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Adem Yze and Jacob Hopper leave the ground at the MCG on Friday night.

Nightmare scenario: Three of the AFL’s big clubs are on the bottom. Will fans ‘tune out’?

It’s the AFL’s nightmare scenario: Richmond, Carlton and Essendon occupying the bottom three places on the ladder with two wins between them after seven games. The Tigers have a percentage of 54 and that seems flattering.

  • Michael Gleeson

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Zak Butters and other Port Adelaide players clash with the umpire on Sunday night.

‘How much are they paying you?’: The alleged umpire abuse Butters must defend at AFL tribunal

AFL umpire Nick Foot has alleged that he heard Port Adelaide star Zak Butters say “how much are they paying you?” before he paid a 50-metre penalty and reported him for abusive language.

  • Peter Ryan and Jon Pierik
Cats coach Chris Scott.

‘No good reason except cash’: Scott derides AFL’s wildcard round, says Cats didn’t ‘hit our straps’ in loss to Hawks

The AFL’s controversial new wildcard round — which keeps teams that finish as low as 10th on the ladder in contention for the premiership — has been derided by Geelong coach Chris Scott as something the league just made up and a cash-grab.

  • Hannah Kennelly
Craig McRae, the senior coach of the Magpies, looks on.

Collingwood coach blames ‘comical’ stand rule for players freezing out of position

The Magpies are likely to be two key players down and sweating on an MRO decision ahead of next week’s clash with the two-time reigning premiers.

  • Danny Russell
Collingwood used Scott Pendlebury on the bench as part of the AFL’s revised interchange bench.

I copped a spray over this AFL invention. Thank goodness it’s gone

I hadn’t been a fan of the AFL sub rule, but my loathing of it went up a level after one particular conversation.

  • Wayne Campbell
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Leigh Matthews lashes AFL ‘bozos’ after key Cat Stewart ruled out of grand final

Prominent footy figures join the push for a pre-grand final bye after a devastating concussion ends Tom Stewart’s season. Leigh Matthews says it’s only matter of time before the AFL’s “slow-moving bureaucracy” rethinks the situation.

  • Danny Russell
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Attendees and television audiences are seeing longer games than they were a decade ago.

The AFL’s ticking time bomb: The damning numbers forcing the league’s new footy boss to act

The AFL’s incoming football supremo Greg Swann is determined to shave seven minutes off matches, bringing them back to 120 minutes - or the same levels as 2016.

  • Peter Ryan and Jon Pierik
Brisbane Lions CEO Greg Swann would consider moving his team to a new stadium at Victoria Park.

‘Just be more transparent’: New AFL footy boss wants a more public role for MRO

Greg Swann says there needs to be more transparency around the league’s post-match system for identifying punishable on-field offences.

  • Hannah Kennelly
Carlton midfielder Adam Cerra.

Cerra had his back turned to the umpire. He’s now the first player to fall foul of AFL crackdown

The tribunal hearing next week looms as a test case for the AFL in its quest to protect umpires from injuries suffered in collisions with players.

  • Andrew Wu
Charlie Curnow.

Curnow’s return questioned; AFL says Hawks should have got more than a warning for 19-man breach; Rooke case stalls

The spotlight has shone on Charlie Curnow’s inclusion in the Carlton side on Thursday night, while the AFL has conceded Hawthorn should have received more than a warning for the “major breach” of fielding 19 players on the ground.

  • Sam McClure, Scott Spits and Jon Pierik