Jake Niall
Jake Niall is a senior sports writer at The Age, specialising in AFL football. Jake joined The Age in 1998, having previously worked as a sports writer on The Sunday Age. He writes a blend of news, feature articles and a weekly column during the football season. Before joining The Sunday Age, Jake was a freelance reporter in the US and a regular contributor to The Sunday Age and The Age from Los Angeles, covering diverse areas like politics, earthquakes, celebrity trials and American sport. Jake ghost wrote the autobiography (‘Collingwood and Me’, 1991) of champion Collingwood footballer Peter Daicos. While he writes primarily about the AFL, he spends the month of January covering tennis, especially the Australian Open. In 2008, Jake won the Melbourne Press Club Quill Awards' Best Sports Story in any medium for his profile piece on David Schwarz.
AFL
The life of Brian: Hawks have seen a different Lake
Jake Niall Old Dog Brian Lake is learning new tricks as a Hawk, but the evolution is not without its risks.
The feather wait
Jake Niall With the Crows' draft penalties taking time to hurt, where are the more immediate punishments?
Paying the price
Jake Niall Now the shoe's on the other foot and the Hawks are grand final losers, expect a robust response.
Frenzy was all tip and very little iceberg
Jake Niall How many of the players who've just changed clubs represent big deals?
Football
Crucial move makes Rioli a trump card
Jake Niall Cyril Rioli was 'buggered' in the last quarter, when Alastair Clarkson made the game's most telling move, shifting the electric Cyril deeper into attack, where his jolts revived a flatlining team.
AFL
Spoiling the spoiler: The Swans' big task
Jake Niall Josh Gibson is always a fistful, and Sydney needs a plan.
Hawks three times better
Jake Niall On the ladder, Hawthorn and Collingwood were only one game apart. In reality, the distance was several goals.
Jake Niall
Schoenmakers gets to have the final say
Jake Niall Ryan Schoenmakers is treading a well-worn, if bumpy path, to a successful football career.
