For the Philosophical Marngrook Follower What a round six it’s been in Footy Eddie. The Feeling Faints win the Friday Night Mexican Stand-off and The Moggies kick The Sweep (just) against The Hapless Tigers. North burst Melbourne’s bubble and Port win the Showdown as Coach Craig’s watches his career pass before his eyes. Coach Clarko [Read more]
The View From Shepparton: Round 6
May 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment
The View took his frame to the nearest Hardly Normal Store today , ostensibly to purchase a microwave but in fact to have a look at the new 3D behemoths. The salesperson reckoned the State Of Origin games are going to be telecast in that medium this year. The State Of Origin concept by the [Read more]
Offsiders go at it hammer and tong.
May 3, 2010 by 14 Comments
For an interesting analysis of the Melbourne Storm issue, check out yesterday’s Offsiders program which includes some fairly frank and free discussion between panelists, especially GCJD Haigh and Rebecca Wilson. It’s available in segments at this link (you’ll work it out): http://www.abc.net.au/sport/offsiders/ Of the many worms that are released by the opening of the [Read more]
Crio’s Question: Sporting truisms
May 3, 2010 by 15 Comments
My old mate Rooster always chuckled when recalling an exasperated coach’s ¾ time “team talk”. “I’ve got only one thing to say to youse blokes”, he barked at the Alexandra Reserves, “and that’s nuthin’”. Its much more fun when coaches avoid the “one week at a time” drivel and offer something from the heart. Last [Read more]
Footy Talk: Clarko gets some couch time
April 29, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Jennifer Melfi- Respected psychiatrist, specialising in anger management issues. Best known for her work with a Mr Tony Soprano. Alastair Clarkson- Hawthorn premiership coach. 2010 was meant to be the rebound year for the Hawks. But once again, it’s turning pear-shaped. They needed a ruckman, but drafted Burgoyne- then he couldn’t get on the field. [Read more]
AFL Teams: Go the Tricolours!
April 29, 2010 by 19 Comments
In the lead-up to the Footy Almanac lunch at the Clyde Hotel on Friday 30 April, a lunch with a Saints v Bulldogs theme, Michael Rees has selected a team of players to have played for both clubs. Go the Tricolours! B: Dean Chiron, Alby Smedts, Michael Ford HB: Mick Frost, Mark Kellett, Anthony Darcy [Read more]
AFL stat site anomalies
April 29, 2010 by 22 Comments
This (AFL owned) site has me perplexed. It seems to suggest, for example, that in the 1910 home and away season Collingwood’s average crowd was only 488. This is obviously incorrect. So why is the site still up (I first noticed it this time last year)? Have a look at the attendances of all clubs in [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Anzac Day: From Reservoir to the ‘G’, to the eye of the Storm
April 29, 2010 by 2 Comments
The national anthem brings the dawn service at the Reservoir cenotaph to a close and a greying man wrapped in black and white trumpets, Carna Pies! Some giggle into their winter coats while a few women puff on heartstarters. Children hang from parents’ arms. A craggy digger approaches another standing at the rear of the [Read more]
Upset Round
April 29, 2010 by 4 Comments
Now that the annual ‘upset Round’ has been completed with football scholars’ throughout the land and possibly beyond, predictions being turned upside down and my geriatric Cats morphed from roosters to feather dusters as quick as you can say Podsiadliwho, I reflect, perhaps because I am upset. Some comment on Anzac Day footy, as the [Read more]
More than one punt in modern footy
April 28, 2010 by 2 Comments
I haven’t lived in Melbourne for a few years now, but still love getting back home and catching the odd game. Having spent years overseas watching football (soccer) and now living in a rugby state, I can still safely say that footy, the Australian variety, is clearly the greatest of them all. But there is [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Storm fans need another Lazarus moment
April 28, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Rugby league isn’t my game of choice. In fact, I can honestly say I’ve never been to one solitary game in any of my 33 years. My first real sense of association with it was at an unlikely event on a glorious spring day in 1999. North Melbourne had won the flag the day before, [Read more]
The Real Round 5 Ladder?
April 28, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Following a discussion with a Swans supporter about their dream run to get them to the top after round 5, I felt the need to try and justify my position……. Consequently, please find below the real ladder after Round 5. One that perhaps offers a bit more perspective on a team’s performance to date. The [Read more]
The View From Shepparton: Round 5
April 28, 2010 by 2 Comments
Well what a prick of an Anzac Day weekend that was. The Brisbane bubble was pricked followed closely by that of St Kilda’s, Geelong, but the Storm were the biggest pricks of all, or at least a few of their administrators have been. I spent the weekend in Melbourne, folks, and made up my mind [Read more]
General Footy Writing: You want great clashes? You’ll have to look beyond Saints and Dogs matches
April 27, 2010 by 4 Comments
This Friday evening the Dogs take on the Saints in what shapes as a potential preview to a September showdown. Maybe. The battle of these tri-colours was once an entry on the fixture that hardly set pulses racing. Times change. As one of the many long suffering members/supporters of one of these trophy-starved teams, here [Read more]
Crio’s Question: What are your sports forecasting rules?
April 27, 2010 by 22 Comments
As this weekend’s results attest, punting and picking winners are tough tasks. To simplify the predicament we look for trends, adages, even superstitions. My 2010 theory (at the moment) involves laying teams the week after they’ve played the Dogs. The Pies fell in by a point v Dees but it is otherwise effective! Past advice [Read more]
Footy Rivalry: Factoid versus fiction
April 25, 2010 by 5 Comments
In the modern era, rivalry is a brand. Just like a wee bit too much of the wide, wide world of sport these days, it is used by some people to extract a few extra bucks from other people. Go back a little while though, and I think rivalry was both a little more serious [Read more]
Anzac Tribute
April 24, 2010 by 1 Comment
I woke up to the sound of gunfire in the distance and to the realization that today is another day, I survived yesterday and I am where I am. Slowly, painfully, I get up, moving my feet stiffly before a Japanese prison guard hits me with the butt of his rifle to ‘hurry’ me up. [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Why should the salary cap strangle homegrown stars?
April 24, 2010 by 3 Comments
Melbourne Storm’s hanging has concentrated my mind. Try this proposal on for size: To preserve a competitive AFL, drafted players should be subject to their club’s salary cap for their first three seasons, as should established players acquired from other AFL clubs. To preserve club loyalties, I don’t see why clubs should be restricted from [Read more]
A night in Stats Central
April 23, 2010 by Leave a Comment
I have long been going to the SANFL to keep a close watch on the development and form of any Adelaide Crows player running around in the twos. And for every game I’ve gone to I’ve carried a little black notebook, about the size of the average hand, with me.
Footy Talk: Choco and Junkyard do Match Committee
April 23, 2010 by 4 Comments
In this week’s episode of The Odd Couple, the role of Oscar Madison will be played by Mark Williams, and Felix Unger will be played by Dean Laidley. After a drubbing down in Geelong, Felix arrives ready for action at match committee, dossiers and laptop at the ready. He’s a little taken aback at what [Read more]
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