State of Play - VFL/W Podcast

Joe Pignataro and Gemma Bastiani bring you the State of Play in the Smithy's VFL and Rebel VFLW competitions. 

After 770 days, the Darebin Falcons are victorious! 28 straight losses came to an end at Genis Steele Oval on Saturday against Carlton. Following that, the Northern Bullants pulled off a great heist to come from 28 points down to beat Collingwood for their first win of the season, cutting a run of 16 straight losses. 

Ca...

Joe Pignataro and Gemma Bastiani bring you the State of Play in the Smithy's VFL and Rebel VFLW competitions. 

It was all smiles if you're a Collingwood fan seeing Lachie Sullivan make his AFL debut on Friday night after toiling away with the Scray. Speaking of the Scray, Trent Bianco is our headline guest after the Dogs moved to 4-0 to start 2024.

We bid farewell to the Swans and the Giants in the Rebel VFLW after their invitati...

Joe Pignataro and Gemma Bastiani bring you the State of Play in the Smithy's VFL and Rebel VFLW competitions. 

Action packed weekend of State League footy is covered off this week with plenty of standout individual performances, as the microscope goes onto a few teams. 

Catch up on:

• 1:45: Chantal Mason is a great addition to Geelong's VFLW forward line
• 2:20: Sharni Whiting moves to the top of the VFLW goalkicking leaderbo...

Joe Pignataro and Gemma Bastiani bring you the State of Play in the Smithy's VFL and Rebel VFLW competitions. 

Geelong coach Mark Corrigan in its extended form discusses the Cats win over Brisbane on the road by 3 points. The recruitment of Shaun Mannagh to Geelong via the AFL draft, they've found another one in Tobyn Murray and hear why Mark is quite content coaching at the VFL level in his natural habitat at Geelong. 

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Joe Pignataro and Gemma Bastiani bring you the State of Play in the Smithy's VFL and Rebel VFLW competitions. 

After 630 days, 23 straight losses dating back to Round 19, 2022 - Coburg are back on the winners list! Jamie Cassidy-McNamara orchestrated the downfall of the Magpies to salute for the first time as coach of the Lions. 

In the Rebel VFLW season, it's another logjam on the ladder. Spots 2nd to 11th are separated by only ...

Joe Pignataro and Gemma Bastiani bring you the State of Play in the Smithy's VFL and Rebel VFLW competitions. 

Collingwood prevailed in a 1-point thriller on Sunday over the arch-rivals Carlton, Ben Crocker has rejoined his old-side and recaps the grandstand finish as well as celebrating the AFL sides 2023 premiership.

Plus, how the opening month of the Rebel VFLW campaign has rolled out, and why momentum is critical in the Smith...

Joe Pignataro and Gemma Bastiani bring you the State of Play in the Smithy's VFL and Rebel VFLW competitions. 

With the Smithy's VFL having a competition wide bye, the Big V took centre stage during Gather Round against the SANFL. Despite going down by 14 points, the side was led boldly by senior coach Zane Littlejohn and Dom Brew. 

Montana Ham led the way for the Swans in their inaugural game kicking 5 goals as the captain again...

Joe Pignataro is in Adelaide with a Gather Round edition of State of Play in the Smithy's VFL and Rebel VFLW competitions. 

We are hours away from the return of representative footy. The VFL will face off against the SANFL. 

Nigel Carmody is our well-known VFL commentator on Channel 7, now Chairman of Selectors for the Big V joins Joey to unpack the history of State v State, and the make up of the team that will face off against ...

Joe Pignataro and Gemma Bastiani bring you the State of Play in the Smithy's VFL and Rebel VFLW competitions. 

All roads in the Smithy's VFL head to Adelaide this weekend as State footy returns, Dom Brew has been announced the skipper of the Big V that will face off against the SANFL on Saturday.

The Rebel VFLW has had some outstanding individual performances across round 2 while Round 3 is set to be a Super Saturday in Victoria....

Joe Pignataro and Gemma Bastiani bring you the State of Play in the Smithy's VFL and Rebel VFLW competitions. 

Hear from Werribee captain Nick Coughlan on the back of his 100th VFL game performance. The Bee's skipper talks through the list changes to the team that played off in the 2023 decider, the growth in his own game as well as individual standouts like Dom Brew and Louis Pinnuck. 

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Joe Pignataro and Gemma Bastiani bring you the State of Play in the Smithy's VFL and Rebel VFLW competitions. 

Stellar individual performances lit up the opening round of both competitions with a Southport Shark starting his campaign in the same spot that he left off, whilst a new Kangaroo made her mark at Arden St. 

Catch up on:

• 1:05: Weekend Heroes from Round 1
• 5:10: Maggie McKellar; Port Melbourne VFLW defender
• 8:00: ...

Joe Pignataro and Gemma Bastiani bring you the State of Play in the Smithy's VFL and Rebel VFLW competitions. 

In this bonus edition hear from Ben Hudson, coach of the Brisbane Lions ahead of their season opener against Essendon at the Hangar.

Hudson unpacks his first year as the senior coach, working alongside Chris Fagan, the strength of footy in Queensland and what we can expect from the Lions in 2024. 

Subscribe to the State...

Joe Pignataro and Gemma Bastiani bring you the State of Play in the Smithy's VFL and Rebel VFLW competitions. 

Round 1 is on our doorstep, we are only 3 sleeps away from the both competitions kickstarting. The pre-cursor to the opening weekend of the season was the debut of Shaun Mannagh with Geelong. 

Catch up on:

• 2:10: Jamie Cassidy-McNamara; Coach of Coburg
• 9:00: VFL Top 8 Predictions
• 13:10: A changing of the guard at...

Joe Pignataro and Gemma Bastiani bring you the State of Play in the Smithy's VFL and Rebel VFLW competitions. 

Reporting from the VFL/W Season Launch in Port Melbourne, our team discusses the summer heroes, the players from the Smithy's VFL that have been recruited into the AFL. As well as the VFL/W players who've earned AFLW contracts. 

As part of this Season Launch episode, hear from:  

• 9:10: El Chaston; Captain of the E...

Joe Pignataro and Lucy Watkin bring you the latest news from the Smithy's VFL and Rebel VFLW season for 2023.

Heading into the Smithy's VFL Grand Final hear from both coaches, Michael Barlow (Werribee) and Josh Drummond (Gold Coast) from the Palladium Ballroom at Crown on the VFL/W awards night.

Incredibly, this years Lambert-Pearce Medal is a 3-way tie, Joe and Lucy speak to each winner and the J.J Liston Trophy winner is Jarryd...

The penultimate weekend of the 2023 Smithy's VFL season pins the Box Hill Hawks against the Gold Coast Suns, and Werribee welcomes Brisbane to Victoria. The winner of these 2 matches will face off in this years Grand Final

6:20: Callum Porter; Box Hill Hawks co-captain after the Hawks won through to the Preliminary Final against the Suns on the back of beating Footscray by 20 points

16:30: Tom Gribble; Werribee stalwart is lookin...

It was a Super Saturday to kickstart the Smithy's VFL finals series for 2023. 

Werribee made it 16 wins in a row to book a spot in the Preliminary Final, whilst the Gold Coast Suns stamped themselves as Premiership favourites beating Brisbane in the Q-Clash. Williamstown continue their fairytale run this year dismantling the Magpies and the Scray were able to keep their 11-game winning streak alive smashing Casey. 

7:30: Caleb Po...

Wildcard Weekend proved to be successful for Collingwood and the Casey Demons who have both advanced to the 2023 Smithy's VFL finals series. 

This weekend is headlined by the minor premiers Gold Coast facing off against the Brisbane Lions in the Q-Clash at Heritage Bank Stadium on Saturday night.

6:40: Chris Burgess; Gold Coast Suns forward has gone back-to-back in winning the Frosty Miller Medal, this year equal on 51 goals with...