AFL, Round 9 {R} [Archive]

babytiger2001

18 May 2004, 07:23 PM

Here's the weekend schedule...

Friday, 21 May
Collingwood v Adelaide, at Telstra Dome, 7:30 p.m. Melbourne time

Saturday, 22 May
Fremantle v Brisbane, at Subiaco Oval, 2 p.m. Perth time
Melbourne v North Melbourne, at the MCG, 2 p.m. Melbourne time
Geelong v Essendon, at Telstra Dome, 7 p.m. Melbourne time
Port Adelaide v Richmond, 7 p.m. Adelaide time

Sunday, 23 May
Sydney v Hawthorn, at the SCG, 1 p.m. Sydney time
Carlton v Western Bulldogs, at Optus Oval (Carlton), 2 p.m. Melbourne time
St. Kilda v West Coast, at Telstra Dome, 2 p.m. Melbourne time

Live audio, for all of our overseas mates, can be found on the AFL's official site (http://www.afl.com.au), just look for the links from the homepage shortly before the opening centre bounce.

I'll post some news highlights from early in the week as soon as I can.

babytiger2001

18 May 2004, 07:37 PM

Going 41/64 on my tipping so far this season, and here are this week's attempts to add to my total...

Collingwood v Adelaide
Fremantle v Brisbane
Melbourne v North Melbourne
Geelong v Essendon
Port Adelaide v Richmond
Sydney v Hawthorn
Carlton v Western Bulldogs
St. Kilda v West Coast

Home teams being picked here, pretty much.

Some random points to be made here...

I'd like to go with Collingwood, but not with all those injuries and Wayne Carey kicking six for the Crows last week.
Brisbane have their own personnel problems as well, with Jonathan Brown copping a two-week ban from the Tribunal and a general lack of talls as well as the long cross-country flight to Fortress Subi. However, having said that, this might be the one tip I'd be most likely to lose.
Another week, and another blockbuster for Geelong. :D Both the Cats and Bombers are in form and playing with a great deal of confidence, but I see Geelong winning in another close one.
Look for Richmond's Matthew Richardson to keep firing, this time against an out-of-sorts Port Adelaide, who still have a good number of key players out. "Richo" has a form of 17.3 going for him over the last fortnight, by the way.
Hawthorn have had their win for the month, so I'm tipping Sydney here, even if Adam Goodes is out.
Counting on the Western Bulldogs to get their kicking yips straight against an up-and-down Carlton side.
And no stopping St. Kilda, especially against a poor-travelling West Coast team.

ScouseCat

18 May 2004, 11:45 PM

With a disappointing score of just 37 so far for the season, here are my tips for this week's round of matches...

Collingwood
Brisbane
Melbourne
Geelong
Port Adelaide
Sydney
Carlton
St. Kilda

My best bet is probably St Kilda to continue on their unbeaten run against the hapless West Coast Eagles in Melbourne. Geelong has a big chance against Essendon, especially with the Bombers missing their star player, James Hird through injury. Sydney and Port should win at home, and I'm giving Collingwood one last chance to beat the Adelaide Crows.

Craig the Aussie

19 May 2004, 12:11 AM

Adelaide
Brisbane
Melbourne
Essendon
Richmond
Sydney
Dogs
Saints

At the moment in my company comp. I'm at 42 for the season (although I forgot to lodge my tips one week and got stuck with 3 :( ). I am coming 270th out of 3060 9down from 144th last week). We had 18 people get perfect rounds last week.

babytiger2001

21 May 2004, 01:22 AM

Going 41/64 on my tipping so far this season, and here are this week's attempts to add to my total...

Collingwood v Adelaide
Fremantle v Brisbane
Melbourne v North Melbourne
Geelong v Essendon
Port Adelaide v Richmond
Sydney v Hawthorn
Carlton v Western Bulldogs
St. Kilda v West Coast

I am hereby changing one of my tips here, and I rarely do that at any time.

Going with the Blues over the Western Bulldogs, and mainly because of something I heard on TV here the other night.

Robert Walls, on the "On The Couch" show on the Fox Footy Channel here, made the observation that while the Western Bulldogs haven't been lacking in goal-kicking opportunities, they have lacked the confidence to convert them through the big sticks. And that's something that cannot be fixed in the space of seven days, in most cases... it comes down to leadership and coaching as well as it does the play of your key forwards.

That, and Carlton's got a good advantage when playing at home at Optus Oval (I saw that first-hand in Round 2, when the Blues massacred Geelong).

My now-official tips are reflected in the quote above (as I fixed my own post).

babytiger2001

21 May 2004, 01:24 AM

Adelaide
Brisbane
Melbourne
Essendon
Richmond
Sydney
Dogs
Saints

At the moment in my company comp. I'm at 42 for the season

Damn, I have someone to chase on this community. :(

My 6/8 last week lifted me to 12th out of about 60-odd participants at my workplace, in the Ballarat Courier's in-house pool.

That, and I am tops among all tippers who work in the Sports department of the paper, too. I am gloating about that, big-time. :D

BhoysFC1995

21 May 2004, 11:15 AM

babytiger2001

21 May 2004, 06:23 PM

heyyyy, how 'bout dem Magpies, they finally win.

Collingwood 9.14 (68) Adelaide 9.11 (65)
THE Collingwood drought broke at Telstra Dome last night when the Magpies dragged themselves off the canvas, then almost fainted before claiming a dramatic three-point win over Adelaide.

Pies fight back to end drought -- The Herald Sun (http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,9630163%255E20322,00.html)

Great win for Collingwood, but they still need for the Western Bulldogs to lose in order to get off the bottom of the ladder, as of Saturday morning's ladder adjustments. Both the 'Pies and the 'Dogs are equal on points and percentage.

If that game was a minute longer, I think the Crows would have pulled off a win. Collingwood was defending better and in vast numbers in the final term, but Adelaide were just starting to solve the Magpies' resistance the deeper the quarter wore on.

As my wife and I were barracking in front of the TV last night (we both tipped Adelaide, unfortunately), we were both questioning why there weren't too many other forwards for the Crows to present themselves inside 50. Seems like they were relying on Wayne Carey too much. This isn't the Wayne Carey of four or five years ago, who could win games single-handedly at his peak when he was playing for North Melbourne. The Crows needed other players to put their hands up, and it just didn't happen.

There are rumours and innuendo in the Adelaide press that Gary Ayres' job as the Crows' coach is reaching a point of being on thin ice-- along the lines of "make the eight or else you're gone"-- but we'll see what happens in the coming weeks.

Bear in mind that following this weekend's round, Adelaide have a three-week run in which it faces Hawthorn, Carlton and West Coast, so they can still make up a bit of ground towards the top eight.

babytiger2001

22 May 2004, 06:50 AM

Afternoon results from Saturday...

Melbourne v North Melbourne (http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=150534), at the MCG:
Melbourne 13.18 (96)
North Melbourne 11.12 (78)

Fremantle v Brisbane (http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=150544), at Subiaco Oval:
Fremantle 20.17 (137)
Brisbane 11.12 (78)

The Geelong v Essendon and Port Adelaide v Richmond matches are in progress at this writing... results and reports to follow.

babytiger2001

22 May 2004, 09:47 AM

BhoysFC1995

22 May 2004, 09:50 PM

[QUOTE=babytiger2001]Afternoon results from Saturday...

Fremantle v Brisbane (http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=150544), at Subiaco Oval:
Fremantle 20.17 (137)
Brisbane 11.12 (78)

QUOTE]

wow, that was a bit shocking to see that result.

babytiger2001

22 May 2004, 10:04 PM

Afternoon results from Saturday...

Fremantle v Brisbane (http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=150544), at Subiaco Oval:
Fremantle 20.17 (137)
Brisbane 11.12 (78)

wow, that was a bit shocking to see that result.

I tipped Freo, mainly due to the suspensions of some key Lions players (such as Jonathan Brown)-- but in no way was I expecting what happened at Fortress Subi.

Sure, the Dockers would win... but by that much? Wow...

One can make the comfortable argument that the win over Brisbane, taking all things into account, it might very well be the most important win in the Fremantle Football Club's relative brief history.

babytiger2001

23 May 2004, 04:17 AM

I am hereby changing one of my tips here, and I rarely do that at any time.

Going with the Blues over the Western Bulldogs, and mainly because of something I heard on TV here the other night.

Robert Walls, on the "On The Couch" show on the Fox Footy Channel here, made the observation that while the Western Bulldogs haven't been lacking in goal-kicking opportunities, they have lacked the confidence to convert them through the big sticks. And that's something that cannot be fixed in the space of seven days, in most cases... it comes down to leadership and coaching as well as it does the play of your key forwards.

That, and Carlton's got a good advantage when playing at home at Optus Oval (I saw that first-hand in Round 2, when the Blues massacred Geelong).

Better file this one in under the "Things that relflect badly against my post count" department. :(

Report from the Carlton v Western Bulldogs match (http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=150652), at Optus Oval, Carlton:
Carlton 12.7 (79)
Western Bulldogs 16.8 (104)

What the hell was I thinking?? :eek:

Granted, the Doggies got rid of their goal-kicking yips today-- but the Blues kicking 2.4 after halftime didn't help their cause whatsoever.

Sunday's other results...

Sydney v Hawthorn (http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=150656), at the SCG:
Sydney 11.14 (80)
Hawthorn 12.7 (79)

Phew. *as Will breathes a sigh of relief when Hank Bulger/Shane Crawford kicks wide in the final minute*

And St. Kilda v West Coast (http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=150649), at Telstra Dome:
St. Kilda 26.13 (169)
West Coast 9.14 (68)

With my tipping, I went 5/8 on the weekend, and that puts me at 46/72 on the season.

ScouseCat

23 May 2004, 10:04 PM

With my tipping, I went 5/8 on the weekend, and that puts me at 46/72 on the season.
I managed to have a much better week with the tipping, pickiong 6/8 winners to move up to 43 for the year. I missed on Fremantle and the Western Bulldogs.

ScouseCat

24 May 2004, 01:44 AM

Saturday night results & reports...

Geelong v Essendon (http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=150577), at Telstra Dome:
Geelong 18.12 (120)
Essendon 14.13 (97)

Great result for Geelong... I cannot hide my enthusiasm and delight. :D
I tell you what mate, that was one of the better Geelong performances for quite some time. Sure, the Bombers were missing James Hird, but we still have Steven King in the early stages of his comeback, so I think we had them well and truly covered. Our attack on the football and our ability to run the Bombers off their feet were the most pleasing aspects of Saturday night's game for me. When Essendon hit the front just before 3/4 time, Geelong could have quite easilly settled for a "galant loss", but try telling our players that! Despite having Wojcinski injured, Moloney struggling with an injury, not to mention having 2 less days to prepare for this match, we still overpowered Essendon in the last quarter, mainly due to Peter Riccardi who was able to get some vital clearances and also a goal to seal the win.

I am a very happy chappy right now, and speaking of Chappy, how good is he? Don't mess with the bald man! And his checkside pass under enormous pressure to Ling in the final quarter was SPEEEEECCCCCIIIIAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!:D