Round 1: Richmond v Carlton – New look teams; same looking scoreline

by Josh Barnstable Ever since Max Rooke grubbered through that final goal of the 2009 Grand Final to put the final nail in the St Kilda coffin, I’ve been waiting for this moment. Not knowing at the time what date this game would be played on, but I knew, like everybody else, that the first [Read more]

Footy: North’s best matches of recent years

By Josh Barnstable After reading a couple of stories on the Almanac about rivalry and how teams stack up against others in terms of a rivalry, I decided to dedicate this piece to some of the great games that North Melbourne have played against the other teams in the league over the past few years.

Footy: When Jeff joined in the chorus

By Josh Barnstable School athletics have always been fun to me, through primary school years and in high school. In primary school, you strive for that finish line, trying to win points for your house, while in high school, many kids, like myself, would rather go down the street to grab some fish and chips [Read more]

Barney’s 2010 AFL Crystal Ball: West Coast and the Western Bulldogs

West Coast Eagles: Some teams are good, not great, but just good. Sometimes they are great and shoot to the top of the ladder and win the odd premiership, but then they lose some skill and drop down in the top 8. The Eagles used to be like this. 2002, they finished 8th. 2003, they [Read more]

Barney’s 2010 AFL Crystal Ball Part 7: St Kilda and Sydney

by Josh Barnstable St Kilda: So close, yet so far was the story for St Kilda in 2009. 22 wins from 25 games but failed on the big stage against Geelong. That hurt them. It hurt them more then any other premiership loss would have hurt any other club. They have a great team that [Read more]

Barney’s 2010 AFL Crystal Ball Part 6: Port Adelaide and Richmond

by Josh Barnstable Port Adelaide Power: The Power made a resurgence of sorts on the field, putting in some good displays while also getting rid of that shocking home guernsey that they have worn since their inception to the AFL in 1997. Port Adelaide will now sport a new guernsey made by a six year [Read more]

Barney’s 2010 AFL Crystal Ball Part 5: Melbourne and North Melbourne

by Josh Barnstable Melbourne: Off the bottom of the ladder into finals contention is where the Dees will find themselves in the next couple of seasons. What’s so different though? Dean Bailey has predicted a change, he has changed the gamestyle that was, at times, ugly, recruited the best two kids in the country and [Read more]

Barney’s 2010 AFL Crystal Ball Part 4: Geelong and Hawthorn

by Josh Barnstable Geelong Cats: The premiers, in decline maybe? You wouldn’t think so, as the only major loss from the premiership side of 2009 is captain Tom Harley, but form in the second half of the season pointed towards a change of form in the next couple of seasons. The forward line lacks a [Read more]

Barney’s 2010 AFL Crystal Ball Part 3: Essendon and Fremantle

by Josh Barnstable Essendon: A tough year for the Bombers finished in an unlikely finals berth that they didn’t deserve, and it showed with a 96-point thumping by the Crows showing them the exit from September. Matthew Lloyd and Scott Lucas are gone, their two goalkicking stars of the past decade. The Bombers don’t have [Read more]

Barney’s 2010 AFL Crystal Ball Part 2: Carlton and Collingwood

By Josh Barnstable Carlton: After such a promising season, it seems it could all go down the drain with the loss of Brendan Fevola. The two-time Coleman Medalist departed during trade week after the Blues were angered by his performance at the Brownlow Medal. Getting Lachie Henderson for Fevola was a dud deal, but a [Read more]

Barney’s 2010 AFL Crystal Ball Part 1: Adelaide and Brisbane

by Josh Barnstable It’s that time, the time we all cherish as youngsters, I’m sure the fellow members of the Fab 5 will be feeling this feeling that I’m having as I type this. It’s a time of hope, anticipation and gratitude. No, not Christmas, no, not the start of the New Year. The magical [Read more]

These sides ain’t half bad!

by Josh Barnstable After asking my Mum if there was such thing as a ‘half-decade’, she said she had not heard of such thing, unlike the popular saying of half century. But, I’m going to make half-decade a proper saying in this report, a report of the Team of the Half-Decade for each team. So [Read more]

My favourite footy memory

by Josh Barnstable It’s a question I would have to work hard to find the answer for. But I would enjoy sifting through the memories my brain has stored. What is my favourite moment I have experienced in a game of AFL footy? It would have to be from the Round 19 clash between North [Read more]

A great night. (At least that’s the Waaia remember it.)

by Josh Barnstable It’s Wednesday. I wait for Thursday to come. I have been waiting since Daff told me that the launch would be on the 19th of November. It’s the 18th. I’m at tennis training, wearing my Waaia guernsey, I’m in full concentration with my coach, we are doing some work at the net [Read more]

Footy: What’s in a number? Plenty, if you ask me

By Josh Barnstable My love for Football began in 2002. Not knowing anything about the sport back then, I decided to take up Dad’s offer and start collecting the footy stickers that came out each day in the Herald Sun (greatest paper of all time). As my collection of stickers grew, so did my passion. [Read more]

Reigning Cats this year and Dogs next year

2010 AFL Season by Josh Barnstable Finally, the fixture has been released. After spending all of recess and lunch on the 30th of October on a computer in the library at school checking out the new fixture, I spent most of period three texting fellow Almanacker Steve Healy what we thought of the allocated games [Read more]

AFL Club Awards: Dyer for Deledio, maybe not so dire for Richmond

Jack Dyer Medallist By Josh Barnstable Bleak. That one word describes the Richmond season. It started out with some optimism. Ben Cousins had been recruited after a one year ban for drug use, Matthew Richardson was coming off a career-best season, Chris Newman was handed the captaincy and most of the Tigers players were set [Read more]

Bulldogs’ season bouyed by Boyd and co.

Charles Sutton Award By Josh Barnstable The Western Bulldogs Football Club is a funny organization. They play a brand of footy that is breathtaking, exciting, can make any Doggies supporter think that the drought is over. But all the time, they fail. They have made certain people go crazy. The local butcher is owned by [Read more]

2010 seems a long way off. in the mean time…

We all miss footy dearly in the off-season don’t we? Some of us turn to Cricket, Racing and Tennis to ease the pain, while others just can’t accept any other sport than the best of all. I am a bit of both. I enjoy watching Michael Hussey do what he does best out at the [Read more]

Sometime Freo really do want to make you heave…

Doig Medal review by Josh Barnstable Freo Heave Ho Freo Heave Ho Give Em All The Old Freo Heave Ho We’re The Rollers We’re The Rockers We’re The Mighty Freo Dockers We’re Gonna Roll Em And We’ll Rock Em We’re Gonna Send Them To The Bottom And If They Get Up We’ll Do It Again [Read more]