PRE-GAME: Saturday Semi Final Footy on 3AW! (September 12, 2026)

0:00Hey, C. Sachs here. Your health journey is personal and your Medicare advantage plan should be to. Alignment Health Plan provides a broad network of doctors and specialists along with a care team that's available 24 hours a day seven days a week. You'll also receive a monthly spending allowance for over-the-counter items and a fitness membership to support your overall health and well-being. Discover a plan that supports you at every stage of life. Visit AlignmentHealthPlan.com today. AlignmentHealthPlan.com Dave Roberts here. There you are surrounded by fans, sharing wings, sharing drinks, high-fiving random strangers. Everybody remembers a game. Nobody remembers the guy coughing behind you until a few days later. At 2 a.m., you wake up with the fever and your throat's on fire. Now what? Urgent Care, Close, ER, SLAM, telehealth, maybe, but the pharmacy's closed. You needed a medical emergency kit. These aren't first aid kits. They contain essential prescriptions used for over 30 common conditions. Sinus and ear infection, UTI, stomach bug, travelers diarrhea and

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2:53Here's your host Anthony Hudson. Thank you Craig Willis, the sound of football, the sound of semi-final football. What a match we had last night in Perth and tonight the second semi-final between Brisbane and Adelaide. Again a team looking to rebound from a disappointing start to their finals. Brisbane of course the back to back prem is meet the Adelaide Crosse. They comprehensively thrashed them earlier in the year in round seven but this is different. This is a semi-final with a winner to play Hawthorn of the MCG next weekend in the preliminary final at the MCG which will follow Sydney and free-mattle with the dockers of course getting over the catch in a dramatic semi-final last night in Perth avoiding going out in straight sets which is exactly what Brisbane are hoping to do today. Trayn W. Finals 40-poor to you by Maccus, Grapp Golden deals in the mind Maccus app during September and you could win a Macgold card granting you

3:55free Maccus for life. Well one man who is going to have some fun in here tonight I think and he's going to be representing pretty much every all of our listeners out there today and that is the former captain captain and champion Sam Dockety who he's just going to gang up on Joel Sauerwood myself for many ground then when he joins us later on because we're a bunch of sad sex today. It's a great day for football isn't it Jens? Double lunch. He cats the cats are out and I got a hold. I got a hold. The whole studio of everybody here. Punch in the nose, punch in the nose. That's real life. Laura Spurway is flying all the way up here to Brisbane to just just to be able to hang it on us and tell us how the Western suburbs are ruptured this morning and rightly so it is a great thing for the doggies and for football and that club but yeah not so good for the cats. It's a double whammy today but no interesting game of football last night which I'm sure we'll get on to but Zack Budd is huge news for the dogs. It's a huge code for them to be able to get the deal done the next part and how

4:57how that happens is it free agency is it trade there's a bit of it on the trade front already so yeah which usually they are down the track but they thought they were 95% out of the race I read today somewhere so to get that forward their laps last night I think amazing. More on that shortly and all it was surrounding and of course we're building up to the big game tonight. You can join us too on the next Thursday at OC Open Line shortly. 1-3, 6-9-3 and tonight's best call is going to win that Harvey Norman $100 gift card as always but say let's go straight to Sam Lekki part of our coverage tonight and down on the boundary he is with Danny Daly of course who is the general manager of football and integral part of the Brisbane Line set up alongside Chris Fagan Sam evening to you evening Hato thank you maybe a week earlier than we thought we'd all be in Brisbane for this final series Danny thanks for your time can you tell me about the week how you approached it obviously the disappointment of Saturday but then you've also got the positives that came of the resigning absorbs and Zack Bailey so there was a fair bit happening over the last seven days. Yeah it was good evening gentlemen

6:01hope you're going well yeah look wasn't the greatest result for us last week has has been documented this week but you know we got back to prison Sunday and got into the club on Monday and reviewed the game quite extensively and heavily which we don't generally do to be fair we we always have got the the positive side of things but we just thought it was important that we didn't let this one be swept under the carpet so to speak so there's a pretty confronting 45 minutes review that we had with the players and you know they accepted the review accepted the feedback and we moved on Tuesday obviously got the good news about Zack Bailey which was which for cent fantastic for the footy club and for him and then obviously Thursday as well as Ork so yeah what started as a a bit of a poor day on Monday and that up been a pretty good week for us so yeah and that's the thing about this group and this footy club over the last few years I guess is that you bounce back very well I know that Fagan's spoken during the week about not expecting to bounce back you need to make it happen but was it sort of just moving on from choose from from Saturday after the

7:02review and and focusing fully on on a very good football team I had a good performance last week as well in Adelaide yeah absolutely as I'll say we moved on pretty quickly after the week Monday and got some energy back in the place on Tuesday morning for training and and since then it's you know been you know full of energy and we've been up and about and trained really well it's been pretty good weather up here as well which helps and yeah Adelaide they're going pretty well they had a good game last week against the dogs and we always have pretty good games against them even though we you know one by about 50 or 60 points back in round seven they had quite a few players out so we're under no illusion that this will be a hard game for us and a hard task and nothing's nothing's granted in life so we uh whilst we have bounce back in the past that doesn't mean we'll bounce back tonight so we've got to make it happen. Danny Jolsell would here hope you're well mate season low games for a number of players last week how did you go when you're running the rule over and take us into that review where obviously as a team you've worked out what you need to do but players individually does the coach call them in or how's that work?

8:02Yeah we are we had a really good meeting with our leadership group on Monday morning which we always do every week and the leaders put their hands up in terms of the way they went about it last week and a number of those leaders were the guys that we're talking about we also had individuals like Lucky Niel and Logan Morris and these sort of guys who I'm single and like say which I probably shouldn't do to you but they will put their hand up during the review and I knew that the performance wasn't what is expected of us and what we're used to and as you know Jol the games probably not a percent above the head and they just went in the in the game last week and credit to Sydney they did a good job but yeah they uh they certainly put their hand up and as I said they took responsibility for it and the rest will be in their actions tonight. You haven't been bruised and beaten like that for a long time Danny so it was uh it was quite a show up there up in Sydney it got confidence that they can come out tonight. I think so yeah we haven't been beaten like that to be fair a captain probably in round 20 goes a good touch up as well

9:02as we spoke about earlier history is to just our boys do bounce back as I said that's not guaranteed but I will know a bit more in about four hours why aren't we in terms of where we're at as it's been right now. You have been comfortable going the long way the last couple years obviously finishing outside the four a couple years ago and then having a loss last year in the quarter final and then doing it so no qualms there. And rather not go this way but uh this is where it is isn't it so we don't have much choice so um that's a beauty I suppose a finish and top four when you when you're sitting out the season when you want to make the finals between you want to finish as high as we can and fortunately enough we were happy to finish third and um yeah whilst we weren't great last week it gives us another opportunity so uh got great confidence and faith in this group but there's no reason why we shouldn't believe they uh might come out and get the job done tonight because they've done it in the past so yeah we're reasonably confident they'll bounce back. Danny Sam, docker to hear mate thanks thanks for your time pregame I'm just interested just going back into the review and you spoke about usually you'd go on the positive side and this time you've dug

10:04into a pretty um not negative that's not the right way to put it but um how is that different across the year with the defensive side of the game because obviously the Colton game and there's a couple of earlier games in the year can you put a finger on what that why these ones are happening? No we can't to be honest to be fair it's just uh one of those things and we never make excuses as a footy team or as a club and for whatever reason they happen we like to think it's more on the mental side and the fact that our players have played a lot of footy over the last six to eight years and whenever they're on then they're even beans and they have bad days but this year when we've had a bad day they've been pretty bad to be fair like um we've given up 120 points plus two or three times so i'd answer the question in the past when we've had games like that we we have discussed it but we haven't been i suppose i'm sure of brutal's a word about uh our endeavor and our and our defensive efforts with we've pointed it out in the past we've always gone back to the the facts in terms of um you know where we sit on the ladder and

11:06if you take a few games out defensively we're pretty good and you can say that for all teams i suppose but what that does is give our players great belief that we are playing good football despite the one or two hiccups we had during the years so uh this one was a little bit different because we just felt that and i think jolt's hustling a bit earlier was just the performance which just wasn't great in any aspect of the game. Did you have to have a maybe fakes as comments after game more frustration in his press conference but how do you handle that with the coach um obviously comes out at least warn the players about um expecting a big fight with Sydney and then they don't perform do you have to have a word with fakes or anything during the week? uh so be honest it's just more of a comforting word than anything else um because as i said in your case you always question yourself and your performance is like that could have done anything different you know did i ever play you know the messaging around Sydney and the fact they had a few out and they put it in their heads too much so um no when you're an interest they'll probably get an opportunity to spend a bit of time together mean fakes so post game on the bus and back at the hotel and then

12:08on the flight we we see next to each other we we just have a chat about it we just always check in with each other and make sure we're both going okay because at the end of the day um you know it's that's nothing in terms of your messaging and what you want to deliver and want the players and of doing but you know we can't be responsible for the way the boys go out and action and it's uh sometimes going to be on their heads how they um they action that's asked. i know you're thinking about tonight Danny and uh what you can do in the rest of the finals but i think it's eight times in a row you've now reached the semi-final stage um under under fakes since this this rain began it's pretty amazing isn't it? uh it's been an unbelievable journey to be fair um from every words ten years ago the first two years obviously we were building the culture and building our team up and getting going into our young blokes and you know i'm applying it our eighth final series in a row it's um it's been it's been pretty amazing and when you sit down in the day and and decisions think about it it's a that's a pretty big achievement but um you know i think we've made five problems and three gfs so hopefully we've got a couple more games left in us but we're going to get through

13:08tonight but you know i'm very proud of the organization of the players and my staff and the way we just continue to come back each year and um and get going again and make finals there the hard to make and and to do it eight years a row is pretty special. it certainly is that you gave us an insight into how tight you are with Chris and the relationship there um how many clubs have approached you so even in the last six weeks and tried to pull you out of there. oh yeah i don't know what we're talking about myself can we talk about someone else please. oh look i think clubs are always looking at people within foodies departments and around the competition so um did one of the northern ish suburbs have ever stronger go than normal uh 17 happy to go harder. yeah. you're not sure about that. i don't know yeah look yeah. what about the zack? i'm sure not to talk about myself to the other enough. can i can i take you into the zack baling news you would have probably heard first this week. how long can you sit on it before you start passing on to players and

14:12the rest of the staff. well it was quite funny actually because before the review meeting on monday afternoon he grabbed me and he goes can i chat to you after after the meeting i'll see there in our worries and you know during the meeting i'm thinking oh god where's he's going i'm sure he's always going to go but um and poor old zack got mentioned a couple of times in the meeting and uh after the meeting he came up to me and he goes i'm staying mate and i said even after the review you're staying like you caught the bit of a wake there mate he goes yeah i can't leave this joint so that was monday afternoon and and obviously we had to go and get some board approval and afl approval and um before we could uh announce it to to the media and wider uh footy club uh had to sit on it overnight and then did that choose day morning but it was a great result like um you never want to lose anyone from your football club and this one obviously was a big one um here's a lot to think about in terms of what he wanted to do and yeah we're just so grateful he decided to stay with us. you did repeat a number of times throughout the year that you felt like that he wanted to stay that the offers were just enormous from the outside that may have drawn him draw his eyes elsewhere. yeah i was pretty confident that that he would but

15:16and from week to week you'd read articles and a few of the players come on to him i office every week for a chat and you know they weren't sure and so got me in a bit of a negative mindset as well about it so to be honest the last couple of weeks i just thought like he'll let us know what he's going to do and i can't worry too much about it because he's the only one who knows what he's going to do now so uh here thankfully he stayed and we also didn't put any pressure on him it's really important that you know he had a big decision to make for him and his family and uh we just felt the worst thing we could do is keep pressure on him because it might force him to leave so we're just letting him run his race and uh even now it took a long time um it probably helped us to be fair us doing that. what level of sort of maths i suppose on numbers go into the forecasting then you know when you must have a massive spreadsheet and trying to allocate funds obviously for the players you've got locked up at them what you then you'll need to do how just how complex does that become? yeah it's pretty complex it's complex for all 40 clubs when it comes to list management decisions and uh what you're paying players and you know front loading and back ending and you know we've got Tommy and brojo who's a less manager who doesn't

16:20an unbelievable job and you know we probably tour to each other every day and uh we had to sit down probably about six weeks ago and you know go through all the maths around not only exact but you know we've got like a moris out of contract call alone and so you've always got moving parts uh around players you need to resize so that's a complicated system uh very fortunate i got a great this manager who who does all that and probably like you got a banking background that allows me to uh support him in that but uh yeah hell of a lot of work goes into it from all clubs what what was your job in the bank? that was a bank manager before i got into footy yeah yeah yeah if i take it i'll take you into tonight we'll talk about the actual game quickly but one last question just the uh if off the back of the week what are you expecting the the the the Brisbane team to look like tonight in terms of their football? i think the contest is really important center bans we've beaten up pretty badly last week so i think we'll get a fair indication early from our contest work and and our pressure um whether we're on or not early in the game uh that's interesting footy uh

17:23i always know if we're on or not when the opposition has their first kickin and and where um on defensively from kickins it's uh it's crazy what you look for in games but so that's what i look for pretty much straight away but um yeah that's what i'll be looking for from the commentary box and interest rates going up you think? i hope not i hope not but i think they will yeah that are we all day. it's terrific to check great to get you inside and it's a massive week for the footy club as doc allotted and uh joe alluded to with the re-signings and uh and then looking to bounce back as the docker's did last night so uh fingers crossed for you and let's hope we get a great game. no worries guys thanks for being on and have a great evening. cheers Danny Daly Brisbane general manager of football with Sam like he uh and our team down on the boundary line tonight's best score is going to win a hundred dollar gift card thanks to Harvey Norman go Harvey Norman big savings plus bonus gift cards on selected laptop, mobile, home security, headphones and more hurry ends sunday at Harvey Norman of one double three six nights through is the number to call Nick Theodore's E press Deage cars open line to SUV and EV center is full of new stock everybody should

18:25under press Deage car at least once in a lifetime if you want to ring and tell us your thoughts on last night on tonight or indeed on the news of uh Zach butters going to the western bulldogs whatever thoughts you may have wonderful three six nights three talk to joe cel would and Sam dockerty about all of that will reflect on the conversation we just had with Danny Daly as well when we return on three out of you football we thanks to mackas here and uh we'll be back shortly on throughout w semi final football Dave Roberts here there you are surrounded by fans sharing wings sharing drinks high-fiving random strangers everybody remembers the game nobody remembers the guy coughing behind you until a few days later at 2 a.m. you wake up with the fever and your throats on fire now what urgent care close ER slam telehealth maybe but the pharmacies close you needed a medical emergency kit these aren't first aid kits they contain essential prescriptions

19:26use for over 30 common conditions sinus and ear infection uti stomach bug travelers diarrhea and more on hand before you need them use your doctor develop guidebook to select the right prescription or call their telemedicine doctor standing by it's like an urgent care and drugstore at home when you're sick traveling or stranded you'll wish you ordered a medical emergency kit order online in minutes and it's shipped to your door and say 45 dollars with my promo code blue at urgent care kit dot com slash blue that's promo code blue at urgent care kit dot com slash blue McDonald's is putting value back on the menu whether you're craving a big mac McNuggets or sausage egg and cheese McGrittle's make it a meal and save your favorite is now your wallet's favorite too extra value meals are back get a big something extra with a big mac or 10 piece McNuggets fries and a medium coke all for just nine dollars limited time only promotion pricing may be lower than meal

20:26pricing don't forget to subscribe to three AW footballs new youtube channel for all the latest news and views from Melbourne's best for the coverage you'll be seeing to three AW's coverage of the 2026 AFL premiership season on air online and on the three AW app what we thanks to mac as always it's rew semi finals football grab golden bills in the my backers app during September and you can win in the gold card granting you free macers for life so that is all there for you as if we must think about last night's pre-manage along game over it given it was the first summer final pre-manage one by 14 now let's move on to tonight now look it was a heck of a game obviously there was umpiring there was the controversy over the arc which we'll get to but we need to talk about some of the other things in the game but let's start with mech who's given us a call I'm one double three six nine three and you can join him as well here

21:29on three AW semi final football Mick thanks for calling in yeah hello fellas um like called a night hope you know you know how if if in this first or second or whatever it is on the ladder you get a home final yeah I don't think it's fair to the other teams but if those sides lose they still get another home final um it's happened twice uh this round uh with free uh freeo and uh Brisbane they both lost and still get another home final they do Mick but to I mean they've finished clearly top of the ladder uh in the in the top section of the ladder particularly that the absolute number one team does is there was a time um and I always get a little bit um the memory fade a bit on which years it was but there was a time when the finals teams were re-ranked after the first week of the finals so in that in those scenarios they would have they would have lost um that

22:32that advantage of being the home team it would have been more as Mick suggesting should be the case where it was if you lost your first game then you lost your right to have been the home team but they changed that because they realised how unfair it was so in in re if we went in the reverse Jolong would have been who finished fifth would have been hosting free mantle last time to finish first just because Jolong beat Kalt yeah so that's which doesn't make much sense it doesn't make much sense because those teams are playing other top four teams so they've got that it would be different if so we were a system where first play 10th or first played 8th and they lost to them then maybe you could you know you could lose your ranking but in this in this scenario I think you know you've I actually think there is not enough advantages for finishing first yeah I I think it's this year's probably the wildcard's actually given an opportunity for the AFL to potentially shift the way the finals are you for that reason so the top I think top two have a week off of the star yeah kind of fourth two three four and five play each other yeah I'm

23:33I'm sorry three four five six play each other and then seven eight nine ten in the wildcard so it gives it more it gives a better advantage for the top two so as as you point the the best two teams in the comp deserve that extra rest and then it doesn't create such a disadvantage for the wildcard teams so then you can roll it back over and we also get a couple of extra finals I think if you add them all up so yeah it'd be uh but at two point there's this it's the first year wildcard and and largely successful but there's open for tinkering to make it better potentially yeah I think so I think when we like through the eighties and the under the old final five system the top team and it was a very different obviously the top team had a significant advantage they would have potentially all they had to do was win the second semi final so that at the first weekend off of finals and then that second would play third similar to almost what you're talking about there in a way in a qualifying final so first would go through they would be straight through to the second semi final play the winner of the qualifying final they win that they're in the grand final

24:33so they would crew often like that's why Hawthorne some of those great Hawthorne players haven't played as many finals because they would only potentially play two finals yeah right that's why Jules able to sit up on top with all the finals because he played under the different system but it is a bit of trouble now with the wildcard coming in and that's Brisbane playing four games every uh well they're receding at the moment I think some of the they're up to 21 finals or something some of the boys today yeah they start to uh join some of the greats in the Brisbane team as well from from the years of when they won the flag so um shows how successful we just had Danny's Ali on the on the on the phone it shows how successful they've been over a long period of time now yeah yeah well as I said eight eight finals they've got to the semi final at least in each of those years and as Danny explained uh we know that they've been in the last three grand finals and could get to a four so just some quick thoughts on our last night we can expand further as we go at 1 double three six nine three um just first of all let's start with free man just they're overall performance everything that they all the questions that were I was I was thinking what to

25:34say and the sorry I had about six seconds to try and think of something last night after last goal and I kind of wanted I didn't I can't remember what I said but I wanted to sort of say it was it was the perfect victory yeah because that's hard and because every challenge every question every player almost maybe other than Josh Tracy but we didn't have a great game but he was okay it was definitely better than he was the first week before almost tick every box going in and they were challenged they got behind and they got back to win yeah all of that but but the most important thing about the game was the start for them and they knocked it out of the park that especially that first 40 minutes out of the middle of the ground in the end from stoppages they kicked 57 uh sorry 76 points so they just absolutely dominate around the ball that was mainly Luke Jackson getting back after the ball so can I can I ask you about that now I got a lot of our listeners when it's that sort of level of like why is there a total score at that much coming out but particularly the dominance by a team does it come back to Jackson or and what can you do to counter if you're on the opposite a little bit of just Jackson mainly the way that he was able to follow up and

26:37get to the outside I mean that was outstanding seeing that but then if you're long tried to get one back freeman would sort of find a way to even it up at different stages but they just had that open forward line too where they were kicking it in regularly too long defend hard as we know you know like that territory game so at times they give it easy to the opposition it looks like but it is hard to get through their layers last night when you're winning it out of the middle regularly they didn't have as much trouble and then that's that that was the key to the game for for freeo to win the ability to not allow jolong to play that territory based dominance defensive game if when teams have played that against freeo freeo is really struggled and that's like that was the DNA of what jolong play they played and we saw that in the third quarter that's so they play a contest driven clearance based get in your four-half defending behind it and then like they're so well set behind the ball that you can never get through why it's so important to win that territory dominance inside in terms of clearance and contest against jolong is it just makes them have it to play from the other end of the ground which is what freeo did really well and we heard

27:41Caleb Sarong speak in the pregame it was all about just taking the tackler going forward with the ball going you know being aggressive when they've got their legs and pushing through that tackle so you could see that early in the game that they were really challenging jolong I thought that was a great example of leadership by Caleb Sarong and the way they represent the team now saying it on team I guess it doesn't mean much but he had to come and do it and he told us exactly what they were going to do they were going to fight the tackle and it was all in our mind all night because you just saw them doing it and you know what he can get 35 possessions 38 you know easily but his 23 last night were outstanding hard tough in the contest getting it out to his runners and I thought that he played a real real good leaders game both of those go that Jackson and Sarong that the clearance numbers for those like in terms of what needed to go their way and we just spoke about it Jackson has eight clear answers Sarong has six Jackson has 12 score involvement so talk about what you get questioned before and was it largely Jackson or was it the team like yes there was the team

28:43they they butted up in that contest but to have the ruckian play that well across the day was was so important for them for five minutes it was just Jackson was not the answer quarter yeah give me a question I'll notice after the break if you were lining up in a grand final tomorrow would you take Max Gorn or Luke Jackson you can answer that one double three six nine three you can answer it too if you like Nick third as he pressed each cars their SUV and EV center is full of new stock everybody should own press each car at least once in a lifetime a hundred dollar give fatter from Harvey Norman go Harvey Norman for our best call tonight one double three six nine three we continue to discuss last night and also turn our attention to tonight and also talk about what a great decision for the Western Bulldogs is that Zach butters will be a doggie next year

29:47it took a look I couldn't I was surprised it was taking so long it looked pretty clear to me but it's not it's not for me to judge I mean there's a whole lot of opinions that I have about some issues within the game and I think I've stayed disciplined to this post game especially post a loss especially post a loss in a final is not the time to um or certainly not the time where I'm thinking clearly um and it's probably not the time to litigate those uh all that decision making that from what I'm told like everyone has the same opinion that Oli did Chris Scott talking about the arc decision with Oli Dempsey last night and trying to say that he punches the world sometimes when he's happy yeah that was pretty restrained really wasn't by by Chris Scott given it was pretty clear what he thought of what most people thought um what did you guys think well I thought Oli Dempsey could have sold it more I agree I literally he's a man of just pure truth and I know I felt that he felt that he kicked the ball um yeah and then looking

30:54back on it it's it's amazing just to see those pictures too and think of differently from the arcs point of view too like um it obviously needs to be close to well 100% yeah and that's because that's the reason why they they kind of saw enough pictures and said oh I can't be completely sure that this is a goal so I'm just going to stay with the umpire but I'm I I thought I should have had a goal for me yeah it just highlights the the inconsistencies and we've had throughout the whole year we've had inconsistencies with the arc the cameras were supposed to be better through finals probably still didn't show up as well as we'd like it to be in terms of how important that is for the for the game but this game specifically but overall I still feel like we can get some better tech to to be able to make sure we can get definitive answers and um I feel like they missed one last night definitely yeah I mean it did feel that way but even at the time I I do wonder whether we should go like cricket and just if the goal on pie doesn't know which he clearly

31:54didn't know he'd get I mean you would have to think that he guessed yeah he gave his best guess he thought it was touched but he didn't know so if they don't know are they better to just say I don't know give your best so that so it's a different level of proof yeah for the for the reviewers to make yeah balance you say that was a goal but if they had to have enough to overturn it that becomes different that's a different that's a different proposition and that's what that's what we saw last night maybe maybe that is an example of it's like all I've got no idea because there's been examples where the mum pies fall over and they've got no idea because they're on the ground but yeah it's tough one and for the importance of last night's game and that moment of the game yeah the highlights some some frustrations that many people have had across the whole season yeah and I share those frustrations but we do have to remember that it does tidy up a number of mistakes as well so if we did go back to the which I'm happy that camp if we are we just go back to believing the umpires but then there's a whole different level of frustration when they get it wrong and we clearly see on the TV that they've got it wrong and they were guessing yeah which for

32:58for 100 years we were told that the umpires Jeff I've told this story 50 times Jeff Geeson used to say to the media when he was oh we've done a review of the goal umpires they made three mistakes for the season I'm like and we could we didn't know any different yeah now we realize they probably make three a week in yeah and and like the I listened to a bit of the AFL stuff today they backed in the decision and the method the methodology of the of the arc and they went through everything in the current way that it is at the moment yeah technology that they have they weren't they didn't think it was conclusive enough they went through the proper steps and that's the decision they make to do everyone watching it and the I test at home everyone else is probably sitting there thinking something different but with the legislation and the rules that they have to to do it with they they did a good job let's take burn it's uh thoughts on last night and particularly the cat selection burner yeah hi boys how are we well mate yeah this I just want to speak to Joel Joel can you tell me and all the other belong supporters out there why Scott never picked Sam to gunning considering the size of freemanals forward line yeah I mean fair fair argument burn it it's um

34:04it's one that do you go in you know the forward line was working so well poking horn um obviously doing a great job down there so you would have had to take it away one of him Oli Henry um jack butt was already out of the side so on balance you can see why but their defenders had been standing up really well um that back half the year Sam's form probably didn't play him in um well enough where the other guys were up and going so it's it's finals too it's sort of um you can go in defensive and go Sam plays on one of those tools he hasn't really been locking on lucky did back in 2022 well he played it's a bit best footy in the rock really this year I would suggest he I felt and because early in the week the speculation was pretty strong that he was going to play in place of poking horn yeah and I thought they would have better courageous but correct decision I that's what I felt I thought either poking horn or camera jack you know depending on Jeremy how Jeremy was yeah to me it was like play Jeremy forward you know or predominantly forward take poking

35:05horn out he was good in the second half against Carlton but you could and he contested pretty well last night but yeah he couldn't he couldn't get a sniff in terms of touching the ball I just felt on two fronts that was the the tall for you know defenders but there was also yeah he could have gone into the rock and tried to provide a different challenge maybe try to tag for periods Jackson that's that that that that was probably the natural um for process for me is he's played defensive role on Jackson yeah you you you put him in his athletic enough to be able to get around the ground with with with Blue Jackson the whole that wherever he goes he can be plays with him and and contest well enough in the rock so that's probably that was probably the decision for me is do you put him in there that do you want to go in with the just him as your rock who knows um we always criticize things after the fact don't we but it's uh for a blueprint moving forward I just think that teams have to put more work into Blue Jackson for what it's worth I think they they let him kind of roll around as a rock and just hope that your luck is good enough to be able to be but he's like a midfielder he rolls around impacts the game too much it did look like they tried to get Blitzhaw's behind the

36:07ball to catch him um obviously it looked like from the back half that was he's deponed at a part from when the rock contest was there and Edwards come down would it have been better just to keep Blitzhaw's as the rock option at that stage probably not going to win the tap out but just his uh mobility on the ground level as we go to the break I need an answer for my question before the break grandfather tomorrow gone or Jackson oh gone for me Jackson okay that's great man you got to split us harder I would take I think I'd take Jackson I think it's very hard though they're both superstars if you're just going to play like I did last night I'll take Jackson yeah all right team news for Repko Repko's got the biggest range of parts in store Repko get she going there's no late changes so the team news is that there's no news for Brisbane and Adelaide so they made one change each from last week which will go through again as we get closer to the game we'll talk Zach butters when we return a little bit more of last night perhaps where the cats are out at but also turn our attention to tonight's big game which is coming your way the second 75 or between Brisbane and

37:12Adelaide here on 3 AW football we thanks to Maccus Dave Roberts here there you are surrounded by fans sharing wings sharing drinks high-fiving random strangers everybody remembers the game nobody remembers the guy coughing behind you until a few days later at 2 a.m. you wake up with the fever and your throats on fire now what urgent care close ER slam telehealth maybe but the pharmacy's close you needed a medical emergency kit these aren't first aid kits they contain essential prescriptions used for over 30 common conditions sinus and ear infection UTIs stomach bug travelers diarrhea and more on hand before you need them use your doctor develop guidebook to select the right prescription or call their telemedicine doctor standing by it's like an urgent care and drugstore at home when you're sick traveling or stranded you'll wish you ordered a medical emergency kit order online in minutes and it's shipped to your door and say 45 dollars with my promo code blue at urgent care kit dot com slash blue that's promo code blue at urgent care kit dot

38:15com slash blue don't forget to subscribe to 3 AW footballs new youtube channel for all the latest news and views from Melbourne's best for the coverage you'll just see to 3 AW's coverage of the 2026 IFL premiership season on air online and on the 3 AW at 1.3.693 always the number to call the NKP does the open line to AW football semi-final football which won the lines and the crows put to you by macas from the gamut crap golden deals with the my macas app during September and you could win a big gold card granting you free macas for life Peter joins us next get a peter thanks for calling in sam docket and Joel sell wood listening to you mate yeah guys good evening um just on jolong I think jolong is the benchmark of any season going forward with the plays they've gotten pulling in the past as well just we have to just call out Scott for last life of putt putt in in a 50% player in Jeremy Cameron just because he

39:19he's Jeremy Cameron and doesn't pull through the fact that jolong lost the game just in point and in goals made the fact that he did make a wrong decision and has to be called out they got the fight they've got the round they've got everything else but the goals is what wins games and he didn't perform because it's a 50% so why wasn't anyone calling this out the player was under done why would you risk a gun player in the in the knockout final when you needed the game to be won it wasn't a second chance game all right thanks for your thoughts Joel where it's Jeremy Cameron to be honest Pete and look he actually thought that he was pretty good last night he was creative with the ball in hand second and third quarter when he was able to hit the scoreboard caused headaches to what three men were doing it look hit him played his high standard of what what he's done over a number of years but still what he was able to give last night was a pretty good craters have it I'm I'm playing him every other week right and part of it is

40:22you're not you're not there to win a final you're there to win the grand final and that was going to give him the best chance to be able to win the grand final to get him through a few weeks playing oh no it's in finals and it's it's cutthroat when you lose everyone points points fingers there but I think he creates havoc for the opposition if you get the run and touch into him by grand final day if you make it there then he's ready to go so I'd I'd back the decision to play him every night he is one player that can have 20 minutes and kick three goals four goals really quickly so at the same questions we're being I mean clearly he's a different player with his arm but the same questions were being asked earlier in the year and then he came out and kicked ten against the Western balldogs yeah and it's also this is very public this is a very public version of someone that we've seen have an injury come back and play no AFL footballer right now is feeling great about their body that like there's the for what we know there's and every other player that played in last night's game would have some something that they're carrying so to think that there's not other underdone players in there but it was clearly a story which is so public for us

41:23you can see how it was affecting him play and I've tended to be I thought it was a genuine question I thought it was something they had to really and it felt like they didn't even think about dropping him at all but I think I think they had to think about it but my again I was more of the view that if he's going to play had to be predominantly forward and to allow to Coney and I think I'm a bit with you Jill I thought he actually played pretty well overall yeah but he just wasn't in and then he's still yeah not not not not the player that hopefully he will be and I think if there's a positive out of it it was here in Jeremy talk post game last week and saying how desperate he's he can't wait for next year already because he's been so frustrated this year you could see he's mind when he got won the ball across the middle of the ground last night it just works in different ways to the others he was looking to change angles take the game on and the times it did open up free mental we're up here thanks for your call so we're we are coming up to the 7 o'clock news so where does it leave the cats then in terms of off the back of the back of the back of butters yeah we'll talk we'll talk about butters and the bulldogs after

42:25the news but from a long point of view well it obviously leaves some money in the bank whether they go and spend that this year or they start working on who may be next as a part of that gun that they bring in had great success with bringing in you know you're the enormous players you think danger field back in 16 Jeremy Cameron when he came out obviously got very lucky through that period that he wanted to leave down near close to Jalong so you would expect it would be a player of the highest level again so whether it's this year usually you've done a lot of work usually you're put in 8 a months of trying to get someone over the line they had done that with sack unfortunately it's forward through at the last stage they don't have many holes on their list though they're very very well-rounded team look at some other teams and you can kind of pinpoint what they need like for me I look at the dogs and they just they they need to keep back to help their team to make them a bit aside that's what they need the ball won't get down

43:25there now it's down to the two to be chose but it like the Jalong's Jalong side I don't see many holes in their list so they may be a rush or a rock would be there probably the biggest one for them to be able to get a ready-made rock that's the compete against the best is probably they're bigger but that's not a big issue they've been a really well-rounded team the way they played this year give or take a couple of goals last night they're probably in a prelim so does it dissuade Toby Green from going do you think? No I think Toby's is literally you know moving back family but also Jeremy but then he has got the heartstrings to the Giants too like he doesn't really want to leave I feel if it was up to just Toby then I think he stays but I think it's a family decision and yeah I think we'll end up seeing Toby in the catch jumper all right we'll take a break we will come back we don't we don't have a seven o'clock new so I told you we'll lie there but we've got more discussion coming

44:27up Maddie Grandler is going to jump in just to add another grumpy Jalong supporter to the 3WT we're going to have all our attention clavvy on tonight's semi-final but we will talk about Zach butterson his choice to nominate the Western Bulldogs when we return on 3W 40 don't forget to grab golden deals in the my backers after in September and you could wear a Mcgold card granting you free Mac is for life don't forget to subscribe to 3AW football's new youtube channel for all the latest news and views from Melbourne's best footy coverage you'll be seen to 3AW's coverage of the 2026 AFL premiership season on air online and on the 3AW app it was a dramatic first-week of finals for the Antelay Crows and the Brisbane Lions the Lions were the hot favourites of course at the SCG they did not turn up the swans were brilliance and booked themselves a place in the preliminary final they will meet free mantle so who will appear against Hawthorne the Antelay Crows on the other hand their first finals win under Matthew

45:29Nix again everyone the thumbs up as they got the job done they got headed by the Bulldogs they answered some questions themselves and now they get a hit at the Lions on the road at the Gabba that is coming up on 3AW football tonight before we get to the bounce of the ball in fact we don't have a bounce of the ball anymore I'm still saying that at the end of a year before we get to the yeah the thrump we've got plenty more to discuss the Sackbatters there's something we haven't really properly addressed but Mattie Grant and the Golden Tonsils of Maddie Grantland will be alongside me tonight Mattie hello there hello hello team here because of here very interested to see what Brisbane served up tonight they bounce back pretty much every time they've been had bad performance and so surely there's got to be one time they don't bounce back better wow it's um I can't see it happening but if you're an Adelaide Crows fan you'd be hoping but they're going to be very very hard to stop I think the Lions that I will see we will indeed now you must be a little bit torn by the Sackbatters because you're a Western suburb so boy

46:29but I know you're broke for too long so you were probably not that torn but just putting on the we've talked a fair bit about the cats already but from a bulldogs and from a Western suburb you know everything that surrounds the footy club um I had a couple quick conversations with some people from the dogs today he's so exciting thing point of view and made his call at the Mona Castle last night which is Tom Libitore's pub in Sydney from what I'm told so he was there um and yeah it's being he's from back in smasher think is that where he's from originally so and he supported the bulldogs as a kid I think Marcus Bonnepilly was his hero so I think the dogs were always um you know a pretty big chance obviously a long chain life but I'm just interested now with Bonnepilly Richards and Batters dog and Joel I mean if you do a Victorian state of origin technique take us away that's pretty much the starting lineup for the Victorian state of origin me feel listen it really is absolutely what is the expectation now for the bulldogs is it premiership prelim what's the expectation with just him in it I mean you put the damn darsis

47:32return let's see other darsis return nought nut forward doing what he does so um I mean they're all a graders so this is a side that we expected you know with the talent that they have to be in the top four already Zack Batters only helps that grow even more so um expect to see the bulldogs a lot on Thursday Friday night and next year I believe this has to be I think transformational for the Western bulldogs I know they'll be smart about it and meek bays is a very good operator and and they will have you know they will have some sort of special membership thing out within five minutes I reckon like get get get it while they're excited hit people up straight away sell your tickets sell whatever you can sell going into Christmas because the hype will be massive and as I said hopefully it can be transformational it can add X number of supporters become members and that can fly on yeah absolutely it's a huge moment for the dogs to be able to take some of Zack Batters ill get to get here for the clubs incredible that it throws up some other questions

48:36for me though look at that their midfield was already pretty hard to squeeze into libatorase out but phrasia Kennedy Sanders six or seven guys that are trying to squeeze into one midfield that there's something to something have to pop out on the outside because I they already played one of them off half back or at half forward just to be able to put all the players they had yeah Zack Batters in there another one and they are they're superstars that midfield is going to be amazing to watch but at the same time they're probably over indexed in midfield as no no that's so phrasia would be one that other clubs will target I'm sure absolutely Sanders same will also be one that I wish was one of the players midfield and and and we saw in the finals when brother was played inside mid he played really really well and probably showed us that he probably needs to be in them or often because it's a bit of a spark and there's something different in there so I've got a bit of a watch on like the the next year of mids behind those top top three can you keep them all in less can you play them all in a team so I wonder with the deal is already you know there's a shape of a deal already apparently between the two clubs whether

49:40there is a player in in mind or whether port have a player in mind with the either they get or the other you know reverse the dogs are prepared to give up to get the pick they need they think so and I alluded to it before like I feel the dogs really need to key back like they for the premiership if we're going to preling final premiership contenders next year he put Sam to ask he back in that forward line they still need someone behind the ball that's the one so is it Jordan butzer is it someone else that comes in and comes if you had butz to to a calmus I mean Rory lob and i don't know and i don't we're a low potentially goes back to where he's where he's most comfortable he's been talked about as a potential trade up you know they wouldn't get much draft at a capital out of that but maybe something that goes into a deal kehl to me on afl daily kehl to me of course part of team here at trade w just gives us an insight into what led butters to choose the western bulldogs that wasn't in and off itself that the turning point for for zak butters but things they evened up and i think in the end the locality the geographical

50:44pool and being a boy as you say from the western suburbs and coming home to the western suburbs is where things sat so he's also tight with boku kamas so it was important what boku's contract call was going to be and and and zak butters obviously grew up at bulldogs fan he had the poster of maca sponsor pelly on the wall and he's a true son of the west and now he becomes the bulldogs new son of the west as well yeah so i mean it's always interesting the little machinations and things that could go into it i mean a friendship with boku um yeah how much does that actually make a difference i don't know how many clearly it's going to get well paid and better put better money from the dogs and he was from the cats but all the indication there was it wasn't so much the financial thing that tipped him over the line but no and then he from a leadership point of you were sending captain um what i'd like this year it's it's it's the dogs it's kind of you just almost got your next captain in waiting as well bont's not getting any younger is a superstar of the game but yeah it's it's great recruiting it's going to be amazing watching them next year that the pressure will be on the dogs and and look beverage to perform that's for sure yeah it might

51:47sound weird but 18 million over nine years might be a cheap get the bulldogs but buddy what was it 10 million over 10 years and by the end of it everyone's like oh he's underpaid a bit there yeah hey joe what what are the cats do now they've got all this money that they're about to pay Zack butters so that they wait i know that matt rale was at a contract uh be in the next year he'll be the Zack butters of next year do they wait for that do they maybe have an envelope a Zack merit do they do something else what what do the cats do uh oh yeah i'm not exactly sure maddie to be honest i think it would be wait and put time into um you know that next gun out which maybe rale might be someone else that might be looking for you know that sniff of you know nearly getting there just about there with um you know healthy playing list that jolong have they need to be better in and around the ball we saw that last night i got dominated um you know consistently and you felt that if they're going to get let down throughout any part of the year it was probably in and around the ball they were one gun midfielder that was like the stoppage player um down rale will be be interesting

52:54let's hear what kale had to say he did speak on afl's out there about who jolong could target next but the cats progressed any interest to make a late fly for zack mara whose a player who's obviously been had his eyes on hawthorn but did have some interest from the cats you know recently uh and there's some contact there about what his future would be could they pivot that way uh so there's that element or does they keep the kitty and go hard for matt rale again next year who's going to probably be the zack butters storyline of 2027 in a lot of ways so yeah that seems to be merit or not is he not quite what they need it's probably you can never go wrong putting superstars in a team really but in terms of the type of player that they need if you if you do on a money ball list of what you need to get into your teams and make it better for next year that inside me to compliment bayley smith and max max homes they've kind of got the outside run and dash but they're probably what as you said one short maybe inside of that that pure clearance stoppage player like a

53:54if that's what's lucky nearer around he sounds like he's going to culling with but that type of player would be perfect for the for the cat the other one and this is an outside the box idea is imagine audacious bid for sale water from Sydney or something like that um i know that he may be hitting is a western Australian boy but could they do something like that with that they've got a lot of money yeah yeah i think we're found with jolong over a number of years maddie that their eyes and ears are always open for you know the one that's you know maybe a little bit far fetched at different stages how can you fit them all in that's what people were saying at um particular stage well obviously they couldn't because there would have been part of it that jolong just couldn't go as far as what the bulldogs have albeit i don't think exact position was just financially i think um obviously there was a lot to come into it as we've heard from cal but yeah they'll think outside the square uh they'll go again i don't think they'll be sitting on their hands i think that this is a real period with um danger still going the way that he is and um you know still having Jeremy still with some good footing in front of him where the toby gets

54:57over the line um i think that's a real um short well not as close to short this one was this impacts that i mean he said that he's just spoken to Zach butt is about what he's going to do with it you wouldn't think it would he wouldn't think so but it could it could you never know i just want to i don't want to doubt Kelley on this story about uh Zach butt is having the poster of Marcus Bondz on peli on the wall growing up Zach butt is his 26th Marcus Bond to peli is 30 at what age do you put a poster on the wall of a player who's four years older than you 16 16 months 20 hasn't really made is that he was good in his first year but he so like am i am i under something there do you think or do you reckon he you carry Kelley on it up i like the accountability that you put him on cal there but it's a good marketing story that's a great point but like you know it's sort of like that discussion about how old i should you have a you know as an adult yeah pretty young man how old they put a they have a poster on the wall anyway um one double

55:58three six nine three is our number to call um as we as we uh discuss all that is going on in the words are we going to have a bit of an anti climax of this trade period in the end you think or not like everyone seems to be re-signing of that there are seems to be one or two that we don't know about yeah there'll be something that pops up late yeah but and maybe fully clubs are getting a bit better it's just not announcing it to end to everyone but he's there though because as jol you've got to put the working for so far in advance and people like like Kelley and that are they're very tuned in to what's going on so like it's maybe not from a big a big fish point of view and that maybe that's the anti climatic nature but i think teams will be i think they're getting better at being strategic about who they're picking up so it might not seem like a big name for everyone looking at it but they're trying to they're trying to fix little gaps on their list of the way they play or the profile they've got if they've there's a bit more nuance i think behind just going out and trying to get the best players these days i had kennie beatsin in the studio during

56:59the week former recruiter at Sydney and Brisbane i said what's been the biggest change jol he said the biggest change has been players the put their hand up to leave mid contract he said that never really used to happen but players are now more likely if they're unhappy or if they want to go and play back to family that they're more likely now to say i want out even though they're in contract yeah so and that's interesting because it felt like it didn't really happen in our time too much dock you you were locked in and you would stay for the extended contracts but now yeah don't know what it is but it feels like that players can have an odd sort of five weeks at his club and and they think that that's it they need to pack up and move somewhere else or all the offer does come that's too good to refuse that might be a couple of extra years and you know i'm not sure how much more but even the story to move a couple of weeks ago about Nick Blakey but this time last year he wanted to leave he wanted to go to Queensland and live in Queensland like that was to be with his partner yeah he's partner so you know but as you said back when you first

58:00star you wouldn't even think about wanting to break a contract dock just he just walked out of Brisbane we had this thing this is so good yeah could have been playing in prelims and grannies instead I was rebuilding the competition you know I wouldn't get a game these days Logan Morris is going to be one that surely things going to be there will be and Kelt talked during the week that and now that discussion for another time around tazzy and it just feels like they're they're going to struggle to get the probably the names that they would have been hoping for maybe even the AFL would have been hoping for because again most people are resigning but like Logan Morris would be imagine if they got Logan but apparently if he comes back it'll be back to Melbourne with for family and no other reason so yeah it's an interesting one for tazzy about how they how they get someone it's as you said most clubs have been so smart with their contracting that's like they haven't let anyone that's of note becoming out of contract at this time so the only guys that are really there are kind of draft e-wages and they've been drafted and that's when their contract just finished anyone else that's a big name has just been locked

59:01away and just like nowhere near going out of contract when tazzy coming in so and then from what we hear a lot unlike what jokers did with Gary Adler they're not going to back the truck up for one big star and just give them a big chunk of money they want to spread it out a little bit more so that that would make it harder if you offered Logan Morris a good father deal you think he'd taste it but that's apparently not how they're going to do their list management no although I think potentially Ken had a maybe slightly different view on that something but it might be too late to do that unless as you said they can offer that to someone who's in contract yeah so Finno Sullivan Sam Lawler that maybe the buddy up sort of system that Brisbane lines went up with when they sort of got their run rolling will taz man you go for something similar to that just Brisbane theory was literally let's get country boys up there just load them up yep load them up it was all about replacing docketty wasn't really a straggler turning point took them two years the go what how many will go on five go for five that's right and mummy's boys

1:00:02we were called which is all which was great all right we'll take your calls on the next third oce open line as always sick that oce prestige cars their SUV and EV center is full of new stock everybody should own a prestige car at least once in a lifetime and remember tonight's best call the wins a hundred dollar gift voucher thanks to Harvey Norman go Harvey Norman big savings plus bonus cards on selected laptop mobile home security headphones and more hurry in Sunday at Harvey Norman as the Adelaide Cros make their way out Sam Barry one of those players celebrating his 100th game tonight and he's about to help them break through the banner which says my city's Adelaide my captain's doors happy 100th to Phil Thieck as well with Phil Thorpe is the other player playing his 100th game and to biz Sam Barry so they are about to break the banner it's a big night it's a big opportunity for the Adelaide Cros it could be the last game of course for Tex Walker as they take on the Brisbane lines there is a preliminary final up for grabs and that's where our tension turns next here at the Gabba it is the lines and the

1:01:06Cros on three AW football