By Avan Stallard In Tasmania, they play on gravel. In The Northern Territory, they play on dirt. In the north they play through cyclones, in Melbourne they play in equal parts mud to grass, and even up here in Logan they play on fields of syringes and broken rum bottles. It is a man’s game […]
Cats Could Do With An Overhaul
by Angus Nicholls I’m pretty much a Holden man. Don’t know if I was born this way or was somehow subliminally groomed by the General during my formative years. What’s more it doesn’t matter given that we’re talking about the General’s mortal enemy and the Greatest Footy Club on Earth. Co-located in […]
The Bulldogs and that Other Side
by Andrew Gigacz Q. Why didn’t the athiest chicken cross the road? A. Because it didn’t believe in the other side. At this time of year, it’s hard not to think about what lies on the other side. As we commemorate ANZAC Day and the leaves fall from the trees, thoughts turn to what […]
People, Places and Footy on ANZAC Day
by Andrew Starkie North Melbourne versus Richmond 7.20pm, Saturday, April 25, Etihad Stadium This is primarily a match report for the North versus Richmond game, however, I do want to share some observations from earlier on ANZAC Day. Earlier in the day… A small group gathered around the cenotaph for the dawn service at Reservoir […]
Dud game
by Daniel Cherny St.Kilda and Fremantle are the most bizarre of rivals. They have never met in a final, and they have no geographical proximity. Yet clashes between the Saints and the Dockers have an incredible ability to deliver the absurd. Perhaps it is fitting that the two most pathetic teams in league history- St.Kilda […]
Ablett on Fire in Milestone Match
by Julian Morison The ‘milestone game’ effect is much debated – are there benefits or otherwise for the player and team involved? Regardless of the actual impact, it invariably adds conviction to the expectations of a winning team and offers a thread of hope to a struggling combination. Before heading to Footy Park, I watched […]
Believing in the Impossible
by Tony Wilson Shaun Dockery only ever gave one truly great three-quarter time address, but that’s not bad for someone who’s never actually coached. The match was Hawthorn versus North Melbourne at Arden Street, and if the year had have been 1976, this story might have been coloured with screaming fans, traditional rivalry and searching […]
Save the Bounce
by Sasha Lennon I actually like Mike Sheahan. By that I mean I like (most of) what he writes in the paper and what he says on the telly. I especially like when, sitting on the couch alongside Wallsy he makes one of his softly-softly, it’s only business, I’m just doing my job […]
The Round 5 View From Shepparton
by Peter Schumacher St Kilda is going from strength to strength, whilst the term “Port Power” is turning out to be an oxymoron. Same difference I suppose. I suppose that the only point a losing coach can make in this circumstance is that the result shows where his team really is in the scheme of things. […]
Round 5 – The Middle Distance
by Haiku Bob round 5 – the middle distance Anzac Day defeat staring into the middle distance cold snap the empty space where our ruckman used to be swirling breeze Pendlebury splits the pack with a fake […]
Australian football and disputes over the Anzac legend
By Robert Pascoe (with Mark Pennings) A talk to the Almnackery at the All Nations Hotel, Richmond, 24 April 2009 On the last Saturday of the February just gone, the former treasurer, Hon Peter Costello, now a backbencher serving the people of Higgins, was addressing Camberwell RSL at their ninetieth anniversary lunch. In his speech […]
Bloods whip Storm in Tannery wind
By Richard Jones SOUTH Bendigo retained its unbeaten 2009 Bendigo Bank Bendigo Football League record with a 70-point win over Strathfieldsaye at the Tannery Lane Oval on Sunday. Inspired by midfielders Shaun Bergin, Brady Childs, Neville Clark and Dujon Fuzzard the Bloods had the four premiership points in the bag by early in the second […]
More than a Kick on ANZAC Day
by Sean Gorman I began a conversation with my seven year old son two years ago. That conversation continued yesterday when he played in one of the little league games as part of the half time action at the MCG on ANZAC day. It was the way the conversation started when he was five that […]
Floreat Pica Society Round 5 Debacle
by Mark O’Connell (with Timothy O’Leary’s Danny Roach Medal votes following) Preamble I like, so many thousands of others, left the MCG wondering how we lost and why we put ourselves through such misery time and time again. However, I have a painful duty to perform so I will to review the game as dispassionately […]
Blowing bubbles at my first EPL game
By Rick Kane My first day in the UK, ever! We are off to see the Hammers go up against Chelsea this afternoon. But first we’re hitting London. The first postcard view I get is, well, of course, it’s the Tube. Richard, the friend who I am staying with, and I catch the Tube from […]
Benched Coach
by Andrew Fithall I didn’t have a good week this week. The Williamstown Juniors Under 16 Ds played Wyndhamvale at their ground and had a solid win. But I didn’t coach. There were a number of reasons for that. But, for the moment, let’s go back to Wyndhamvale. Wyndham was in the news a bit […]
How low can you go? Goals washed away in the rain
Andrew Gigacz’s Round 5 Stat. Declaration It’s only Round 5 but are we already seeing the men separated from the boys? Has the wheat already been sorted from the chaff? Has the cream already risen to the top? Can I use any more metaphors to say the same thing again? What I’m trying to get […]
Round 1 Stat Declaration
By Andrew Gigacz Can we really glean anything from a Round 1 Ladder? Well if 2008 is anything to go by, the answer is yes. This time last year Hawthorn was on top and the Demons on the bottom. By the time the season was done and dusted, those two teams were still there. So […]











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