Essendon’s Best and Fairest By Steve Healy Essendon’s 2009 season was a strange one. Has a team ever made the finals, without anyone really feeling like they had made the finals? Well that was the case; they came into the Elimination Final against Adelaide without a ruckman, and without Lloyd who was suspended for hitting [Read more]
Sometime Freo really do want to make you heave…
October 25, 2009 by 1 Comment
Doig Medal review by Josh Barnstable Freo Heave Ho Freo Heave Ho Give Em All The Old Freo Heave Ho We’re The Rollers We’re The Rockers We’re The Mighty Freo Dockers We’re Gonna Roll Em And We’ll Rock Em We’re Gonna Send Them To The Bottom And If They Get Up We’ll Do It Again [Read more]
Pies on the rise. But can they take that extra step?
October 25, 2009 by 432 Comments
Collingwood’s Best and Fairest By Steve Healy It was an exciting season for the black-and-white. In Round 8, Collingwood looked banished from the finalists club. They were 3-5, and had come off a 51-point embarrassment against arch-rival Carlton. They went on to win the next 12 out of 13 games, before losing by four goals [Read more]
How it feels to be Barted
October 24, 2009 by 11 Comments
by Mark Makybe Freeman Savage bashing. Pilloried on the punt. Barted, Barted, Barted again (thanks P. Flynn for the handy new verb). Got the Plate completely wrong. The 3-year-olds I labelled ‘mediocre’ quinellaed the event. Whobe, Heart not good enough. Not even big El. Utter wipeout.
Prognosis is good for Stynes and the Demons
October 24, 2009 by 150 Comments
Melbourne’s Best and Fairest By Steve Healy Twelve days had passed since Fremantle had their best and fairest night. The Melbourne football club had left Australia waiting. On Thursday night, red and blue blood flooded Crown casino, as did a bald, recovering Jim Stynes. Jim received an almighty applause as he strolled on to the [Read more]
AFL Club awards: Judd helps with Carlton’s coming but Fevola’s loss could see them going again.
October 23, 2009 by 97 Comments
John Nicholls Medal by Josh Barnstable They Know We’re Coming They Know We’re Coming They Know We’re Coming We did know, we didn’t believe, they came, they went. Carlton finally rose from the dark, navy blue abyss it fell down in 2002, on the back of skipper Chris Judd, youngsters Marc Murphy, Bryce Gibbs, Matthew [Read more]
Looking for a change of fortune
October 23, 2009 by Leave a Comment
by Chris Riordan I keep running in to punters lauding over last week’s riches. No good for me. I’m still backing Bookies’ chances and we got belted. It was an awful day all round at Caulfield. Punters just kept getting it right and the occasion was tarnished by horrible, drunken, unpleasant behaviour. A classic Connex [Read more]
Like Moonee Valley’s turf, the Cox Plate is cut and dried
October 23, 2009 by 4 Comments
By Mark “Makybe” Freeman I can see clearly now, punters, the Plate has come…. it’s gonna be a deep, deep-pocket, fill-up day. After the raffle of last week’s Caulfield Cup, the 2009 Cox Plate is as cut-and-dried as they come. There are only three genuine top flight stakes-class performers – Whobegotyou, Heart of [Read more]
Crio’s Question: Which is the horse that holds a special place in your heart?
October 21, 2009 by 22 Comments
About ten years ago we were down at the old Flemington stalls on raceday looking at the horses, particularly (very) young Tom’s favourite, Sky Heights. To his shock and the amusement of on-lookers (including Trevor McKee tending to Sunline next door), Colin Alderson grabbed Tom from my arms and sat him atop the giant champ! [Read more]
The Silk Road to South Africa
October 21, 2009 by Leave a Comment
by Tony Wilson The Socceroos final round of World Cup qualifying began on the Silk Road in Tashkent, and they never really got off it. It is not meant to be this smooth. Nigeria has fallen short again. Powerhouses like Portugal and France are still sweating. After sixteen matches, Argentina is fifth in a South [Read more]
Old footballers don’t die, they play AFL Masters
October 21, 2009 by 3 Comments
By Andrew Nathan It’s another steamy night in Cairns. I’m in the Vic Metro team that is about to play its first match in the annual AFL Masters tournament. I’ve played in two previous carnivals, in Maroochydore in 2006 and Darwin in ’08, and I’m 43 years of age—but I still get nervous before pulling [Read more]
Cup Day has nothing to Show for it
October 21, 2009 by 564 Comments
by Josh Barnstable This is a question I have asked myself each year. The question is filled with answers, yet I never find one. Why is the Melbourne Cup day a public holiday? For years, I wondered why we got the day off in November to see a bunch of horses running around a track, [Read more]
The Rite of Spring
October 19, 2009 by 2 Comments
by Damian O’Donnell I love Spring. I love what it does to people. In June, July and August we go about our business. We watch our footy team battle through the long AFL season. We pay the mortgage, keep warm, and ask our kids what they did at school. The grass only grows in clumps, [Read more]
It’s “Bart! Bart! Bart” all the way to the post
October 18, 2009 by 4 Comments
by Mark “Makybe” Freeman Bart, Bart, Bart! When will we ever learn? Amazing, extraordinary, unbe-fuckin’-lievable … anyway, it’s all in the papers for you to read. Viewed did get an amazing passage through on the inside, while stablemate Roman Emperor worked harder for his second placing, so perhaps he might be the one to get [Read more]
AFL Club awards: Brown and Black lead Lions back into contention
October 17, 2009 by 1 Comment
Josh Barnstable reviews the Merrett-Murray Medal A big rejuvenated Lion outfit made a welcomed return to the finals since 2004 on the back of a great year spearheaded by the usual heads of Jonathan Brown, Simon Black and Daniel Bradshaw. After a stirring comeback in the first week of the finals against Carlton, ignited by [Read more]
Caulfield Cup: Tread carefully with the internationals
October 16, 2009 by 6 Comments
by Mark “Makybe” Freeman Amazingly wide Caulfield Cup this year, punters. With obvious favourite Speed Gifted missing and next in line Predatory Pricer (barrier 16, jump from 14) and Vigor (22, jump from 18) drawn poorly, the internationals are the default favourites. Despite racing in top quality races across the globe (in fact Cima De [Read more]
Racing: The Caulfield Cup is a raffle
October 15, 2009 by 27 Comments
by Chris Riordan I love having a beer over the Winning Post on Thursday night. There’s no rush and the possibilities are endless. Mind you, it’s stressful in a way as there’s 40 odd hours of indecision between now and disappointment. The greatest challenge of all, without doubt, is the old bugbear of track conditions [Read more]
Crio’s Question: Who are the money munchers?
October 13, 2009 by 22 Comments
There are at least two types. There’s the annoying nag who catches your eye early and fleeces you throughout the Carnival. You just know that as soon as you jump off it will salute at odds. Shocking is the yoke for me this time in and possibly the Hisser for Makybe soon?? But there are [Read more]
A wholly satisfying half-marathon
October 13, 2009 by 5 Comments
by Darren Dawson I will always be proud of the fact that I am a member of that small percentage of the population who has completed a marathon. In fact, I have competed in four of those 42.2 k runs, with a couple of half-marathons thrown in for good measure. And so it is with [Read more]
A change of Gears at the Caulfield Guineas
October 13, 2009 by 18 Comments
by Mark Makybe Freeman The mistake I made, punters, was to agree to frock up and take advantage of the corporate largesse on offer. Gears had lucked into some passes handed over by a buddy, and in we went under the assumed names. I’m still only coming good now – the reason for this “come [Read more]
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