FROM celebrating footy's best big-game player, to the wonderful world of footy boots, a feral cat infestation in western Sydney and life as an AFLW player, soldier and mum - our writers covered football from every angle in 2024.
Relive some of the best feature writing from our team of award-winning reporters as you await footy's return in 2025.
Studs, screw-ins, decisions and deals: Why footy boots are big business
THE PLANE from Sydney to Melbourne was just about to take off when Chad Warner had the type of jump scare that has struck so many passengers before, hit by the sinking feeling that he'd left something very important at home.
"I realised I didn't bring me boots," Warner laughed.
Scrambling for a backup plan, the Sydney superstar used the hour-long flight to brainstorm what he'd do. After all, the very next evening he was due to face reigning premier Collingwood in a Friday night blockbuster at the MCG.
Upon touching the tarmac in Melbourne, Warner immediately took his phone off airplane mode and already had a message waiting for him. Somewhat bizarrely, without even knowing Warner had left his boots at home, Nike's long-time Australian Football Sports Marketing Manager Damian Everetts had left him a voicemail wanting to discuss a plan for the weekend.
>> Read Riley Beveridge's deep dive in the world of footy boots HERE
The drive to be great: How 'Pendles' got to 400, and why he'll coach
JUST before midnight on a Friday in late May, Scott Pendlebury boarded a red-eye flight bound for Melbourne. Collingwood had conceded four goals in time-on against Fremantle, leaving Optus Stadium with two points instead of four. By the time the rest of the Magpies left Perth the next morning, Pendlebury was already home. He had places to be.
Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd wasn't surprised to see the 36-year-old out at Haileybury College's Berwick campus the next morning ahead of a game against St Kevin's College, but some staff members were trying to figure out how he had made it back from Western Australia in time. Turns out he had landed just before 5.30 am.
When Pendlebury makes a commitment, he turns up, even if he's torn his bicep tendon the night before. Last year he turned up to his first game against Carey Grammar with a patched-up eye after copping a poke from Sam Durham on Anzac Day. Lloyd knew his new midfield coach was all-in from the outset when left Collingwood's training camp in Gippsland in time to make the two-hour trek to a pre-season session in Keysborough. First impressions count.
On Saturday night against Carlton, Pendlebury will become the sixth player in VFL/AFL history to play 400 games, joining Brent Harvey (432 games), Michael Tuck (426), Shaun Burgoyne (407), Kevin Bartlett (403) and Dustin Fletcher (400) in rare territory. From the moment Collingwood stunned rival recruiters with its second draft selection in late November 2005, Pendlebury has turned up. Every week of every season. And he is still turning up almost 20 years on.
>> Read Josh Gabelich's celebration of Collingwood 400-gamer Scott Pendlebury HERE
Mission impossible? The art and science of kick-ins
IT TENDS to happen in a flash. A defender grabs the ball after an opposition point is scored and whisks it out of his team's defence via the kick-in. The move seems so automatic, so natural, that it hides the thinking, coaching and strategy behind footy's 'jump-start' move.
"Kick-ins lead to scores about 10 per cent of the time," said one senior AFL coach. "But it is still super important for territory and getting the game where you want it. You need to make sure you're doing them right and not getting them wrong and then try to stop the 'oppo' from getting theirs going. For a small part of the game it does take up some thinking."
>> Read Cal Twomey's feature on the wonderful world of kick-ins HERE
Taylor Swift, scuffles and JL: A week inside Dockers HQ
COOPER Simpson can't stop his legs from shaking as he takes a seat in the Fremantle auditorium for what will become the most fun and impactful team meeting of a week that is set to launch the Dockers into 'in-season' mode.
"All right, men," director of football performance and innovation Adam Beard says, calling the room to attention for his weekly 'Pro Tip' session, which is designed to condense valuable performance insights into a humorous and energetic 15-minute meeting.
A player has left an anonymous letter in Beard's 'Pro Tip' mailbox and wants to know if getting first-year players to sing in front of the group is a good thing for team connection and earning respect. Suddenly Simpson, who was recruited with pick No.35 in last year's AFL Draft and has shone this summer, isn't the only player with his legs shaking.
>> Read Nathan Schmook's award-winning insight into Fremantle's pre-season HERE
Left in his Dust: Why Dustin Martin is history's best big-game player
The pressure. The build-up. The excitement. The nerves. The expectation. The possibilities. The hope. The fear. Every player dreams of playing in a Grand Final. But few have the temerity to overcome the gamut of emotions that go into the day, shoulder such significant burdens, and drag their team to the game's ultimate prize.
Thousands have played football at the highest level. Very few have become premiership players, though. Even fewer have won Norm Smiths. To be the best player in football's biggest contest is an honour reserved for only the game's very elite. Simply winning one is an achievement that any ex-footballer can dine out on for a lifetime.
For a long time, to win two put you into rarefied air. After all, only three have ever done it.
To win three, though. Well, that should be impossible. But just ask any Richmond fan; Dustin Martin has spent the best part of the last decade turning what had once seemed the unbelievable into reality.
>> Read Riley Beveridge's feature on Dustin Martin's Grand Final greatness HERE
In the Greene house: A peek into bustling life of enigmatic Giant
WHAT is Toby Greene really like? It is still the most frequently asked question directed to players, coaches and staff inside Greater Western Sydney, although those questions have diminished since he became sole skipper shortly after Adam Kingsley arrived.
Since then, the perception of the enigmatic superstar has shifted. Greene has transformed from a villain to one of the most universally admired players in the game. Almost no one is more watchable for many different reasons; almost everyone wishes he played for them.
Undoubtedly part of the shift has been Greene's accessibility. Unlike other more reclusive big names, the 30-year-old now speaks regularly on radio and TV, promoting the expansion club and discussing the biggest talking points of the day. It turns out, just like the rest of us, Greene is a diehard fan at heart.
>> Read Josh Gabelich's insight into life with Toby Greene HERE
Soldier, footy player, mum: The many sides of Kate Lutkins
KATE Lutkins is a serving member of the Australian Defence Force, an inaugural AFLW player with a Grand Final best-on-ground medal under her belt, and most recently, a mother to daughter Riley.
Having represented Brisbane since 2017, the fan favourite and three-time All Australian key defender made the decision to have a child with wife Kate, sitting out the Lions' premiership-winning 2023 season while pregnant.
Despite being closer to the end of her career than the start, the choice was a no-brainer for the 35-year-old, triggered by a deeply emotional moment of clarity a few years prior, but the process was anything but smooth.
>> Read Sarah Black's feature on Lions AFLW champion Kate Lutkins HERE
Twists, turns and tricks: Who are footy's 'contortionists'?
ERROL Gulden gets so many kicks that this one probably went under the radar. Early in the second quarter of Sydney's win over Collingwood in round one, the Swans star received a handball just outside the 50-metre arc at the MCG.
His body already twisted and slightly off balance, Gulden screwed the ball around on his left foot between Pendlebury and Will Hoskin-Elliott, who was attempting a smother as the ball also got through three more Magpies to find Rowbottom, who slammed home the goal.
The Gulden boot produced a piece of magic, quickly calculated by one of football's 'contortionists', the players who manoeuvre, manipulate and move the ball in their hands in all sorts of positions and connect with their feet to hit some of the most spectacular kicks in the game.
>> Read Cal Twomey's look at the AFL's magicians by foot HERE
Mission im-puss-ible: The club-wide cat rescue at Giants HQ
IT ALL started with Greyboy.
Last November, at the conclusion of another tough and gruelling Greater Western Sydney pre-season training session, the club's assistant coach Craig Jennings was walking back to his car when he noticed a confronting scene out of the corner of his eye.
In the bushes was a skinny, malnourished cat. Wrapped around its neck was a plastic container lid, making its breathing difficult and laboured. 'Greyboy', as he has since become affectionately named by Giants staff, was a street cat living on the outskirts of the club's Olympic Park headquarters.
>> Read Riley Beveridge's feature on the feral cat epidemic at GWS HERE
Bark, bite and balance: Behind the scenes at the Kennel
TAM HYETT describes her team as an up-and-coming rock band who are currently rehearsing in the hope of finding their best sound.
The band is ambitious, they may not be famous yet, but they plan to sell out venues and tour the world.
However, at this point in time, in the early stages of their career, they’re writing new music and learning their instruments. Most of all, the band is learning to play together.
>> Read Phoebe McWilliams' look at the Bulldogs' AFLW rebuild HERE
From stray shots to running hot: Why Lion can smile after Jekyll and Hyde season
CHARLIE Cameron is heading to a place he belongs on Saturday night – a final at the Gabba – but the road to get there in 2024 has been vastly different to the one of years past.
Just less than 12 months ago Cameron looked like being a Grand Final hero, beating Brayden Maynard and Isaac Quaynor to a loose ball and putting the Lions in front with five minutes remaining.
But alas for him and his team, Collingwood fought back to snatch the premiership in one of the most memorable deciders this century.
Since that moment, it's been anything but smooth-sailing for Cameron as he's overcome a spate of off-season surgeries, an unlikely crisis of confidence around goals and a new-look forward line that has unearthed his inner leader.
>> Read Michael Whiting's feature on Brisbane premiership hero Charlie Cameron HERE
Dancing, driving and diaries: How this mum shaped a footy family
FOOTY and netball during winter, little athletics during summer.
Dancing three nights a week at mum's dance studio – tap, jazz, ballet – during the school term, and basketball tournaments around the state.
Four kids growing up in Foster, a bit over two hours south-east of Melbourne.
Welcome to the Duursma family.
>> Read Sarah Black's feature on the talented Duursma family HERE
The one question that set Hawk's career-best year in motion
WHY AREN'T you an All-Australian yet? Dylan Moore wasn't expecting such a blunt question when he sat down with Adrian Hickmott at Waverley Park last November. He didn't have an answer. But Hawthorn's new forwards coach had made his point.
The narrative shifted last year. It was no longer just about Moore making the most of his second chance at the Hawks. He had recovered from being delisted at the end of 2020 to finish fourth, third and sixth in the past three Peter Crimmins Medals.
But the anguish of being cut is woven into his story. It always will be. Moore spent most of 2020 living in hubs in Sydney and the Barossa Valley, playing in 12v12 or 14v14 scratch matches against opposition that included greying assistant coaches and data analysts. Famously he salvaged his career across the space of two hours in front of 2,000 people at the Adelaide Oval that September.
The rest is history.
>> Read Josh Gabelich's feature on Hawks vice-captain Dylan Moore HERE
