AFL.com.au's Callum Twomey takes a look at the curious situation of Lachie Neale, the rise of the Wizard and more in Cal-culations

BLOCKS, BREAKS AND BARRIERS – HOW AFL STARS ARE CHANGING SOCIAL MEDIA HABITS 

"IT'S GETTING worse and worse every year."

That was a gun player's view recently of the social media venom sent their way. They spoke of the flooded inbox post-game of abuse – be it for a missed handball, a free kick, a flop, not getting enough AFL Fantasy points or not coming through for the final leg of a betting multi. 

When AFL.com.au reported on Thursday that Essendon defender Ben McKay had been dropped by the Bombers, it was met with fierce vitriol towards the former Kangaroo. But this is just one of many cases, each week, that has players as the lightning rods for social media derision. 

Football, of course, is a microcosm of society and social media has given voice to everyone and a platform to anyone. The impact on the AFL and AFL players shouldn't be forgotten though and players have had to find ways to protect themselves, their families and their mental health. It is one of football's biggest issues for players, with death threats via Instagram sadly not uncommon and sports stars around the world similarly affected. 

"I've unfollowed pretty much every AFL-related account, and you can only comment on my photos if I follow that person," Port Adelaide captain Connor Rozee told AFL.com.au at the start of the season. 

"It got a bit out of hand when you're winning or losing every week and especially when sports betting comes into it as well. I don't think it's great for people's mental health to be reading stuff. 

"I try not to. You still have friends and family who like to bring up articles every now and then, but I like to avoid it. I don't like reading it. I'd tell the younger boys at the club similar things. They spend a lot of time on their phones, but the less they read, the better."

For Fremantle captain Alex Pearce, selecting accounts to follow and how to interact became a conscious task.

"I've tried to curate my social media in a way where I don't see lots of footy news or content. That's a healthy way to be able to manage it. If you go looking for it, you can find too many opinions," he said. 

"One of the best bits of advice is to try and be conscious of where you're getting your advice from, and that's people you trust and the best way to do that is to make sure you're curating your social media feed and making sure you're not being bombarded with things that are affecting you personally or taking you away from things that are important."

Other captains spoken to by AFL.com.au earlier this year used similar tactics. Darcy Moore, the Pies' captain, started in the competition in a completely different social media world. 

"My journey very much charts the path of social media and its influence on the game. I started in 2014 when it existed but it certainly didn't have the same level of interest and cut-through. Then to now, it's afforded so many incredible opportunities to players, and also can have some really harmful elements to it as well," he said. 

"I try to use social media as little as possible, I try to minimise it. I use it mostly as a commercial tool and the way to get my brand out there and tell stories to fans. I don't use social media to interact with people I don't know. I love music, I'm really passionate about music and art, so to be able to connect with musicians I love and support their work, artists who I love and promote their work, is really cool."

When Moore started, many AFL players were active and vocal on X (formerly Twitter). Now there are very few players to use that medium, instead preferring the controls offered by Instagram and TikTok. 

Most business accounts use filtering programs to catch abusive messages before they are published, but players still see the commentary sent their way. "If you are on social media, it's impossible not to see some of it," one player said. 

Gold Coast star Noah Anderson, the youngest captain in the AFL, keeps tight limits on how and when he uses social media. 

"I use it in the off-season, but during the year, I have it for one day after the game, and then I don't have it for the rest of the week. I just felt like early in my career, I wanted to really funnel where I was getting my feedback," he said. 

"My first few years, playing on a wing, I wasn't getting any external validation or was being talked about. But that wasn't why I was playing (for external feedback), I was trying to play a role for the team and I was getting really good feedback from coaches and teammates. 

"Pretty early in my career I realised that, with respect, my feedback needs to come from the club and the outside stuff doesn't help." 

Some players choose to unfollow their club accounts purely so they don't have to see the comments underneath posts. Others are understood to use the mediums to post their content and then delete the app until they want to post again. 

It, of course, is not all bad. Marketing opportunities via social media are endless. For Hawthorn gun Jack Ginnivan, he has cultivated an enormous profile through his online status and fame. His own clothes brand has been able to sell out due to his social media persona boosting his profile. Bailey Smith, similarly, leans into using social media as his voice whilst shunning regular media. 

Clubs take their players through education sessions on social media use, and one club told AFL.com.au that over summer they spent 10 minutes at the start of team meetings discussing phone habits and trying to have their players wind back their phone use for their betterment – including at night to have better sleep. 

AFL Players Association boss James Gallagher told AFL.com.au earlier this year that finding the balance was crucial. It remains one of the biggest issues in the game, albeit often in the recesses of private inboxes. 

"It plays a role in the pressure on players, but equally it's a really important vehicle to creating some of those off-field opportunities. It's about how you work with it and how you protect yourself in that environment," he said. "Maximise it for the opportunities it can present, but also in a way that protects yourself." 

CLUBS JOCKEY FOR LACHIE

LACHIE Neale is in demand. Brisbane wants to keep him and get going on a deal. Collingwood has interest in him. Adelaide too. West Coast would love him and Fremantle would also look. His former coach Ross Lyon is at St Kilda.

Neale is waiting to work out what is next for him after one of footy's most glittering careers. 

Among all the talk about his future, which is linked to his personal life, the discussion about his actual form has been comparably quiet. It shouldn't be.

Neale's 33 disposals, nine clearances and a goal were nearly the difference against Carlton on Friday night as the Blues reversed their trend and made a second-half comeback. 

But Neale continued what has been an outstanding season and he is well in contention for a fifth best and fairest at Brisbane – and remarkably a seventh of his career. 

The soon-to-be 33-year-old is Brisbane's No.1 ranked player this year by Champion Data, with Zac Bailey (second), Ryan Lester (third), Dayne Zorko (fourth) and Harris Andrews (fifth) next in line.

Neale's disposal average has returned to 30.9 a game – the most he's averaged since 2019 – and he has averaged more inside 50s (5), marks (6.7), centre clearances (4) and score involvements (6.6) than at any stage of his career. 

If a two-time Brownlow Medallist, two-time premiership star and four-time All-Australian can go under the radar, then it's Neale right now. 

THE WIZARD'S GRADUATION

WHERE do you start with Nick Watson?

How about the fact he is the No.1 rated general forward in the AFL? What about being the 10th highest rated player across the season according to Champion Data?

That's behind the likes of Christian Petracca, Isaac Heeney, Max Gawn, Marcus Bontempelli, Kysaiah Pickett, Zak Butters, Brodie Grundy, Luke Jackson and Shai Bolton.

The youngest in the other nine is Jackson, who turns 25 in September. Watson is a couple of months past his 21st birthday.

Let's go on a numbers deep dive with Watson. He is the most dangerous player in the game within 30 metres of goal, with 17 of his 23 goals this season coming from that range. Sixty per cent of his goals have been from general play, which is the second highest percentage of the top 30 goalkickers in the league.

Remember the gags about Watson's inaccuracy in his first year? Talk about going early. 

Watson's goal conversion has increased dramatically and he is eighth in the AFL for accuracy of the top 50 players with shots at goal. 

The Wizard has gone from Harry Potter to Professor Dumbledore in 51 games and has All-Australian selectors sizing up a jumper for him at the midway point of this season.

His importance to Hawthorn couldn't have been clearer on Thursday, with Watson electric in the first half to ignite the Hawks against Fremantle. As they closed his influence down in the second half, the Dockers got rolling. 

That impact can be measured. When Watson is in the top five ranked Hawthorn players in a game over the past two seasons, the Hawks win 36 per cent more often than when he is outside of the top five ranked players. That makes his win differential the third biggest in the league, behind only midfield superstars Hugh McCluggage and Noah Anderson.

Watson has kicked 84 goals after 52 games and at the same mark Cyril Rioli had kicked 52. Steve Johnson had kicked 78 goals after 52 games as well as a general play gun inside forward 50. Clearly there is still so much more to come for Watson. Sounds magical. 

CROWS' CREDENTIALS TO BE TESTED

THINGS were shaky at half-time but Adelaide's second half against Richmond must be the energy it takes into its next block of games.

There would have been some nerves at half-time as the Crows trailed by 10 points to the Tigers but nine goals to two after half-time corrected them to return to a quicker, riskier, tighter defensive brand after that.

Izak Rankine was excellent as their fire-starter with 33 disposals and a goal, Jordan Dawson was at his best with 29 disposals and a goal too, and Wayne Milera continued his career-best form with 34 touches.

Rankine and Dawson were fed around the ground by Lachie McAndrew, who had 33 hitouts to Richmond's combined 19, with McAndrew among the rucks who have benefited from the new rules this season and made him a valuable proposition ahead of being an unrestricted free agent next year.

The Crows face North Melbourne and Hawthorn before its bye and then have Geelong and the Western Bulldogs after their break, with the next month to shape their credentials. 

HONESTY BRIGADE

THE FRUSTRATION and anger was seeping out of Josh Carr. 

After Port Adelaide's fourth loss by under five points this year, the Power coach unloaded on his team.

"Tonight we were horrible. In the first half especially, we were trying to be too cute with the footy,” he said.

"The conditions were obviously a bit slippery but we had opportunities to go inside-50 and put them under pressure but we didn't. We searched for the handball at times when we didn't need to, so just a really bad night."

It's not the first time Carr has been brutally honest this season – that was after round one's loss to North Melbourne, when the 2004 premiership player said he'd "got it wrong" in his preparation and messaging before the defeat. 

Carr is getting things right, though, and has had a focus on defence this season. The Power have given up only two goal streaks of five or more goals this year, so they don't fall too far behind on the scoreboard. Port has played in the second-lowest scoring matches of any team this year and are proving hard to move the ball against. 

Steven King, Melbourne's new coach, also owned his team's shock Gather Round defeat to Essendon, saying he didn't get it right against the Bombers.

The new coaches have not been afraid to pull punches on themselves and their team. May it continue. 

Another of the freshest senior coaches in the competition, Sydney's Dean Cox, was over summer forthright about the things that didn't work last year that he had wanted to fix and get right about his and his team's preparations for 2026. 

NORTH'S TIMING OFF

NORTH Melbourne can count itself unlucky. 

The AFL's new top-five bonus pick rule has come as the Roos look likely to take themselves out of the bottom five for the first time in six years.

The League's new rule, which was revealed by AFL.com.au in March, will see clubs that have a top-five draft selection pushed back at least one spot due to a matched father-son or Academy bid be awarded a compensation pick tied to their second-round selection.

Retrospectively, the Roos have likely missed out on five extra picks at the top of the second round in the past four years. 

In 2020 the Roos' pick No.2 was shifted back one spot due to Adelaide bidding on Jamarra Ugle-Hagan at pick No.1 and the Bulldogs matching.

The following year, North had pick No.1 and chose to take Jason Horne-Francis instead of bidding on Nick Daicos. If this rule had been in, they would certainly have made a bid and had their pick shuffled down.

In 2022, they placed a bid on Will Ashcroft at No.2 which was matched and then took Harry Sheezel, so that would have qualified them as it would have the following year when they bid on Jed Walter at No.3 before it was matched and then they selected Zane Duursma.

Levi Ashcroft slipped down to No.5 before he was bid on by Melbourne in 2024 but it is likely if this rule was in place that Richmond at No.1 or North at No.2 would have bidded to have landed the extra pick at the start of the start of the second round. 

Throw in the fact that in 2023 Ryley Sanders was part of the Roos' Next Generation Academy but clubs at that stage couldn't match a bid on any NGA player inside the top 40 picks, so they were not able to land him. 

That year North Melbourne did get an assistance package from the AFL that included end of first round picks that could be kept and some that had to be traded, which may not have been delivered if the top-five rule was in place then.

But there's little doubt the extra pick rule would have been handy for them during a dark era.  

HILL OPENS UP ON LYON MEETING

BRADLEY Hill has thrown more support behind St Kilda coach Ross Lyon after a recent comment at training saw Lyon have to apologise to his Indigenous players.

Lyon conceded last month he had "made an error" and was held to account by his players, including Hill, after discussing the "brother boy connection" during a drill. 

Hill told the Young Guns Inside the System podcast that the "slip up" had been education for his coach. 

"At first I was a little bit flat how it all got out. We had a catch up and I just wanted to touch base on how we felt about it and just had a conversation with Ross and cleared the air. He learned a little bit from it and it was a little bit of education for him," Hill said.

"All us boys hugged it out at the end. We've got a lot of respect for Ross, we all love Ross and he's done so much for all us boys. 

"He does a lot for the Indigenous boys and if we ever have any issues or anyone's got anything they need to go home for, he understands the family stuff. It was a little bit of a slip up, but we have a lot of respect for Ross."

Meanwhile teammate Liam Ryan has revealed how his corked hip, which has ruled him out of St Kilda's past two games, saw him in agony after the win over West Coast in round seven. He is expected to return next week against Richmond. 

"I passed out three times on the Sunday night after the game. I popped a blood vessel and I went to the hospital and spent two nights there," he said.