CLEAN ball movement in trying conditions has helped Geelong to a convincing AFLW practice match win over the Gold Coast.
The Cats ran out 36-point winners over the Suns, 8.4 (52) to 2.4 (16), as persistent rain fell on the outer ground at Metricon Stadium.
“A lot of our focuses over the last two or three months – and even towards the back end of last season – around our ball movement to make sure that we’re a bit more clean and efficient, those signs were really evident today, which is really promising,” coach Dan Lowther told Geelong Broadcasters
“In trying conditions, they moved the ball quite well at times.
“And our new players that we’ve brought into the team over the last 12-18 months added a bit of class around the ball and (on) the outside.
“Our efficiency moving the ball from one end of the ground to the other allowed for a cleaner game, even though the conditions would have come otherwise normally.”
Several players who pulled on a Geelong jumper for the first time stood out for Lowther, who has a relatively injury-free list to pick from.
“Shelley Scott played down back for us and was a really solid contributor,” he said.
“Her experience and her smarts down there really steadied the ship at times for us, which is pleasing.
“Jackie Parry up forward tried really hard.
“Her composition at the ball was really important at times.
“Mikayla Bowen on the wing did a very good job in the first half.”
Geelong got through the match injury-free, although Geelong fans watching the live stream may have been concerned when captain Meg McDonald was forced from the ground during the last quarter.
“(It was) just a really good upper-thigh cramp,” he said. “It looked like she’d gone down for the count.
“She had some issues cramping early.
“We had 20-minute flat quarters today, so less rotations meant she played longer minutes.
“She’ll be fine.”
Geelong starts AFLW Season 7 against Richmond at GMHBA Stadium on Sunday, August 28.
Image: Geelong AFLW recruit Mikayla Bowen in action during the Cats’ practice match win over Gold Coast. (Geelong Cats Image/David McPherson)
Fremantle expect Rory Lobb to back up against GWS, despite being subbed out of the win over West Coast.
While the Roos are counting the injury toll from a bruising encounter with the Crows.
Get the latest AFL injury news in our Round 22 Casualty Ward!
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FREMANTLE coach Justin Longmuir has defended the club’s decision to sub Rory Lob out of the win over West Coast late, despite then admitting he expects the star to play next weekend.
Lobb has been carrying a shoulder injury for the past few weeks and appeared to aggravate it in a marking contest in the third term.
But the big forward waved away medical staff and played on, despite clearly carrying his right shoulder.
“He’s sore,” Longmuir admitted post-match. “We don’t think it’s too significant. We’re proud of his efforts after he got injured and halved some contests and remained in the game and kept working his way through it.
“(We) expect him to play (against GWS).
“Players have played plenty of times after they’ve been subbed out.
“He was carrying his arm around so he’s got an injury. He’s been carrying it for three weeks so he got a stinger on it and couldn’t go on tonight but we think he’ll be alright.”
Longmuir said he would enjoy the win over West Coast before contemplating having both Lobb and fellow big forward Matt Taberner unavailable for the away clash with GWS.
“I’ll worry about that when I get home,” he laughed.
“It’s not ideal and I’d love Lobby to play next week. We haven’t really crossed that bridge yet.
“When you see a player out there carrying their arm, you want to protect them so that’s why we subbed him out.
“He’s a fast healer. He played the week after he hurt it the first time from memory. So fingers crossed he gets up. He doesn’t let on when he brings injuries into games and he pushes through it really well.
“He’s 205cm and we needed to contest forward of the ball.
“I’m really proud of his efforts to keep competing, sometimes with one arm.”
Saint in hot water over bump? | 00:41
The call to sub Lobb out of the contest came with just four minutes remaining when the match was all but won.
“The docs went out and checked him and probably decided that he couldn’t go on anymore,” Longmuir said.
“He battled as well as he could for as long as he could. We needed to get him off for his own welfare from him.”
Lobb’s potential absence could hurt Fremantle’s top four push with Taberner already sidelined. skipper Nat Fyfe is no guarantee to return from his hamstring injury in Round 23 with Longmuir adamant the club would take a cautious approach.
“We don’t need to (bring him straight back), but if he’s fit to play, he’ll put his hand up for selection,” Longmuir said.
“If he’s not declared fit, we’re not going to put him out there and risk him. You injure yourself at this time of year and have a repeat injury to that hammy, then your season’s almost done.”
Longmuir said Fyfe may even go back to the WAFL for a second time this year to build fitness heading into finals.
“If it’s not this week, then we’ve got the bye and a WAFL game in the bye so we’ll look at that,” he said.
ST KILDA‘s Jimmy Webster‘s season is all but over after he injured his hamstring in the loss to Brisbane.
With the Saints now only a mathematical chance of finals, Webster is set for scans in the coming days.
He was subbed out of the loss to Brisbane early and was iced up for the remainder of the clash.
Cunnington emotional after huge return! | 02:47
ADELAIDE forward Shane McAdam is in doubt for this weekend’s Showdown with Port Adelaide.
McAdam was subbed out of the win over North Melbourne with a hamstring complaint.
“Forward Shane McAdam injured his hamstring while leading for the ball in the final quarter and was subbed out of the game,” Crows high performance manager Darren Burgess said.
“He will be assessed in coming days ahead of next week’s Showdown.”
NORTH MELBOURNE are counting the cost of a bruising loss to the Crows, with three players injured and young Paul Curtis now racing to be fit for the final match of the season.
jed anderson suffered concussion and won’t play again this season under the AFL’s protocols.
skipper jack ziebell is also likely done for 2022 after suffering a “significant” shoulder injury.
“It didn’t look great for Ziebs in particular,” coach Leigh Adams said.
“It’s some sort of shoulder injury. I think we all know Jack Ziebell is going to put his body on the line every time.
“I’m not sure if its collarbone or a dislocation but for him to come straight off and get subbed off, it must have been pretty bad. He doesn’t come off unless something is wrong.
“Fingers crossed it’s not too bad but it looks like his season is over.”
Kangaroos miss chance against Crows | 01:34
Jaidyn Stephenson will have to prove his fitness to play again this season after coming off with a back injury.
“Stevo’s had a bit of back issues that can come good pretty quick.”
Adams defended the club’s decision to send Anderson back out into the contest, as he was later ruled out with concussion.
“I haven’t seen the vision yet – I’m comfortable our doctors will have made the right decision,” he said.
“I know he came off with the blood rule and I was told at three quarter time he’d gone into the concussion protocols.”
Adams said the club wouldn’t take any risk with young Curtis after he copped a knock to his shoulder.
“This time of year obviously with one game to go, we won’t take any risk with a young kid like that,” he said.
GWS could be without Lachlan Keeffe after he complained of groin soreness in the loss to the Western Bulldogs.
Caretaker coach Mark McVeigh said the club would take precautions with the veteran.
“We’ll assess Keeffey who complained of a bit of groin soreness. We’ll take precautions there,” he said.
Tanner Bruhn won’t play again this season after entering the AFL’s concussion protocols.
“Tanner Bruhn with the HIA so he’ll enter those protocols which is not ideal for him,” McVeigh said.
the WESTERN BULLDOGS admit skipper Marcus Bontempelli is not fully fit but continues to press on.
“I finished the game off alright didn’t he?” coach Luke Beveridge said.
“He’s struggling a little bit with a niggle or two. I had Marcus and Chrissy Bell in my office yesterday talking through, he’s got a bit of an adductor issue going on.
“Both Marcus and Chris were sure he’d get through the game.
“He’s not 100 per cent. I have pushed through a bit of discomfort today.”
Bulldogs keep finals in sight | 02:53
GEELONG Coach Chris Scott has hinted at resting more players for the final round clash against West Coast.
With top spot assured, the Cats do have one injury concern with Rhys Stanley subbed out of the win over the Gold Coast.
“They tell me he’s got a low grade adductor strain,” Scott said.
“Generally when they say low grade it’s a week or two. It will be unlikely he’ll play next week is the feedback I’ve got but they are not too worried beyond that.”
GOLD COAST coach Stuart Dew says he feels for Sam Day after the forward re-injured his knee.
“Suspected that he’s hurt his meniscus that he’s had repaired last year and it was the same mechanism the way he slid and jammed that joint so we’ve got fingers crossed but unfortunately I think Sam might have hurt his knee which is really unfortunate,” Dew said.
Izak Rankin also remains in doubt for Round 23 after injuring his shoulder.
“He hurt that shoulder a few weeks back… clearly awkward landing/hit and he’s stirred that up,” Dew said.
“We’ll just see how that settles.”
WEST COAST could be without both Nic Naitanui and jamine jones for the trip to Geelong.
Jones was subbed out of the loss to the Dockers with a back issue.
“His back just seized up. We weighed up before the game whether to pull him out … He’s had a big year and carried some injuries. He just couldn’t last,” coach Adam Simpson said.
Simpson also admitted Naitanui was playing through the pain.
“He’s playing because the club needs him,” Simpson said.
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has conceded his club is always looking at “contingencies” but wouldn’t confirm or deny interest in Collingwood ruckman Brodie Grundy as a potential replacement for young gun Luke Jackson.
Goodwin conceded Jackson, who has been heavily linked to a big-money move to Fremantle, had yet to inform the club whether he was staying or going in 2023.
But ahead of a must-win clash with Carlton on Friday night, with the Demons needing a win to maintain their chances of a top-four finish, Goodwin wouldn’t comment on a link to Grundy, who has five more years remaining on his contract at Collingwood.
“It’s a good story and I understand the questioning but I’ve been pretty clear on this over a number of years. I’m not going to speculate and talk about players from opposition clubs,” the premiership coach said on Wednesday.
“Clearly, people in our industry are going around looking at how they can potentially improve their list… that’s not my focus. It’s not for me to comment on.”
Brodie Grundy could be headed to Melbourne. Picture: AAP Image/Daniel PockettSource: AAP
Goodwin said Melbourne would give Jackson, who has formed a key one-two punch with Demons captain Max Gawn, as much time as he needed to make a decision.
But he also said the club was always making contingency plans as part of list management, which would include covering Jackson’s potential departure.
“If you look at list management all the time you have contingency plans for a whole range of different things that sit within your environment,” he said.
“We’ve talked about Luke a lot. We are going to give him the most amount of time to make his decision about him. We don’t know what the decision is at the moment.
Luke Jackson has been linked to Fremantle. Picture: Will Russell/AFL Photos via Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
“We’ll continue to build contingencies, to work with Luke and give him the best environment possible to want to stay here and Luke will make that decision when the time is right.
“But as a club and as an organisation, you look at all positions … about how you are best going to move forward in the future.”
Goodwin said premiership defender Jake Bowey was “AFL ready” and could soon return to the Melbourne line-up having been sent back to the VFL after the round 17 loss to Geelong to find his best form.
But more changes to the team that lost by just seven points to Collingwood last week were unlikely for the clash with Carlton, Goodwin adamant his premiership-winning outfit was “tracking in the right direction”.
“We’re really comfortable with where our team is sitting. We clearly have a lot of pressure from guys underneath,” he said,
“But in terms of the type of player or personnel in the team, we are really comfortable. The last couple of weeks we have played some of our best footy for the year.
“We played a really dominant game against Fremantle and last week… we had momentum for big parts.
“There’s a lot to like in the way we are going, we just have to execute a little bit better and the results will be different.”
If you weren’t a Collingwood believer, you must be by now — but the situation at Carlton is far less rosy.
Welcome to the AFL Round-Up, where we digest the week that was.
The Collingwood situation
It’s not a drill anymore.
Collingwood’s feel-good renaissance — their hot streak of heart-stoppers — is no longer a thrilling sideshow to the 2022 season. It may well be the main event.
Melbourne were the latest — and probably the best team — to have run into the Magpie buzzsaw and come out on the wrong side throughout a run that has now resulted in 11 straight wins.
The MCG is Collingwood’s playground right now.(Getty Images: Darrian Traynor)
Collingwood are in second position with two games to play. Beat Sydney next week and a top-four finish at minimum is secured. No matter how they have done it, Craig McRae’s team have put themselves in a position from which premierships can be won.
And, in a season where consistency has eluded all but Geelong, Collingwood’s unique blend of speed, physicality and Disneyesque self-belief might just make the most sense.
There’s no point looking at the stats and pondering the collective unlikeliness of this Collingwood run, we’re well past that. All that’s left now is to admire the individuals that are making it happen.
Top of that list is Brayden Maynard, whose general absence from predicted All Australian teams is bemusing.
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Maynard has been Collingwood personified all season. Fearlessly committed, he is prepared to take risks, never believing he is beaten.
But he’s just one of many. From Jack Crisp and to Jamie Elliott to Beau McCreery and Ash Johnson, that same level is being reached across the 22 to various levels of fanfare.
We said here weeks ago that this Collingwood season would be one that fans will talk about for generations, but there’s more than that at play now.
One of the great premierships in the history of the national competition is what is being played for now, and it’s becoming a far less crazy proposition with every passing week.
Blues on the brink
Cast your mind back a few months and Carlton were the in-vogue team, playing a similar brand of tough and exciting footy and finding ways to win games.
That seems a long time ago now. The battle for the Blues is no longer a top-four spot and proving they are worthy of premiership conversations, but to simply make the finals and not throw the season away completely.
It’s all a bit that way at the moment for Carlton.(Getty Images: Russell Freeman)
Carlton have Melbourne and Collingwood to eat. Winning one of those would surely be enough. There’s even a world in which they could lose both and still sneak in, but the door would be opened at that point for St Kilda — or even the Western Bulldogs.
Should the worst come to pass and Carlton fail to finish in the top eight, this season might rank among the most disappointing for Blues’ fans in recent memory. And that’s a tough field.
Not because they aren’t clearly still improving, or because they haven’t played good football and claimed big wins. But should the opportunity for a return to finals be squandered — an opportunity they completely earned themselves with their excellent start to the campaign — it would be mighty tough to swallow.
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The good news is that it’s still in Carlton’s hands. The last quarter against Brisbane showed the fight is still there, and perhaps the challenge of having to win their way in will inspire a return to form.
It’s an unfinished story right now, but the stakes are high.
JK’s perfect goodbye
A quick word for Josh Kennedy, who called time on his tremendous career with one more performance for the ages.
The greatest goalkicker in West Coast’s history — Josh J Kennedy.(Getty Images: Daniel Carson)
To be held in the same company as the likes of Lance Franklin, Jack Riewoldt and Tom Hawkins as era-defining key forwards is not something to be dismissed. Kennedy has been a fearsome prospect for more than a decade, has ridden the highs and lows at West Coast through that time and has ended with his bearded head held high.
That the Eagles were unable to rise to the occasion and find a way to win for Kennedy is a matter for another day (and a long and painful off-season to come).
It’s rare that a champion is able to go out in a manner befitting his career. Kennedy managed that—and then some.
around the grounds
We can now say with confidence that Richmond will play finals in 2022. From there, anything is possible. They will be unmissable in September.
Fremantle looked like their old selves again against the Bulldogs, and with the Eagles and Giants to come will fancy their chances of a return to the top four. Perhaps they are timing their run to perfection.
All the Cats do is win.(Getty Images: Darrian Traynor)
Strictly speaking, Geelong probably didn’t need to win that game against St Kilda. Their hold on top spot would have been pretty secure either way. But they did, and that winning habit looks set to roll on deep into September.
Mark McVeigh took a bit of a gamble in calling out his Giants players last week. It would have put the interim coach in an awkward spot if they didn’t muster an immediate response. But they did, and his stocks of him have now never been higher.
hawthorn have now improved their wins total from last year. Gold Coast are one away from equaling their best wins total ever. A clear season of progress for both.
The Swans and Pies will meet at the SCG on Sunday.(Getty Images: Michael Willson)
We’re pumped for Sydney’s game against Collingwood next week already. The winner will find themselves deeper than ever in premiership reckoning. Sunday arvo can’t come quickly enough.
in the clubhouse
Here we take stock of who is leading the race for the season’s individual awards.
We’ve already called the Rising Star race over in Nick Daicos’s favour, but want to temper some of the All Australian chat that has been lingering around social media. For this year, anyway. Nextyear? All bets are off.
It was a good week for goals, and in a tough field we’re giving this round’s nod to Freo’s Nathan O’Driscoll.
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Josh Daicos remains the leader in the GOTY race.
And for the mark of the week, we’re going with connor rozee.
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His teammate Mitch Georgiades is in the box seat to claim MOTY with his screamer against Fremantle from a few weeks back.
The Western Bulldogs and Fremantle are both desperate for a win as the race for top four and finals positions heats up.
Earlier, Hawthorn claimed a hard-fought win over the Gold Coast to end the Suns’ slim hopes of making finals.
Later, Geelong take on St Kilda and Port Adelaide host Richmond.
Follow the live scores, stats and results below.
Western Bulldogs vs. Fremantle
Team stats
Player stats
Hawks hold on to end Suns’ finals hopes
Hawthorn have all but snuffed out Gold Coast’s AFL finals hopes, holding off a final-quarter Suns fightback for a seven-point win in the milestone match of skipper Ben McEvoy.
Veteran Hawk Jack Gunston picked up five goals in Launceston on Saturday afternoon in the 10.10 (70) to 8.15 (63) result in McEvoy’s 250th appearance.
The Hawks claimed a well-earned win in Tasmania.(Getty Images: Dylan Burns)
Despite leading at each change, the Hawks had some nervous moments late with the Gold Coast virtually setting up camp in their half.
Trailing by 17 at three-quarter time, the Suns kicked the opening two goals of the fourth term and got within a goal with about five minutes left on the clock.
The Gold Coast were left to rue several muffed opportunities in the final quarter, with big man Mabior Chol and rookie Mac Andrew missing gettable set shots.
McEvoy picked up a crucial mark in defense inside the final two minutes as the Hawks scrambled for their eighth win of the year despite scoring just one point in the last term.
The result leaves the Suns in 11th position on the ladder, two wins outside the top eight with two rounds remaining and a host of teams above them still to play in round 21.
Gunston was on fire early, picking up four of his five goals before half-time.
The Suns were slow out of the blocks and took until the 21st minute to register their opening major but trailed by just eight at the first break.
Hawthorn pulled ahead in the second term with three goals straight, including Gunston’s third which was followed shortly by a fourth on the run, for a 21-point half-time lead.
Hawthorn’s Jarman Impey was put on report in the third quarter for contact on Darcy Macpherson after he kicked the ball following a mark.
Despite having the breeze at their back in the all-important third term, the Suns could only equal Hawthorn’s two goals.
Suns’ livewire small forward Izak Rankine picked up 11 disposals amid reports the Adelaide Crows have offered the 22-year-old a $4 million deal over five years.
Giants finish stronger to beat Bombers
GWS have responded to a week of intense focus and strong internal criticism with a rousing 27-point AFL triumph over Essendon at Giants Stadium.
The fired-up Giants were looking to bounce back after an insipid performance last week but were unable to shake off the Bombers until slamming on seven consecutive second-half goals to set up a 14.12 (96) to 10.9 (69) victory on Saturday.
The Giants came out on top of the scrap against the Bombers.(Getty Images: Brendon Thorne)
The Bombers (7-13) came into the clash having won four of their past five matches but had little answer to the Giants’ improved effort after briefly claiming the lead with two majors just after the main change, only kicking one consolation goal from there .
Jesse Hogan (four goals, 12 marks) set the tone with his intensity as he collected three tackles inside 50 as the Giants dominated that count 16-1, while the key forward was also his usual threat around goal and in the air.
Giants co-captains Stephen Coniglio (20 disposals, one goal) and Josh Kelly (19, one) led from the front in the midfield, while Lachie Whitfield (30, one) was one of the best afield and did plenty of damage with his sharp foot skills.
Harry Perryman (23 touches) was one of few Giants lauded by their coach last week and backed it up with a crucial role keeping Zach Merrett in check.
The Bombers’ star midfielder gathered 19 disposals but his influence on the contest and especially around the stoppages was down on his usual output.
Toby Greene (two goals) looked dangerous throughout but young forward James Peatling had to be subbed out in the second term after he chose to bump rather than tackle Mason Redman and they clashed heads.
Darcy Parish was straight back to his prolific ball-winning best after a month out with a calf injury, collecting 28 disposals and seven clearances and Sam Durham collected 23 touches.
Bombers spearhead Peter Wright had an enthralling duel with the Giants gun defender Sam Taylor but made the most of his chances with two goals, while Matt Guelfi slotted four goals from just six kicks.
The Giants looked eager to make an early impact after coach Mark McVeigh’s scathing post-match criticisms last week, with spot fires breaking out around the ground as both teams lined up for the opening bounce.
When play finally started, Stephen Coniglio rushed forward and snapped a goal after 47 seconds, and after Jake Stringer knocked Harry Himmelberg over before the ball had gone back to the middle the Giants had two goals in as many minutes.
The Giants’ victory snapped a four-match losing streak and lifts them to a 6-14 record and within reach of avoiding their first bottom-four finish since 2014.
GWS will be on the road next week to face arch-rivals Western Bulldogs on Saturday, while Essendon are at home to Port Adelaide on Sunday.
Former AFL champion Eddie Betts says his form slumped after he felt disrespected and traumatized at an Adelaide Crows preseason training trip, accusing the camp of cultural insensitivities.
Key points:
Former Crows and Carlton star Eddie Betts has released a biography
The book includes details about a controversial Crows preseason training camp in 2018
The Crows’ chief executive has apologized
Betts’s biography The Boy from Boomerang Crescent, which was released today, includes a chapter on the controversial 2018 Adelaide Crows’ preseason training camp following a devastating defeat to Richmond in the 2017 grand final.
In it, Betts describes the anxiety and anger he felt following the camp and the subsequent fallout.
AFL Players’ Association chief executive Paul Marsh said the association would contact all players who attended the 2018 camp to get a better understanding of issues that might have arisen.
In a statement, he said the association had previously spoken to players about the camp, but based on the experience detailed in Betts’s book, he now believed “players felt pressured into remaining silent.”
“The details outlined by Eddie Betts in his new book about the 2018 Adelaide Crows training camp are extremely concerning and difficult to read,” he said.
“We commend Eddie on the courage he’s shown in telling this story and are troubled by the ongoing hurt caused to Eddie and his family.”
In one example, Betts wrote how personal details he had confidentially shared with a camp counselor were used to verbally abuse him in front of teammates during a physically and emotionally grievous “initiation.”
Among the insults yelled while he “crawled through the dirt” was that the father-of-five would be a “sh** father” as he was “raised by only his mother.”
Betts, who joined the Geelong coaching team following his retirement last year, described the incident as “traumatizing” and had him “broken to tears”.
Eddie Betts returned to Carlton in 2020.(AAP: Dave Hunt)
The 350-game veteran said teammates were recruited to verbally abuse each other during the same exercise.
“I’ll live with this shame for the rest of my life,” he said.
Betts said players at the camp were prevented from showering, had to surrender their phones, and were transported blindfolded on a bus that “reeked of off food” with the Richmond theme song loudly playing on loop.
Betts details how First Nations rituals were misappropriated, which he found “extremely disrespectful”, and references to sacred Aboriginal words “were chucked around in a carefree manner”.
“When I started to talk to people around me about my experience, I started to realize that what we’d been put through was all just a bit f***** up, and I rightly became angry,” he said.
Eddie Betts with his wife Anna and five children in Darwin in November 2021.(Instagram: annascullie)
Betts said he raised his concerns with the club and asked to remove Aboriginal players from further “mind training exercises” with the company behind the camp, which continued to work with the Crows until later that year. The club “mutually agreed to part ways” with the company in June.
“Three weeks after I addressed the team about my concerns, I was told that I hadn’t been re-elected to the leadership group. I was devastated,” he wrote.
Crows chief executive Tim Silvers, who only joined the club last year, said he would investigate Betts’s claims that he had been dropped from the leadership group as a result of raising his concerns.
Silvers said he was “saddened” to read the impact the camp had had on Betts.
“It obviously hurt him in a number of ways,” he said.
Silvers described Betts as a “legend” who “lit up the Adelaide Oval for a long period of time”.
Adelaide Crows chief executive Tim Silvers apologized to Betts for his experience at the camp.(ABC News: Camron Slessor)
Silvers acknowledged the camp “probably wasn’t the right move at that time” and apologized to Betts and “any of our playing group who had a negative experience.”
“To have someone like Eddie, who has now left our club, to have a negative experience, saddens me,” he said.
Silvers said the club had new leadership and was moving “in a positive direction”.
Betts acknowledged in the book that a SafeWork SA inquiry had cleared the club of breaching any workplace safety laws, but he wrote: “My view remains that the activities there were inappropriate, counter-productive and culturally unsafe.”
Eddie Betts’s biography, The Boy from Boomerang Crescent, reveals claims about the Crows’ preseason training camp.(ABC News: Ben Pettit)
In a statement made in 2018, the Crows said SafeWork SA’s investigation “found neither the club nor any other person or organisation, breached any work health and safety laws during or in relation to the camp”.
SafeWork SA provided no more information about the investigation.
Crows player Rory Laird, who also attended the camp, described Betts as one of his “close mates” and a “loved figure” at the club.
“I think each individual had different experiences and I actually wasn’t on that part of the camp I guess, so I can’t really comment on the ins and outs of it,” he said.
“But obviously as a former teammate and a friend, you don’t like hearing about that.”
Betts, who moved to Carlton in 2020, wrote of the continuing toll the camp took, saying his “on-field form slumped” at the start of the following season and describing 2018 as “tough.”
“Personally, I felt like I’d lost the drive to play footy, and to be honest I’m not sure I ever had the same energy I did before that camp,” he wrote.
The ABC has contacted Collective Minds for comment.
Geelong’s Market Square shopping center and Busport transport interchange have been described as “festering sores” in an extraordinary speech by the City of Greater Geelong’s highest ranking officer.
The outburst took many city councillors by surprise, with a source telling Geelong Broadcasters the CEO’s frank comments were certain to be discussed at tonight’s scheduled meeting.
Martin Cutter’s address to a business luncheon last week included criticisms of what he views as the city’s dependence on cars at the expense of “active transport” options such as bicycles.
According to the Geelong Advertiser Mr Cutter, who will finish up next month after cutting his contract short, laid bare his intense dislike for the bus exchange.
“I hate it. I think we all hate it,” he reportedly said.
“It needs to go, it needs to be shifted – it needs to be improved.”
Councilor Eddy Kontelj told Geelong Broadcasters he agreed that the bus terminal was problematic.
“We should be doing something about it and the state government should be doing something about it,” Cr Kontelj said.
“I just wish that Martin had used his voice earlier on to express the concerns that we have around that issue.”
Cr Kontelj was more guarded about his thoughts on the privately-owned Market Square, saying the city needed to be “in the tent” with the facility’s owners and trying to forge a way forward.
“What we can’t do is be just throwing blows through the media. What we need to be doing is working with the owners of the property to try and find a solution.”
Mr Cutter pointed to Melbourne’s Emporium as an example of what shopping center improvements can achieve.
“It’s easy for me to say, I don’t have the investment funds, council doesn’t have the investment funds, but it’s not working, something needs to be done in the area to lift that,” he told the event, which was hosted by the Urban Development Institute of Australia.
He also took aim at overwhelming criticism of the city’s controversial bike lanes.
“We all have an opinion about bike lanes. We can all be critical about the way they look and what they do, but if we’re going to make Geelong different we need to invest in active transport.
“We can’t keep making more roads, it will not fix what our problems are – it’s about being visionary, about looking to the future and deciding what we want Geelong to look like and not just asking for more cars to come into the center of the city.”
Mr Cutter announced his resignation in early July, saying he wanted to focus on ‘personal pursuits’ and spend time with his family.
Image: (top) Market Square [Geelong Broadcasters]; (middle) outgoing CoGG CEO Martin Cutter (City of Greater Geelong)
Geelong captain Joel Selwood celebrated his 350th AFL game in perfect style, with a post-game moment summing up the veteran’s softer side off-field.
Selwood and the Cats notched a 10th consecutive win on Saturday night, defeating the Western Bulldogs at GMHBA Stadium to remain a game clear atop the AFL ladder.
A rousing post-game celebration of Selwood involved a chair-off from teammates, congratulations from friends and family, but took an unexpected turn when the 34-year-old ventured back out to the four corners of the centre-square to thank fans for their support.
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Geelong Cats press conference | 10:14
“How good does that look, how well is that done,” former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said on Fox Footy’s Best On Ground.
“Football is a team game, but it is played by individuals who contribute blood, sweat and tears to the cause.
“To be able to be acknowledged in that arena and in that cauldron of his own accord without even his teammates around, that’s pretty special.”
Geelong coach Chris Scott paid tribute to Selwood’s glittering career so far, but said the moment in the centre-square was an insight into the star skipper’s state of mind.
“The thing that keeps striking me about Joel is that he’s a carer,” he said.
“It might be a little bit of a soft word to attach to such a tough guy, but he’s always thinking about other people.
“That’s what I saw out on the ground too, he’s not going out to wave to the crowd and accept all the adulation, he’s going out there to thank them and show his appreciation for being a part of his big night and big career.”
Scott admitted he had been “a little bit emotional the whole week” about Selwood’s milestone and remains in awe of his side’s captain.
“I’m still pinching myself every day walking into the Geelong footy club,” he said.
“It’d be nice to be able to tell my kids and grandkids one day that I spent a lot of time with Joel Selwood. It’s a royal privilege.”
Selwood’s glittering CV could be capped this year with his first premiership as captain, having already played in three earlier in his career.
Geelong’s Market Square shopping center and Busport transport interchange have been described as “festering sores” in an extraordinary speech by the City of Greater Geelong’s highest ranking officer.
Councilor Eddy Kontelj told Geelong Broadcasters he agreed that the bus terminal was problematic.