Tag Archives: north-melbournefc

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!

News, Sports

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!

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 – Premier League, AFL, MLB……..

March 28, 2014 sportzfan Leave a comment

Not much has grabbed me this week on the sporting front although I must say that the Gunners have left me feeling a little flat after a 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Chelsea and a draw at home with Swansea. With a game coming up against Manchester City I will just have to focus all my attention on the FA Cup.

One thing that has piqued my interest is how the AFL pundits are prepared to make prognostications about various teams seasons on the back of one performance. Some people had North Melbourne finishing in the top four and now they are gone, Carlton’s recruiting is all wrong and they are destined for mediocrity, the Bombers were in for a poor season, but they could finish in the top four. I think the reality is that you cannot make a judgement based on one performance. Essendon had a good win last week, but they get the reality check this week against Hawthorn. The Kangaroos played badly last week, but should bounce back this week against the Bulldogs. Carlton also played well last week and if they had kicked straight should have won the game with a number of their first picked players not available. One game does not define a season and you need to wait until at least half way before you can write someone off.

I didn’t get to watch any of the Major League baseball from Sydney last week, however, the ground looked amazing and as I understand it, the game was a success so it will be interesting to see if more Major League games come to Australia.

Have a great weekend!