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Showing posts from August, 2024

Pre Finals Break 2024 – State Of The Game

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Last Week           6/9           Season Total      127/207 The regular season has come to a close and it’s time for surgery and the reading of trade news for most of the competition.  For 8 teams though the season continues.  We’ll look at their plight next week.  This week is a chance to reflect back on the season that was and understand where it all went right or wrong for your team. Let’s start by acknowledging what a wonderful and tense final day to the season proper that it was.  Aside from some idiot pegging a bottle at an umpire (that gentleman is about to save a lot of money by not attending a footy match ever again…ever), the AFL would be well pleased with the drama that occurred throughout the day.  The Dogs blew away GWS with the help of a howling breeze and then Carlton, who had to win to guarantee their spot, let it slip with only seconds on the clock.  This made it a tense wait watching fumbly Freo drop the ball in more ways than one to settle the ladder. It was a

Round 24 AFL Preview

  Last Week           5/9           Season Total      121/198 A formal inquiry has been lodged.   There will be a full inquest with findings handed down in a Royal Commission with heavy input from the AFL and Sporting ombudsman.   An injustice has been dealt through deceit and trickery that will not stand.   Collusion is afoot.   All West Coast had to do was, at home, beat a Carlton team that consisted of pretty much only 1 of their top 22 players, but in losing, and badly, West Coast have all but assured that their most hated enemy, Fremantle likely will not make it and, at the same time, Carlton’s most hated enemy (well, everyone’s most hated enemy) will likely not make it.   This is the kind of skullduggery one expects in other sports and is on par with controversies like The Hand of God, Nancy Kerrigan and Lance Armstrong.   A dark day in sports indeed.   We’ll see what action, if any, the AFL takes on these matters.   Not to mention that it buggered up my tipping!   Which was th

Round 23 AFL Preview

Last Week           3/9           Season Total      116/189   Tipping doesn’t just have nobs on it, but any sense of predictability has gone way out the window.   I’ve tried rolling dice, I’ve tried using knowledge and data and none of it works.   The only approach I have left now is to sneak up on it.   And if that doesn’t work, I’m going to have to resort to hindsight, so you won’t get these tips until next week. Teams are dipping in and out of contention and on the one hand you’d think the AFL would be loving it.   Two games to go and it seems that all 18 teams are still jostling for a finals berth.   Well, almost.   On the other hand, the AFL would secretly be tearing their hair out.   At one point, about halfway through the season, the top of the ladder was Sydney, Carlton, Essendon and Collingwood which in the first couple of weeks of finals would have netted the AFL CEO enough revenue to buy a small block of land in Sydney.   Now it’s looking like none of those teams will pl