North Melbourne Reserves comfortably beat an Australian Academy team today at Arden Street.

Young draft talent shines in Academy loss to VFL Roos

There are also some other considerations that come into play that are not directly part of the wild card debate but still related to the structure of the competition within which the game operates.

We are about to see the introduction of the Tassie Devils as 19th club and subsequently, we will have a 20th. When you change the structure of the competition in this way, it raises questions like how many games each team plays in a season, how do you fit two byes per season in a fixture and how do you determine a fair draw given that it’s likely that the teams will play each other once but also play only four others twice?

There are mathematical considerations involved as well as the fundamental principle of having a fair and equitable fixture and a balanced competition.

A lot of food for thought packed in there.

Partly cloudy conditions expected around 2PM.

Wind gusts up to 42 km/h are making the temperature feel like 9°.

This is from a reel on social medial but I'm not sure if this will stay up permanently.

And just as an aside, straight after The Winners on ABC Channel 2 which was the best footy replay program, came Blake’s Seven which was a fantastic sci-fi series.

Something a little bit different from 10 April 1982 … exactly 44 years ago today. The TV guide and look at the lineup of household names talking about the footy.

1 hour ago, BLWNBA said:

Whilst that applied for the zone changes, other changes including the AFL removing the criteria that allowed a player to be tied to a club if they were born overseas in the relevant zones, with all NGA applications now on relying on parents' cultural backgrounds, was effective from the beginning of the 2026 season.

The first article linked states:

Other important changes include:

• the addition of the Pacific and Central and South American regions to the cultural eligibility criteria and the removal of European countries;

• an expansion of age eligibility from 19 to 21 years to allow clubs to have more time to access players if they are late developers;

• and a requirement that the player and their family must have resided in the NGA zone for at least 12 months before their application is submitted.

Importantly, though the changes will not affect the 2025 draft class, all approved applications for future drafts that do not meet the new eligibility rules will be reviewed by the AFL in coming months, which could see players who have been tied to clubs ruled out for priority access.

Personally I’m not exactly sure of the reason it’s being stated he’s no longer tied to us, but I would suspect it’s likely due to one of, or a combination of those listed factors.

Perhaps, but this simply doesn't pass muster in terms of Prasad's eligibility and does not explain why an AFL review might have put a line through him remaining an MFC NGA.

In the case of the first two dot points, they can't be interpreted as applying to Prasad who already fulfilled the cultural eligibility and age guidelines. The third dot point countermands the statement that the new guidelines will be introduced over the next three years because in Prasad's case it would mean retrospective application and not something to be applied in transition between 2026 and 2028.

The only thing that seems to make sense to me is the fact the situation applying to the Ah-Mu brothers if Samoan culture is now specifically included in the new list of Pacific regions. If that was the case it would explain earlier reports that Corey Ah-Mu was tied to Melbourne's NGA system.

Of course, it would be nice if the AFL or the MFC would simply tell us what the situation is with these players.

1 hour ago, BLWNBA said:

AFL cracks down on player eligibility in NGA revamp

Explained: How NGAs work, what the AFL's rule change means

Next Generation Academy background

It’s entirely determined by the AFL.

“A transition period will take place over the next three years with the reviewed zones to be in place by 2028 for the AFL, and 2026 for the AFLW rules.”

My understanding is that this effectively means that if you were tied to a club’s NGA in 2025 then that situation would not be upset by the changes. Prasad was definitely included as a MFC NGA player last year. How is his position therefore affected by the changes?

MELBOURNE

 IN B. Fritsch

OUT B. Laurie (omitted)

ESSENDON

IN N. Caddy, J. Ridley, S. Robey, E. Tsatas

OUT S. El-Hawli (omitted), M. Guelfi (omitted), Z. Johnson (omitted), A. Perkins (omitted)

VFL Report | McLennan reviews AFL-listed players

The state of the VFL ladder after Round 3:

The Brisbane Lions have been a strong team in recent seasons but they have struggled to date. Casey need the win to get among the early contenders.

Scouting Notes: 2026 Talent League - Round 3 Fields

Corey Ah-Mu sounds exciting - a 196cm midfield beast.

And if you're wondering how things stood on the eve of Gather Round at this time last year (note Gold Coast and Essendon had a game to make up as a result of Cyclone Alfred):-

11 hours ago, WERRIDEE said:

He wouldn't know. He's a journalist and like all journalist he likes to stick it up Melbourne when he can. If it comes from Melbourne then I believe it not from him.

I had the pleasure of meeting Jonty Ralphsmith at a Coates Talent League game several years ago, where Harry Sheezel was playing for the Sandringham Dragons. He noticed my affiliation with Harry's family and supporters, we engaged in a discussion about him and the draft in general. Harry played junior football with one of my grandsons, and they have maintained a close friendship. Jonty Ralphsmith was seeking an angle for a story on Harry and presented himself as genuinely sincere.

I highly doubt that he would harbor any grievances towards Melbourne or have a desire to disparage the club. I have attempted to contact him through the contact page on Zero Hanger, and if I receive a response, I will post it here.

VFL RD 3 | Clutch Dees seal their first win

Moose on the Loose

It’s not Monday but Tuesday will do

Melbourne (109) v Gold Coast (89)

Melbourne spent the last few years focusing on not losing games. They could defend, but they couldn’t score.

They rarely got knocked out, but they lost on points.

Under Steven King they’re the ones going for the knockout.

It might not always work, but it’s fun to watch.

And on the weekend, it really worked.

It was helped a lot by a young guy named Kysaiah Pickett who’s worth checking out, and that big tall guy with the beard who always takes the marks.

The Suns, were certainly not bad. Even with their talent you’re not going to win every game.

Damien Harwick said it was a ‘kick right in the nuts’, which I’ve always said is something to be avoided.

As a Dees supporter, I can say kicking someone in the nuts is more fun than being kicked in the nuts. I don’t think you need to be a Dees supporter to get that.

https://www.titusoreily.com/afl/the-monday-knee-jerk-reaction-round-four2026

Synopsis:

Best differentials

1 - Geelong (+44)
2 - St Kilda (+23)
3 - Western Bulldogs (+18)
4 - Richmond (+10)
5 - Essendon (+8)

Worst differentials

1 - GWS Giants (-23)
2 - Gold Coast (-18)
3 - West Coast (-14)
4 - Port Adelaide (-12)
5 - Adelaide (-11)

Most frees for

1 - Geelong (102)
2 - North Melbourne (95)
Eq.3 - St Kilda & Western Bulldogs (87)
5 - Richmond (84)

Best differentials

1 - Geelong (+44)
2 - St Kilda (+23)
3 - Western Bulldogs (+18)
4 - Richmond (+10)
5 - Essendon (+8)

Worst differentials

1 - GWS Giants (-23)
2 - Gold Coast (-18)
3 - West Coast (-14)
4 - Port Adelaide (-12)
5 - Adelaide (-11)

Most frees for

1 - Geelong (102)
2 - North Melbourne (95)
Eq.3 - St Kilda & Western Bulldogs (87)
5 - Richmond (84)

Best differentials

1 - Geelong (+44)
2 - St Kilda (+23)
3 - Western Bulldogs (+18)
4 - Richmond (+10)
5 - Essendon (+8)

Worst differentials

1 - GWS Giants (-23)
2 - Gold Coast (-18)
3 - West Coast (-14)
4 - Port Adelaide (-12)
5 - Adelaide (-11)

Most frees for

1 - Geelong (102)
2 - North Melbourne (95)
Eq.3 - St Kilda & Western Bulldogs (87)
5 - Richmond (84)

Least frees for

1 - GWS Giants (58)
2 - Melbourne (60)
3 - Collingwood (63)
4 - Adelaide (67)
5 - Gold Coast (68)

Most frees against

Eq.1 - North Melbourne & West Coast (93)
Eq.3 - Sydney & Gold Coast (86)
5 - Port Adelaide (83)

Least frees against

1 - Geelong (58)
2 - Melbourne (59)
3 - St Kilda (64)
4 - Western Bulldogs (69)
5 - Collingwood (71)

The 2026 Free Kick Ladder - Round 4

Geelong (+44) has had four games with free kick differentials of +9 or more to comfortably sit on top of the standings.

The Cats have received 102 frees and given away only 58.

St Kilda (+23) sit second but are +21 behind the Cats, while the Western Bulldogs (+18) are third just clear of Richmond (+10) who have often been at the other end of the FK Ladder.

As mentioned earlier, Vic teams make up the top eight with Essendon (+8), Hawthorn (+3), North Melbourne (+2)and Melbourne (+1) all with positive differentials.

Down the bottom is poor old GWS (-23)who finished second bottom last year. It's back to regular programming for a Dimma-coached team with Gold Coast (-18) second last, then West Coast (-14) third bottom after finishing last year in 15th on the FK Ladder

SA pair Port Adelaide (-12) and Adelaide (-11) make up the bottom five.

The eight interstate clubs all have negative differentials.

Make of that what you will.

Brisbane (-3), Sydney (-6), Carlton (-6), Fremantle (-8) and Collingwood (-8) make up the middle table but all have differentials in the red.

Well, I’m not complaining (yet) even though we're not getting paid enough frees 😉

Source: SEN

I believe that Kane Cornes is saying that the AFL is at a crisis point because of the discrepancy between the haves and the have nots in the competition. He might well have a point there but looking at the ladder after all teams have played four games, I can see North Melbourne and Melbourne on 3 wins and Port Adelaide in 8th place with leading contenders like Brisbane, Collingwood, Geelong, Adelaide and GWS all out of the eight. Yes, I understand it’s early days and there is the vagary of the fixture to take into account, but it’s definitely not crisis time quite yet.

Excellent effort by @binman flying almost wholly solo.

Jonty Ralphsmith remains definite that Melbourne does not have any hold on Prasad.

From the Zero Hanger team:-

1 hour ago, Pates said:

Are you serious? We are starting the season with a match, then a bye, then our second match, and another bye????

This needs to be put on the agenda asap, it's a deadset joke and it compromises development and competition integrity.

Settle down. KC’s being sarcastic about it because there are no VFL games at all next week due to the State Game between the VFL and SANFL associated with the Gather Round.