AFL Round 3: Nice weekend, shame about the footy

By Dan Crane It had been an action-packed weekend before I woke up on Sunday the 11th of April.  My best mate Tim had flown over from Adelaide on Friday afternoon and he, my wife and I had then spent that evening drinking beautiful beer at the Little Creatures dinner hall on Brunswick Street.  Tim [Read more]

So many questions in Freo first up win.

Fremantle VS Adelaide Subiaco Oval 5:10 28th March By Steven Ingham As a football – but not Freo – lover, the Dockers polarise me. When they made a prelim a few years ago and my own team’s season finished by about Round 10, I was well and truly on the bandwagon. Their fall from grace [Read more]

AFL Round 1 – Fremantle v Adelaide: Are these the Dockers’ true colours?

by Josh Barnstable After a slightly uneventful day which saw Port Adelaide withstand a fast-finishing North Melbourne outfit by 14 points and Collingwood surprising everyone, dominating the Bulldogs to win by 36 points. I was feeling a bit down after the Roos lost to the Power, but I looked forward to the prospect of a [Read more]

Practice Match: Healy heartbreak at Hamra Holmes

By Steve Healy I have never been so excited about a practice match. Maybe it’s the fact that I can listen on FiveAA covering the game over the internet. I’m really hoping for a Demons victory today at an unfamiliar venue, Hamra Homes Oval in Elizabeth (Northern Adelaide). With three other challenge matches on in [Read more]

NAB Cup, Round 1: Young Power stars annihilate Crows (no, really)

By Damian Watson Finally after those endless summer months, the NAB Cup has finally commenced. I feel relieved as I grab the notepad and pen for the first time in 2010 awaiting the start of a new season — and a new decade — of this great Australian game. The first competitive hit out for my Blues [Read more]

Barney’s 2010 AFL Crystal Ball Part 1: Adelaide and Brisbane

by Josh Barnstable It’s that time, the time we all cherish as youngsters, I’m sure the fellow members of the Fab 5 will be feeling this feeling that I’m having as I type this. It’s a time of hope, anticipation and gratitude. No, not Christmas, no, not the start of the New Year. The magical [Read more]

Almanac Launch: An Adelaide trip with a few twists

By Bob Utber With the Copenhagen climate summit in full swing as I wandered down from Mildura to Adelaide last week, I could not help but notice the way in which country clubs in South Australia and Victoria look after their sporting ovals.  Indeed some of the finest grounds are along the highway between Mildura [Read more]

Stone the Crows (or at least their recruiting policy)

by Lynda Morphett These are my ideas on how the Adelaide Footy Club could improve their recruiting (it probably applies to other clubs as well): Recruiting criteria: Our recruiting criteria perhaps needs revising. (Without seeing it – can’t say for sure!) More focus on skilfulness and decision making ability, and less focus on beep tests, [Read more]

AFL Club Awards: Barnstable’s breakdown on Crows’ top ten

By Josh Barnstable One of the most exciting seasons for the Adelaide Crows, the Red, Blue and Gold hoops finished 5th on the ladder and were third favourite to win the flag going into the finals after an enormous second half of the season, in which the young team blitzed the competition with an amazing [Read more]

Harms: The Magpie Creature just won’t die

THIS is madness. I am getting worried. About the creature that is the Collingwood Football Club. It is like some alien in a sci-fi movie; some vile, bile-spewing monster that cannot be killed. Like some vampire in the last leg of a midnight-to-dawn marathon and all you have to protect you is a pair of [Read more]

AFL Semi-Finals: Now for Jodie’s Cats

The evening begins to take over, closing what has to this moment been a great day.  A traditional beer and a Mitre Burger at one of Melbourne’s famous taverns for a first-time meeting with an online football friend (the famous Walesy from tooserious.net.au), followed by a walk with my wife Jodie to the MCG.

AFL Semi-Finals: Anthony the unlikely hero in hot Pies victory

After a day of being bored and getting boiled up by the 30 degree heat, I couldn’t wait for the footy to start. It made me realise how much I miss Saturday afternoon footy, although I initially tried to compensate by watching the VFL.

AFL Semi-Finals: Words of joy in the unfamiliar month of September

Here’s the thing . . .  for 36 years of my life barracking for Collingwood has been a poisoned chalice. From an early age mythical losses have been chiseled into my mind. What hurts more than anything is that many of these tragic events could be described in just one or two words: Froggy’s goal, [Read more]

AFL Finals series: Pies provide a lesson in faith

By Phil Dimitriadis This is a reflection of the brittle faith expressed by a small group of Magpie fans at the MCG last night. The cliche ‘cut-throat’ final seemed appropriate halfway through the first quarter. The Crows have made a number of deep incisions into the weakening Collingwood body and are two goals away from [Read more]

AFL Semi-Finals: Superman saves the world again

Well, here we go, it’s do or die time for my Magpies. I have been waiting anxiously all week for this game to come and now that it’s finally here, I’m terrified. The number of footy conversations I’ve had at school this week was probably more than the norm. With my fellow Collingwood supporting peers [Read more]

AFL Semi-Finals: Never-say-die Pies prise prize from under Crows’ eyes

By Steve Fahey Floreat Pican John Ramsdale wrote last week of his sense of déjà vu in watching our ordinary performance in our opening finals appearance.  This week the Pies’ stunning last-gasp win over the Crows gave me a double sense of déjà vu. Why a double sense ?  Firstly because this game was nearly [Read more]

AFL Finals — Week 1: Essendon need to pull socks up after Adelaide demolition

By Josh Barnstable It’s that time of the year again. It feels like only yesterday when Buddy Franklin toyed with the Bulldogs’ defence, when Collingwood came from the clouds to pip Adelaide at AAMI Stadium, when the Swans ended Shannon Grant, Nathan Thompson and Jess Sinclair’s careers, when Geelong saw off one of their main [Read more]

AFL Finals — Week 1: Top End memories take edge off a Bomber fan’s pain

I made a great discovery some 12 weeks ago: the best way to meet your indigenous brothers in the Top End is to wear an Essendon cap. I reckon I had at least 4 conversations a day in Darwin and its surrounds by people calling out, “GO BOMBERS!”. I really enjoyed the chance to chat [Read more]

AFL Finals — Week 1: Crows crush Bombers and I pocket small sum

Yes! The finals have arrived. After a long week at school (that old cliché) I am jumping around my house in celebration. The finals, for me, means momentarily forgetting about your team and concentrating on the best eight teams of the comp.

General Footy Writing: Birdman’s mark ranks as high as any in my mind

By John Kingsmill Late in the third quarter of the Round 22 game between Adelaide and Carlton at Etihad, Brett Burton took what Channel Ten described as the Mark of the Century. Jason Dunstall said: “During the third quarter break, I think we will probably show this mark maybe twenty times. That won’t be enough [Read more]