Throughout its 11 years of existence, the Sydney Olympic Stadium located in the western Sydney suburb of Homebush, has served as the backdrop to many of Australian’s finest and memorable sporting moments of the 21st Century. Many would argue that this venue has captured the hearts and minds of the Australian public and has conveyed [Read more]
Daughters of the West
June 24, 2010 by 6 Comments
Wow Who would have thought that Australia’s predictable elimination from the WC would cost the PM his job. We certainly take our sport seriously down here. Good news for the Doggies however as they now have another forward option with Julia freeing up Bazza to run further up the ground with the new PM in [Read more]
Cleaning out the augean stables
June 24, 2010 by 7 Comments
A couple of weeks ago I published this article: As the results of last week’s Morgan poll regarding preferred Labor leader showed, Julia Gillard is right on Kevin Rudd’s hammer. When asked by some wag if she would be seeking the captaincy, Gillard postulated the chances of that happening were as likely as her playing [Read more]
Steve and Damo’s Ground Trip: Part 2
June 23, 2010 by 2 Comments
by Steve Healy Last holidays, me and Damian Watson set off on an expedition to conquer all the former VFL suburban grounds (bar Geelong) in one day. Unfortunately, we fell terribly short and still had Princes Park, Arden St, Brunswick St oval, Windy Hill, Glenferrie and Whitten Oval to conquer. We picked this particular Friday [Read more]
Crio’s Q: Who are our favourite flairs?
June 22, 2010 by 23 Comments
by Chris Riordan Flairs are always in fashion! Almanac legend Gigs runs a popular Ladderist comp, the gist of which is to forecast the AFL teams’ order at season’s end. This can be very difficult. My dilemma this year was exemplified by a form-frustrated declaration that “only 5 teams can make the 8!” The identity [Read more]
THE WRAP – ROUND XIII – part i
June 21, 2010 by 4 Comments
WHERE LIFE IMITATES FOOTBALL What a round it’s been in Footy Eddie. The Family Club made it six on the Stewie Trott as they saw off Arch Rivals Essendon in a match worthy of a Line In The Sand Contest. The Barry Crockers snapped a two game losing streak to place a huge question mark [Read more]
Dermott Brereton – rebel in the pack
June 20, 2010 by Leave a Comment
A few years ago I had an alcohol fuelled disagreement with some friends of mine about Dermott Brereton’s left-liberal credentials. It’s fair to say I was flying solo in my line of reasoning from the outset. Hadn’t Dermie, I opined, supported the student occupation of RMIT in 1997 as those Bolshy students were crusading for [Read more]
Rising Stars
June 20, 2010 by 25 Comments
After reading Danni Eid’s article on young football prodigy Matthew Watson, I thought about all the great youngsters of our great game. So far, 12 rounds have passed in the AFL, and 12 babies of the football world have been awarded a NAB Rising Star nomination. And it all started on the first night of [Read more]
Danni knows how to pick ’em
June 19, 2010 by 8 Comments
I don’t like the ‘Footy Show’ and I hardly ever watch it. It’s stupid, immature and worst of all it has Sam Newman in it. To me it’s TV trash; I prefer watching ‘Before the Game.’ Although, when fellow Almanacer Susie told me that Mooney was on, I couldn’t resist. So I thought I’ll watch [Read more]
THE PRE WRAP – ROUND XIII part 1
June 18, 2010 by 6 Comments
FOR THE PHILOSOPHICAL MARNGROOK FAN What a week it’s been in Footy Eddie. Let’s settle this draw thing once and for all. This is Aussie Rules. We play draws and we pay draws. We play them maybe once or twice a season. Maybe once every two or three seasons. It’s not as though we’re having [Read more]
Mid-Year Assessment
June 18, 2010 by 12 Comments
It’s come to that time of the year where finals aspirations are being recalculated, and some teams are just playing out the year and going by the youth policy. Some players have proved their critics wrong in 2010, while some have failed to live up to the hype. Most Improved Players: Dale Thomas Thomas has [Read more]
The Temple of Mick
June 17, 2010 by 5 Comments
By David Latham Like Robert Walls, Mick Malthouse loves a grafter and humble clubman who knows how to turn a good sausage at club barbeques. It would appear that Mick’s perception runs into another dimension, inaccessible to mortal computation, and in that Labyrinthine mind of his, a paucity of football skill is no barrier to [Read more]
MICK’S FAV STUDENTS
June 16, 2010 by 6 Comments
In a way coaches are sort of like teachers. They mentor the players and take charge of the ‘classroom.’ They ‘use their outside voice’ and punish players who misbehave and they reward and motivate players who are doing well. Through supporting Collingwood for the many years, I have noticed something about Mick Malthouse. Now I’m [Read more]
Best individual home-and-away performances
June 16, 2010 by 25 Comments
1. Gary Ablett Snr, round 6 1993 Essendon 23.18 (156) v Geelong 19.18 (132) Richmond players had every reason to cringe at the sight of Gary Ablett, whose prolific scoring against the Tigers is the stuff of legend. Ablett’s best haul against the Yellow and Black was 14 goals at the MCG in 1989. As [Read more]
The sacking of Norm Smith & Interview “Tony Charlton’s Football Show” – Round 13 1965
June 16, 2010 by 34 Comments
The thirteenth round of matches for season 2010 commences this weekend with five games, the remaining three fixtures taking place the following weekend. The corresponding round forty five years earlier produced one of the largest controversies to hit our city for quite some time – Norm Smith’s removal as coach of the reigning VFL premier, [Read more]
THE WRAP – ROUND XII
June 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment
WHERE LIFE IMITATES FOOTBALL What a round it’s been in Footy Eddie. The flags are ¼ mast along La Via Lygon as the paperboys herald the news – The Shinboners are BIT. The Hawks also, as they play their first real game of Football for the season against The Hapless Chardonnays. The Power came out [Read more]
The View From Shepparton: Round 12
June 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Australia down 4 zip, Collingwood v Melbourne 76 points each in front of 67,000, I know which code I prefer. Or, leaving the Australians out of it I would prefer a 76 points each draw to a one all draw any time of the week Having said that, the Socceroos effort was a huge disappointment [Read more]
Crio’s Q: yo me frio o lo sophlo?
June 14, 2010 by 19 Comments
The Clash voiced a quandary faced by all sports fans at various times…”Should I stay or should I go now?” Channel Ten commentators on Saturday night noted that, despite the breathtaking Geelong clinic taking place, about half of the crowd had left – big trek to Essendon! – before the final siren. I hope that [Read more]
Magpies in Philadelphia
June 13, 2010 by Leave a Comment
When you visit Philadelphia there are a few non-negotiable must do’s. You ring the Liberty Bell, watch big Sav punt for the Eagles, eat a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich and best of all, finish the day with the famous run up the Rocky’s stairs in order to pay homage to the great boxer. You can [Read more]
Footy’s Final Frontier
June 11, 2010 by 1 Comment
The AFL’s relentless push into new territory is a little bit reminiscent of the Americans planting a stars and stripes flag on the surface of the moon. Boldly going where no code has gone before, whether you like it or not. Outer space is pretty much the only region that hasn’t yet felt the sensation [Read more]
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