I bet you are still extremely RUSTLED, too. So?

my god what a terrible drop by the Collingwood players at the end. he's completely free and has a sitter bounce through his hands after such a great move, then a Gold Coast players takes a mark over 3 defenders at the other end.

great sport

To give you some background, Gold Coast are a new team. They've only been in the league since 2011.

They had a heap of high draft picks to help them get established so a majority of their team is really young, but they are finally starting to become a force. They'll be unstoppable in a couple of years.

Collingwood aren't that great this year but they're the biggest club in the country so every neutral generally likes seeing them lose.

Gold Coast are a good chance of playing finals for the first time in their history this year which is why the commentators were making a big deal about the importance of winning games like this, especially considering they had to play the last quarter without a bench due to injuries, including their captain/leagues best player (And arguably the best player to ever play the game).

Let's get some balance in this thread - I like AFL but it has nothing on the hits and fights of rugby league!!!

forthwrite you must have loved the last 5 minutes of that game (unless you' support Collingwood of course). the announcers kept saying how dead tired GC was and their 12 point lead was quite vulnerable, then Collingwood score to get within a goal, then GC answer right away, then that drop; very entertaining stuff.

is the whole season qualification for a tournament (like US sports) and the games on now are the playoffs?

and that Rugby YouTube....those are some big ****ing boys playing that game. a lot of those hits seemed to be in the normal run of the game, but there are moments when its clear there are some Albert Haynesworth-level nasty MFers in that sport.

almost every fight you see teammates from both sides trying to break it up, but there's one where a guy gets sent off (i think) and gets into a fight with an enforcer looking guy from the other team on the sideline. 5 guys from the enforcer's team sprint towards the fight, not to break it up though, but to get in on a straight up beat-down.

The full video makes for much better viewing:

Essendon showed some incredible wim v port i adelaide if anyone saw that

yes it does.

here's the thing about rugby, if you want to watch people ram their heads into each other, they might as well be the best athletes on the planet wearing armour. lolnfl, but nfl>rugby

everyone at the bar was pretty happy

DrawNone, you're right about everyone going for a playoff spot (top 8 get in), but we're not there yet, playoffs are in September

essendon fans enjoy it while you can

if you are talking union then i somewhat agree but league is light-years ahead of both

League is like the children's version of rugby.

Leauge is more popular in Australia, real rugby is more popular in the rest of the world.

League carries the major downside of American Football - ie it is stop-start and resets every play so can get repetitive - but with a fraction of the tactical complexity. For the record I like American Football and don't object to watching league but there's just no intrigue in watching league.

That was pretty great, Hep showing up with the clutch goal.

Still laughing about that Clinton Young drop.

Thread took an interesting turn that is for sure...

My favourite hit, if only for the crowd reaction

Geelong fan here

that man has mastered one of the rarest techniques in martial arts, "The Leaping Gloot Smash", and has applied it with devastating effect to Australian Rules Football.

if that happens now, the guy would get 5+ weeks. Back then he got a pat on the back.

No clue about the differences in various rugby sports. Is it sort like NFL vs Canadian Football League? Same basics of the game, but variations on the rules?

When was that? It's eerily similar to Toni Schumacher's ass-smash against Battiston in 1982.

We've talked about it recently in one of the WC threads. Schumacher got awared a goal kick, lol. Today he, too, would be out for weeks for something like that.

The All Blacks are playing the USA November 1st at Soldier Field

i havent watched either Rugy league, but from here's an xplanation of Australian Rules Footall (which is ****ing awesome to watch) from an American games perspective:

in the middle of the field its Kill the Carrier with Ultimate Frisbee rules for passing the ball, but they have to either kick it or punch it to each other; they cant throw it.

when you get towards the goal they punt a Hail Mary up to groups of players, and nearly anything goes wrt defending so the player on offense doesnt catch it. sometimes there'll be a clean breakaway so a player can pick out an open teammate and punt a short pass for an easy catch.

when some1 of offense does come down with the ball they get a free run up to score, which is punting a field goal through a very narrow upright from up to 55 yards away. when no1 catches the ball its back to Kill the Carrier, and if a player on offense has a chance they try to punt the ball through the goal, but defenders are allowed to tackle him or block the kick.

The Haka will make all the Chicago girls slide off their seats.

Good news! Live AFL on Fox Sports 2!

Bad news!

that's a weird game to bother showing. melbourne have been awful for a solid decade, whereas geelong have been consistently great over the same period. nothing really changing on that front either

fun fact: melbourne is one of the only professional sports teams to actually be punished for tanking. the coach is also now dead, god hates tanking

in today's news: lol pies