A few years ago I had an alcohol fuelled disagreement with some friends of mine about Dermott Brereton’s left-liberal credentials. It’s fair to say I was flying solo in my line of reasoning from the outset. Hadn’t Dermie, I opined, supported the student occupation of RMIT in 1997 as those Bolshy students were crusading for [Read more]
Rising Stars
June 20, 2010 by 25 Comments
After reading Danni Eid’s article on young football prodigy Matthew Watson, I thought about all the great youngsters of our great game. So far, 12 rounds have passed in the AFL, and 12 babies of the football world have been awarded a NAB Rising Star nomination. And it all started on the first night of [Read more]
Essendon v Buddy Franklin
June 20, 2010 by Leave a Comment
I was a bit confused with Essendon playing Hawthorn again. It only seemed a few weeks ago that we fronted up to them, and in fact it was, it was only about 6 weeks ago. And six weeks ago we gave them a bit of a hiding and that gave me hope after the thrashing [Read more]
Danni knows how to pick ’em
June 19, 2010 by 8 Comments
I don’t like the ‘Footy Show’ and I hardly ever watch it. It’s stupid, immature and worst of all it has Sam Newman in it. To me it’s TV trash; I prefer watching ‘Before the Game.’ Although, when fellow Almanacer Susie told me that Mooney was on, I couldn’t resist. So I thought I’ll watch [Read more]
Buddy Proves he’s the Friday Night Specialist
June 19, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Seven weeks ago, the Bombers and the Hawks met at the MCG on a Saturday night, the first clash after Round 22 last year. We all know what happened then. That night, just seven rounds ago, the Bombers won quite comfortably. Now, just 48 days later, they revisited on a Friday night at the home [Read more]
On The Question Of Race
June 19, 2010 by 14 Comments
When I hear the word ‘race’ I think of eugenicists and skull-measurers; I think of nineteenth century exhibitions at The Royal Organisation for the Conquest of Everything in London; I think of posses of white settlers seeking brutal retribution for stock loss on the frontier; I think of Indigenous peoples (wherever they are in the [Read more]
SPLIT VIEWS ON THE SPLIT ROUND
June 18, 2010 by 5 Comments
It is not only footy fans who face unfamiliar fixturing this weekend. Punters, too, face the realities of winter’s hiatus from feature racing as they scan their Friday formguides. Brisbane’s “metropolitan” meeting moves 40km to Ipswich, usually a Friday venue but, for this weekend, hosting 20,000+ patrons , drawn by good fields, good prizemoney and [Read more]
THE PRE WRAP – ROUND XIII part 1
June 18, 2010 by 6 Comments
FOR THE PHILOSOPHICAL MARNGROOK FAN What a week it’s been in Footy Eddie. Let’s settle this draw thing once and for all. This is Aussie Rules. We play draws and we pay draws. We play them maybe once or twice a season. Maybe once every two or three seasons. It’s not as though we’re having [Read more]
Book review: Wednesday Warriors: Doing it for the jumper: the St Pat’s Ballarat tradition
June 18, 2010 by 6 Comments
Title: Wednesday Warriors: Doing it for the jumper: the St Pat’s Ballarat tradition Author: James Gilchrist Publisher: Conor Court Publishing, Ballan, Victoria (2010) The recent launch of James Gilchrist’s excellent book on his season following the first eighteen from St Pat’s Ballarat was held at the Celtic Club in Melbourne. The venue was appropriate considering [Read more]
KEN PIESSE FAVOURITE SONS FROM THE WIMMERA
June 18, 2010 by 1 Comment
McKenzie Creek is a near-forgotten whistlestop outside Jeparit, but for footy fans, especially down Geelong way, it will always be notable for being the childhood home of iconic Cat’s goalkicker Doug Wade, a true 1960s and 1970s goalkicking great. Doug may have been recruited direct from Horsham, but he played his first senior footy [Read more]
Mid-Year Assessment
June 18, 2010 by 12 Comments
It’s come to that time of the year where finals aspirations are being recalculated, and some teams are just playing out the year and going by the youth policy. Some players have proved their critics wrong in 2010, while some have failed to live up to the hype. Most Improved Players: Dale Thomas Thomas has [Read more]
Geelong indulgence
June 17, 2010 by 4 Comments
When I was a kid in Queensland we only got to the footy in Melbourne on the rare occasions of a family holiday. We always went with great expectation. I never saw Geelong win. It was, after all, the (second decade of the) wilderness years: the 70s, a period which built a solid foundation of [Read more]
The Albatross Rules, Chapter 15- Holding The Man
June 17, 2010 by Leave a Comment
15. Round 7, Bye: Holding the Man The Prof’s vision for a women’s footy carnival during the bye had stretched the resources of the town. To accommodate it, Boof organised a quick ‘once over’ for the old miner’s quarters at the Pilkington 3 site. There’d been no ore dug there for over ten years but [Read more]
The Temple of Mick
June 17, 2010 by 5 Comments
By David Latham Like Robert Walls, Mick Malthouse loves a grafter and humble clubman who knows how to turn a good sausage at club barbeques. It would appear that Mick’s perception runs into another dimension, inaccessible to mortal computation, and in that Labyrinthine mind of his, a paucity of football skill is no barrier to [Read more]
A new chant for new hope
June 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment
At the ten-minute mark of the second quarter, a singular magnificently poignant act from the Richmond cheer squad makes my heart swell with pride and hope. For the last ten years, one man in footy has deserved a chant of his own-Richo, requiring no other name, the chant befitting no other player. The Tiger supporters [Read more]
MICK’S FAV STUDENTS
June 16, 2010 by 6 Comments
In a way coaches are sort of like teachers. They mentor the players and take charge of the ‘classroom.’ They ‘use their outside voice’ and punish players who misbehave and they reward and motivate players who are doing well. Through supporting Collingwood for the many years, I have noticed something about Mick Malthouse. Now I’m [Read more]
Best individual home-and-away performances
June 16, 2010 by 25 Comments
1. Gary Ablett Snr, round 6 1993 Essendon 23.18 (156) v Geelong 19.18 (132) Richmond players had every reason to cringe at the sight of Gary Ablett, whose prolific scoring against the Tigers is the stuff of legend. Ablett’s best haul against the Yellow and Black was 14 goals at the MCG in 1989. As [Read more]
Floreat Pica Rd 12- Draw your own Conclusions
June 16, 2010 by 1 Comment
By Paul Harkin MATCH REPORT The day didn’t start well with the 4-0 thrashing of Australia by Germany in the World Cup. The trip to the footy was uneventful. After we settled into our seats, Greta Bradman (The Don’s granddaughter) serenaded us with a touch of opera. Where else but in front of the MCC [Read more]
Local Footy: Two Dans and a draft
June 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Dan Noonan and Dan Nicholson are contrasting footballers. Noonan is big and solid, able to patrol a backline with his presence as much as his sure hands and timely fist. Nicholson is small and nippy, able to baulk and shimmy before kicking long in to the forward line. On Sunday the two Dans represented the [Read more]
The Australian Bar and Restaurant – New York
June 16, 2010 by 11 Comments
New York city is so rich in culture and diversity, it is mind blowing Darryl. They have a channel that plays baseball 24 hours… a… day. Some of the bars have more than 20 televisions, each one playing a sporting event of real cultural significance. You should see The Australian Bar and Restaurant. It’s more [Read more]
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