IT'S TUESDAY, September 6 and here's our 3-2-1 of the biggest footy stories of the day.
3 - Bumper TV rights deal locked in
THE AFL has landed the biggest sports broadcast rights deal in Australian history after extending its partnership with the Seven Network, Foxtel and Telstra for another seven seasons.
The $4.5 billion deal is worth $643 million a season - an upgrade on the $473 million per season under the terms of the current two-year deal that ends after the 2024 season.
The AFL will still have control of the Grand Final starting time, but has made changes to its broadcast structure with Thursday night games in the first 15 rounds of the season from 2025 onwards.
Read more on the new deal HERE and read AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan's full statement HERE.
2 - September specialists - who did it best?
IT WAS a huge opening week of finals, but which player delivered the best individual performance? The Official AFL Player Ratings are in.
Jordan De Goey almost inspired Collingwood to an upset victory with his two final-quarter goals to go with his 26 disposals, nine tackles and eight clearances for the match.
His performance (rated 28.7) ranked above Lachie Neale (25.0), Marcus Bontempelli (24.7), Clayton Oliver (24.2) and Jeremy Cameron (21.4), who were all enormous for their respective teams.
Read more on the monstrous performances HERE.
1 - The comeback kid
FREMANTLE senstation Jye Amiss played a key role his side’s elimination final win over the Bulldogs, in what was just his second game.
The young forward never gave up on getting another chance this season, no matter how unlikely it looked when he was moved to the inactive list in May after a serious kidney injury.
But Amiss said the performance was reward for effort after keeping faith that he would return from a kidney laceration that required surgery and threatened to end his debut season.
Read more on Amiss' story HERE.
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MELBOURNE remains hopeful Christian Petracca will be fit for Friday night's blockbuster semi-final against Brisbane, though there is doubt over small forward Charlie Spargo after a nasty throat injury.
Meanwhile the Lions are bracing for a tag on star midfielder Lachie Neale after his dominant performance in the elimination final, while Neale's fellow-mid Hugh McCluggage said he's confident the Lions can cause an upset over their highly-fancied opponents, despite two hefty losses to the Dees already this season.
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