Last Week 7/9 Season Total 59/81
Before we get into the AFL stuff this week,
one clever number cruncher noted that my tipping score was wrong. Looks like I forgot to carry the one (well,
actually, I did carry it…twice). This
tipping caper is so much easier when you just make up your own numbers, but
fair is fair…I guess I’ll put it back to where it should be. Thanks John.
This week is Sir Doug Nicholls Round, which
is the annual round where we celebrate the contribution of indigenous players
and staff at footy clubs and in the community.
I would hate to think what our game would be like if we didn’t have any
indigenous players running around so get out there and enjoy them!
In other news, it looks like the Tassie
team has the wobbles already. I get
where they’re coming from. It does seem
a bit decadent to spend $715M on a stadium when there are so many other
problems around at the minute. Coupled
with the fact that $715M will probably end up being $1.5B and Gillon rubbing it
in saying “you don’t get one without the other,” it has turned into a bit of a
tinderbox subject. I say lean into
it. If the government can spend $100B+
on a few submarines they should plough $5B into Hobart and turn Macquarie Point into a
‘Precinct’. Mixed use, stadium, housing,
offices, shops, eateries, pubs and bars, medical facilities. There’s not that much room there, but with
$5B you could reclaim some of the ocean and even make some nifty parking bays
for all those subs so the sailors can come and watch some sport. Anyway…that’s my take on it, but there are
some very good reasons why I’m not a politician, not the least being my
attitude towards fiscal responsibilities.
The other big news for the week was the
dacking of a Giants player by a Collingwood player. I’ve heard much commentary on the subject and
the takeaway for me from the experts is that we are ok with dacking, but booing
is not on. In my day, a good dacking was
a classic schoolyard prank, but I understand times have changed. I guess the writing was on the wall even in
my day, as I was told the girls didn’t really want to see my willy, so I was
heavily encouraged to stop dacking myself.
Yartapuulti vs Narrm Adelaide Oval Friday Night
For those not up with the indigenous
renaming for the week this is Port Adelaide vs Melbourne.
Finally, we will see a test for Yartapuulti who have captured all the
headlines as a bolter of the past weeks and firmed into some premiership
fancies. But their run of wins has been
against 14th, 6th, 17th, 5th, 10th,
and 16th. There’s a lot of
low-ranked teams in there and they get the good teams at home. This is no exception with them meeting Narrm
on home soil whose own run of wins come against 13th, 16th,
11th, and 18th. So
maybe the real test here is for Narrm rather than Yartapuulti. But Narrm have had the wood over Yartapuulti
for the last few meetings and they have had comfortable wins, even in Adelaide. On that basis I’m going to go with Narrm on
this one. Narrm by 16 points.
North Melbourne vs Sydney Marvel
Stadium Saturday Afternoon
The pressure has been heaped on Sydney this week after a
poor showing against Fremantle. The
retirement date of the Champion Buddy has been squarely in focus this week and
an uncharacteristic lack of effort from the rest of the team has all but sunk
their season. The pressure on North Melbourne has all been in the off field with a war
of words opening between Clarkson and the current Hawthorn administration. It now threatens to tarnish a Hawthorn golden
era and most importantly for North Melbourne,
off-field dramas invariably translate to on-field performance issues. Those issues will be too much to overcome,
and it will be Sydney
by 38 points.
Footscray vs Adelaide Mars
Stadium Saturday Afternoon
Last week Adelaide smashed the Saints, but this game
will be a bit different. That’s because
this game is being played at Mars Stadium.
I didn’t think SpaceX was able to yet, but there we go…there is Life on
Mars and by all accounts this game will be a God-awful small affair. Let me know in the comments if you get that
reference. These two teams have played
at this ground a few times and it is Footscray who usually take the chocolates
although Adelaide
scraped out a 1 point win in the last meeting here. I’m still not sold on Adelaide.
They have a lot of spirit and a lot of talent, but I think they are at
an inconsistent stage of development. I
think Footscray will be standing atop Olympus Mons at the final siren. Footscray by 21 points.
Walyalup vs Geelong Perth
Stadium Saturday Afternoon
It was a circuit-breaker that was much
needed for Walyalup (Fremantle) last week against Sydney.
They dominated that contest around the ball and made the Swans look
second-rate. Have they found their
mojo? Geelong
were shown up by a slick Richmond
and their own credentials are under question with victories over 18th,
17th, 14th, 10th, and 8th. Not a lot of single figures in that lot and
with the bulk of their talent sidelined with injury, this trip to Perth may not be as
pleasant as their last few. The
statistical data all points to Geelong, but
Fremantle’s gameplan is starting to gel and Geelong’s cattle are stuck in the vet’s
office. A little part of me can’t help
but think I’ll be kicking myself on Saturday night, but…Fremantle by 12
points.
Brisbane vs
Gold Coast Gabba Saturday Night
Brisbane has been beating up on teams left, right and centre. But again, a lot of these have been lowly
ranked teams with them just getting the good teams at home. All this makes it hard to get a good line on
them. Gold Coast had a big victory over
the West Coast Witches Hats, but this is apparently not great preparation for
subsequent matches if Carlton
is anything to go by. By all accounts it
was nice to have Gold Coast over in the West and a friend took advantage and
was able to have Matt Rowell over for dinner and get their lawn mown at the
same time. Seriously, Jim’s Mowing need
to get a PR contract to him pronto. A
traditional Q-Qualash between two sides who I can’t be certain of. The only thing I can be certain of is the
game is at the Gabba where the turf is tough and tasteless so it’s Brisbane
by 36 points.
Essendon vs Richmond MCG Saturday Night
The pinnacle match in Sir Doug Nicholls
Round is Dreamtime at the G and I’ll be keenly watching this, mostly for the
pre-game show, but also these two teams’ form seems to be about equal at the
same time, so I expect to see fireworks on the field. Trying to find a case for Essendon in a match
they have not won since 2014 is made a little easier in that they seem to have
a bit more pep in their step this year. Richmond have turned an
ugly start into a salvageable season in the last two weeks and both teams will
be up for this. Davey, McDonald-Tipungwuti, Rioli(s), Bolton
and Pickett is a list of great talent to watch on a night made for them. Strap yourself in and enjoy the match, but if
you want a winner predicted, toss a coin…I did, it came up Richmond by 17 points.
Hawthorn vs West Coast UTAS Stadium Sunday Afternoon
Yep.
This is the big battle. It’s the
biggest tank battle since the Shermans
vs Panzers in WWII. The spoil of victory
in this one is Harley Reid. It makes it
difficult to make a selection. The game
is in Launceston which puts it in Hawthorn’s favour but what will they be
willing to give up to snaffle Reid? I’m
really confused. The winner will be the
winner and the loser will be the winner.
I think the winner will be Hawthorn. You decide what I
mean by that.
Carlton vs
Collingwood MCG Sunday Afternoon
They say rivalries don’t get much bigger
than this. With the exception of Tonya
Harding and Nancy Kerrigan, I’d tend to agree.
Even China and Taiwan don’t
compare. Every Collingwood supporter has
some distant memory of pain inflicted by Carlton
and every Carlton
supporter has a memory of some pain inflicted by Collingwood. And for both supporter groups that memory may
not even have been in their lifetime.
Like the time Wayne Harmes sunk the Pies in 1979 or the time Collingwood
pipped Carlton
in the 1910 Grand Final. Or maybe it’s
the time Collingwood got Carlton
to waste a trade on Mick McGuane who only played 3 matches for them. Or that time Carlton
got Heath Scotland
in a trade and Collingwood used the pick they got to get Brent Hall who played
just one game. Even Fitzroy, whose
suburb separates the two, was forced out of the league. “Anything to get away from these jerks,” they
said. Last week Collingwood had Beau
McCreery’s mum in to rev them up. She
joins illustrious people such as Norman Schwazkopf, who was brought in to
inspire the Pies against The Blues once.
What does all this history mean for the two
clubs? Carlton have been copping a pizzling this
week and this is just the kind of priming they need for a
backs-against-the-wall victory.
Motivation is the Pies knocking them out of the finals race at the final
hurdle last year. The Pies would just
like to keep this buzz going. Who could
they possibly get to rev them up prior to this one? I’m thinking Tonya Harding, but she won’t
overcome the desperation of Carlton
to return to the winners list. Revenge
of sorts for The Blues this week. Carlton
by 3 points.
Greater Western
Sydney vs St Kilda GIANTS
Stadium Sunday Twilight
Saint Kilda get, what Lyon
referred to as, a Mulligan this weekend.
This is golfing parlance for being able to have another go at it without
penalty. I don’t buy it. They’ve already paid the penalty…not getting
4 points for starters and I can just hear the condescending tone in Ross’s
voice that they probably had to put up with all week. No penalty indeed. And if you’ve ever played golf with anyone
remotely competitive, Mulligans are not in their vocabulary. Any chance they get to inflict more
difficulty on you in what is already a really tough game, they take it and
amplify it. On the other side of this
match, GWS will be keen to atone after having their pants pulled by Collingwood
(couldn’t resist). They will welcome
Toby Greene back and be a very tough challenge for Saint Kilda having another
go at it. I’m not sure which way to go
on this one and history tells me the Saints haven’t had much success at this
ground, although did win their last encounter here 2 years ago. I’m willing to throw my lot in with Saint
Kilda on this one, but this is the last Mulligan they get. Saint Kilda by 9 points.
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