The coaches of the AFL’s top three draft picks have refused to put pressure on their new recruits to play in 2009, despite their clubs’ desperate need for the trio to be up and running as soon as possible.

The closest Ben Cousins came to the 2008 AFL national draft was his photo on a large banner hanging from the wall, recalling past glories.

AFL legend Kevin Sheedy has revealed he considered running for the Essendon board before deciding on a return to Richmond.

AFL heavyweights Collingwood and Carlton are big winners in the 2009 draw featuring three timeslots to be trialled with one eye on the league’s future expansion plans.

With all the hubbub about drugs in sport, the AFL is seeking to reverse its current stance of mollycoddling drug abusers, which currently sees players given an astounding three warnings before any form of meaningful penalty is levied, by retrospectively removing the four points a club receives for a home and away victory.

Tall forwards and ruckmen are likely to be at a premium in the upcoming AFL national and pre-season drafts, after several clubs failed in their attempts to trade for them this week.
Mitchell to Freo, Barker to Hawks

Adelaide is a nice enough town and the Crows play finals regularly, but both were again unpopular in trade week. Recruiting manager Matt Rendell admitted there is a stigma over the city, making it tougher to attract players.

Australian coach Mick Malthouse will not ask his players to rein in their natural aggression despite the future of International Rules depending on their behaviour.
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Irish to meet with AFL over player poaching
Hawks close in on O’Keefe

Former North Melbourne great Glenn Archer says he can not see the logic in the club looking at trading away talented young ruckman Hamish McIntosh.

Geelong star Gary Ablett has been voted by his peers as the AFL’s most valuable player for the second year running.

It’s time for people power to come to Richmond. The cheer squad, members and fans need to put their hands up to ensure Terry Wallace gets the same sort of fair go that kept Paul Roos in the job at the end of his successful 2002 stint as caretaker coach after Rodney Eade’s departure from [...]

Geelong’s magnificent season is set to result in them dominating the All Australian AFL side for the second year running, with the Cats filling a quarter of the 40-man squad named yesterday.
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Roos, Blakey continue to bicker over 1996
Bolton praises new blood for ‘Bloods’
Will Voss be haunted by Watson’s ghost?
Why Adelaide don’t tank

If Leigh Matthews never graces an AFL club again, the competition has lost a man whose ability to both play the game and teach it has rarely, if ever, been matched.
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Finals standard was set against Bulldogs, says Knights
Scene set for triumphant return for Voss
Laidley adds heat to Swans clash

Richmond destroyed Melbourne by 80 points today in their season-ending AFL match at the MCG.

The AFL will keep the three-strikes component of its controversial recreational drugs policy, revealing two players who would have been named and shamed under a two-strikes rule were being treated for mental illness at the time they tested positive.
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Magpies back to intimidating best, says O’Bree
Gold Coast draft plan to be revealed within week

Preview of round 22 AFL games (all times local).

Brisbane Lions defender Joel Patfull has hinted complacency set into the AFL club’s squad during the season, causing the Lions to miss out on a finals spot.

The pickle the Sydney Swans have found themselves in after an appalling second half to their season should be setting the alarm bells ringing loud, clear and often at AFL headquarters as the boffins there persist in their push for a second team in Sydney.

Jeff White and Adem Yze are pessimistic about their chances of finding a new AFL home after being dumped by Melbourne.

The eight sides to contest the AFL finals are confirmed, with only their order to be decided, after St Kilda closed the door on the remaining challengers with today’s runaway victory over Adelaide.
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Franklin fails to fire as Hawks cruise to victory
Cats and Kangas have a bit each way