Selfishly, I’m ecstatic that we’ve kept this magical event in the afternoon, riather than later in the day, because living in the Mountain Time Zone in the United States, sixteen hours behind Melbourne, the first bounce will take place at 10:30 pm Friday night. Staying awake to watch the entire game is very doable, even for me. Listening to the 7:30 pm kickoff games is more difficult when I have to stay up ’til 3:30 am just for the opening bounce. (Or I wake up at three and miss everything ahead of the game.) So thanks, AFL, whether we were any consideration out here in the Western Hemisphere or not!

A completely different topic than the admittedly-wide ranging article, although I thought about touching on that, too. (Geelong was completely shafted this season. I was furious about that QF!) The idea that the GF absolutely HAS to be played at the ‘G every single year is would be palatable if it weren’t the home stadium of one or more teams. (Still not good, though.) In my home state of Idaho, we have a population imbalance that matches the footy-loving population of Australia – over half the AFL teams are based in or around Melbourne, with four teams to the east and four more to the west. Here. the capital city of Boise fills the Melbourne role. … For many of the sports or conferences or rotating festivals in our state, Idaho organizations invariably do this – YEAR ONE: Boise. YEAR TWO: Northwards. YEAR THREE: Boise area again. YEAR FOUR: Eastwards (Idaho is shaped like an L). YEAR FIVE: repeat. It seems like a rotation where in every ODD year (i.e.. 2019, for ex), the MCG could be the host site (or include Marvel in the rotation if you’d like). In EVEN years, we can rotate Adelaide/Perth on one even year, and Queensland/Sydney/Canberra/Tasmania on the “other” even year. Yeah, there are stadium size issues, hotel issues, all that sort of things. It’s a thought. And when the issue becomes important enough to do something about it, we can start this conversation in earnest.

Absolutely – Mason Cox is my spirit animal and the reason I went from disliking the Pies to becoming a Collingwood fan! (And if you doubt that his sense of humor matches mine, read his Twitter feed sometime!) He’s also the ONLY proof that us Yankees can conceivably play REAL football at a professional level. Meanwhile, will the last kicker out the Australian door headed to the US to punt in the American version of the game (college or pro) please close the door on your way out… It’s a fascinating imbalance.

“Seed” isn’t the exact right word, I know – I just get tired of using the same terms over and over! And frankly, I think it’s because they’ve stopped trying to BE a Ferrari and started working on being more of a workman’s vehicle that got them here. But you’re right that there are significant differences between how this team’s assembled and how it functions, compared to the Bulldogs circumstances.

It’s been the apparent cause of rust in several cases, AA. It’s cured the issue it was put in for – R23 “Dockering” – and given the AFL the chance to party for a week in between, but the second week off for QF winners has done them no favors over the last four seasons. I don’t know which is worse. At least coaches can plan for this and make some accommodations, though I’m sure Buckley tried. All I know is that I’ve tipped against the Giants thrice and been wrong thrice, just like I was with the Dogs three years ago. Not sure if I’m taking the 11-game-winner season favorites or the fairy tale that keeps writing itself in toughness next Saturday.

The whole article has tongue slightly in cheek, so I’m not overly concerned about matching up the rest of the schedule – of course we’re not really going to flip a home game arbitrarily.

But on that topic, does everybody who shares a stadium get more than eleven home games anyway? Richmond had games against Carlton, Collingwood, and Melbourne in the MCG – did they have 14 home games? Or were some of their actual home games really “neutral site” because their opponents were also MCG tenants? It’s always going to be slightly imbalanced and odd in an arrangement when there’s more than one and fewer than 18 stadiums in use.

Absolutely agree. There isn’t a sport short of the round football that doesn’t just keep playing something vaguely resembling the sport itself – and a super over isn’t so taxing or drawn out that you couldn’t play a second one – or even a third or fourth – if necessary. (And the idea that you match run totals over fifty is wild enough, but the chances of another tied super over in our lifetimes at a CWC is next to nil, anyway.) Counting boundaries, wickets, singles, dot balls, any of those only reward teams who play a style of cricket that’s relevant to that particular stat. PLAY THE GAME. And keep playing until there’s a winner. [Having said all that – holy catfish, that was the most fun I’ve ever had watching cricket. Ever.]

Two? Some of us still think Al Gore rightfully won back in 2000 and will defend our right to say it to the death! 🙂

Daniel – great article. This American’s slowly coming around to a better understanding for and appreciation of cricket – forced into it by the delay in the footy season in ’15 with the World Cup in Australia. Have to admit that several of the games kept even me alert and amazed, the final most of all, of course. What are the chances of installing a better emergency tiebreak system (a second Super Over seems the most logical to me, but what do I know?) – knowing that the odds are it’ll never need to be used again?

Surprised to see Carlton behind the Swans after defeating them handily.

Ironically, I would disagree with the “conservative, hysterical attitude towards gambling” as descriptive of America. What the US has is a hypocritical, bipolar attitude towards gambling – to delve deeper into it would take a full article that would best be classified under “black comedy”. The gambling industry is probably the second fastest growing industry in the States, behind pot dispensaries. (THERE’S a hypocritical topic – states can legalize pot, but it’ll still be illegal under federal law. How cocked up is that?) But the one thing that is consistent among all the different types of gambling – lotteries, casinos, machines in grocery stores, sports betting, whatever – is the idea that those running the game have the appearance of legitimacy. (Emphasis on “appearance”. Read the history of Las Vegas for details.) For anything that smacks of contamination of the “fairness” of the game, the punishment is going to be severe, at least in the sense of working within that business again. (And by the way, my personal aversion to gambling has nothing to do with my Christianity – the Bible is actually pro-gambling, especially in the OT – but rather with my background in mathematics and the subsequent knowledge that most gambling is simply a disguised tax on the mathematically uninformed. It’s why I enjoy sports wagering – it’s the one place to have a fair shot at winning over time.)

OK, this is the only comment I need to address. The sentences “America is more open minded when it comes to Christians” (ignoring the insult) and “Australia has a more forgiving soul” are contradictory. You seem not to have any idea what actual Christian faith is, or you’d have realized that. Maybe your only exposure to what you think of as Christianity is televangelism. If you have an actual interest in finding out, let me know. If not, nothing I can do for you.

(To clarify the last paragraph, I’d originally written that “as a Christian”, I’ve already forgiven him, but “even we Christians” chain up our dogs for safety. I know why the first phrase was edited out, but it made the second one seem out of place as written.)

“It was yet another close contest between the Suns and the Saints, and once again the Suns were victorious.” — I’m curious whether this is a straight up typo (the SAINTS were victorious), or you mean the Suns SHOULD have won, or outplayed St Kilda or whatnot. It’s a strange partnership of teams, like the way Brisbane currently owns the Hawks. It’s hard to fathom how the Suns have lost any of those games, let alone ALL of them.

Agreed, Peter. When the famously Christian Gary Ablett spends part of every game chicken winging opponents, there’s something wrong with the culture of the game. We’ve been focusing so much on the behavior in the stands at games that it’s spilled onto the field – or perhaps it went the other way around in the first place…. I don’t like the idea of changing the game in such a fundamental way as sending players off the field for offenses, but you’re right: the quickest way to securing adherance to the appropriate code of behavior is a punishment that’s clear, consistent, and punitive to the player. Penalty boxes might be required.

PS – the more I look at the outs for Fremantle, the more I’m leaning towards Port winning this weekend. I’m not very confident about the Essendon pick, either.

Hard to take any AA team seriously that doesn’t include Patrick Cripps, no matter what the Carlton record is.

Since nobody else has called you on it – yes, you’re insane. Sydney can’t keep up with any of the top few teams this year for four quarters. No upset brewing there. (Having said that? Your usual excellent work, AD. Thanks.)

Is it too cliche to start my comment with “I am OUTRAGED at your article!”? (I’m not, I promise! You did your usual superb, erudite job!) Seriously, as an American who’s inundated with political outrage over the cheese-puff-in-chief we somehow allowed to assume the Oval office and the politics of outrage his people have embraced, it’s fascinating to read the very same issues affecting my friends on the opposite side of the globe. It either means that human beings are generally getting more “trigger-happy”, or the worldwide media connections are spreading the disease globally.

EXCELLENT analysis! I hadn’t looked as carefully at the Giants’ MCG opponents, and your argument is hard to refute – as is your caveat. Superb points in the final game as well. Great breakdowns throughout (and your record’s better than mine this year, so while that’s faint praise this season, it means I have to listen!). Thanks.

Congratulations on completing your half-marathon! That’s only about thirteen miles more than I could complete!

I wrote a piece for the Roar recently that suggested on average that at the 8-11 week stage of the season, at least six and more likely seven of the eight eventual finalists were already in the top eight. A better question might almost be: if you’re not in the top eight will you even win a game in September? The answer is about as definitive as the one asked here.

OK, if you two are done… TBH, I pay more attention to the percentage than I do the records at this stage. To me, West Coast is 12th in the league, for purposes of comparing the relative strengths of teams through the season (without going into the detailed breakdown of who they’ve played and not played so far). Mind you, having five wins out of the first eight is a valuable commodity. But their play hasn’t inspired confidence that they’ll get five out of their next eight games. (Our ELO numbers have them sixth, which seems high to me; the combination rating also has them sixth, up two spots from last week.)

Good selection. Hard to see how Pendlebury gets left off completely, when Sidebottom and Stephenson make the team, but otherwise it’s a hard list to be too in arms against.

Doran, we may have criticisms about your choices, but that’s immaterial. The purpose of lists and choices in articles in a wiki-zine like The Roar is more to open the conversation around the topics we choose to write about. I had disagreements with your AA list; I have very few with your list here. But both articles did exactly what they should have: provoke conversation. So congratulations – you’ve accomplished precisely what you should have with these articles.