The Australian Rules Football Thread

[bukie]

great, great game between st kilda (#2 in the league) and hawthorn (usually very good - this year, #6). hawthorn led by 7 with 2 minutes left; st kilda got a behind. the play was down the end of hawthorn's goal, and they botched an interchange (substitution), allowing st kilda to grab a goal with just 15 seconds left to grab a tie.

I'm now instinctively reading all your posts with a Steve Irwin accent.

[Banedon]

great, great game between st kilda (#2 in the league) and hawthorn (usually very good - this year, #6). hawthorn led by 7 with 2 minutes left; st kilda got a behind. the play was down the end of hawthorn's goal, and they botched an interchange (substitution), allowing st kilda to grab a goal with just 15 seconds left to grab a tie.

I'm now instinctively reading all your posts with a Steve Irwin accent.

 

It's funny who people have for their "go to Aussie". You go with Steve Irwin, and Post Count Padder went with Kangaroo Jack, while Paul Hogan is instinctively the first person that pops to my mind....

[CubInOK]

Greg Norman is always a good choice too.

[wvcbxl]

It's funny who people have for their "go to Aussie". You go with Steve Irwin, and Post Count Padder went with Kangaroo Jack, while Paul Hogan is instinctively the first person that pops to my mind....

 

Dame Edna. 8-)

[TruffleShuffle]

... Edited August 5, 2010 by TruffleShuffle

[TruffleShuffle]

... Edited August 5, 2010 by TruffleShuffle

[shnsajax]

No game on last night, sucks.

[Guest]

The Grand Final was tonight and it ended in a draw which means they have a replay next week. Apparently, a replay is only used for the Grand Final while extra time is used for the other rounds of the playoffs.

 

This would be like if the Super Bowl was tied after four quarters, they replayed it the next week rather than go to overtime.

 

Hopefully it's on ESPN2 again next week because this match was epic.

[TruffleShuffle]

the grand final replay was about as boring as the grand final was exciting. [expletive] collingwood.

[Guest]

They decided not to choke in the second half this week.

[jersey cubs fan]

http://deadspin.com/5714705/this-is-how-you-give-a-post+game-interview

 

I'll have to think about it, think about it deeply.

[javy knows my name]

What is with all of Truffle's ellipses(sp)?

[TruffleShuffle]

i've only been here for like 8 months and i already hate [expletive] collingwood.

[TruffleShuffle]

my beloved west coast eagles are 2-0 after winning just 4 games all of last season!!!

 

unfortunately collingwood has absolutely demolished their first two opponents and look by far to be the class of AFL this year. on the other side of the coin, the gold coast suns (expansion team) played their first match yesterday and got throttled by like 120 points.

[TruffleShuffle]

i joined fantasy AFL this year, lots of people in my office do it. pretty fun but jeez is it a lot of work. there are 33 people on your fantasy team!

 

going to a game really gives you a perspective on how much goes on that the camera doesn't catch - for example, the only real extended breaks in play are between quarters, so during each quarter the team has assistant coaches (wearing neon colors) running on and off the field to give the players instructions. once in a while they get in the way of play and the other team gets a free kick at goal. if there's an injury the trainers just run on the field as play is going on and attend to the injured player - unless it's something serious and then they stop play.

[javy knows my name]

AUSTRALIA

[shnsajax]

i joined fantasy AFL this year, lots of people in my office do it. pretty fun but jeez is it a lot of work. there are 33 people on your fantasy team!

 

going to a game really gives you a perspective on how much goes on that the camera doesn't catch - for example, the only real extended breaks in play are between quarters, so during each quarter the team has assistant coaches (wearing neon colors) running on and off the field to give the players instructions. once in a while they get in the way of play and the other team gets a free kick at goal. if there's an injury the trainers just run on the field as play is going on and attend to the injured player - unless it's something serious and then they stop play.

 

I've always thought that these are the toughest sons a bitches of any sport in the world.

[TruffleShuffle]

i joined fantasy AFL this year, lots of people in my office do it. pretty fun but jeez is it a lot of work. there are 33 people on your fantasy team!

 

going to a game really gives you a perspective on how much goes on that the camera doesn't catch - for example, the only real extended breaks in play are between quarters, so during each quarter the team has assistant coaches (wearing neon colors) running on and off the field to give the players instructions. once in a while they get in the way of play and the other team gets a free kick at goal. if there's an injury the trainers just run on the field as play is going on and attend to the injured player - unless it's something serious and then they stop play.

 

I've always thought that these are the toughest sons a bitches of any sport in the world.

 

yeah they're pretty damn tough.

 

i went to a match opening round at the melbourne cricket ground, which holds 100,000 when full. the match i went to was melbourne vs sydney and only had about 34,000 - melbourne is one of the least popular teams in melbourne (i know it sounds weird, but there are 10 teams in victoria, and most are more popular than the team named melbourne), and sydney isn't hugely popular either because rugby is bigger in new south wales.

 

anyway, sydney was ahead by 10 to 25 points for most of the first 3 quarters, but then melbourne had a very strong last quarter and actually took a 2 point lead. then sydney got a pair of behinds to tie it, and the last 3 minutes were very intense with a tie score. it became really hard to move the ball because all the players were just swarming. really impressive the fitness of these guys to play at that intensity after 120 minutes on the field. the game ended in a tie, the first tie game of the year.

 

the other problem in fantasy footy is that guys get hurt a LOT, and you only get 2 trades a week. i've had 4 players get injured with things that will put them out for at least half the season, so all four of my trades (it's only week 3 right now) have been dumping guys who are gone for half the year. i still have 3 reserves who have significant injury, but haven't been able to drop them yet because of all the injuries to my starters. the team i cheer for, west coast, has lost their top goal kicker (torn groin muscle) and top defender (tendon damage in elbow) for about half the season.

[Guest]

Happened across Geelong against Port Adelaide on ESPN2 right now.

 

Wish they'd have a weekly game rather than eighth showings of NBA Tonight, NASCAR Now and World Series of Poker.

[TruffleShuffle]

Happened across Geelong against Port Adelaide on ESPN2 right now.

 

Wish they'd have a weekly game rather than eighth showings of NBA Tonight, NASCAR Now and World Series of Poker.

 

according to a friend of mine, espn3.com will be showing a game every week. hopefully you'll be getting other games that don't pit one of the best teams in the league against one of the worst.

 

west coast suffered a tough home loss to sydney last night; led by 2 goals midway through the 4th quarter but then surrendered 4 straight goals and a behind. sydney is a solid club so not a huge shame, and west coast has suffered some tough injuries so far. fremantle (other team from the perth area) had a nice easy road win against adelaide, who isn't good but isn't terrible either.

 

edit - apparently this is the schedule of espn3 games, and pretty much every week there are multiple games available. these are some of the games in the next month that should be pretty good:

 

Sydney v Geelong

Essendon v Collingwood (essendon were bad last year but have pulled off a couple of big blowout wins over solid teams this year - they seem to be a good up and coming team. collingwood are unfortunately very strong and their supporters are douchebags.)

Sydney v Carlton

Collingwood v Western Bulldogs

St. Kilda v Carlton (st kilda has been in the last two grand finals but haven't looked good so far this year)

Geelong v Collingwood (maybe the two best teams in AFL right now)

 

don't watch any gold coast games unless you want to see a team lose by 100.

[shnsajax]

Happened across Geelong against Port Adelaide on ESPN2 right now.

 

Wish they'd have a weekly game rather than eighth showings of NBA Tonight, NASCAR Now and World Series of Poker.

 

I think its every Saturday night now on espn2. Last season I think it was every Friday night. The tough part is that the match starts right before midnight. I watched about 15 minutes last night before passing out.

[TruffleShuffle]

not sure if/when it would air in the u.s., but the top two teams in AFL (geelong and collingwood) face each other on friday night. every other team has at least two non-wins (carlton has a loss and a tie) but geelong and collingwood are both undefeated.

[TruffleShuffle]

http://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/tabid/7155/newsid/114480/Default.aspx

 

awesome... west coast is back! before this season it looked like west coast's game at collingwood next week would be a complete joke, but now west coast has been very strong the last couple of weeks and is playing like a finals (top 8) club. would be great to beat those frickin 'pies next weekend!

[TruffleShuffle]

big game tomorrow with collingwood (#2 in the league) taking on hawthorn (#3).

 

my west coast eagles had a huge win last week, beating then-#3 carlton in melbourne. we hadn't beaten a really good team all year so to win pretty easily against a top four side was a big surprise. next week will be a huge match - we play undefeated geelong here at home. west coast has always been known for being tough at home, so i think we could hand the cats their first loss of the year. i was able to find a good ticket to the game for A$60. then the following weekend i'm going to the west coast-saint kilda match in melbourne.

[TruffleShuffle]

finals (playoffs to you yanks) start this week - first round is geelong (2) vs hawthorn (3), collingwood (1) vs west coast (4), st kilda (6) vs sydney (7), and carlton (5) vs essendon (8). the top four seeds play each other; the winners move through to the semi-finals while the losers play home matches against the winners of the 6-7 and 5-8 games. collingwood are favored to win the title, having only lost two matches all year, but both losses came to geelong and they just got pounded by geelong in a match where they dressed most of their top players. they did have some injuries to contend with, but the result was shocking.

 

collingwood, geelong and hawthorn are the top threats to win the title. then west coast, and then st kilda and carlton are probably stronger than sydney or essendon (st kilda played in the grand final last year, and have been very good after a slow start.) my beloved west coast eagles went from last place and 4 wins in 2010 to 4th place and 17 wins this year, one of the biggest turnarounds in league history.

 

i think it goes:

collingwood over west coast

hawthorn over geelong

st kilda over sydney

carlton over essendon

 

west coast over carlton

geelong over st kilda

 

collingwood over geelong

hawthorn over west coast

 

collingwood over hawthorn