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

AFL Round 20 (to COB Saturday)

A round of surprise results. Many of the lop-sided games were top 8-vs-bottom 8 but not all!


Take Saints v Freo for example. Fremantle are a top-8 side (although their recent form has them sliding out) and St Kilda are top-8 contenders (in the same vein as Collingwood in David Williamson's The Club). Freo's last quarter was abysmal, showing them and us, at the wrong time of the year, that they're no closer to their first flag than they've ever been:
St Kilda 3.8 7.11 10.13 16.17 (113)
Fremantle 1.1 7.7 10.10 10.11 (71)
St Kilda
Milne 4.4; Koschitzke, dal Santo, Schneider 2.0; Gram, Goddard 1.1; Ray, Fisher, Armitage, McEvoy 1.0; rushed 0.5; Steven, Riewoldt, Peake 0.2
412 Possessions: Jones 29; Blake 27; dal Santo 25; Gram, Fisher 24; Montagna 23; Scheider 21
60 Tackles: dal Santo 8; McEvoy 6; Gram, Koschitzke, Ray 4
54 Hit-Outs: McEvoy 29; Koschitzke 21
22 Frees: Dempster, Milne 3
Fremantle 
Mayne, McPhee 2.1; Ibbotson, Barlow, Johnson, Grover, Mzungu, Suban 1.0; rushed 0.6; Pavlich, Pearce, Hill 0.1
328 Possessions: Mzungu 30; Barlow 26; Lower 22; Pavlich 21

78 Tackles: Barlow 8; Lower, Ibbotson 7; Duffield, Pearce 6; Mzungu, Pavlich, Pearce 5

38 Hit-Outs: Mayne 26

17 Frees: Barlow, Lower, Johnson, Clarke, Ballantyne 2

Full ¼-by-¼ stats (except ¼-time) at http://j.mp/punupl

Carlton v Melbourne went as expected, but when I turned it on, the Dees were ahead by 25 to 19. But that was the end of the rot. Jeff "Jeffie" Garlett, then Bret "T-Bird" Thornton kicked successive goals, and that was the end of the rot: Melbourne only scored another 3 points for the rest of the half, but were allowed to salvage some dignity in the second. If the Blues play like that for their next three matches, they can kiss their finals-win dream goodbye!

Carlton 6.1 14.2 18.7 21.8 (134)

Melbourne 3.7 3.10 6.12 7.16 (58)

Carlton

Ellard 3.1; Garlett 2.2; Judd, Gibbs 2. 1; Walker, Scotland 2.0; Robinson, Kreuzer, Thornton, Betts, Joseph, McLean, Warnock, Henderson 1.0; rushed 0.2; Simpson 0.1

371 Possessions: Scotland 32; Judd, Murphy 31; Gibbs 27; Simpson 22; Robinson 21

62 Tackles: Yarran 8; Judd 6; Robinson, Betts, Kreuzer 5

42 Hit-Outs: Warnock 36 

20 Frees: Betts 3; Scotland, Judd, Murphy, Gibbs 2

Melbourne

Dunn 2.2; Watts 2.1; Green 1.2; Davey 1.1; Howe 1.0; rushed 0.3; Bate, Scully 0.2; Martin, Gysberts, Trengove 0.1  

333 Possessions: Trengove 24; Gysberts 22; Moloney, Jones, Garland, Watts 21

74 Tackles: Trengove 9; Moloney, McKenzie 8; Dunn 7; Scully 6; Gysberts, Macdonald 5

30 Hit-Outs: Martin 15; Gawn 10

21 Frees: Trengove 3; Gysberts, Macdonald, Jones 2

Full ¼-by-¼ stats at http://j.mp/rtNeJm

Collingwood and Geelong proved why they're at the top and why Port and Gold Coast are at the bottom. Both top-sides absolutely crushed both bottom-sides, with calls for Tredders' resignation in the same vein as Craig's earlier this month (before it comes to being pushed like Bailey earlier this week)

Port Adelaide 0.1 1.2 2.2 3.3 (21)

Collingwood 6.5 12.12 16.16 23.21 (159)

Port
Banner 2.0; Stewart 1.0; rushed 0.3

314 Possessions: Boak 31; Pearce 26; Cassisi 23; Banner 21

64 Tackles: Banner 8; Hartlett 6; Salter 5

35 Hit-Outs: Lobbe 27

13 Frees: Banner, Boak, Gray, Pettigrew 2

Pies

Blair 4.1; Cloke 3.6 (that's more like we'd expect; Swan, Beams 3.1; Brown 2.2; Krakouer 2.1; Fasolo 1.3; Pendlebury, Ball, Sidebottom, Rounds, Jolly 1.0; rushed 0.4; Davis 0.2

425 Possessions: Swan 37; Beams 32; Pendlebury 31; Blair, Ball 25; Davis, Thomas 23; Sidebottom 22; Johnson 21

98 Tackles!!!: Pendlebury 9; Ball, Davis, Rounds 7; Swan, Maxwell, Wood 6

55 Hit-Outs: Wood 33; Jolly 22

15 Frees: Jolly, Cloke, Fasolo, Brown 2

Geelong 8.1 18.4 21.8 29.14 (188)

Gold Coast 3.0 3.0 6.1 6.2 (38)

Cats

Johnson 6.1; Podsiadly 5.1; Mooney 3.3; J Selwood 3.0; Christensen 2.3; Chapman, Bartel 2.0; Stokes 1.1;  Wojcinski, Milburn, Ling 1.0; rushed 0.3; Varcoe 0.2

466 Possessions: Varcoe, J Selwood 33; Johnson 31; Chapman 30; Christensen 28; Wojcinski 26; Milburn, Duncan 25

61 Tackles: Chapman, West 6; J Selwood, Kelly, Ling, Corey 4

36 Hit-Outs: West 29

24 Frees: Chapman 4; J Selwood, Christensen 3

Suns

Bennell 2.1; Stanley 2.0; McKenzie, Fraser 1.0; rushed 0.1

331 Possessions: Bock 27; Harbrow 23; Rischitelli 22; Brennan, Bennell 21

54 Tackles: Weller, Brown 2

33 Hit-Outs: Smith 17; Fraser 14

14 Frees: Lynch, Weller 2

Full ¼-by-¼ stats (except ¼-time) at http://j.mp/pb9fVs