Roar Guru
Joined February 2012
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Even though we were expecting little heading into their final match of the season against old foes England, the Wallabies served up another offering…
In the movie Predator, Arnold Schwarzenegger's character roams the jungle opposed to an enemy hell bent on his destruction. He is faced with an…
​In the world of tennis, the serve and volleyers were once kings of the game. They showed an instinct and freedom for the game…
On the biggest stage of all, Richmond broke a 37-year-old VFL/AFL drought to win the premiership, defeating a disappointing Adelaide by 48 points. After…
The Wallabies forwards have been consistently inconsistent for a long time now. A miserable showing against the All Blacks in Bledisloe 1 was quickly…
​The Wallabies put in a gutsy performance on Saturday and I was genuinely proud of the effort they displayed. Most pleasing though was the…
It was a brilliant weekend of Premier League action, with great goals, red cards, late drama, and shambolic defending. Manchester United have made early…
The English Premier League was back again which meant lazy weekends spent missing football were over. In the topsy turvy world that is the…
​As a big believer in equalisation I will admit that I welcomed the introduction of UEFA Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations with open arms.…
​There is no quick solution to rugby's umpiring problems, but one simple change that could make things a lot better is having a second…
​'All animals are equal but some are more equal than others.' Substitute teams for animals and one feels that this has been the mantra…
On a humid Sunday afternoon, Roger Federer strolled to the easiest of victories over Marin Cilic, in the process sealing his eighth Wimbledon title…
It was a gripping and brutal series and ultimately neither side could be separated. In a tight series, errors are magnified and the obvious…
In the pouring rain under the bright lights of the cake tin the All Blacks and the British and Irish Lions played out a…
After seeing the All Blacks sweep all before them over the last few years, I was eagerly anticipating the series against the British and…
It took 58 minutes of the north London derby – and being 2-0 down – for Arsenal supporters to launch into, "We're going to…
It was billed as the greatest collection of managers to have ever been assembled in Premier League history. Household names like Tony Pulis, Alan…
This season's Sydney FC team will long be celebrated as one of the most successful sides in A-League history. But spare a thought for…
A sleepy Saturday just as quickly morphed into super Sunday as the Barclays Premier League roared back into life. On Saturday, there was a…
Melbourne borne and bred, I recently arrived in London for a brief sojourn. Living in Arsenal heartland, keeping my support of Spurs under wraps…
Great comment Brayden. Im sure they tried to tweak things but you are right no major changes were made. And really had no plan B when things went south. Perhaps that is the downside to not having been challenged during the finals series. Still think they are an elite midfielder short (Not that elite midfielders grow on trees or fit into a salary cap) – SLoane was brilliant, crouch brothers accumulated but they got beaten at the contested possesions (-30)/clearances (-6) and werent allowed to run on the outside.
Five talking points from the AFL grand final
GOod point Anon. SHould the first game be played at Kardinia Park? – could argue both ways. Im neutral as I support neither club but happy to see game played at MCG to allow more fans there. I am not sure if Geelong has MCG listed as a home base or not but they do play a number of home games at Etihad and so playing away from KArdinia park in melbourne is not out of the ordinary during the home and away season. THe second final richmond earnt by winning the first week and the GF is always held at the ‘G and probably always will be. Just the way it is. A solution might be to rotate the GF season by season but against this is that besides Telstra stadium no other ground has a capacity that can rival MCG. WIth corporates, sponsors, ex players guranteed seats – a huge number of club members (of competing sides) would miss out if you moved it away from G.
Five talking points from the AFL grand final
THanks for the comment FSOTS. Atkins should have had more game awareness, paused and given ball to Walker. He took the advantage and unfortunately was tackled. THat is holding the ball every day of the week. Perhaps Betts deserved a free kick but Grimes did a job of disguising the hold. I think overall they umpired very well. I disagree that they influenced the game – richmond won because they were the better team on the day and umpiring had very little to do with this. You could go through each game and cherry pick a bunch of decision that didnt go your way. Mostly we watch the game with a degree of bias – if richmond lost there would be a bunch of supporters here arguing about a bunch of frees that didnt go their way. Just the instrinsic nature of sports supporting really
Five talking points from the AFL grand final
Great comment Johnno. Agree with the up there cazaly. Not sure what your thoughts were on the killers. I like the day time GF too – although personally wishing it would switch to night for the few years I am in London.
Big call about Dusty but if maintains his current form and wins another flag he would certainly be up there with Carey/ablett.
Five talking points from the AFL grand final
Tigers fans getting excited already. YOu deserve to enjoy it but a big call. It is pretty difficult to go back to back and it is a very even comp. That being said you have a good young group and a gamestyle that will hold up in finals so a top 4 would be the minimum expectation next year
Five talking points from the AFL grand final
Great piece Justin.
I was hoping for rain as that negates some of the aerial importance but the forecast looks reasonable. The crows have brilliant foot skills and their ability to hit short targets is crucial to ball retention and moving the ball downfield when the defence is set. Richmond need to work hard to close this space down to force adelaide to kick long down the line or take bigger risks in hitting short targets – the ultimate test of skill in the furnace of a GF.
I am Victorian but Aaree with Doctor Rotcod – stats should specify a pre-AFL period i.e. VFL and AFL. The change in professional, fairness, travel has been big not to mention the inclusion of multiple new teams means that are two different competitions rather than the complete continuation of the VFL. But from a club perspective Richmond havent won a trophy in 37 years (VFL/AFL) and i think it is fair to look it that way so long as it is mentioned that it is VFL/AFL stat.
The biggest concern for Richmond in Saturday’s AFL grand final
Fair call Baz. It is crucial for the forwards to get on the front foot for 10 to do his best work. Completely agree with your comments on the backrow. Perhaps he is keen on getting more games into hanigan in preparation for 2019 but cannot see how he is our starting 6. Agree with Fardy but he is now 32, playing in Leinster and so unavailable and so we need to use someone else eg timani, demsey or keep getting games into hannigan
The Wallabies forwards make amends, but we need consistency
Hi Gepetto, you Could read it either way – ill leave it up to you. I havent been a huge of Simmons for his lack of physicality but i think his recent work has been much better.
The Wallabies forwards make amends, but we need consistency
Great comment OB. Duly noted – we are in some ways saying similar things but the LH work the lift the chest of the TH – your way works and ala Joe Moody – subtle angle can achieve it too
The Wallabies forwards make amends, but we need consistency
Thanks for the comment Curl!
The Wallabies forwards make amends, but we need consistency
Thanks Nick! Trying to learn from the best.
The Wallabies forwards make amends, but we need consistency
I think aussie fans have got it very good. COnstant complaints about prices etc. A little perspective would be useful.
Im from melbourne but done sports in adelaide and sydney and now in London.
Melbourne – centrally located so always get a train/tram ($7), a ticket to the afl eg $20 or so. Usually dont buy food to save costs and i dont drink alcohol so I guess i save there. You commute in and out fast due to excellent access.
London – tickets to rugby union internationals are impossible to get for england. Epl single tickets cost £40 (~$70-80), transport is ~£5-10 (~$8-16) and a huge wait (usually at least an hour) to get the train back home. All up a stock standard EPL game (without food/drinks) is almost $100 for a single person (give or take a bit depending on conversion).
Ridiculous prices are strangling live rugby league
great read mastermind. very professional write up – thought i was reading ‘The Age’ for a moment there.
I think its pressure – not the rest. after 2 matches, players have earnt a brief rest to get rid of niggles. They will have kept their skills up in training. Final pressure – both physical and mental is something else all together.
Key talking points from the first week of the AFL finals
Great read. I have always enjoyed the games against SA. Of course the rivalry with NZ will be bigger By virtue of shared history and proximity.
As alluded to above – parity in the forwards, manage to scramble in the scrum and we will have a strong chance.
I’ll throw one up for greatest game ever- everyone talks about the 2000 game v all blacks but nothing beats Eales last game when Kefu scored a try with minutes remaining to retain the bledisloe
Wallabies vs. Springboks: A rivalry hiding in plain sight
interesting read Pat. Have to agree and disagree. Positives are that its central and with SOuthern cross station so close it is easily accessible from all parts of melbourne. It is comfortable, dont worry about weather and contrary to what you have mentioned I think the amenities and food options are pretty reasonable (if not their cost).
I have been to all the grounds in melbourne over 20 years and watched soccer, AFL, league SOO at etihad, MCG and AAMI. Can safely etihad has the worst atmosphere. It is just a function of acoustics. 30,000 at the G are louder than 55 at etihad. The importance of the game can help e..g. SOO but sound just doesnt reverberate. I think melb victory games are best example – AAMI park is rocking, the chants get around the ground quickly and its closer to the action (function of playing on a rectangular ground of course).
That being said suggestions to rip up etihad are ridiculous. Government needs to do more to make docklands a place to visit – leave that to the town planners
In defence of Etihad Stadium
agree Jemainok. All about consistency. it is one thing to respond after getting beaten the way they did in bledisloe 1, the next step is produce that same amount of aggression and skill to the rest of the RC. pack has yet to show that level of consistency since RWC. hopefully it changes now
The Wallabies forward pack: A performance to build on or another false dawn?
Thanks for the comments PeterK. Agree – foley needs to mix up his delivery and players he chooses to target. Yep – Read is always the go to guy late and they failed to pick that up. NZ were able to put the blockers the place because foley is predictable. i hate the blockers but you are absolutely right – it is one way to slow the runners down. just hope the blockers dont catch the ball when it bounces of the catcher and get called for accidental offside 😉
The Wallabies forward pack: A performance to build on or another false dawn?
thanks Jonno. you should ask nick bishop to write his next piece on the forwards – he is the resident expert on the roar for tactical analysis. and yes – hopefully coleman wil be back sooner rather than later
The Wallabies forward pack: A performance to build on or another false dawn?
Thanks for the comment Robbo. I went over the footage of several scrums a few times and felt Moody was subtly angling in first. the job of the loose head is to create instablity with the opposing tighthead and is acheived by subtle angling and getting underneath. disrupt the TH and you can disrupt the whole scrum. moody really is doing what most LHP do all over the world – and doing it well. Agree that the screenshot makes it hard to know – it is just a snapshot in time – something ill try and work in the future.
The Wallabies forward pack: A performance to build on or another false dawn?
Hi Fionn, been a burning issue for weeks now. We are in a bit of trouble there. Fardy aint coming back any time soon, hanigan is too young, Pocock is on sabatical and not sure the pocock/hooper combo at 6/7 provides the right balance and mcmahon is off to Japan. not sure why higginbotham doesnt get a run. must be frustrating – believe you wrote an excellent article on this topic. timani/hooper/higginbotham perhaps?
The Wallabies forward pack: A performance to build on or another false dawn?
Thanks Hugo. Yep – restarts are a tricky business. unfortunately I wasnt old enough i think to watch NFJ running around to win the grand slam. will be interesting to see how we fare against the SA front row – i think we came up against the best and besides getting bashed in the scrum when TFN was off – we did ok. hopefully we can produce a similar performance with a slightly adjusted front row and back row.
The Wallabies forward pack: A performance to build on or another false dawn?
Thanks Riddler! Hope the
Forward pack can maintain and improve on their performance against SA
The Wallabies forward pack: A performance to build on or another false dawn?
Thanks for the comment buddy boy. Yes agreed- disappointing result but think with our now slightly defeatist attitudes, we were just rapt to see a contest
The Wallabies forward pack: A performance to build on or another false dawn?
Brilliant read Nick. I missed the game against Argentina but hope JD can continue improve and make the problematic no 6 spot his own
Jack Dempsey: Test-match heavyweight, or just a pumped-up middleweight?