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I've never heard a conversation about footy or cricket that I haven't wanted to join in immediately. If you disagree with me, you'll be made to work very hard to change my mind!
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“The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there.”
It’s easy to forget Fremantle finished on top of the ladder in 2015, and ended up making the prelim. Three weeks can be a long time in football, but three years is an eternity.
Blue Diamond Stakes day is one of the best days racing of the Melbourne spring and complements the other big Group 1 days at Caulfield from the spring nicely.
It’s been a grim five years for Carlton, with an average final ladder position of 16th since 2014. Ouch.
Welcome back to another year of AFL season previews here at The Roar.
The Lightning Stakes carries Black Caviar’s name these days, in honour of Australia’s greatest sprinter.
Racing has once again been making headlines for the wrong reasons due to the Darren Weir scandal.
The Melbourne metropolitan tracks have had their spring carnivals, so Ballarat gets its moment in the sun this weekend, bringing Saturday feature racing to the country.
Melbourne spring racing hits Sandown this week, with the carnivals of Caulfield, Moonee Valley and Flemington in our rearview mirror for another year.
The racing excitement continues this weekend with action from across the country. Here’s your best bets.
It’s almost Stakes day at Flemington, the last day of the Melbourne Cup week carnival at Australian racing’s headquarters.
We’re halfway through the Flemington Melbourne Cup carnival, and Derby Day and Cup Day haven’t been the easiest cards to find a winner.
The lightly raced, emerging younger horse is on the rise from a Melbourne Cup perspective.
The Melbourne Cup. It’s not just the race that stops a nation. It’s the sporting event of the year in Australia.
Melbourne Cup day is upon us once more. From a punting perspective, it’s the toughest card of the year – 10 races, capacity fields, and horses from all over the country (and the world, for the Melbourne Cup itself) bringing different form to line up.
The biggest week of racing for the entire year awaits, and each day we get closer to the race which stops a nation.
The most exciting time for racing fans is upon us. Melbourne Cup week has finally arrived, kicked off as always by Derby Day – traditionally this has been known as punters day and what better way to look ahead and find some winners.
The VRC Derby is one of the oldest races on the Australian calendar, steeped in history going back all the way to 1855. Phar Lap won the race in 1929.
Yeah, I sense Collingwood/Buckley falls into the Richmond/Hardwick bracket, in that they will build off the unexpected rise and improve again off the back of chemistry and togetherness of the playing list / club. Both teams try to play a committed brand of football, with tactics second.
2019 AFL season preview: Collingwood Magpies
All good points Grand Dog. It’s the intangibles that change from season to season within each club, based on any number of factors that we aren’t privy to. Which is why there is almost always huge surprises with clubs flying up or falling down the ladder against general expectation.
2019 AFL season preview: Collingwood Magpies
Everything about the Dogs under Beveridge is strange.
The Pies did have a very favourable draw, but I think they showed enough quality to say they are a good side. They certainly have a sterner one this time around.
2019 AFL season preview: Collingwood Magpies
West Coast outplayed them over the course of the last three quarters, so deserved the win. The Pies were almost up too much too early. They should improve which will help them in their record against the better teams.
2019 AFL season preview: Collingwood Magpies
Thanks Peter. Plenty of good stuff in your comment there. I think Pendles is a clearance mid, just not a grunt one like the others, and we can’t forget Grundy there as well. I’m fascinated to see who gets spots at the Pies, because the depth is outstanding. Some good players are going to be playing VFL.
2019 AFL season preview: Collingwood Magpies
It means, when not looking through the lens of a Roar writer.
I just don’t like them Floyd, and would prefer they stay in the basement.
2019 AFL season preview: Melbourne Demons
Well, we don’t disagree on that! I got my ratings out of the Prospectus, btw.
2019 AFL season preview: Melbourne Demons
Yeah, Saints too. I think they’ll go about things differently this year, which will help them, but the toll is rising. I thought they had a decent chance to get out of the bottom four this year, but that’s almost impossible now.
2019 AFL season preview: Melbourne Demons
Given the Melbounre list ranks 10th for age and 13th for games played heading into 2019, you’d have to say if the Dees have already peaked then Goodwin will have made a mess of it from here. They’ve ticked the making finals and winning them box in the same year too. I think they’ve got enough of a growing group of core players 25 and under to say they will improve as individuals, and we know how important cohesion is to remaining a top side. They have a big group that is going to play a lot of football together.
2019 AFL season preview: Melbourne Demons
I’m clearly bullish on Adelaide, and their write-up is coming.
Good points about the Pies, and that last line can be true. West Coast and the Dogs showed you can still win with good players missing though.
2019 AFL season preview: Melbourne Demons
Thanks Redbacks. Hard to argue with what you say, and you’re right, they really are missing that long striding fast wingman that can cover a lot of ground. If McDonald goes down they look vulnerable.
2019 AFL season preview: Melbourne Demons
As a pure football supporter, I have no love for Melbourne at all, and so desperately hope they don’t win a flag. But they are building the right way and reach their contending years now.
2019 AFL season preview: Melbourne Demons
It’s a good question Macca, given I start writing these in mid Feb.
I think I’d have Carlton a couple of spots higher, the Dogs a couple lower. Geelong above Essendon. Hawks and Port a bit higher. North and Brisbane a bit lower.
2019 AFL season preview: Melbourne Demons
People said the same about West Coast and Nic Nat, and looked what happened. A single midfield player is never that important, and ruckmen certainly never are. I wouldn’t change my tip for Melbourne or Collingwood a single iota if Gawn or Grundy went down.
2019 AFL season preview: Melbourne Demons
Firstly, I’d like to think I would be at the ground if the Tiges make the prelim James.
As for your Pies Pete, you’ll get to read what I think about them tomorrow or Wednesday…
2019 AFL season preview: Melbourne Demons
Good commentary as always Tom. What you talk about was also a feature of the Bulldogs September in 2016, and to a lesser extent the rise of Richmond in 2017 which was then sustained through 2018 suggesting it was as much system as blend of individual players striking form. But yeah, for WC guys you mentioned outside the less experienced Sheed, to have career best form at that stage of their careers, credit to all involved.
2019 AFL season preview: West Coast Eagles
Yeah, I see five main premiership chances, and they could all finish anywhere in the top six without surprising me.
2019 AFL season preview: West Coast Eagles
More dangerous than ever in the context of the current group. If I say I think Isaac Heeney will be a gun in the midfield this year, I don’t necessarily think people will counter with something about Bob Skilton.
2019 AFL season preview: West Coast Eagles
Something must have happened behind the scenes, but it looks corrected now.
Personally, I think a lot of these streaks get overplayed. Richmond won a lot of games from mid-2017 to end of last season, and obviously play a lot at the MCG. I don’t think the ground was a decisive factor.
2019 AFL season preview: West Coast Eagles
I get it, but when was the last time grand finalists finished 1-2 on the ladder the next year? It just doesn’t happen that way.
2019 AFL season preview: West Coast Eagles
Richmond had a pretty soft draw on paper to open last year, and even the Dogs in 2017 wasn’t that hard either. Just a quirk I guess.
2019 AFL season preview: West Coast Eagles
I think I did Shaun instead of Jack Higgins in the Richmond one too. Brain is fried after all these previews…
2019 AFL season preview: West Coast Eagles
Yes, my understanding is that Beams does take up quite a bit of off-field resources. Let’s just say it’s a good thing he’s a gun.
2019 AFL season preview: Collingwood Magpies