LAST year Geelong rose to top to take out the VFL premiership.  Who will it be this year? Our award-winning VFL expert BRENT DIAMOND is joined by contributors DANIEL PAPROTH, ANDREW CALLEJA, JAMIE MORGAN and JUSTIN COOPER to give you our comprehensive preview for the 2013 season.    WERRIBEE, Essendon, Frankston and Williamstown have been the

Essendon Coach: Hayden Skipworth Key Player Arrivals: Matt Firman (Geelong), Josh Freezer, Jacob Thompson, Ben Duscher (Bendigo), Josh Toy (Gold Coast), Matthew Bate (Melbourne), Michael Sikora (Sandringham) Key Player Departures: Nil Last Year’s Finish: Didn’t form a team until 2013 This year’s prediction: 1st And why?: Hayden Skipworth had little to work with at Bendigo.

THERE is so much hype around Carlton since Mick Malthouse took over the reins and a NAB Cup final appearance (albeit a loss) has done nothing to abate it. In spite of this we can expect to see a much hungrier line-up this year

IN this off-season Collingwood have addressed their short and long term problems and Derek Hine has given Nathan Buckley everything he identified at the end of the 2012 season

WE’VE had free agency, trade period, delistings, retirements, the National Draft and the pre-season and rookie drafts as well.  Now as the dust settles on 2012 Football Nation looks at all the player movements for every club in advance of the 2013 campaign       Adelaide Losses Retired: Michael Doughty Delisted: Brad Symes, Will

THE St Kilda Football Club has announced that it is parting ways with its top pick from the 2009 Draft, Nick Winmar. Winmar, 21, was the 32nd overall pick of the 2009 AFL National Draft and but has only managed to play in two senior games for the Saints. He is the second cousin of former St Kilda and Western Bulldogs player Nicky Winmar. In

AFTER the Essendon Football Club revealed that they intend to re-draft Brent Prismall in the December pre-season draft, Port Adelaide has emerged as another possible landing spot for the injury-plagued midfielder

HOT on the heels of an announcement by the Collingwood Football club that he will be joining the Magpies as a ruck coach, twice-retired ruckman Ben Hudson may become twice-unretired ruckman Ben Hudson, with the club announcing that they may also be recruiting him in the upcoming rookie draft. “Ben will work closely with our young

LIKE every other news outlet we can’t help but take advantage of the cats and dogs puns as the Western Bulldogs have announced this morning that retired Geelong premiership players Matthew Scarlett and Cameron Mooney will join the club as part-time specialist coaches for next season. The pair, representing over 500 games of experience over

FOOTBALL NATION brings you the full list of retirements and delistings – club by club – and as they come to hand for

MAYBE the GWS Giants know something that rest of the world doesn’t. With Kurt Tippett’s playing future in the air and to determined by the AFL Commission when he meets with them next Monday the Giants have today announced that they have delisted ruckman Dean Brogan. Clearly there is an expectation (or at the very least

WITH the Second List Lodgement deadline looming this Thursday, the Essendon Football Club has announced that it has parted ways with Brent Prismall, Ricky Dyson and Ariel Steinberg. But in one of those strange AFL list manoeuvres  Steinberg, 20, has been offered a spot on the Rookie List by the club via next month’s Rookie Draft. (Also on Football Nation:

LAST month the Geelong Football Club delisted Tom Gillies  signalling an end to a disappointing career with the Cats. This month however the defender has been thrown a lifeline with the Melbourne Football Club announcing that it has signed Gillies to a  one-year contract. The former Cat had been training with the Demons in the

(DAILY ONE LINERS) Port Adelaide: John Butcher says he likes the idea of combining with troubled forward Liam Jurrah next season in the Power’s forward line

MELBOURNE has slashed its list further today with eight more delistings to add to its mass changes over the trade period. Matthew Bate, Ricky Petterd, Jamie Bennell, Lucas Cook, Liam Jurrah and rookies Jai Sheahan, Leigh Williams and Kelvin Lawrence were all given the chop as the Dees to look to transform its list and

UPDATE: 25/10/12 – NORTH MELBOURNE is now confident of reaching a deal for Melbourne midfielder Jordan Gysberts, who may be used in a swap for Cameron Pedersen. The Demons were banking on the Brisbane Lions giving them a second round draft pick for Stefan Martin but the Lions will only pass a third round selection.

GEELONG: Cats midfielder James Kelly says he’d relish the chance to captain Australia in the International Rules Series against Ireland, set to kick off on Friday night

Check out the delistings at your club so far over the off-season… Adelaide: Jake von Bertouch, Chris Schmidt, Lachlan Roach, Will Young, James Craig, James Sellar & Myke Cook Brisbane: Xavier Clarke, Matt Austin, Bart McCulloch, Albert Proud, Brendan Fevola & Broc McCauley Carlton: Mark Austin, Jaryd Cachia, Wayde Twomey, Joe Dare & Setanta O’hAilpin

GREATER Western Sydney is privately fuming at the lack of organisation from the AFL in regards to the proposed northern conference state league that it is expected to take part in next season before entering the AFL. A club spokesperson this week said the club could not confirm which league it would be entering next

THIS isn’t the match of round in terms of ladder positions but the importance for football careers will be well measured in this one at Subiaco on Sunday. Both teams have selected a flurry of young players in a bid to try and test these players out to see if they can play at AFL level.

Football Nation casts an eye on all 16 AFL clubs and rates how your team performed over the trade week period in the lead up to the AFL draft on November

BRISBANE Lions couldn’t find a Victorian home for defender Joel Macdonald and have delisted him in the lead up to the AFL draft on November 26. It is understood Hawthorn, who is in desperate need of a ruckman and defender, has shown interest along with North Melbourne, who were unable to secure a trade last