AFL news 2026: The Blowtorch Round 10 fixture preview, Fox Footy commentary roster, how to watch every game and start times

Out with the old and in with the new.

That’s what an AFL great wants to see Carlton caretaker coach Josh Fraser deploy in a ‘blank canvas’ for the club.

Plus, more of the biggest talking points ahead of Round 10, as well as the commentators for every Fox Footy game, in foxfooty.com.au’s ultimate weekly preview: The Blowtorch!

Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.

CALL FOR BOLD BLUES CHANGES WITH ‘BLANK CAVAS’

Where to now for the Blues?

The club has a “blank canvas” under interim coach Josh Fraser after it turned a page on the Michael Voss era.

And with it will come a host a changes

For Saints great Leigh Montagna, it should be out with the old and in with the new from a personnel perspective, after the club fielded one of the most experienced teams in the competition last weekend.

In fact, the Blues had the fifth-oldest and fifth-most experienced team in Round 9.

But Montagna wants to see Fraser go dramatically younger and make six changes for Saturday night’s clash with the Western Bulldogs.

He called for Nic Newman (age 33), Nick Haynes (33), Adam Saad (31), Zac Williams (31), Adam Cerra (26) and Francis Evans (24) to be replaced by Talor Byrne (18), Wade Derksen (24), Jack Ison (19), Hudson O’Keeffe (21), Ashton Moir (21), Cooper Lord (21)

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“Josh Fraser has a blank canvas now,” Montagna began on Fox Footy’s First Crack: Preview.

“To say: ‘Right, what do we want our team to look like? How do we want them to play? And how can we best set this club up for 2027?’

“You can’t have a side (that old) going through a rebuild and planning for 2027, so they’re going to have to make some changes.

“Some of these might seem harsh of feel harsh, but I think they should be looking to blood the youth.

“There are some names have been great servants for the footy club. But if I’m in charge, I’m saying: ‘Thank you for your time, but we need to start giving games to these younger players’.

“And find out which of the young guys can make it and can be part of the future, and which ones maybe aren’t quite up to it.

“But at least give them 10 to 12 games to have a look.”

While Cerra is still only 26, Montagna believes he should be moved out of the midfield, if nothing else.

“Everyone talks about you can’t have George Hewett and Patrick Cripps in the same team because of their leg speed. I would be thinking you can’t have Hewett and Cerra because of their lack of leg speed and lack of power out of stoppage,” the dual All-Australian added.

“So maybe for Cerra, if it’s not (out of the team), it’s not in the midfield and give the keys to young Cooper Lord and throw some others in there.

“(Cerra) Just doesn’t perform. He’s rated 68th out of 75 midfielders in the competition this year, he’s not doing enough for me.

“There’s still enough experience — Mitch McGovern, Jacob Weitering, Cripps, Hewett and the boys who have come in from other clubs.”

Proposed Blues changes for Round 10

Out

Nic Newman (age 33)

Nick Haynes (33)

Adam Saad (31)

Zac Williams (31)

Adam Cerra (26)

Francis Evans (24)

In

Talor Byrne (18)

Wade Derksen (24)

Jack Ison (19)

Hudson O’Keeffe (21)

Ashton Moir (21)

Cooper Lord (21)

ALARMING PIES NUMBERS EMERGE AS GREAT FLOATS STAR SWITCH

Perhaps Gerard Whateley put Collingwood best: “They are as average as you can get.”

They have four-and-a-half wins from nine games with a percentage of 99.9 to sit right on the edge of the top 10.

In what’s been a patchy season to date for Craig McRae’s troops in a year they’re expected to tumble down the ladder, last week’s 54-point loss to Geelong was a low-point.

And ahead of a daunting trip to the SCG, there’s multiple issues that are starting to build up.

We know about Collingwood’s forward-half woes, while it also has a problem at the centre bounce.

Since Round 4, the Pies have ranked 13th in points from clearances and 15th in points against.

They’ve also rated 18th in first possession, 15th in first position to clearance and 15th in effective clearance to score over that span.

It still feels very Nick Daicos or bust in that midfield, with Hawks legend Jordan Lewis noting the superstar “probably can’t do any more than he’s doing at the moment.”

As such, Lewis called for Josh Daicos to spend more time with his brother on the ball, given how effective the numbers read.

Though predominantly playing across halfback, Josh Daicos has remarkably had the most impact as a midfielder of any player to have played 250-plus midfield minutes in the last two years.

But Lewis believes Josh Daicos hasn’t had as many midfield opportunities because Magpies on-ballers Scott Pendlebury and Ned Long are limited at playing other roles.

“The player I think they haven’t utilised as much as they possibly could is Josh Daicos,” the four-time premiership Hawk said on Fox Footy’s On the Couch.

“I look at the other players in there and maybe they don’t have a secondary position.

“It’s unfortunate for Josh that he’s a really good halfback as well.

“Because they don’t have other positions to go to, you’re potentially sacrificing your second-best centre bounce player in the need of others.”

Collingwood’s groundball game has also become a real issue.

In fact, the Pies are on track to be the second-worst forward 50 groundball team on record.

And while they’ve desperately missed Bobby Hill, former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said the Norm Smith medal list is “not going to be the panacea to all of Collingwood’s ills.”

“When you think about Collingwood at their best and when Fly (McRae) came in, not too dissimilar to the Richmond style, relying on that fierce pressure in front of the ball,” former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said.

“They just haven’t been able to find a way to put enough pressure on the groundball.”

Buckley declared McRae has “coached the ears off this side throughout his tenure,” but noted the looming “cliff” coming for the AFL’s most experienced team.

“I think we need to separate a bit about what the coach has at his disposal v list management,” Buckley added.

“Let’s not beat around the bush, the age cohort and experience is a question that’s been asked for two or three years now. And they’ve done extremely well.

“Scott Pendlebury (age 38), Steele Sidebottom (35), Jack Crisp (32), Jeremy Howe (35), Jordan De Goey (30) and Jamie Elliott (33) have been excellent contributors over a long period of time. Longer than most would’ve suspected.

“But when you get on, the cliff can come pretty quickly. Whether we’re there or not, I think we were asking the same thing near on 12 months ago.

“It does come eventually and who you have underneath to come up is going to be Collingwood’s challenge.

“There will be a point where you need the youth to stand up and take more responsibility.”

‘LATEST EVOLUTION’ OF CATS IS ‘SCARY’… AND FURTHER PROOF OF COACH’S ‘GENIUS’

The “genius” nature of Geelong coach Chris Scott has been on full display across recent weeks.

And what he’s pulled off at the Cats so far this season – his 16th at the helm – is a feat that’s “scary for the rest of the competition”, according to dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna.

The Fox Footy analyst said the Cats produced a “powerful statement” against Collingwood last week. Defensively sound across their first eight games, the Magpies were “totally dismantled” by Geelong in a second half that saw Scott’s side kick 11.8 to 4.6 on its way to a 54-point win.

It was the latest breathtaking offensive display from the Cats, who’ve now kicked 120-plus points in each of their past four wins over the Eagles, Bulldogs, Kangaroos and Magpies.

And it’s been triggered by a significant gamestyle shift that mirrors some of this year’s premiership contenders.

Like the Swans and Suns, Geelong has adopted a high handball-metres-gained approach, particularly in the past month.

According to Champion Data, the Cats had 636m gained by handball against the Magpies – their second-highest number for a game since 2015. Their ability to draw the Collingwood defence out of position and pull it apart was clean and clinical.

Speaking on Fox Footy’s First Crack, Montagna said the footy world “saw the latest evolution of a Chris Scott-coached team and what they are trying to do” against the Pies.

“The reason why we love Chris Scott – and why I think he’s clearly the best coach in the league and why Geelong are consistently contending for the top four – is their ability to forever evolve in their gamestyle and chase ways to get better,” Montagna told First Crack. “Whether it be with the list, with position or now with their gamestyle.

“I think Geelong watched the first month of the season and thought: ‘Right, we need to get up to speed with what the best teams in the competition are doing’ … and he noticed this (handball game) was evolving. I think this has been evolving before our eyes over the last month.”

Montagna pointed out the Cats have been trending towards emphasising handball more than kicking. Champion Data numbers indicate the Cats had dropped from the No. 1 ranked team for kick-to-handball ratio (1.7:1) last year to eighth (1.4:1) so far in 2026. And in the past two weeks, they’ve been ranked 15th (1.2:1).

“In the past, Geelong has been a kick-first team … You can picture Geelong coming out of defence, they trust the contest ahead of the ball, they’d kick long and surge – that was their style,” Montagna said.

“But the trajectory now … and why this could be scary for the rest of the competition is the ability for these players to execute, and they’ve got the capacity. They’ve got the talent and the personnel to do this.

“This is why Chris Scott is a genius because he sees it, understands where the game is moving, and he wants to be ahead of it.

“He’s got to a stage where, instead of spending a whole pre-season wedded to one system – and if that doesn’t work or gets taken away, you’re trying to do it throughout the year – the group knows what to do. I think they’re coachable – one of the highest-footy-IQ teams in the competition – and they’ve got the running power. That’s the thing, you’ve got to have the personnel to be able to play this way. They certainly do, and it looked awesome (against Collingwood).”

The Cats’ new style – and their overall premiership credentials – will be tested over the next fortnight with clashes against Brisbane (at the Gabba) and the Swans.

“If they beat one of those two teams, I think everyone will start having different conversations about the Cats … We’re talking about them being a top-four team and a preliminary finalist,” Montagna said.

TELLING WINS PROVE FREO ‘A PRELIMINARY FINALIST WAITING TO HAPPEN’

Are you a Fremantle believer yet?

The doubters would suggest they need more evidence, more genuine convincing four-quarter performances and perhaps another win or two against a premiership contender.

The believers, though, would point to the fact the Dockers are sitting second on the ladder with an 8-1 record, a percentage of 131.6 per cent and the title of the league’s No.1 defence.

Melbourne champion Garry Lyon sits in the latter category. The Dockers can no longer be ignored, especially after four telling wins in the past six weeks.

In Rounds 4 and 5, Justin Longmuir’s side trailed Adelaide and Collingwood respectively in the final quarter, before kicking two late goals to seal consecutive tight victories.

Against the Western Bulldogs in Round 8, the Dockers trailed by 26 points midway through the second term, kicked 11 of the game’s next 13 games then saw off a late Bulldogs fightback to claim a 12-point win

And last Thursday against a flag fancy in Hawthorn, Freo turned a 22-point third-quarter deficit into a 15-point win.

“I’m a massive fan,” Lyon said of the Dockers on Fox Footy’s AFL 360.

“What we need to see from last year when they came up short in the finals was development in areas. The development in the playing list was there, the development in the talented players on the list was there and now we needed to see resolve, resilience, steel and backbone – and that’s what these games tell you.

“This builds belief. We can throw all the stats at you and show you all the vision, but the intangibles sometimes are what separates ‘good’ from ‘great’ – and ‘great’ from premiership teams.

“This is not a ‘great’ team yet, but they are on their way because this intangible of belief, resilience … they’ll sit in a room, look at each other and go: ‘Right, we know.’

“The great teams we played against back in the day, they just knew. They had an arrogant belief that wherever they were, they’d be able to find a way.

“(The Dockers) haven’t rubberstamped this, but that’s what they’ve added to their make-up, to their profile of the team – they can do this to you, which is a powerful thing.”

Before its eight-game winning streak, Fremantle suffered its sole loss of the season to date to Geelong at GMHBA Stadium. The team was up by 35 points late in the second term but ultimately lost by 10 points.

“Rightfully and understandingly (after the loss to Geelong), we went ‘hmm, not yet’,” Lyon said.

“Eight weeks down the track, we go ‘yeah I think so’ – because they learn and then they go and put it into place.”

Lyon said the Dockers were now “beautifully placed” to have a crack a flag tilt this year.

“They’re a preliminary finalist waiting to happen – and from there, anything can happen,” he said.

“But they should remain in the top four. They should host home finals, should win that first final and then the old city of Perth will go bonkers.”

ROUND 10 AFL FIXTURE AND FOX FOOTY COMMENTATARY ROSTER

BRISBANE LIONS vs GEELONG CATS

Thursday May 14, 7.30pm at The Gabba

How to watch on Fox Footy: From 6.30pm on Channel 504, hosted by Sarah Jones, Jason Dunstall, Leigh Montagna and Jon Ralph, with commentary from Matt Hill, Mark Howard, Jack Riewoldt, David King and Alastair Lynch.

SYDNEY SWANS vs COLLINGWOOD

Friday May 15, 7.30pm at SCG

How to watch on Fox Footy: From 6.30pm on Channel 504, hosted by Garry Lyon, Tom Hawkins, Nathan Buckley, Jordan Lewis and Jon Ralph, with commentary from Anthony Hudson, Gerard Whateley, Jason Dunstall, Alastair Lynch and Cameron Mooney.

GOLD COAST SUNS vs YARTAPUULTI

Friday May 15, 8.10pm at TIO Stadium, Darwin

How to watch on Fox Footy: From 8.00pm on Channel 503, with Dwayne Russell, Brad Johnson, Gerard Healy and Shaun Burgoyne.

KUWARNA vs NORTH MELBOURNE

Saturday May 16, 1.15pm at Adelaide Oval

How to watch on Fox Footy: From 12.30pm on Channel 504, with Leigh Montagna, Mark Ricciuto, Ken Hinkley and Ben Dixon.

NARRM vs HAWTHORN

Saturday May 16, 4.15pm at MCG

How to watch on Fox Footy: From 4.00pm on Channel 504, with Mark Howard, Jason Dunstall, Garry Lyon and Ruby Schleicher.

CARLTON vs WESTERN BULLDOGS

Saturday May 16, 7.35pm at Marvel Stadium

How to watch on Fox Footy: From 7.15pm on Channel 504, with Anthony Hudson, Jack Riewoldt, David King, Nick Dal Santo, Kath Loughnan and Jay Clark.

ESSENDON vs FREMANTLE

Sunday May 17, 1.10pm at MCG

How to watch on Fox Footy: From 12.30pm on Channel 504, with Anthony Hudson, Jess Webster, Jordan Lewis, Cameron Mooney, Sarah Jones and David Zita.

EURO-YROKE vs RICHMOND

Sunday May 17, 3.15pm at Marvel Stadium

How to watch on Fox Footy: From 3.00pm on Channel 503, with Dwayne Russell, Matt Hill, Nick Dal Santo, Tom Hawkins, Ben Dixon, Kelli Underwood and David Zita.

WAALITJ MARAWAR vs GWS GIANTS

Sunday May 17, 6.15pm at Optus Stadium

How to watch on Fox Footy: From 6.00pm on Channel 504, with Adam Papalia, Brad Johnson, Gerard Healy, Will Schofield and David Zita.