ROUND XVIII And what a round it’s been in Footy Eddie. Carlton spoilt Adam Simpson’s send off, but that was to be expected. To celebrate a new club games record holder, The Doggies tore strips off The Anchormen, and the Sleepy Hollow Millionaires got out of jail down at Kardinia Park. The Feeling Faints also [Read more]
The Wrap: Mrs Wrap might just be right on the Collingwood coaching deal
August 3, 2009 by Leave a Comment
General Footy Writing: Durable Simmo gave everything for the Roos
August 3, 2009 by 2 Comments
By Mark Wallace The first moment I can clearly recall of Adam Simpson was in the final minute of the 1996 Grand Final. Wearing the No.37 guernsey, Simmo swooped on a loose ball and kicked around his body on his non-preferred right boot from 45m for a goal which put the Kangaroos six goals up. [Read more]
General Footy Writing: I don’t see how anyone can beat the Saints
August 1, 2009 by 2 Comments
By Tony Dalton I have now watched the full seventeen games of the Saints season, each week expecting to see someone, some team, run out, work them over and defeat them. Much to my surprise and delight it has not happened and I am now convinced that it will not happen this year.
General Footy Writing: A lament for great old footy jumpers
July 31, 2009 by 12 Comments
By Chris Riordan While the AFL clubs’ marketing departments are developing gross jumpers, originality is losing out to functionality in the bush and burns. Buy in bulk. Cheaper and ready by order. Our fantastic footy culture was clarified to me one afternoon about 20 years ago when I was handed a jumper by the barman [Read more]
General Footy Writing: Hawks and Eagles match highlights jumper absurdities
July 31, 2009 by 1 Comment
By Sam Steele This was going to be another match report in response to Messrs Harms’ and Daffey’s hint that I play myself into form in order to be considered for “the book”. Sadly, my attention on a scrappy but nonetheless crucial West Coast v Hawthorn game was insufficient to complete the task, but my [Read more]
The Pre-Wrap: Top Pies in first flush of love, but will ardour fade?
July 31, 2009 by Leave a Comment
THE PRE WRAP – ROUND 18 What a week it’s been in Footy Eddie. The long awaited Ménage à Trois is finally stitched up at McHale Stadium. We’re just glad that Archbishop Mannix and John Wren weren’t around to squirm with us through the courtship and wince at the ceremony. We wish them all the [Read more]
Sports Science: Ice baths and dips in cold water work against recovery
July 30, 2009 by 17 Comments
By Clint Youlden We live in strange times when you consider that recovering from physical activity now receives nearly as much attention as training. As an athlete and sports scientist for the past 10 years, I’ve tried every feasible recovery method. And I thought I might give a breakdown on one of those methods, the [Read more]
General Footy Writing: How a Tiger got his stripes – Part 2
July 30, 2009 by Leave a Comment
By Sam Steele I only ever saw Royce Hart play four times. And yet he remains, without question, my one genuine sporting hero (with the possible exception of Dennis Lillee), and was instrumental in my childhood conversion to Australian football. Most of my memories of Royce are of grainy black and white snippets from the [Read more]
General Footy Writing: This solution to the problem of tanking is way out of left field. But it might just work
July 30, 2009 by 6 Comments
By Andrew Gigacz Last Sunday Melbourne became the first team to drop out of the finals race. Mathematically speaking, that is. Yes, for Freo or North or a bunch of others to make it, an extraordinary sequence of events would have to unfold. But the fact is that right now, before Round 18 commences, only [Read more]
General Footy Writing: President’s Pets were never going to leave the Pies. Trust me!
July 29, 2009 by 7 Comments
By Danielle Eid I wasn’t even out of the school grounds when my Dad called me on my mobile to tell me that Bucks had signed as an assistant at Magpie Land. I got home, not bothering to eat yet, and jumped onto the site just to make sure that Dad wasn’t pulling my leg. [Read more]
General Footy Writing: Yes, it’s strange, and I’m a bit worried, but I just don’t seem to hate Collingwood like I once did
July 29, 2009 by 8 Comments
By Damian O’Donnell It feels a bit strange to say it, but I don’t think I hate Collingwood the most anymore. For me this is a huge admission, because my dislike for Collingwood has been a great constant in my life, a sort of anchor. To hate Collingwood is as normal as putting your pants [Read more]
AFL Round 17: The View from Shepparton
July 28, 2009 by Leave a Comment
by Peter Schumacher What a great round this was and again what a great advertisement for the game. How did Geelong get out of jail? Was that not one of the great comebacks? No Scarlett, no Taylor. Hawthorn get that first goal in the last quarter, no way could Geelong fight back. But they did. [Read more]
General Footy Writing: Silence is golden where MCG irritations are concerned
July 27, 2009 by 15 Comments
By Andrew Fithall Footy at the MCG is fantastic. Membership provides the privilege of choosing your perspective. The kids love down low as close to the fence as possible. Helen enjoys the additional benefit of the recently-benched (should that now read “rotated”) players doing their warm-down as they walk up and down the boundary. You [Read more]
General Footy Writing: The game that never happened
July 23, 2009 by 13 Comments
by Ian Syson It’s a long-standing problem for soccer in Australia that many of its elite juniors end up playing other codes of football at the senior level. AFL players like Adam Goodes and Brad Green were standout junior soccer players. Rugby League’s Andrew Johns starred with the round ball as a junior in Newcastle. [Read more]
Memoir: My best match
July 23, 2009 by 9 Comments
by Josh Barnstable I’m happy to know that every AFL game I go to, I savour it. And I’ve been one of the lucky ones, with every match I’ve gone too; it’s been either a special occasion or a really good game. Due to living in country Victoria, I only get to go to about [Read more]
Gigs being Gigs: Bad puns are a way of life
July 22, 2009 by 17 Comments
Andrew Gigacz In the latest edition of “The Monthly Knacker” we pull no punches and ask the hard questions about footy: What makes Darren Jolly? Crumbling bones. Is there Dust in Fletcher? Why doesn’t someone mark McVeigh? Will Thurs field? Is it true that Eddie Betts? Was Luke Beveridge’s middle name really Warm? [Read more]
Harms: On (the wonderful) Geelong fan
July 22, 2009 by 8 Comments
by John Harms I know it is awkward to talk about your own, but sometimes it has to be done. And it has to be done honestly. So I’m going to say it up front: the Geelong supporter is the embodiment of all that is good and true. The world has never seen, in any [Read more]
Local footy: Amazing Country comeback on a windy day
July 22, 2009 by 53 Comments
By Paul Daffey Wind is a variant that’s going out of AFL games in Victoria. The Docklands Stadium is like a bowling alley with turf. The MCG’s stands are so high that the wind dare not breach its walls. Only Kardinia Park is exposed to the elements.
Local Footy: The Maffra story – it’s all about beating Sale
July 21, 2009 by 3 Comments
by Rocket Gillett In preparing my recent posting on the Rochester/Echuca rivalry I had planned to compare it to a very similar rivalry – and the most comparable is the Sale/Maffra rivalry – the parallels are striking similarly in terms of longevity, small town v big town, changing competitions, etc However, I got carried [Read more]
View From Shepparton: Dominant Saints prompt disappointing Crows to revert to type
July 20, 2009 by 3 Comments
By Peter Schumacher St Kilda are definitely the team to beat now, no doubt about that. Adelaide will quite possibly slide out of the eight. That they reverted to their instincts of trying to close down the game when the going got tough in the second quarter was very disappointing. I guess that as an [Read more]
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