AFL

[bladerunner2120]

Melbourne Dees cruise to a comfortable 55 point win over the Tigers, tigers gave a bit of stick in the first half but not able to match the excitable young red and blues as the game went longer at the G today.
Hawks go down the drain once again this time to the Woods,,,that flag of a 08 has become a distant memoery for there fans.
Adelaide Crows roll over and die this time for the Blues...Craig would be in the hot seat for sure now...0 and 4...that Adeliade crowd are well known for there displeasure of looseing coaches...
Cats crush a reinvigorated Power by by 95 points down at Kardina park...all smiles down in cat land as they head to a 4th grand final in as many years...
Fevola comes out with admission during the week that he is a gambling addict, could this be a ploy by the former Blue foward letting Bingles legal team know that he is broke and owes money to half of the countrys bookmakers that if they still wanna sue his pants off over the shower pic there going to be waiting a long time....Fev isnt known for his smartness he's been charged over an incident urinating on a shop from window after a drinking session with team mates, being sent home after getting drunk and disordley in an Irish pub during the 07 tour of Ireland, the short affair with bingle that made headlines before that tour, the Crown casino affair brownlow night which saw him traded to the Lions becasue Carlton had enough of him by then....his wife has returned to Melbourne, she claims to vist family and finalize the closure of a cafe they jointly ran downhere...you can make up your own mind about that...
Update on Milne...seems a poll was taken by a local smalltown newspaper called The Hearld Sun here in downunder polling AFL players on who is the top sledger in the game....well you guessed it...Milne...his nick name is "yapper" one close friend and former team mates said "he never stops no matter where or when, on the ground or with family or friends, he will sledge anyone" yapper.....just as well he can run fast...

[Big Boy]

bladerunner2120,

I've renamed your thread AFL - still knowing very little about your sport, please advise if you would like it renamed to something else.

While we welcome reports on your sport, we don't need a different thread started each week. In line with other competitions such as Premier League, F1 and Super 14, could you please keep discussion to just one thread.

Thanks for your understanding.

[bladerunner2120]

No problems here...glad to....eventualy when i move there i hope to be able to keep up to date with the game here.
Our game is pretty simple actualy its a run and kick game useing both hands and feet originaly was a hybird of galic football that the australian crickerters played to keep fit during the winter months over here the first club formed in 1850 (Melbourne Football Club, The Demons) followed shortly afterwards by a second (Gellong FC..The Cats) which makes these two clubs amoung the longest running football clubs in the world.
18 players on the ground at anyone time with 4 interchange players, the ground would be close to twice the size of a rugby ground in an oval shape scoring is goals and behinds with tally up to points...1 goal is worth 6 points and 1 behind is worth 1 point.
Players can mark the ball (catch it from within the air) which gives a free kick so to speak if they choose to or can play on, ball is free if on the ground or contested without a mark taken, hand balling is permitted as is kicking off the ground , players dont often choose this option becasue our ball is oval shape like rugby and gridiron and goes anywhere and everywhere.
Free kicks are awarded and again can play on is so chooses too, currently the trend is to play fast and furious which means AFL players are a lean running machine, there skills required to play this game are more like a cross between a Gridiron wide reciver, running back and line backer rolled into one.
Hope that gives you some insight to AFL football.

[charlesh]

Thank God some real football !! Quite like the VFL too! This w/e a disaster with Ch 49 (Australia network ) gone to the blue screen of death thanks to the cable company. So no delayed AFL or NFL (rugby league). The service providers in the cable company have also not managed to arrange for de- encryption of the super 14 matches which is apparently FREE in Thailand if you read the web page from the signal distributor.

[bladerunner2120]

What!!!!! you cant get the game there?

AFL has a web site and i think for a supscrition fee you either can view live or a replay of a number of games each week but dont hold me to that.
Im sure someone would be uploading the games on to a torrent site somewhere, i know gridiron has several dedicated sites.

[bladerunner2120]

Brad Green is delighted with a goal over the Brisbane Lions last night at the G in the pic below. Dees go on to crush a previous undefeted Lions side by 50 points, Demons now 3-2 with 3 in a row...first time since th 2006 season and only 8 wins combined in the past 2 seasons.....That tanking issue is riseing its head again especialy when picks 1 and 2 from last seasons draft have been so outstanding.
Woods murder the bombers and Knights is not a happy chappie.
Port Adeliade defete undefeted saints by 10 points last night both now 4-1.
Swans do it easy over the Eagles......
Adelaide Crows go 0-5 this time the Doggies inflict the pain...Craig"s head is firmly on the chopping block now, this is a team that was expected to be challangeing for a top 3 finnish...the dogs are howling in Adelide tonight.
Big news this week in Melbourne is that Rugby league club the Melbourne Storm have been striped of there last 2 premerships, all prize money associated with them and all the points of this season, which means they wont win any games and finnish bottom of the ladder for salary cap rorts to the tune of 1.7 million for the past 5 ys.
We here think this is harsh penalty when no dout many clubs pay above the salary cap in very inventive ways. Hopefully the Storm will take the matter to court to at least win back those cups.

[Arcadian]

Having just come back from a stay in Oz and watched some AFL seems to me it should be re~named Australian no rules football. I was impressed by the Rugby League though, fast, furious and tough.

[bladerunner2120]

hahahaha....if you knew the rules it would become more enjoyable to watch...when looking back at the first NFL games i was watching i too had unflattering thoughts on there game...and it took me years to understand the offside rule in watching the premier league...you must have been watching 2 very good rugby teams to be thrilled....

[bladerunner2120]

Round 6 Bulldogs lead all night and loose it in the last 10 min to the Saints, North end the Dees run and bring them back to earth, Adeliade go 0-6 to The Power in the local derby, Crow administration say Craig is safe.....now we know when the big boys say that the knives are being sharpened.
In the battle of the underachivers Essendon cruise all over the Hawks who now have lost 5 in a row to be 1-5, a Sydney team of cast off players moves to the top of the ladder after a 20 point win of the Lions in sydney sat night, Paul Roos did it a few years back to snare a cup and looks like he will do it again.....Cats back on track after Thompson singled out a few players after last weeks shittie effort..poor Richmond was on the reciving end of a 108 point drubbing.
The Blues go down by 53 points to Collingwood who are looking pretty solid at the moment.
And in the Perth derby Fremantle Dockers will easily beat West Coast Eagles, the game is still in progress as i write, now thats a turn up...Dockers so long the wipping boys of not just the Eagles but of most AFL clubs will be 5-1 tonight and equal second with the Saints Woods and Cats.
FOOTNOTE....NRL club the Melbourne Storm striped of points for this season again show how dominating they are this time with a 34 to 6 win over the Cowboys.
Reports are that if the players want to take legal action over there striped cups and points for this season there on there own...Storm mangement say there accepting the NRL comission punishment, meanwhile there is talk that several high profile players will be forced to move clubs at seasons end becasue Storm is over the salary cap, seems NRL wont accept pay cuts from Storm players so they can keep the playing group together...The players commision claim that the NRL cannot stop players talking cuts if they want to stay in Mlebourne...we will see....

[charlesh]

Arcadian having witnessed VFL and then AFL over 40+ years the problem is that there are TOO MANY rules and TOO MANY umpires with a myriad of interpretations leading to some confusion. It mirrors Oz's society that has become somewhat over regulated in many areas!
Yeap I like NFL too!

[Arcadian]

Not sure about over regulation Charlesh, but what I found very confusing was, there we were obviously in the Southern Hemisphere, foreign looking infrastructure and surroundings, but everyone spoke English! I didn`t have to try to practice translating what I wanted to say, a pint was a pint not a litre or a half. And as for double de~merits on a bank holiday??

[bladerunner2120]

Over regulated???????.............silly talk....if there were decent regulations in place in the US home loans fiasco we could have avoided the credit crunch just past...we need to be watched over....reality says we wont do the right thing...its called greed.....as for australian football if you dont understand the game you cant appreciate it, if you got a problem with our rules and regulations go watch gridiron....then you will see a very technical game....as for australian sociaty we are not over regulated...i might like to add we were one of the few countrys in the world to stumble in the past credit crunch...mainly becasue our banks have strick guide lines put down by the goverment on certain aspects of the way they go about buisness, that we were cashed up allowing the gov to spend up to keep us healthy, and i notice in todays paper wayn swan cliams we will be back in surplus this comeing year after new budget projections.
Now to more intresting news...Round 7 results....

Crows win first game of the season by kicking 7goals in the last quarter to kill off a spirited tigers...
Port by 3 points over Essendon.
West Coast get there second win for the season humbling the Hawks who now have lost 6 on the trot.
Collingwood crush North on sat night in a very workman like manner.
Freo beat the Lions by 13 pts, Lions now have lost 3 in a row and Freo cement 2cd place now with 6-1.
Cats destroy Sydney at Kardina Park to the tune of 67pts and stay top of the table.
Demons bounce back from a slow start on friday night football to hit the front midway through the last quarter only to see the Bulldogs regain poise in wet conditions when full back Lake and foward Murphy swap roles, Lake kicking a late valuble goal to give the Doggies a 4 pt victory.
Melbourne played with a pink yoke and socks, replacing tradional red for breast cancer awarness day, 4000 people came on to the MCG before the game wearing pink panchos and standing in the shape of a woman, pictures in the papers next morning.
Umpires also wore pink shirts which turned out to casue some confusion for the Demons, Clint Bartrum hand balled to an umpire late in the tense last quarter only to see the Dogs clear the ball....confusion was noticed several time during the game as Demons moved the ball towards umpires.
AFL admits an error was made, says its taken note and will move on it not happing again.

[Arcadian]

Bladerunner, I don`t have a problem with AFL rules mainly because I don`t give a toss. Also gridiron is a sport I can ignore completely, together with handball, basketball, volleyball and baseball. Whilst I am on a roll why do we have rhythmic gymnastics, beach volleyball (no smut please) and synchronised swimming in the Olympics.

[bladerunner2120]

Yes why do we? i find them all a yawn too...in fact i dont watch the Olympics at all, nor the tennis or cricket, i would prefer to watch a fly buzzing around a room.
I am a bore...i only like fooball....Aust rules, Gridiron, Soccor and to a lesser extent Rugby.
wait....i dont mind watching the womens diving events.....those high cut up the hips swim suites they wear....very nice or womens beach volley ball at the olympics.....some of those brasilain girls....ooooooooooo

[bladerunner2120]

Barry Hall has a day out against his old club in Canberra yesterdayto the tune of 5 goals and at least 2 assists, Doggs crusie to 38 point win, Hall pictured bellow.

Lions get hammered on there home ground The Gabba by ruthless Cats to the tune of 81 points, The Sun headlines this morning qoute "Sizzling Cats put Torch to Lions" pretty much says it all with 4 straight losses to the Lions questions are now being asked of there off season trades and recruitment, the Fev and Brown roadshow has been a non event.

Collingwood show there tough workmen like attitude by downing new league upstarts Fremantle in a tough game on friday night. Fro keept coming back from the brink to fight it out to the end, going down by36 points the score did not justify there effort.

All the talk about this game was on Jack Watts...09 first draft pick playing his first game of the season for Melbourne, with only 4 games under his belt to this point, the press have been in constant speculation with comaprison to Eagles ruckman and 2cd pick in 09 draft Nic Naitanui who has been all the buzz this season, West Coast took the game fairly easily, Dees made many forced errors and didnt play with the intensity required by Baily, lack of run and over use of handball killed a game that the Dees were favorites for, meanwhile Watts was starved of foward moves and under constant pressure, Baily says of Watts..."he did enough to deserve a game next week, wasnt his fault that he lacked chances".

North keep a fast finnishing crows at bay to go 4 and 4, crows from 7 goals down at 3 quarter time to go down by 9 points.

In sunday games still to be played Tigers should go down to the Hawks...but this could go either way really Hawks havent been setting the world on fire either.
Port Vs Carlton...Port should be able to take this game played at home in Adeliade even after the Blues top effort last monday night.
St Kilda vs Essendon, Saints went down to the Blues monday night but should bounce back against a Bomber side still trying to find the magic.

On the Expansion Teams, Gold Coast, coming in 2011 haveing troubles enticing out of countract players at end of season to moving north, looks like there going to miss out on Abblet who was there no 1 target even though they have his brother on the books and dear old dad has moved up to the sunny coast, meanwhile clubs are tieing up there top players to starve off Gold Coast and GWS intrests.
Greater Western Sydney coach Kevin Sheedy claims rival clubs trying to poach GWS juinors, " Hands Off Our Boys" headline says this morning "we wont be taking crap from clubs who have been around for 100 years and done nothing" end quote.