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Roar Guru
Joined November 2015
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A New South Welshman, supporting a West Australian team, living in South Australia, now studying in Germany. Unashamedly a Freo fan (and member!). Budding writer, and do a bit of live-blogging.
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Happy Monday! My final Power Rankings (for the year). Enjoy, and thanks for following along this season.
Sunday afternoon football is to be played in Victoria, as a poor Carlton outfit host a striving-for-finals Hawthorn. Join The Roar for live scores and a live blog from 1:10pm AEST.
Friday night football takes us to Melbourne, as a (sorta) resurgent St Kilda Saints take on the fearsome Richmond Tigers. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog from 7:50pm (AEST).
Ah, what a wild (and pretty bloody good) weekend of footy. Lots of surprises. And, yes, sometimes surprise wins (and losses) might cause a bit of shuffling of the rankings. Let’s do it.
Match result: The return of Josh Kennedy and Jack Darling proved crucial in a big win for West Coast, but the result has been marred by what could prove to be a serious knee injury for Nic Naitanui.
Friday night footy takes us to Melbourne, as the St Kilda Saints host a struggling Carlton Blues outfit. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7:50pm (AEST).
Power Rankings! Come get your freshly printed Power Rankings! Also, before anyone asks, yes, it feels weird seeing Brisbane feel so high.
The home of football sees a 2017 grand final replay, as the Richmond Tigers take on the Adelaide Crows at the ‘G. Join The Roar for live commentary and scores from 7:50pm (AEST).
I don’t think one round has ever made ranking these eighteen teams agonisingly harder than this one. What a round, though, amirite?
We head to MCG for a Sunday arvo footy clash, as the Melbourne Demons host a disappointing St Kilda Saints. Join The Roar for live commentary and scores from 1:10pm AEST.
Port Adelaide have defeated a surprisingly gallant Carlton outfit by 21 points in a fine game at the MCG, but the result will leave a lot more questions than answers.
Match result: Port Adelaide have defeated a surprisingly gallant Carlton outfit by 21 points in a fine game at the MCG, but the result will leave a lot more questions than answers.
Thursday night footy takes us to Melbourne for a top of the table clash between the Richmond Tigers and the Sydney Swans. Join The Roar for live commentary and scores from 7:20pm AEST.
Another bye round. A last-gasp win. A disgusting act from a Giant. Two surprisingly gallant stragglers. A bit of everything, really.
Sunday’s only game takes us to the ‘G, as traditional rivals Collingwood and Carlton do battle. Join The Roar for live commentary and scores from 3:20pm AEST.
Match result: Jeremy Cameron faces a long spell on the sidelines after a sickening hit on Brisbane defender Harris Andrews which has blighted Greater Western Sydney’s 27-point AFL victory at the Gabba.
Ugh. The bye rounds. Annoying. Still, plenty of intriguing results. Let’s get into some good ol’ Monday morning rankings.
Match result: Adelaide’s season has continued to spiral out of control, Hawthorn celebrating Shaun Burgoyne’s 350th AFL game with an emphatic 56-point win.
Friday night footy takes us to New South Wales, as the Sydney Swans host ladder leaders West Coast. Join The Roar for live commentary and scores from 7:50pm AEST.
Saints, Freo, Bullies, Blues are their first four games. I meaaaaan, if there’s ever a chance to surprise and grab a win or two to start what’ll probably be a dire season, that’ll be it.
Although they better not beat us. That’ll be annoying.
Gold Coast 2019 season preview: Best 22 and predicted finish
Ha, fair call. I say this as a 20 year old, but your thoughts have reaffirmed my position that Tassie – whilst visually stunning – isn’t the most exciting locale in the nation.
Then again, I live in Adelaide! ????
AFL expansion - time to make it fully national
I can’t speak for Pete, but my arguments surrounding the history issue is that whilst it might not matter directly to the players, establishing a club in an area with minimal history in the code is a challenge.
I understand the Gold Coast had the sport already, obviously, and there would’ve no doubt been a portion of the population considering themselves fans of the sport, there would’ve been a larger part of the SE Queensland population either intentionally or blissfully ignorant of the sport.
This could’ve been through the poor performances of the area’s other club (the Lions post 2004, pre 2017) or through the fact that the area (as seen by the failure of other sporting endeavours, or the fact that the AFL hadn’t necessarily made ground in the area pre-Suns). Fact is, the Suns were heading into relatively uncharted territory, and continues to linger in that territory (albeit to a much different level as 2011) today.
And I reckon this is where it relates to the players. I can’t imagine a player would definitively rule out the Suns because the area has no history in the game or the culture, but having hesitations about the club because of the combination of poor performances, uncertain support and perhaps the apathy of the area’s population might be where the the crux of the argument against the Suns lies.
Sunrise or Sunset? The Gold Coast ultimatum
That sarcasm, Cat? Singapore and Malta are definitely both first world countries!
AFL expansion - time to make it fully national
Good points, PtS. When Freo joined, we had the advantage of being established in a footy-mad state. When the Crows joined, they too had that advantage. The Victorian teams have been around for decades, plus that state invented footy. Lions, as you say, had the Fitzroy history.
GWS and the Suns had the distinct disadvantage of being thrown into areas not commonly associated with football – instead of trying to garner support from established supporters of the code already, they were trying to create that support of the code, let alone support for the team.
I’ve no doubt it’s difficult to forge an identity. GWS is doing a lot better than their northern counterparts, clearly, but I don’t profess to have the answers to Gold Coast woes.
Sunrise or Sunset? The Gold Coast ultimatum
In fairness to the culture of the Gold Coast, it’s probably the city most aligned with the general idea of Australian “culture”: the beaches, the sun, the partying, the scenery and all that. Essentially, it fulfils the Australian ideals that foreigners associate with the nation.
Melbourne + Sydney fulfil the city cliches (which one does it better, who knows), Hobart’s got the environment, Darwin’s got the outback (another major ideal foreigners enthuse about ad-infinitum), Perth’s got a sprinkle of everything, Canberra’s got the politics and Brisbane + Adelaide just seem to … exist (not that that’s a bad thing, they’re both great).
I cannot blame SportsfanGC for defending his city, there are plenty of redeeming qualities about the GC. But despite Pete’s perhaps a tad too harsh statements, I definitely think that he’s tapping into a bit of truth.
Base 40 young men on the Gold Coast, and they’d love it. Base 40 young men in a professional sporting environment in the same place, and I can understand people’s reservations.
Sunrise or Sunset? The Gold Coast ultimatum
I can’t profess to know a whole lot about Tassie, but I would’ve assume SportsFanGC is on the right track? I do really want to visit Tasmania, but what do they have to offer that the larger mainland capitals don’t? Except for probably better environments and more natural beauty?
Genuine question, not trying to attack Tassie!
AFL expansion - time to make it fully national
Ha, yeah. Google Maps tells me that NMFC is just 10 mins away from Carlton. And considering the fact that there are seven other clubs based in Melbourne, it’s leading me to wonder: where else in the world would you find nine professional sporting clubs in the same top-flight league all based within probably an hours drive of each other?
To be fair though, Adelaide’s clubs are both based within the same area of Adelaide, probably 5 minutes away from each other, so this ain’t just a Victorian thing.
AFL expansion - time to make it fully national
And a large majority of their members are also Sydney based. They’re something like fourth on the membership scale for Sydney sporting clubs.
AFL expansion - time to make it fully national
Ahhh, not gonna lie my man, I didn’t even realise he’d gone to the Lyons. Kinda makes sense now!
Sunrise or Sunset? The Gold Coast ultimatum
Nice piece, Brent. The Suns are very much an enigma these days. Their new training base, which I believe has opened by now, plus the newly drafted talent (moving home rumours notwithstanding) should give ’em the smallest of boosts this year, but the departure of so, so much talent in October is concerning. I’d expect a wooden spoon this year, unless another club sensationally implodes.
The Lyon delisting is one that strikes me as very, very strange. Did the club ever give a reason for his axing?
Sunrise or Sunset? The Gold Coast ultimatum
Sorry, meant this to be a reply to the article, not to your comment, Peeeko.
AFL expansion - time to make it fully national
I’d be skeptical about Darwin, but Tasmania’s half-million strong population and proximity to Victoria, plus their obvious love of the sport, would surely be beneficial if there was to be a team added to the competition.
Canberra is an interesting one. I’m pretty sure the Giants still get reasonably strong attendances whenever they play in the ACT, so there would be a portion of the population with an appetite for the sport.
The thing is, as GWS has made Canberra their ‘second home’, and Canberra boasts a small-ish population, to throw a new team into the capital would probably mean cannibalising the support for GWS. And considering around a quarter of GWS’s members are based in Canberra, I’m not sure how they’d feel about a new team taking over a viable growth location. And considering the AFL’s strong support for the Giants, I would bet they would be treading carefully in re: expansion.
So, for mine: Tassie yes, Darwin probably no, Canberra’s tricky.
AFL expansion - time to make it fully national
Haha, gotta love your “magnum almond” reference. I still remember finding out the result of the Port-Freo clash … I asked a customer at work and then got embarrassingly excited when he told me Freo had won.
The top 20 best and worst games of the 2018 season
Ha, you adding that to the good or bad game category?
The top 20 best and worst games of the 2018 season
I personally quite enjoyed the Richmond/Collingwood final, too.
The top 20 best and worst games of the 2018 season
Just for a little context, despite how much it sucked at the time, Freo’s loss is ‘only’ equal 29th on the list of worst losses in VFL/AFL history so there’s been plenty of quantifiably worse losses.
Besides, in fairness, it game against a strong team at their home ground in the second-last round of a long year.
The top 20 best and worst games of the 2018 season
Hear, hear. Nice work Gordon. Also was great to see someone from across the world be working hard on these articles!
The comprehensive end-of-year review: In summation
This might be the same stats you are looking at, Macca, but seemingly the most recent stats have Collingwood and Carlton leading the ‘most games missed’.
This is from the Herald Sun on July 16th: “Champion Data statistics show Collingwood and Carlton have both lost 156 games to injury this year — the most in the competition.”
I don’t mean to add fuel to the fire, but I kinda wanna see Don’s stats here too.
2018 AFL Draft: Club-by-club review, my take on every team
At the very least, I’m happy to see Freo depart our usual position up near the top of the oldest average players list!
Interesting article Josh – if not for the analysis, which as people say could potentially be lacking in substance, purely for the information!
2019 AFL lists: Oldest, youngest, most and least experienced
Yeah, Carter’s officially ours as a category-B rookie. Also, I’m surprised we got Valente – he slid a fair bit for sure.
2018 AFL Draft results: Every player picked and where they went
Adelaide’s art gallery has a freakin’ sculpture thing of an upside down dead horse smack-bang in the middle of the gallery, so art has well and truly jumped the shark these days.
Gotta go the self-sabotage route, like Banksy’s art piece that sold for god-knows-how-much and then he shredded it before it got to the buyer. Now that’s art I’m interested in.
Draft wrap day 1: Carlton and Crows roll the dice in live trade deal
Interesting. Dunno what to say ‘bout that tbh
Gold Coast 2019 season preview: Best 22 and predicted finish