FRIDAY AUGUST 20 AEST Collingwood vs Port Adelaide MCG 7:40 PM AEST SATURDAY AUGUST 21 AEST Carlton vs Melbourne Optus Oval 2:10 PM AEST Adelaide vs Geelong AAMI Stadium 2:10 PM ACST Western Bulldogs vs Kangaroos Telstra Dome 7:10 PM AEST Sydney Swans vs Essendon Telstra Stadium 7:20 PM AEST SUNDAY AUGUST 22 AEST Brisbane Lions vs St Kilda Gabba 1:10 PM AEST Hawthorn vs Richmond MCG 2:10 PM AEST Fremantle vs West Coast Eagles Subiaco Oval 2:10 PM AWST
Tribunal News Young Geelong midfielder James Bartel’s home-and-away season has ended as result of a three-week suspension handed down by the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night. http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=166414 Sydney Swans forward Barry Hall is free to face Essendon this weekend after being cleared of a rough play charge by the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night. http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=166411
Re: Tribunal News No justice, I tell you. Bartel should have only gotten the two weeks, and that will be appealed, no doubt about it. Having said that, I think we could suffer without him in the first week of the finals-- and on that note, we'd better get the double chance. And if that's not a potential Catch-22, I don't know what is. But Barry Hall should have gotten a week, at least. Watching the replay of that Melbourne v Sydney match on Fox Footy right now, and that was a blatant hit out of bounds. If Bartel gets two weeks for rough play, Big Bad Barry should cop some sort of punishment, too. But then again, this Tribunal has never been known for its consistency or for its knowledge of precedence. Attica! Attica! Attica!! Just to let you know how revolting it actually is...
AFL ladder, through 20 rounds Code: 1. St Kilda 20 15 5 0 2246 1696 132.42 60 2. Port Adelaide 20 15 5 0 2221 1693 131.18 60 3. Brisbane 20 14 6 0 2147 1641 130.83 56 4. Geelong 20 14 6 0 1878 1574 119.31 56 5. Melbourne 20 14 6 0 1998 1700 117.52 56 6. Fremantle 20 11 9 0 1754 1665 105.34 44 7. Sydney 20 11 9 0 1720 1670 102.99 44 8. Essendon 20 11 9 0 2069 2022 102.32 44 ============================================= 9. West Coast 20 11 9 0 1843 1856 99.29 44 10. North Melbourne 20 10 10 0 1969 1829 107.65 40 11. Collingwood 20 8 12 0 1722 1858 92.68 32 12. Carlton 20 8 12 0 1624 2066 78.6 32 13. Adelaide 20 7 13 0 1781 1867 95.39 28 14. Western Bulldogs 20 4 16 0 1725 2240 77 16 15. Richmond 20 4 16 0 1563 2228 70.15 16 16. Hawthorn 20 3 17 0 1501 2156 69.61 12 Some big games looming this week-- the Western derby at Subiaco Oval on Sunday, a potential "winner-stays-in" showdown between Sydney and Essendon, Geelong's crunch match in Adelaide to show that the Cats can indeed win interstate and therefore stay in the top four... and then there's the Richmond v Hawthorn match, where the act to avoid the wooden spoon may still be alive and well.
Re: Tribunal News The tribunal is full of sh!t anyway, no consistency whatsoever and run by a bunch of morons. The sooner the AFL does a complete overhall of the tribunal, the better everyone will be. I reckon Geelong will appeal both charges and try to at least reduce the suspension down to 2 weeks, making Bartel available for the first week of the finals. This could pave the way for Spriggs to come into the team. He would be playing for his future at Geelong if he did, so we'll see what happens.
don't forget the Lions-Saints match. Lions Saints Hot Ticket THE Brisbane Lions' popularity has reached scalping proportions with fans prepared to pay more than five times the face value of tickets to see the Lions' clash with St Kilda at the Gabba on Sunday 5x's the face value for a regular season game??? wow, thats pretty nuts. the final few spots should be clearer, with all four teams with 44 pts playing each other.
Damn straight... how can I, if that's for the inside track towards the minor premiership, for all intents and purposes (and not forgetting Port Adelaide's position, too)? Oh, those wacky Queenslanders. Pretty sensational considering that Brisbane is still basically Rugby League country, even after the Lions have won three premierships on the trot. Last time they met, however, only one kick separated the teams, and that was one of the matches of the season early on. It was also during Round 6 that gave us a great Western Derby between Freo and West Coast, and a game that arguably kick-started Geelong's season as well. This weekend, we've got the reverse fixtures from all the matches from that round.
And that was also the game where the goal umpire awarded the Saints a very doubtful behind when the ball looked to have gone out of bounds on the full very late in the final quarter.
Here are my tips for the weekend... Collingwood vs Port Adelaide Carlton vs Melbourne Adelaide vs Geelong Western Bulldogs vs North Melbourne Sydney vs Essendon Brisbane vs St Kilda Hawthorn vs Richmond Fremantle vs West Coast I'm on 106/160 for the season, with two rounds remaining.
Re: Tribunal News Justice is sweet... have I ever mentioned how much I enjoy the hard work the Tribunal's appeals board does? Bartel back for final -- The Herald Sun We won't have him back for either of the two remaining home-and-away matches, but it's reassuring that he'll be back for the first week of the finals. In other news, Gary Ayres was interviewed by Hawthorn yesterday with regard to the Hawks' coaching vacancy. And the former Geelong and Adelaide coach is keenly interested in it... Give me Hawk job, pleads Ayres -- The Herald Sun
Here are my tips for the weekend's round of matches... Collingwood Carlton Geelong Kangaroos Sydney St Kilda Richmond Fremantle I'm currently on 102 for the season.
I'm in as well... Collingwood vs Port Adelaide Carlton vs Melbourne Adelaide vs Geelong Western Bulldogs vs Kangaroos Sydney Swans vs Essendon Brisbane Lions vs St Kilda -- Honest, I had no idea they were due to meet when I posted the possibility of these two meeting in the Grand Final in the Round 20 thread Hawthorn vs Richmond -- Can the Happy Team at Hawthorn avoid the wooden spoon...really? Fremantle vs West Coast Eagles
The penultimate round has begun... Friday night footy, at the MCG, for the round's opener between Collingwood and Port Adelaide: [result]Collingwood 9.16 (70) Port Adelaide 16.11 (107)[/result]
And in other news, it's apparent that Gary Ayres' rumoured appointment as Hawthorn's coach is a bit premature right now. Hawks name six coach candidates -- foxsports.news.com.au Brereton stands down from coach search -- afl.com.au, via Sportal This after Hawthorn legend Dermott Brereton celebrated his 40th birthday on "The Footy Show" last night And another take on the news that Geelong gun midfielder James Bartel has had his suspension cut, in an article written by Tim Lane's hottie daughter. Bartel suspension trimmed -- Geelong's official site, via afl.com.au and Sportal And another update... Sunday's line-ups -- afl.com.au
The morning-after reviews in and around the Melbourne media... Post-match report in The Age Post-match report in the Herald Sun Post-match feature in the Herald Sun
we've got results! SWANS-BOMBERS GEELONG-ADELAIDE B'DOGS-ROOS CARL-MELB [result] SYDNEY (110) ESSENDON (90) WESTERN BULLDOGS (136) KANGAROOS (106) Adelaide (109) Geelong (87) Carlton (93) Melbourne (62) [/result] Up-to-date ladder keep in mind St. Kilda, Bris, Fremantle, Hawthorne, W. Coast, and Richmond still have to play.
And I've got the reports, in the Sunday morning media... Post-match report in The Sunday Age Bombers' Adam McPhee injured -- The Sunday Age Post-match report in the Sunday Herald Sun Post-match feature in the Sunday Herald Sun Post-match report in The Sunday Age Post-match feature in The Sunday Age Post-match report in the Sunday Herald Sun Post-match feature in the Sunday Herald Sun Post-match report in the Sunday Herald Sun Post-match feature in the Sunday Herald Sun Post-match report in The Sunday Age Post-match feature in The Sunday Age Post-match report in the Sunday Herald Sun Post-match feature in the Sunday Herald Sun Post-match report in The Sunday Age Blues turf war deepens (over Optus Oval) -- The Sunday Age Apologies that I've been slow to approach this subject so far, but it's a pretty divsive issue nowadays And every game means something today, which is great news for the competition to have so many compelling games this late in the season.
Not really-- and despite the loss, I can't see too many reasons to be upset about it. One, results from other games keep Geelong in the top four, and a win over Hawthorn next week in the season finale clinches a double chance in the finals. Second, Adelaide took the game right to us, playing long and direct oftentimes. Not too many other teams have been able to do that against us with any degree of success, I think the likes of Scarlett, Harley and company just had an off day, which they'll recover from in time for the finals. Gary Ablett Jr. was sensational up forward, as always, but that gilt-edged miss he had right on three-quarter time may have had a role at eventually determining the result. Kent Kingsley kicked a couple of goals, but he's going to need to kick straighter; we have to rely on him and Ben Graham more up forward and not so much on our fantastic smaller forwards like Ablett Jr. and Paul Chapman. All in all, while there's never a good time to lose a game and questions will continue to arise about Geelong's perceived inability to win games interstate, losing a game at this point in the season is better than doing so in September, and should re-instill the hunger in the troops as we go headlong into finals.
Sunday's results, and the Monday morning reviews... The weekend top-four blockbuster between Brisbane and St. Kilda at The Gabba: [result]Brisbane 20.10 (130) St. Kilda 13.7 (85)[/result] Post-match report in The Age Post-match feature in The Age Post-match report in the Herald Sun Post-match feature (St. Kilda) in the Herald Sun Post-match feature (Brisbane) in the Herald Sun Post-match report in the Brisbane Courier Mail Hawthorn v Richmond at the MCG, wooden spoon implications and all: [result]Hawthorn 16.13 (109) Richmond 13.8 (86)[/result] Post-match report in the Herald Sun Post-match feature (Richmond) in the Herald Sun Post-match feature (Hawthorn) in the Herald Sun Post-match report in The Age Post-match feature in The Age And the Western derby at Subiaco Oval, ripe with finals inplications deep in the top eight, between Fremantle and West Coast: [result]Fremantle 6.9 (45) West Coast 13.15 (93)[/result] Post-match report in The West Australian Post-match report in The Age Eagles sweat on injured Cousins -- The Age Post-match report in the Herald Sun Post-match feature (Eagles) in the Herald Sun
Updated ladder -- from RealFooty, in The Age Code: [result] 1. Port Adelaide 21 16 5 0 2328 1763 132.04 64 2. Brisbane 21 15 6 0 2277 1726 131.92 60 3. St Kilda 21 15 6 0 2331 1826 127.65 60 4. Geelong 21 15 6 0 1987 1661 119.62 60 5. Melbourne 21 14 7 0 2060 1793 114.89 56 6. Sydney 21 12 9 0 1822 1760 103.52 48 7. West Coast 21 12 9 0 1936 1901 101.84 48 8. Fremantle 21 11 10 0 1799 1758 102.33 44 ========================================== 9. Essendon 21 11 10 0 2159 2124 101.64 44 10. North Melbourne 21 10 11 0 2075 1965 105.59 40 11. Carlton 21 9 12 0 1717 2128 80.68 36 12. Collingwood 21 8 13 0 1792 1965 91.19 32 13. Adelaide 21 7 14 0 1868 1976 94.53 28 14. Western Bulldogs 21 5 16 0 1861 2346 79.32 20 15. Hawthorn 21 4 17 0 1610 2242 71.81 16 16. Richmond 21 4 17 0 1649 2337 70.56 16[/result] And I should reserve this link for the Round 22 thread, but it's a good insight on who can likely finish where: Your club's run to finals -- The Herald Sun
And as far as my tipping goes, what a bloody shocking weekend. Only 3/8, for a total of 109/168 for the season. Hope it gets better than that in the final home-and-away round next weekend.
Didn't you get 4 mate... Port, Sydney, Brisbane and West Coast? I crashed and burned this week in the tipping, picking just 2 winners to move to 104 for the season. I guess it's true what they say, if you live by the sword you will die by the sword as well. At least I went down swinging.... so William, what kind of soup do you like?
You're right, Darren. Four, it is... this is what happens when you leave the math to the blondes. That makes 110/168 for the season, to update the official numbers. Whatever the Commercial Hotel in Ballan is serving on a given day. Or evening, when I'm on duty behind the bar. And once again, soup does not equal the entire lunch! Only a part of it. In any event, if you're conceding, feel free to take the V-Line down here from Melbourne anytime, so I can cash in on my superiority in the tipping.