A game of two halves

Hawthorn V Melbourne By Steve Healy The thing that pains me the most (apart from the actual result) about this game is the fact I want to write about it. To be honest it was an insipid performance from the Demons in the second half. We played like the 2008 Demons with a hint of [Read more]

Gary’s Gold Coast fails to glitter, so Bluey give me a run

By Sasha Lennon Having recently surpassed the age of the great Michael Tuck the day he retired in September 1991 (he was 38 years and 95 days old), I have finally conceded that Hawthorn will not be phoning me any time soon with an invitation to come down to training on a Thursday night. But [Read more]

Parisian Melancholy

Round 2 StK v Rich By David Downer A soul-funk singer of Gen-Y disposition yet old world charm, the eclectic Paris Wells featured as this week’s AFL pre-match gift to the “loyal fans”.  A melodic reward for those of us venturing in on a Friday night, resisting the lure of Better Homes and Gardens and [Read more]

GIGSTUFF 50 – The score on the draw

by Andrew Gigacz   The statistical planets are clearly aligned at the moment folks. Another draw last Friday means that, as mentioned in GigStuff 49, we remain on world-record pace for 24 draws during the home and away season, three finals going into extra-time and ANOTHER drawn Grand Final. And the events of Friday night [Read more]

A rushed point for an April Fool

By Michael Viljoen The morning of April 1st I received an alert from one ‘Yellow and Black’ football blog uncovering the surprise news that the iconic Richo (following the trend of Geoff Huegill, Ian Thorpe, and Pauline Hanson) was preparing his own comeback, to hopefully act as a foil for Jack on the Tigers’ forward [Read more]

Round 2: St Kilda vs Richmond – A Formal way to watch footy

I hate missing Richmond games. It’s bad enough not being at the ground, but to not even be able to watch the game on tv is just torture. Sadly this is my situation tonight. The school’s year 12 formal is being unthoughtfully held on the same night as my beloved Tigers, I have no choice [Read more]

Blues Love The Suns

It was undoubtedly an historic night, in case you’d missed the point the previous fifteen thousand times the marketing approved mantra had been chanted. Although by night’s end the Gold Coast players and coach may have been thinking that some history was best left unrecorded. What it wasn’t at any stage was a contest, which [Read more]

On borrowed time

By Ged McMahon Housesitting can be an odd experience. While it can be fun, there always seems to be a voice in your head telling you not to make yourself too comfortable––you don’t belong here. On Friday I started housesitting. The place is huge. The shower is about the size of my entire bathroom. On [Read more]

Crio’s Q: Regrets at Sunset

If, as the AFL dreamt, the rising Sun brought a new audience to footy’s coverage, at some stage those watchers must, like Karmichael Hunt and other notables, have questioned – Was this such a good idea? As inglorious debuts go, team and stars “smoked it”. Saturday night’s debacle would take some beating. Perhaps “the grass [Read more]

Ball bounces and pea blows for Sydney in a tight one

Michael Symonds never gave me much reason to leap out of my seat. That’s not a knock on the West Aussie half-forward flanker, but with contemporaries like Hird, Lloyd, Long, Bewick et al, there were others that we could rely upon for the spectacular. But when his banana/checkside/boomerang goal at the Bradman Stand end sailed [Read more]

How The Footy Almanac saved football

The Footy Almanac has saved football. The Richmond footy club almost saved footy a few years ago, but here at the Almanac we’ve done it properly. The Tiges almost saved footy when they lost to Geelong by 157 points one Sunday evening in May, 2007. At a time when the Swans and West Coast had [Read more]

The View From Shepparton: Rd. 2

I have a range of emotions regarding the Queensland sides. I feel  dire despair that they are going to do the code more harm than good up in Queensland this year unless they become more competitive. On the other hand the old “Bears” were hopeless for years as they were getting established. Unfortunately, even since [Read more]

THE WRAP – ROUND II

WHERE LIFE IMITATES FOOTBALL What a round it’s been in Footy Eddie.  On Friday night The Tigers showed The Culture Club and the rest of The Competition they are on the prowl again.  On Saturday The Mighty Magpies showed North and the rest of The Competition exactly where the bench mark for Season 2011 lay.  [Read more]

Chappy’s 200th Game

Round Two  Fremantle V Geelong  Subiaco  Saturday April 2 2011 The footy talk all week has centred on concussion. So much so it’s given me a headache to rival the one Joel Selwood copped courtesy of Farren Ray’s hip last week. The media speculate all week: Will Selwood play? Much as I love having him [Read more]

Tough Going for Waaia, North and Suns

The long wait was finally over. Everyone was looking forward to this moment. This would shape the whole football season. Waaia v Katunga, the two biggest rivals in Picola District footy were going head to head in the season opener. The routine of getting ready for the footy on a Saturday morning had come back [Read more]

Cats Purr While The Dog Barks

By Katherine Giese Fremantle vs. Geelong – Round 2, 2011 (Saturday 2nd April) There was an ominous feeling in the air at my place. The impending arrival of my family, to tut-tut at my badly behaved dog, Mixie (I like to think of her as effervescent…maybe exuberant), and judge me on my housekeeping, was weighing [Read more]

KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY

KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY It was billed as the clash between the formidable Riewoldt cousins; Nick for St. Kilda and Jack for Richmond.  Established superstar Nick opposed to speeding comet Jack. While nobody expects Richmond to seriously challenge St. Kilda tonight, there is an intriguing subplot as to who will have the most influence [Read more]

FP Report: Round 2 vs North

By Paul (Stork) O’Connell Other than last week, I can’t recall walking to a game feeling so supremely confident of winning. It turned out to be like Round 1 except this time we won by an additional 2 goals to take our percentage well above 200. Sitting next to Steve our fearless FP chairman, I [Read more]

Saints Treading Water?

It was difficult to look at this contest without the weight of preconceptions. St Kilda have dominated the Tigers for a long time. Thirteen straight wins will tend to create an air of inevitability in the process. And the Saints are all about process. The events of round one did little to dispel such impressions. [Read more]

Hungover

  For those St.Kilda fans that have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, and come to the MCG for the last 2 weeks, it continues to be a place of pain and regret.  We haven’t won a major game there in 5 games:  first grand final, second grand final, preliminary NAB against Essendon, a loss [Read more]