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Showing posts from June, 2019

Round 15 AFL Preview

Thursday Essendon vs GWS Giants @ Marvel Stadium - 19:20 On Thursday night at Marvel Stadium, the 10th placed Essendon Bombers play host to a rested 3rd placed GWS Giants. While no team prefers to play away from home, I am sure the Giants are glad this match is at Marvel Stadium, instead of the "it's still a hoodoo ground" MCG. The Bombers are coming off a large loss to the Eagles over west, meaning they have had to put in lots of travel over the past week, where the Giants had their bye weekend after a good win over North Melbourne in Hobart prior. While Essendon is a middling team this year, the Giants are in good form and will be looking at a big push into the finals. Even with Matt de Boer being out due to injury, the Bombers have more to worry about than the visiting Giants. GWS Giants by 32 Friday Geelong vs Adelaide @ GMHBA Stadium - 19:50 Injuries to trio Gary Rohan, Luke Dahlhaus and Jack Henry will keep people guessing as to what the Cat's te...

Round 14 AFL Review

Thursday West Coast 14.22.106 defeated Essendon 11.5.71 At home on Optus Stadium on Thursday night, the West Coast Eagles made their task of winning against the Essendon Bombers harder than it should have been! While the Eagles dominated territory throughout the night, their inability to translate having the ball a lot more into goals (they had 36 scoring shots to Essendon's 16) meant that the Bombers would have held out hopes of being able to catch the reigning premiers at some point. Even with just the one less disposal than the Eagles, the Bombers had serious trouble getting through the zone set-up by West Coast, a plan that you could see was implemented to take away the usual paths used by the Bombers when moving the ball forward, and it worked very well! Friday Sydney 12.10.82 defeated Hawthorn 9.9.63 On Friday night the Sydney Swans played host to Hawthorn at the SCG and what a typical "Sydney" game it ended up being! If it wasn' for the continued ...

Round 14 AFL Preview

Thursday West Coast vs Essendon @ Optus Stadium - 20:10 The 5th placed Eagles will take on 10th placed Essendon at Optus Stadium, Perth, in the first game of Round 14 and while it would be easy to pick a win for West Coast, the Bombers had a good win in Perth just last season: one thing about the match in question is that both of the Eagle's key forwards missed the game, giving a big boost to the Bombers. It won't be the same for this match! There should be a number of interesting contests in this game, with how the Bomber's backmen Hurley and Hooker match up against the Eagle's Kennedy and Darling; will the Eagles put a tag on Zac Merrett after his great showing last week and which of the Bomber backmen will get the jobs of trying to stop Liam Ryan, Willie Rioli and the speed of Jack Petruccelle? In short, I don't think they'll be able to. Eagles by 11 Friday Sydney vs Hawthorn @ The SCG - 19:50 Friday night finds us heading to Sydney for a match b...

Round 13 AFL Review

Thursday Adelaide 15.11.101 defeated Richmond 9.14.68 On the Thursday night start to Round 13, Adelaide took longer to fight off Richmond than expected, but once the fourth quarter began the Crow's experience shone through and they flew away for a good win. Throughout the match there were long periods of time where the Crows had complete control of the match, only to have the Tigers somehow find a way to peg them back, sealing up the "flood gates" for a little longer. Even with the Tigers clawing their way back, the match always had a feeling of "when" more than "if" the Crows would put their dominance onto the scoreboard. In spite of a number of injuries to Crow playes (Talia-quad, Murphy-mouth, Kelly-calf and Jenkins-knee) sustained during the match, the Tigers just couldn't match the size and nouse of their Adelaide opponents. Having said that, I think the Tiger Coaching staff would be pleased with their team's endeavour, althou...

Round 13 AFL Preview

Thursday Adelaide vs Richmond @ Adelaide Oval - 19:50 After their win over a quality opponent, in GWS, last weekend, the Adelaide Crows go into Thursday night's match as deserving favourites. Richmond were horrible last round and, as a result, were on the end of a hiding from the ladder leading Cats. I can't think of a single Richmond player who won their spot on the ground... In this match, Adelaide's midfield will be too strong for the Tigers which will provide their forwards with plenty of opportunities to kick goals. At the other end of the ground, the Tiger forward structure has been a shambles, with no Richmond forwards ever seeming to have any space to work in, something the coaching staff should be losing sleep over. While Richmond has a decent record against Adelaide at Adelaide Oval, it would not be surprising if this game ends with Adelaide supporters heading to bed singing their theme song. Adelaide by 38 Friday Essendon vs Hawthorn @ Marvel Stadium...

Round 12 AFL Review

Friday Richmond 5.7.37 defeated by Geelong 16.8.104 To all of the Richmond supporters out there... OUCH! To all of the Geelong supporters out there... Awesome game hey! How great are the Catters!?! In a game that was great to watch if you are a Geelong supporter, and a couple of hours of masochistic torment for those Richmond supporters out there, the Geelong Cats burst out of the quarter time huddle to slam on seven second-quarter goals to the Tigers none. The Cats repeated this dose in the third quarter where they piled on eight goals to just one from the Tigers, and by that time the famous song had been sung; the Cats could have emptied their bench, or brought in their VFL team and still had a comfortable win! Geelong had too many players that comprehensively won their position to go through, but I think Gryan Miers is worth a mention. As a player who was taken as a 'specialist forward', often a dirty term in footy, he showed his ability to crumb, get on the en...

Round 12 AFL Preview

Friday Richmond vs Geelong @ The MCG - 19:50 Round 12 kicks off with a match that had the promise of being a good contest, but after Richmond's capitulation to the Kangaroos last round, I'm not so sure anymore. Geelong have really perfected the best system for them this year, and are sitting on top of the AFL ladder as deserved leaders! As for the Tigers, they were very poor last round and copped a deserved belting by the Roos. If they are to stand any chance in this match, they will need to do, well, pretty much everything better, and against the Cats, that won't be easy! It will be interesting to see if Richmond's Sydney Stack (being a cult hero can be hard work!) goes to play on GAblett and, if so, how he goes about curtailing the huge influence Ablett can have on a game. Geelong by 28 Saturday Carlton vs Brisbane @ Marvel Stadium - 13:45 Well, I had the Blues as my "smokey" for last round but they managed to barely get out of bed in time for t...

Round 11 AFL Review

Friday North Melbourne 15.9.99 defeated Richmond 9.8.62 And there we have it folks, the upset of the round happened in the first match, but for those of you watching, the result was not surprising at all! Right from the start of the match the Kangaroos came out with greater intent and got straight to imposing themselves on their Tiger opponents. With Ben Cunnington (31 disp, 20 contested and 9 clearances) driving the Roos through the middle, Scott Thompson and Ben Brown (14 disp, 6 hit-outs, 6 marks and a game-high 5 goals) winning their respective positions, the men in blue and white ran rampant over a lacklustre Richmond outfit. Saturday Collingwood 11.9.75 defeated by Fremantle 11.13.79 While the North Melbourne v Richmond game was an upset, but not a total surprise, Fremantle's victory over Collingwood **in Melbourne** took things to a whole new level! After kicking the winning point against the Lions last round, the Docker's Michael Walters took a good grab la...

Round 11 AFL Preview

Friday North Melbourne vs Richmond @ Marvel Stadium - 19:50 This match will see the Kangaroos run out, for the first time, with a new coach at the helm of the team and it will be really interesting to see how the players come together in these new circumstances. Richmond had a comfortable win over the Bombers last round, and without four of their most important players, have moved up the ladder to now be in fourth place. Some interesting areas to watch during this match will be: Will Ben Cunnington get off the chain, as he has done in the past against the Tiger midfield? How will the Kangaroos curtail the great form the Richmond smalls have been in, and who will match up with Tiger Tom Lynch? While the venue and less injuries are in the Roos favour, ladder position and form are definitely in the Tiger's favour, but I do think this will be a tightly run race. Richmond by 11 Saturday Collingwood vs Fremantle @ The MCG - 13:45 At the MCG on Saturday the Fremantle Dockers ...