It has been a while, but I thought it was time to put pen to paper so to speak.
When the Victorian teams went into hubs and it was clear there was going to be no football in Victoria for the remainder of the season I think I “mused” that the season would favour Brisbane, Port Adelaide and West Coast. They would be able to play home games and have a relatively normal season compared to the Victorian and clubs. After the first week of the finals I was thinking I was right and was looking forward to a Port Adelaide -v- Brisbane grand final on the Gabba. This was a game where I didn’t particularly care who won, but would be favouring Brisbane at home.
Then along comes Richmond Geelong to upset the apple cart. While it put me into a conundrum about whom to support on the big day, you have to admire what both clubs have achieved by just getting to the final game of the year. Both teams have been in hubs for over 100 days which is a totally abnormal situation. Some clubs responded well to “hub” life which included these two and I would probably throw in St Kilda & Melbourne as well, while my team Essendon, North Melbourne and GWS clearly did not. It probably says more about the stability and cohesiveness of the clubs that did not respond well than those that did and these three clubs have been shedding players since their seasons finished.
Turning to the game itself, when it became clear last Saturday night that it would be Geelong -v- Richmond I did not favour one side over the other and I even contemplated not watching the game. Richmond have won two out of the last three flags and Geelong has had a lot of recent success and living in Geelong I didn’t know if I could put up with the local hysteria. I live in a street 10 minutes walk from Kardinia Park and many of the houses in my street are festooned with Cats paraphernalia. Walking past scarves draped around fences, it is in your face and just reminds you what you are missing. In the end I have decided to support Geelong. It would be good for the town and I think Patty Dangerfield does deserve a premiership. Not only is he one of the best players of the last decade he is also quite humble and anyone down here who has met him says he is very easy to talk to and always finds time for kids with photos & autographs.
Dangerfield and Dustin Martin have been identified as the key players for each club as both are great mid-fielders and very dangerous when they go forward. I think Geelong can win without a stellar performance from Dangerfield, but Richmond cannot win without a starring performance from Martin. Each player requires a different match up in the mid-field and in attack. For Martin, I would have Cam Guthrie run with him in the mid-field and Tom Stewart pick him up when he goes forward. With Dangerfield, I would have Shane Edwards go with him in the mid-field and Dylan Grimes pick him up in the forward line.
I think Richmond’s bottom 6 players are better than Geelong’s bottom 6 players, so that favours Richmond in a close game. However, I think Geelong probably have more match winning players and if there is a blow-out it is more likely going to be Geelong. The threat of rain would favour the way Richmond play as they play a wet weather type of game even when it is dry! So if it rains, I am picking Richmond and if it remains relatively dry I am picking Geelong.
If it had been a Port Adelaide -v- Brisbane grand final there may have been an asterisk on the 2020 season, but with neither team making it I think the winner this year will deserve every accolade.
Have a great weekend and I hope we get a game worth watching!
This weeks final round of football is an absolute cracker with every game having some influence on the final standings. In the Herald Sun they have equated this round to the final round of 1987 where 
several games impacted the make up of the finals. As an Essendon supporter I am happy that my team has control of its own destiny. The Bombers should account for Fremantle at home, but having seen my side cough up a 27 point lead against Brisbane at home you never can be sure. It also may be Jobe Watson’s last game in the red and black. He certianly got the most out of himself and it still riles me that he returned his Brownlow medal.
contracts and their payment structure. I do not think he is worth anything like that sort of money as he doesn’t provide any sort of marketing clout save for his position as a star player. I also do not think that most Richmond supporters would want their club to go too far to keep him. Martin needs the money and I have no doubt he will go to the highest bidder. He is not a media performer and he is not coaching material, so he has to make hay while he is playing. If North Melbourne do get him there is no guarantee that he will be the panacea for their woes in any case. Paying a player that amount of money will no doubt cause a ripple affect amongst the other players as Tom Boyd’s contract apparently did at the Bulldogs. This guy is no Paddy Dangerfield.
& Jones hits of the previous few weeks. Having said that, you would think with all the publicity attached to those recent hits, he wasn’t using his brains to grab a jumper and then punch someone. The AFL were going to make a stand at some stage and Hawkins was the first one to be subject to the Match Review Panel’s crack down.
difference. The pressure is on this team to make the World Cup finals and, if they make it, it will be a testament to the coaching of Ange Postecoglou. From what I see this current Australian team is a bit short on talent compared to more recent World Cup campaigns and while they have not yet confirmed qualification for the World Cup, they are still the only team in the group to be undefeated. Clearly, the match against the Blue Samurai in Japan in August will be crucial to qualification for both teams. Japan has the harder draw as they then play Saudi Arabia away in their last game while the Socceroos play bottom of the table Thailand in Australia.
is probably the first time since the third test of the 2005 Ashes series when the Australian team has batted out a day to save a test. On that occasion Ricky Ponting batted nearly the whole day and we escaped with a draw with one wicket in hand. The Indians really took the game away from Australia on Sunday and to hang on as we did was a great effort and keeps a very interesting series alive going into this weekend for the fourth and final test of the series.
Australia in Alice Springs in the Sheffield Shield final and in the AFLW we have Brisbane Lions hosting Adelaide Crows on the Gold Coast. As Victoria has won the last two Shield’s perhaps it is a winning formula, but clearly not ideal for local cricket fans. This scenario was apparent at the start of the season, however, the AFLW grand final is a bit more embarrassing for all concerned. The groundsmen in control of the Gabba apparently see their primary job to prepare the ground for the first test match of the year and AFL football takes a back seat. Leigh Matthews has said that this situation has existed since the Brisbane Lions started playing there and perhaps now with the Queensland state government getting involved, football might be treated a bit better.
This week sees Melbourne’s Christian Petracca get the Club’s third Rising Star nomination in the first nine rounds which is a great achievement. However, they still have a long way to go to emulate the Greater Western Sydney Giants who had eight nominations during the 2012 season. Putting aside the Giants who were given a leg up by the AFL in this regard with Draft concessions, the next best was five by Essendon in 1993 (a premiership year) and Fremantle in 1996. Then there are eight teams who have had four nominations. 
Of those, only Port Adelaide in 1997 and West Coast in 2004 converted their advantage into a premiership and in Port Adelaide’s case it took a further years! Fitzroy had four nominations in 1994 and were out of the competition two years later and Brisbane had four in 2005, the year after their last Grand Final appearance. So having good young talent is not the guaranteed formula for success, but it certainly doesn’t hurt and the Dees had two nominations and the winner last year so they are assembling a good batch of youngsters. It will be interesting to see if they can get any more nominees. I have heard there are some wraps on Sam Weideman so there is a chance they can get to four or maybe more. That being said, the GWS record looks safe for now.
week” crackdown. Both players had alternatives to rushing a behind and chose to go with the behind and copped the penalty. Neither infringement cost their side the game. If I was to nominate a rule which I think should be tightened up it is incorrect disposal. Once you take possession there are only two ways of disposing of the ball, that is by way of a kick or a handball. Watching the game between Hawthorn and Sydney last week, I noticed that Hawthorn have added a third means of disposing of the ball. Just about every time a Hawthorn player was tackled the ball spilled from the tackle and there was no penalty and no reward for the tackle. Come on AFL tidy this one up please.
Just a few days after the FA Cup triumph, van Gaal was dumped in favour of Jose Mourinho. There is no doubt the Club has struggled since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson. He managed United from 1986 until 2013 bringing plenty of trophies and stability. Since then Mourinho is the third manager in three years. The Club seems to have lost its way and I don’t know that Mourinho is the one to get it back on track. We will see.