I know it's early, but MERCY! Adelaide really made a statement in their NAB Cup opener, albeit against an undermanned Collingwood. It appeared that in every contest there were four Crows to every Magpie on the ball. Adelaide played with tremendous spark and precision. As the commentators said, they looked like they were in mid-May form, not mid-February. It looks as though the Crows figure to be reckoned with this year.
I saw Adelaide were credited with 4 nine-point "super goals". What are they? And are they a rule change for the season, of just for the cup?
There are a number of "experimental" rules in use for the NAB Cup, such as the "super goal" (goals from outside 50 metres) and the shorter quarter time. I'm sure those closer to the situation can detail more.
The biggest rules experimentation that has drawn the most controversy is a limit to the number of interchanges a single team can make, capped at 16 per quarter. Many coaches, including Geelong Mark Thompson and Rodney Eade of the Western Bulldogs, have decried the proposed experimentation, and have even flaunted themselves in the face of likely AFL office sanctions even to the point of daring to exceed the 16 interchanges per quarter in order to, in their own words, protect the welfare of their own players. But Collingwood's Mick Malthouse -- another outspoken critic of the proposal -- came perilously close to exceeding the limit in his team's weekend opener against Adelaide in Dubai. The Magpies made 62 out of a possible 64 interchanges, I had read somewhere earlier today.
Collingwood v Adelaide match report Also, in other news involving the rest of the teams, West Coast's Daniel Kerr will miss the entire preseason, while Essendon's Matthew Lloyd seems set to miss out this coming weekend.
This is the first time I've really paid attention to the pre-season competition, but doesn't a cap on interchanges defeat the purpose of the pre-season (not to overtax your veteran players, get a close look at young players in first-team circumstances)?
This weekend's remaining NAB Cup Round 1 fixtures: Friday, 15 February St. Kilda v Richmond, at Telstra Dome -- 7:30 p.m. Melbourne time Saturday, 16 February Western Bulldogs v North Melbourne, at TIO Stadium, Darwin -- 7:40 p.m. Melbourne time Geelong v Melbourne, at Kardinia Park, Geelong -- 3:40 p.m. Melbourne time Port Adelaide v Carlton, at AAMI Stadium, Adelaide -- 5:40 p.m. Adelaide time (6:20 p.m. in Melbourne) Sunday, 17 February Hawthorn v Sydney, at Aurora Stadium, Launceston -- 3:40 p.m. Melbourne time Fremantle v West Coast, at Subiaco Oval, Perth -- 6:40 p.m. Perth time (8:40 p.m. in Melbourne)
Severe heat has been forecast for a number of the above venues for the weekend -- Darwin and Perth, specifically -- and in light of this, the AFL has drawn up a set of contingency plans for its preseason rules, even if it has said that it won't budge on its capping of interchanges per quarter.
There are new centre circle markings on the ground for the NAB series fans may have noticed. Two parallel lines on either side of the centre circle - These are no go Areas/Zones for the players when the umpire bounces or throws the ball up. The umpire always runs backwards in this area afterwards and players were blocking his exit in their rush to get to the bounce or throwup. I think a free kick is awarded if a players does that in the NAB Cup. Our grounds used to be line marking free in the past except for goal square, centre circle and boundary line but now new lines have been added every few years. IMHO The reduced interchange numbers is a trial to gauge if players are more tired thus lessening the high speed collision impact which was occuring with fresher burst players coming on to the ground more often. Whatever they (AFL) do the Coaches find loopholes.
All the other results from Week 1: Western Bulldogs 1.6.9 (54) North Melbourne 1.4.10 (43) St. Kilda 1.15.12 (111) Richmond 2.7.11 (71) Essendon 2.11.16 (100) Brisbane 2.8.7 (73) Carlton 1.13.13 (100) Port Adelaide 0.12.13 (85) Geelong 2.22.10 (160) Melbourne 2.11.5 (89) Fremantle 2.12.14 (104) West Coast 1.7.9 (60) Hawthorn 3.2.12 (52) Sydney 0.7.8 (50) And the Week 2 schedule: NAB Cup -- Quarterfinals Friday, 22 February Western Bulldogs v Essendon -- at Telstra Dome, 7:40 p.m. Melbourne time Saturday, 23 February Geelong v St. Kilda -- at Manuka Oval, Canberra, 3:40 p.m. Melbourne time Carlton v Hawthorn -- at Telstra Dome, 7:10 p.m. Melbourne time Sunday, 24 February Adelaide v Fremantle -- at AAMI Stadium, 4:40 p.m. Adelaide time (5:10 p.m. in Melbourne) Cats call in big guns -- sportal.com.au
Round 2 begins, with the battle between two of Melbourne's western suburbs clubs -- Essendon and the Western Bulldogs: [result]Essendon 3.12.14 (113) Western Bulldogs 0.8.11 (59) Three of Scott Lucas' five goals came from outside the 50-meter arc, to pace the Bombers in a comprehensive win.[/result]
Adelaide will host St. Kilda in this year's NAB Cup Grand Final, tentatively set for next Saturday evening (Melbourne time), after the two teams recorded semifinal wins on the weekend. Apologies for not keeping this thread updated, but my work schedule has been kicking my butt.
Sydney's Roos cleared of fixing match -- The Age Which has been the most exciting item of note this week, on the run-up to the Saints-Crows grand final tomorrow night at Telstra Dome. And that, in turn, begs the question... does anybody even actually care about the preseason competition anymore? And if not, what should be done about it?
A pre-season comp doesn't seem to matter much. But there is good to be derived from pre-season games -- opportunity to (a) see trial players under game conditions, (b) trial new rules (that never seem to get integrated into the regular season comp, but I digress), and (c) outreach the code to new regions. A comp? Maybe not. In the short time I've been aware of the NAB Cup, it seems that once a club is eliminated, they're in "meaningless exhibition" mode anyway. Perhaps a 2 or 3 game pre-season schedule to allow the AFL and its clubs to achieve those 3 goals, but no "outcome" is necessary.
NAB Cup grand final, quarter-time score, from AAMI Stadium: [result]Adelaide 0.1.4 (10) St. Kilda 0.0.4 (4)[/result]