Latest news with #AFL
The Advertiser
13 minutes ago
- Sport
- The Advertiser
Goodwin wants Lever confident for Demons return
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin says Saturday's 19-point AFL loss to Gold Coast won't change his plan to get premiership defender Jake Lever back feeling good about his game after a tough 2025. The loss to the Suns was the Demons' fourth in a row and all but extinguished any hope of finals football, leaving them 15th on the ladder and 16 points outside the eight. Lever was one of three players axed by Goodwin for the trip to People First Stadium with the 29-year-old instead lining up for the Casey Demons in their 97-88 loss to the Suns in the VFL. After a season where Lever has already missed eight games with an ankle injury before earning a recall to the AFL team a month ago, Goodwin said his omission was about giving him an opportunity to rediscover his best form. "It's just to get him back feeling good about his footy, back playing where you feel confident about your game," Goodwin said. "Sometimes you can do that at VFL level, and you come back a really much improved and confident player. "He's someone that we value highly. We expect him to come back soon." Regardless of Lever's situation, Goodwin will almost certainly need to change his side for next weekend's trip to Adelaide after losing Blake Howes and Harrison Petty to concussion in the first half of Saturday's game. It's Petty's second concussion of the season after his head collided with Brayden Fiorini's hip while contesting for a loose ball. Suns coach Damien Hardwick, whose primary concern was for Petty, did not however feel that Fiorini had done anything wrong in the incident. "I hope he's (Petty) okay, and I'm sure he will be but we teach our player that technique and look, accidents are going to happen in AFL," Hardwick said. "He (Fiorini) made a play on the ball. I thought he got his hands on the ball at the same time. I don't think he has a case to answer." Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin says Saturday's 19-point AFL loss to Gold Coast won't change his plan to get premiership defender Jake Lever back feeling good about his game after a tough 2025. The loss to the Suns was the Demons' fourth in a row and all but extinguished any hope of finals football, leaving them 15th on the ladder and 16 points outside the eight. Lever was one of three players axed by Goodwin for the trip to People First Stadium with the 29-year-old instead lining up for the Casey Demons in their 97-88 loss to the Suns in the VFL. After a season where Lever has already missed eight games with an ankle injury before earning a recall to the AFL team a month ago, Goodwin said his omission was about giving him an opportunity to rediscover his best form. "It's just to get him back feeling good about his footy, back playing where you feel confident about your game," Goodwin said. "Sometimes you can do that at VFL level, and you come back a really much improved and confident player. "He's someone that we value highly. We expect him to come back soon." Regardless of Lever's situation, Goodwin will almost certainly need to change his side for next weekend's trip to Adelaide after losing Blake Howes and Harrison Petty to concussion in the first half of Saturday's game. It's Petty's second concussion of the season after his head collided with Brayden Fiorini's hip while contesting for a loose ball. Suns coach Damien Hardwick, whose primary concern was for Petty, did not however feel that Fiorini had done anything wrong in the incident. "I hope he's (Petty) okay, and I'm sure he will be but we teach our player that technique and look, accidents are going to happen in AFL," Hardwick said. "He (Fiorini) made a play on the ball. I thought he got his hands on the ball at the same time. I don't think he has a case to answer." Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin says Saturday's 19-point AFL loss to Gold Coast won't change his plan to get premiership defender Jake Lever back feeling good about his game after a tough 2025. The loss to the Suns was the Demons' fourth in a row and all but extinguished any hope of finals football, leaving them 15th on the ladder and 16 points outside the eight. Lever was one of three players axed by Goodwin for the trip to People First Stadium with the 29-year-old instead lining up for the Casey Demons in their 97-88 loss to the Suns in the VFL. After a season where Lever has already missed eight games with an ankle injury before earning a recall to the AFL team a month ago, Goodwin said his omission was about giving him an opportunity to rediscover his best form. "It's just to get him back feeling good about his footy, back playing where you feel confident about your game," Goodwin said. "Sometimes you can do that at VFL level, and you come back a really much improved and confident player. "He's someone that we value highly. We expect him to come back soon." Regardless of Lever's situation, Goodwin will almost certainly need to change his side for next weekend's trip to Adelaide after losing Blake Howes and Harrison Petty to concussion in the first half of Saturday's game. It's Petty's second concussion of the season after his head collided with Brayden Fiorini's hip while contesting for a loose ball. Suns coach Damien Hardwick, whose primary concern was for Petty, did not however feel that Fiorini had done anything wrong in the incident. "I hope he's (Petty) okay, and I'm sure he will be but we teach our player that technique and look, accidents are going to happen in AFL," Hardwick said. "He (Fiorini) made a play on the ball. I thought he got his hands on the ball at the same time. I don't think he has a case to answer."
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Footy legend Brendan Fevola calls for drastic change at Carlton - 'the board is just there for themselves'
AFL legend Brendan Fevola has called for fresh faces at Carlton following the club's horror 50-point loss to Port Adelaide on Thursday night. The Blues faithful showed their anger after the Power belting, vandalising the club headquarters early on Friday morning in protest of another failed campaign. Fevola, much like the vandals, took aim at the board more so than under-siege coach Michael Voss. 'Something is wrong, something is going on, the board needs to go, I've been saying that for ages, the board is just there for themselves,' the Carlton Hall of Fame forward said on Fox FM's Fifi, Fev & Nick show. 'Get new people in; get old Carlton people in. 'Everyone is saying, 'Sack Vossy, Vossy needs to go', and I'm like, 'No, I don't think that's the go'. 'It gets to a point where you go, 'I don't think the players are playing for you, mate'. If you're playing for a coach, you don't put up what you put up in that first half. 'They're putting up nothing, they didn't kick a goal for the whole first half. 'They don't look like they've got a system; but they do have a system, they train and they train hard. They are just not performing.' Carlton were in second spot on the ladder in round 19 last year - but have won just seven times since. 'They have the players; if Vossy and the assistants were coaching West Coast, you'd go well, they just don't have the cattle,' Fevola said. 'Carlton were premiership favourites at the start of the year (and) they're not even going to play finals, their season is over. 'I (also) don't know what's wrong with Patrick Cripps. I would just put them all on ice and say you're done, get your body right for next year.' Fevola also took aim at out-of-contract ruckman Tom De Koning, who has been heavily linked to St Kilda on the AFL's most lucrative deal. 'The problem is they have Tom De Koning, who is in our top three players. He's been offered $12million to go to St Kilda and Carlton can't match that,' he said. 'If he's going, don't play him; say to him he needs to make a decision now and if he can't answer that, you're in the twos – get some young kid to play. 'If he doesn't want to stay, just be honest.' Voss' men need to win six of their remaining eight games to qualify for finals - but after a pedestrian performance against the Power, that is highly unlikely.
The Advertiser
7 hours ago
- Health
- The Advertiser
What's gambling cost? Advocates slam political inaction
Australia risks losing a whole generation of kids to gambling, as criticisms are levelled at the government for failing to implement reforms from a landmark report two years on. The "You win some, you lose more" parliamentary inquiry into online gambling and its impacts, chaired by fierce gambling reform advocate the late Peta Murphy MP, delivered 31 recommendations in 2023. The unanimously supported proposals focused on reducing harm, protecting children and applying a long-overdue public health approach to gambling in this country. But two years to the day, gambling reform advocates, health bodies and church groups say the federal government have been silent. More than 80 per cent of Australians want a gambling advertisement ban, and parents are sick of turning on the TV only to find their 10-year-olds discussing the game in terms of odds, Alliance for Gambling Reform chief advocate Tim Costello said. "Smoking is legal, but kids shouldn't be seeing it. Same with gambling. People can gamble, but there's grooming of kids," Rev Costello told AAP. "We now have, with the two-year implementation (delay), a whole generation of kids who only think of NRL and AFL in terms of odds." Gambling harms lead to suicides, one-in-four 18-to-24-year-old young men are addicted, 600,000 underage Australians gambled last year, and domestic violence spikes threefold if there is gambling in a family, Rev Costello said. "This industry has been treated as having a normal social license when it's actually pushing very addictive products," he said. "We have literally given our kids over to sports betting companies as fodder for their profits." Vested interests, including the AFL and NRL, sports betting companies, and the commercial broadcasting networks, had stalled reforms, Rev Costello said. The nation's peak body for doctors, the Australian Medical Association, is demanding the government immediately action all 31 recommendations, accusing it of exposing millions of Australians to predatory betting companies. "Every day of delay means more Australians fall victim to an industry that profits from harm and despair," AMA President Danielle McMullen said. Wesley Mission chief executive Stu Cameron expressed deep disappointment in the government's failure to act on a bipartisan road map to tackle gambling harm."Two years on, the silence from Canberra is deafening," Rev Cameron said. "While the government hesitates, lives are being torn apart." The three say the government must use their parliamentary mandate to make systematic reforms, including banning gambling ads, implementing a national regulator and treating gambling as a health issue. A spokesman for Communications Minister Anika Wells said she has had several meetings with harm reduction advocates, broadcasters and sporting codes. He said the government had delivered "some of the most significant gambling harm reduction measures in Australian history", pointing to mandatory ID verification and banning credit cards for online gambling and launching BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion Register. Australians top the list for the world's highest gambling losses, placing $244.3 billion in bets every year. National Gambling Helpline 1800 858 858 Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) Men's Referral Service 1300 766 491 Australia risks losing a whole generation of kids to gambling, as criticisms are levelled at the government for failing to implement reforms from a landmark report two years on. The "You win some, you lose more" parliamentary inquiry into online gambling and its impacts, chaired by fierce gambling reform advocate the late Peta Murphy MP, delivered 31 recommendations in 2023. The unanimously supported proposals focused on reducing harm, protecting children and applying a long-overdue public health approach to gambling in this country. But two years to the day, gambling reform advocates, health bodies and church groups say the federal government have been silent. More than 80 per cent of Australians want a gambling advertisement ban, and parents are sick of turning on the TV only to find their 10-year-olds discussing the game in terms of odds, Alliance for Gambling Reform chief advocate Tim Costello said. "Smoking is legal, but kids shouldn't be seeing it. Same with gambling. People can gamble, but there's grooming of kids," Rev Costello told AAP. "We now have, with the two-year implementation (delay), a whole generation of kids who only think of NRL and AFL in terms of odds." Gambling harms lead to suicides, one-in-four 18-to-24-year-old young men are addicted, 600,000 underage Australians gambled last year, and domestic violence spikes threefold if there is gambling in a family, Rev Costello said. "This industry has been treated as having a normal social license when it's actually pushing very addictive products," he said. "We have literally given our kids over to sports betting companies as fodder for their profits." Vested interests, including the AFL and NRL, sports betting companies, and the commercial broadcasting networks, had stalled reforms, Rev Costello said. The nation's peak body for doctors, the Australian Medical Association, is demanding the government immediately action all 31 recommendations, accusing it of exposing millions of Australians to predatory betting companies. "Every day of delay means more Australians fall victim to an industry that profits from harm and despair," AMA President Danielle McMullen said. Wesley Mission chief executive Stu Cameron expressed deep disappointment in the government's failure to act on a bipartisan road map to tackle gambling harm."Two years on, the silence from Canberra is deafening," Rev Cameron said. "While the government hesitates, lives are being torn apart." The three say the government must use their parliamentary mandate to make systematic reforms, including banning gambling ads, implementing a national regulator and treating gambling as a health issue. A spokesman for Communications Minister Anika Wells said she has had several meetings with harm reduction advocates, broadcasters and sporting codes. He said the government had delivered "some of the most significant gambling harm reduction measures in Australian history", pointing to mandatory ID verification and banning credit cards for online gambling and launching BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion Register. Australians top the list for the world's highest gambling losses, placing $244.3 billion in bets every year. National Gambling Helpline 1800 858 858 Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) Men's Referral Service 1300 766 491 Australia risks losing a whole generation of kids to gambling, as criticisms are levelled at the government for failing to implement reforms from a landmark report two years on. The "You win some, you lose more" parliamentary inquiry into online gambling and its impacts, chaired by fierce gambling reform advocate the late Peta Murphy MP, delivered 31 recommendations in 2023. The unanimously supported proposals focused on reducing harm, protecting children and applying a long-overdue public health approach to gambling in this country. But two years to the day, gambling reform advocates, health bodies and church groups say the federal government have been silent. More than 80 per cent of Australians want a gambling advertisement ban, and parents are sick of turning on the TV only to find their 10-year-olds discussing the game in terms of odds, Alliance for Gambling Reform chief advocate Tim Costello said. "Smoking is legal, but kids shouldn't be seeing it. Same with gambling. People can gamble, but there's grooming of kids," Rev Costello told AAP. "We now have, with the two-year implementation (delay), a whole generation of kids who only think of NRL and AFL in terms of odds." Gambling harms lead to suicides, one-in-four 18-to-24-year-old young men are addicted, 600,000 underage Australians gambled last year, and domestic violence spikes threefold if there is gambling in a family, Rev Costello said. "This industry has been treated as having a normal social license when it's actually pushing very addictive products," he said. "We have literally given our kids over to sports betting companies as fodder for their profits." Vested interests, including the AFL and NRL, sports betting companies, and the commercial broadcasting networks, had stalled reforms, Rev Costello said. The nation's peak body for doctors, the Australian Medical Association, is demanding the government immediately action all 31 recommendations, accusing it of exposing millions of Australians to predatory betting companies. "Every day of delay means more Australians fall victim to an industry that profits from harm and despair," AMA President Danielle McMullen said. Wesley Mission chief executive Stu Cameron expressed deep disappointment in the government's failure to act on a bipartisan road map to tackle gambling harm."Two years on, the silence from Canberra is deafening," Rev Cameron said. "While the government hesitates, lives are being torn apart." The three say the government must use their parliamentary mandate to make systematic reforms, including banning gambling ads, implementing a national regulator and treating gambling as a health issue. A spokesman for Communications Minister Anika Wells said she has had several meetings with harm reduction advocates, broadcasters and sporting codes. He said the government had delivered "some of the most significant gambling harm reduction measures in Australian history", pointing to mandatory ID verification and banning credit cards for online gambling and launching BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion Register. Australians top the list for the world's highest gambling losses, placing $244.3 billion in bets every year. National Gambling Helpline 1800 858 858 Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) Men's Referral Service 1300 766 491 Australia risks losing a whole generation of kids to gambling, as criticisms are levelled at the government for failing to implement reforms from a landmark report two years on. The "You win some, you lose more" parliamentary inquiry into online gambling and its impacts, chaired by fierce gambling reform advocate the late Peta Murphy MP, delivered 31 recommendations in 2023. The unanimously supported proposals focused on reducing harm, protecting children and applying a long-overdue public health approach to gambling in this country. But two years to the day, gambling reform advocates, health bodies and church groups say the federal government have been silent. More than 80 per cent of Australians want a gambling advertisement ban, and parents are sick of turning on the TV only to find their 10-year-olds discussing the game in terms of odds, Alliance for Gambling Reform chief advocate Tim Costello said. "Smoking is legal, but kids shouldn't be seeing it. Same with gambling. People can gamble, but there's grooming of kids," Rev Costello told AAP. "We now have, with the two-year implementation (delay), a whole generation of kids who only think of NRL and AFL in terms of odds." Gambling harms lead to suicides, one-in-four 18-to-24-year-old young men are addicted, 600,000 underage Australians gambled last year, and domestic violence spikes threefold if there is gambling in a family, Rev Costello said. "This industry has been treated as having a normal social license when it's actually pushing very addictive products," he said. "We have literally given our kids over to sports betting companies as fodder for their profits." Vested interests, including the AFL and NRL, sports betting companies, and the commercial broadcasting networks, had stalled reforms, Rev Costello said. The nation's peak body for doctors, the Australian Medical Association, is demanding the government immediately action all 31 recommendations, accusing it of exposing millions of Australians to predatory betting companies. "Every day of delay means more Australians fall victim to an industry that profits from harm and despair," AMA President Danielle McMullen said. Wesley Mission chief executive Stu Cameron expressed deep disappointment in the government's failure to act on a bipartisan road map to tackle gambling harm."Two years on, the silence from Canberra is deafening," Rev Cameron said. "While the government hesitates, lives are being torn apart." The three say the government must use their parliamentary mandate to make systematic reforms, including banning gambling ads, implementing a national regulator and treating gambling as a health issue. A spokesman for Communications Minister Anika Wells said she has had several meetings with harm reduction advocates, broadcasters and sporting codes. He said the government had delivered "some of the most significant gambling harm reduction measures in Australian history", pointing to mandatory ID verification and banning credit cards for online gambling and launching BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion Register. Australians top the list for the world's highest gambling losses, placing $244.3 billion in bets every year. National Gambling Helpline 1800 858 858 Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) Men's Referral Service 1300 766 491
The Age
7 hours ago
- Sport
- The Age
‘As bad as I've seen' AFL demands an explanation for dangerous SCG ‘sandpit'
Dillon was on the phone first thing Saturday morning seeking an explanation for the substandard surface, speaking with chair of Venues NSW David Gallop, an organisation that oversees the SCG Trust. The AFL leases the ground from the trust. The AFL will also send a turf expert to Sydney this week to ensure another surface debacle does not unfold for the Swans' coming clash against Fremantle on Sunday, July 6. One heart-stopping moment happened during the third term when Bulldog star Bailey Williams's legs buckled awkwardly on the shifting ground as he chased after the ball. Another glaring example happened when speedster Nick Blakey slipped over as he tried to take off on a customary run at a crucial stage of the last quarter. The Bulldogs won a tense contest by nine points to mark captain Marcus Bontempelli's 250th game. Brownlow medallist and geelong premiership star Jimmy Bartel slammed the surface as unacceptable. 'I've genuinely got concern,' he told 3AW after the match. 'When I saw Bailey Williams charging out for the footy and went to change direction and (slipped), that had ACL written all over it. 'As we know, it would have to take a star to get hurt to do anything. 'It shouldn't matter who it is but could you only imagine of Isaac Heeney or Chad Warner or (Sam) Darcy or Bont (Marcus Bontempelli) went down with an injury? What would we be saying? 'There's no way you could tick that off (the surface). Guys have got studded footwear in and if they decided to change direction, they were gone.' Bartel said the clubs and the AFL 'got lucky' that no player suffered a serious injury. Triple premiership Lion Jonathan Brown questioned whether the Friday night match should have been allowed to go ahead. 'This is as bad as I have seen in years,' Brown told Fox Footy. 'I remember playing on the early (Marvel Stadium) surface, and that was a sandpit, but this is shocking. 'It's disgraceful management to let the ground get to this. It's a shame.'
Sydney Morning Herald
7 hours ago
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘As bad as I've seen' AFL demands an explanation for dangerous SCG ‘sandpit'
Dillon was on the phone first thing Saturday morning seeking an explanation for the substandard surface, speaking with chair of Venues NSW David Gallop, an organisation that oversees the SCG Trust. The AFL leases the ground from the trust. The AFL will also send a turf expert to Sydney this week to ensure another surface debacle does not unfold for the Swans' coming clash against Fremantle on Sunday, July 6. One heart-stopping moment happened during the third term when Bulldog star Bailey Williams's legs buckled awkwardly on the shifting ground as he chased after the ball. Another glaring example happened when speedster Nick Blakey slipped over as he tried to take off on a customary run at a crucial stage of the last quarter. The Bulldogs won a tense contest by nine points to mark captain Marcus Bontempelli's 250th game. Brownlow medallist and geelong premiership star Jimmy Bartel slammed the surface as unacceptable. 'I've genuinely got concern,' he told 3AW after the match. 'When I saw Bailey Williams charging out for the footy and went to change direction and (slipped), that had ACL written all over it. 'As we know, it would have to take a star to get hurt to do anything. 'It shouldn't matter who it is but could you only imagine of Isaac Heeney or Chad Warner or (Sam) Darcy or Bont (Marcus Bontempelli) went down with an injury? What would we be saying? 'There's no way you could tick that off (the surface). Guys have got studded footwear in and if they decided to change direction, they were gone.' Bartel said the clubs and the AFL 'got lucky' that no player suffered a serious injury. Triple premiership Lion Jonathan Brown questioned whether the Friday night match should have been allowed to go ahead. 'This is as bad as I have seen in years,' Brown told Fox Footy. 'I remember playing on the early (Marvel Stadium) surface, and that was a sandpit, but this is shocking. 'It's disgraceful management to let the ground get to this. It's a shame.'
