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The Fremantle Dockers held off the determined Gold Coast Suns in a desperate battle for a position in the top eight. The game was crucial to both teams who were outside the top eight at the start of play. The twenty-point win elevated the Dockers into fifth position on the ladder and pushed the Suns down to twelfth. The Suns started the game with a sense of urgency. In the first ten minutes they had won more contested possessions and made more forward entries than the Dockers to have two early goals on the board to big forwards Sam Day and Jack Lukosius. Sam Rowell was powerful at center bounces and along with Noah Anderson, gave the visitors early use of the ball. Heath Chapman defended well for the Dockers to stop several Sun incursions. After the two Sun goals, the Dockers increased the pressure at stoppages. Caleb Serong, Sean Darcy, and Andrew Brayshaw won more clearances. The game flowed from end to end with open play, good kicking and marking (catching) a highlight.

Just days after the conclusion to Round 14, the AFL held their annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Former Hawthorn great Jason Dunstall was elevated to legend status and six past players were inducted. The six new inductees are Michael Graham, Chris McDermott, Ralph Robertson (deceased), Ray Schofield (deceased), Dane Swan, and Kelvin Templeton. AFL chairman Richard Goyder said, "I'm pleased to be able to celebrate tonight and recognize the tremendous achievements of the 2024 inductees and further congratulate Jason Dunstall on his elevation to Legend Status. For all our Hall of Fame members and new Legend, their contribution to football is outstanding and each person alongside their family and friends should be immensely proud." Goyder also announced the retirement of former Carlton coach David Parkin as a selector with his role to be filled by former Essendon great Simon Madden. The Hall of Fame selection panel also had a recommendation endorsed by the AFL Commission that a deceased Legend would be elevated in 2025. Below are the profiles the honorees:

Legend Elevation

Jason Dunstall

We have added a special photo gallery with a retrospective on Dustin Martin through the years from the AFANA photojournalists. 
Dustin Martin: From 1 to 300 Games: A Photographic Retrospective | AFANA

A cool dry Melbourne winter's eve greeted these two old foes, for this Round 13 match under lights at the MCG. The Bombers sitting second on the ladder and the Blues, fifth, separated by just two points. It was close to a full house which showed up to watch the clash. The first quarter would be a pretty even affair, at least across the ground, but the Blues were accurate, and the Bombers were not. The Bombers broke forward early, with Perkins marking on the lead out of the square but missing the set shot for a point. The Blues moved it smartly from the kickout, but the Bombers defenders swooped and then rushed a behind.  

The North Melbourne Kangaroos withstood a late West Coast Eagles revival to win their first game of the season. The Kangaroos were hungrier than the Eagles and fought harder for the ball for most of the day, winning contested possessions (152 to 137) and laying more tackles (84-62) to create an upset win over the home team. Although the combination of the Eagles' two ruckmen, Matt Flynn and Bailey J Williams, had the edge over North Melbourne's ruckman Tristan Xerri, the Kangaroos were good at stoppages winning forty-eight clearances, which was eighteen more than West Coast. Despite having the edge in the midfield for most of the match, the Kangaroos fell down in attack by initially bombing the ball high to their forwards which suited the intercept skills of the Eagle defenders Jeremy McGovern and Tom Barrass who shut down many early attacks with their spoiling skills.

The AFL revealed the 2024 women’s regular season schedule on the 31^st of May. A new addition this year is “Midweek Footy”, where games will be played on a Tuesday or Wednesday night from Week 4 to Week 7, to take advantage of Spring school holidays which run for two weeks but have different dates across Australian states and territories. There will be four Tuesday games and five Wednesday games during the period, ensuring all 18 clubs will play two games in one of the four weeks. Each team will play 11 games over 10 weeks this season, up from 10 weeks last year. The first Tuesday game of the season will take place on the 17^th of September when Collingwood face West Coast at Ikon Park, and the first Wednesday game will be on the following night when Brisbane Lions host Western Bulldogs.

The St Kilda Saints Played a strong last quarter to outlast the West Coast Eagles in a hard-fought game where the lead changed eight times. After three straight losses, it was the Saints fourth win for the season and they stay in fifteenth place on the ladder; but are now a game clear of West Coast who are sixteenth. Remarkably they are just two games out of the top eight, but would need a drastic turn-around in form to trouble the top sides. Things didn't start well before the game for the Eagles. Their mascot, a majestic wedged-tailed eagle (with a wingspan of nearly three yards) refused to follow the script of flying around the arena and landing in the center of the oval. Instead it reached the center, relaunched to check out various views from the bleachers and finally perched himself near the coaches box, keeping a close eye on coach Adam Simpson. The game started once his handler had him (Ozzie the Eagle) under control. For Simpson's sake, it is hoped Ozzie was not sending a message to the club board by impersonating a vulture.

In late May, the AFL held their midseason draft. Two previously AFL listed players get a second chance while the rest are new. As always, it is the draft selection followed by player name, team of origin, age, height and position. For some unknown reason, the AFL no longer publishes player weight

ADELAIDE

7 Toby Murray (Adelaide, SANFL), 20, years old 200 cm (6'5"), ruck/forward
The younger brother of Adelaide defender Nick, he joined the Crows' SANFL program this season, of his career after stints at the Murray Bushrangers, Essendon's VFL side and Wangaratta Rovers in the Ovens and Murray competition.  Has a good eye for goal and is strong overhead

Hawthorn playing one of their occasional home game at Marvel Stadium hosted the Brisbane Lions. The past few seasons the Hawks have maintained a 4-0 winning record against the Lions and come into this game having lost last week giving up a strong three-quarter time lead. The Lions were injury ravaged and looking vulnerable against the Hawks. The Hawks had plenty of the ball early under the Marvel roof, but their kicking options and disposal let them down. The taller Lions players giving them some trouble. On the first turnover, Lachie Neale, Charlie Cameron, and Eric Hipwood made the Hawks look unaccountable and slow, with Hipwood kicking an easy goal after getting out the back. The Hawks were lucky Brisbane missed two easy goals, and they were able to get things close to parity when Day hit Gunston on a fast lead in the pocket.  The veteran Hawk kicking his first goal against the side he played with in 2023.