AFL 2012

[Aniking]

Every time I looked up to check the score for the Adelaide/Collingwood match, it was fairly even. Gets to the 4th quarter and it's goal after goal after goal for the Crows. Crazy finish to the game by the sounds of it, very dominant by Adelaide. Always love when Collingwood lose.

Quite pleased with how Essendon performed, although I think I'll be set for yet another frustrating year of watching our backline fuck up a lot. Our forward line and midfield were great tonight, but silly decisions by our back line gave Sydney goals when we were 30 points up in the 3rd quarter, which brought the Swans straight back into the match. We should've killed it off in that 3rd quarter because it really wasn't looking good for Sydney at one point.

I guess give credit where it's due as they capitalised, but they didn't do it all by themselves. Although one of the mistakes was by Dempsey, he was definitely our best defender. Fletcher was his usual solid self, whereas Carlisle did his job quietly for me. As for Hardingham, Hibberd, Myers and Pears, I really don't have confidence in them getting the job done regularly. Hooker is also inconsistent, so it's going to be a frustrating year if they don't improve. Dempsey and Fletcher can't do it all by themselves.


EDIT: Btw, JOBE WATSON FOR THE 2012 BROWNLOW!

 

[Troy]

Collingwood threatened a comeback in the last but Adelaide just kicked goal after goal after goal to finish the game. Magpies defence looked inexperienced and it showed that Maxwell can't play one on one deep in the goal square and is much better as a HBF.

Watson was looking really good last year until his injury so it wouldn't surprise me if he is up there in the Brownlow this year. Ryder looked good up forward, was so up and down last year and good to see him getting back on track since he is a good talent. The youngsters are so good as well for Essendon with Heppell looking like he won't be affected by the second year blues. Dempsey did well considering he missed so much game time last year due to injury.

 

[Aniking]

Apparently Adelaide fielded a near full-strength team, whereas Collingwood played 12 players who are yet to make their AFL debuts. The experience of Adelaide was pretty evident in the end.

Ryder was fantastic and I'm very happy that he's in such good form going into the season as he was a little off for the majority of last season. Hurley dropped too many straight forward marks and could've got a few more on the board had he held on to them. Crameri was a little quiet but kicked 1 or 2, but I look forward to seeing the damage the combination of Ryder-Hurley-Crameri could cause.

I'm stoked for Dempsey to be playing well already considering he ruptured his ACL in Round 4 last year. Winderlich made his return for the second half tonight from rupturing his ACL in the same game as Dempsey. I remember watching the match and it was crazy that two ACLs were ruptured in the space of 5 mins in the 1st quarter. We essentially played a player down for the entire game, which I think we narrowly lost to Carlton in the end. Anyway, Winderlich looked good in his return and I hope he has a full season too.

Hopefully Watson doesn't spend too much time on the sidelines this season as he was in fantastic form last year. He needs one injury free season and that Brownlow will surely be his.

 

[Kylie]

Really pleased with how the Hawks played today. Some of the new pick ups look really promising.

 

[Troy]

Hawthorn looked very good in their win. Good to see ex-Roo David Hale doing well for them with 6 goals.

North had an okay win, our skills are still pretty poor but once we brought on Swallow, Harvey and Wells in the second half we ran away with it. Great seeing Wells back for his first game after he had blood clots removed from his lungs.

Did anyone else see the West Coast vs. St Kilda game? Crazy moment when a Saints player kicked it, a West Coast player went to smother it but it missed him arms and it smashed him right in the face knocking him out instantly. He then he the ground hard, thankfully he hit grass rather than the astroturf, and medical staff from both teams rushed to help him.

NAB Cup Final will be Adelaide vs. West Coast on Saturday night.

 

[Andrew]

Adelaide to win by 4 goals. That's my prediction.

 

[Troy]

Good game yesterday and not surprisingly Adelaide won, by 34 points. They looked the better team all game and you could see that they were desperate for a win in a high pressure situation. I don't know if this will lead to a top eight finish this year but it pushes them in the right direction.

 

[Troy]

Just watched the Matt Rendell interview on Footy Classified to give his side of the comment that he made which lead to the AFL forcing Adelaide to sack him. Watching that interview and there is no doubt in my mind that he is a scapegoat. Even before the interview I believed that he had been treated wrongly because I knew that no-one involved in AFL would be dumb enough to suggest that aboriginal players would only be drafted if they had a white parent. He said that as a ridiculous over the top example of what this may lead to if the AFL don't act. He was trying to convince the AFL to set up an academy where the top 30 U/16 indigenous players that live in the country get scholarships to attend school in the city and join a professional sport team to help them acclimatise to leaving home. Apparently it is the mysterious third man in the room that has caused all the issues considering Rendell and Misfud are still friends. I hope that Rendell launches an unfair dismissal lawsuit and a defmation lawsuit against the AFL and media. On another note Caroline Wilson is an idiot, she didn't listen to anything he said and was trying to simple create another headline.

 

[Andrew]

A TRUE gentleman of the game has gone.








Football legend Jim Stynes has died after a long and brave battle with cancer.


He was just 45.


It marks the end of the extraordinary two-and-a-half year health battle shared far more openly than anybody could have expected.

But his inspiring fight for life came to an end in private and as he would have wanted - with wife Sam and children Matisse and Tiernan by his side.

It was an intimate and hugely emotional end for the man who earned himself a place in the hearts of almost every Victorian.

Put simply, there was nothing bad to say about our Jim.

Tributes are already flooding in for the Irishman who made an indelible mark on the Aussie game by becoming the first international player to claim the prestigious Brownlow Medal.


He was also an Order of Australia recipient and a Victorian and Melburnian of the year.

Footy personalities have declared Stynes one of the greatest to have ever pulled on the boots.

They've also credited his presidency as key to helping steer the league's oldest club through form slump and last year's coaching crisis.

Others have hailed his ability to reach out to those in need as an innate gift few could match.

He championed the cause of young Australians through The Reach Foundation, an organisation credited with pulling thousands of young lives back from the brink.

Big Jim wore his heart on his sleeve and touched lives because of it.

His death marks the end of his highly publicised health crisis that began when he announced in July 2009, he was being treated for a rare melanoma on his spine.

He would eventually undergo numerous operations including risky surgery to remove tumours from his brain.

Stynes' decision to fight the disease so publicly earned him favour with thousands of patients on a similar journey. "Jim has added a face to what thousands of people are going through," said one.

He used Twitter to keep his loyal fans updated on his health but it was a televised documentary that revealed far more about how cancer had changed his life.

Alternative therapies were among the treatment options pursued but in the end, Stynes said it was the support and love of those closest to him that really kept him going.

On more than one occasion he credited his arduous health battle for giving him the opportunity to take stock; to finally fill his life with the things that truly mattered. And he did.

In December, Stynes stunned his medical team when - just two weeks after the sixth operation to remove a tumour from his brain - he boarded a Christmas flight to Colombia with his family. It was an extraordinary display of tenacity from a man who simply wasn't ready to give up.

But Stynes never kidded himself. He knew it would be the last chance for the family to really escape together.

For a few sun-starched weeks, they were able to forget the stark reality that was just weeks away. Pictured with his wife and kids on the shore of an idyllic tropical island, Jim beamed.

It was a fitting image and one Stynes and his wife chose to be the last they made publicly.

They returned to Victoria knowing that each and every day mattered more than ever.

In January, two years and seven months after he was diagnosed, Stynes stepped down as Demons' president.

He had finally relinquished a role that had helped define him as a leader who gave a battered club a new beginning.

Yet through it all, Stynes had learned there was far more to life. He just learnt it in the cruellest of ways.

"I have had an experience that in some ways, I am very blessed," he once said. "I have had an insight that not many people get. When you are faced with that prospect, it does make you sit back, stop and go OK, what is really important now?

"You realise your family - my kids and my wife Sam - they are everything to me. It's not just enough to say it - you've got to live it."

Jim Stynes 1966-2012

Rest in Peace Jim.

​

 

[Kylie]

I am not ashamed to admit I am shedding tears for an absolute champion. It's so unfair an inspiration like Jim Stynes is taken from us when the scum of the earth still walks the streets. Thoughts and prayers are with his family, especially his wife and kids.

 

[Andrew]

True legend, they need to now name a Cup after him.

Possibly Melbourne vs. Someone for the Jim Stynes Cup or something.

Hell even the Gaelic Football games we have could be called Jim Stynes Cup

 

[Troy]

He was a true gentleman and a true champion of the game. He gave his all to this game and to the club he loved. So sad that he is gone because he had so much more to give.

 

[Andrew]

From the Kangaroos website.

Can't view the video? Click here to watch it on YouTube

Just weeks after champion boxer Daniel Geale and club legend Glenn Archer started laying punches into its ‘Box On’ campaign, North Melbourne has recruited another heavy hitter in to slam down its debt.

In a significant coup, TNA Impact Wrestling Superstar Gunner has lent his powerful voice and stature to the Roos’ cause warning all fans to "…buy a Premiership Pledge or Mr. Intensity will come down under and get you!â€￾

The 112 kilogram, 6 foot 2 inch man mountain is just one of several TNA wrestlers to be rolled out by the club in the coming weeks to promote Premiership Pledges and Membership.

Gunner is one of the sport’s most popular personalities and previously served in the American armed forces before becoming a professional wrestler.

TNA Impact Wrestling and all its stars like Gunner are on Fuel TV at 8.30pm every Saturday night.
​

 

[Troy]

I have no idea why North are teaming with TNA and I don't know how it is supposed to help our Debt Reduction campaign. North should have got fans like Ricky Ponting, Peter Siddle and Mark Webber to do videos. I found it funny that they listed Gunner as one of the most popular wrestlers in the sport today, he isn't even one of the most popular in TNA.

Can't wait for the game tomorrow night, a bit weird to have only one game this weekend but it will be good seeing GWS make their debut. They are missing some big names like Brogan and O'Halphin but they were always going to struggle even if those two played. I don't see Sydney as a team that will win by 100 points unlike a Collingwood or Hawthorn but I think that they will win by 70 points.

 

[Troy]

I should have thrown a lot of money on GWS covering the line, the final result of 63 points was close to my 70 point prediction. GWS looked good in parts and it was really only the third quarter that blew the margin out. The veterans stood up and the youngsters look class. If they had Power, Scully and O'Hailphin it would have helped a bit. They desperately need a forward target so Setanta should be their FF for the rest of the year as their defence looks solid. Izzy had a couple of good moments but overall didn't have a big impact.

Long wait for the next match though, after seeing this game I simply wanted to see another. Bring on this week with eight games.