This month's issue of Inside Football...

For 46 years Inside Football has been a constant on the weekly menu of fans seeking news and analysis on our national sport.

As an independent publication, we are proud to have been a journal of record for almost half a century, to have punched above our weight, and also to have given a start to many well-known figures in the football media.

But with time comes change, and like most print publications we must adapt to a fast-evolving media landscape. Thus the start of the AFL Women’s competition also marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for us.

Instead of hitting newsstands weekly we will now be servicing your footy appetite in 12 issues a year.

Despite this structural change, our aim has not changed — to live up to our name. We will continue to strive to take you inside the game, with thoughtful columns, longer reads and insider snippets that you won’t find elsewhere.

And as for news, we’ve got that covered as well — just in a different form. By keeping in touch with sen.com.au, you will still receive up-to-date news from our collection of specialist reporters, as well as our exclusive Player Ratings. Best of all, this part will be free!

To our diehard readers and subscribers, we hope that you stay with us in this new incarnation.

It’s shaping as a fascinating year in football. We wish your team all the best for it and thank you for your support.

What is featured this month…

• A new era in football dawns this pre-season with the advent of the AFL Women’s league in which names like Collingwood’s Moana Hope will soon be known in households across the land. We profile every player from all eight clubs.

• Once a skeptic, former St Kilda champion Nathan Burke – a father of three sporting girls, explains why the time is right for the AFL Women’s competition.

• GWS Giants AFLW player Phoebe McWilliams has already seen an astonishing change in attitude towards the women’s game. She shares her experience on the eve of the inaugural season.

• From a higher likelihood of ACL injury reoccurrence, to relationships and positional requirements, Western Bulldogs coach Paul Groves describes his thinking in assembling a team for the women’s league.

• While the eyes of the football world are fixed on the new AFL Women’s competition and its flag-waving, the wider revolution continues apace in city parks and country paddocks. We take a look at the growth of the game at grassroots level.

Plus…

• Mick Ellis on why most of the coverage of James Hird’s unfortunate health crisis has been revisionist fantasy,

• We detail why Geelong is planning on playing their defensive lynchpin at the other end of the ground in 2017.

• Punters are warming to three scripts on the eve of season 2017, our master of the punt takes a look as some of the wagering trends looking ahead to the upcoming season.

• A recently retired colourful Magpie heading to Africa and a GWS star’s punting windfall, we have all the pre-season whispers from around the football traps.

• Having already introduced a player points system, AFL Victoria has now implemented a state-wide salary cap for local leagues. How will it work? What are the repercussions? Will it help save clubs from themselves? We delve into the finer details.

• Why would a club with such a long and proud history in the VFA/VFL change its identity? Paul Amy takes us behind Casey’s change from ‘Scorpions’, to ‘Demons’.

And finally…

• The late Phil Gibbs told the stories with the gusto he employed in the Channel 0/10 commentary box. Put a name or game to him and away he went, anecdotes and observations spilling out of him. His mind remained as sharp as a whetted knife. We take a look back at the life of one of football commentary’s former stars.

All this and more in the February issue of Inside Football magazine.

On sale from 26 January 2017 at your local newsagent, Woolworths, Coles, 7-Eleven, Caltex and Coles Express for just $6.95.