After the split round and a relative bye week last week, the footy is back in full force this week. Here's the Round 14 fixtures... Friday, 2 July Essendon v North Melbourne, at Telstra Dome, 7:30 p.m. Melbourne time Saturday, 3 July Carlton v Sydney, at Optus Oval, 2 p.m. Melbourne time Collingwood v Hawthorn, at the MCG, 2 p.m. Melbourne time Brisbane v Richmond, at The Gabba, 7 p.m. Brisbane time West Coast v Geelong, at Subiaco Oval, 5:30 p.m. Perth time (7:30 p.m. Melbourne time) Sunday, 4 July St. Kilda v Port Adelaide, at York Park, Launceston, 1 p.m. Tasmania time Western Bulldogs v Fremantle, at Telstra Dome, 2 p.m. Melbourne time Adelaide v Melbourne, at AAMI Stadium, 2 p.m. Adelaide time (2:30 p.m. Melbourne time) Should be an interesting round with coaching changes at the end of the season in line for both Adelaide and Richmond, so it'll be interesting to see how the Crows and Tigers come out against the Demons and Lions, respectively. Not to mention that some teams will be re-energized following the bye week. Ladders and stats forthcoming-- with all the relevant news to follow later in the week...
Current ladders, through 13 rounds... I've debated as to whether to hide the ladders as I normally do, out of respect for those waiting for the highlights show to air on Fox Sports World midweek, and I've decided to leave it naked for the world to see, with there being only one game played since the last highlights show aired on FSW. So consider yourselves warned. Code: [URL=http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/ladder/index.html]Ladder in detail[/URL] 1. St Kilda 13 11 2 0 1546 1039 148.79 44 2. Melbourne 13 10 3 0 1355 1086 124.76 40 3. Brisbane 13 9 4 0 1409 1143 123.27 36 4. Port Adelaide 13 9 4 0 1447 1245 116.22 36 5. Geelong 13 8 5 0 1237 1120 110.44 32 6. Essendon 13 8 5 0 1373 1361 100.88 32 7. Fremantle 13 7 6 0 1139 1078 105.65 28 8. Sydney 13 7 6 0 1152 1131 101.85 28 ============================================ 9. North Melbourne 13 6 7 0 1312 1230 106.66 24 10. Carlton 13 6 7 0 1170 1366 85.65 24 11. West Coast 13 5 8 0 1199 1371 87.45 20 12. Adelaide 13 4 9 0 1208 1236 97.73 16 13. Western Bulldogs 13 4 9 0 1233 1406 87.69 16 14. Collingwood 13 4 9 0 1033 1222 84.53 16 15. Richmond 13 4 9 0 992 1373 72.25 16 16. Hawthorn 13 2 11 0 1002 1400 71.57 8 And for the key stats... Goal-Kickers 1. Fraser Gehrig (St Kilda) 56 2. Matthew Lloyd (Essendon) 54 3. Brendan Fevola (Carlton) 53 4. David Neitz (Melbourne) 44 5. Warren Tredrea (Port Adelaide) 42 6. Barry Hall (Sydney) 42 7. Phillip Matera (West Coast) 40 8. Matthew Richardson (Richmond) 38 9. Stephen Milne (St Kilda) 35 10. Kent Kingsley (Geelong) 31 Marks 1. Nick Riewoldt (St Kilda) 119 2. Barry Hall (Sydney) 110 3. Chad Cornes (Port Adelaide) 100 4. Warren Tredrea (Port Adelaide) 100 5. Cameron Ling (Geelong) 96 6. Luke McPharlin (Fremantle) 92 7. Jade Rawlings (Western Bulldogs) 86 8. James Clement (Collingwood) 82 9. Ken McGregor (Adelaide) 81 10. Matthew Scarlett (Geelong) 81 Disposals 1. Scott West (Western Bulldogs) 343 2. Paul Hasleby (Fremantle) 342 3. Adam Simpson (North Melbourne) 339 4. Mark Ricciuto (Adelaide) 337 5. Nigel Lappin (Brisbane) 318 6. Kane Johnson (Richmond) 318 7. Peter Bell (Fremantle) 315 8. Nathan G. Brown (Richmond) 306 9. Simon Black (Brisbane) 301 10. Adem Yze (Melbourne) 300 Complete AFL stats -- afl.com.au
* * *I'm William, and this is the news* * * Here's the Tuesday morning round-up (with news aside from Danny Frawley's resignation announcement at Richmond)... Essendon v North Melbourne Harding: Bring on Dons -- The Herald Sun (a couple of days late, but still relevant) McKernan makes case -- The Herald Sun (also a couple of days late) Carlton v Sydney Schauble back via reserves -- The Herald Sun Roos wary of unknown Blues -- Sydney Morning Herald Collingwood v Hawthorn Magpies to draft youngest Cloke -- The Age It takes 100 per cent -- Robert Walls column, in The Age Tiger Tuck to debut -- The Age West Coast v Geelong West Coast looks for confidence spark -- West Coast's official site Cooking, at last -- Geelong's official site Brisbane v Richmond Matthews: Lions wait on cavalry -- The Herald Sun St. Kilda v Port Adelaide Williams to stay with Power -- The Age New Port deal won't please everyone -- The Herald Sun Western Bulldogs v Fremantle Bowden marches on, but retains roots -- The Age Parks extends to 2005 -- Fremantle's official site Adelaide v Melbourne Craigy must introduce his own style -- Geoff Roach column, in the Adelaide Advertiser Energiser Walsh shuns break -- The Herald Sun The thread dedicated to the news on Danny Frawley's resignation at Richmond can be found here, and all the up-to-date news links are there as well.
What's this? The designated Yank beating everyone to the tipping punch? Here goes... Essendon v North Melbourne (thanks for keeping tradition alive, William) Carlton v Sydney Swans (can't imagine a Blues attack without Fevola) Collingwood v Hawthorn (duh...) Brisbane Lions v Richmond (The Gabba's a tough place for the beginning of Frawley's end) West Coast Eagles v Geelong (I just don't learn, do I?) St. Kilda v Port Adelaide (too much class) Western Bulldogs v Fremantle (William, why don't we call them Foostcray?) Adelaide v Melbourne
Just waiting til Thursday, to coincide with the deadlines of the rest of the tipping competitions I'm in. Here goes... I think the difference here is that there are some Kangaroos supporters who identify closer to the old North Melbourne moniker, while many of the Bulldogs fans have accepted that the club is representative of the whole of Melbourne's western suburbs and not just Footscray alone. And therein lies the differentiation on the style conventions, in my view.
[Dan Aykroyd as Tom Snyder]OK fair enough I'll buy that...[/Dan Aykroyd as Tom Snyder] I like the trend of honoring the relocated/renamed/merged clubs' history on the back collar of their guernseys. Just received by Sydney Swans with the SMFC on the back. Nice touch.
Great reference. They're not alone, Brisbane does it, too. The "BBFFC" to honour the Brisbane Bears and Fitzroy legacies, that's where it comes from. And St. Kilda has taken to wearing its throwback guernsey from last year's Heritage Round as part of a change strip this year. I think they've done that as part of reviving their past and making it a part of its present, that's for sure.
The Kangaroos cheersquad still chants "North Melbourne", which is kind of like living in the past I reckon.
OK, I have limited Net access these days (someone forgot to pay off Telstra! ), so here are my tips... Essendon v North Melbourne (true to form, the Bombers will beatanother team below them on the ladder) Carlton v Sydney (Carlton: no Fevola, no Whitnall... no chance) Collingwood v Hawthorn (Collingwood will start winning again, now that the pressure's off) Brisbane v Richmond (didn't give the Tigers much of a chance before, and now that Richo's reportedly out, I give them zero chance at all) West Coast v Geelong (our best chance at an interstate win in ages) St. Kilda v Port Adelaide (best chance for the Saints to prove they belong in a finals situation, and just remind Port that it's a "final-like atmosphere", and they'll crumble) Western Bulldogs v Fremantle (difficult tip, wouldn't be surprised if I got it wrong) Adelaide v Melbourne (tough pick, but no one ever failed by picking the better team, although the Crows players will be out to impress Neil Craig) My tipping's at 68/104 for the season... would love to get that 8/8 this week-- it's not likely, but stranger things have happened.
Here are my tips for the upcoming round of matches... Essendon Sydney Hawthorn Brisbane Geelong St Kilda Fremantle Melbourne I am currently on 63 for the season. Stranger things have already happened, like you beating me for example.
And the trend shall continue. Frawley looking forward -- afl.com.au Contains news that Matthew Richardson won't suit up for the Tigers against Brisbane this weekend.
Just remember the hare and the tortise my friend, although I'd better get out of my shell and get a wriggle on with only 9 more rounds to go.
Friday and Saturday scores... Friday night at Telstra Dome, Essendon v North Melbourne : [result]Essendon 12.7 (79) North Melbourne 14.16 (100)[/result] Saturday's games... Collingwood v Hawthorn, at the MCG: [result]Collingwood 20.20 (140) Hawthorn 11.9 (75)[/result] Carlton v Sydney [result]Carlton 12.12 (84) Sydney 15.5 (95)[/result] Brisbane v Richmond, at The Gabba: [result]Brisbane 17.12 (114) Richmond 14.12 (96)[/result] And West Coast v Geelong, at Subiaco Oval: [result]West Coast 7.9 (51) Geelong 7.7 (49)[/result] That last game was far from pretty, in its style and endeavour. Also, some bad news for Geelong in the opening quarter of their game in Perth: Suspected broken leg for Kelly -- afl.com.au Not "suspected", but rather confirmed later on during the broadcast on Fox Footy Channel. I think James Kelly's season is done, and a damned shame because he had been playing very, very well for us this season.
Bad news for the Cats. All defeats are by narrow margins (especially the ones in Sydney and West Coast).
Sadly, James Kelly's injury set the tone for what was a very disappointing night for our club. The Eagles managed to drag the game back down to their level in difficult conditions on their home ground... good on them but you wouldn't waste good money watching them play if you were a neutral fan, that's for sure. I thought we looked a bit flat after Kelly was taken off on a stretcher, and couldn't generate any real excitment from this game. The fact we only lost by 2 points after playing so poorly could be a positive for us, but we'll reserve judgement on that until after next week's game against the Carring Bush at Telstra Dome. BTW: The Carring Bush is another nickname for Collingwood.
West Coast knew that the only way they had a chance of beating us was to restrict our scoring, so they played an ultra-defensive style of game. It was this coupled with the fact conditions were poor and we played very badly that led to us losing by 2 points. We'll bounce back this week, don't you worry about that! And as for my tipping, bombed out with just 3/8 for a score of 66 for the season. I missed out on Kangaroos, Collingwood, West Coast, Adelaide and Port Power.
Three out of eight for me as well. And all my winners came on Saturday, when Collingwood, Sydney and Brisbane all won. That's easier to recall and recount than listing the teams that let me down. In fact, when in went 0-3 on Sunday, that was depressing to watch. Not only did all my teams I tipped lose, but did so by an average of 45-50 points, or thereabouts. Most redeeming feature of watching Sunday's games? Easy... watching Tiffany Cherry doing her work as the boundary rider on Fox Footy's coverage of Adelaide v Melbourne. For the season, my tipping's at 71/112.
Goodness...I thought I was bad off going 5 from 8...but then I saw your lot's results and suddenly I'm not kicking myself yelling "what were you thinking?" What was I thinking with Essendon? I watched that as Match of the Night tonight and was screaming my lungs out for the Kangas (between fits of laughter over the commentary crew). Western Bulldogs? What? I think I let Freo's poor record in Victoria cloud my thinking. And Melbourne over Adelaide was just a hunch and a coin flip anyway. So now it's back to the fridge for the last Foster's and on to Round 15...
5/8 on this round elevates you to "legend" status on this round. It was truly the round from hell. Damn, even Jen tipped more than me. That's not a slight against my wife and the woman who we're all priming to take over for Anita Frawley as one of the co-hosts of the "Living With Footballers" show on the Fox Footy Channel here, but she hasn't tipped more in a round than I have since round three. Watching the Bombers last week, I was muttering the same thing between yelling obscenities at the TV. That was one of the more monumental fourth-quarter collapses I have seen in recent memory.