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If I wrote this at the start of the season, I’d get shot down as “Mad!” and told “Impossible!” However, one of the biggest…
McDonald, McLean and Amartey… not worried about key forwards
It’s down back I’m worried. Gotta find a replacement for Paddy Mc.
The Swans have already won the trade period - and it's set them up perfectly for another crack at a flag
Sydney also have a history of shrewd recruiting and getting value out of under rated players.
I also think Grundy will love the Swans environment.
Swans v Giants for ’24 flag!
The Swans have already won the trade period - and it's set them up perfectly for another crack at a flag
Well said Les and Pete
As a Swannie, I wouldn’t swap the last 27 years (7 GFs, 2 flags, and a truckload of other finals appearances) for the Tiges in the same time period.
And wouldn’t you love to be a sponsor or fan of the Cats or Swans?! Value for money year in year out.
I do wonder if the Pies’ age will catch up with them next season, like it did the Cats this year.
Losing is a great motivator, especially when you know you don’t have much time left. If winning even knocks 1% off motivation, that can be the difference. Cats never looked as single-minded this year as they did last.
One flag isn't enough, the Pies should stuff their face
My early crazy tips for ’24… Suns to make the 8 (they did win the VFL flag which does suggest some good depth) and an all Sydney grand final, with the Swans pipping the Giants in a close one!
AFL Oracle revisited: Grading my pre-season predictions for 2023
Runner’s up medal is quite different to medals for other players on the premier team. Trent Cotchin, aguy with 3 premiership medals, believes his team mates who contributed through the year should have a medal to show for it too.
'I would change it in a heartbeat': Cox calls for premiership medal change after teammates' 'f---ing shattering' heartbreak
All the naysayers seem to ignore one important point when they say it’d devalue the medal… The players who played in the team on the day will always have that and will always be the ones most feted.
So why do those players even need medals? If you stopped medals altogether does that invalidate playing in a premiership?
In fact, until around 1977, the VFL did not award medals (it was left up to the clubs). So are all the players pre-1977 not VFL premiership players?
Test cricket is able to function without medals and without devaluing the contribution of all players in the squad
It’s a bit ironic that we say “Collingwood won the 2023 premiership” (i.e. the whole club) but only recognise the 23 on the day as premiership players.
Should therefore we stop counting club premierships, since it’s only the players on the day that matter?
Absurd of course, but so is the stubborn adherence to an outdated “tradition” for macho reasons.
'I would change it in a heartbeat': Cox calls for premiership medal change after teammates' 'f---ing shattering' heartbreak
I’d be more worried about the Pies who have been held goalless for a quarter in both their finals.
No team in the AFL era has ever won a flag after being held goalless in a quarter in one of their earlier finals. And about a dozen have tried.
I’m not worried about the Lions slow start. Post-bye cobwebs.
I’m more worried about the Lions MCG record. I tipped them for the flag at the start of the year, but went off them as the struggled at the MCG.
Still think they should win… but Pies seem to keep finding a way, despite not being in the best form of the two
Finals Fix: One quarter from hell couldn't keep the Lions out of the big dance - but another might just cost them the flag
“After an even season, just six teams remain…”
Sorry? Did I miss something, Tim? Which two teams were eliminated last weekend? Do losses in the AFLW count?
Mini-grand finals, Saints' Toby tamer, should Pies play Cox? Five burning questions for AFL Finals Week One
Not sure what your measure is for an “alpha key forward”, but Pies definitely don’t have an alpha key forward, and as you say, nor do Demons… You thinking Blues for the flag?! I’d go Blues too but no team has ever won with such a long break between finals appearances.
Is 2023 the year Brisbane takes their AFL premiership chance, or is it mission impossible?
Don’t understand why Ashcroft gets stooged just because he only played 19 games. That’s more than enough to judge him the Rising Star.
Is it voted on like the Brownlow? Or do they just sit around and say, who is the best?
It should be the latter, and Ashcroft should win.
AFL Rising Star Power Rankings: Every nominee rated from 1-24 - is it Sheezel's to lose in the best crop of young guns ever?
Yeah, was a bit rich Gil blaming “human error” and punting the goal ump for the rest of the year.
The umpire made a call he was very confident in. That’s his job. His job is not to second-guess every decision he makes, else he won’t be able to make any decisiona nd we may as well rplace him with robots.
He made a mistake. The problem was and is failures in the system to catch mistakes.
Gil couldn’t bring himself to speak the truth, to say “The system we have in place failed, and needs to be fixed because it wasn’t able to correct this mistake.”
Crows robbery the latest in a long list of failures by Gill's arrogant AFL
I think 2016 he might’ve got lucky.
He inherited quite a good squad, the 2016 pre-season bye benefited them immensely and derailed other contenders, and even many neutrals say they got quite a good deal from the umps in the grand final.
Since then he has struggled to get the best out of a highly talented list.
But the list he’s built has been somewhat confusing. Been more like a newbie playing fantasy football, putting everything into high value players
First he stacked up on mid fielders – with names like Bontempelli, Dunkley, Macrae, Smith, Liberatore, Treloar – and many people thought they’d be unbeatable, and in 2021 it nearly worked, getting all the way to the grand final.
Then he’s seemed to go all out for forwards, such that this year they had Naughton, Bruce, Darcy, Ugle-Hagan, Lobb and Weightman. And again many pundits wondered how they could be beaten.
Won’t be surprised if now he stacks up on defenders!
Has Luke Beveridge made the most of the Western Bulldogs' talent, or is he all smoke and mirrors?
Hopefully Daicos won’t be another Max Holmes story.
Massive Pies blow as knee injury leaves Nick Daicos' season in jeopardy
No. Coz Broad was saying that would have been the case with any ball, not this particular ball as the author the strongly implied.
ICC issues wishy-washy response to Ashes ball swap fiasco as both teams cop fines for slow over rates
Agree. Bazball has been proven.
But it’s not all bash ball. It’s captured in the reactions of the captains afterwards.
Cummins (Australia, retained the Ashes): We’re disappointed we didn’t win the Ashes
Stokes (England, failed to win the Ashes): I hope we inspired the next generation. (No sense of disappointment or failure at all)
Bazball doesn’t make winning the be-all. And that was of refreshing. It was disappointing to hear the Aussie comments about not winning the Ashes*.
Professional cricketers – all professional sports people – are paid entertainers first and foremost. If we want Test cricket to survive, it has to be entertaining, it has to put bums on seats.
Winning isn’t enough to do that, because that only gets the bums from the winning side. And when a side wins 5-0, then half the bums stop turning up. It’s not entertaining to see your team get flogged, and it certainly doesn’t bring in new fans.
It must be said too, the Poms did make absolute fools of themselves early in the series, with their arrogance and self-righteousness that was not in the spirit of Bazball.
But after Lord’s when they got back to letting their cricket do the talking, the results swung their way.
*I reckon the visiting team should only have to draw the series to win the Ashes. e.g. If the Poms held the Ashes, and we draw 2-2 over there, then we win them back.
Northern View: 'Aussie Snoozeball' hinted at a dreaded future. England have changed the course of Test cricket
“England took such a shine to the replacement ball that they didn’t bother taking the second new ball late in the day…”
Ermm… that’s not true.
Broad said they didn’t take the new ball coz the new Duke’s weren’t doing as much as the old ones, which they learnt from the First Test. And they got burned then when they took the new ball and the 9th wicket were unthreatened by it, and he said they should have stuck with the old one.
ICC issues wishy-washy response to Ashes ball swap fiasco as both teams cop fines for slow over rates
Yeah! Far superior on paper. Before the series I thought this was the strongest side we’d sent over since maybe 2005. Ussie, Lasagne, Smudge, Head, Cummins, Starc, Hazelwood, Lyon… That’s some sort of base for a team!
The Liebke Fifth Ashes Test report card: 'This series will be remembered as the 2-0 GOATwash'
Bairstow was robbed! He was clearly Australia’s player of the series! 😂
Test-mortem: Bazball ultimately a little too reckless against Australian crawl - Where Ashes was won, lost and drawn
Another beat up by the whinging Aussie media.
Aussies won the Whinging Ashes and pipped them too on the fight for the Moral High Ground Ashes.
Let’s not bother with cricket at all next series, just let the media fight out the Ashes.
English bitter: 'Pathetic' Poms accused of dodging post-match beer in aftermath of tense Ashes series
England lost the Ashes with their arrogance early. Crawley saying they’d win by 140 at Lords. LOL. Robinson, every time he opened his mouth. Cringe. And some say Stokes’ early declaration on day one of the First Test smacked of arrogance too.
Once they dropped the arrogance – and Robinson – they turned things ’round.
Every player rated from the fifth Ashes Test: Spinner shines, Davey defies doubters, but is Cummins cooked?
Geez! Pot meet kettle! Have a whinge! I’ve never seen so much whinging from Aussies fans, especially once we started losing. It was the weather, it was the toss, it was the ball change, on and on it has gone!
We kept the Ashes – tho I reckon they should make it so a home team should have to win outright to claim them – and we’re still whinging!
We’ve certainly met the Poms eye-to-eye in the Whinging Ashes!
UK View: 'The moral victory is real' - Poms revel in Pat's 'failure', downfall of 'dastardly' and 'scared' Aussies
’tis a shame that both teams lost their #1 spinner. Tho, I think the GOAT would have done more than the Leech. And, getting two tests to Leach’s none, he did. Helped us win the first Test – albeit more so with his bat – and thus retain the Ashes.
The Liebke Fifth Ashes Test report card: 'This series will be remembered as the 2-0 GOATwash'
It’s not a scientific comparison. But, it still works as a way to put perspective on how great a player is.
Another is to see how far ahead of his peers he is. Buddy’s kicked 1066 in the same era that the next best are Hawkins and Riewoldt, both around 780.
On goals per game:
Lockett 4.8 per game
Dunstall: 4.7
Ablett: 4.2
So, Lockett was 2% ahead of Dunstall and 14% ahead of Ablett.
Compare that to Buddy’s peers:
Buddy: 3.0
Riewoldt: 2.3
Hawkins: 2.3
Buddy is 30% ahead of his peers!!
AFL News: Bye, bye Buddy - legend's career call, Zorko accuses rival of 'grab the groin and squeeze' tactics
Wouldn’t be getting on a Blues Premiership wagon. They would have to overcome massive weight of history. No team has ever won it in the last 50 years (at least) with more than a 4 year break between finals appearances. Adelaide did it in 1997 after last making finals in 1993. Dees are next best, 2018 to 2021.
Carlton’s last appearance was 10 years ago! Ed Curnow, who’s in the twos at the moment, is the only player on their list who’s even played a final in Carlton jumper, if I’m not mistaken!
Sure, history can be broken, but that’s pretty solid history saying you need some finals experience.
Footy Fix: The Blues aren't the only winners out of Friday night - because the Pies' luck has run out at last
It is absurd. So, if a fan obstructs an incoming batter causing them to exceed the time limit, the batter should by law be given out.
Forget the spirit of the game - World Cup 'timed out' farce is a failure of basic common sense