Roar Guru
Joined July 2008
93.3k
Views
40
Published
14
Comments
Published
Comments
[caption id="attachment_18323" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Brady Rawlings of North Melbourne gathers the ball ahead of Dane Swan of Collingwood during the AFL Round 06 match…
[caption id="attachment_18018" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Brad Sewell of Hawthorn in action during the AFL ANZAC Day Round 05 match between the Hawthorn Hawks and the…
Defensive forwards have become the most valuable players in the game - something that was made crystal clear in Geelong’s emphatic win over Adelaide…
[caption id="attachment_17394" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="The Collingwood cheer squad berate the boundary umpire during the AFL Round 15 match between the Geelong Cats and Colingwood…
[caption id="attachment_17089" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Hawthorn\'s Shane Crawford talks to umpire Shaun Ryan during the 2008 Toyota AFL Grand Final between the Geelong Cats and…
If Terry Wallace is still coaching Richmond at the end of this week, he should give all his players a DVD of the Fremantle-Western…
So here we are, set to go for what promises to be the most interesting AFL season in many moons, kicking off on Thursday…
After choosing the team I saw when I wasn’t dreaming – limited to players I’ve seen in the flesh – last time around, this…
With the real season only three weeks away, and time running out for entries in the Dream Team competition, I thought I’d have some…
The shemozzle over the apparent double booking of Telstra Dome on February 28 raises a seriously worrying question: doesn’t anyone in the stadium’s management…
Buried away in recent news about AFL matters, behind crushing pre-season wins by the Indigenous All Stars and Collingwood over Adelaide and Perth respectively,…
I spent most of last week in Hobart. No, it wasn't second prize in the pub raffle; it was to attend my brother's 80th…
It's time the AFL scrapped the pre-season kick and giggle event and ran a fair dinkum home-and-away competition. For too many years the draw…
Richmond's 11th-hour decision to pick up Ben Cousins in the pre-season draft will either leave the Tigers with egg all over their faces or…
The outcome of the national draft last weekend has pinpointed the need for drastic changes to the AFL's rules restricting players' movements between clubs.…
Ben Cousins' return to football, for which the AFL Commission paved the way on Tuesday, highlights the urgent need for the sport to make…
When master trainer Bart Cummings won his twelfth Melbourne Cup on Tuesday, it was 58 years since he first led in the winner of…
The unseen 19th player every team has lurking around its defensive goal square, Rushby Hines, is the name on everyone’s lips this week as…
The global finance crisis should be ringing alarm bells loud and clear as the AFL pushes on with its fanciful plans to base the…
There is an urgent need for the AFL and the Tasmanian Government to work together and upgrade York Park in Launceston to hold at…
As I wrote at the end of the running commentary on the game last night, those who were suggesting in the lead-up that Jedinak was playing for his place were way off beam. He’s Australia’s best midfielder – check out how he owned the centre of the park in the last 20 minutes. And please get off Verbeek’s back and look at the scoreboard. On results he’s the best coach we’ve had, and has done the first part of his job effectively. As they say in golf, it’s not how, it’s how many. From his past results he will know how to handle the second part of the task, too. As for McDonald, I have sympathy for him, but someone who has scored as many goals as he has in club football, but can’t score in internationals, for whatever reason, simply can’t be picked for a World Cup. Full stop.
Socceroos have a way to go still - on and off the field
Jedinak should be the first man picked after Schwarzer, Moore, Cahill and (subject to fitness) Kewell. Sat on the game beautifully and controlled the midfield in the second half. Old head for a hard road. Can’t believe some of the rubbish I’ve seen written in the past couple of days saying he was playing for his place.
Socceroos v All Whites: Live analysis
Redb, old mate, I have a sneaking suspicion Collingwood’s ongoing coaching arrangements could be subject to revision, with Malthouse moving on before the 2011 season, if not earlier. Perhaps he could end up as an assistant to Sheeds at the Parramatta Parasites.
Malthouse apology too little, too late
This was the Saints’ best win since the 1966 flag. But is has probably cost them any chance of winning the 2010 one.
Saints record one of their greatest ever wins
What a load of old cobblers! It’s always dodgy when you let academics loose on sport. The first edition of the Oxford Companion to Australian Sport a few years ago was riddled with errors of fact and misspellings of people’s names – and most of them were still wrong in the second edition!
Carlton 'robbed' of home final in first week
Spot on, Redb. If you remember, I was one of the few at the start of the season who thought he’d make something of his chance. Keep it going, Ben. Go Tiges!
The fall and rise of Ben Cousins
I find Kelli’s style very acceptable. She’s obviously trying to avoid the annoying trap into which most TV commentators still fall – calling it blow-by-blow as though they’re on radio – and reminds me a bit of Tony Charlton. Stick with her, Ten, she’ll be worth it.
AFL's first female commentator under fire
The Doggies will beat either the Saints or the Cats in the pre-finals and lose to the other in the GF, then win the flag next year with Big Bad Bazza up front.
AFL round 14 musings
They used to be called “fringe players” or “receivers”, and some, but not many, have been of tremendous value to their teams, particularly in recent years since the player going in for the ball has veen victimised by the modern umpiring interpretations. The new art of the defensive forward, about which I wrote back in April, has had a lot to do with it, too. One player who springs to mind as an expert at being in the right place at the right time to receive the ball and make the best use of it is John Pitura. He was so good at the art that South Melbourne and Richmond fought a bitter clearance war over him in the 1960s. Pretty handy golfer, too – he was playing top-grade pennants in Sydney, for Pennant Hills, I think it was, a few years ago.
No place for one dimensional players in the AFL
Redb, it’s not often that the premiers are easier to pick than the spooners, but that’s the case this year. There are other contenders including maybe the Shinboners, or Freo if they don’t get away to a good start. And No.1, why don’t you see if you can get a run with the Mooroopna Cats and let’s know how you go. Just tell ’em about the coaching session you had with Bernie Quinlan at the SCG – when was that, 35 years ago?
Hey brother, can Cousins deliver the goods?
Michael, what you’re saying is that someone who tests positive on a day he’s juiced up and cheats someone else out of three Brownlow votes shouldn’t be suspended, but someone who gets caught throwing a punch should be? The game (in fact all sports) needs serious match-day testing with suspensions attached.
AFL should get fair dinkum with drug tests
MikeD – I’d like to always see it as counting down. I’d rather have certainty than suspense.
Time, gentlemen, please!
The MIGHTY Tigers are now only four games out of the eight…
Lowly Tigers shock Lions