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Enrolled in a Masters of Journalism course and getting some experience. Twitter: @callampickering Email (for any job opportunities): callam.pickering@gmail.com
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Earlier in the week, the AFL announced the worst kept secret in Australian sports: Essendon would be charged with bringing the game into disrepute…
North Melbourne's season went from bad to worse on Saturday night, after suffering an embarrassing loss to Brisbane at the Gabba. The Roos led…
It has been a tough season for Bombers' forward Michael Hurley. Scratch that, it has been a tough two seasons. Hurley has struggled with…
I have never been a fan of State of Origin. My allegiance has never extended beyond my club and my interest in seeing Victoria…
Debate always rages over who are the best players in the AFL and which position is most important to winning a premiership. But there…
We are two games down in the NBA finals and only one thing is clear: this series is going to be tough. Regardless of…
Hello generic AFL supporter, we have never met but I was sitting nearby on Saturday afternoon. I loved the way you cheered the big…
On Thursday morning, the AFL and AFL Players Association (AFLPA) announced that the number of positive recreational drug tests increased significantly last year to…
Round 7 was not kind to the GWS Giants, suffering a 135-point demolishing at the hands of a ruthless Adelaide Crows outfit. To rub…
Nobody at Collingwood will be panicking yet but increasingly there are signs that the Pies will be an afterthought come September. After seven rounds…
“If it doesn’t matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?” said American football coach Vince Lombardi. "Whoever said, 'It's not…
The AFL will not move Friday nights clash between Geelong and Essendon from Etihad Stadium to the MCG. But they should. Both Geelong and…
We are only five rounds in, but some teams have already shown enough to indicate that they will not feature in the September action.…
It is a little over a year since the AFL video review system was implemented and it is a big success. Sure the technology…
Miami versus Oklahoma City. For some time this match-up seemed like the inevitable end to the NBA season, a tantalising battle between the game's…
Through the first four rounds of the 2013 AFL season, scoring has increased significantly over the same period in 2012 and, if maintained, would…
A new season brings high expectations and fresh hope. Fans of seventeen teams hope for something greater, while one lucky fan-base hopes to saviour…
The NBA regular season is finally over and we can move our attention to the games that matter. The first round has a number…
The NBA regular season is finally over and we can move our attention to the games that matter. The first round has a number…
James Hird in Perth with his back against the wall... should we really be surprised that something amazing happened? Following revelations that the Essendon…
They would probably be watching the game / at the stadium so they’d probably already know 😉
But seriously, season-ending injuries are largely random in nature. With the exception of a very small handful of players who seem predisposed to knee injuries (such as Menzel and Morabito) they literally cannot be predicted in any way, shape or form. The likelihood of them occurring for any one player is also infinitely small.
The concern should not be season-ending injuries but soft-tissue injuries. But these injuries are largely due to conditioning and would likely happen at some stage regardless of playing Origin on not. If Gary Ablett strains his hamstring it is not because he was playing Origin, it is because he was inevitably going to strain his hamstring anyway.
AFL should be ambitious with Origin
Yeah, I was torn between one or two Victorian sides and decided on two because I thought that it might even up the top 4 teams over time.
If such a format was ever introduced a ‘Rest of World’ team would be great if there was a enough players to justify it. I imagine that would become a long-term expansion of the concept.
AFL should be ambitious with Origin
Well I agree that one of the weaknesses of NRL’s Origin is that it compromises the regular season games for a number of weeks. My format would avoid that since it would be played during a bye round and it all happens on one weekend.
And I agree that I would hate a player from my team to be injured in a representative match. But I’ve been thinking more about it and serious injuries (knee reconstructions, broken bones etc) are largely random in nature. They cannot be predicted, so if a player did receive a serious injury it would be difficult to pin it on the representative game.
Hamstrings and other muscle strain are likely to happen regardless of whether a representative game is played.
AFL should be ambitious with Origin
No format will work if you exclude South Australia and Western Australia. The history of football in those states is every bit as rich as in Victoria and we should not ignore that simply because they have a smaller population than Victoria.
AFL should be ambitious with Origin
He certainly looked the goods on Saturday night. Fantastic first half.
Meet the AFL’s next generation of gun forwards
LeBron is also one of the most efficient scorers in the league (thought that was not evident in game 3). Helping his teammates is one thing but I’m not sure it is to the advantage of the entire team.
Stars struggle in first two games of finals
Butchers actually a bit older than the guys I mentioned. He’s about to turn 22.
Not sure what’s going on with him at the moment, I’d assume he’s had a poor run with injury which is affecting his form. But perhaps one of the Power fans out there could provide some additional insight.
Meet the AFL’s next generation of gun forwards
There is probably a few things working against forwards at the moment:
* improved defensive strategies from coaches
* greater emphasis on sharing forward load rather than one dominant goalkicker
* forwards covering more ground up the field so they are not always in the best position to get the ball in the forward 50, or are exhausted and kick poorly.
* a number of the best goalkickers are not particularly good shots at goal.
In 2011, Buddy Franklin had the opportunity to kick 100 goals with 143 scoring shots (not including ones out-of-bounds on the full) but his poor accuracy resulted in just 82 goals. He’s the most likely to do it simply because he is better than anyone else at generating shots for goal.
I like the possibility of Cameron getting there one day because he is an exceptional shot for goal. He won’t have to generating anywhere near as many scoring shots as other players to get it done. He is very much like Matthew Lloyd in that regard.
Meet the AFL’s next generation of gun forwards
Struggling to think of any 18 or 19 year old defenders who have really impressed me but there is a number of slightly odler KPD who are making a name for themselves this season including Jake Carlisle (Bombers), Rory Thompson (Suns) and Daniel Talia (Crows).
Meet the AFL’s next generation of gun forwards
Looks like he’ll be a good talent from the little I’ve seen of him although he’s still very raw!
Meet the AFL’s next generation of gun forwards
Yep, fantastic player Darling.
Since I, admittedly arbitrarily, made the article about players 20 and under I excluded Darling because he turns 21 on 13 June. He is almost a year older than Cameron.
But Darling will be a star over the next decade and a massive steal for the Eagles.
Meet the AFL’s next generation of gun forwards
Of course Sheedy’s achievements greatly exceed everyone you’ve mentioned. By some way too.
Given Sheedy’s ability to deflect and experience developing kids he would have been the perfect coach for Melbourne back in 2008. But unfortunately they were too distracted by ‘new always being better’.
Five men that can save the Melbourne Football Club
I lived in Sydney for five years up to the beginning of 2013. So I feel perfectly able to comment on the Sydney sporting scene.
I never said that the war mentality didn’t exist. It certainly does. I said that it was pretty silly when you think about it. And it is certainly that too.
All of the available data on television audiences and crowd numbers suggest that most people in the Western Sydney area do not support any of the available sporting organisations, including GWS. The area is huge but none of the teams are phenomenally popular. There is plenty of scope for all teams to improve their standing in the region and there is no reason why GWS should be precluded from that. The idea that GWS can only succeed at the expense of another code is completely at odds with the reality of the region.
Why we should ease up on the Giants
Nothing wrong with fans yelling their heads off. Just don’t need to hear the same things over and over – sometimes it is good to mix things up. Everything in moderation.
My open-letter to AFL supporters
‘Deliberate’ would probably have been the next item on the list. But given the random nature of deliberate calls I cannot blame the crowd for asking the question all the time.
My open-letter to AFL supporters
Glad you liked it Mugsy! Nice to know my readership extends all the way to Japan!
My open-letter to AFL supporters
Well done Jimbo! I was wondering when I’d get a reply like that.
My open-letter to AFL supporters
Selection of the teams was mostly random. Should have put New South Wales and Queensland in the title game for amusement :p
AFL should be ambitious with Origin