Between the sticks

Between the sticks is an AFL show for fans who do not watch footy at arm’s length. It lives in the immediate aftermath: the blown lead, the missed chance, the coach-box reaction, the player who looked better on screen than the stat sheet suggests. The conversations are quick and often crowded, with one point interrupting another before the first one has fully landed. That gives the show its pace. It sounds like two serious fans trying to make sense of a season while still annoyed about the last quarter. Carlton receives plenty of punishment, especially across episodes about broken Blues, nervous September hopes, and the kind of performance that ruins a weekend. Collingwood is treated with the same impatience, from list age jokes to debates about whether a forward like Ben King would actually solve anything. The show does not pretend to be neutral in a polished studio way. It is more useful than that. It lets club feeling sit beside actual football detail, so a rant about a team’s collapse can turn into a discussion of midfield dominance, forward structure, ruck impact, or decision-making inside 50. The round-review episodes cover the wider league as well, including Hawthorn and Geelong’s Easter Monday thriller, Melbourne’s revival, Essendon pressure, GWS inconsistency, West Coast’s lift, and Port’s midfield problems. Recurring features like top team of the week and flop team of the week keep the show from becoming pure shouting. Preseason episodes stretch the format into ladder forecasting, wild hot takes, and contender checks before the real games start. There is also a live-stream feel at times, with schedule changes, Gather Round plans, tipping competitions, and social content folded into the conversation. A guest episode with PACO LUCIANO broadens the lens through a newcomer’s fascination with AFL physicality, marks, goals, and the culture around the sport. The tone stays casual. The opinions come first, then the reasoning catches up. For listeners who want AFL talk with clean edges and formal distance, this is probably too restless. For fans who want the emotional truth of following a club every week, it hits the right nerve.