autumn rain — Pendlebury slips into the stream when I crack my knuckles our first goal chilly MCG — empty seats but not too much to be quiet about mist blunt air head down Ball hammers into the shudder of bones the sun has gone off somewhere but here’s Daisy! dusk presents itself Cloke [Read more]
DA’s Clue of the Round (11)
May 31, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Don’t forget to check out the wonderful world of David Astle at davidastle.com. Here’s David’s clue for this week. Can you solve it? We have in mind a big-name player in the AFL, currently suspended from the action. Curiously, when you suspend every compass point from his name, as well as every Roman numeral, the four [Read more]
The Harms Dream
May 31, 2011 by 24 Comments
Gigs piece on the fixture, and its idiosyncrasies, injustices, inconsistencies, and conceptual weirdness, and his suggestion of a draw based on a Declaration of What is Good and Fair, and Inalienable in Football, is noble to say the least. Which, as commenters have noted almost universally in the words that follow, means that it is [Read more]
Melbourne would battle to beat Manangatang
May 31, 2011 by 6 Comments
If you are of the Almanac persuasion, Friday offered a stark contrast in climates of the land, and of the mind. Lunch at the All Nations Hotel saw Manangatang lads Adam McNicol and Craig Sholl entertain with tales of their old Mallee home town. Later, it was on to a slippery MCG for a spectacle [Read more]
Taking equalisation one step further
May 31, 2011 by 17 Comments
by Andrew Gigacz News that the AFL is looking at fixturing as a means of helping the equalisation of clubs, as reported by Jake Niall in last Friday’s Age, is most welcome. For too long the league’s “poorer” clubs have suffered at the hands of being fixtured in dead timeslots, against teams with lower drawing [Read more]
Lose the battle, win the war
May 31, 2011 by 9 Comments
by Mic Rees The Cats host the Dogs on Saturday at Kardinia Park. If current form is any guide a repeat of last seasons 17 goal smashing the Dogs received may be on the cards. One clash between Saturday’s combatants that evokes wonderful memories for me was played nearly thirty years ago at the Leagues [Read more]
Karmichael, I take it all back. What a goal!
May 30, 2011 by 4 Comments
By Sasha Lennon Saturday night provided us with one of those ‘momentous occasions’ in footy. The Gold Coast Suns played their first real ‘home’ game at the redeveloped Carrara. Amidst the fanfare marked by the ‘shock and awe’ style fireworks which burst above the crowd prior to the opening bounce, the punters were giving the [Read more]
Dogs & Saints – A Love Story
May 30, 2011 by 8 Comments
The only thing I remember from that day is Tony Liberatore being held aloft by one of his teammates, cabaret style, in celebration. In his mind, he had just nailed the goal that had snapped the spine of the fast-finishing Adelaide Crows and set up a scenario so outlandish that the mere whisper of it, [Read more]
Crio’s Q: Your favourite sporting year
May 30, 2011 by 23 Comments
I’ve had cause of late to remember 1984. I think it is my favourite year – at least for sporting memories. It’s the year I first experienced an English summer and the chance to join the sporting feasts only dreamed of from afar. Consider: At Lord’s I witnessed Gordon Greenidge’s finest knock as he pounded [Read more]
Snooker break
May 30, 2011 by 9 Comments
Photo by David Bruce Trevor Ayres breaking in 2007. This photo was accepted into the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery’s main annual exhibition, the South West Survey, in 2007. As a response to Adam’s comment, the best David could do was have Roger Waters pay a visit. Then he decided to take the tone a little [Read more]
Playing on the ‘other’ Gazza
May 30, 2011 by 37 Comments
We arrived in the land of big things and took in the new ground. Metricon Stadium has a roof like a crinkle cut potato chip; a really big potato chip. It curves around the top of the stadium in a horse shoe shape leaving one end open to the world like a giant front door. [Read more]
Pies step up to step on Eagles
May 30, 2011 by 3 Comments
mercurial (of person) sprightly, ready-witted, volatile From half-time on, the story of this game was always going to be the three moments of brilliance from The Mop. While those moments lit up the game, the bigger story should be that this was a vastly improved performance on our most recent efforts. At the start of [Read more]
RIVERLAND SUPERDOGS V PORTLAND MAF
May 30, 2011 by Leave a Comment
ROUND SIX 2011, Sun May 29th 2011 The Riverland Superdogs celebrated ‘Family Day’ at Lyrup Oval with a solid 16-point win against a gallant Portland Power in Master’s AFL round six. RFL umpire Mark ‘Orange Maggott’ Wilksch showed all as to why he should ‘give umpiring up’ with a supreme hard-running wingman’s game topped off [Read more]
Winning and losing at the same time.
May 30, 2011 by 4 Comments
Is there such thing as winning without casualties in 2011? It’s Sunday night and we’re watching my sister’s team, the Doggies, being pummelled the Hawks. It’s awful to watch and I know the feeling of suffering. Her first sms was: Sigh. Her second was: I should write for the Almanac too so that I can [Read more]
Round Ten wrap
May 30, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Yes. Well. No eight out of eight this week, or any week so far. The Crows played like tits on a shrub, bombing the ball forward with no plan, no hope and no sense that they had ever played the game before. Craig sensed the anger and dropped the usual spin – we will learn [Read more]
Convergence
May 29, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Convergence Friday night. Belly full. Cold beer. Girlfriend prepping Notting Hill on second TV. Mind shifting into first gear. A text causes my phone to fall off the coffee table. It’s Mum: –Sitting on a tram on the way to the G. So many Melbourne supporters on board. [Sibling 1] has a serious case of [Read more]
My best ever Geelong team – part 2
May 29, 2011 by 6 Comments
THE FORWARD LINE I have chosen Paul Couch for the half-forward flank. Couch played in the high-scoring Geelong teams of the Blight era, mainly in the centre, but at times as a creative half-forward. Couch had great vision, wonderful evasive skills and a deadly accurate left foot kick. He played 259 games for Geelong and [Read more]
Rotunda In The West- ‘Talking Footy’
May 29, 2011 by 6 Comments
‘Talking Footy’ down at the Whitten Oval Foyer was a wonderful event and one in which I encourage fellow Almanackers to attend to next time. Guests included the Footy Almanac’s own John Harms, Western Bulldogs star Daniel Giansiracusa and respected footy poet Tom Petsinis, in which all three provided a enthralling conservation about footy. And [Read more]
A religious experience amongst the football faithful
May 29, 2011 by 4 Comments
by David Brewster I was never much of a churchgoer, but I can pretty much pin the last vestige of my belief in prayer down to 1981. After my ‘Pies had lost their fourth grand final in five years, it was quite clear that the bloke upstairs either didn’t exist or wasn’t a Collingwood supporter. [Read more]
Magpie Fans are LOUDer and PROUDer than the rest
May 29, 2011 by 14 Comments
Collingwood Football Club is proud. The staff (of which I am proud to be one), the players – both past and present, the coaches, the football Department, the volunteers, the CEO, the President and more clear-cut: the many, many exuberant, colourful and loyal supporters, all share one common denominator. They would give up anything for [Read more]
Recent Comments