Australia took the first test today in just 90 minutes of play on a cloudy Monday morning in Brisbane.
The next step to recovering the holy grail is the Adelaide test, and what a test it is going to be. Im predicting a much closer contest than what we have seen over the past 5 days and for the poms to bat first.
I'm also predicting Warne, who is just starting to fire up, to take 5 wickets and for Ponting and Langer to both score centuries.
That being said, I'm also predicting that Cook and Strauss will also gain big run totals for England and for Harmison to start firing up and do some damage to our middle order as well, Gilly will probably have another disappointing time at the stumps but will show what a champ he is when it comes to fielding. However I think that we can expect a century from him later on in the series, possibly at the WACA (where I will be attending in just under a months time).
Anyway here is my rough prediction for the scorecard:
First Innings -
England to make about 400-450
Australia to make 500+
The second innings will be a mirror of Englands first innings at the GABBA where we will see the top order crumble fast and the side collapsing before they reach 200.
Australia to take out the second test and eventually the Ashes.
So that's my prediction anyway, I hope that it's pretty close, because as you know, we'd all like to see the poms delivered a killer blow and the Ashes to sit nice and comfortable back here.
27.11.06
25.11.06
2006 AFL Draft
It's finally here, all the talent scouting that clubs have been doing over the past year has reached the point where they will finally have the opportunity to draft new blood into their teams.
First of all, Carlton has used its first pick to select South Aussie Bryce Gibbs. Not a surprise to me as he always seemed to be the number one pick. Seeing as this is the best draft since the AFL has begun, the decision will definitely pay off for the Blues.
It also looks like West Aussie Scott Gumbleton from Peel is headed to windy hill to join the Bombers next season. Scott will play a prolific role in the regeneration of the struggling side.
Scott also has made 14.2 in the beep test, which for those of us who have been heavily involved in Athletics in the past, is extremely superb and indicates high fitness and endurance levels. He is also a very strong overhead mark and will be a powerhouse for the team. Another example of Peel losing all their quality players to the AFL, they will struggle once again in the WAFL next year.
Joel Selwood ended up at Geelong, and that will suit him ok even if he's not playing with his brothers at Brisbane or West Coast. He'll still feel at home in country Victoria and will fit in to the club like a glove.
Looks like there's another Nathan Brown in the comp, this one hailing again from country Victoria and ending up at Collingwood. With the Pies having 2 first round draft picks (freo missing out due to the trade) they have also picked up Ben Reid, a strong Left Footer who can play forward or back. He's speed and size will probably land him up forward more often though.
West Coast have picked up Nathan's twin brother, Mitchell. With a beep test of 14.1, you all know what this means. He can also play at either end of the ground, adding to the Eagle's versatile squad.
Some of the other first round picks:
Kangaroos - Lachlan Hansen from Gippsland
Brisbane - Matthew Leuenberger from East Perth
Port Adelaide - Travis Boak from Geelong Falcons
Hawthorn - Mitchell Thorp from Tassie Mariners
St Kilda - David Armitage from Morningside (QLD)
Western Bulldogs - Andreis Everitt from Dandenong
Melbourne - James Frawley from North Ballarat
Richmond - Jack Riewoldt from Tassie Mariners
Adelaide - James Sellar from Glenelg (no surprises there)
Sydney - Daniel O'Keefe from Geelong Falcons
First of all, Carlton has used its first pick to select South Aussie Bryce Gibbs. Not a surprise to me as he always seemed to be the number one pick. Seeing as this is the best draft since the AFL has begun, the decision will definitely pay off for the Blues.
It also looks like West Aussie Scott Gumbleton from Peel is headed to windy hill to join the Bombers next season. Scott will play a prolific role in the regeneration of the struggling side.
Scott also has made 14.2 in the beep test, which for those of us who have been heavily involved in Athletics in the past, is extremely superb and indicates high fitness and endurance levels. He is also a very strong overhead mark and will be a powerhouse for the team. Another example of Peel losing all their quality players to the AFL, they will struggle once again in the WAFL next year.
Joel Selwood ended up at Geelong, and that will suit him ok even if he's not playing with his brothers at Brisbane or West Coast. He'll still feel at home in country Victoria and will fit in to the club like a glove.
Looks like there's another Nathan Brown in the comp, this one hailing again from country Victoria and ending up at Collingwood. With the Pies having 2 first round draft picks (freo missing out due to the trade) they have also picked up Ben Reid, a strong Left Footer who can play forward or back. He's speed and size will probably land him up forward more often though.
West Coast have picked up Nathan's twin brother, Mitchell. With a beep test of 14.1, you all know what this means. He can also play at either end of the ground, adding to the Eagle's versatile squad.
Some of the other first round picks:
Kangaroos - Lachlan Hansen from Gippsland
Brisbane - Matthew Leuenberger from East Perth
Port Adelaide - Travis Boak from Geelong Falcons
Hawthorn - Mitchell Thorp from Tassie Mariners
St Kilda - David Armitage from Morningside (QLD)
Western Bulldogs - Andreis Everitt from Dandenong
Melbourne - James Frawley from North Ballarat
Richmond - Jack Riewoldt from Tassie Mariners
Adelaide - James Sellar from Glenelg (no surprises there)
Sydney - Daniel O'Keefe from Geelong Falcons
23.11.06
Quiet Time is Over
Network negotiations and Saturday's draft are the focus at the moment, this also means that the uneventful portion of the AFL year is now over and it gets busy again. In just 4 months the pre-season kicks off and our lives will once again be meaningful, get ready for a summer-long pre analysis of next season!
The papers have been gabbing on heaps about all the speculation to do with the upcoming draft, that's nothing new. Controversy has already reared its ugly head as the West Coast Eagles are denied moving a player into the senior rookie list, and Foxtel is all but out of the equation for television rights for 2007. So what does this mean? Well it only means that things are going normal (apart from no Fox Footy next year), however I can't help but think that perhaps footy is taking a huge step backwards by losing pay-tv rights.
Now I'm not a big advocate of sport being exclusive to pay-tv. I don't believe that every Australian family can afford it and those who say that they can, well then they've obviously never gone through a time in their lives where money has been tough, like in my family.
However I do believe that there should at least be SOME aussie rules on Foxtel and that there should be an entire channel devoted to the sport. Not only is this a step in the right direction for publicity, it gives that die-hard fan a channel that they can alway turn to and not be bored. However the absence of Fox Footy in 2007 is a massive step backwards for a sport that is still yet to take off internationally. However I do hope that it doesn't become globally accepted for a long long time, remember how the Americans screwed up by exporting baseball? They're not known as the best country for the sport anymore, which is why the US holds on very tightly to Grid Iron, any rugby playing country could easily surpass them in skill and endurance, especially since rugby is played minus all the protective gear. Not that I'm having a go at NFL or anything, I do like the sport and am a self-confessed Cowboys fan (I support any team from Texas in any sport).
But I digress, I do think that the AFL needs to intervene here and use some of their power to ensure that the partnership with Foxtel goes on, that Fox Footy is resurrected, and that mad footy fans such as I can get their dose of the great sport, even in the summer.
Since I am a dead-set critic of channel 10 and all their programming, I'm especially heated to know that they will continue with the rights. I do despise Eddie McGuire but at least channel 9 know how to treat sports and have produced some great commentary teams, (NRL, Cricket).
Channel 7, well I liked it when they had the exclusive rights for all those years, and let's face it, giving some live matches to community television is an awesome idea and I am a huge advocate of public broadcasting, however the fact is that not many homes at all in Perth can pick up Channel 31, so what does that mean for rural viewers? A nice clean kick in the shorts, that's what it means.
It's all messed up at this stage and it would be ideal to see all 8 games of each round shared between: 1 commercial network, 1 pay-tv station and 1 community station with a large reach. However this is not an ideal situation and certainly not a perfect world, therefore we have: 1 commercial network with Bruce McAvaney, 1 commercial network with a bunch of amateurs, and indecision still running rampant as to who the third stooge is going to be in this vaudevillian comedy of errors.
In any event, the quiet time is now over, the season is approaching. I know it only just ended, however time is fast and sooner or later the Ides of March approaches, the people will plot and hopefully it will be Anthony Demetriou frightfully stating: 'e tu brute!'
The papers have been gabbing on heaps about all the speculation to do with the upcoming draft, that's nothing new. Controversy has already reared its ugly head as the West Coast Eagles are denied moving a player into the senior rookie list, and Foxtel is all but out of the equation for television rights for 2007. So what does this mean? Well it only means that things are going normal (apart from no Fox Footy next year), however I can't help but think that perhaps footy is taking a huge step backwards by losing pay-tv rights.
Now I'm not a big advocate of sport being exclusive to pay-tv. I don't believe that every Australian family can afford it and those who say that they can, well then they've obviously never gone through a time in their lives where money has been tough, like in my family.
However I do believe that there should at least be SOME aussie rules on Foxtel and that there should be an entire channel devoted to the sport. Not only is this a step in the right direction for publicity, it gives that die-hard fan a channel that they can alway turn to and not be bored. However the absence of Fox Footy in 2007 is a massive step backwards for a sport that is still yet to take off internationally. However I do hope that it doesn't become globally accepted for a long long time, remember how the Americans screwed up by exporting baseball? They're not known as the best country for the sport anymore, which is why the US holds on very tightly to Grid Iron, any rugby playing country could easily surpass them in skill and endurance, especially since rugby is played minus all the protective gear. Not that I'm having a go at NFL or anything, I do like the sport and am a self-confessed Cowboys fan (I support any team from Texas in any sport).
But I digress, I do think that the AFL needs to intervene here and use some of their power to ensure that the partnership with Foxtel goes on, that Fox Footy is resurrected, and that mad footy fans such as I can get their dose of the great sport, even in the summer.
Since I am a dead-set critic of channel 10 and all their programming, I'm especially heated to know that they will continue with the rights. I do despise Eddie McGuire but at least channel 9 know how to treat sports and have produced some great commentary teams, (NRL, Cricket).
Channel 7, well I liked it when they had the exclusive rights for all those years, and let's face it, giving some live matches to community television is an awesome idea and I am a huge advocate of public broadcasting, however the fact is that not many homes at all in Perth can pick up Channel 31, so what does that mean for rural viewers? A nice clean kick in the shorts, that's what it means.
It's all messed up at this stage and it would be ideal to see all 8 games of each round shared between: 1 commercial network, 1 pay-tv station and 1 community station with a large reach. However this is not an ideal situation and certainly not a perfect world, therefore we have: 1 commercial network with Bruce McAvaney, 1 commercial network with a bunch of amateurs, and indecision still running rampant as to who the third stooge is going to be in this vaudevillian comedy of errors.
In any event, the quiet time is now over, the season is approaching. I know it only just ended, however time is fast and sooner or later the Ides of March approaches, the people will plot and hopefully it will be Anthony Demetriou frightfully stating: 'e tu brute!'
14.11.06
Australian National Sports - a huge turnaround
In 1999 the media enjoyed inspring the hearts and minds of all sports-mad Australians. They rejoyced when the Wallabies thrashed France and took home the Rugby world cup. Told us we were the greatest country on Earth when we defeated South Africa to take home the cricket world cup. Pat Rafter took out Wimbeldon, our women won the netball world cup......yet the media didn't really make such a deal about that last one.
However it is now 2006. The Aussies lost the Ashes last year, the Wallabies have been dismall for a good few years now, we don't have a star tennis player, and even our women are finding it tough on the court. The only shining lights have been our Socceroos, who had a relatively good world cup this year, and our national basketball teams (both men and women).
So has this huge turnaround been the product of years of arrogance and pride in ourselves? No not really, you see it's never been the Aussie tradition to actually be proud about yourself, we won't even admit we're proud of our own country most of the time.
Is it the fact that our sports stars are ageing and have been around in the same teams for too long? Weeeeelllll that is a possibility, however not the whole truth.
The real reason, the sole factor that has been keeping our past champion teams down lately, is not their own fault, it's not anything they could have prevented from happening. The reason is that those other countries who we have been royally screwing for years, finally found their reason for victory, they WANT TO FINALLY BEAT US.
It's not rocket science and it's not biased at all. If you think about it, our current cricket team, dubbed 'Dad's Army' is not really that old. In fact, I remember when the English toured here back in 1994/95 for the Ashes tour, our media was calling them 'Dad's Army'. And the average age of that team was definitely much older than what ours is now.
There really isn't much else to it, they're not only beating us, they're beating us at our own game. For example let's look at the French national rugby team.
Before I can begin let me give you some fundamentals on Rugby (union, not the made up game of league that only 3 countries in the world play). The game of Rugby is split into 2 types of teams. Northern Hemisphere countries, and Southern Hemisphere countries. Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, South Africa, we all play the same way - the running game. We don't kick the ball as much and like to carry it, holding possession, scoring often with tries and keeping it to us.
The northern hemisphere teams, especially England, love to kick the ball. Kick it long, force the opposition back to their try line and score by kicking goals, not by tries.
However! There has been a change in the years since the last world cup final battle between Australian and England.
The Wallabies have begun to start kicking the ball, not holding it for possession, scoring less tries while England has finally learnt the basics of running with the ball.
France....now the French on the other hand are a smart group of people. Not only are they a northern hemisphere team that PLAYS like a southern hemisphere team, they are the only team that mirrors what the Wallabies were back in 1999 when we beat them in the world cup final!
It's ironic if you think about it. Australia beats france in 99, France adopts (more so) our style of play. England beats Australia in 2003, Australian adopts (to an extent) England's style of play. It's basically the formula that many national teams take on when facing defeat and vowing revenge or victory in the near future.
If you look at France now, they are definitely the favourites to win next year's Rugby world cup. They are simply the fastest, most skilled, and toughest team at the moment. They have all the momentum going into the tournament, and do not lose poorly at all. They will win the world cup next year, that's my early tip and I'm sticking with it.
I've always admired the French team (behind the Wallabies and All Blacks). They have an attitude that suits the game to a tee. They never give up, they run hard, they run fast, they have the weight and the toughness behind them, and they can play both types of the game if they have to alternate.
They are what the Wallabies should be, yet are not, because the team doesn't just need to change tactics, it needs new blood, it needs a star, and it needs to find that winning form that it had 7 years ago.
As for all our other national sports, well the only hope is that there is an overhaul soon. The only hope is that it gets to the point where other countries stop seeing us as the team to beat and finally settle for just playing their best against us. However when we're talking about representing your country in a sport, playing your best won't cut it and you need to win. So it isn't as easy as that. Yet, who knows what the future holds for our national teams. Perhaps our time truly is up and we just have to regroup and go back to the drawing board, build our sports stars from the ground up, focus on fundamentals, take it slowly.
Perhaps we need to rush them in, take risks, make many changes and attempt to intimidate the opposition.
Whatever the path our teams take, we have to trust that they'll make the right choices. We do have some of the best sports and training facilities in the world here and we need to make the most of them. The future is always uncertain, yet we're still a young country and we're still only finding our feet in the international arena, anything is possible.
However it is now 2006. The Aussies lost the Ashes last year, the Wallabies have been dismall for a good few years now, we don't have a star tennis player, and even our women are finding it tough on the court. The only shining lights have been our Socceroos, who had a relatively good world cup this year, and our national basketball teams (both men and women).
So has this huge turnaround been the product of years of arrogance and pride in ourselves? No not really, you see it's never been the Aussie tradition to actually be proud about yourself, we won't even admit we're proud of our own country most of the time.
Is it the fact that our sports stars are ageing and have been around in the same teams for too long? Weeeeelllll that is a possibility, however not the whole truth.
The real reason, the sole factor that has been keeping our past champion teams down lately, is not their own fault, it's not anything they could have prevented from happening. The reason is that those other countries who we have been royally screwing for years, finally found their reason for victory, they WANT TO FINALLY BEAT US.
It's not rocket science and it's not biased at all. If you think about it, our current cricket team, dubbed 'Dad's Army' is not really that old. In fact, I remember when the English toured here back in 1994/95 for the Ashes tour, our media was calling them 'Dad's Army'. And the average age of that team was definitely much older than what ours is now.
There really isn't much else to it, they're not only beating us, they're beating us at our own game. For example let's look at the French national rugby team.
Before I can begin let me give you some fundamentals on Rugby (union, not the made up game of league that only 3 countries in the world play). The game of Rugby is split into 2 types of teams. Northern Hemisphere countries, and Southern Hemisphere countries. Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, South Africa, we all play the same way - the running game. We don't kick the ball as much and like to carry it, holding possession, scoring often with tries and keeping it to us.
The northern hemisphere teams, especially England, love to kick the ball. Kick it long, force the opposition back to their try line and score by kicking goals, not by tries.
However! There has been a change in the years since the last world cup final battle between Australian and England.
The Wallabies have begun to start kicking the ball, not holding it for possession, scoring less tries while England has finally learnt the basics of running with the ball.
France....now the French on the other hand are a smart group of people. Not only are they a northern hemisphere team that PLAYS like a southern hemisphere team, they are the only team that mirrors what the Wallabies were back in 1999 when we beat them in the world cup final!
It's ironic if you think about it. Australia beats france in 99, France adopts (more so) our style of play. England beats Australia in 2003, Australian adopts (to an extent) England's style of play. It's basically the formula that many national teams take on when facing defeat and vowing revenge or victory in the near future.
If you look at France now, they are definitely the favourites to win next year's Rugby world cup. They are simply the fastest, most skilled, and toughest team at the moment. They have all the momentum going into the tournament, and do not lose poorly at all. They will win the world cup next year, that's my early tip and I'm sticking with it.
I've always admired the French team (behind the Wallabies and All Blacks). They have an attitude that suits the game to a tee. They never give up, they run hard, they run fast, they have the weight and the toughness behind them, and they can play both types of the game if they have to alternate.
They are what the Wallabies should be, yet are not, because the team doesn't just need to change tactics, it needs new blood, it needs a star, and it needs to find that winning form that it had 7 years ago.
As for all our other national sports, well the only hope is that there is an overhaul soon. The only hope is that it gets to the point where other countries stop seeing us as the team to beat and finally settle for just playing their best against us. However when we're talking about representing your country in a sport, playing your best won't cut it and you need to win. So it isn't as easy as that. Yet, who knows what the future holds for our national teams. Perhaps our time truly is up and we just have to regroup and go back to the drawing board, build our sports stars from the ground up, focus on fundamentals, take it slowly.
Perhaps we need to rush them in, take risks, make many changes and attempt to intimidate the opposition.
Whatever the path our teams take, we have to trust that they'll make the right choices. We do have some of the best sports and training facilities in the world here and we need to make the most of them. The future is always uncertain, yet we're still a young country and we're still only finding our feet in the international arena, anything is possible.
8.11.06
Headlines and Opinion - November 8th
Just a quick reminder everyone to keep an eye and ear out for the up-coming draft in a couple of weeks.
Pies return to Arizona
Collingwood returned to their high altitude training, which they believe is the reason for a successful 2006. 3 weeks spent in the US state of Arizona is apparently good conditioning for the pies according to senior coaching staff.
First a quick question; Why don't they just use the mountainous areas of Australia in southern New South Wales and Queensland....what about the high altitude of Tasmania?
It seems like such a waste of money and time to travel to another country to undergo the same intensive training that a team would be put through over here. For one thing, training for 3 straight weeks rather intensively will increase the fitness of any athlete, it's an obvious fact. To come back home and state that the team is looking fresher and fitter is a complete farce. Collingwood management and coaching staff should be questioned about this.
The Passion of the Dew
Port Adelaide premiership player Stuart Dew has left football. In a shock announcement, the 27 year old stated that he has lost the passion to play the game.
Apparently it was the highly regimental lifestyle of the AFL which he had grown tired of.
Well Dew boy, you might think that your doing the club a favour by stepping out (and you are) but don't think for one second that you're going to get it easy in any other avenue in life. Life is all about hard work and effort and if you are willing to give up playing the greatest sport on Earth at a professional level, and for money, then you never deserved to be up there in the first place.
There are other players who are left out in the cold, even after showing great talent and commitment to the sport, players such as Shane Woewodin, who is, in my opinion, the most dedicated and hard-working football player around today. Where is he? In the WAFL (see my post from 2 months ago)
Anyway I just don't understand who someone with the ability to continue playing a professional sport, can just quit due to lack of passion, especially in Aussie Rules.
Aussie Women Lose to Irish
Well it looks like our women have a lot of work to do if they want to improve on their performance against Ireland this year. A 39 - 18 victory in the second test was the decider for the Irish who pounded our women throughout the series. The first test's score line was a massive 130 - 15, the biggest blowout ever seen in the game.
Hopefully next year our ladies can redeem themselves.
And that's all for the news today. See you next time.
Pies return to Arizona
Collingwood returned to their high altitude training, which they believe is the reason for a successful 2006. 3 weeks spent in the US state of Arizona is apparently good conditioning for the pies according to senior coaching staff.
First a quick question; Why don't they just use the mountainous areas of Australia in southern New South Wales and Queensland....what about the high altitude of Tasmania?
It seems like such a waste of money and time to travel to another country to undergo the same intensive training that a team would be put through over here. For one thing, training for 3 straight weeks rather intensively will increase the fitness of any athlete, it's an obvious fact. To come back home and state that the team is looking fresher and fitter is a complete farce. Collingwood management and coaching staff should be questioned about this.
The Passion of the Dew
Port Adelaide premiership player Stuart Dew has left football. In a shock announcement, the 27 year old stated that he has lost the passion to play the game.
Apparently it was the highly regimental lifestyle of the AFL which he had grown tired of.
Well Dew boy, you might think that your doing the club a favour by stepping out (and you are) but don't think for one second that you're going to get it easy in any other avenue in life. Life is all about hard work and effort and if you are willing to give up playing the greatest sport on Earth at a professional level, and for money, then you never deserved to be up there in the first place.
There are other players who are left out in the cold, even after showing great talent and commitment to the sport, players such as Shane Woewodin, who is, in my opinion, the most dedicated and hard-working football player around today. Where is he? In the WAFL (see my post from 2 months ago)
Anyway I just don't understand who someone with the ability to continue playing a professional sport, can just quit due to lack of passion, especially in Aussie Rules.
Aussie Women Lose to Irish
Well it looks like our women have a lot of work to do if they want to improve on their performance against Ireland this year. A 39 - 18 victory in the second test was the decider for the Irish who pounded our women throughout the series. The first test's score line was a massive 130 - 15, the biggest blowout ever seen in the game.
Hopefully next year our ladies can redeem themselves.
And that's all for the news today. See you next time.
6.11.06
Punch Me I'm Irish!
Australia has once again defeated Ireland convincingly in the International Rules test series. Some will ask the question however; but at what cost?
To think that this is the bloody end of International Rules would be an assumption of naivity. After last years bloodthirsty victory by the Aussies, the future of the hybrid Gaelic/Aussie code was at stake with Irish complaints and threats of pulling out. It was thought that the Aussies should go over there this year with a calmer frame of mind and hold their punches. This wasn't the case.
From the moment Brendon Fevola got back on that plane after exile from the Emerald Isle it seemed as though the continuation of these tests was going to be a gloomy prospect. This morning's deciding match between the two nations (which Australia won by 38 points and the series by 30 aggregate), would seem like the final nail in the Leprakauns coffin.
Not the case
Even though players were sent off left right and centre. Even though two Irish stars were hospitalised. Even though a bloody brawl broke out so quickly that the commencing whistle was still ringing in the crowds ears.......The show will go on folks.
It has to
The exposure that both Aussie Rules and Gaelic Football gain from this event is priceless. Players of both sports get the opportunity to represent their country, something that an AFL footballer never had the chance to do 10 years ago. For players of Gaelic, it gives them a chance to play sport on the big stage, you see the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) is an amateur organisation and does not pay it's players, they all have full-time jobs, something that an AFL footballer has not had to worry about since the 1980's.
While I'm proud that us Aussies won, and in emphatic fashion, we've also gained a poor repuation in the sporting arena for our brutal tactics. Come on, let's be realistic here, it's a contact sport, if you can't take the heat, bail out of the kitchen folks. Plus it's in my personal opinion that we weren't the only team on the field playing dirty. The Irish are well known for their love of a good fight, where do you think we as Australians got that trait from? After all, Australia does have a rich cultural past linked to the Irish. (Pre-1950's Fremantle is a great example)
All I can say is that this competition will go on next year, and it will be bigger than ever. It'll be a best out of three series (finally) and, because of the controversy this year, will gain a massive audience.
Commiserations to the Irish, you played brilliantly and I respect you, along with most other Australians. Well done once again to the Aussies who played hard and were rewarded.
Long live International Rules!
To think that this is the bloody end of International Rules would be an assumption of naivity. After last years bloodthirsty victory by the Aussies, the future of the hybrid Gaelic/Aussie code was at stake with Irish complaints and threats of pulling out. It was thought that the Aussies should go over there this year with a calmer frame of mind and hold their punches. This wasn't the case.
From the moment Brendon Fevola got back on that plane after exile from the Emerald Isle it seemed as though the continuation of these tests was going to be a gloomy prospect. This morning's deciding match between the two nations (which Australia won by 38 points and the series by 30 aggregate), would seem like the final nail in the Leprakauns coffin.
Not the case
Even though players were sent off left right and centre. Even though two Irish stars were hospitalised. Even though a bloody brawl broke out so quickly that the commencing whistle was still ringing in the crowds ears.......The show will go on folks.
It has to
The exposure that both Aussie Rules and Gaelic Football gain from this event is priceless. Players of both sports get the opportunity to represent their country, something that an AFL footballer never had the chance to do 10 years ago. For players of Gaelic, it gives them a chance to play sport on the big stage, you see the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) is an amateur organisation and does not pay it's players, they all have full-time jobs, something that an AFL footballer has not had to worry about since the 1980's.
While I'm proud that us Aussies won, and in emphatic fashion, we've also gained a poor repuation in the sporting arena for our brutal tactics. Come on, let's be realistic here, it's a contact sport, if you can't take the heat, bail out of the kitchen folks. Plus it's in my personal opinion that we weren't the only team on the field playing dirty. The Irish are well known for their love of a good fight, where do you think we as Australians got that trait from? After all, Australia does have a rich cultural past linked to the Irish. (Pre-1950's Fremantle is a great example)
All I can say is that this competition will go on next year, and it will be bigger than ever. It'll be a best out of three series (finally) and, because of the controversy this year, will gain a massive audience.
Commiserations to the Irish, you played brilliantly and I respect you, along with most other Australians. Well done once again to the Aussies who played hard and were rewarded.
Long live International Rules!
1.11.06
Delayed Post - 2007 season schedule
Just a short review and gripe at the roster for the '07 AFL season
Hi and welcome once again to Up There Cazaly, THE ONLY blog 100% dedicated to Aussie Rules footy.
First of all, sorry about the lack of updates on this blog, my last post was a little more than 2 weeks ago and I whole-heartedly apologise for that fact. In all honesty it has been a hectic couple of weeks between work and family and I will endeavour to keep posting more regularly over the summer.
My other writer for this blog has gone MIA (meaning I do know where he is but don't know why he isn't posting at all) I will sort all of that out so I can assure you all that in the future, this blog will remain updated EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Now on to business:
The 2007 AFL season schedule has been finalised. Now that was 2 weeks ago and it was the biggest news since the end of trade week.
Well what can I say? The AFL have truly gone ahead and screwed over the two WA sides, while giving every eastern state club, especially the 10 based in Victoria, a great deal.
Now some people might say that the WA teams have it easy since every second game is a home game, but those people are forgetting to bear in mind the distance between Perth and every other major city in this country!
The travel is really going to take its tole on the premiership winning West Coast Eagles as they have 8 night away games next season. That might not appear to displease people however this accounts for 3 days of travel each time they play these games due to flight schedules and times. Fair enough they won the premiership and therefore deserve a greater challenge but this is downright intentional interference with the club.
The AFL obviously have no idea what a trip from Perth to Melbourne feels like. The excuse they gave West Coast was that they are the premiers and therefore want them on the mainstage (night games) however we all know the REAL main stage of AFL footy is the MCG, a venue where the Eagles will only play at once all of next season.
Let's compare that to teams such as Collingwood (who no matter how much pampering the AFL gives them they still can't find success) who get 17 games in Victoria next season. So that is basically 17 weeks where they won't have to step inside an airplane.
And to cap off the whinging portion of today's post, most of the other teams from the big V also get it easy, despite drops in attendance and membership numbers. I'm sorry but we here in the west also play footy and have even won more premierships than some of the teams from that state. Where's the justification for this AFL?
On to the system that was used to program next seasons schedule. The AFL used the same software that the NFL uses to construct their matchups week by week, I found that quite interesting because NFL teams play so many games a season, there are more teams, they are essentially split into east and west and some teams will not have the pleasure of meeting over an entire season - every team does not play eachother. The AFL has gotten rid of the system where the first 7 games of the season are repeated in the final 7 rounds, and instead introduced a concept where the two teams will meet twice within a space of 7 or 8 weeks. Now that might be exciting to some fans who want a bit of a change but it has ruined the anticipation of rivalry that has made AFL great.
For example, in the past two great teams will meet early in the season, have a great game, go on and play for another 12-13 weeks against other opponents and then meet again in a grudge match. (Carlton v Geelong 1995)(West Coast v Essendon 1993) It's classic.
Another change is that they've decided to force the two grand final sides to play against eachother in the first round of the season. Where is the logic in that? Sure it will bring in a great crowd and be a huge promotional opportunity, however isn't it a lot better to wait a while for the grudge match to happen? Especially after the way that the AFL and the media has built up the West Coast/Sydney rivalry over the past month.
Some of the things decided so far do not make any sense whatsoever.
Television
Well it pleased me to see that Foxtel is not yet quite out of negotiations with 7 and 10. Personally I'd like to see 10 lose footy altogether because I believe they destroy it. 7 used to have it all to themselves and did a great job. Foxtel should always have footy because I believe they have some of the best on air personalities and commentators coming through the ranks.
Since some negotiation between who will have night games has not been finalised, for the first time we may see two rival networks air live games at the same time (bar Foxtel). I'm undecided on whether or not this will be good for footy. It may be good because it will mean more exposure to AFL, however it may also be bad because viewers will decide to flip flop between stations. Yet there can't be too much harm in this as we all do it with sports radio anyway.
Anyway I'm hoping against hope that Fox Footy does come back, it won't be the same without it next season, and I'm fearful of what a Wayne Carey/Bruce McAvaney team would look like.
Until next time, take care.
Hi and welcome once again to Up There Cazaly, THE ONLY blog 100% dedicated to Aussie Rules footy.
First of all, sorry about the lack of updates on this blog, my last post was a little more than 2 weeks ago and I whole-heartedly apologise for that fact. In all honesty it has been a hectic couple of weeks between work and family and I will endeavour to keep posting more regularly over the summer.
My other writer for this blog has gone MIA (meaning I do know where he is but don't know why he isn't posting at all) I will sort all of that out so I can assure you all that in the future, this blog will remain updated EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Now on to business:
The 2007 AFL season schedule has been finalised. Now that was 2 weeks ago and it was the biggest news since the end of trade week.
Well what can I say? The AFL have truly gone ahead and screwed over the two WA sides, while giving every eastern state club, especially the 10 based in Victoria, a great deal.
Now some people might say that the WA teams have it easy since every second game is a home game, but those people are forgetting to bear in mind the distance between Perth and every other major city in this country!
The travel is really going to take its tole on the premiership winning West Coast Eagles as they have 8 night away games next season. That might not appear to displease people however this accounts for 3 days of travel each time they play these games due to flight schedules and times. Fair enough they won the premiership and therefore deserve a greater challenge but this is downright intentional interference with the club.
The AFL obviously have no idea what a trip from Perth to Melbourne feels like. The excuse they gave West Coast was that they are the premiers and therefore want them on the mainstage (night games) however we all know the REAL main stage of AFL footy is the MCG, a venue where the Eagles will only play at once all of next season.
Let's compare that to teams such as Collingwood (who no matter how much pampering the AFL gives them they still can't find success) who get 17 games in Victoria next season. So that is basically 17 weeks where they won't have to step inside an airplane.
And to cap off the whinging portion of today's post, most of the other teams from the big V also get it easy, despite drops in attendance and membership numbers. I'm sorry but we here in the west also play footy and have even won more premierships than some of the teams from that state. Where's the justification for this AFL?
On to the system that was used to program next seasons schedule. The AFL used the same software that the NFL uses to construct their matchups week by week, I found that quite interesting because NFL teams play so many games a season, there are more teams, they are essentially split into east and west and some teams will not have the pleasure of meeting over an entire season - every team does not play eachother. The AFL has gotten rid of the system where the first 7 games of the season are repeated in the final 7 rounds, and instead introduced a concept where the two teams will meet twice within a space of 7 or 8 weeks. Now that might be exciting to some fans who want a bit of a change but it has ruined the anticipation of rivalry that has made AFL great.
For example, in the past two great teams will meet early in the season, have a great game, go on and play for another 12-13 weeks against other opponents and then meet again in a grudge match. (Carlton v Geelong 1995)(West Coast v Essendon 1993) It's classic.
Another change is that they've decided to force the two grand final sides to play against eachother in the first round of the season. Where is the logic in that? Sure it will bring in a great crowd and be a huge promotional opportunity, however isn't it a lot better to wait a while for the grudge match to happen? Especially after the way that the AFL and the media has built up the West Coast/Sydney rivalry over the past month.
Some of the things decided so far do not make any sense whatsoever.
Television
Well it pleased me to see that Foxtel is not yet quite out of negotiations with 7 and 10. Personally I'd like to see 10 lose footy altogether because I believe they destroy it. 7 used to have it all to themselves and did a great job. Foxtel should always have footy because I believe they have some of the best on air personalities and commentators coming through the ranks.
Since some negotiation between who will have night games has not been finalised, for the first time we may see two rival networks air live games at the same time (bar Foxtel). I'm undecided on whether or not this will be good for footy. It may be good because it will mean more exposure to AFL, however it may also be bad because viewers will decide to flip flop between stations. Yet there can't be too much harm in this as we all do it with sports radio anyway.
Anyway I'm hoping against hope that Fox Footy does come back, it won't be the same without it next season, and I'm fearful of what a Wayne Carey/Bruce McAvaney team would look like.
Until next time, take care.
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