Eagles victorious after late ARC drama; Xerri wipe headed to tribunal; Magpies lose Moore again

Boundary review called in dying seconds of Eagles win

Greg Dundas

The West Coast Eagles made it back to back wins by defeating Port Adelaide by two points on Sunday in a game where the AFL’s controversial video-review system was again needed late in the contest.

But unlike Thursday night’s game in Geelong where an incorrect call was made by the umpires on the field and not reviewed, this time play was held up so the correct call could be made.

It meant the Eagles were denied a free kick that had been paid to them with about a minute left on the clock and a boundary throw-in was ordered. That decision gave Port Adelaide some hope of overturning the one-point deficit they faced at the time, but West Coast managed to gain possession of the ball and took it forward to score one more behind and secure their second win of the season.

That means the Eagles have already won more games in the first three rounds of 2026 than they did all of last season.

The use of the AFL Review Centre (ARC) late in Sunday’s game came three days after the controversy halfway through the final quarter of Geelong’s eight-point win over Adelaide at GMHBA Stadium.

The day after that game the AFL admitted that Geelong’s Tom Atkins received a last-touch free kick when the ball had, in fact, come off his boot, and the crucial free kick should have gone to Adelaide.

The margin was two points at the time, and from Atkins’ free kick, the Cats took the ball forward and scored a goal to earn some breathing space.

Friday’s statement from the AFL said: “The ball came back into play before the ARC had time to intervene on the last disposal free kick awarded to Geelong in the fourth quarter last night. If the ARC did intervene, the decision would have been overturned.

“The AFL will look at its late-in-game process and the ability to potentially hold play to get the correct outcome.”

Xerri wipe to be scrutinised by tribunal

Jake Niall and Marc McGowan
North Melbourne ruckman Tristan Xerri will face the tribunal on Monday or Tuesday night on the allegation he wiped blood on Essendon’s Andy McGrath during Saturday night’s game.

Speaking outside the MCG on Sunday, AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon condemned Xerri’s actions, saying it was “something we don’t want to see”.

“That’s been assessed by the match review officer [Michael Christian], and it will go directly to the tribunal, and that will either be heard on Monday or Tuesday night,” Dillon said.

“It’s not something we want to see on our fields.”

Based on precedent and AFL rules, Christian will confirm on Sunday that Xerri has been charged with conduct unbecoming, meaning his matter will head straight to the tribunal, where he faces a possible suspension if found guilty.

Christian reviews incidents the day after a game, delivering his explanations and sanctions that afternoon.

The Xerri incident does not fall into a category that the MRO can grade and hand an automatic penalty for, which is why the case is going straight to the tribunal.

Xerri was scuffling with McGrath when he touched his bloodied nose then appeared to wipe his hand on the Bomber’s face, in a game the Roos won by two goals. Xerri’s actions were widely criticised by commentators and former players during and after the game.

Under tribunal guidelines, Christian has the power to refer serious acts of misconduct directly to the tribunal.

Misconduct covers any act which would be “reasonably regarded as unacceptable or unsportsmanlike, or where it had the effect or potential to prejudice the reputation of any person, club or the AFL or to bring the game of football into disrepute”, the guidelines say.

To find an example comparable to the Xerri incident at the highest level requires looking back almost a quarter of a century – long before the advent of the MRO.

In 2002, Nathan Buckley, Collingwood captain at the time, was suspended for a game for smearing his blood on the guernsey of Geelong opponent Cameron Ling in a landmark case. An obvious difference between the two cases is the fact Xerri wiped directly onto McGrath’s skin rather than onto his opponent’s guernsey, as Buckley did.

Any suspension would result in Xerri missing a winnable marquee Good Friday match against Carlton.

Meanwhile, Dillon also addressed allegations that St Kilda’s Lance Collard used a homophobic slur in a VFL game. The league’s integrity unit is investigating.

“At the moment, that’s being investigated, and it is an allegation, so we’ll look into that,” he said.

“It’s not something we want to be dealing with.”

AFL boss highlights strong crowds in opening round debate

Marc McGowan
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon expects next year’s opening round to look different again, but mainly because of cricket’s 150th centenary Test rather than any backlash.

Various players, coaches and officials, including Fremantle’s Justin Longmuir and Simon Garlick and rookie Melbourne coach Steven King, have argued it is unfair that only some clubs get to play a match and could be more prepared when facing a team that has not.

Dillon acknowledged that four of the six clubs that played in opening round then faced an opponent that did not win their round one match.

The exceptions were Collingwood and St Kilda, who lost to Adelaide and Melbourne, respectively.

“There are a number of stakeholders we consulted, and the coaches are really important,” Dillon said.

“If you look at the stats, though, there were six teams that played out of opening round into round one, and it was 4-2, but absolutely [we] take on board the feedback from the coaches on that.”

Dillon said that opening round fixturing, which typically focuses mostly on the northern markets, was a situation they were monitoring at league headquarters, but that they were thrilled with the higher crowds this season.

“What I am focusing on is our crowds are up on what they were last year. We’re averaging just a tick under 40,000 going to the games,” he said.

“We’ve had three games at Marvel [Stadium] this weekend, and they’ve all been above forecast. We’ll have a crowd of over 50,000 here at the ’G [between Carlton and Melbourne]. We’ve had four crowds in the 70,000s, and we had St Kilda, in opening round, play in front of the highest home-and-away crowd they’ve played in front of, and they’ve been in the competition since 1897.”

There will be a special one-off match between Australia and England at the MCG between March 11 and 15 next year to commemorate Test cricket’s legacy.

Dillon confirmed that meant the 2027 season would have a “different-looking start” to this year.

Moore out for another month

Greg Dundas
Collingwood will be without skipper Darcy Moore as they enter a string of blockbuster games in April.

The Magpies confirmed on Sunday morning that a low-grade hamstring strain suffered during Friday’s win over GWS Giants would rule the star defender out for the next “three to four weeks”.

That stretch includes the Thursday-night game against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba which lead into the Easter weekend, followed by games against Fremantle at home, arch rival Carlton, and, possibly, the Anzac Day clash with Essendon.

It’s a bitter blow for Moore who was playing his first game for the season on Friday at Marvel Stadium.

Collingwood’s executive general manager of football Charlie Gardiner said scans taken since Friday night’s game showed Moore had an inflamed bursa behind his knee.

“We are obviously disappointed for Darcy. Scans yesterday showed he has sustained a low-grade hamstring strain along with an inflamed bursa behind his knee, which is expected to keep him out for the next three to four weeks,” Gardiner said.

“Darcy will continue to work closely with our medical and high-performance team as he progresses through his return-to-play timeline.”

Collingwood beat the Giants on Friday despite Moore being sidelined with what, at the time, was described as “hamstring awareness” and his predecessor as captain, Scott Pendlebury, also hobbled with an Achilles strain.

Moore spent long stints off the ground on Friday. Speaking to media after the match, Collingwood coach Craig McRae said Moore’s return to the field had been cautiously handled.

“It’s hamstring awareness,” McRae said. “For those following his rehab back to play, he had this about 10 to 12 days ago – the same thing – and we were just, ‘No risk, no risk, no risk’.

“But we were in the game, and you go, ‘Can he push through? Can he take some minutes?’ Because it’s important that, in terms of rotations, to see if he could take some minutes without risk.

“Now I say that, but I’m just backing in the high-performance team. That’s not my area, and so we did that.

“But he’s not right. He’s not 100 per cent. Has he done a hamstring? I’m not sure. I don’t think so… but we’ll obviously do all the investigations and find out.”

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