AFL

[bladerunner2120]

Round 9, Bulldogs crush the Kangaroos and Big Bad Barry takes down Scott Thompson during the game, pic below.

Cats win the big one against the Woods on friday night by 36 points but the scores do not really reflect how tough or close the game was for much of the 100min, Ablett plays another blinder, pic below.

Young Dees hold nerve in thriller up in Darwin on sat night to take the game by one point in tropical conditions, the lead changed several times during the last quarter after the Power stormed home to hit the front in time on only for Brad Green to kick the the goal to level scores followed by Trentgrove pushing through a rushed behind, this ends 13 straight losses over 4 years traveling hoodoo in interstate games, a happy Brad green in pic below.

Freo bounce back to down sydney by 37 points...

Essendon took the points against the Tigers.

Adeliade find some form with 3 in a row now downing Brisbane who now have now lost 5 in a row....boy how fortunes change.

And talking of fortunes, Hawks win again after scraping in agianst the Tigers last week to crush the Blues by 60 points.

The late game WC Eagles at home to the Saints is in progress as i write with Eagkes 5 points up with plenty of time stillon the clock.

The Ladder finds Geelong on top followed by Collingwood then Freo, Bulldogs,Carlton,Saints, sydney and Port make up the eight.
Demons sitting pretty in 9th position at 4 and 5 followed by Essondon,Brisbane,North, WCE, Hawthorn, Adeliade and last is Richmond.

If ever we need proof that the draft has evened up the compertion we just have to see the results of the past 9 weeks except for the top 2 teams or 3 teams its pretty much a roll of the dice.

[pharvey]

What's the chap in the front (last pic) doing wearing nail polish?

[bladerunner2120]

matches the red yoke of Brad's jumper dont you think?

[bladerunner2120]

Im back after internet problems...3 weekends flown by...
Hawks win 5 on the trott after looseing 5 in a row...Brisbane have now lost 5 in a row...Demons and Pies fight out a draw ( first of the year) on the Queens birthday monday, Freo go down to the Saints and the rest....all a bit of a yawn actualy...

SBS sports jurno and ex soccerroo Craig whatever your name is trashed Pim Verbeek on prime time TV from Sth Africa calling for his sacking because of the 4-0 loss to Germany monday morning local time, critizied his team selection and game plan.
Maybe this is the way jurnos of the round ball game carry on, its not what were use to i can tell you..the guy was a machine gun with words, im my life ive never heard or read anything like an outburst of this kind...made the papers the next day, since Craig has played for Australia i would have thought he might know better...like how the game is played, our real standing in the world game and the fact that the Germans are a power house, that you pick a team to counter the team your playing...that Kewell has been injured for most of this year, and he overlooks the fact we dont have any guys playing for any of the big Euro clubs.
Your the guy thats been UnAustralian craig...its not the Aussie way to get stuck into your coach pull your F****NG head in.

[bladerunner2120]

im going to buy a new key pad today...this one is too sensetive i lost everything i wrote on this split round 13 of AFL, so excuse me im going to keep it brief.
Hawks win 6 in a row over the Bombers, Freo bounce back over the Blues Kruser going down with what looks like season ending knee injury, Tigers go 3 and 10 this time over the Lions who aint seen any light for sometime now, question here is did Voss need the FEV? 2 big fowards in the modern age of a running midfield machine could be out dated, i think it is.
Port to down North and Bulldogs to easily take care of The eagles later today.

Footnote....Melbourne Storm NRL club crush Nth Queensland Cowboys to the tune of 58 to 12...this is the club striped of everything of the past few years for salary cap breaches.

AND....i stayed up to watch the Ghana vs Australia game...so sad.....we could only gather a draw...bit of tuff luck, no bitching from me but we do need a good result from the Serbia game, at least a draw and the reason is to further advance soccer in this country, Australia needs something like this to galvanize the country, cricket and rugby are not really world games and Afl will never be any more than a reigonal code no matter how hard they push it overseas.
To come away with at least 2 draws from this group when looked back on we will realize for were we are in the soccer world it was a very good result, so fingers crossed.

[bladerunner2120]

Split round 13 part 2
Woods down Swans...Roos angry outburst to his players has little affect collingwood now sitting pretty half a game behind Cats and Saints.
Saints run over Cats in replay of last years grand final, Cats looked like they were going to run away with the game midway through the second quarter, but no, Saints regrouped and finnished strongly.
Demons traveled to Adeliade faced with not winning in that city for god i forget when was the last time...and they didnt again, once again a slow start cost them, Dees have only won 2 of 13 first quarters this season....young teams do go missing in parts of a game....seems we always arrive late for the start.

FOOTNOTE...Australia 2 Serbia 1....a good result for us, 1 win 1 draw 1 loss, restores pride and is good for the game in this country though we shouldnt be to hard on ourselves for going down to Germany....Craig Foster once again takes a swipe at the now former Australian coach in his colum in The Age today

[bladerunner2120]

Round 14
Tigers surprise swans this afternoon by 4 points to move off the bottom of the ladder, Jack Riewoldt takes a great grap in a pack of Swans at the G in pic below.
Saints doing it easy in the late game currently in play over the Dees.... was to be expected even though they gave em a bit of stick early on.
Cats still cruising this time over North, Crows shock everyone especially the Bombers by comfortably crushing them by 80 plus points, Woods crush Eagles and in the Friday night game Hawks in a close game all night come from behind to down the Bulldogs by 3 points, Dogies now facing going into the finals without a second chance
Thursday night saw the Blues pretty much kill off any chance the Lions had of playing off in September.
Footnote....Police are looking into the alleged rape by a Saint Kilda player that was investigated in 2005 but dropped because of insufficient evidence, claims that one officer in the know was a Saints trainer at the time and that investigating officers were told to drop the case have been earthed in the press here over the past several weeks.

[bladerunner2120]

Round 15
The Mighty Demons blow Bombers away, 19 point win was flattering for Essondon as the Dees were leading by a comfortable 50 odd points late in the game, young teams do take the foot off the gas, will need to develop that killer attitude but im sureit will come as they mature, Tom Scully with coach Dean baily, Dees walk off the "G" after sundays win in pics below.
Tigers win 4 in a row this time knocking off the much more fancied Freo, Hardwick in his first year is coaching the way he played.
Cats in a close one against a resurgent Hawks played down the highway.
Crows string a few together now this time over the hapless Eagles....media speculating that Worsford wont be coach next year even though he has a contract till end of 2011.
Swans bounce back to down the Roos....in sydney by30 points.
Bulldogs blow the Blues away in record win margin bettween the two clubs (68 points) Rattern tells players to bring mouth gaurds to training this week...
Brisbane Lions go down to the Saints saturday night in Brisbane, news filtering out is that all is not well in the Lions den, exodus of assistant coaches to continue and there not been pushed either, one former assiatnt and ex head coach of a Melbourne based club said that Voss has a lot to learn.
In the Friday night game Collingwood traveled to Adelide to meet Port when news hit the streets mid afternoon that Mark Williams would stand down as coach of Port Adeliade at games end, Williams struggled to keep his job last year and its safe to say after a good start to the season with the side not being able to registar a win in the past 6 weeks he was pushed out.

[bladerunner2120]

Round 17

Bulldogs shock the football world by sacking controversial midfield/forward jason Akermanis midweek, and with his sacking he finds he has few friends in former team mates from both the Lions and Bulldogs.
The flamboyant forward it seems has written a book due to be published end of season but now being rushed released where several team mates names and all are mentioned. No point in crying now jason, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas but not for jason

Rampant Bulldogs bury Freo to take 4th spot on the ladder and the double chance.
Magpies trounce the Tigers
Bombers scrape in over North ending 7 week losing streak
Blues back in town with comfortable 26 point win over the Eagles
Port defeat the Crows in home town derby by 19 points
Saints and Hawks battle it for a draw on friday night football
Cats blitz listless Lions by an effortless 63 points
and
Demons crush Swans at the "G" Sunday afternoon, this hurts the swans who go tumbling down the ladder and its there biggest loss (73p) since Paul Roos has been in charge.

[charlesh]

Wasn't sure that Acker had been to Vegas - more the end of year haunt for the Bloosers (or was when Dickie P was Pres and sponsor). Surprised that Ack could write a book too and as for the doggies being able to read - must have been an election promise out of Altona ha, ha.
Will miss Acker though he was a goer and a spectacle for (of) the game.

[bladerunner2120]

They dont like individuals....but i dare to say there must be more to it than what we hear....seems in AFL circles he has no friends....for his own sake would have been better to take it on the chin and move on....media love him because he can be out spoken....but this could also ruin his chances in the media now his footballing days appear over.
Ive noticed most ex players have very little negatives to say and for a good reason...it keeps the job opportunities open.

[charlesh]

Yes b/r only got to watch the footy on TV to listen to the watered down comments from the commentators and ex-players eg. poor umpiring decisions (don't exist if you believe them), the overuse of superlatives to describe ordinary to good play eg. brilliant, magical etc and the boring and repetitive indigenous positive reinforcement process (should be based on merit not your background) IMO. The boyish matey use of nicknames eg. johnno, quarters, razer etc.
The game is great to watch - wish the commentary was as good!

[bladerunner2120]

i normally have the sound down because i struggle with some of the commentators, Sandy Roberts is one of the ones i find difficult to listen too, i did prefer Chanel 9s commentary when they had the rights, 7 did pick up its game a little when they took over from 9 but it stills falls short, and while i mentioned telecasting of football rights...i think the AFL should sell off Fri night as 1 package sat as a second package etc...and all networks should be involved....then maybe sandy will be out of a job

[bladerunner2120]

Round 18

Akker gets several pages in fridays Hearld Sun but really doesnt say too much other than trying to defend his personality and the fact that everyone else seemed to have a problem with it.
The paper obviously hasnt got much to write about this week so touting the possibility that the Dees and Roos can make the finally 8...we know thats about as possible as as landing a horse on mars next weekend.
I was expecting 8 wins for the Dees for this season to give us there long suffering supporters some hope....they have had the pick of the cream of the draft for at least 3 years now, so theres plenty of young talent there now, currently sitting on 7 1/2 wins 4 games to go with 2 possible wins so i do expect them to surpass my expectations for this year.
Dees great start win by 10 points in Brisbane sat night, lions 8th straight loss.
Saints go down to reinvigorated Bombers...Knights safe for another week.
Ex Blues players and supporters calling for blood as the go down in an ordinary way to Ladder leaders Collingwood.
Port win again under Primas this time over the back in town Hawks.
Cats by 53 points over the Swans.
Tigers win...Hardwick looking like the saviour, who would of expected the tigers to be where they are? everyone in the land thought they had the worst list in the AFL this time over the Crows.
Bulldogs murder the kangaroos with the Prime Minister in the stands cheering her doggies on.
Freo crush the Eagles in local derby...how times have changed.

[bladerunner2120]

Round 20
2 more games to go before the finals and with the Hawks defeating the Demons by 21 points on Sunday have sealed at least the last position available, Hawks looked shaky early on but experience and bad weather finally took its toll.
Bombers absolutely slaughtered in the Friday night game by the Woods to cement top position.
Blues bounce back this time over the Tigers in a healthy win but no one is expecting them to go far in sept.
Freo form slip continues this time losing to the Swans but manage to stay in the 8.
Cats destroy the Bulldogs by 101 points, hanging onto several over 30 and recruiting a 32 year old player when everyone else has been going for youth seems to have backfired on the Bullies, i couldn't see the reasoning behind it, Eade played up on the " its our window of opportunity" but i dont think so.
Port sneak in by 1 point over the Eagles and its looking certain that the Eagles will Finnish bottom and take the dreaded wooden spoon....this club won a premiership only 4 years back....how how the wold changes.
Crows 7 points over Lions.
And Saints 52 point winners over North.
The Collingwood, Geelong and St Kilda the 3 top clubs all tune up for sept action by crushing there opponents last weekend.