One of football’s greatest coaches has been shown the door, a controversial AFL experiment is over and the player market is already going berserk. Scott Podmore looks at a huge week in footy.
Just when September football was supposed to take centre stage, North Melbourne dropped one of the biggest bombshells of the AFL season today.
Four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson has been sacked by the Kangaroos with a year remaining on his contract, ending an ambitious partnership that was supposed to return one of the competition’s great old clubs to contention, and Clarkson apparently didn’t see it coming.
North president Sonja Hood and football boss Todd Viney fronted the media on Wednesday to explain a unanimous board decision to end Clarkson’s tenure after four seasons and just 20 wins from 82 games.
The Kangaroos improved to nine wins this season but missed the inaugural wildcard finals after winning just one of their final eight matches.
More revealing than the numbers was North’s explanation of what had gone wrong.
Viney said there were still “gaping holes” in the team’s game and acknowledged the amount of information being fed to players had created confusion.
Clarkson, one of the great coaching innovators of the modern era during his four-premiership reign at Hawthorn, had taken more responsibility upon himself as North searched for answers.
It didn’t work.
Hood said the club needed to find someone capable of coaching “the modern game”, and that’s a fairly brutal but honest assessment of a man whose tactical fingerprints can be found all over the AFL.
Clarkson leaves having coached more than 470 AFL games across Hawthorn and North Melbourne, with his future in the game now uncertain.
Attention has already turned to his replacement. Former North players John Longmire and Adam Simpson are obvious names, both having coached premierships themselves at Sydney and West Coast respectively.
But North could just as easily turn to the next generation of coaching talent.
Clarkson wasn’t the only casualty on Wednesday, with the AFL also scrapping Opening Round for the 2027 season.
After three years of tinkering with the traditional start to the AFL year, all 18 clubs will again begin together in a conventional nine-match Round 1.
Opening Round was introduced in 2024, largely to give football greater exposure in NSW and Queensland, but it has attracted criticism because some clubs had already played before others began their seasons, while subsequent byes created an uneven early-season fixture.
The historic 150th anniversary Test between Australia and England at the MCG from March 11-15 played a significant role in the change.
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon said the Test had prompted the league to revisit how the 2027 season would begin. He added that feedback from fans and stakeholders, along with consultation with clubs and broadcasters, helped shape the decision to return to a traditional Round 1.
The 2027 AFL season will begin on March 17 or 18 with all 18 clubs involved.
Whether that means Opening Round is gone for good remains to be seen. The AFL has not ruled out reviving the concept beyond 2027, and earlier this year league executives strongly defended its role in growing the game in NSW and Queensland.
For next season at least, every club will start from the same line.
While one AFL experiment disappears, another has made a spectacular entrance.
The inaugural wildcard finals produced a thriller at the MCG, where the Western Bulldogs ended Collingwood’s season by three points after Tim Membrey had the chance to win the game with a kick after the siren.
Carlton, meanwhile, has advanced from 10th on the ladder into the traditional final eight after defeating Melbourne.
Think about that for a moment: a team that finished 10th after the home-and-away season can still win the 2026 premiership.
Whether you love or loathe the expanded finals system, that will keep the debate going.
The traditional finals begin with Fremantle hosting Hawthorn on Thursday night, followed by Geelong against Carlton at the MCG on Friday.
Sydney hosts reigning premier Brisbane on Saturday afternoon before Adelaide meets the Western Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval that night.
The premiership hasn’t been decided and football’s silly season is already living up to its name and at the centre of it is Port Adelaide superstar Zak Butters.
The three-time All-Australian and triple Port best-and-fairest winner has told the Power he intends to return home to Victoria, triggering one of the biggest bidding wars of the year.
Geelong and the Western Bulldogs are firmly in the hunt, with Richmond also linked.
The reported numbers are mind-boggling.
The latest reports have Geelong preparing a nine-year offer approaching $18 million as it attempts to land one of the competition’s premier midfielders.
As a restricted free agent, Butters’ departure isn’t necessarily straightforward. Port has the right to match an offer, which could force his destination club into a trade.
But Butters is far from the only name being thrown around.
Essendon has been linked with Western Bulldogs livewire Arthur Jones, although the Dogs are keen to retain him after his brilliant four-goal performance against Collingwood.
Brisbane youngster Sam Marshall is attracting interest from Victorian clubs, while the futures of several other established players are already filling the rumour mill.
And it’s only September.
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