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Caroline Wilson

Caroline Wilson

Caroline Wilson is a Walkley award-winning columnist and former chief football writer for The Age.

Hawks players celebrate with selfies in Launceston.

This feud has become a ‘festering sore’ for the game’s 19th club. Why won’t the AFL act?

That head office has failed to take a position in a debate that has confused Tasmanian football supporters and divided the very market it vowed to unite underlines the lack of decisive leadership which has too often punctuated Andrew Dillon’s time as CEO.

  • Caroline Wilson

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John Longmire was senior coach of the Swans between 2011 and 2024, during which time the team won the premiership flag once and played in the grand final five times.

The three clubs that could entice John Longmire back to coaching

The premiership coach is “a new man”, looking younger and healthier after embracing a new role. His youngest child has finished school. So what’s next?

  • Caroline Wilson
Swans coach Dean Cox (centre) sought feedback from his players, including Isaac Heeney and skipper Callum Mills, after last season.

Dean Cox asked his players for feedback. This is what they told him

All up, 44 players completed the coach’s review. Some of the answers were short and punchy, others more detailed. Roughly half of the senior list put their names to their questionnaire, the rest chose to remain anonymous.

  • Caroline Wilson
Leigh Matthews, Nathan Buckley, Bruce McAvaney and Dennis Cometti on Seven’s Friday Night Football in 2009.

Dennis Cometti brought joy to the commentary box, but there was one thing he loathed

Working alongside the legendary caller, I was introduced to another side of his analytical brilliance.

  • Caroline Wilson
Port Adelaide chairman David Koch (left) is steering a $20 million property investment to secure the club’s future, backed by the AFL.

This AFL club was described as a ‘carcass’. Now it’s investing millions to build a new suburb and secure its future

Inside the secret proposal to transform an AFL club’s heartland through a complex property buy-up and redevelopment that has the financial backing of the league.

  • Caroline Wilson
AFL executives Greg Swann, Andrew Dillon and Laura Kane.

‘Teething problems’, or something untenable? Behind the brewing tensions at AFL House

Tensions between the AFL’s two key football lieutenants have threatened to destabilise Andrew Dillon’s senior team just months into his controversial head-office restructure.

  • Caroline Wilson
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Bailey Smith starred on the field for Geelong in 2025, but off the field was another matter.

Bailey Smith’s social media post about me was insulting and sexist. How dare he?

I probably wouldn’t have had a major problem with Max Holmes dressing up as me on Mad Monday, but I did have a problem with Smith’s social media post, and judging from the response that’s followed, I wasn’t alone.

  • Caroline Wilson
Veteran Geelong coach Chris Scott has done an outstanding job at keeping the club regenerating and competing on the run.

Why Chris Scott went off the grid, then went to war with the AFL

The dual Geelong premiership coach is great company, but intensely private. He has endured personal tragedy, which he never talks about, but is well known for private acts of kindness to others who are suffering.

  • Caroline Wilson
Brad Scott and Zach Merrett in May.

How Zach Merrett’s escape plan blew up Essendon’s fragile rebuild

The Bombers have long worshipped at the shrine of the individual, so it is fitting that a controversial exit strategy by its driven but individualistic captain has piled pressure on David Barham’s board.

  • Caroline Wilson
Three central figures in the AFL Commission power play: outgoing chair Richard Goyder, and contenders Peter Gordon and Jeff Browne.

Clubs demand secret ballot on Brownlow day amid ‘embarrassing’ AFL power struggle

Behind the scenes, influencers on both sides of this AFL power play are working the phones and crunching the numbers.

  • Caroline Wilson