Grapeviney

From the ABC: Former Brisbane Lions player Leigh Ryswyk has become the first openly gay AFL player, past or present. Ryswyk, who played one match for the Lions in 2005, made the announcement on Melbourne FM radio station Joy 94.9's GayFL program. During the interview, which aired on Wednesday, Ryswyk said his friends had known he was gay for five years. “To people who know me, my closest friends, this is not new; I’ve been out for five years now," he said. "There will be people though, if they do listen to this, it will be the first time they know about this; I’m a very private person, so it’s not all over my social media and things like that. "It can be a bit of a shock to some people, they might not know what, but that’s life right? In the end, the people who are nearest and closest to me know, and that’s what's most important.” Originally from Victoria, Ryswyk moved to Queensland when he was young and was added to the Brisbane Lions squad for the 2005 season. He achieved one match in his AFL career, a 39-point win for the Lions in round 11 against Fremantle at Subiaco Oval in Perth. After being delisted from the Lions at the end of the 2005 season, Ryswyk moved to South Australia where he played more than 200 matches for North Adelaide in the SANFL. Ryswyk's announcement follows former West Coast Eagles player Mitch Brown, who last year became the first openly bisexual man to have played in the AFL.

Does anyone know what the Championship is? I'm a Tottenham supporter and I keep reading that we're going to play in the Championship next season. Sounds like a fairly prestigious tournament, which is great!

It's a shame that the 3AW call of that goal is no longer online - Tim Lane at his very best ,with a deafening noise from the crowd in the background. Like you, I watched it 1000 times. "Oscar McDonald with a little runner up towards Harmes on centre wing, "Watts running into space for him at half forward. "Will run onto a nicely bouncing ball. "Outside 50, crosses 50, has a bounce "On tired legs, closes to 30, and KICKS THE GOAL!!

There's a third kick which everyone has forgotten - to Jack Watts in the dying moments of Queen's Birthday 2017.

I’m with @Fork 'em - Pendles is all silk, but the grace and elegance with which Flower moved and played was in a class of its own. There’s no modern equivalent and no need to search for one. He was so good that many of the highlights videos on here and YT weren’t even compiled by a Dees fan; they were painstakingly and lovingly put together over a long period of time by a Bomber supporter - the legendary @Ash35.

He played 269 games without seeing September action - and then booted 5 goals in his first final, followed by 4 the week after. The goal at the 1.50 mark of this highlights clip is one of the all-time greats.

The Herald Sun think it's enough of a story to be reporting her news of his meeting today. And the job does exist, in the same way that a whole lot of other people are already employed by this club that isn't yet a club. They need to keep building the architecture of the whole thing in the event it does get up. And don't be fooled into thinking the fate of the Devils rests with the Tassie Parliament. The AFL hold all the cards, and can alter the stadium deal at any time to make it palatable down there. They're sticking to their guns for the moment, but will know internally about their own willingness to bend further down the track to get it over line .. ie whether a job for Bucks will actually be there.

The opposite is true. She's been a thorn in the AFL's side throughout her career, more than any other footy journalist by a country mile. If you believe otherwise you haven't been paying attention the past 40 years. And if the AFL want Buckley to coach Tassie they'll do whatever is required to make it happen. They don;t need to run a publicity campaign through the media to convince either the fans or Bucks. The whole idea is kind of absurd - "let's get one of the most hated journalists in the game to persuade everyone".

Found this while cleaning up today. He was always so polite and friendly when you went into the store, happy to talk footy and sign an autograph.

Long may it continue. City never looked threatening, and my trepidation about a possible trouncing quickly turned into a relaxing and enjoyable watch! COYS !!

Love those images Tim .. hope the news gets better after this setback and you can make your gig.

Was doing a bit of digging on accuracy (it's hard to find data) and 12.12 is the most common score in VFL / AFL history, which is consistent with the numbers below. From a low of 38% when the game began, accuracy steadily improved over the decades before hitting its peak of 56% in 2000, which is about the time players became full-time professionals. But things have declined since then, back to 51% in 2020, and as low as 49.1% last month (thanks to us, in part), which may or may not be related to things like fatigue and the much heavier workload of the modern player. A few other numbers to mull over: 1987 - 1999: 52.4% 2000 - 2010: 53.7% 2011 - 2020: 52.8%

Not sure about the Bears / Lions, but Swooper threw him into the middle in the last against Essendon at Windy Hill in 1990, and he and Darren Bennett won us the game, turning a 34-point deficit halfway through the final quarter into an 8 point win. We kicked seven goals in 17 minutes! A truly famous victory.

A giant of the game and the club, and one of our finest ambassadors. Her story isn't finished yet. I hope she becomes the first female coach in the men's game, and goes on to win a flag - with us. ❤️💙🏆💙❤️