AFL Round 6: The 2013 ‘Mopsy’ Fraser Cup

Greetings Tipsters

We hit the couch for the Richmond-Geelong match, first time I’ve really watched the Tiggers this year.

They’re pretty good, but they’re still flaky.  Maybe it’s a club thing.  All clubs have personalities and Richmond is the guy you like to have around at parties but never have dinner with.  What are clubs without their fans?  Look at the Richmond fans we know, their passion for the club is great but I wonder if that somehow suffocates the club.  They’re a lot better, all around, than they’ve been for years but Geelong treated them like Sydney treated Brisbane, with some contempt.

The RFC still have a long way to go.  Sydney, Hawthorn, Geelong  all take each other seriously, they all know that they’re contenders.  Of course, on the day, they will take any opponent seriously, but at some point they know that beating up on the Schoolies or the Kebabs or the Fuschias is just something you have to do on your way to September.  Matches against contenders and form teams will be standouts, when the team has to prove itself that bit more – but Tiggers are neither a form team nor a contender.

Neither are 4&20s.  Sure, they’re 4 from 6, but with a percentage of 98.7.

The Pirates and the Mosquitoes are the form teams from out of nowhere.  Even tho Pirates lost to Shinboners, they lost to a team that is better than some higher on the ladder.  The form teams will make the finals and maybe win one, but I don’t see any other team seriously challenging The Contenders for the flag.

Then again, I didn’t see the Sparkies as a chance in Round 21 last season, so what the hell do I know?

History was made again on the weekend, when Ken coached the Pirates by phone.  Did Tom Wills envision this when he sat down to write a letter to ‘Bell’s Life’ in 1858 suggesting that football clubs should be formed so that cricketers could keep fit in winter?  A month later, the famous game was played between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar.  Goals a mile apart, forty players per side.

The Melbourne Football Club was formed at a pub near the MCG in May 1859 and the Geelong Football Club in July.  Tom’s cousin, Henry Harrison (who lived to a ripe old and age and had VFL headquarters named after him) was the major figure in fostering the growth of the game into the Twentieth Century and, according to legend, was responsible for the running bounce, because he was so damned fast they had to figure out some way to slow him down.

Tinkering the rules for the sake of the game’s perceived aesthetics and competitiveness is nothing new.

Cheers Tipsters

P&C, a Stop Privatisation Of Footy Production

Brought to you with the assistance of Pandamonium’s unreleased 1969 album.

 

About Earl O'Neill

Freelance gardener, I've thousands of books, thousands of records, one fast motorcycle and one gorgeous smart funny sexy woman. Life's pretty darn neat.

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