This masthead last month revealed WorkSafe had commenced a fresh probe into the AFL’s concussion management policies at training.

The deal could be part of the WorkSafe probe.

codesports.com.au

u/CreditToDuBois — 15 days ago

▲ 31 r/AFL

Contrary to the AFL's propaganda, Big Boy Month is NOT July

The first image shows how the height of teams varies in each month compared to the average for that season.

The second is just the raw figures for each month and season.

Data is not complete, but was sourced from what is available on AFLTables.

You can see in the second chart that the difference between seasons dwarfs the difference within seasons, which is why the comparison to season average was used. Otherwise March comes out the clear winner because we only started playing March football later, when average heights across the league were taller.

u/CreditToDuBois — 1 month ago

▲ 133 r/AFL

David King believes Fremantle are a 75% chance to win the flag

For this to be correct Fremantle would need to be, on average, an 87.5% chance to win each of their finals.

Route 1: Win three finals: 87.5% x 87.5% x 87.5% = 66.99%
Route 2: Lose QF: 12.5% x 87.5% x 87.5% x 87.5% = 8.37%
total = 75.37%

u/CreditToDuBois — 1 month ago

▲ 27 r/AFL

Scoring end disparities

Was on watch at 3/4 time for a big scoring end disparity. If Geelong had come back and won it would have been the biggest difference between scores at either end of the ground since 2001 Freo vs Brisbane (121 points difference between the two ends).

Here’s tracking that stat through history.

u/CreditToDuBois — 2 months ago

▲ 17 r/melbournefc

Mid-season review at One Percenters

I was lucky enough to be tapped shoulder to take part in Mateo’s series of mid-season reviews over at one percenters. It was a really fun exercise and Mateo is a great editor and writer. I ended up giving us an A, while Mateo went with an A-

Let me know what you think.

onepercenters.net.au

u/CreditToDuBois — 2 months ago

▲ 8 r/weareportadelaide

Piece on Butters for This Week In Football

Hi Pears, I write regularly for independent footy newsletter This Week In Football. This week I put together a piece on Butters leaving (with the assumption he does leave), quantifying why it's so significant, and the case for optimism despite that.

Hope you enjoy it and welcome any feedback you've got.

thisweekinaustralianfootball.substack.com

u/CreditToDuBois — 2 months ago

▲ 28 r/sydneyswans

Wrote an article after watching Grundy's latest game winning ruck contest, thought you friends might enjoy

emlynbreese.substack.com

u/CreditToDuBois — 2 months ago

▲ 175 r/AFL

The football media alignment chart because it's always off season somewhere in the world

u/CreditToDuBois — 2 months ago

▲ 122 r/AFL

For the third time in VFL/AFL history, games played on consecutive days shared the same total scores [the first time that it didn't involve Brisbane defeating Essendon in the first match]

Saturday 2 May 2009 Brisbane d Essendon 111-68
Sunday 3 May 2009 Geelong d Melbourne 111-68
Saturday 24 August 2024 Brisbane d Essendon 87-67
Sunday 25 August 2024 Port Adelaide d Fremantle 87-67
Friday 5 June 2026 Western Bulldogs d Hawthorn 77-71
Saturday 6 June 2026 Port Adelaide d West Coast 77-71

reddit.com

u/CreditToDuBois — 3 months ago

▲ 30 r/AFL

Of all teams to lose by 6 or fewer points since 2001, Hawthorn had the 11th longest goal drought to finish the game and the equal 4th most consecutive behinds to finish a game.

Hawthorn's last goal: Q3 17:34
Time remaining in match: 43:50
Lead at the time: 18 points
Consecutive behinds to finish the game: 7
Final margin: 6

u/CreditToDuBois — 3 months ago

▲ 68 r/AFL

St Kilda the 7th team ever to be held goalless to half time at Docklands

2009 HAW v wbd 0.4-13.10 [final 6.9 - 19.19]
2015 ESS v gee 0.6-9.5 [7.11 - 19.8]
2016 ESS v nth 0.4-8.6 [8.12 - 10.14]
2016 ESS v gee 0.4-7.4 [4.10 - 15.10]
2018 CAR v fre 0.7-12.5 [6.10 - 15.13]
2023 NTH v stk 0.7-3.9 [4.10 - 8.16]
2026 STK v haw 0.5-8.7

reddit.com

u/CreditToDuBois — 3 months ago

▲ 113 r/AFL

The last time we had two coaches sacked by the start of Round 12 was 2019 when we had Carlton sacking their coach and Brad Scott being sacked.

2026 - R9 Carlton sack Voss; R11 Essendon sack Scott
2019 - R10 North sack Scott; Carlton sack Bolton
1982 R10 Footscray sack Royce Hart and Collingwood sack Tom Hafey

e: Had '82 as Robert Walls getting sacked thanks to u/allwrightythen__1995 for the correction.

2009 missed out by a week, Wallace was sacked after R11 and Laidley sacked after R12

The below ones are speculative, I'm basing it on the last game for the coach who started the season but haven't verified they were each sacked.

1935 R4 Footscray sack Alby Morrison, R8 North sack Tom Fitzmaurice
1934 R2 Fitzroy sack Jack Cashman, R6 Footscray sack Bill Cubbins, R10 North sack Dick Taylor
1929 R4 South sack Jim Caldwell, R5 North sack Charles Tyson, R8 Fitzroy sack Jimmy Freake
1926 R3 North sack Wels Eicke, R8 Footscray sack Jim Cassidy
1920 R1 Fitzroy sack Jim Toohey, R6 St Kilda sack George Sparrow

reddit.com

u/CreditToDuBois — 3 months ago