This week’s edition is brought to you by my new sponsor, Murfett’s Aussie Footy. Although after last week’s effort I’m lucky to be allowed back at all (sorry for the moz, Swans).
Picture as pinched from eBay. Mine was thrown out in the great house move of 1976.
1) Stevie J
A tour de force performance from a champion written off too soon, or six junk time cheapies against an opponent who’d hit the wall? Should Richmond be afraid or laughing?
2) Chris Scott
Was this the first time that a coach has had his reputation enhanced by a dodgy sausage roll (hope it wasn’t a Routleys)? Was Danger always going to play full forward regardless? Harry Taylor in defence? Educated coaching or E. coli?
3) Buddy
What does Sydney (or Lance Franklin) have to achieve to justify his nine-year deal? Does his four flagless Swans seasons mean that it has been a failure? Are flags the only measure of these things?
4) Ken
Is Australia’s youngest Ken entitled to think about returning to the Gold Coast? Kochie – smart operator or Allan McAlister with fewer pubs?
5) Danger
Will we have another week of Adelaide supporters slagging him off as an ungrateful traitor as they relive Darren Jarman and Matthew Robran’s back to back flags (with support from Troy Bond and Brett James)?
6) Giants
14,865 to a semi-final. Money well spent, the AFL is playing the long game? Or are they spraying the TV rights money against the wall, Gerard Healy in Hindley Street Adelaide, 1980s-style?
All yours footy fans.
Read more of our Finals Week 2 coverage HERE.
About Mark 'Swish' Schwerdt
Saw my first SANFL game in 1967 - Dogs v Peckers. Have only ever seen the Dogs win 1 final in the flesh (1972 1st Semi) Mediocre forward pocket for the AUFC Blacks (1982-89) Life member - Ormond Netball Club -That's me on the right
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1) He looked like a beer barrel on wheels Swish. And he won’t get the space to tap his pluto against Rance & Co.
2) One finals win against the perennial September glass jaws doth not a coaching genius make. After all, they did manage too finish second. You’d expect them to show something along the way after in 13 finals appearances, wouldn’t you?
3) Was the deal designed to bring Flags or click turnstiles? Are the two not necessarily exclusive? If you want the measure of things, go to Video Easy and take out the French film The Measure Of A Man. And if the Swans expect Buddy to last 10 years they should have poached Lee Majors.
4) Yes & Yes. The measure of Australia’s Youngest Ken is that he won’t. Whatever happened to Alistair McAlistair BTW Surely he didn’t morph into Graeme Kennedy.
https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/the-presidents-allan-mcalister/
5) Does a leopard change its spots? Does a crow change its feathers? The Rabid Adelaide Mob would play the LSPRF on a break. They’re still the Kings of Crass.
6) Yes, and that goes for The Graveyard Coast Suns as well. Although they’ll get more to next week’s game. Lots more.
1. I reckon Richmond is fearless and Dustin Martin is showing his efforts.
2. Chris Scott is grumpy all the time, but is a good coach and experienced. Such moves can show his experiences??
3. His hunger has gone because of the nine-year contract. I didn’t see any his effort on Friday night.
4. Kochie has no experience in coaching and then made such a controversial speech. Of course Ken got angry. The Sunrise presenter just cares money and ruins Ken’s talents. More power cut next year I reckon. His comments could divert the club.
5. Dangerman was bloody good on Friday night. Maybe he tells his fellow Cats how to play well against his former teammates. But I reckon Adelaide Crows play Grand Final.
6. I can’t believe Giants’ good performances didn’t bring more footy fans to the game. Sadly AFL has done wrong in marketing and stadium choice.
1) Probably a dead cat bounce. Next week’s injection will need to be very special indeed.
2) Depends on whether you think that Harry Taylor to defence and Dangerfield to attack is anything but bleeding obvious. We do know that there is no Plan B in Scott brother DNA. A stopped clock is, after all, right twice every 24 hours. Though it is instructive that the Swannies have gone from unstoppable juggernaut to glass jaws in an twinkling. That achievement must be worth some credit.
3) Buddy is the perfect product for the Sydney market. Oooh, look at the shiny! So beautiful. Nothing else will keep the bums on seats.
4) Hinkley should certainly think about it. Think long, think slow and think carefully. Then run away at a million miles an hour. There are worse things that 3 years of Kochie. See G. Ablett Jnr, R. Eade, M. Voss etc for worked examples.
5) Sure thing. Chip, meet shoulder.
6) It depends on for whose benefit the money is being spent. The clubs no one wants or needs are essential to the maintenance of the inflated pay packets of the CEO, board and assorted hangers on. They boost the TV rights with the ‘potential’ of eager eyeballs in the rugby saturated states. The ‘potential’ does not have to be realised to maintain the illusion. We have statistics which prove that all is going swimingly. Do not mention that the emperor’s dangly bits are on open display.
Australia’s youngest Ken. Still laughing.
1. Laughing a bit – benefited from the Giants running the Eagles off their feet, giving him one on ones near goals. Had to turn off the game at three quarter time and put the 1997 grand final on to show the lad what four (or more) quality goals in a quarter of a final looks like.
2. We’ll find out pretty quickly on Friday but I suspect both changes were forced on him. Not convinced Dangerfield is fully fit (but, then again, who is?)
3. Issue is not Buddy per se. Issue is they have $1.8 million of just over $10 million salary cap invested in just two players, one of whom is not in the firsts. This has forced them to allow quality players to leave and replace them with players off their rookie list (an amazing 16 of 35 players used this season started their AFL careers on a rookie list). While Sydney does it better than any other team, it is reasonable to question whether it has contributed to costing them a flag (just don’t do it on twitter for fear of lynching).
4. Kochie’s words (not that they actually meant anything – still looking for a player who doesn’t want to win) were very well received by the Alberton faithful. They can replay them all summer while they look for a new coach.
5. Sadly, yes (of course we are talking about a subset of supporters who are not known for nasal respiration).
6. Long game – GWS will build something but it will take time.
1. Stevie plays cameos well this year. He also has a point to prove by missing last year’s Prelim by being suspended. Park him at Full Forward and let the game come to him.
2. He’s a Premiership Coach. I’d say it was always Plan B
3. We got Mumford from the Buddy foray to Sydney. I’m happy. (Maybe the issue isn’t Buddy, but Kurt and Buddy as per Dave’s post above)
4. contracts are sacrosanct until someone names the right termination price.
5. I’m more interested to see what the Tiger Army do to Lids.
6. It’s a slow build but you don’t get new members shelling out twice or three times as much for a ticket straight away. Finals are great but expensive. When your three game membership costs as much as a finals seat you might decide to give it a miss. We’d be lucky to get change out of $200 for the three of us (factoring in food and parking) on Saturday night. That’s after we’d raced from the Matilda’s game. Fortunately we weren’t double-booked because none of us support Parra.
With a target demographic of young families, Saturday nights are also bad. Our Auskickers were struggling to get numbers because of the late time slot.
I went. I had fun. More will learn and more will follow.
1. Six goals in a final is impressive regardless of when they are scored. Richmond should be weary of the champion Stevie J.
2. A bit of both. I think Chris Scott is improving each year but we’ll see how the game plan goes against the Crows.
3. Buddy is a bloody tough one. Given the money and contract length and Sydney’s constant finals appearances, I feel a flag is a must while Buddy is around. Anything less is a fail.
4. Hinkley should stay. He needs to have a real good talk to Kochie and tell him to pull his head in. But he is clearly a coach with the goods for a flag sooner or later.
5. Unfortunately yes. I agree with Kath, Lids with the Tiger Army will be one to watch.
6. It’ll take time for the Giants to gain a fan base. 14,000 is not ideal at all for a semi-final though, AFL must keep pushing their new team if they want numbers to grow.
Lids took one for The Club, to make room for Dusty. He’s always welcome at Tigerland, and will be treated with respect.
1) He’ll want to play. They’ll want him to play. If its within the realms of medical possibility, he’ll play.
2) Has he shown his hand? Anything left up his sleeve?
3) Buddy worth a lot in publicity terms in that Sydney market. As for the football value, see Dave’s point 3. Tippet is a big part of this problem. He needs to earn his keep.
4) Kath’s point 4 nails the ethics of this. Just when you think the loudmouth president might be a thing of the past, along comes Koch. File him alongside the Suns’ boofhead and let the Cash Cow referee.
BTW, as the Suns are effectively an AFL run club, what is their stance on an attempt to poach a contracted coach?
5) The Tiger faithful will be booing anything in orange. Lids won’t be an exception.
6) All of Kath’s observations are sound. But what’s the upper limit on this whole expansion exercise? Is there any sort of business plan here? A budget? Or do we just keep throwing money and hope something eventually sticks? What I’d really like is a proper accounting of what all of this has cost, and what it is expected to cost. But are we going to hold our breath waiting for that?
(1) More junk-time fun than crucial-moment brilliance. Eagles looked spent the moment they got on the field. Stevie J can still sniff blood, even when it’s not spilling out of the back of his head.
(2) A friend of mine sent me a message at the end of Friday night. ‘Do you think Chris Scott ever played footy for the sheer joy of getting a kick?’ No. He’s a scrapper. It was a plan that worked on the night. But try it on Friday night against the Crows and it’s fraught.
(3) Does Buddy regret moving north? That might be the only real metric of failure.
(4) Didn’t Port Adelaide almost fold because of infighting involving Bucky Cunningham and various coaching staff? Kochie might have had a point, but in the days of social media, it’s wiser to know when not to speak. (Also, I expect that in less transparent times of yore, a Port president behaving in such a way might have been treated to a few home truths out the back of Alberton Oval.)
(5) Adelaide is a fickle town. Sentimentality is reserved for Balfour’s pies (noting that the Adelaide Oval proudly advertises 4’n’20 pies), Farmer’s Union iced coffee and Channel 7 newsreaders. The Crows are confident they have Geelong’s measure. But that could be their downfall.
(6) When was Gerard Healy in Hindley Street in the 1980s? I must have missed him sauntering into the Princess Berkley at 2am. AFL has its fingers crossed for a generation of Sydney kids who think orange is the new black. But when Tony Abbott is the highest profile person photographed wearing your colours, you know you’re on shaky ground.
1)Stevie J? Dead Cat Bonce.
2)Chris Scott? Genius. Process; Process; Process. Dips taught him all he knows.
3)Buddy and Kurtz? Apocalypse Now. Sydney have played Russian roulette with all the barrels filled. The horror; the horror.
4)Ken Noath Ockestra? Kochie’s big mouth bid up his value without Ken having to lift a finger. Mediocrity has premium value among AFL coaches these days. Still Ch7 waste more money on Hamish, Basil and BT.
5)Danger and Lids? I anticipate multiple Shuey moments. Tiger and Crows fans would boo Santa Claus. Rulebook and Wrap lead burning of AO and MCG to the ground. GF transferred to Simonds Stadium. Handicapper announces she is expecting. Patrick Joel Christopher Harold Thomas Harms born 9 months after GF.
6)Money well spent. Throngs of Portuguese entranced by sport that induces methamphetamine rage in old age pensioners. Ken Hinckley signed as Assistant Coach to Jose Mourinho at Porto Power next season. Eddie refuses away games.
I anticipate sobering up about Wednesday. The horror. The horror.
Thank for all of the comments. Thanks to Ken the Youngest for voiding 4).
I’ve gotta try to find the exact Healy reference, but it was after a state game.
PB, all of the Harms kids were born in premiership years. Need to check how the Cats went in the JLT series.
Oh wow, Murfett’s Aussie Footy. I reckoned I got mine circa 1976, maybe a year or so later. So many hours I spent on that, but I’d forgotten about the state league logos in the corners. I think mine survived well into the 80s, but long gone now. If you ever find another box, Swish, consider this a challenge to a game.