Tag Archives: adelaidefc

Friday musing – AFL is back, the US Masters & Sydney’s Autumn carnival

April 10, 2015 @packers4 Leave a comment

Well the football season is back and everyone has something to talk about. It was strange in an opening round that included five games where the result was two goals or less but with two big blow outs being the Adelaide v Nth Melbourne and Hawthorn v Geelong games. The coaches on the receiving end were the Scott brothers. As usual you cannot get too carried away with the results from the first round of the season and I would not be writing off either North or Geelong. North were belted by the Bombers in round one last year and made the Preliminary Final and Geelong played the best team in the competition who were primed and ready to go.

The Masters started this morning and my tip before it started was Jordan Spieth and he is currently in the lead. Last year I predicted that Jason Day would win a Major, however, his body let him down and he failed to fulfil my prediction. This year he is fit and is also well placed and if Spieth does not win, I would be more than happy to see Day salute. It is always difficult for a golfer to lead a tournament from start to finish, so I will be monitoring the scores over the next three days with interest.

Sydney’s fickle weather again played havoc with their Autumn carnival with day one of the Championships postponed from last Saturday to the following Monday. It is a shame that these good races with good fields are run on wet tracks, so sometimes the best horse does not salute. One horse that could not blame the state of the track was Lankan Rupee. I had been concerned after his run in the Newmarket and my concerns weren’t allayed by hearing Mick Price give a cautious appraisal of his recovery before last weeks T J Smith Stakes. I was not surprised to see him finish out of the places again. He is clearly not right and should be tipped out for a spell.

Have a great weekend!

Sports

Friday musing – Cobalt in the feed?, Darts, Taylor Walker….

January 16, 2015 sportzfan Leave a comment

The big story this week was the three horse racing trainers possibly facing charges for traces of cobalt being found in their horses. This has the capacity to damage a sport that is already damaged so it will be interesting to see which way it goes. My gut feel is that the racing industry cannot afford to have three of the biggest trainers in the state suspended and this will be a shot across their bows as a warning to everyone else. The suggestion at the moment is that the horses that tested positive were well over the prescribed limit which would negate any assertion that it was bad feed, but it is difficult to accept that these trainers, who know the rules have allowed their horses to be administered cobalt to a level which is banned. These guys have teams of vets working for them and need to keep very detailed records of feed and supplements/medications which are administered, so what went wrong? There is more to this than the Essendon supplements saga, but it won’t attract as much attention because horse racing just doesn’t have the profile save for the Spring Carnival.

I didn’t go to the darts at Etihad stadium last week, however, I did see the news on Sunday and the behaviour of the crowd was deplorable. If it was a higher profile sport the examination of the episode would have continued all week. The reports from the event last year were that it was a great success, but now any future tournament will be highly scrutinised. Imagine if you attended on Saturday night and had your night ruined in that fashion, you would not be very happy. Perhaps they need to breathalyse patrons as they enter the stadium!

I was interested to see that Adelaide had named Taylor Walker as their captain for next year and for me, it raised the concerns about full forwards as captains. There is no doubt you can captain the side from full forward. The AFL’s longest serving captain, Stephen Kernahan, spent more time at full forward than centre half forward and I think the same could be said about Wayne Carey. Jason Dunstall was a genuine full forward who was captain and his influence was difficult to assess as Hawthorn were on the slide when he took over. My question mark about full forwards as captains is they have a limited opportunity to influence the game from that position, unless, like Carey, they can be swung onto the ball. I think the main reason Patrick Dangerfield didn’t get the position is not because he may return to Victoria, but his lack of popularity with his team mates which emerged late last year. It will be interesting to see how Walker goes.

Have a great weekend!

News, Sports

Friday musing – AFL, final eight, Arsenal, Champions League…..

August 29, 2014 sportzfan Leave a comment

Well with one round of the AFL season to go there is still a great deal of interest in the final positions in the final eight.

Should the results go as expected it will be a battle between Adelaide and West Coast on percentage for the final position, but Richmond have their fate in their own hands so it is the position you want to be in from a Richmond point of view. If the game was in Melbourne I would give them a genuine chance, but being in Sydney I think I will have to favour the home team. That being said, the Swans will know the equation necessary to hold top spot as Hawthorn play Collingwood tonight and a big win by Hawthorn and a loss to Sydney could see the Swans lose top spot.

Looking to the other games, Geelong should beat Brisbane at home, but if you cast your mind back to the corresponding game last year Brisbane lost by a kick in controversial circumstances. Geelong have won a lot of games this year by small margins and have not played out four quarters many times and if they lose and Fremantle win, Geelong could drop to fourth. Fremantle need to win to at least hold fourth spot as a loss to Port Adelaide will see Port take fourth spot.

North Melbourne looks to be the only team that cannot go up or down, they are a game and 16% below Port and a game and 10% ahead of Essendon, so they look like retaining sixth position with a home final. Essendon need to beat Carlton to retain seventh position to play North in Melbourne, or run the risk that a loss to Carlton and a win by Richmond could see them head interstate to play Freo or Port.

It is a great last round as so many positions could change, but I am predicting the status quo and games going with the favourites, so that will leave Adelaide and West Coast to fight out eighth position on percentage. My tip is Adelaide to just get there and play a home final against Port in the first week of the finals.

Also great to see the Gunners make it through to the Champions League again. They have drawn a reasonable group and should at least get through to the next round.

Have a great weekend!

News, Sports

Friday musing – AFL, final eight, Richmond FC, Essendon FC…..

August 22, 2014 sportzfan Leave a comment

Well it is getting to the business end of the AFL season with still a few spots up for grabs and the final order still to be decided.

Richmond have come out of nowhere to put pressure on the lower reaches of the final eight, but the final game against the Swans in Sydney may spell the end of an inspired run. Some sides have failed to consolidate their spots and in the case of Collingwood & Gold Coast they have actually relinquished their positions in the eight. In my opinion it has now come down to Essendon, Adelaide and Richmond competing for the last two positions. If Essendon win this week and Adelaide lose to North, then I think the Bombers will be safe. At least there is still some interest coming into the final two rounds.

I must say I did not think Brenton Sanderson did his team any favours by having a whine about having to play Brisbane in Brisbane on a day when it was 24 degrees. Adelaide is not known for it’s freezing winters and 24 degrees is not uncommon come September. I went to the 2001 Grand Final and it got to about 28 degrees that day. If you go back to 1986 or 1987 and the Grand Final was played when it was 32 degrees. By complaining about having to play in those conditions he was making an excuse for his team against Richmond before they had even played! Not a good move in my opinion.

Another issue to come out of the Adelaide -v- Richmond game was the score review system denying Rory Sloane a goal. I have harped on about the SRS before and I think it is unnecessary and we should just rely on the goal umpire who is usually in the best position to judge. It is unusual to have howlers like the Tom Hawkins goal in the 2009 grand final, but the game should just live with the consequences.

Have a great weekend!

News, Sports

Friday musing – World Cup, Suarez, AFL & more

June 27, 2014 sportzfan Leave a comment

Well the biggest sporting event in the world continues to throw up great games, great drama and now teeth grating! Well we all like a little Italian, being one of the world’s great cuisines, but Luis Suarez clearly likes his Italian fresh. What is it that makes him want to bite opponents? In a sporting sense the only comparisons I can remember are Peter Filandia biting an opponent in the nether regions and My Brown Jug biting Manikato when he realised he was going to get beaten by the champ one day at Sandown. The Suarez suspension has now been handed down and in some ways given he is a repeat offender, is quite lenient.

Continuing the World Cup theme it is interesting to note that England, Spain and Italy who represent three of the four biggest leagues in the world have all been eliminated. Is this just bad luck or is it a symptom of the leagues not promoting local talent in deference to established players from other countries? I would certainly think that is the case with the EPL, but I am not familiar enough with the Italian and Spanish leagues to know if the same problem exists. Germany has made it through and my feeling is that the Bundesliga retains a high German content, but again that is speculation not based on facts. English cricket suffered a similar fate to the EPL and County Cricket reduced the number of overseas players eligible for each team to improve their national team. Is it time for the EPL to place a restriction on the number of eligible overseas players?

I was a little disappointed with the Aussies last game against Spain. It probably went to script and the Socceroos without Cahill and Bresciano were undermanned, but a 1-0 or a 2-0 result would have been a little more satisfying given the performances earlier in the tournament.

The Bombers face the Cats tonight and the Cats are coming off their fourth loss of the season from their fourth interstate trip. Not only have they been beaten interstate, they have been comfortably beaten. That being said, they have not lost a game in Victoria and as a result I will be going against my team and picking the Cats, but barracking hard for the Bombers.

On the never ending supplements saga, it was interesting to hear Tim Watson make a comment on Talking Footy on Monday night. Given his position he has been very circumspect with his comments regarding the whole affair. In a obvious support for his son he finally made a comment about the use of AOD9604 and the lack of retraction or apology from the accusers, which was obviously directed at the time to Jobe.

I was interested to see Daniel Giansiracusa get 2 weeks for his late bump on Polec over the weekend and I ask the question, what was the difference between that bump and Adam Goodes bump on Joel Selwood? Not much, the ball had just left the area, he jumped in the air and hit him high and dazed him. I am not saying that Giansiracusa should have got off, but why wasn’t Goodes charged?

I omitted to make a comment last week about the State of Origin game. What a contrast with the first game which was one of the best rugby league games I have seen. Last Wednesday’s game was probably one of the most boring I have ever watched. The only constant was Queensland’s handling errors which again cost them the game.

Speaking of boring games, what about the Tigers and the Swans last Friday night! I think that is the stye of game that Mick Malthouse was referring to when he commented on the state of the game yesterday. That was the modern game at its worst and contrast that with the Bombers and Crows on Saturday night which was one of the best games I have watched all year.

Have a great weekend!

News, Sports

Friday musing – AFL, Tania Hird, Andrew Demetriou…..

March 22, 2014 sportzfan Leave a comment

Well it is not very often I am angry on a Friday morning, after all it is the end of the week, however this week is different.

On the day before the Bombers first game of the year Tania Hird decides to give an interview to the ABC about some of the events of last year with regard to Andrew Demetriou and the so called “tip off”. Why bother? I can understand her wanting to support her husband, but save it for a book once he has retired. It does not help the club one iota and certainly doesn’t help her husband who is already suspended, it just rekindles a story that all Essendon supporters and I am sure most football supporters are heartily sick of.

While I am back onto the Supplement Scandal I must say that Demetriou’s comment that he or anyone at the AFL didn’t inject anyone is quite childish. He has said it on a number of occasions and it is not funny, it is not clever and it is not the point.

I am also puzzled about the ASADA findings. A couple of weeks ago we were advised that the final report had been referred to a retired judge to consider if there was enough evidence to issue notices against any players. Subsequent to that we now hear that ASADA are to interview Stephen Dank. Should that not have happened before they finalised their report and sent it to the judge?

Let us not forget that the games have started and what an interesting first weekend of football. The GWS must be one of the longest price winners in AFL history and they didn’t just win, they romped it in. I think they were paying $11.00-$13.00 for the win and the Swans were $1.04- $1.05. I don’t know what it says about either side for the coming season because you would not write off the Swans to still finish in the top four and equally the GWS finishing in the bottom four. Maybe it is a portent for the future of both clubs beyond this year.

The Gold Coast beating Richmond was not a great surprise, although I am sure the Tiger supporters were very buoyant before the game. Freo winning was expected, but the way they disposed of Collingwood after quarter time was very clinical and Ross Lyon could afford to rest Nathan Fyffe before 3/4 time. It never ceases to amaze me how often Scott Pendlebury, Dane Swan and Dayne Beams get around 90 possessions between them, win lose or draw. Port beating Carlton was also not a great surprise, Port play Etihad well and Carlton don’t. The Cats have also saluted at home, which was also not a great surprise given that it is over ten years since Adelaide have won at Kardinia Park.

Roll on the rest of round 1 and may the discussion be around the games and not all of the outside rubbish.

Have a great weekend!

Podcast

Sportzfan Radio 7 August 2011 #213.2

August 10, 2011 @packers4 Leave a comment

7 August 2011 213.2 – John O’Callaghan joins the Panel and says the AFL are becoming like the AOC with their skullduggery and non accountability to stakeholders. He says Andrew Demetriou should not be running the AFL. John cites tanking as an example and refers to Dean Bailey’s press conference during the week. He also talks about the clear breach of the AFL rules in the signing of Phil Davis by Greater Western Sydney. Nicole Chvastek joins the Panel to talk about Dean Bailey’s revelations on tanking and the way the AFL has dealt with it. They also discuss Jeff Kennett’s comments about Garry Lyon taking on the Football Director’s role at Melbourne for only a short period of time. Paul Dalligan talks about what is happening in the world of rugby league and this week’s round of NRL matches. In addition, he discusses the article written about him by Fred Sherman that appeared on Yahoo Sports following his recent trip to see the LA Dodgers.