Round 1, 2016

The footy's back, and with 8 of the 9 games played of Round 1, we are already promised a cracker of a season!

Opening Bounce on Thursday Night had Richmond up against Carlton. The Tiges had it all against them: five injured, and they had to win against last year's wooden spooners; the Blues have a new coach and were debuting five themselves, including the No.1 draft pick. Carlton led at half-time but only lost by nine at the end. Their performance was very promising indeed.

GWS and Melbourne met up here in Sydney on Easter Saturday and for all intents and purposes it was a dead rubber. But the Giants are growing with every outing and the Dees are a wild card. I backed GWS but the outcome could have been further from anyone's tipping, with the Melbourne Football Club getting the chocolates by a mere 2 points.

Gold Coast took on the once-mighty Bombers at home at Metricon on Saturday afternoon and with the blight of the ASADA saga behind them the Same Olds had much to prove. But Gary Ablett jr was back and had as much to prove, and the Dons were comprehensively thrashed by ten goals. Pundits have the Spoon torn between Carlton and Essendon: I think they might have to rethink those choices.

North Melbourne and Adelaide met at Etihad in a match I was not able to choose the outcome of. I backed the Roos with the toss of a coin and many in my social media network might have disagreed. At 3/4-time there was only a point in it, but Chris Scott's men took it by the bit and ran out winners by only ten, inaccuracy being the let-down for the Pride of SA.

I learned, on Saturday night from the SCG, that I hate Collingwood more than I hate Sydney. By half-time the Pies had only managed 1.4 to the Swans' 10.12, and only managed 7 by the end of the game. The final score 18.25 to 7.11 suggested that things aren't quite right at Victoria Park, and rumours of drug-abuse have been alleged to have put them off their game. Dane Swan's multiple leg-fractures probably didn't help either, putting him out of action for the foreseeable future. The drug-allegations will be interesting to follow over the next foreseeable-future!

Port took on St Kilda at Football Park on Sunday in another match that really could have gone either way. They were neck-and-neck going into the main break with just a goal separating them, but the locals surged ahead in the third and took the match by 5.3.

The biggest upset of the round came from Etihad when the Sons of the West took on, and trounced the Dockers by ten goals. I venture to guess that no one saw that coming! Jake Stringer scooped 5.1 with ten other goal-kickers (six with 1.1) for the Dogs; Freo managed five goal-kickers, none of them multiples.

And the biggest surprise came from Subi on Sunday night with an aggregate score of 268 between the Eagles and Lions. Kennedy booted 8.2, with Cripps and Hill (3.1), Bennell (2.1), Darling, LeCras, and Nic Nat (2.0), Yeo, Ellis, McGovern, and Redden keeping the scorers busy for the home side, and Christensen (3.2), Taylor (3.1), Rich, Rockliff, Schache, Walker (2.1) and Hanley (1.0) chipping in for the Blions,

Hawthorn take on Geelong at the G tomorrow for what could well be the Grand Final precursor. The way these other games have panned out, anything could happen!

peterg
27 Mar 16

Footy's Back

A collective groan is heard across the nation as many of us gear up for AFL Season 2016 and the first bounce at the G tonight when Carlton get ready to take on Richmond for the traditional season opener.

But as I get my stats sheet ready I see the following news article on my favourite stats page:

Chris Yarran has shrugged off criticism of his physical condition this pre-season after being labelled "his own worst enemy" by former coach Mick Malthouse.

Malthouse questioned Yarran's dedication, saying he "hasn’t quite got that knack of being a great professional in regards to coming back and being ready to play".

"I don't pay too much attention to it to be honest … everyone's got different opinions about it," Yarran said.

"At the end of the day, the only people that matter are my close friends and teammates.

"I'm always happy with my shape."

Chris Yarran is at Richmond now, no thanks to Mick. And Mick has been assigned to irrelevance now, no thanks to his outdated game style and a rough-and-ready collective that wasn't keen to play for him.

OK so Malthouse has the all-time record for the number of games coached and played in an illustrious career that saw flags as a player and coach, but many (myself included) will judge him on how his career was finished at Princes Park.

OK so Yazz isn't ready for the season opener. Big Deal! Many of his team mates and his colleagues across the League are in the same position for various reasons! Mick's not slagging off about them (or is he?)

Let's just get on with the footy, ignore the irrelevant, and we'll see who's there at the pointy end when we tune our TVs to the local channel and our radios to Roy & HG for the Festival Of The Boot once again!


peterg
24Mar16