Round 9 Preview
Last Week 8/9 Season Total 49/72
It was all happening this week. With relatively easy tipping we can focus on the real stories to come out of the week. The most alarming news of course is that scientists have drastically re-assessed how long until the universe decays. They have revised the value in from 101100 years down to 1078 years. This is cause for urgency as some clubs may wonder if they’ll win any more premierships now that we’ve trimmed the due date down by that far!
This week we had Whiteboard-gate, Pendlebury’s golden number and ever-consistent Carlton as the big stories. I don’t think anyone had a problem with Brisbane’s critical analysis of the opposition, but they blamed the Auskick Dad who leaked the photo, but many would argue that you shouldn’t leave that kind of information around for Auskick Dads to see. Having been in a few Auskick Dad WhatsApp groups, I can say that is exactly the kind of post they thrive on. My favourite part about the saga is that today I have been reading many of the outstanding ‘satire of the masses’ as they have produced their own Carlton whiteboard assessments that Brisbane can use.
To draw or not to draw? I’m pro-draw but many people, nay, many media people who have a vested interest in telecasts going longer and advertising revenue coming in really want to see overtime introduced. Given there is a potential dollar amount attached to it, I expect the AFL to come out shortly and announce draws will be a thing of the past, despite the fact that no-one wants them gone.
I saw the post for Pendlebury wearing a special golden number for his upcoming match where he breaks the all-time games record. Personally, I think it is a little on the nose and after so many years I feel like I know Pendlebury well enough that he’s probably not that chuffed about it but somewhere in his contract it probably says he has to wear whatever marketing suggests. It was nice to see that after the editor chose to run with a gold sequins-style edited picture of Pendlebury, which brought up a bunch of commentary about certain past supporters of Collingwood who wore gold sequined jackets, they were severely admonished.
I understand the idea of Marketing. If he wears one jumper a quarter, keeps one, they can auction the other 3. His Anzac guernsey reportedly went for about $10K so I could see the record breaking one would go for much more. But that’s the bit I don’t understand. If you bought that guernsey and put it up in your house, I imagine a conversation would go something like this:
“You’ve seen Bradman’s Baggy Green and Ali’s Gloves, but this is my prized possession, Pendlebury’s record breaking jumper.”
“Oh, did he play 433 games?”
“No. Actually, he played 462 games.”
“So, this is not the record setting jumper, just a jumper from some number less than that.”
“Shut up. Jerk.”
See, the jumper you want is the last one. The jumper he wore that IS the record.
Which brings me to another point. It seems a lot of planning is going into when and where he breaks the record. They might hold him back from playing in Sydney so he can break it in front of a home crowd against West Coast. But after he breaks the current record, isn’t every match afterwards another match where he breaks the current record? It seems there is more weight in beating Brent Harvey than beating yourself.
Anyway, onto this week’s matches.
Fremantle vs Hawthorn Perth Stadium Thursday Night
Clearly the match of the round. Hawthorn escaped with a draw last week against a plucky Pies outfit while Freo had to come from behind to defeat and injury ravaged Footscray. This is likely to be a ball-burster with an extremely well-drilled team like Hawthorn against a team that has dominance in almost every area. Watching the last few minutes of the Pies/Hawks match, you could see the players were really gassed after a 5-day break. Will that play a role, given the addition of travel for Hawthorn? I think it will. Fremantle by 16 points.
Brisbane vs Carlton Gabba Friday Night
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a raft of changes for Carlton in this one. Gone is any chance of playing in the finals, let alone the wild card spot. The footage has been damning and so have the second half statistics. Players not chasing, not tackling and not caring. It’s too early in the season to sack the coach, but there may be directions to play more of the list to get a good evaluation of the talent they have and what cards they have to play at the trade and draft. Wholesale changes are needed from the Board to the Boot-studder. Gone are the days you could recruit with a cheque book, but it seems Carlton like to still think it’s the way. Maybe I could have said some things about Brisbane too, but they are going to win, and comfortably so Carlton playing kids makes sense and gives an easy out for the reason to fail. Brisbane by 69 points.
Port Adelaide vs Footscray Adelaide Oval Friday Night
The Showdown was a crackerjack match and wasn’t decided until one of the last kicks of the night. Port have picked themselves off the early season canvas and started to put together some nice form, albeit not rewarded with premiership points. If this was earlier in the season, you couldn’t go past Footscray, but the injury toll is too big to overcome. A few are coming back and they still have a powerful midfield group, so this makes for a tricky tip. I’m going to go with the home team due to Footscray’s poor record at Adelaide Oval, but not with a great deal of confidence. Port Adelaide by 17 points.
North Melbourne vs Sydney Marvel Stadium Saturday Afternoon
I think North Melbourne are a good side. Not good enough though. Sydney by 22 points.
GWS vs Essendon Showgrounds Saturday
Afternoon
Now it’s GWS’s turn to have a crack at Essendon. Does GWS’s whiteboard look the same as Brisbane’s? This will be another defeat for Essendon and with Richmond and Carlton also sharing the bottom three places there are a lot of non-Victorian supporters rejoicing. GWS by 29 points.
Gold Coast vs St Kilda Marrara Saturday
Night
The Suns begin their annual campaign trip to Darwin to take on St Kilda. I expect this will be a good match with Saints finding some form and the dewy, slippery surface up there providing lots of thrills. St Kilda has never played at Marrara and Gold Coast is nearly unbeatable there. Gold Coast by 22 points.
Geelong vs Collingwood MCG Saturday Night
Pendlebury’s (assuming he’s selected) record equaling match. It might be a tough side to break into this week though with last weeks chargers nearly getting all the points against Hawthorn. Geelong looked like they were in a spot of bother before turning on the afterburners in the last quarter to skip out to a healthy win. The Cats are a bit of a bogey side for Collingwood having won 6 of the last 8 encounters between the two, although mostly the margin is under 4 goals, so they have been close encounters. While Collingwood has been better in the last couple of weeks, it’s hard to pick them as their form has been patchy. Geelong has been consistent over a very long period of time. Geelong by 18 points.
Melbourne vs West Coast Marvel Stadium Sunday Afternoon
The Mighty High Flying Eagles have become more like Low Skimming Flying Fish of late. The latest development was a loss to the ladder-props in Richmond, and it seems like something is not quite right in their mix of youth and aged champions. Something has to give for them to move forward. Melbourne took it right up to ladder leaders Sydney in an SCG shootout and perhaps if it hadn’t been for losing Mihocek to a hamstring may have had the firepower to haul them in. With such firepower it seems a difficult task for West Coast to go all the way to Marvel and come home with the points. Melbourne by 39 points.
Richmond vs Adelaide MCG Sunday
Twilight
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