Samantha Jane Lane (born 5 June 1979) is an Australian AFL and sports writer for ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...

'' newspaper, television and radio personality and daughter of veteran journalist and commentator Tim Lane. She was a panellist on ''Before The Game'' on Network Ten for over a decade. Lane was a footy fanatic even during secondary education at

St Michael's Grammar School , motto_translation = For the Church of God , location = 25 Chapel Street, St Kilda, Victoria , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia Melbourne , ...

where she had a keen interest in sport as well as aerobics and drama and began writing about Australian Rules Football while completing a Bachelor of Arts and language degree in French at

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

. She now has experience across all major media—print, online, television and radio—as well as public speaking engagements.

Journalism

Lane started out writing for the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Me ...

monthly magazine and writing reports for the

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

website. Lane is a sports writer with ''The Age'' newspaper in Melbourne. She joined ''

The Sunday Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...

'' sports team in 2005 before crossing to the weekday ''Age'' in 2007. Although well known as a football journalist, she also covers other major sporting events for the paper, including the Australian Open tennis,

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

and

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

. In 2018 she released a book called roar.

Television

Lane was a panellist on Network Ten's ''

Before the Game ''Before the Game'' was an Australian rules football comedy panel television show which aired on Network Ten on 1 March 2003 until 27 September 2013. The show was hosted by Andrew Maher with regular panelists Mick Molloy, Dave Hughes, Anthony ...

'' AFL panel show from 2003 until leaving at the end of the 2012 football season. She also made regular contributions on Melbourne community radio station

Triple R 3RRR (pronounced "Three Triple R", or simply "Triple R") is an Australian community radio station, based in Melbourne. 3RRR first commenced broadcasting in 1976 from the studios of 3ST, the student radio station of the Royal Melbourne Institut ...

. In 2013, Lane joined the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...

for its Saturday night AFL coverage. Lane is also a cast member of the

ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...

documentary series '' Agony Aunts'' and ''The Agony of Life''. 2017–present. She has been one of the hosts for Channel 7's AFL women’s coverage.

Radio

Since 2008, she has been a part of the ABC's Radio AFL coverage, joining Stan Alves and Gerard Whatley in the pre-match discussion on Sunday afternoons.

Community work

Lane sits on the advisory committee of the

Melbourne Vixens Melbourne Vixens is an Australian netball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. Since 2017 they have represented Netball Victoria in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. The team was formed in 2007 wh ...

’ board, has been an ambassador for the Basil Sellers Art Prize and Run Melbourne and has an ongoing ambassadorial role for Breast Cancer Network Australia. She has also been a player in the Community Cup charity.

Awards

* 2007: AFL Players' Association. ''Football Writer of the Year'' * 2009:

Melbourne Press Club The Melbourne Press Club, commonly referred to as MPC, is a not-for-profit association of journalists in the city of Melbourne, Australia. The Melbourne Press Club provides awards in the State of Victoria for outstanding journalism, presenting th ...

Quill Awards. ''Best Sports Story in any Medium'' * 2011: AFL Coaches Association. ''Media Award'' in recognition of journalistic excellence * 2011: vicsport. ''Media Award'' * 2012: Australian Sports Commission awards. ''Highly Commended for best coverage of sport by an individual (print)'' 2012 Australian Sports Commission awards , The Age
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References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Samantha 1979 births Living people Australian sportswriters 21st-century Australian journalists Australian women radio presenters Australian television presenters People educated at St Michael's Grammar School University of Melbourne alumni Women sportswriters Australian women television presenters Television personalities from Melbourne Radio personalities from Melbourne