Tag Archives: essendonfc

Friday musing – AFL, Kevin Sheedy, ICC World Cup, Michael Clarke…..

March 6, 2015 sportzfan Leave a comment

It was announced this week that Kevin Sheedy was returning to Essendon in an ambassadorial role on something like $250,000 a year over 4-5 years. To me this is waste of money and it also smacks of desperation. Perhaps the club have been given an indication of the likely findings of the AFL tribunal and feel they need to muster some public and corporate support by a past club great not tainted by the current situation. However, in my opinion, to have Sheedy in that role is somewhat misguided. As the coach of the club he did a wonderful job promoting the club and building up the profile of the club whereby at some stage in the 1990s the Essendon Football Club were considered to have most number of supporters of any club in Australia. I think as the coach of the club he had a voice and because he was often quotable he got a lot of press, but I doubt he will carry the same degree of weight in the media in the role of a club ambassador. I am happy to be proved wrong.

Michael Clarke has been criticised for not batting against Afghanistan the other night and it was probably the same people who laud him as an astute captain. I think he made the right call. Clarke is not an explosive batsman who can pummel an attack to all parts of the field. He is a technically correct batsman who has to build an innings. With the state of play in that game he was better off allowing the likes of Glenn Maxwell, Mitch Marsh, James Faulkner & Brad Haddin to increase the run rate. Clarke has as ODI strike rate of less than 80 and the others are all around 100 or more so he made the correct decision in the interests of the team where the run rate may influence the ultimate position in the group stage.

Have a great long weekend!

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The Professor’s Monday thought

February 16, 2015 @packers4 Leave a comment

Ever noticed how people and organisations in difficulty seem to continually make decisions that leave the rest of society baffled. Take two cases in point…..the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott and his Liberal Party and James Hird and the Essendon Football Club.

Just when you think Abbott and Hird are about to see the light and start making some ‘clever’ decisions, they come up trumps and provide further cause for negative comment.

I keep hearing from Tony Abbott that ‘he has learned’. Believe me, he hasn’t! Looking down the barrel at poor polls, for him to then give a knighthood to a foreigner on Australia Day indicates the man has no capacity to understand or learn. I predict it will end in tears for Tony and the Libs! The Libs had a chance to put it all behind them but fell at the first hurdle (for that read spill motion). All the vote in favour of Abbott has done is draw the matter out even longer and affect the polls even further.

Example two – enter James Hird. He has taken a stance that alienates any AFL supporters save for the diehard Essendon faithful. ie. Chris from Barwon Heads. His latest indication of testing the High Court appeal process is a further indication that he hasn’t learned either. James, four out of four Federal Court judges have said you are wrong. Why not leave it there and let the whole matter rest. Essendon FC don’t seem to be able to convince Hird of the folly of proceeding further. They had the chance to put it all behind them, but decided to also prolong the agony. I can’t see this union ending happily either.

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Friday musing – Cricket, World Cup, Essendon FC…..

February 13, 2015 sportzfan Leave a comment

Well the Cricket World Cup is about to begin and I note that Australia is drawn play a game against New Zealand in New Zealand, so much for the home World Cup. With 2 pools the Australians and the New Zealanders should have been placed into different pools so that there was no away game for either team. In the previous World Cup in 1992 the same thing happened with Australia drawn to play New Zealand in New Zealand (and we lost!). With the 2 pools it is unlikely that either side would miss the next stage, however, I do have an issue with that type of fixturing.

It will be interesting to see how the World Cup goes. It would appear that some games will be very popular, like the opening game of the tournament tomorrow with Australia v England and the India v Pakistan game in Adelaide which was apparently sold out some months ago. However, many of the others could be television games only. The tournament is scheduled to go over seven weeks which to me is way too long and there is a big risk that the interest in the game will wain over that length of time. I think a compressed format of 4-5 weeks would have been more appealing. The Big Bash was played over a period of a month and I think they got that right.

I was bemused to hear Mick Malthouse and Nathan Buckley’s comments about the Essendon players and their stance regarding the NAB Challenge series. I think the club should field a team for the series, however, I also agree with the approach that the entire list from 2012 should not play to at least try and preserve the anonymity of the players to which they are entitled. There should be enough players that have come onto the list since 2012 and I wonder what Malthouse & Buckley’s views would be if the boot was on the other foot and it was their players that had to bear the brunt of this continued saga.

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!

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Friday musing – Melbourne Cup, cricket, AFL…

November 4, 2014 @packers4 Leave a comment

I was disappointed to hear how Australia had fared in the cricket in Abu Dhabi overnight and it rekindled a gripe I have about Test cricket, particularly games against India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka. A test wicket should offer assistance to the quicks in the first session at least and provide a good contest between bat and ball. Australia has the most dangerous fast bowler in the world at the moment in Mitchell Johnson and he gets his first and only wicket in the second session with the only wicket in the first session going to Lyon the spinner. If the ICC wants to promote Test cricket as the pinnacle of the game they have to have the fortitude to demand pitches which provide a proper contest. Having said that Younis Khan has to be congratulated for his three successive centuries which is a formidable feat no matter how good the wickets have been for batsmen. Speaking of batsmen, Australia’s performance in the 1st test was quite lamentable with only Warner & Johnson able to hold their heads up.

It was an amazing performance by Adelaide in the Cox plate last week, languishing at the back of the filed he made one of the longest sustained runs I have ever seen in the time honoured race. He was helped by the banked turns at the Valley and at the turn into the straight looked like he was going to win running away, but the length of his run told in the final stages and Fawkner and the others on his inside pushed him all the way to the line. It was an even more memorable performance when you consider that he is only a 3yo and because of the difference in breeding schedules in Europe he had to carry the weight of a 4yo in the Plate. However, I do wonder why they gave a colt a female name, what next a filly named Sydney?

Moving on to the AFL fixture I note that Essendon are again playing the Demons in a home game at the MCG. The Bombers have hosted Melbourne in at least the last 4 games at the MCG and have lost 3 of them in circumstances where they have started warm favourites each time. Everyone knows Melbourne perform poorly at Etihad, but we keep playing them at the G. Why? I was also perplexed to note that the Bombers only play 2 Friday night games, both against North Melbourne. While the Bombers didn’t win too many of their Friday night fixtures this year, they put on some pretty good games against Hawthorn, Geelong & Sydney. Speaking from the perspective of my own team, not a great draw in my opinion.

In passing I think Paul Gallen is obviously pretty stupid for his Tweet insulting the NRL chiefs, but a $50,000 fine!! That is hefty and I question if it really fits the crime. $5-10,000 would have sent the same message.

Have a great weekend.

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Friday musing – AFL trade period, Ryan Griffen, Caulfield Cup….

October 17, 2014 sportzfan Leave a comment

The AFL trade period is over and all the trades that had to be done were done including the Dane Beams & Paddy Ryder deals. As a Bomber supporter I think Collingwood did better than Essendon with their respective “forced” trades, but it helped that they were dealing with Brisbane who had more to offer. It was always going to be hard to prise a decent player out of Port Adelaide at the moment to come to Essendon

I have gathered a bit of information regarding the Ryan Griffen & Allan Christensen trades.

With Griffen, it appears there was a bust up between some of the players and Griffen and his leadership group wanted the coach to sort it out and the coach, quite rightly told them it was a leadership group issue and they should sort it out. They didn’t like it and it caused a lot of division within the club. The Bulldogs now have the key forward they have been after, but it may take a while for Tom Boyd to produce on a regular basis. At least it will take the pressure of Stuart Crameri, who was never more than the third tall in the forward line anyway.

With Christensen it is alleged that he had an affair with a team mate’s partner and she became pregnant. If this rumour is true, then it explains why Geelong traded him without much of a fight. For Geelong to then use the pick they got for him on Rhys Stanley is somewhat of a surprise. Stanley has shown some promise, but a second round draft pick, I don’t think so.

For me the overall winner in the trade period was Hawthorn. They have won the last two premierships, played in the last three Grand Finals and they picked up an All Australian defender in James Frawley. To that throw in a very promising youngster in Jono O’Rourke and the fact that they lost no required players.

Moving on to the races it occurred to me that Lloyd Williams spends a lot of money on importing horses from overseas, but somewhat ironically his best horse at the moment and indeed his best horse for some time in Fawkner in not only locally bred, but bred from a stallion, Reset, that Lloyd used to own. Perhaps he should concentrate on the local market instead of spending so much on overseas horses!

Well Rich Enuff came unstuck last week, but on that run I don’t think he will lose too many admirers. He beat everything else in the race quite easily and he rallied once the other horse went past him and pushed him right to the line. Perhaps the 1600 metres was a bit too far, but not by much. The colts ran about a second faster than the fillies in the corresponding race and they were just shaded by the time recorded by Trust in a Gust in the Toorak Handicap. There is a Group 1 race out there for Rich Enuff and he is now being set for a sprint at the Flemington carnival.

My place tip for this weeks main race the Caulfield Cup is Big Memory. In the Herbert Power last week over the same track & distance of the cup he recorded a time of 2.26.68 which is good enough to win just about any Caulfield Cup and he drops a kilo on that run. Not only that, he also did a lot wrong in that race and held the race despite a protest.

Have a great weekend!

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Friday musing – AFL trade period, NRL, Caulfield Guineas…..

October 10, 2014 sportzfan Leave a comment

Well what a week in AFL trading! We already knew about Paddy Ryder and Dayne Beams, but this week Allen Christensen and Ryan Griffen emerge wanting to be traded. Who will pop up next? These trades will be difficult, but if a player has publicly flagged that he wants to go, he has to be traded in my opinion. There are exceptions, like Ryan O’Keefe who flagged a few years ago that he wanted to go to Hawthorn, the Swans kept him and he went on to win the Norm Smith medal in their 2012 premiership side. Supporters from the four clubs involved will all be very disappointed as the players are popular players at their clubs, but for different reasons they want to go and the clubs have to try and get the best deal available.

On a related topic, I was not surprised the AFL knocked back the proposed de-listing of Paddy Ryder to give Essendon an additional draft pick. It would have been a good result for the club, but tantamount to draft manipulation.

Now that it is inevitable that Paddy is going, my son will have to remove the badge from his jumper and send it over to Port Adelaide. The situation at Essendon seems to be lurching from bad to worse. What player would want to come to that club the way things are at the moment? Even Jason Winderlich, who grew up an Essendon supporter and was not involved in the supplements saga wants to go! I cannot see any light at the end of the tunnel at the moment and this is a club that played finals this year!

I watched the NRL Grand Final last week and it was a lot more competitive than the AFL equivalent. Although South Sydney did eventually blow Canterbury out of the water, the game was in the balance until about half way through the second half. The game apparently rated higher than the AFL Grand Final and there has been a renewed push for the AFL to play its Grand Final at night. As much as the ratings would be better, I hope the AFL retain the afternoon time slot, but money does dictate the terms in sport these days and it is probably inevitable that the AFL Grand Final will be played at night or the early evening before too long. The first AFL night final was in 1993 so we are probably lucky that it has lasted in the afternoon for so long.

The Spring Racing Carnival is really starting to pick up with Caulfield Guineas Day this Saturday. This is one of the best days on the racing calendar and should Rich Enuff emerge as the winner of the Guineas this weekend, we may have found the star of the carnival. To date no horse has stamped their authority on the Spring and racing really does need stars to bring people to the races. Weight For Age racing looks a bit thin this year and if Rich Enuff can get through he would be highly fancied in the Cox Plate. He looks the logical winner with Looks Like the Cat the one that could knock him off without being a big upset.

Have a great weekend!

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Friday musing – AFL, Robert Flower, Essendon FC & more…..

October 3, 2014 sportzfan Leave a comment

Well my first comment has to be about the shock regarding the passing of Robert Flower. He is one of my most admired players from other clubs and I always felt he was stiff to miss out on a Brownlow. He had all the attributes to win the codes greatest individual honour, however, playing for a side that was nearly always in the bottom half of the ladder probably worked against him. I think he came third twice which was probably a significant achievement in itself. The Melbourne Football Club has suffered more than its fair share of tragedies have the last couple of years and for another icon of the club to pass away too early is just not fair. Vale Robert Flower.

Secondly the Essendon situation has taken a further turn this week. I did not hold out high hopes for the Federal Court application on the basis that the club had self reported and had submitted to the process, but was encouraged in the running by some reported poor performances by witnesses for ASADA and the AFL. Justice Middleton was not so persuaded and I can understand the club now wanting to move to the next stage and not appeal. Why James Hird now wants to take this on does really not make much sense to me and if he persists I would not blame the club for terminating his contract. I have really swung around to the need for Bomber Thompson to stay at the club with or without Hird. James is the clubs greatest living player and carries a lot of sentiment for everyone associated with the club, but you do not put the individual before the club. Despite it not being right, I am getting to the stage where I think the players should take the ASADA deal just to bring it to a conclusion.

Thirdly, how boring was the Grand Final! When you are a non-aligned supporter you want to see a good game and I kept watching thinking that the momentum would swing to the Swans at some stage and it never did. I thought Jordan Lewis would have been a worthy Norm Smith Medalist, but you could have raffled it between him, Mitchell and Hodge. It was interesting that Sydney’s best two players were Franklin and Kennedy and they used to play for Hawthorn! The Box Hill Hawks also played off in the VFL Grand Final, so it says something about their depth and now they look like getting James Frawley. I know they lost Franklin which freed up a lot of their salary gap, but how can they keep getting good players from other clubs and paying them accordingly?

Hopefully the NRL Grand Final between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs is a better spectacle this weekend.

Have a great weekend!

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Friday musing – AFL, Finals Footy……

September 12, 2014 sportzfan Leave a comment

Well the footy finals are now underway and Essendon was eliminated in the first week after giving up a five goal lead early in the third quarter. A Richmond supporter posed the question to me on Monday, “Is it better to cough up a lead and lose as Essendon did or be blown out of the water in the first quarter and have no chance of winning as Richmond did?”. Whilst it was very disappointing to give up that lead, I must say it is a lot better to be in the game with a chance and the Bombers were still in the lead with five minutes to go, so give me the Essendon scenario over the Richmond scenario any day.

I thought after watching Geelong on Friday night that the winner of the North Melbourne/Essendon game would have a great chance of knocking them off the following week. Geelong dropped marks at both ends of the ground, missed simple targets with their disposal and could not lay a tackle. If North can match them early they are every chance to win and get the chance to play the Swans in Sydney. Geelong won 17 games this year, but probably played like a team who should only have won 13-14 games so they are about on par with North in my opinion.

With the other game I have been on Fremantle all year so I have to stick with them, however, Port Adelaide could not have been more impressive last week and they have a bevy of mercurial players that can really do some magic on the footy field. They got close to Freo recently in Perth and Ballantyne is not playing and Port have no injury concerns of any note. The big difference is that Nat Fyffe did not play in the recent game and in my opinion and the opinion of the other players in the AFL, he is just about the best player in the competition so he will make a significant difference and swing an even game in the favour of Freo.

In reference to my “musing ” last week, it was gratifying to note that the players voted Zach Merrett into equal fourth place on the Best First Year Player list having not secured any votes in the NAB Rising Star. As you may have worked out I am a bit of a wrap for him and I think he acquitted himself pretty well in his first final last Saturday night.

Have a great weekend!

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Friday musing – NAB Rising Star, Zach Merrett, AFL…..

September 5, 2014 sportzfan Leave a comment

I was interested to see the outcome of the NAB Rising Star this week as I thought the young Essendon player Zach Merrett could fare well given his excellent debut season. I was a little surprised to see he did not secure a vote and it got me thinking about the award and how it probably favours teams further down the table.

Of the eight finalists, five had nominees, two from Sydney, two from Essendon and one each from Fremantle, North Melbourne and Port Adelaide. Meaning Geelong, Hawthorn & Richmond did not provide a nominee. The top two vote winners were from Brisbane and the Western Bulldogs, with third coming from North Melbourne. Brisbane also had the fourth placegetter.

Young players are more likely to get games and more game time with teams further down the ladder and this probably works in their favour.

Incidentally, Zach Merrett’s stats were similar to Marcus Bontempelli and his player rating was higher than him and yet he could not get a vote. Perhaps he needed a few highlights! Disappointing.

Have a great weekend and go Bombers!