Inside 50 with Crawf & Quinny

Tasmanian-born Tom Bellchambers played 132 games for the Essendon Bombers over a 12-year AFL career. It was filled with drama from the get-go, arriving at the conclusion of Kevin Sheedy’s legendary run at the club.In his first ever AFL game, first-year Bombers coach Matthew Knights asked Tom Bellchambers to defend Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin, who welcomed Bellchambers to the league with a nine-goal haul. As a ruckman, Bellchambers was instrumental in Essendon’s revival, helping Jobe Watson to his 2012 Brownlow medal victory.In Bellchambers’ third AFL season, James Hird took over. He describes the support staff around Hird as “truly special” and laments the club didn’t win more finals during that period. Unfortunately, the highly controversial drugs saga ensured it wasn’t to be.Bellchambers and 33 other Essendon player were handed a one-year doping ban in 2016, and in this raw interview he recounts the heartbreaking moment the decision was handed down.Bellchambers’ story didn’t end there though. In the 2017 season, the Bombers marched back into the finals. Physically, his body got the better of him and he proudly retired at the end of the 2020 season. He also talks about his fiancee Olympia Valance’s recent run on Dancing with the Stars.

Lin Jong talks about his father, Vitor Jong, fleeing from war-stricken East Timor, eventually finding love with Lin’s mother, Faye Jong, in Taiwan. After finally settling in Australia, Vitor made ends meet as a Melbourne cabbie, learning the routes on the go.Jong found football at a young age, much to the surprise of his mother, who never saw her son play before was drafted by the Western Bulldogs with the ninth pick in the 2012 rookie draft. Jong remains the only player of East Timorese and Taiwanese descent to play in the AFL.The Western Bulldogs assigned then-captain Matthew Boyd as his mentor at Whitten Oval, who helped Jong find his feet at the club and literally learn how to swim. Jong would go on to play 65 games for the Bulldogs, playing in the 2012 and 2014 VFL premierships before cruelly missing the 2016 AFL Grand Final after a collar-bone injury.He describes Luke Beveridge as a “friend first”, but recalls the hair-raising spray he copped from his coach following a tour of the Collingwood Magpies’ facilities in the middle of a season, days before a thrilling four-point win over the Sydney Swans.

Former Melbourne Demons captain Nathan Jones opens up on a fairytale season for the club, but a bittersweet one for him personally. As the Melbourne Demons captured their first premiership in 57 years in surreal circumstances in Perth, a recently retired Jones watched from back in Melbourne. One of only two players in the 164-year history of Australia’s oldest sporting team to play over 302 games for the club, Jones will forever be a part of the Demons’ DNA. Jones talks about the mental revolution within the club that led to the premiership, beginning with Paul Roos’ appointment in 2013 before realising their ambition with Simon Goodwin in 2021. Jones shares his unique insight on why Melbourne’s dark days are a thing of the past and how truly special talents like Christian Petracca herald a new dawn.

Quinny is joined by former Sydney Swans and Melbourne Demons coach Paul Roos to preview the 2021 AFL Grand Final.

Premiership-winning coach and AFL Hall of Fame member Paul Roos joins Shane Crawford and Nick Quinn on a grand final special of the Inside 50 podcast. Roos played 356 games for the Fitzroy Lions and Sydney Swans football clubs across a stellar career that included 14 State of Origin matches, a Leigh Matthews medal in 1986, and a grand final appearance in 1996. But despite that success, it was in coaching where Roos really made his mark. After taking over as the head coach of the Sydney Swans in 2002, Roos made history when in 2005 he led Sydney to its first ever AFL premiership. In the Swans’ bid to repeat, the Brett Kirk-captained team fought valiantly before losing one of the greatest grand finals ever played to the West Coast Eagles, who they had defeated the year before. After stepping down from Sydney post in 2010, Roos spent four years out of the coach’s box before agreeing to take over an embattled Melbourne Demons team in 2014. Roos was instrumental in setting up the handover with Simon Goodwin, who has coached Melbourne into this weekend’s AFL grand final against the Western Bulldogs, which will be held at Perth’s Optus Stadium.

Robert Harvey joins Crawf and Quinny to discuss who they think could take home the Brownlow Medal in 2021.

Dual Brownlow medallist Robert Harvey played 383 AFL games for the St. Kilda Saints during a Hall of Fame career. He joins Shane Crawford and Nick Quinn on a special two-part edition of the Inside 50 podcast, which includes a Brownlow medal preview. Harvey shared a locker room with some of the most colourful characters in football during the ’90s and ’00s who also double as greats of the game: Danny ‘Spud’ Frawley, Tony ‘Plugger’ Lockett, and Fraser ‘G-Train’ Gehrig. His best years as a Saint came under Ross Lyon, who Harvey says was the best coach he ever played for and deserves “a couple” of premierships. Earlier this year, Harvey was named head coach of Collingwood Magpies following Nathan Buckley’s decision to step aside from the most polarising position in Australian sports. Harvey led Collingwood to some memorable victories before announcing he would be leaving the club after 10 years, largely as an assistant. Harvey says he will remain involved in football for years to come, and discusses the possibility of pursuing another head coaching role.

Luke Ball joins Crawf and Quinny to reveal why Collingwood chose Craig McRae as their next coach, plus the boys preview this weekend's huge preliminary finals.

Former St. Kilda Saints captain and Collingwood Magpies premiership player Luke Ball joins Shane Crawford and Nick Quinn on a finals-themed edition of Inside 50. Ball, who was taken by the Saints with pick three in the 2001 “super draft”, discusses his rollercoaster career that led to the dramatic 2010 Grand Final. Having fallen out of favour with Ross Lyon during the Saints’ 2009 run to the Grand Final, Ball made his way to Collingwood via the national draft. Facing the team he played 142 matches for, Ball relives the emotional lead-up to the 2010 Grand Final, the thrilling draw that played out and the subsequent replay the next week. The All-Australian midfielder also featured in the 2011 Grand Final loss to the Geelong Cats before retiring as a Collingwood player in 2014, having played 81 games in black and white.

Jack Watts joins Shane Crawford and Nick Quinn for a look ahead at this week's huge semi-finals.