Look, there are two types of AFL stories that remind you why you fell in love with this game in the first place. The first is a champion captain staring down a new chapter with clear eyes and genuine excitement. The second is a superstar pulling back the curtain on a life that's been anything but easy. This week, we got both, courtesy of Amazon Prime Video's new docuseries Final Siren: Inside the AFL.
Gawn draws a line in the sand
Max Gawn is going into his 17th season, and fair dinkum, the bloke sounds more energised than a teenager on a Red Bull. Speaking at the premiere of Final Siren, the Melbourne skipper told the Sydney Morning Herald that the moment new coach Steven King walked through the door, the old era was finished. Done. Closed.
"As soon as I walked in the door [for the] first day with Kingy, it was over," Gawn said.
I reckon that kind of clarity is exactly what Melbourne needed. After breaking a 57-year premiership drought in 2021, the Demons looked set to dominate the competition for years. Instead, they bowed out in straight sets in the 2022 and 2023 finals, then had a shocker in 2024. Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver are gone. Simon Goodwin, the coach who delivered that flag, is gone. A new president in former player and MCC president Steven Smith has replaced Brad Green, and Paul Guerra is now the CEO. It is, by any measure, a full rebuild at the top.
Gawn's word for it? A breath of fresh air. He told the SMH that a lot of players, Goodwin included, had been carrying the weight of those failed finals campaigns for years. The new faces in the coaching box and the boardroom have cut that rope. "It's almost like if you were still stuck in that era, we've moved past that," he said, and you get the sense he genuinely means it.
Here's the thing about Gawn: he is one of the most self-aware footballers in the competition. He knows his team needs rebuilding. He is not pretending the past few years were anything other than a disappointment. But he is also not wallowing. That is leadership.
He also had an interesting call on his own succession. While he has no plans to hand over the armband anytime soon, he likes wingman Ed Langdon for the job down the track. "If I gave it up next year, I like Ed Langdon," Gawn said. "I reckon he's got a bit about him." Langdon led the side in their practice match against North Melbourne last week, so that is not idle chat. He also mentioned Jack Viney, Jake Lever, Tom Sparrow and Trent Rivers as capable candidates, but Langdon is clearly his pick. You've got to trust the big fella's read on that.
Greene's raw confession
If Gawn's story was about moving forward, Toby Greene's was about reckoning with the past. The GWS Giants captain revealed in the first episode of Final Siren that he once punched his own father in the change rooms after a game, knocking him unconscious.
"I knocked him out in the change rooms because he was drunk and carrying on," Greene said. "He's pretty loud and boisterous and he's extremely drunk. And I was just embarrassed and just told him to f--- off and punched him. So, yeah, it's hard."
It is a lot to sit with. Greene's father Michael was later jailed for nine months, reduced on appeal, for assaulting a female police officer while watching the Giants' heavy loss to Richmond in the 2019 grand final. Greene has spoken publicly about his father's troubles before, including on The Phil Davis Podcast, but never quite like this. The docuseries draws out something more raw and more honest. Greene's love of football came from his dad, and he says he holds onto that. But the lessons he's drawn from his father's behaviour are about what not to do.
Greene is also one of the most talented and most controversial players of his generation. He has an extensive tribunal history, accumulating $47,850 in fines over 14 seasons and serving 16 games in suspensions. His wife Georgia Stirton speaks candidly in the series about the toll that takes on their family, including the online abuse she receives after his suspensions. "People are saying, 'I hope family members die' or, 'You should kill yourself'," Stirton said. "It probably affects me more than Toby."
That is a sobering reminder that AFL footballers and their families are real people absorbing real cruelty from strangers. You can criticise Greene's on-field decisions, and plenty of people do, but the abuse directed at his family is another thing entirely. The AFL and the broader sporting community have work to do on that front.
Q-Clash shootout: Morris takes the honours
In Thursday night's final pre-season Q-Clash at Springfield, Brisbane's Logan Morris put on a four-goal show to help the Lions beat the Gold Coast Suns 19.12 (126) to 11.11 (101). It was a proper goal-fest with plenty of talking points heading into Opening Round next week.
Jed Walter showed genuine promise for the Suns, taking two strong first-quarter marks and kicking one from well outside the arc, but he is now on report for a high shot on young Lion Zane Zakostelsky. That could cost him his spot against Geelong next Friday. Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, making his competitive return after more than 400 days away from the game, had a couple of goals and some lively touches without quite converting his marking opportunities. Coach Shaun Grigg said the Suns were thrilled with his work given everything he's coming back from.
For Brisbane, the absence of Cam Rayner, Dayne Zorko and Harris Andrews would have worried Chris Fagan, but Keidean Coleman and Lincoln McCarthy took their chances. That is a nice selection headache to have ahead of next Saturday's clash with the Western Bulldogs at the Gabba.
At the end of the day, pre-season results matter less than what they tell you about form, fitness and emerging talent. On that count, Morris looks ready to push for a permanent role, and Ugle-Hagan's comeback will be one of the most watched stories of the season. As for Melbourne and GWS, both clubs head into 2026 carrying weight of a different kind. Gawn's fresh start sounds convincing. And Greene's honesty, uncomfortable as it is, tells you exactly who he is as a person trying to make sense of a complicated life. That kind of story is why sport matters well beyond the scoreboard.