DA’s Clue of the Round (26)

  Catch up with the wonderful world of David Astle here. But before you do, see if you can find the answers to this week’s clue. This week we browse Brownlow winners over the last 20 years. Playing with the winners’ surnames only, you will find: 1. A colour; 2. A major novel by the [Read more]

GWS is a Menace

  by Dave Nadel It seems to me that Greater Western Sydney has taken a different approach to its pre-draft recruiting than Gold Coast did last year. The two best players that Gold Coast took, Ablett and Harbrow, were taken from clubs who had played off in the Preliminary Finals last year. Two other players, [Read more]

Playing finals football: how to make your head hurt.

  by Antony Ugoni From the outset I should declare my love of the format of the final 8. It has everything I could hope for in a finals system. That is   Rewards for finishing close to the top of the eight. Teams in positions 1 to 4 earn either a week’s rest or [Read more]

Mark of the Year: Part I.

    Never take a mark for granted. They are the sweetest thing. Never take The Mark of the Year for granted, either. People say it like it’s a fact. “That was the mark of the year!” Full stop. Odds are, Walker will win the telly one, but footy means many different things to many [Read more]

deeper into spring

spring sunset the difference a goal makes       freshly cut fields Swan feeds on the MCG     cloud then sun then cloud yet to hit our stride       looking for the angle Krakouer turns his back to the goals       a gap in the clouds Wellingham catches the [Read more]

Gone!

by Yvette Wroby

Loxton North say hoo-roo to a hoodoo

A-GRADE RFL LOXTON NORTH V WAIKERIE – GRAND FINAL 2011, Sept 10th 2011 By Nick Kossatch at Loxton North Loxton North broke a seven-year hoodoo by thrashing Waikerie to the tune of 42 points in the RFL Grand Final at Loxton North. The Magpies dominated the play early with skipper Ben Venning booting the first [Read more]

Someone Like You

This link’s gone through email in-boxes like wildfire but even if you’ve seen it already, it’s worth another look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFGGD_d9GnQ&feature=share Feel free to share your thoughts below.    

DAY 5 AT KANDY

One of the surprising sites in Kandy is to see a dog with four legs. There are not as many dogs as at Whitten Oval which has surprised me.  Most of them laze around on the very edges of the main roads.  None are fat (Georgie Bissett) but lean (Robert Murphy). As a dog lover [Read more]

Blues Rediscover That Finals Swagger

We’re all well aware of a grim anniversary that occurred this weekend past. I’ve no intention of adding to the numerous postulations on what that event may or may not have meant. So relax. But that same week a decade ago happens to also mark the beginning of Carlton’s descent. In the general scheme of [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – A numbers game

Coming into this weekend I found myself once again scratching my head, just like most rugby league fans as to how this McIntyre Finals system operates. Apparently it’s all about rankings, and provided you keep winning, elimination isn’t a problem. On the surface, it sounds simple enough. But delving a little deeper, I realised that [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – Going the distance

You learn a lot about life from watching Rocky movies. “It’s not about how hard you hit, but about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward,” Sylvester Stallone’s iconic character Rocky Balboa says in the final film of the franchise. “[It’s about] how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s [Read more]

When the Band Stopped

After a week-long build up focusing on match ups, previous finals clashes, a 100 year long rivalry, finals ticketing dramas and the usual injury concerns, 90,000 people arrived at the MCG ready for action. You would think that such an attendance would be a glowing endorsement of the appeal of the indigenous code. With an [Read more]

Big Hits

Joel Dicker has played for the Penguin Football Club all his life; he and his brother Ryan. His mother is in the canteen during the home games and as a family they epitomise the foundations of local footy. Every club in every league has them. No big deal. Its just the way it is. Joel [Read more]

Swans Go Ape

“IT WAS partly ape, with a tiny brain, long arms, a chimp-size body and ape-like heels. But it was also partly human, with long thumbs, short fingers, an advanced ankle and a brain that looked like it had begun to rewire.” Original, non-clichéd quotes can be hard to find in Aussie Rules and this gem [Read more]

Crio’s Q: Time and Place

Without belittling the significance of 9/11 – “when the world changed” – its commemoration has stirred reminiscences…. “I remember where I was when…”   We do link notable news with moments in our life. Sports nuts will know what I mean. My clearest recollection of walking in to Vatican Square in 1986 is seeing an [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – A clinical win, an expected loss

The Knights hadn’t beaten the Storm in Melbourne for seven years and despite Melbourne losing their last two matches of the regular season, this Knights fan was pretty confident of another loss being added to that record. The first fifteen minutes was fairly back and forth. The Knights looked to exploit Melbourne’s up and in [Read more]

Galle Photo essay

As Australia closes in on victory in Kandy, we revisit some images from their win in Galle. Pictures by Phil O’Rourke Captions by Marvin Vaas  

KANDY DAY 4: THE WISDOM OF DON

The tsunami has taken care of St Kilda and Essendon. Hawthorn and West Coast have injury problems to star players as well and could fall at the next hurdle. It is hard to feel the suffering that must be going on for the Saints.  Forget about Essendon who  cares about their effort. My friend Heather [Read more]

THE WRAP – FINALS ROUND I

WHERE LIFE IMITATES SPORT What a round it’s been in Footy Eddie.  And wasn’t it a cornucopia of what Our Great Game is all about Wrappers.  Firstly, it was The Handbags who booked themselves a week off and a spot one out and one back.  The Maggies also booked themselves a break when they overawed [Read more]