AFL news 2026, updates Wednesday June 17: Damien Hardwick on Bailey Humphrey trade speculation, Chris Fagan ruled out of Tasmania coaching job, John Longmire keen on Devils role, Harry Edwards to meet

Damien Hardwick has revealed he apologised to Bailey Humphrey for an admission on the out-of-form young gun’s trade speculation.

Plus, a two-time premiership coach has reportedly been ruled out of pursuing the Tasmania head coach role, as his long-time counterpart emerges as a new contender.

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DIMMA REVEALS HUMPHREY APOLOGY

Suns coach Damien Hardwick says he apologised to Bailey Humphrey for admitting trade speculation has impacted the young gun’s form in 2026.

Hardwick on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Monday night hit out at the “unfair” conjecture surrounding Humphrey, who he revealed “feels like he’s letting the side down.”

Humphrey has dropped from the No. 64 rated player last year to No. 263 currently amid trade links to Victorian clubs after the 21-year old tried to move back home last year.

Hardwick on Wednesday says he regretted addressing Humphrey specifically and again took aim at the constant trade dialogue on the former No. 6 pick and others.

“I probably should’ve taken Bailey’s name out of that. I apologised to him yesterday. Let’s take Bailey out of it,” Hardwick told reporters.

“People sit there and they have contracts and other clubs ringing them and player managers driving things, all this sort of stuff.

“This is a 21-year old person.”

Hardwick called for the AFL to explore how it can better protect players from such murmurings.

“This happens within our league and it’s something I think the AFL should sit there and look at and say: ‘How can we get this better?’,” he said.

“The fact of the matter is, we sit there and talk about mental health, it affects players’ mental health.

“Not necessarily at our football club but other football clubs throughout the industry.

“Let’s sit there and figure out what is the very best thing for the player. It’s not to have players’ names dragged through the same stories for the last 12 months, or the next 12 months.

“It’s something I think we can get a lot better at and we can grow up as an industry, as a result.

“At the moment, I get tired talking about it, I’m sure the players get tired of hearing Zak Butters’ name in the media and all these other guys in there as well.

“It just becomes a distraction. It doesn’t really affect us too much, but it creates stories and headlines. Which takes away from the very thing we’re here to promote, which is the game.”

‘PUT A LINE THROUGH HIM’: SUITOR FAR TASSIE COACH RULED OUT... AND COUNTERPART WHO’S ‘VERY KEEN’

Two-time Brisbane premiership coach Chris Fagan will reportedly not pursue the vacant Tasmania head coach role in the coming years, and more broadly, opportunities in the top job at any other club.

Speaking on Seven, reporter Tom Morris revealed the development after several years of Fagan’s link to the role as an Apple Isle local.

“You can put a line through Chris Fagan coaching anywhere else in his career ... He won’t be coaching Tasmania — even if he was asked. He wouldn’t coach anywhere else either,” Morris said on Tuesday night.

“He is contracted until next year, and even if the Brisbane Lions don’t go too well this year, I do expect to go into next year knowing that could be the last year of his contract.

“I think there’s every chance that 2027 is the ‘last dance’ for Chris Fagan. This will he his call rather than the Lions’ call, but I think he wants to step away earlier, rather than step away too late.”

The door is reportedly opening for another coaching contender for the Devils however, with Nine’s Callum Twomey of the belief 2012 Sydney premiership coach and AFL 360’s John Longmire is keen on the opportunity.

“He is very keen on the Devils job. His appetite for that job has considerably grown in recent months; to the point where he’s all-in on trying to get this inaugural Tasmanian coaching role,” Twomey said on Footy Classified.

“He has met with the Devils. Recently in Sydney, he caught up with board member Alastair Lynch as part of their process, and in coming weeks will step forward through a more rigid process.”

The news comes after Longmire’s heavy links to the vacant Carlton and Essendon head coach roles in recent weeks.

EAGLE’S FUTURE UNDER FRESH DOUBT AFTER HORROR CONCUSSION RUN

West Coast defender Harry Edwards is reportedly set to meet with the AFL’s concussion panel later this month after his run of concerning head knocks.

AFL Media revealed late on Tuesday night that after suffering three concussions in the space of three months earlier this year, a meeting has been scheduled with the league’s concussion panel to assess his history.

The first of Edwards’ trio of knocks came against in an AAMI Community Series clash against Port Adelaide in March, before a second hit against North Melbourne in Round 2.

After six weeks out from the senior side as part of his recovery, Edwards was cruelly forced from the ground not even a quarter into his return against Melbourne in Round 9.

An accidental elbow from teammate Elliot Yeo saw the key defender bloodied and forced to leave the ground, before failing a Head Injury Assessment (HIA) test as the opening break approached.

Edwards, who has played 57 games for West Coast since his debut in 2020, will be assessed by an independent group of medical and neurological experts throughout the process.

Second-year Eagle Hamish Davis is also currently in concussion protocols, after a heavy hit following a tackle from North Melbourne forward Paul Curtis during last Saturday’s heartbreaking one-point loss.

Former teammate and 2018 Eagles premiership hero Jeremy McGovern was recommended to medically retire by the panel last year.

FRESH ARC BOOST REVEALED

The AFL has invested in upgrading its goalline cameras to help the ARC make more definitive calls, reports CODE Sports’ Jon Ralph.

The ARC came under fire last month with reviewers intervening – and then not intervening – on key in-game decisions. Suns coach Damien Hardwick also struggled to hide his frustration last Friday night when the ARC overturned boundary line calls.

But speaking on Fox Footy’s Midweek Tackle on Tuesday night, Ralph said at least tight goalline calls would soon be made easier by a technology boost.

“The AFL are awaiting delivery of its new goalpost cameras for the finals series – and I can tell you tonight it’s not just the finals, it’s the next five years,” Ralph told Midweek Tackle on Tuesday night. “The AFL has made that investment, all through the finals series and home and away (season) until 2031.

“The new Sony cameras, leased to 2031, are available at every AFL venue. The framerate is 200 frames a second, up from 40. That means instead of getting in-between frame, blurring and referrals to the ARC and having no idea what’s going on, we actually get real, precise, clear vision.”

Ralph pointed to split-screen vision from last year’s Dockers-Suns elimination final, with the higher-framerate camera clearly showing the Fremantle player on the mark touching the ball off David Swallow’s boot, while the lower-quality camera shot was blurry.

“I have to say these are the goalline cameras that are coming in. But 100 of the 215 ARC review decisions last year were on the goalline – and 10 per cent of them, they just referred them back in the ARC and said: ‘It’s too blurry, we don’t know,’” he said.

“I’d love to see more of these cameras around the ground, but at least that’s a really good starting point for the next five years and goalline technology.”

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