Jon Ralph

Thanks to everyone who watched the video format, read the stories on Essendon: The Lost Years & made it such a success. The podcast format is now on the Sacked podcast feed starting today. Hope you enjoy. We had a blast making it. Part 1 👇 @heraldsunsport podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/sac…

Hawks hit the 18 day bye with just Day out of the club’s best 23. Eight forwards will play in the Box Hill VFL clash against Sydney. Calsher Dear just needs some continuity but Hawks very excited by pick 20 Cam Nairn & key forward Aidan Schubert (pick 23) after strong track form

Is Tasmania being used as a stalking horse for Nick Daicos?: “Let me say as good as Nick Daicos is, it would come at an enormous price. And that’s something we need to take into account as well. “There will be a lot of opportunities present but you can’t put all your eggs in one basket. We have got injury and concussion guidelines, and we have to be careful. If there is one player who can justify that I am sure our list management team will make the case and we will put it to our committee. Those opportunities will be seductive and you have got to manage risk very, very carefully.”

Milan Murdock’s journey to the AFL is the ultimate tale of persistence. The little sparky who could! -Why he lied about his height -What Patrick Cripps told him after training together in the off-season -A rumour about his unique name dispelled STORY ▶️ bit.ly/47dJIMx

“A lot of people had sat back & been quiet on these things. And they turned up and they voted with their feet.” Brendon Gale on Tassie people power, the club’s secret weapon, the risk of a $2m+ player & whether Daicos is using Tassie for contract leverage👇heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/devi…

Physio working on his hip, not his hamstring. Positive news for Watson & the Hawks

Nick Watson going downstairs with the doctor complaining of a right hamstring or thigh issue. Massive concern for the Hawks @FOXFOOTY

How Izak Rankine has grown - and made amends to the queer community - since his slur. Spoke to the Rainbow Crows, Mitch Brown and others about Rankine's response being a positive "role-model moment" ahead of his return game. 👉 bit.ly/4lzXLBP

Tom Papley will be on a bit of a minutes restriction playing off a five day break but it’s Caiden Cleary who has sat out the first quarter so far without any game time. Clubs using different ways to use the fifth bench member

Sydney knew Errol Gulden needed six weeks strengthening his shoulder anyway if he didn’t have surgery immediately. A four month recovery from surgery yesterday might see him miss only 15-odd games given two upcoming byes. Footy boss Leon Cameron: “It was a no brainer” @FOXFOOTY

📺 Watch #AFLHawksSwans on ch.504 or stream on Kayo: bit.ly/4sRN2VR ✍️ BLOG bit.ly/3PtUIz8 🔢 MATCH CENTRE bit.ly/4sZIZqN

Hawthorn footy boss Rob McCartney tells @FOXFOOTY the bye is a real positive for the Hawks given they get a rest after six total games (three AFL, two AAMI, an intraclub match). Then a later bye to freshen up during in the season. It’s bizarre for the overall season but the Hawks aren’t fussed by an 18 day break. “The beauty of it is that it breaks up first part of the season. If you play in opening round you do start a week earlier but you get a bye between round 3-5.”

A nice milestone for Will Day who completed his first skills session today & looked a million dollars as usual ahead of a likely return around the mid year bye. Shoulder scans are very positive & the weeks ahead give his foot time to fully heal as well as his shoulder @FOXFOOTY

As Hawthorn attempted to broker a trade for Zach Merrett, one name was linked as the piece to break the deadlock. But the Hawks never wanted to let him go. Now, he’s eager to show why. Cam Mackenzie on the trade saga and levelling up his game 👉 bit.ly/3NpAeXQ

Will Darcy is coming along at a rate of knots. Just five Coates League games as a kid and most playing defence. Already wowed Dogs onlookers and will be a “nightmare” match up according to one Dogs coach. Very raw but very exciting for the last pick in the draft 👇

Scerri debut szn ‼️

Enjoyed the article and your thoughts. Don’t disagree that the changes are very artificial. I think we can’t forget how congested, how stoppage heavy lots of footy was for so, so long. We used to have weekly Monday meetings in at our office for years - how do we fix footy? Being too open and high scoring might be an over reaction but I would take some blowouts for what we have now. And clubs will come back from 40 points down to win. The old Glenn Luff 30 point rule was that it got to 5 goals and it was over. Intesting to see how the season unfolds

Last call for my hand-wringing over the specific effects of the latest suite of rule changes and the general principle of the AFL's mistaken belief there should be one Way To Rule Them All.

Cam Mackenzie still has a fierce ambition to be an elite AFL midfielder. The pair of missed finals appearances driving him, the recent concussion and how the Merrett drama played out when everyone but Hawthorn believed he might be part of that deal 👇 heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/hawt…

@known_as_AJ @FOXFOOTY Funnily enough when you are box office you get 5 day breaks because the afl needs to slot you into Thursdays a bit. My Dees mates say they are the Sunday arvo specialists this year. Agree the fixture has many quirks. Just know the dees don’t love waiting for a r16 bye

@RalphyHeraldSun @FOXFOOTY Over the same corresponding period though the Hawks have 2 x 6 day breaks, and 3 x 5 day breaks between games Melb 2 x 6 & 1 x 5 it appears

Melbourne’s young side has to wait until round 16 for their only bye while the Hawks have perfectly-placed byes in round 3 and round 14. Two byes before the Demons get one

It’s three firsts as a very minimum isn’t it but even the Merrett deal had a top 12 pick in it. Jeremy Cameron was three firsts and two seconds back but not many years on you would get little to nothing back and might need a top 10 pick involved. Dogs have A graders and lots of role players. And they aren’t giving away west-Croft-sanders-bailey Dale types who have huge potential upside. It’s going to be so difficult for anyone to get it done

@RalphyHeraldSun Enjoyable reading for those in red white & blue & it makes sense but what does a trade look like…Dogs will happily part with multiple first round picks but they won’t be high ones in all likelihood…what will get it done?

Ten to one. Which is the best Vic destination club for Zak Butters? Which club might need a helicopter to get it done, which one might only pay him $1.5m a year, which one can’t afford him, which one ticks his No.1 box which is about contending?