Resilience-The essence of greatness

By Domenic Favata The one driving force that has enabled Geelong to become known as one of the greatest teams of the modern era is their ability to recover from various hurdles along the way, dating back to the 2005 preliminary final heart break against Sydney. This era of domination has been all but smooth-sailing, [Read more]

An Anniversary to Remember

This year has changed me. The constant in my life has always been football. Something new, something just as important, dare I even breathe the words, more important, has crept into my every day living. No longer do I live, breathe and eat football. In fact, it is more of a pleasant delicacy that I [Read more]

Cats Dressed to Kill

By Dips O’Donnell I could do no more. I’d planned it for weeks. The rest was up to the boys. First the socks. Not so much lucky socks, but unassuming socks; socks that have a hint of navy blue around the heel and toe. Yes, they would do just fine. I buried them deep down [Read more]

STAND UP AND FIGHT LIKE HELL!

Primarily a rugby league follower from Queensland, a stint in Adelaide in the 70s and 80s educated me in the attractions of footy, southern style. I became a Bombers supporter. Today, I watch the GF in my Scarborough lounge, 1600kms from the G. The final scoreboard shows that Geelong defeated Collingwood by 38 points in [Read more]

Happy Cats

By Yvette Wroby In the tradition of Weg. If you’re interested, Yvette can provide more originals for $150 or coloured photocopies for $30. 25% of proceeds to the Royal Children’s Hospital.          

And there they were

The head defies the heart. It was the second quarter of an Afl Grand Final against the archetypal foe, the Magpies. It was clear that The Pod’s arm was shot, and a crestfallen Harry Taylor was being taken to the bench. The heart, mine own, was beating with less and less vigor. This fabled swarm [Read more]

Happy Cats and Cheshire Grins:

Prelude   How can I, as a mad Sainter, not begin this piece with reference to the last two years.  It’s not just me, blasted Channel 10 kept showing the highlights of this years contenders last premiership battles, and the Saints happen to be the patsies that were beaten in their path to glory.  The [Read more]

Old Unwelcome Memories

Collingwood v Geelong Grand Final 2011 By Phil Dimitriadis   Nothing ends well that starts with a Meat Loaf ‘Kiss’.  The omens were there from the beginning and I chose to ignore them.  Even as a seven year old the lyrics of ‘Hot Summer Night’: “You took the words right out of my mouth” had [Read more]

Grand Final Discussion

The contest that was expected and deserved has come to be. The best two sides of the season will fight it out for the flag. Will the weather be a factor favouring one or the other? Will either team fall for the trap of the unfit player? The afternoon will tell. Your thoughts?

The Emptiest Bandwagon(s) in History

Disclaimer: I am a big Cats fan. For this post, I am donning my Analyst cap. I am quite stunned at how rapid the sift in sentiment for the Flag has been. Throughout the year the Pies have been wild favorites, as the Cats rolled relatively umimpeeded on, finishing second by one game. I was [Read more]

Grand Final preview – position by position

In the midst of the footy card mania of my youth, there was a game that was played between my brothers and I. The simple premise of the game was that you picked a team and put them into their positions. Then each position would be judged. The coach with the most number of winning [Read more]

THE GRAND FINAL PRE WRAP

FOR THE PHILOSOPHICAL MARNGROOK FAN What a week it’s been in Footy Eddie.  Congratulations Dane Swan.  You have been granted The Brownlow Medal you should have been given last year.  And does this suggest to anyone that there’s just the teeny weeniest possibility that the voting can be subjective?  (You still think Keith Greig’s 1973 [Read more]

Sal’s Tips: Grand Final

Merry Grand Final to All! The end is nigh – I have spent this Grand Final build up in the fine capital of Van Diemen’s Land and have been able to get a feel of Grand Final Hysteria in this footy deprived part of the country.  As I have alluded to before and in my [Read more]

Can the Cats win without Stevie J?

Everything points to this Grand Final being a cracker. Even the weather. As the Friday dawn is breaking over the People’s Republic of Northcote I can see small patches of blue sky. The morning paper tells me that Beams is out for Collingwood and young Fasolo is in, and that there is no change in [Read more]

Grand Final Eve Races

Courtesy of John Dunne – Geelong Racing Club If you happen to be at the Geelong races tomorrow, you may detect a theme. Top weight in each race will wear the specially designed Cat silks you see below.

Out: Cohen. In: Katrina

One lazy afternoon, in a marquee on the banks of the Brisbane River, in a spot which would have been three metres under water last January, I sat with the battered and the downtrodden at the feet of Michael Leunig. We had been drawn to him in our individual and collective downtrodden-ness because his topic [Read more]

Inside the Brownlow – Floreat Pica Society style

    by Ramon Dobb Last night, the Floreat Pica Society continued its tradition of having its global network of members in all of the footy hot spots of the world. I was an extremely fortunate recipient of a corporate invitation to the Brownlow Medal and thought I’d share a few snippets of the experience [Read more]

The Cats team for the Grand Final, as explained to a West Australian

A friend who barracks for West Coast emailed me to say she and her mates have decided to support the Cats in the Grand Final.Good choice. Professing not to know much about them she asked for a rundown of who’s who at the cattery. I ended up spending longer on the reply than expected and [Read more]

Stresstember Reflections…Bad Currency Drives Out Good

  by Stephen Alomes   It is the time of the year…when a footy follower’s thoughts turn not to flowers or fillies or fun but to the last steps to the top of the hill or perhaps in the DeMillean AFLspeak ‘the mountain’ or even ‘the summit’.   It is the time of Sturm und [Read more]

The Footygods: Bia

by Ian Latham   The greeks had lots of gods to make you think. They had Athena, the goddess of wisdom and learning. They had the muses who inspired writing and the arts. They could inspire you with their skill. A lot like Nic Naitanui. You could just marvel at him all day. And you [Read more]