AFL live updates St Kilda vs Brisbane, Fremantle vs Richmond, Essendon vs North Melbourne blog, scores and stats

It looked like Sharman was going to take a mark in the goalsquare. Then it looked like he would quickly snap the goal anyway. Then it looked like he was step one player and kick the goal. Then it looked like he would step two players and kick the goal. And then he did.

Made that look incredibly hard, but eventually Sharman gets the goal and puts the Saints back in front.

Jack Sinclair thought he had taken a clever intercept mark inside 50, but the “not 15” call suddenly put him in all sorts of trouble. The Lions turned it back over, centered the ball to Allen who did the rest.

Hasn’t been a great start to life at Brisbane for Allen, but maybe he can start to kickstart things with that goal.

Been a long time coming, but Brisbane has a goal. A dangerous kick came in low and flat towards Morris, who took a good position ahead of Wilkie and got a wee little nudge in the back for his troubles.

He makes no mistake with his set shot, and finally the Lions are away.

Not a classic so far. The Lions are letting themselves down with their footskills and the Saints are struggling to transition regularly with speed. It’s been a slow and tight game and the kicking for goal has been particularly poor.

Also, and I know I’m repeating myself, but the guernsey clash here is awful and inexcusable. Just shouldn’t happen in a professional league in 2026.

Let’s hope for better in quarter two.

Best bit of St Kilda ball movement so far, with a big contested grab by Sharman on centre wing the catalyst to get things moving.

Ryan got out the back at the 50 and looked to chip a pass to Higgins. His kick went well over Higgins’s head, only to dribble end on end through for a goal. That sort of game so far.

Under five minutes to play in the first quarter and the wait for a goal goes on. Both sides have missed some really kickable chances.

The ball is moving pretty slowly from end to end when it does, lots of short and patient kicking.

We’ve had six behinds and one out on the full so far to start this game. Rayner took a big grab deep inside 50 that time but shanked his snap set shot completely.

Not the greatest game so far, both sides feeling their way into it we’ll say.

Yeah, a minute of footy is all I have to see. Two dark kits playing against each other, very tough to tell apart quickly via the broadcast.

Have to wait and see if it causes an issue for the players. Still, what an avoidable but all-too-common situation this is.

The Roy boys are out today, with the Lions in the old classic Fitzroy kit. Interested to see how well it clashes with the red, black and white of St Kilda.

Players are heading to their positions, Dayne Zorko is trying to get after Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera already. Ball is in the air, let’s go.

Will keep this as short and snappy as possible.

The Saints, led by president Andrew Bassat and CEO Carl Dilena, have been long-time critics of the AFL’s northern academies in Queensland and NSW and have gone to the league calling for an overhaul of the system. The Lions have not been happy with this, for obvious reasons.

Then earlier this year, Lions coach Chris Fagan publicly questioned the contracts offered by the Saints to new recruits including Tom De Koning and the long-term deal awarded to Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera. Fagan said he’s rather “see the better players getting all the big money”.

Dilena bit back:

“I can understand fears about having to pay fair value for players. I appreciate it’s a novel concept for some people.”

Saints coach Ross Lyon then said that Fagan had “weaponised the media”, and that he couldn’t remember ever hearing a rival coach speaking about an opposition player in that way before.

Lyon wasn’t done.

“When Brisbane’s list could be in decline they go and get the captain from West Coast and the number one player from Essendon as free agents. And then have arguably the number one-rated player (in the national draft) go at what was, it pick 40?,” he said.

And then this week! Fagan had another pop, doubling down on his initial comments.

“Then along comes St Kilda and decides they want to pay those players the amount of money they did.

“I’m thinking to myself, for the good of the game, is that what we want here? Do we want this sort of marketplace where offers to players become ridiculous?”

And now they get to play against each other. Will this high-level bickering filter down into some feeling between the players? Kinda hope so, to be honest…

No late changes for either side.

Some big ins named for the Lions though, with Zac Bailey, Logan Morris and Darcy Gardiner all returning. But this game has come too soon for Hugh McCluggage, who will be aiming for Easter Thursday now for his return from injury.

The Saints are welcoming Dan Butler and Dougal Howard back into the fold too. Handy ins across the board.

Good morning, and welcome back to ABC Sport’s live blog coverage of the 2026 AFL season. We kick things off at Docklands today as the Saints play the Lions, before we take in Fremantle-Richmond and Essendon-North Melbourne later in the day.

Lots of footy ahead of us, but I expect this first one to be the pick of the bunch today. So settle in and join me and eventually Andrew McGarry for all the action today.