Another big week in football knackers! (oops, that’s probably already copyrighted).
Melbourne get the opportunity to wear a few bruises against Essendon tonight. A real test of Tony Robb’s bye theory.
The Bulldogs travel down to Catland with their expectations lower than at any time in recent years. Is this the opportunity for a surprise?
West Coast play host to Gold Coast. It may be the first trip to the West of any description for many young Suns.
It’s a Grand Final replay of a very different nature on Saturday night. The Saints have been battered in many ways, but are showing a glimmer of form. Can they rattle the Magpie bandwagon?
Sydney’s trip to Brisbane is suddenly looking a lot tougher proposition than it might have a couple of weeks ago.
Hawthorn look like they’re gathering momentum. Can Freo redeem a meek effort at home last week?
North vs Adelaide may be the most desperate contest of the round. Two clubs who really need a win.
Carlton venture to Adelaide to take on the Power in the twilight. Both fresh off a win, but in very different circumstance otherwise.
What are you thinking folks?
Five from eight is par in 2011.
There will be no big claims
this week. Essendon to beat
Melbourne on Friday;
they are fresh from the bye
in a part of the season
where the bye may have gain.
Melbourne looked good until
they lost Mark Jamar in ruck.
Tom Bellchambers is travelling well.
Paddy Ryder started the season
with a flourish and then fell aside.
He’s young, lean and lanky.
In three years’ time, with more muscle
and a conditioned body, he’ll be a gun.
This week he may fire, fresh, and then
sink back again. Essendon by plenty.
Geelong will hurt the Bulldogs who
are in a hole and have lost their way.
At home, West Coast will rack it up
over the Suns. There will be no surprises
in those two games. Lions vs Swans
at the Gabba will be a keen affair.
Voss has gained some air
in the last two weeks but Sydney
is never an easy beat.
I’ve tipped Sydney but I don’t know.
It’s one of the three I can lose and
still make par. St Kilda have woken up
but Collingwood will smash them stupid,
send them back into a coma. I won’t mind.
The Saints are no good; they are prima donnas.
Bad faith fakes. Hollow stance, no substance.
Prove me wrong, Ross Lyons. The Woods,
by five goals or more. And by no less.
Hawthorn will pluck another win;
Freo are no slouch but they are away
from home and, without Aaron,
outside of their comfort zone.
North and Adelaide at Etihad will be
a strange affair. No Taylor Walker,
out for five weeks with the jar
to his knee. That means Kurt Tippett
will be the only young bull
in a paddock full of cows.
He may kick a bag of five.
He may also only kick five points.
If it’s close, tight, Brent Harvey
may slip through the defensive web
and carve it up. He’s done that before.
But I think Adelaide will win. If not,
I won’t pick them again this year
until they’ve won two in a row.
Port and Carlton is no contest.
Port nearly lost its license
late last week. They went to SANFL
with a cashflow crisis but SANFL refused
to assume any more of their debt.
The AFL then agreed to bankroll them
until the shift to the River Torrens
in a couple of years but none
of that matters this week.
It will be another game of men
against boys. Port know what
will hit them. It’s not just Judd;
Ed Curnow’s back. Bryce Gibbs
will be released from tagging duties;
he’ll fire forward and back. Carlton
have winners on every line.
The Adelaide press next week
will be worse than Fleet Street
a decade ago, when the English team
couldn’t even beat itself
at practice matches.
Matty Primus’ baptism of fire
is still to come. And, it will rain
at AAMI Stadium, twilight on
Sunday night. No-one will be there;
this games overlaps the Crows game
at Etihad. It’s not live against the gate.
It’s live against the backyard barbeque
and the plasma TV in Adelaide land.
Fire it up and get the mates
around for a double-header
on a long Sunday afternoon.
The SA footy CEOs are stupid.
They can make two or three requests
from the AFL programmers each year.
They should combine forces and make
one request only that neither Port
nor Adelaide play on the same day
in any round in any season.
SA footy fans love watching the game
live; 10,000 Crows fans go to Port games
every fortnight to get their weekly fix
of the best game in the world
played at the highest level
in their skinny state. This Sunday,
they have to leave the Crows broadcast
from Etihad in the middle of the last quarter
to get to the Port game on time. Few will.
Melbourne fans may not understand the depth
of the frustration SA fans feel when the only game
in town clashes with an overlapping broadcast
of their other team. WA fans know this;
Queensland fans may be getting some idea
of what a second team means. NSW fans
will find out next year. The national comp
works, by and large, on the broader stage.
It’s advanced the game; non-Victorian teams
had a decade or so of cups; Victorian teams
suffered inequalities of the draft
and the draw and struggled to win
on the road as the new teams found
their feet and had their presence felt.
Now we are in a new era where that balance
has reverted; Victorian-based teams have
reasserted their muscle. Geelong, Collingwood
and Hawthorn have the grunt. Essendon
and Carlton are teasing. Richmond and
Melbourne are not yet there. I don’t care
about St Kilda. They cry too much.
They pump themselves up too much.
The Dogs are another story. A team
that barked but couldn’t bite.
They’ll have to start again.
And North are bland. They need
another champion and nothing else.
And they need this champion soon.
I wonder how long the Victorian
surge will last. West Coast has bounced
from the bottom this year, but that may be
a dead cat bounce. Adelaide is starch,
or, if you prefer, vanilla sex.
Sydney is honest but still no good.
Fremantle is vulnerable; Brisbane has
new air but no punch. Port is a sad
and sorry basket-case. Its S curve is over.
It’s flat-line now and it may stay that way
for a very long time. Oh! I forgot.
Richmond has the bye this week.
They need it. They have some
Darwin wounds to lick.
The curse of the bye? In which case Tony Robb will be hot property in sports science/psychology circles.
Or just reinforcement that nothing will fire a footy team up like being called softies all week?
Or for, for lovers of conspiracy, it couldn’t have been the Blues stitching up their old buddies the Bombers?
Nah. Too far fetched. :)
Federer v Nadal.
What a superb superb sporting rivalry.
Enduring.
Contrasting styles.
Am I the only one that loves watching clay court tennis?
Shot variety. Spin variations etc.
Nadal’s spin troubles Federer as it forces Federer to hit a lot of shots from up high.
I’d like to see Federer serve and volley a bit more than usual. Easier said than done.
Can’t wait for Sunday night.
LOVE the FED <3 LOVE the PIES!! ;)
Just back from Kardinia Park
(3) Bartel
(2) Ottens
(1) Johnson
Watch N Vardy.
By a quirk of fate he wears 36, and looks a little like the 26. That is, until he goes for or disposes of the ball.
deja vu.
So you really can replay a Grand Final. Unfortunately so for Saints fans.
Still, a lot of other sides may be eyeing them warily.
Saints v Bulldogs next Friday night will be a last chance saloon for both.
They won’t be contesting a prelim this year.
The tale of the round from Friday & Saturday:
Melbourne’s triumph was the power of passion made manifest. The irony is that both their and the Bombers’ record to this point of the season is almost identical to that for each of them last year, despite all the breathless adoration of the Golden Boy’s return to Windy Hill at the fore of his cohort of coaching all-stars.
Geelong had a training run at Kardinia Park, and apparently the Doggies were invited (but only arrived at 3/4 time when the Cats had lost interest). The Bullies mumbled something about their commitment to blooding youngsters, while the Cats quietly continued on their merry way with the likes of Hunt (the Taylor), Menzel, Duncan, Cowan, and the most impressive 42nd round draft pick in some time, 3 game veteran Nathan Vardy. (Not to mention Christensen, who was BOG in the magoos, and the yet to be unveiled Brown.) Oh, and the old folks’ home core(y) of the team, of course.
Gary Ablett chose to celebrate his 200th by going Coast to Coast only to get smashed in a game that could only have interested anybody who likes a flutter on futile fixtures, losing as far away from home as he could go. It might have been quite different had he been playing on the figurative shores of Corio Bay that day, but hey, at least he can now afford to shout a round of drinks or two after the ‘game’.
St Kilda proved to be only half as good as Collingwood. That being the first half, as the second was the proverbial cake walk. And the Saints get marching on.
Brisbane Lions showed that they don’t need Fev to be dull, divided and listless, and the second Queensland team actually made the Swans look inspired, passionate and creative. It must be something to do with the (sub) tropics. The Voss gloss is well & truly dull now, so bets are now on whether he can survive the season after the worst first half performance of any team this season.
Today the Hawks will show that while they ain’t noBuddy, they are still a cut well above the Freo road show (read: Free-o 4-o premiership points for the home team-o). The Roos will play the Crows in the one game of the round where both teams can actually simultaneously lose, and Port, the baby in the basket of the AFL, may as well just mail in their game against the Baby Blues (and save themselves the bus fare to Worst Lakes).
The Hawks got it done, but not without a fright.
Adelaide continue to slide.
Port showed a lot for 3 quarters, then threw away the effort in the last.
Who would be the most disappointed team after round 11?
There would seem to be several contenders.
Heard the most ridiculous comment from Dwayne Russell on Sunday. A player went down early in the game with the prospect that he be subbed. From Mr Russell: The sub is a first gamer. That is why you don’t have a first gamer as the sub because they might have to come into the game early, when they are not ready. I really struggled to understand what DR intended to say. Eventually settled on the idea that he believes you shouldn’t select a player for their first game until they have some experience.
AF,
I’m starting to achieve clarity.
By Round 15, I’ll have my prediction ready for public consumption.
Cheers,
PF
Just keep polishing the palantir PF. Your followers await.