Author: Dave Bremner

Round 9 is in the books as we move closer to the mid season bye period. We began the round with Jordan Lewis’ perfect sledge return, showing Sydney players a butcher’s handful of premiership wins in response to a scoreboard taunt. More of that later… Sydney’s second match at the MCG in 6 days was a lot more rewarding for them this week, as they won a scrappy affair by 14 points. Not much to write about this game, Gunston and Tippett kicked 4, and Buddy didn’t. He finished with 3, and takes his total to 37 from 9 games. If he keeps going at this rate, and the Swans play a couple of finals – we may be seeing a 90-100 goal season coming up from big Bud. And I for one would welcome it. I miss the days of seeing Gary Ablett kick 14 in a losing effort, or Dunstall putting 17 past Richmond. Anyhow – the Swans move into the top 4, and are starting to put together a decent Premiership challenge. Parker and Hanneberry again had 30 plus possessions, while Liam Shiels was again top of the tackle count for the Hawks.

Round 8 kicked off in Adelaide – as the Crows hosted Geelong and, more importantly in the eyes of the media – Patrick Dangerfield. Much was made of the former Crow’s return to Adelaide – even though the Cats had played the Power in Adelaide in round 5 – a fact forgotten by a few amongst the media types. It was a successful return for Dangerfield, as the Cats kicked away late in the last quarter to secure a 26 point victory. The Cats had led the whole game, but couldn’t ever put the Crows away as Sloane, Atkins, and the Crouch brothers more than held their own against Dangerfield, Selwood, Guthrie, and Bartel. Steven Motlop kicked four for the Cats to be the leading goalkicker on the ground, and had more of his teammates kicked straight – it could have been a much bigger win. The Cats had almost double the Crows scoring opportunities – 33 to 17, and really should have won by more.

Round 7 is in the books, and pretty much all games went as expected – no real surprises to speak of. Probably the biggest surprise of the round was the Demons demolition job on the Gold Coast up at Metricon – but more on that a bit later. The Giants continue on their merry way, and a number of teams are starting to rack up some pretty daunting losing streaks – the Dockers are now winless from 7, the Bombers have lost their last 5, as have the Tigers, and the Lions are now at 3 losses in a row. Meanwhile – Carlton made it three wins in a row for the first time in a few years, North remain undefeated, and the Cats are looking ominous with 5 in a row, comfortably dispatching last years Grand Finalists in the Eagles.

Round 5 began with match of the round. Finally, a Friday night contest worth tuning in for as the Hawks and Crows faced off at the MCG in front of 45,781 fans. And they were treated to a fantastic game of footy, as the game ebbed and flowed for much of the contest, only for Hawthorn to do a Hawthorn, and kick the last 3 goals of the game to snatch a victory from an impressive Adelaide outfit, which proved their credentials on the big stage. A lot of talk since then about Hawthorn getting a cosy ride from the umpires – but truth be told, I don’t think there was much to write about from that point. Plus, I’d prefer to focus on what was a really good game of footy. First and foremost – Paul Puopolo is a gun. Easily best on ground – 5 goals to go with 23 possessions, 6 tackles and 5 clearances is an enormous night of footy. How this bloke had to wait until he was 23 to be drafted (and even then, not until pick 66) staggers me. Mitchell and Hodge were once again good for the Hawks, and had a brilliant midfield battle against Sloane and Thompson – both in the best players for the Crows.

Round 4 AFL Review

Where to start?

There’s a lot to digest right about now from this round of footy, and I’ve been going over and over this weekends happenings like a ruminant and its cud.