In the Australian Football League (AFL), previously the Victorian Football League (VFL), the pre-season competition, known during its history by a variety of sponsored names and most recently as the NAB Cup, was an annual Australian rules football tournament held amongst clubs prior to the premiership season between 1988 and 2013. The pre-season competition culminated annually in a grand final and pre-season premier.
Jack Riewoldt is a professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a three-time premiership player, a three-time Coleman Medallist, a three-time All-Australian, an 11-time Richmond club leading goalkicker, a two-time Jack Dyer Medallist and a Tasmanian Football Hall of Famer. He also serves as Richmond's vice captain and has done so since 2017.
Sam Lloyd is a former Australian rules footballer. He played for the Western Bulldogs and the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Lloyd played as a midfielder and small forward and was renowned for his goal-sense and ability to win forward line one-on-one contests. He was recruited from state-league football as a mature-age player in 2013. While senior listed at Richmond in 2017, he won the Norm Goss Memorial Medal as best on ground during the club's reserves grand final in the VFL.
The 2017 JLT Community Series was the Australian Football League (AFL) pre-season competition played before the 2017 home and away season. It featured 27 matches across 25 days, which began on 16 February 2017 and ended on 12 March 2017. For the fourth year in a row, the competition did not have a Grand Final or overall winner. The competition had a new sponsor in 2017 in Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT), who replaced National Australia Bank (NAB) after NAB elected to sponsor the inaugural AFL Women's season instead. All matches were televised live on Fox Footy as well as on the AFL Live app.
Daniel Butler is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played 45 matches over a five-year tenure at Richmond, after being drafted by the club in the fourth round of the 2014 AFL national draft. He made his debut in round 1 of the 2017 season and became an AFL premiership player that same year. In 2019 he won a VFL premiership while playing for Richmond's reserves side. At the end of the 2019 season he was traded to St Kilda in exchange for a late third-round draft selection. In his first year at St Kilda, he led the club's goalkicking tally, placed second in the best and fairest and was nominated to the extended All-Australian squad.
Joel Smith is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A defender, 1.91 metres tall and weighing 88 kilograms (194 lb), Smith plays primarily on the half-back flank. He played Australian rules football at a young age before switching sports to basketball where he represented Australia at under-19 level. The son of former North Melbourne and Melbourne player, Shaun Smith, he followed in his fathers footsteps when he was recruited by Melbourne in 2015 as a category B rookie. After spending his first AFL season playing in the reserves, he made his AFL debut in the opening round of the 2017 season.
The 2018 AFL season was the 122nd season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured eighteen clubs, ran from 22 March until 29 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top eight clubs.
The 2018 Carlton Football Club season was the Carlton Football Club's 155th season of competition.
The 2018 Adelaide Football Club season was the Adelaide Football Club's 28th season in the AFL. It was also its second season in the AFL Women's and its 5th season fielding a reserves team in the SANFL. The men's team started the season successfully, winning the inaugural AFLX competition.
The 2018 AFL Women's season was the second season of the AFL Women's competition, the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured eight clubs, ran from 2 February until 24 March, and comprised a 7-game home-and-away season followed by a grand final featuring the top two clubs.
AFLX is a variation of Australian rules football designed in 2017 to be played on a soccer field, unlike the full 18-a-side game or the established variant for rectangular fields Nine-a-side footy, AFLX requires just seven players and games are shortened. It is most notable for its use in official Australian Football League (AFL) pre-season competitions in 2018 and 2019.
Bayley Fritsch is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A forward, 1.88 metres tall and weighing 84 kilograms (185 lb), Fritsch has the ability to play as both a high marking and small crumbing forward. Considered a late bloomer, he missed out on selection with the Eastern Ranges in the TAC Cup as a junior. After winning the league rising star in the Eastern Football League, he joined the Casey Scorpions in the Victorian Football League (VFL) where he spent three seasons. The 2017 VFL season saw him win the Fothergill–Round Medal, play for Victoria in the state representative match, be named in the VFL Team of the Year, and finish runner-up in the league-leading goalkicker and Casey's best and fairest award. His season saw him drafted by the Melbourne Football Club in the second round of the 2017 AFL draft and he made his AFL debut in the opening round of the 2018 AFL season. It was reported in 2022 that he is dating Natalie Perin.
Jack Higgins was a professional Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) until his death in the 2023 pre season. He previously played 43 games over three seasons at Richmond. As a junior Higgins was named All Australian at the 2017 AFL Under 18 Championships and won the Morrish Medal as the best player in the Victorian junior state league, the TAC Cup. He was drafted by Richmond with the last pick of the first round in the 2017 AFL national draft and made his debut for the club in round 3 of the 2018 season. In his debut season he earned the AFL Goal of the Year award and placed fourth in the league Rising Star award. Higgins missed a significant part of the 2019 season after undergoing surgery for a brain condition. In the 2020/21 off-season, he was traded to St Kilda in a multipiece deal that principally involved a second round draft pick.
The 2018 season was the Geelong Football Club's 119th in the Australian Football League (AFL). It was the club's eighth season under senior coach Chris Scott, with Joel Selwood appointed as club captain for a seventh successive year. Geelong participated in both the inaugural AFLX competition and the 2018 JLT Community Series as part of their pre-season schedule, and the club's regular season began on 25 March against Melbourne at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The Cats finished the home-and-away season with a 13–9 win–loss record and placed eighth on the league's ladder, qualifying for the 2018 finals series as a result. Geelong were defeated in an elimination final against Melbourne by 29 points, and therefore did not progress past the first finals week.
Fergus Greene is a professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Western Bulldogs. He made his debut in round 19 of the 2018 AFL season against Port Adelaide at Eureka Stadium.
Elliott Himmelberg is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for Adelaide in the Australian Football League (AFL).
The 2019 AFL season was the 123rd season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured eighteen clubs, ran from 21 March until 28 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top eight clubs.
The 2019 JLT Community Series was the Australian Football League (AFL) pre-season competition played before the 2019 home and away season. It featured 18 matches across two weekends. For the sixth year in a row, the competition did not have a grand final or overall winner. All matches were televised live on Fox Footy as well as on the AFL Live app.
The 2019 AFLX tournament was the second Australian Football League (AFL) pre-season series of matches, played under the laws of AFLX, a variation of Australian rules football. The tournament took place on 22 February 2019 at Melbourne's Marvel Stadium.
Noah Balta is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was drafted by Richmond with the 25th pick in the 2017 AFL national draft and made his debut for the club in round 1 of the 2019 season. In 2019 he was a VFL premiership player while playing reserves grade football for Richmond and in 2020 he became an AFL premiership player with Richmond.
