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The Collingwood VFL forward from country footy who is the Mid-Season Draft “buzz player”

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Collingwood VFL forward Jack Hutchinson has emerged as a potential top selection in this year’s Mid-Season Draft.

The 22-year-old only made his VFL debut last week for the Magpies but has already caught the eyes of recruiters according to AFL Media’s Cal Twomey.

Hailing from the Wonthaggi Power in the Gippsland League, Hutchinson is a 190cm forward that launches at packs.

“I told you at this time last year that Ryan Maric was firming as the number one pick (in the Mid-Season Draft),” Twomey told SEN Breakfast.

“This year (it looks like) Jack Hutchinson. I went out to Moorabbin on Friday night to watch the VFL, nearly every club was there, I think, doing the same thing as me, watching Jack Hutchinson.

“He's playing for Collingwood's VFL side. He's 22 (years old) and a 190-centimetre forward who launches at contests with real power.

“He was coached by former Magpie Jarryd Blair at Wonthaggi last year. He’s a country product, he's the buzz player at the moment in terms of the Mid-Season Draft.

“Currently there's nine clubs with vacancies for the Mid-Season which will come up quicker than we think. It’s only about eight weeks away.”

Hutchinson only pursued a path in state league footy after being coached by Blair at the country level but immediately made a big impact in a practice game against Port Melbourne.

In his maiden VFL game, the young forward showed some impressive signs with one goal, nine disposals, three marks and seven tackles in the win over Sandringham.

“He’s just been playing country footy. I think through the encouragement of his coach Jarryd Blair that he's been pushed up to the Collingwood VFL program,” Twomey said.

“It was a couple of weeks ago that he caught the eye of recruiters, he played a really good practice game against Port Melbourne.

“Last week (against Sandringham) he was alright, he kicked a goal from about 10 touches.

“But there's enough to be excited about.”

The 2024 Mid-Season Draft will take place in May. Hutchinson and other state-league prospects will have another month and a half of footy to impress AFL recruiters.

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LIVE: Big Blue tipped for ‘big bag’ amid ‘too aggressive’ concern for ‘vulnerable’ Roos

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North Melbourne looks to get on the winners’ list for the first time in 2024 as it hosts Carlton in the second annual Good Friday SuperClash at Marvel Stadium.

The Kangaroos (0-2, 16th, 70.9%) have been competitive in their opening two losses and will go into Friday’s anticipated clash unchanged from their home defeat to Fremantle last Saturday.

The Blues (2-0, 7th, 103.6%), meanwhile, have been somewhat unconvincing in their pair of victories and will be looking to assert themselves early on against a lesser opponent.

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‘Jason has gone floppy Sarah!’ | 00:50

Carlton has brought in key-defending duo Jacob Weitering and Caleb Marchbank and ex-Gold Coast recruit Elijah Hollands into the side at the expense of Lewis Young (omitted), Brodie Kemp (omitted) and David Cuningham (injured).

Weitering and Marchbank come in for their first games of the season, while Hollands will play his first match in navy blue after serving a two-game suspension for breaching the AFL’s Illicit Drugs Policy last year.

The 14-gamer was traded from Carrara to Royal Parade last October, joining forces with younger brother, Ollie, who announced his sibling’s selection at the end of training on Thursday.

Ahead of Friday’s meeting, St Kilda great Leigh Montagna tipped star Carlton forward Charlie Curnow to have a massive day against a leaky Roos back six.

“He kicked six (goals in this meeting) last year, Charlie Curnow. I think he can do better than that,” Montagna told Fox Footy’s Give Me Something.

“I think he can get upwards towards maybe the double figures. He’s got a couple of big bags in him, and it might be a tough afternoon for the North Melbourne defence.

“It’s going to be a good fun game. It’ll be good fun if you’re a Carlton supporter, so I reckon Charlie Curnow might just get a hold of (the Roos) and kick a big bag. I don’t know if 10’s in reach — maybe I’ll go seven plus.

Reid set to ‘explode’ against Dogs? | 00:57

“He’s only kicked six goals in the two games this year and he’s just been only OK. I reckon (the Blues will) freshen up; they’ve got a few players back from injury.

“North Melbourne has been good, I like the way they play offensively, but if their half-backs get too aggressive, they might leave Toby Pink and Co. vulnerable down there.”

This match gets underway at 4:20pm AEDT from Marvel Stadium.

Watch it live on Fox Footy (channel 504) from 3:30pm AEDT.

Follow North Melbourne v Carlton in the live blog below!

‘Left a pretty bad taste’: Dogs out to bury demons of Eagles loss

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The Western Bulldogs admit they haven’t completely moved on from a shock defeat to West Coast last year

Marcus Bontempelli after the Western Bulldogs’ loss to West Coast in round 23, 2023. Picture: AFL Photos

WESTERN Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge hasn’t felt the need to mention last year’s devastating loss to West Coast in the build-up to their round three encounter with the same foe.

A stigma, he believes, lingers in his players’ minds and will drive the Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium on Sunday as they seek to enter positive win-loss territory for the first time this season.

Beveridge’s men are yet to completely move on from the seven-point defeat to the wooden-spoon Eagles in round 23 last year, which ultimately cost the Dogs a finals spot.

The Bulldogs beat Geelong the following week, but missed the top eight by half a game.

“It left a pretty bad taste in everyone’s mouth,” Beveridge told reporters on Friday morning.

“They were pretty good that day, the Eagles, but equally we lowered our colours in an important game on our journey last year.

“In preparation for this game, we haven’t even talked about it, but I just know that it’s in the players’ subconscious.

“The guys who did (play in that game), I know they’ll be feeling that there’s a stigma attached to what happened last year.

“I think there’ll be some kind of response there.”

Beveridge confirmed triple All-Australian midfielder Jack Macrae will return against West Coast after his monster game in the VFL last week.

Macrae had 47 disposals and 17 clearances against the Giants and will return in a midfield role, with the Bulldogs losing Ed Richards (concussion) and Nick Coffield (shoulder) to injuries.

Beveridge said Macrae will be in the starting 22, rather than filling the substitute role, after a delayed start to the season because of a hamstring injury and loading issue with his femur.

“He trained extremely hard in the off-season – he worked himself a bit too hard – and it was just a matter of getting his match practice up to a stage where he’s totally ready at AFL level,” Beveridge said.

“Off last week’s performance, we believe he is ready to come in. It’s as simple as that.”

The Bulldogs (1-1) are looking to build on their win over Gold Coast in Ballarat when they run out on their regular home ground for the first time this season on Sunday.

They can’t afford to be complacent against a West Coast outfit that sits in familiar territory – bottom of the ladder after successive defeats to open the new campaign, with a percentage of less than 50.

Why Cornes thinks that 2024 is the right time for Dustin Martin to retire

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Kane Cornes thinks 2024 is the right time for Richmond great Dustin Martin to hang up the boots.

Cornes wrote an article in The Age titled, ‘Don’t argue, Dusty: Why it’s time for Richmond champion to retire’, and he stood by his take while speaking to Gerard Healy on SEN Sportsday.

Cornes thinks that the three-time premiership player, three-time Norm Smith medallist, Brownlow medallist and four-time All-Australian simply doesn’t think there’s anything left for the 32-year-old to achieve in the game.

With Richmond also no longer in a premiership window, Cornes isn’t sure whether Martin should finish his career in a rebuilding team as his form naturally declines with age.

“I just think it's time in terms of there's nothing left for him to achieve,” Cornes told Sportsday.

“And with where the club is at, they're about to go through a brutal stage I would have thought.

“If we're looking at Hawthorn, North and West Coast (in terms of their rebuild), Richmond are not even there yet. They need to completely bottom out and start again.

“Does Dustin Martin want to go through that and then have questions over his form like he will get like Buddy Franklin had when he played probably one more year (than he maybe should have)? Just like Scott Pendlebury is facing now to a lesser extent.

“He's about to turn 33. Does he want to go through this at Richmond?

“Does he want to turn up to the club loss after loss with everything that he's done in the game?”

While some might argue that Martin could go to another club for a final shot at a fourth flag, Cornes isn’t sure how successful any move would be at Martin’s age.

“You might go, well, he should go to another club,” Cornes said.

“But how often does that work at 33 years old? How often is that successful?

“Luke Hodge may have been successful. But I'd just much rather have seen him (Hodge) finish at Hawthorn as the champion that he was.”

With game 300 on the horizon for Martin, Cornes thinks that this year is the perfect time for Martin to go out on his own terms and be remembered as a player that walked away still somewhere close to the top of his game.

“Is he fully motivated? Is he fully invested? Does he turn up to train? Does he want to be there? Is he good for the group? Is his form going to be strong enough?” Cornes asked.

“He's down about 10 possessions a game. I don't think he's having anywhere near the impact that he had last year, albeit it's two games.

“It's going to be hard for him in a poor side to have the impact that he's had.

“He plays game 300 this year, it's a great time to give him one of the great laps of honour.

“I think the question for him is, am I motivated to turn up and be the best that I can be and be all in with this group that's going to be down the bottom?

“I just think it's a good time for him to go out on his own terms like how Shane Crawford or Joel Selwood went out, there's not too many that do it on their own terms.

“That was my view.”

Martin is set to miss Richmond's clash against Sydney at the SCG on Sunday with a calf issue.

The Tiger comes out of contract at the end of the 2024 season.

Read Cornes’ piece on Martin in The Age HERE.

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Power midfield bracing for ultimate test against Demons

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Ken Hinkley says his midfield will face the AFL’s measuring stick when they play Melbourne on Saturday night

Connor Rozee and Travis Boak after the round two match between Richmond and Port Adelaide at the MCG, March 24, 2024. Picture: AFL Photos

PORT Adelaide’s midfield is about to face the ultimate AFL test, coach Ken Hinkley says.

Hinkley rates Melbourne’s onball brigade as the best in the competition ahead of Saturday night’s clash against the Demons at Adelaide Oval.

“It’s going to be hard, isn’t it – great midfielders going at each other,” he told reporters on Friday.

“Melbourne has got to be close, I would have thought, to the best group of mids together when you think about the quality.

“(Christian) Petracca and (Clayton) Oliver and (Jack) Viney and (Tom) Sparrow and Max (Gawn) … it’s a pretty formidable group that we’re up against.”

Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca embrace during Melbourne’s win over Hawthorn in round two, 2024. Picture: AFL Photos

Hinkley anticipates learning much about the development of his star-studded batch headed by captain Connor Rozee, vice-captain Zak Butters, Brownlow medallist Ollie Wines and ruck recruit Ivan Soldo.

And he also hopes his club can celebrate another milestone which he described as, in some ways, as significant as Travis Boak’s 350th game last weekend.

Power forward Todd Marshall will play his 100th AFL game in his eighth season.

Marshall, who grew up in Deniliquin in NSW, was recruited from the Murray Bushrangers with pick 16 at the 2016 national draft.

Todd Marshall celebrates a goal during the R2 match between Port Adelaide and Richmond at the MCG on March 24, 2024. Picture: Getty Images/AFL Photos

In October 2017, his mother died from cancer. And in April the following year, his father passed away.

“We talk about those milestone games to the playing group … so I was reflecting on that and going ‘gee, how big was Trav’s effort to get to 350’,” Hinkley said.

“(But) I’m not sure you could have many more challenges than Todd has faced and to be able to achieve 100 games is remarkable.

“I shouldn’t, but I probably do reflect that it’s being very similar to what Travis’ milestone was last week … because I’ve been a part of Todd’s story so closely.

“Incredibly pleased for him, but it’s also just a part of his journey.

“I’ve had great confidence, as have all of our coaches, in what Todd’s ability was going to be able to allow him to produce at AFL level.

“He’s starting to become the player that we all want him to be.

“And we still expect that in some ways the next 100 (games) will be even better again.”

Melbourne, without injured key defender Steven May, will also mark a milestone with Viney to play his 200th AFL game.

‘Jason’s gone floppy!’: Easter mayhem as Fox Footy go rogue… again

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The Fox Footy crew is getting right into the Easter spirit!

That is, if the ‘Easter spirit’ is actually just batting practice and includes oversized chocolate eggs and a malfunctioning frying pan.

With Good Friday football and chocolatey delights just around the corner, things got festive on the set of Fox Footy’s Thursday Night Football.

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After Collingwood downed Brisbane at the Gabba and the post-game analysis came to a close, out came the Easter eggs.

An errant throw by host Sarah Jones last year around hadn’t slipped the minds of the panel.

“Put a hole in our million-dollar screen, our Sarah,” Fox Footy’s Jason Dunstall joked in reference to the events of last Easter.

“That’s why I brought the pan, in case she starts lobbing hand-grenades again.”

And a good thing he did, because it wasn’t long until Jones started launching!

“I’ve been watching Patrick Mahomes,” she claimed, channelling the star Kansas City Chiefs quarterback as she launched a golden egg at an unassuming Dunstall.

The Hawthorn legend let his cat-like reflexes do the talking, thwacking it dead-centre and sending it to the floor in a multitude of chocolate pieces.

‘Jason has gone floppy Sarah!’ | 00:50

“She’s going again!” exclaimed Dunstall, as he tried to smack the subsequent oncoming eggs with frying pan in hand.

“Sarah, we might just be docking your pay in coming weeks,” quipped Jon Ralph.

After nearly taking St Kilda great Leigh Montagna’s head off with his first knock, ‘Chief’ wasn’t as successful with his next two at-bats — with his third attempt putting a “limp” end to festivities.

“Oh, my handle’s broken!” lamented Dunstall as his pan bent at the wrong angle. “I’ve gone limp!”

Added Ralphy: “Jason’s gone floppy, Sarah! He has absolutely gone weak at the knees.”

“This is from a man who plays tennis every day of the week,” laughed Jones.

Good Friday football commences with North Melbourne vs. Carlton at Marvel Stadium from 4:20pm AEDT — watch it live on Fox Footy (channel 504) or stream via Kayo.