The official apps are a good source of news for every fan.
AFL app has great live match stats and plenty of news during the week. Same as what youd see on the main website www.afl.com.au
These are google play store links but similar apps exist for iPhone as well.
It works with ExpressVPN most of the time and Bullet VPN all of them time. Full details here
https://bitedge.com/blog/how-to-watch-kayo-sports-on-tv-outside-australia/
However OP said for free and this is not.
I have NordVPN and it worked perfectly with watchAFL.
Another thing to keep in mind is that if you know someone with foxtel you can download the foxtel GO app and log into their account. I did this with my parents account and it worked fine.