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 Territo ...

'' 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 Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

for over a decade. Lane was a footy fanatic even during secondary education at St Michael's Grammar School 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 ...

monthly magazine and writing reports for the AFL website. Lane is a sports writer with ''The Age'' newspaper in Melbourne. She joined '' The Sunday Age'' 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 The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US 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 British Empire Game ...

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 multi ...

. In 2018 she released a book called roar.

Television

Lane was a panellist on

's ''

Before the Game ''Before the Game'' was an Australian rules football comedy Panel game, 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 Hughe ...

'' AFL panel show from

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

until leaving at the end of the 2012 football season. She also made regular contributions on Melbourne community radio station Triple R. 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 Australi ...

for its

Saturday night Saturday Night may refer to: Film, television and theatre Film * ''Saturday Night'' (1922 film), a 1922 film directed by Cecil B. DeMille * ''Saturday Nights'' (film), a 1933 Swedish film directed by Schamyl Bauman * ''Saturday Night'' (1950 fil ...

AFL coverage. Lane is also a cast member of the ABC Television documentary series ''

Agony Aunts Agony may refer to: Concepts *Pain, anguish, or struggle, especially precededing death *Suffering of intense degree, relating to physical or mental suffering *Passion (Christianity), also called the Agony of Christ *Agony in the Garden, Christ' ...

'' 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 ...

’ 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
/ref>

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