For good or ill, I am an optimist, so despite another disappointing season from Canterbury and a reliance on either a Friday night draw between South Sydney and Newcastle or a Rabbitohs win followed by a mammoth Bulldogs win, I still thought there was hope for Canterbury. Mathematical chance, I believe they call it. That [Read more]
AFL Footy Darwin style: unhyped, uncomplicated, and unlikely to push the crocs off the front page
September 4, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Visiting Darwin is like returning to 1985. This view isn’t shaped by the locals’ preference for iced coffees over flat whites; nor their steaks served with a thick ridge of fat; nor the lack of pretentious fashion chosen by those having a beer in Mitchell St on any given night. It was because of the [Read more]
We don’t have the Blues this morning…
September 4, 2011 by 4 Comments
We’ll start with a generic question: do the Saints have to always put us through so much misery and tension before we reach happiness at the end of the night? It seems so. Saints supporters like me went to the Game at the MCG last night feeling pretty mixed. A win meant a home, Etihad, [Read more]
Floreat Pica: Take Your Pick
September 4, 2011 by 5 Comments
By Paul Fahey Round 24 Vs Geelong 2011 The first weekend in September is usually reserved for the first weekend of AFL finals – we have to be thankful that this was NOT the case this year! As this game was a “dead rubber” I believe that you the type of person you are [Read more]
Friday Night Footy 360
September 4, 2011 by 5 Comments
Ever since the shock loss to Sydney ended the Cats four year unbeaten run at Kardinia Park last week all and sundry have been declaring “Geelong are wobbly”, “The Cats are vulnerable” and “Hawthorn are now the biggest threat to Collingwood”. Funny how they seem to have forgotten that we’ve beaten Hawthorn twice this season [Read more]
Bless ‘Em All – Eagles V Crows
September 4, 2011 by 5 Comments
Subiaco Oval – 5.10pm WST Saturday 3 September 2011 A final round game with nothing at stake. The Eagles are finals bound. The Crows are bound for Mad Monday with the aim of ‘drinking to forget’ a season of loss and disappointment. It is an odd feeling going to the match. None of the expectation [Read more]
Marvin Vaas is ‘Indisposed’
September 4, 2011 by 6 Comments
Tragedy in Galle? Was it the tuk-tuk? Was it the humidity? Or simple ‘over excitement’ at Australia’s victory. The Almanac’s intrepid correspondent Marvin Vaas was mysteriously indisposed and unable to file a fourth day report from Galle. The last sighting of Marvin is below.
Happy Cats
September 4, 2011 by 7 Comments
Sainter Yvette Wroby helps the Cats celebrate Friday night. Will they be celebrating this time next week?
Bulldogs take SANFL minor flag – again
September 4, 2011 by Leave a Comment
By Rob McLean There is something exhilarating about watching a sporting team winning against all expectations, particularly when it is your own. Central District went into yesterday’s top of the table SANFL clash at Elizabeth Oval undermanned and many observers expected the Bulldogs to concede top spot and possibly the minor premiership to a confident [Read more]
Aussies Ward off Sri Lanka
September 4, 2011 by 8 Comments
by Andrew Gigacz The inevitability of Australia taking the last five wickets and taking a 1-0 lead against Sri Lanka was delayed by several events. Firstly by another almost inevitable occurrence, morning rain in Galle, after just a few minutes of play. Mahela Jayawardene and Angelo Mathews had time only to take the [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Finals Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
September 4, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Come back to 1995 with me for a moment. The ARL expanded their competition by introducing four new teams – the Western Reds, the South Queensland Crushers (featuring the incomparable St John Ellis), the Auckland (subsequently New Zealand) Warriors and the North Queensland Cowboys. With my early childhood years split between Mackay and Brisbane, I [Read more]
Is this the season for the drought to end?
September 3, 2011 by 6 Comments
I’ve hit record button on Foxtel for the Cats v Swans game and headed off to Port Melbourne to see if my VFL side can win 18 on the trot and remain undefeated in the main season. Its been a while since I have not made the trip down Princes Highway for [Read more]
Day 3 at Galle; mixed metaphors at the G.
September 3, 2011 by 2 Comments
DAY THREE AT GALLE I often wonder what journalists do when there is no play. They sit and chat about yesterday’s play and so it was this morning. Strangely there is no music that Marvin Gay wrote about yesterday but the atmosphere is one of happiness which to me epitomises life in Galle. After [Read more]
Collingwood’s Loss is Australia’s Gain
September 3, 2011 by 7 Comments
“My fellow Australians, I speak to you tonight to announce that I will be standing down immediately as Prime Minister of this great country. Over the past year I have given my all to this country that I love so much, and that has given me so much. But I have to acknowledge that the [Read more]
Marvin Vaas survives day three
September 3, 2011 by 5 Comments
Sri Lanka v Australia First Test Day 3 by Marvin Vaas We’re finally becoming accustomed to the vehicular madness that is the A2 Galle-Colombo road. The journey to the ground hasn’t been without its considerable scares though. Across the road from the Galle market, hundreds gather on the beach wishing to purchase some fresh-off-the-boat Indian [Read more]
Round 24: Blog
September 3, 2011 by 63 Comments
So what to make of that effort? Or lack thereof. Lucky we’ve been assured there’s no such thing as tanking. It would have been more polite for the Pies to alert everyone (ala the Hawks) that they were taking all this Irrelevant Round stuff to heart. Might have saved people the effort of turning up. [Read more]
In praise of the Red Lions and varsity footy
September 2, 2011 by 8 Comments
The Red Lions play in two grand finals tomorrow following a brekkie where Derek Humphrey-Smith will be the guest speaker.
FIONA AND ME
September 2, 2011 by 3 Comments
There is nothing better than being in the right place at the right time and so it was for me today. Just before play as I wandered around the ground I stumbled across Fiona Copeland who was anxiously waiting for her son’s first appearance at the bowling crease for Australia. She introduced herself and we [Read more]
WHERE ARE THE TONY LOCKETTS?
September 2, 2011 by 1 Comment
Remember when Tony Lockett kicked his 1300th goal? There’s a video on Youtube. Watch him as he lines up the kick. One after another he performs the motions that comprise his routine. First he bends and rubs the grass with his right-hand. Both hands then straddle the balls’ laces as they hang, ape like, in [Read more]
Crio’s Racing: Craiglee Stakes
September 2, 2011 by 17 Comments
Craiglee Stakes was always a day to get to Flemington, scour the doubles charts and focus on the weeks ahead. Traditionally the minor round was over and so the rhythm of the footy season was broken. Footy and Netball clubs flirted on the lawns on end of season trips and the sun occasionally made an [Read more]
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