You remembered my birthday! Awww shucks, you boys are sooo nice…
At quarter time last night, it appeared that Hate Ya Guts round would start with a fizzer. With big names like Riewoldt, Koschitzke and Gehrig towering over their opponents, the highly-fancied Saints were firing and the Dogs couldn’t buy a goal or a free kick. 3AW caller Rex Hunt even pronounced the game as being over (via his ‘Fat-Lady’) after just fifteen minutes – for what its worth (um…not much).
But, as we all know, a lot can happen in four quarters of footy – which is why games are not played on paper, nor in the mind of delusional loud-mouthed fishermen! With Ryan Griffin running amok and Jason Akermanis packing more junk in his trunk, the Dogs went nuts for the next three quarters to remain unbeaten and celebrate another milestone in style – coach Rodney Eade’s 50th birthday.
Gee, the Dogs love a milestone game – Rocket Eade last night, Brad Johnson in round one…who’s turn is it next week? It must be Scott West’s 50th birthday soon!
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Hate Ya Guts Round continues today with four matches:
THE “LIVING IN THE SEVENTIES” MATCH
Telstra Dome, Melbourne – 2:10pm (local): North Melbourne v Hawthorn (TEN)
- Compared to last night, at least these two teams can boast some type of rivalry – even if it was thirty years ago! The Roos and Hawks were traditional rivals back in the old VFA days and they faced off in three grand finals during the mid-seventies.
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In an effort to beat up some type of modern day rivalry, the Herald Sun failed dismally to paint Roos tagger Brady Rawlings as some sort of squealing dobber…nice try, I guess;
- You want to bring up something that might re-open old wounds, how about Jade Rawlings? Or, more importantly, the farcical events of trade-week in 2003 when ‘the Veale deal’ virtually forced Jade to play with the Bulldogs rather than join his brother Brady at the Roos;
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Speaking of trades gone wrong, the deal that brought Jonathan Hay to Arden Street ended in disaster for everybody except Hawthorn…particularly after Hay’s sad farewell to the game!
THE “DALE KICKETT MEMORIAL” MATCH
Subiaco, Perth – 2:10pm (local): West Coast v Fremantle (FOX)
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Now this is more like it – some fair dinkum hatred here! The Western Derby is always a massive event with a history of controversial incidents and some good old fashioned fisticuffs!
- The most famous of these games was held in 2000, now mostly referred to as the ‘Demolition Derby’, which ended up with three reports and Docker Dale Kickett outed for nine weeks. Nine weeks! Now that’s one pissed off Docker!
- So have things settled down between the two teams since then? Well, last year we had the Headland-Selwood incident and Michael Braun’s fruity acceptance speech…so, probably not.
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Josh Carr displays annoying twerp-like tendencies at the best of times but always saves his worst for the derby, even claiming best-on-ground honours for harassing Daniel Kerr last year. Kerr can expect more of the same today!
- A true rivalry, Essendon and Carlton have been at it for over 100 years having played each other 226 times, the Blues holding a 117-105 edge with four draws. The Bombers have won 10 of the 19 meetings in finals, including the 1993 grand final by the ‘Baby Bombers’.
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With sixteen flags each, Essendon and Carlton share the record for the most VFL/AFL premierships. Nowadays, wins are a lot harder to come by..and premierships? Maybe next decade!
- But of all the Essendon-Carlton clashes, the one that every fan talks about (or runs away to quietly convulse in the corner) is the 1999 preliminary final! The Blues will no doubt draw on that for inspiration – well, there has been little else to celebrate since then.
- Except for any time they beat Essendon, which usually occurs once per year despite Carlton’s recent woes. Last year’s meeting was no exception – the Blues recording the biggest comeback in their long history to win by under a goal. So you can bet something crazy will happen today!
THE “IT”LL DO UNTIL EXPANSION” MATCH
GABBA, Brisbane – 7:40pm (local): Brisbane v Sydney (FOX)
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The state rivalry between New South Wales and Queensland is at its highest when they go head-to-head in rugby league’s State of Origin series. But when the Lions and Swans do battle…well, it’s nothing like that!
- With the League proposing a new franchise for each state in the coming years, two new ‘derby’ rivalries will be created in the hope that the League can cash in on them – as they do in Adelaide and Perth.
- So this rivalry is kinda tepid rather than bitter but there have been some good clashes between the two teams – including Brisbane’s preliminary final win in Sydney in 2003 and a Barry Hall goal after the siren for a Swans win in 2005.
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Full marks to Brisbane coach Leigh Matthews for making things interesting on the eve of the match, labelling Adam Goodes a ‘protected species’ after the Swan escaped suspension (again) because the surface at the SCG is very hard and his elbow is not!
