Vic sides all out of Victoria from next week. Poor Tigers.

Collingwood to smoke Essendon is my pick tonight. Feel free to laugh when I lose

Does that include Geelong as I didn't think it did?

Includes Geelong will play Brisbane in Sydney next week

it's unfortunate that Adelaide again gets the early Saturday nite game in the US...it's like watching the NY Jets of the NFL.

And Freo are the Browns

This game is atrocious

Yeah not a great result for an Eagles supporter

On Geelong, they looked a lot better yesterday with Harry Taylor down back after he missed the previous week as he was rested. Granted Rowell went off early injured for the Suns which had an impact but I think they always had something in hand.

No truth in any of it although it is common from players born in Melbourne. Fagan has put more attention in recruiting blokes from country areas and other states. Been a great success.

But... Witherden wanting to go might be why the coach has put him on ice. Too much of a distraction and plenty of talent waiting who can do just as well. Witho could probably get a 3yr 1.2 Milly contract elsewhere. I never really rated him that much tbh..

No way Neale is unhappy. He loves it here, playing the best footy of his life.

The lions brought back to Earth last night.

So the best & worst AFL teams both reside in Adelaide?

sorry if that's a dum question. if anyone knows USA baseball, is this like NY Yankees vs. NY Mets situation?

Maybe the reverse at least in Adelaide - the crows are like the NY Yankees and the power are like the NY Mets in terms of achievements for both of these teams but it just isn't playing out like that this year as usually for the last 15 years or so the crows have the team to be the top 4 or top 8 contender while the power has tended to finish in the bottom 8.

Yeah AFL has a huge level of parity probably unseen in any American sport with the exception of the NFL. The difference between AFL and NFL is there isn't a "QB" position that is strongly correlated to team success in Aussie Football.

Both teams fairly even historically. Adelaide are just a dumpster fire the last few years as an organisation as linked jn OP.

If a team like the Brisbane Lions can be ahead of other teams with far greater resources and a fan base such as Richmond and Collingwood you know the AFL has got the parity amongst the teams pretty well sorted in terms of draft system and salary cap.

Could quite possibly be game of the season tonight with 2nd place cats taking on 5th place pies in neutral territory in WA - it will be a close battle but ultimately think the cats midfield will be too good despite Duncan not playing.

maybe port adelaide turning back into the ny mets...carlton dominating in Q4 from what I've seen.

also is losing 23-77 considered a WOAT effort in AFL or do these things happen and get laughed off?

robbie gray = afl hero?

the last 2 port adelaide guys totally shanked easy 6 pt. kicks...clutch kick that was ftw

Yea not his first gamewinner either:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeGfwjUiI2k

(20s mark)

Not quite after the siren but close enough.

Really hoping Carlton could win that game against Port

Rowell back this round.

collingwood guys have been impressive nailing 6 pointers in the early going.


just a random question from a new fan: is flopping an issue in the AFL?

This result for the pies has been coming for awhile.

collingwood were winning at the end of Q1 when I went to bed...whoa

took my son to the Roosters Warriors game on Sat. Wasn't a great game but it was an easy drive from Sydney and it was his first time at a live game so it was cool to see him get excited and wonder at how much bigger the players look in person.

not a huge crowd and you got allocated a row of seats to sit in and had to sit with at least one seat away from other groups, then seating was alternate rows only, so all distancing requirements were satisfied.

Big game against the Eagles tonight for Geelong. It is always a funny thing with the eagles that they just sneak up on you with their ladder position as they head into tonight's game on equal points and favourites for the game.

Time to re-assess the hand egg game and that Geelong is looking better than it did last year after winning the minor premiership (and without ablett).

Update.

Witherden left (Ash is correct)

Neale won the Brownlow Medal (MVP for Americans) (Ash is a goose)

Good old 50% strike rate.

------------------------------

New season starts tomorrow. First game will be in about 19hrs from now. Richmond Tigers, 2x defending champs vs Carlton Blues in the traditional season opener where Richmond win by 5 goals to start the year 1-0.

Season is back to full length quarters (4x20minute quarters plus time-on, which is basically just pausing the clock when the ball is out of bounds) which is a 20% increase in time on last year. Hopefully with more fatigue the game should open up more.

For those new to the sport, Amazon Prime have released a behind the scenes documentary similar to the "All or Nothing" series with the Cardinals, Panthers, Cowboys, Tottenham Hotspur etc... called "Making their Mark". Rather than following one team, it follows 6 of the 18 teams in the league including both teams playing tomorrow. It is worth a look if you like the behind the scenes stuff



My season predictions

- Crows don't win the spoon despite being the consensus worst team, North or Essendon do.
- Bulldogs are over-rated. Won't finish top four.
- West Coast if they are going to win a flag with this group have to do it this year.
- Dangerfield has to play exclusively midfield for Geelong to be any good. If they throw him forward they will get smoked at contest and be in danger of missing the 8.
- Suns don't improve by as much as they should. Won't be in with a chance of making the 8 with two weeks to go.
- Fremantle are the team that improves the most in way of ladder position. Put a sneaky bet on them after Round 1 to make the 8 when the odds improve (they will get smoked by Melbourne Round 1 because Gawn is too good, but will improve after that when they aren't playing against god-tier rucks).
- Charlie Dixon wins the Coleman
- Sydney don't win 7 games.
- Collingwood have the biggest fall

Predicted ladder

RICH
WCE
BRIS
PORT
ST.K
GEE
FRE
GWS
-----------
WB
MELB
CARL
COLL
GC
HAW
SYD
ADE
ESS
NM