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Roar Guru
Joined July 2015
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Les Zig is a Melbourne-based author, screenwriter, and speaker. He is the author of "This" (MidnightSun Publishing 2023), "Prudence" (2023), "Song of the Curlew" (Pinion Press 2019), "August Falling" (Pantera Press 2018), "Just Another Week in Suburbia" (Pantera Press 2017), and "Pride" (Busybird Publishing 2017). He is also the co-host of "The Collingwood Rant", a weekly show about Collingwood, that can be found on YouTube and iTunes.
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I unwittingly caught part of Eddie McGuire and Jimmy Bartel’s podcast last week. Fifteen minutes in, McGuire, yet again, went into defending Collingwood’s infamous…
One week on has given me time to reflect on such an improbable flag for the Pies. “Improbable?” I’m sure some would scoff, before…
Dear AFL, As we leave another season behind and club begin to enter into list management for next year, we yet again face the…
Back before the internet, people had to line up outside ticketing agencies to get their seats for big games. That’s what we did for…
It always shocks me whenever anybody tries to use precedent as a defence in the AFL. If the league has proven anything in the…
Years ago when the then-VFL was just 12 teams, the competition employed the McIntyre Final 5 system for the finals. The breakdown was simple:…
Kane Cornes is fast developing one of the most bombastic reputations in journalism. Last year, following Collingwood’s Round 1 win over St Kilda, he…
Dear Brian, You came to Collingwood as part of the recruiting wars with Richmond in the 1980s, a genuine star and our first real…
I’m sick of watching the treatment of Jack Ginnivan. We’re now two years into this malfeasance. I’ll pause briefly to let the flogs counter…
I am so sick of watching deplorably umpired games. The footballing fraternity has always qualified umpiring as such a hard job, that a few…
The Collingwood juggernaut rocks on.Unfortunately, it’s the Collingwood hype juggernaut.Within a single quarter of the grand final being played, people began texting me that…
Watching that Sydney versus Collingwood preliminary final unfold for three quarters, I could only think what I’ve thought so often before: we’re just not…
Collingwood’s Nick Daicos has now officially requested that he be allowed to keep wearing the number 35 – the number his father, Peter, made…
Collingwood’s commitment to securing Brisbane’s Daniel McStay baffles me. McStay is a solid but unspectacular contributor playing third fiddle behind Eric Hipwood and Joe…
Sydney Swans fans booed Jack Ginnivan on Sunday. Ginnivan had been subbed out with a hamstring injury. When the coverage crossed to him sitting…
The media’s vilification of Jack Ginnivan, leading to the AFL’s scapegoating of him, has been shameful. But both organisations are great at this: the…
The latest Jordan De Goey saga has thrown up an interesting juxtaposition. There are those who believe that De Goey has messed up, and…
I don’t want to be the 'when I was young' guy lamenting a past that’s gone, but I genuinely lament a past that’s gone.…
It’s good to see the umpires getting a right old whack for their umpiring. I don’t care about the quantity of free kicks awarded.…
I’m so tired of the narrative being written about Collingwood’s Jack Ginnivan. It started with Kane Cornes rebuking Ginnivan for being overly celebratory with…
Richmond’s actually travelling at 50%, with a 12/12 record.
Only Swans (5-12) and St Kilda (1-6-1) get close to Collingwood (15-27-2).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_VFL/AFL_premiers
A brilliant new direction for the AFL
Thanks, Butts.
What annoys is the way they introduce a new rule to remedy another rule that wasn’t being applied, e.g. hands in the back was introduced because the interpretation for push in the back (during a marking contest) became lax.
Why the AFL needs to take the rules back to basics
You’ve inferred a couple of points that I haven’t made. I’m not blaming the umpires if a player lays a head-high tackle, or if they push somebody in the back.
My point is you need fixed interpretations. They can’t vary from game to game.
The uproar comes from the inconsistent application.
Why the AFL needs to take the rules back to basics
But they’re all 6 now, aren’t they?
Importantly, even though Test cricket spawned One-Day cricket, and now T20, the rules have remained standard throughout all three forms.
The unwanted return of AFLX
You’re right, but the format changed for all forms of cricket.
The unwanted return of AFLX
On Daics, while he’s held in high regard, I think he should be recognised even more highly. Tony Shaw recently rated Collingwood players, and said if not for Daicos’s injuries, he’d be mentioned in the same breath as Gary Ablett Sr.
Often, modern small goalkickers are compared to Daicos. which I find bemusing. While those players are great in their own right, Daicos was a once-in-a-generation player — not quick (but not as slow as made out), beautifully balanced, sublimely skilled, equally skilled on both sides of the body.
He should be remembered with the ‘greats’, but never factors into those conversations.
The underrated marvel: Peter Daicos
No, if you saw Tayla Harris’s mark against Fremantle, or Kate McCarthy’s five-bounce goal, you’d know there’s some legitimate highlights.
Unrealistic AFLW knockers need to keep quiet
And that’s absolutely fine, Mike. Nobody’s saying you should like it for the sake of liking it. The article is aimed more at people who are disliking it for the sake of disliking it.
Unrealistic AFLW knockers need to keep quiet
You’re entitled to your criticism. But (and this isn’t aimed specifically at your comment) be justified in making it. I do know people who criticise the AFLW for the sake of criticising. I also know people who went into watching it expecting some elite showcase of skill and talent, and then disdained it because they didn’t get it. It’s a new competition. It’s going to take time to find its feet.
Unrealistic AFLW knockers need to keep quiet
You can dislike it for whatever justifiable reasons you might have, but I do know a number of people who deride it for the sake of deriding it.
Unrealistic AFLW knockers need to keep quiet
It’s going to get media attention. It’s a new competition breaking ground. Eventually, it will be up to the competition to warrant the attention, but right now I think it deserves its exposure.
Unrealistic AFLW knockers need to keep quiet
They’re started to play a few reserves games before the seniors, e.g. last year at Collingwood vs Carlton, the reserves played first.
I think the AFLW would make a good curtain raiser.
Unrealistic AFLW knockers need to keep quiet
The thrust is simple. It’s rough because it’s starting out. People run around complaining about the standard. Give it time.
As for the complaints re the AFL, there’s been criticisms in recent seasons that not enough goals are kicked. Apparently, a high-scoring game is a good game. A low-scoring game with packs, etc., isn’t I don’t subscribe to that.
A good game is a good contest, regardless of score, as opposed to this trend of playing football like basketball.
Unrealistic AFLW knockers need to keep quiet
Thanks, BigAl. I think he likes to play it up at times, but it’s all part of being a character — something he values in football’s audiences.
Perceptions of a 'toothless, Collingwood bogan'
Thanks, Penster. He’s definitely gracious with his time. And you nail it: he turned ‘great adversity in his own life to help others’. I know he likes to try pass that message on.
Perceptions of a 'toothless, Collingwood bogan'
Hi, Gyfox. Yep, you’re right. Joffa does work for the Salvation Army, which makes his charity work so amazing. He’s constantly looking at giving back to the community.
Perceptions of a 'toothless, Collingwood bogan'
Thanks, AdelaideDocker. That’s the beauty about football — the way it does appeal across the board to all different types.
Perceptions of a 'toothless, Collingwood bogan'
Exactly, Paul. He is the nicest, humblest guy when you meet him, which isn’t always the way he’s portrayed.
Perceptions of a 'toothless, Collingwood bogan'
Thanks, mds1970. Yep. Exactly. Joffa’s a great example of somebody who used what’s happened in his life in a constructive way and to help others.
Perceptions of a 'toothless, Collingwood bogan'
Thanks, Milo. Love the game and the stands when it’s full of good-natured characters.
Perceptions of a 'toothless, Collingwood bogan'
My biggest concern is that four years in, and we haven’t seen a sustainable gameplan. It’s reliant, so far, just on frenetic pressure. I’m hoping it will click once the kids get more experience but, by now, I would’ve hoped we would’ve seen something that was emblematic of Collingwood.
Collingwood: Potential versus reality
I agree. I know it sounds callous and extreme, but I would’ve compelled Victorian-based clubs to move to the non-indigenous footy locales, i.e. Gold Coast, and Greater Western Sydney. That way, they could’ve had immediate support (after the fans got over the disenfranchisement — if Fitzroy fans got over what the AFL did to them, I figure fans will ultimately forgive anything).
A brilliant new direction for the AFL