The Footy Almanac 2007 Round 8 – Western Bulldogs v Collingwood: “Good footy sides capitalise”

Matt O’Connor went along to Telstra Dome to see ‘The Running Dogs’ capitalise on straighter shooting to down the inaccurate Pies in an entertaining game.

The Footy Almanac 2007 Round 6 – West Coast v Western Bulldogs

Matt O”Connor had big plans for this Super Saturday of football. They didn’t include an encounter with the ticket inspectors on the tram. Undeterred, he reported on a competitive game in the west.

The Footy Almanac 2007 Round 2 – West Coast v Collingwood

The Pies ventured West to tackle the Eagles. Matt OÇonnor’s interests were torn between fictional political drama and real-life midfield battles.

Adelaide Test – Day 2: A Dozen Dorothies

Matt O’Connor joins the rest of Australia in worshipping at the Clarke shrine. Not that we ever doubted him.

Second Test – Day 2: Golf anyone?

Matt O’Connor, who was full of hope, briefly, recalls the shambles of Lord’s and prepares for an afternoon of Collingwood and an evening of golf.

AFL Round 9 – Collingwood v Sydney: Madam, I’m Adam

Adam Goodes rose above this one-sided romp like a colossus not once, but twice, on a night in which he unintentionally wrested the AFL reconciliation baton from another great indigenous player, Nicky Winmar, 20 years after he lifted his jumper to the Collingwood Social Club.

AFL Round 1 – North Melbourne v Collingwood: Sing along with the common people

Matt O’Connor found joy in Collingwood’s performance despite the gloomy atmosphere of the “abandoned office block” that is Etihad Stadium.

Shaking the tree

  AUSTRALIA v INDIA Second Test – SCG Day 1 – 3 January 2012 Matt O’Connor To borrow an expression from a West Indian cricket radio report of a few years ago, wickets have been falling like ripe mangoes from de trees this summer. And today the thudding continued as batsmen once again failed to [Read more]

AUSTRALIA v NEW ZEALAND – 1ST TEST, DAY ONE

  By Matt O’Connor I made a horrible error this morning, and forgot about the one hour time difference that Queenslanders insist upon preserving for no apparent reason. I tuned into Channel 9 at 10am Eastern Summer Time, thinking that its pre-match palaver might provide me with a few tit-bits for my Day One report. [Read more]

South Africa v Shane Warne

  by Matthew O’Connor Unfortunately for South Africa, its return to the Test Cricket fold in 1993 coincided with the rise and rise of Liz Hurley’s fiancée. But more of that later. To a 27yo Test Cricket following nut, the return of South Africa was a gift to be savoured. A whole box of new [Read more]

SCAGGS APLENTY AT AFL TRADE WEEK

Matt O’Connor So, what the hell was THAT all about? Trade Week (or the “Exchange Period” to use its official title) turned out to be like those garage sales where you turn up too late and end up flipping dolefully through boxes of Boz Scaggs LPs and broken toasters. Except that if Scaggs had been [Read more]

Tour of Thornbury

  by Matt O’Connor   If I can just hold my nerve, the Tour de France is mine for the taking.   Three more nights, including l’Alpe-d’Huez tomorrow and the time trial on Saturday, and I will be in a position to pilot my couch triumphantly down the Champs Elysees. Presuming of course that teammate [Read more]

Cook pops Australia’s bubble

AUSTRALIA v ENGLAND 5TH TEST – DAY 3 Matt O’Connor We caught the Ferry to the cricket. As a Melbourne boy, I don’t get to say that too often. Actually it was something called a River Cat, the river in question being the Parramatta. And if this is a river, then the Yarra needs a [Read more]

First Test, Day 1: The smoking lady, the PM and the photo finish

by Matt O’Connor It doesn’t take me long on Christmas Day to start thinking about my main present: cricket at the MCG the next day. Today we were entertained by Michael Burke in the MCC Dining Room. But before we get to that, let’s topple a couple of Boxing Day myths. First, the Boxing Day [Read more]

Floreat Pica Society Round 5 Debacle

by Mark O’Connell (with Timothy O’Leary’s Danny Roach Medal votes following) Preamble I like, so many thousands of others, left the MCG wondering how we lost and why we put ourselves through such misery time and time again. However, I have a painful duty to perform so I will to review the game as dispassionately [Read more]