It’s the most important day on the AFL calendar. With Anzac Day this year falling on a Friday, the stage is set for what should be a blockbuster triple-header with three matches to be played across three different time zones.
Collingwood versus Essendon
2:40pm
Melbourne Cricket Ground
Last year’s result: Essendon 18.13 (121) defeated Collingwood 10.15 (75)
Proceedings kick off with the traditional showdown between Collingwood and Essendon at the MCG, in which a crowd of more than 90,000 will be expected to see the two rivals fight it out.
After a slow start to the season, Collingwood have rediscovered their mojo courtesy of wins over Richmond and North Melbourne. They will start favourite against an Essendon side who have lost three of their first five matches, including their last two in a row.
This year will mark the 20th showdown between the two sides since the fixture’s establishment in 1995, and in the intervening period there have been so many memorable matches between the two, including:
* the draw in the first showdown in 1995.
* Mark McGough’s Anzac Medal winning performance in only his second AFL match in 2002, likewise for Andrew Lovett in 2005.
* Collingwood achieving the biggest ever win in 2008 by 73 points.
* David Zaharakis kicking the match winning goal for Essendon in 2009, and likewise for Jarryd Blair in 2012 to win the game for Collingwood by one point.
Last year’s match saw Essendon claim bragging rights by 46 points. David Zaharakis, who infamously sunk the Pies with the match winning goal in 2009, gathered 34 disposals and four goals en route to the Anzac Medal.
It was the Bombers’ first win on Anzac Day since 2009, which in turn was its first since 2005. If the pattern were to continue, Essendon won’t win again on Anzac Day until 2017.
A new chapter is set to be written into the Anzac Day rivalry between these two clubs. Will we see a new name rise up to the ranks, like we have seen with Mark McGough, Andrew Lovett or David Zaharakis in the past, or will we see a familiar name dominate proceedings?
This match will be televised across the country on Channel Seven, including into Sydney and Brisbane where normally the AFL would be televised on 7mate.
In those two markets, it would see Australian television’s two biggest stations (Seven and Nine) go head-to-head with the latter to televise the NRL match between the St George Illawarra Dragons and the Sydney Roosters.
But once this match is over, the day won’t be over for Melbourne sporting fans, with the NRL match between the Melbourne Storm and New Zealand Warriors to take place just across the bridge at AAMI Park.
Which team will claim the bragging rights for Anzac Day 2014?
Prediction: Collingwood by 20 points.
St Kilda versus Brisbane Lions
7:40pm NZST (5:40pm AEST)
Westpac Stadium
Last year’s match: Sydney Swans 11.13 (79) defeated St Kilda 9.9 (63)
AFL history was made last year when St Kilda and the Sydney Swans contested the first match to be played for premiership points outside of Australia in New Zealand on Anzac Day last year.
Prior to the match, New Zealand Prime Minster John Key used the occasion to raise the prospect of a New Zealand-based team in the AFL, saying, “Let’s get real. We’ve got to get a New Zealand side in the AFL”.
Saints captain Nick Riewoldt commented that “To play on Anzac Day in another country for the first time in the history of the sport is a momentous occasion and as a playing group we feel really privileged to be doing that…”
Setting up a New Zealand-based team would see the AFL combat the NRL for bragging rights and fans in New Zealand, with the New Zealand Warriors the only non-Australian based team currently competing in the NRL.
Back on topic now, and the then-defending premiers, the Swans, won by 16 points with Dan Hannebery winning the Anzac Medal for best-on-ground. The first goal kicked on foreign land was by the now-retired Saint Justin Koschitzke.
Such was the commercial success of the match, which saw a crowd of over 22,500 and almost every single hotel in Wellington booked out that week, that the Saints have decided to lock in the New Zealand Anzac Day fixture until at least 2018.
In these games, their opponents are to be one of the New South Wales or Queensland-based sides (namely the Sydney Swans, Brisbane Lions, Gold Coast Suns or GWS Giants).
This year, the Saints’ opponents will be the Brisbane Lions, the only side yet to register a victory this season under new coach Justin Leppitsch.
Last week, Alan Richardson’s men caused a major upset when they knocked off Essendon by 16 points at Etihad Stadium last week, putting to rest two losses which saw it go down to West Coast in Perth and capitulate to Adelaide by 86 points at home.
Now on 3-2 for the season, the Saints will be heavily favoured to make it 4-2 when they take on the Lions, who are dead last on the ladder and are coming off a 43-point loss to Richmond at home, in Wellington.
The trip to New Zealand, plus a home game against the Swans to come in Round 7, is the last thing the Lions need as they try to climb off the bottom of the ladder.
Although they briefly led against Richmond in the third quarter last week, the Lions have been mostly uncompetitive in their five outings so far this season, and it’s possible that the triple-premiers from earlier this millennium could be 0-7 entering Round 8.
Can the Saints heap more misery on the Lions and ensure that their Wellington deal was worth the money, or will the Lions rise from their den and notch their first victory of the season?
Prediction: St Kilda by 30 points.
Fremantle versus North Melbourne
6:40pm AWST (8:40pm AEST)
Patersons Stadium
Last year’s match: Fremantle 12.9 (81) defeated Richmond 12.8 (80)
To round out the Anzac Day triple-header, last year’s grand finalists Fremantle will welcome North Melbourne to Perth in what will be the Dockers’ last (until at least Round 23) Friday night outing for the season.
The Dockers have had a reasonable start to the season, with crushing victories over Collingwood, the Gold Coast Suns and Essendon mixed in with losses against the last two AFL premiers, Hawthorn (Round 3) and the Sydney Swans (last week).
Ross Lyon’s men will be without Hayden Ballantyne (suspended) for the match against the Roos. North, after three consecutive victories, were sent crashing back to earth with a 35-point loss to Collingwood at the MCG.
After such an impressive performance in the wet against Sydney at the SCG, the Roos were made to look second rate against Collingwood.
Notably, this will be the Roos’ first Friday night match in Perth since being famously sunk by a Nic Naitanui goal after the final siren eleven months ago, a match which counted as many that prevented the Roos from making the finals last year.
Fremantle have played on or around Anzac Day since 1996, honouring Len Hall, the last Gallipoli veteran from Western Australia. This, however, will be the first time that they have played on the day since 2011, and this will be their only Friday night match in front of their home fans.
Here, they will be heavily favoured to rebound from last week’s loss to Sydney, but they will have to make do without Hayden Ballantyne, who coach Ross Lyon says is “in the Colin Sylvia basket” as far as team discipline is concerned.
Can the Dockers bounce back or will the Roos spring an upset in the west?
Prediction: Fremantle by 18 points.
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