AFL 2026: Collingwood coach Craig McRae encourage his team’s aggressive approach after fiery game against Gold Coast Suns
Updated ,first published
In today’s AFL Briefing, your wrap of footy news:
- A new video-based review system is coming to the AFLW.
- Collingwood coach Craig McRae has vowed his team will continue to straddle a fine line between aggression and consequence.
‘Vulnerable as the antagonist’: Tribunal says Maynard should have been expecting heavy bump
Scott Spits
Saturday’s wild melee between Collingwood and Gold Coast – in which more than 20 players were fined, including two players who were hit with $5000 penalties for umpire contact – had a dramatic finale after Ben Long had his rough conduct charge downgraded.
Gold Coast hard-nut Long will be suspended for one match instead of two after the Suns convinced the AFL Tribunal that his actions in cannoning into Collingwood’s Brayden Maynard constituted medium impact – not high.
In dramatic scenes on the Gold Coast, Long charged towards Maynard – who had his torso exposed after the Magpie had bumped Bailey Humphrey following a goal by the Sun. Maynard suffered bruised ribs from the incident just before half-time, but he did not have to leave the field.
Maynard and Gold Coast player Touk Miller were fined $5000 each for umpire contact amid the frenzied scenes.
In arguing that Long’s actions in crashing into Maynard were not as serious as they first appeared, Gold Coast’s advocate Adrian Anderson said: “It’s not a case of a random come-from-behind whack.”
The tribunal accepted Gold Coast’s arguments and concluded that Maynard “made himself vulnerable” while antagonising Humphrey and was not expecting contact, “exposing his torso” and “this resulted in the impact appearing to be greater than it was”.
“Player Maynard made himself vulnerable as the antagonist,” said tribunal chairman Timothy Bourke. “When (you’re the) antagonist it’s reasonable to expect a response from Gold Coast teammates (for) player Humphrey.
“It’s fair to expect Maynard to be on alert and bracing for teammate reactions.
“We side for Long in these circumstances. The result is the impact appearing to be greater than what it was. It was not Long’s fault. We find the impact accordingly to be medium.”
Anderson argued that Maynard was not significantly injured from the incident, suffering rib bruising and not a fracture.
He said Maynard was “shaping up” to Humphrey.
“It is a case where the player who is involved initiates, gets in the face of a teammate who has just kicked a goal and initiated this incident,” Anderson said.
“We’re not defending what Ben Long has done … but we’re saying there is a context.”
The AFL’s counsel, Amara Hughes, had argued that the high-impact grading should stand.
“It is noted that he (Maynard) was immediately assessed in the rooms at half-time … these injuries were not insignificant,” she said.
Match review officer Michael Christian laid 23 charges of engaging in a melee, all attracting $1500 fines, from the heated Magpies-Suns encounter at People First Stadium.
The Long hit sparked the wild melee. As the half-time siren sounded, Maynard sprinted to Long to continue their spat.
Umpire Nick Brown could see the trouble coming and was standing in front of Long.
As Maynard rushed in, he placed two hands on Brown’s back to nudge the umpire out of the way so he could get to Long.
Video showed Suns stalwart Miller, who was trailing Maynard, also made contact with the umpire.
Like the ARC, but not: AFL introduces new video review system for AFLW
Hannah Kennelly
The AFL will introduce a “vision-based score assist system” to the women’s league in 2026, replacing the ball-tracking technology it has used for the past two seasons.
But the new system will not be as comprehensive as the “ARC” that the men’s competition uses, with fewer angles available for review.
Announced on Tuesday, the new system will use available broadcast and fixed cameras, while the AFL will also introduce four new goal post cameras at every AFLW venue.
Any score reviews will be initiated by a score assist official, rather than a goal umpire, and will function similarly to a silent score review process – meaning the review will not be broadcast, as happens with AFL games.
The ARC and how it is implemented has been the subject of plenty of controversy throughout the men’s season, including in round 12 when Geelong’s Ollie Dempsey was denied a goal and the decision was not reviewed. Earlier in the season, about 50 seconds of play were wiped in a Saints win over West Coast at Marvel Stadium when the ARC deemed that Rowan Marshall had marked a ball before it crossed the goal line, recalling Marshall to take his set shot despite the game having well and truly moved on.
That incident prompted a rule change: that the ARC would no longer overrule a goal umpire’s decision, unless the goal umpire had called for a review. That will not be possible under the AFLW system.
Last month, Greg Swann announced that the men’s competition would gain new high-tech cameras in August to improve the decision-making capabilities of the league’s review centre.
AFL executive Laura Kane said the updated system would deliver a consistent and efficient score review process.
“We are committed to continuing to evolve our officiating technology, and we have worked closely with our broadcast partners and our technology partner Hawk-Eye to introduce a vision-based score assist system for the upcoming NAB AFLW Season,” Kane said in a statement.
“The vision-based system will provide match officials with additional vision to support decision-making, strengthening the accuracy, consistency and efficiency of the score review process.
“The introduction of this system is another important step in the continued evolution of the AFLW competition and ensures our match officials are supported with the best available vision when reviewing score decisions.”
The league introduced ball-tracking in 2024 – with a chip embedded in the “smart” Sherrins and sensors stationed around the ground to track the ball’s movement.
At the time the new technology was heralded as an exciting step forward for the game and a trial for a potential introduction in the men’s game.
However, there were several hiccups, including in 2024 when the ball-tracking tech incorrectly registered a touch off the boot of Sun Jamie Stanton in a Gold Coast v Collingwood clash.
In its Tuesday announcement, the league said the AFL’s decision to transition from the use of “smart balls” to vision-based officiating solutions for AFLW “aligns with the vision-based approach used in the AFL competition”.
The AFLW season opens with a long-awaited representative football clash between Australia and Ireland on August 1 bringing some of the biggest names in AFLW together. But the AFL could not guarantee that the technology would be in place for that match.
Round one begins with a double-header between St Kilda and Carlton at Marvel Stadium on August 9.
McRae gives thumbs-up to Magpies aggression
Jon Pierik
Collingwood coach Craig McRae has vowed his team will continue to straddle a fine line between aggression and consequence, sensing this fiery spirit can deliver the Magpies a finals berth.
The Magpies vowed last month to tackle a series of mid-winter games with fervour, and they have done that with three-straight wins, including a contentious one-goal victory over Gold Coast on Saturday when defender Brayden Maynard escaped with a $5000 fine after making incidental contact with an umpire in a scuffle with Suns’ opponent Ben Long.
The Suns’ forward was later suspended for two matches for an earlier hit on Maynard, who lit the fuse for a bench-clearing half-time melee when he arrowed at a pack of players, including Long.
In total, more than 20 fines were issued by the match review officer from the game, resulting in players contributing more than $30,000 to the AFL’s concussion fund. Maynard will pay $7000 of that, $5000 on a misconduct charge arising from the umpire contact and $1000 each for counts of instigating and engaging in a melee. Long was the only player suspended, and he has chosen to challenge that ban at the tribunal on Tuesday night.
McRae said the Magpies do not condone contact with umpires, but stressed he wanted his players to take a stand – when required.
“Yeah, we internally reward our spirit. There’s definitely a coming together and an energy when we rally together,” McRae said on Tuesday.
“We love our inspirational leaders in Nick [Daicos] and ‘Bruzzy’ [Maynard], in particular. That matters. We want to stand up for something or stand for something, so that’s something we’ve reviewed, and we’ll continue to water what we want to grow.
“And then the other part of it is that, obviously, that we don’t condone violence and things. There’s a protection of the umpires that we want to abide by. We all want to live that.”
McRae said the Magpies would not “leave a guy out on an island” if he has been targeted by the opposition. But he pointed to the Magpies’ low fine count this season to highlight they do not often cross the behavioural line.
“You have got to tread carefully on the rules at times – and challenge. If someone’s coming for one of our players off the ball – hey, c’mon, you’ve got to stand up for yourself,” McRae said.
“Anywhere we can get a fine line being on the edge, we are going to hunt the opposition. Again, we will try and do it this week – again, within the rules.”
The Magpies trained at Melbourne Grammar on Tuesday, McRae describing the soil mixture at the club’s home base as not “quite at the level to have the high intensity [training] we require, particularly when we are playing at Marvel, indoors”. Their usual training oval at the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct is the responsibility of the Melbourne and Olympic Parks Trust.
The Pies had asked to train at Marvel Stadium, where they will face North Melbourne on Friday night, but were denied because there will be two games there on Friday, with the clubs playing a VFL curtain-raiser before the AFL match.
McRae said dynamic half-back Isaac Quaynor (ankle) would not play, having failed to prove his fitness at training, but veteran Scott Pendlebury had overcome a calf issue and would line up.
The Magpies also maintain they remain a potential new home for Brisbane Lions premiership star Lachie Neale, even though he met with the Saints’ hierarchy last week.
McRae has spoken with the unrestricted free agent, who is also weighing up whether to remain a Lion.
“Until any free agent is signed, I have said this for a number of weeks, we have a strategic plan looking at who is available. We will just keep that hat in the ring, and see how we go with that,” McRae said.
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Hannah Kennelly is an award-winning sports reporter and Formula 1 writer at The Age.Connect via email.
Jon Pierik is a sports journalist at The Age. He covers AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.Connect via X or email.
