Can we get a footy thread going here?

Arwon

Arwon

stop being water
Joined
Oct 5, 2006
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Hey, so we're a month into the AFL season and I'm still psyched that it's back. I think there's a few people who follow the game, let's see how this goes.

My Swans are travelling okay (who needs rebuilding?), the Suns are getting belted but I still reckon they'll finish above Port and Brisbane, the Essendon hype machine is hitting new heights for premature hubris just as the Melbourne and Adelaide ones look dead and buried, the Saints look like this year's spontaneous combustion case. Can anyone possibly stop the Magpies from going two in a row?

Swans playing Geelong this week. Very tough, but it should be a cracker of a game, first time playing at the SCG since that game.

I've been reliving the memory, it still gives me goosebumps watching the footage. I was there, at the end Davis was kicking to. Probably the single greatest sporting moment I have witnessed.


Link to video.

FOOTY!
 
The Swans get no credit whatsoever from the Melbourne press , yet look very strong and are generally competitive every week .

You are right should be a great game against Geelong . In fact I don't believe they have beaten them since THAT game.

Agreed though , the Pies look unbeatable and are paying just over even money to win the flag , IN APRIL mind you!

As for the Suns ...... Karmichael Hunt ! Oh please what an insult to AFL supporters and teammates alike that signing was

EDIT.... Watched the video . If you can find a more dominant 15 minutes or so of individual brilliance in ANY footy code I would be surprised . Andrew Johns comeback in state of origin 2005 first half or Lionel Messi vs Barcelona in 2010 champions league come to mind as recent challengers
 
Rugbyleaguefan said:
I don't even care that much about AFL , but I know not to like 'em (and I bet you wouldn't have it any other way)
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I'd rather it if people shared around their hate for the other Victorian teams a bit more. It gets a little annoying being everyone's #1 hated club. If a few Collingwood haters changed their most hated team to Essendon, or Carlton, or St Kilda, or Hawthorn, or Richmond, I'd be quite happy with that.
 
Karmichael will be fine, he's an elite and talented athlete and the skills aren't that hard. He's just gotta get to grips with things like positioning and peripheral vision. Same with Izzy. I saw him play against Ainslie last weekend, he looks like a footballer, but just needs to develop the awareness and 360 vision. Sheeds was coaching him 1 on 1 from the fence behind the goals, it was pretty funny.
 
Arwon said:
Karmichael will be fine, he's an elite and talented athlete and the skills aren't that hard. He's just gotta get to grips with things like positioning and peripheral vision. Same with Izzy. I saw him play against Ainslie last weekend, he looks like a footballer, but just needs to develop the awareness and 360 vision. Sheeds was coaching him 1 on 1 from the fence behind the goals, it was pretty funny.
Click to expand...

When I moved to Perth I decided to join an AFL team . My first 2 kicks landed on the clubhouse roof and I spent half an hour throwing up after the fitness session . It's a very very tough transition
 
Arwon said:
My Swans are travelling okay (who needs rebuilding?),
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Who've they beaten? Couldn't beat an insipid Melbourne side, fell over the line against an overrated bombers, and were even luckier to beat the weagles. I watched the game last week, was a disgraceful call near the end to play advantage in the weagles forward line when Natanui snapped it out of bounds pretty much as the whistle went. No advantage, an easy set shot for a weagles goal, and they're in front. Swans should still sneak into the finals, but they'll do nothing once they're there.

azzaman said:
I'd rather it if people shared around their hate for the other Victorian teams a bit more. It gets a little annoying being everyone's #1 hated club. If a few Collingwood haters changed their most hated team to Essendon, or Carlton, or St Kilda, or Hawthorn, or Richmond, I'd be quite happy with that.
Click to expand...

Nah, wouldn't have it any other way.
 
sanabas said:
Who've they beaten? Couldn't beat an insipid Melbourne side, fell over the line against an overrated bombers, and were even luckier to beat the weagles. I watched the game last week, was a disgraceful call near the end to play advantage in the weagles forward line when Natanui snapped it out of bounds pretty much as the whistle went. No advantage, an easy set shot for a weagles goal, and they're in front. Swans should still sneak into the finals, but they'll do nothing once they're there.
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In every facet of our game other than clearances and tackling we're nowhere near our best from last year. The effort and heart is there in spades, but still. Very poor disposal and decision making from a lot of players, no forward structure to speak of, Longmire still clearly figuring out the tactical side of things, several of our best defenders injured, and a lot being asked of relatively inexperienced players (half the team having less than 50 games). Things look pretty encouraging given all that. We have a lot more to be optimistic about that a LOT of other sides.
 
That's what I mean. There's stuff to be optimistic about for the future, but you're not going that well for this year. When Ted Richards appears to be your #1 tall defender, there's something very, very wrong. You're a side that'll finish somewhere around 6th-10th, and playing like it.
 
Meh, we have been slow starters most years. Last year was a shocking aberration on that front. If we can have that slow start whilst still ekeing out victories, that's a very good thing.

Carlton's a must-win next week. We've got basically the same side as last year when we finished 5th and got within a goal of a preliminary final, so we really should be expecting to threaten the top 4 again this year. Skills need to get back to halfway decent, players like Hannebery and Jack need to learn to cope with the defensive attention they're now getting, and we need a couple of those older defenders back.

(Oh and Ted Richards has been a rock for a couple of years now. He transformed into a solid key defender so gradually I don't think anyone - including Swans fans - noticed)
 
So.

Are St Kilda actually a bit rubbish now, or will this form turn around?
 
Arwon said:
So.

Are St Kilda actually a bit rubbish now, or will this form turn around?
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Considering it would seem to be an entirely mental thing, they're capable of turning it around. It's not as if their team has undergone massive changes between now and then. I think the match says more about just how bad Brisbane are right now than where the Saints are at.

In that vein of thought, if Guy McKenna was watching that match, he would be licking his lips at the prospect of playing Brisbane in two weeks. St Kilda were insipid from about the 25 minute mark of the first quarter up until 3 quarter time, but Brisbane completely failed to take advantage of it. Round 7, battle for the spoon?
 
I've been calling that since the start of the year and actually have money on the Lions for the spoon.

Although I under-estimated Port a little bit and thought the Suns might get above them to 15th. Port are not a good side now, and they're fragile as hell, but they don't have a terrible injury situation, and they can get a run on.

I still think with the rate of improvement the Suns are showing, they'll win several later in the year. When you look at other teams, there's a big difference between a 3-game player and a 12-game player in terms of awareness and implementing a gameplan. Having a whole lot of 3-game players was always going to be very very tough.
 
The gap between the top and bottom sides is definitely an issue for the AFL . The fact that the Swans can win their first 3 and still have legitimate question marks over their competitiveness is a problem .

In the NRL , anyone has a genuine chance of winning on any given week

Please don't rip into me , I love AFL :)
 
It goes in cycles.

Going back through the ladders over the last decade or so (1999 onwards), wooden spoon clubs have been: Collingwood, St Kilda, Freo, Carlton, the Bulldogs, Richmond, Melbourne, and West Coast.

Five of those sides also played a grand final in that period, two won premierships, Freo probably will do one of those things soon, and Richmond is Richmond.

Also spending time down near the bottom but never quite hitting 16th place were Hawthorn and Essendon. Both also premiership winners in the same decade.

Port may be down there for a couple of years now, and obviously the Suns will struggle.

Since 2000, pretty much only Sydney, Geelong, Brisbane, Adelaide and the Kangaroos (and arguably Port) could claim they have never bottomed out to the point of hopeless uncompetitiveness in a given year. Though I'm honestly not sure how the Kangaroos have managed this feat. And Port, Brisbane and the Crows, this could be their year.
 
But there's not that many of them. Richmond, North and Port are all capable of beating most sides which are not Geelong or Collingwood. Even Brisbane and the Suns will probably pull off a couple of upsets. There's always basement-dwellers and near-unbeatable sides. That's just how the sport works.

And personally, I kind of enjoy watching the occasional one-sided display of dominance. Just not when it's Collingwood or Geelong.
 
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