No link that I can find, but Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade admitted this morning on Melbourne morning radio -- to Triple M's Peter Helliar, specifically -- in passing that he regrets having seen Farren Ray to be a scratch tonight. I'm sure he'd felt that Ray would have been an x-factor in the midfield against the Swans.
Meanwhile, Collingwood is dismissing rumors that Travis Cloke may be a late casualty for the match against St. Kilda due to glandular fever.
My tips: Sydney St. Kilda Tipping the Swans because I like them, tipping the Saints because I hate Collingwood I think this is a really tough set of matches to tip. Still can't see any of these four sides being able to prevent a Hawthorn/Geelong Grand Final, though.
With apologies to the Collingwood fans we have on board, you'll fit in well around here. And welcome aboard, ChrisH.
Tips for mrsbabytiger2001: Western Bulldogs v Sydney St. Kilda v Collingwood My wife has been trying periodically all evening to get on and log her tips, but hasn't been able to complete the sending due to the slow loading this site has been suffering from lately.
The first semi-final is in the books. Western Bulldogs v Sydney, at the MCG, with the winner to play Geelong next weekend: [result]Western Bulldogs 16.10 (106) Sydney 9.15 (69)[/result]
well that wasn't bad. I checked an internet cafe to see if I could find a pub showing AFL, it it highlighted the pub next door. I'd also assumed both games were afternoon games, but being night games, I can see them both live - or at least nearly live. They appear to be taking the direct Australian feed, which had a bit of a delay tonight. Mind you, the game was over by 3/4 time, regardless of what minute the tv feed was showing then. The only problem is that the pub is in an area of Tokyo called Roppongi, which means having to display Chris Judd style physical skills to fight off the gauntlet of touts trying to entice you into their clubs. When I went to Thailand last year I saw you could buy a t-shirt saying "No I don't want a tuk-tuk, a massage or suit, thank you very much". Something similar would be useful here!
Well, that's Channel Seven for you. Their refusal to go live all season, and not varying that policy now that they have finals matches to air, is driving me crazy. When the game starts at 7:50, I expect to see a pre-game show on at 7:30. Not at 8:00, for crying out loud. It's enough for me to encourage folks to picket their Docklands headquarters, as well as AFL House at Docklands, in protest, should they declare the Grand Final to be on a tape-delay. Just as a matter of principle.
when I'm at home they are about the only option if I want to watch the whole game. The alternative of setting the alarm for 7am on a weekend isn't an idea that is too heavily thought about. And exactly what demographic Setanta hope for with early games starting at 4 am in the UK is anyone's guess. Tokyo is only 1 hour behind though, so a 7.50 start tonight is reasonable enough, even if the delay will allow me to get changed and walk to the pub before the "live" coverage starts.
St. Kilda and Collingwood starting now (even if it might be tape-delayed on Ten) -- with Hawthorn awaiting the winner. As it turned out, both Burns for the Magpies and Ball for the Saints were late scratches, after all.
Full-time result from the MCG, between St. Kilda and Collingwood: [result]St. Kilda 17.4 (106) Collingwood 9.18 (72)[/result]
Tipping results, for the two games of the semi-final round (and no one swept both tips): Spartacus -- 1 RichardL -- 1 bcwildcatjohn -- 1 mrsbabytiger2001 -- 1 ChrisH -- 1 el-capitano -- 0 babytiger2001 -- 0 And the aggregate totals, through the first two weeks of the 2008 finals series: el-capitano -- 4 Spartacus -- 4 RichardL -- 4 mrsbabytiger2001 -- 4 ChrisH -- 4 babytiger2001 -- 3 bcwildcatjohn -- 2 Could very well come down to picking a tie-breaker on Grand Final Day.
And now, on to the preliminary finals... Friday September 19 First Preliminary Final Geelong v Western Bulldogs -- at the MCG -- 7:40 p.m. Melbourne time Saturday September 20 Second Preliminary Final Hawthorn v St. Kilda -- at the MCG -- 7:00 p.m. Melbourne time And both games will go to air live on Setanta Sport USA, for our American-based audience.
Sunday night's news... And we start with Jason Akermanis firing the first salvo for the Western Bulldogs ahead of the preliminary final against Geelong -- claiming that the Cats are "too cocky" based on an incident in the Round 16 match between the two clubs. St. Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt, fresh from a five-goal effort that took out Collingwood on Saturday night, has warned that his side needs to be cautious when facing a deep Hawthorn team with a host of match-winners.
I thought St Kilda played really well. How many of their goals came from open play? Even without the dreadful inaccuracy of Collingwood's kicking on the night, it made them hard to live with. The question is whether they can play that well again, twice if need be, and still would it be enough? I was chatting to a St Kilda fan in the bar last night who is going back for the grand final, but despite last night's game, he wasn't convinced he'd be watching his side take part in it. ps, I was not pleased to find all the bars in the area were showing the rugby instead. I think the problem was they all take their pictures from a channel known as "the Australia network" which showed both games, delaying the AFL until after the rugby had finished. It meant a bar full of people (excl the Tokyo branch of the Celtic fan club in the corner watching their match v Motherwell) all with their mobile phones switched off so nobody could tell them the score. Ah well, back to boring reality tomorrow, made worse by it taking 14 hours to get there.
Well now both my teams are gooooooone, I can tip to win! Geelong v Western Bulldogs Hawthorn v St. Kilda I'm thinking that there won't be much variation on those either. Are we going to have to pick the margin in the GF- closest wins- as the tiebreaker?
Tipping from the heart and not from the head...I'm going to tip the GF that most everyone wants to see...Geelong and Hawthorn, though from the form they showed Saturday night, St. Kilda could easily storm the Hawks. That Prelim final could be a dead cracker!
The Monday night news update... St. Kilda can breathe a sigh of relief with the development that Justin Koschitzke had a rough conduct charge from Saturday night's win over Collingwood overturned by the AFL's Match Review Panel. Hawthorn coach Alistair Clarkson will have a full list to choose from for Saturday night's match against the Saints, especially amid the declaration that defender Trent Croad has recovered from injury enough to become a certain starter.
Meanwhile, Geelong's Paul Chapman has to sweat out a fitness test on a back-related hamstring injury later in the week to assure his status to play against the Western Bulldogs, as Cats coach Mark Thompson confirmed that Chapman has to come through both the team's closed Tuesday training session and Thursday's open session to have a shot at being selected.
Setanta Sport USA's TV times have been confirmed for the weekend's games... Geelong v Western Bulldogs -- Friday, live, 2:30 a.m. PT/5:30 a.m. ET Hawthorn v St. Kilda -- Saturday, live, 2 a.m. PT/5 a.m. ET
Tuesday's news update... Hawthorn's Chance Bateman rolled an ankle at the Hawks' training session at Waverley today, and is now rated a 50-50 prospect at playing against the Saints on Saturday night. Meanwhile, St. Kilda's Luke Ball trained strongly today at Moorabbin, but Saints coach Ross Lyon may not even risk the key midfielder if he's shown to be recovered from a recent spell of injuries.