Round Fourteen – Saints Defeat Cats, Now Face Connor MacLeod!

Only decapitation from the blade of the Highlander stands between St Kilda and immortality! Or they might lose to the Doggies…

There can be only one…undefeated team left!

And that team is…St Kilda! The Saints survived in an epic contest at Whatshishead Stadium. Thirteen wins each, two months of anticipation and no shortage of hype but the game delivered everything we all expected…perhaps more! An amazing start, great fightback from the Cats and a grandstand finish. How crazy will the build-up be to this year’s grand final if both these teams make it…please let it happen!!!

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There can be only one…reigning premier – but not for long!

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The Hawks are stuffed.

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There can be only one…Tom Cruise!

And he was at the footy on Friday night to take in some of the action between the Pies and Bombers. Katie Holmes was there too…she spent the night trying to find a back exit or open window from which she could escape! Run Katie – run for your life!!!

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There can be only one…Jim Stynes!

The former Demons star and club president faces a tough battle having been diagnosed with cancer. His team put in a performance on the weekend that befitted the emotional week for all involved at Melbourne…unfortunately, this type of performance is a rarity for the Dees.

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There can be only one…Kevin Sheedy!

The highly predictable campaign to make Sheeds the next coach of Richmond was officially launched last week after the crushing loss to St Kilda. Of course, all his supporters appear to be aged 50 or above…and his campaign manager is a guy who was so out of touch with the coaching caper twenty years ago, he got the flick from Tigerland and refused to go near the place until recently. As great a coach as Sheedy is and/or was, do any of these old dudes realise it is almost the year 2010 now?

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There can be only one…most glamorous WAG?

According to the Herald Sun’s annual footy survey, these are the types of questions us footy fans really want to know the answers to. Now I know that this particular media outlet is designed to entertain us rather than inform us so there is no point taking it seriously. But honestly…shit like this is just a waste of f@&$#ng time, isn’t it?

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There can be only one…Channel Seven!

A flashback to a classic Geelong-St Kilda match…the perfect lead-in to yesterday’s blockbuster. But what did CH7 show before this?

Yep, nothing helps builds the anticipation for a massive game of footy like…Revenge Of The Nerds 4!!!

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There can be only one…Terry Wallace!

How the hell does Terry Wallace get flooded with offers from all forms of media after his disastrous tenure at the Tigers? And is there anybody less qualified to comment on what Richmond should be doing right now than the guy who just actually effed it up over five years?

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The Games:

Magpie fans celebrate as ruckman Josh Fraser plays well and doesn’t even dog it once! Suck on that, Grant Thomas…

Well, Anzac Day seems like a lifetime away now, doesn’t it!  And nice to see our beloved media hacks working Tom Cruise references into their work as best they could! That’s right – Collingwood Cruised to victory against Essendon to open round 14 action, leaving Matthew Knights to pick up the pieces and keep Essendon in the finals hunt. At least Mark McVeigh will be fresh for the next match…unless Dean Solomon is back in town this week!

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Alright, which of you blokes have stolen the footys? We only have two and can’t afford to buy any more. Just give ’em back, will ya’s?

Yes – Melbourne finally had a win! Yes – they did it for Jim Stynes! And yes – they showed the passion and commitment to make their supporters proud on such an emotional day! But, come on – they were playing an equally crap team who have barely won outside of Perth since Chris Judd left town. If they couldn’t win this match, then there was no hope for this club whatsoever…

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It will cost him a few weeks but for what he did to Josh Carr, on behalf of the AFL world, I say…thank you Jared Brennan!

Gee, the Power must really love Mark Williams! In the first game since they learnt that Choco would be given the opportunity to coach on at Port Adelaide, his team blitzed high-flying Brisbane in the final quarter and dragged themselves back into finals calculations. So how did they do it? They prepared…now that’s a handy tip!

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Wow, a rare smile and a big thumbs up from Doggies coach Rocket Eade! But who is he copying…Barry Hall or Arthur Fonzarelli?

Bulldogs – awesome! Hawthorn – shit! Probably no need to elaborate much more on this one…

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Surely you don’t need to employ Kevin Sheedy as your coach to teach players where your footy boots are meant to go. Um, Nathan Foley…try your feet!

Up at Carrara Stadium, Adelaide scored a relatively comfy win over Richmond. Local boy Kurt Tippett showed a liking to playing footy in Queensland with five  goals for the winners. Wonder if he has heard about this new team that will be starting up on the Gold Coast soon?

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Micky O’Loughlin whoops it up after kicking the sealer. He only has a couple of months left so let him lap it up while he can!

Whether this was Sydney’s first taste of life without Barry Hall has yet to be determined. If so, it appears that it will be a struggle. But the Swannies did win a close one against North Melbourne that keeps them within reach of the finals. But let’s face it…without the prospect of witnessing a Bazza brainsnap, who really wants to see Sydney feature in September action anyway?

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Steve Johnson out? Guess it is too late to change my tip…

What a freakin’ game!!! What a freakin’ game!!! What a freakin’ game!!!

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The famous old dark…yellows? No, seriously…THAT is the Carlton team. They actually played in that!

Fremantle and Carlton played last night? Really? With all the excitement of the St Kilda-Geelong game, I totally forgot! Apparently, the yellow team won…

Round Twelve – What Happened Again?

Mmm…tasty! Friday night viewing at its finest starring Chris Judd…

But not even the prospect of a blood-splattered reunion could keep his girlfriend away. Now that is true love!

Wow, that split round seems to drag on forever, doesn’t it! Feels like an age between Juddy’s face explosion on Friday June 12th and Cam Mooney brain explosions yesterday at Subiaco. Can barely remember most of what happened in between. If only one could find some kind of pictorial montage to help jog the memory…

Hmmm…

Looks like the guy responsible for captions at Channel Seven took time off during the split round! Wonder who filled in for him and came up with this howler? My money is on David Schwarz…

Ben Cousins and Daniel Kerr reflecting on old times…the ones they can remember, of course!

If you thought Juddy’s nose made you a little squeamish, how did you go when the Brisbane medicos popped Troy Selwood’s shoulder back into place!

Sorry, did you say $800,000? How is this guy going to find enough money to pay Nathan Buckley to coach his club?

Well done, Mick. Remember – if the knife touches the bottom, you have to kiss the nearest boy! Now imagine if Buckley was the coach…Eddie would bring cake every week!!!

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The Games:

Suffer in ya jocks, Hawthorn! Hawk reject Zac Dawson actually kicks a goal of his own that helps sink Carlton and keeps St Kilda unbeaten after 12 rounds.

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Anyone ever associated with the Richmond Football Club joins in to sing the song after they beat West Coast. Well, it rarely happens so let them have their fun!

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The Doggies took a nice trip to Darwin, chilled out inside a coolroom and they destroyed Port Adelaide during the split round. It was like they have just had two weeks off…lucky them!

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Great win by the Lions…and you just know that whatever Browny is drinking there, it sure ain’t Powerade!!!

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Dean Laidley’s wild week started with an important trip to Adelaide…it ended with a sudden resignation and a visit from Mick Molloy! Rough week…

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Very predictable result on Friday night. Melbourne = shit, Essendon = promising, Mark McVeigh = dumb!

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I tipped Sydney to win, I have Scott Pendlebury in my fantasy team and I don’t like Collingwood very much. What a shitty Saturday night! Thumbs down, Barry. Thumbs down!

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They keep racking up win after win but any time a Geelong forward misses a sitter in front of goals, that’s the story right there! Especially when this hairy bloke is involved…

Round Eleven – The Excitement Builds In Western Sydney

The suburbs of western Sydney look exactly like this year’s NAB ad…well, it would if you removed every single Sherrin!

Half Back Flanker went on a bit of a field trip for round eleven of the AFL season and ventured out into the Aussie rules footballing hotbed that could well be soon on the receiving end of the 18th AFL franchise. I thought it might be nice to gauge the levels of excitement and anticipation from the millions of  residents in the west of Sydney as they count down to the arrival of their very own AFL club.

Well, having left Sydney and returned to Swine Flu Central…I can’t say that Sydney’s west is exactly swept up in AFL fever. It was like round eleven never actually happened! Not exactly sure why Andy D is so gung-ho about expanding into western Sydney..no, actually I am – there are a shitload of people out there! And they are watching plenty of footy. But let me tell you something…they ain’t watching our game!

If you wanted to talk to the locals about how the Tigers died in the arse during the second half on Friday Night football, they would have agreed. But they are talking the Wests Tigers in the NRL…not Richmond! And while the coach of the West Tigers might be in trouble, at least he still has a job…and he actually won something during his time there. Terry Wallace has neither of those things…

Richmond fans in western Sydney had to stay up past 2am on Saturday morning to watch Terry Wallace coach the Tigers to the last loss of his career.

And just say that you were keen to check out the Tigers-Doggies game and lived in western Sydney – you had to wait until after 11pm for the start of the match on Channel Seven. The Friday night marquee event AFL game and a massive audience in the largest growth area in Australia that has been targeted to adopt your code…and they are the last group of people in the entire country to see it?

And things didn’t improve on Saturday either. The ladder-leading Saints had another win? Nuh, they didn’t play until Monday night and they (being St George Illawarra) lost to the Gold Coast. And if you settled down in the family home to watch the action on a Saturday night, no AFL either. It was rugby union between the Wallabies and Barbarians…where the Lions were British, not Brisbane, and the Blues were from Auckland, not Carlton. If you went to the pub for some pay TV footy action, it was all about Johnathan Thurston and his Cowboys – not Toby Thurstans and the victorious Port Adelaide!

At least we saw some AFL action on Sunday with the Sydney Swans playing Hawthorn…it was live and everything. Sure, every pub with a TV had the rugby league on but those with a second screen were showing the Swannies. Sure enough, the Swans lost; in part to a classic Barry Hall brain-snap; and big bad Bazza has pretty much been the only AFL coverage in the Sydney media for the next three days.

Another Barry brain-snap…but it’s probably the only way to keep AFL and the Swans in the Sydney papers!

Say what you like about the hot-headed Swans spearhead but if it wasn’t for Barry Hall doing stupid things on a regular basis, the term ‘AFL’ would barely be uttered up there. Gary Ablett and the Cats keep tearing up the competition…read the scores in the paper the following day. The Crows and Bombers put on a great show with some spectacular goals…didn’t watch or listen to a second of it! Probably just as well for me…

And how about the latest teenage whizkid to hit the big time! Huh, who the hell is Jack Watts? They are talking about rising Wallabies star James O’Connor and his selection in the best rugby team in the country. They wouldn’t have the first idea about Watts making his highly (try ‘overly’) publicised debut for the worst team in the league – which just happened to coincide with Melbourne’s home game blockbuster against the biggest crowd drawing team. What a funny coincidence…

So, despite the miserable skies and hail storms greeting me at the airport, it was great to arrive back at the home of AFL football and catch up on what happened in round eleven. The guy behind the success at the Swans has doubts about the new Sydney club…and after my experience last weekend, I would have to agree.

Round Seven – Mind Your Head!

Shit…it actually hurts just looking at them, doesn’t it!

Damn! I’m still wincing from the sight of Richmond’s Alex Rance and Brisbane’s Troy Selwood clashing heads at the ‘G on Saturday afternoon…that shit was nasty! Selwood was knocked into next week, had to be assisted off the ground and sat out the rest of the game. He was the lucky one.

Rance was stretchered from the field and taken straight to hospital, his freaked-out parents by his side. The young Tiger came away with a fractured cheekbone but should be back in a few weeks to put his head in dangerous places once again.

Another bloke who continually puts his head in a dangerous place (that is, out in public), is Rance’s current coach Terry Wallace. Richmond lost again, the Pretty Picture Paper tried to get him sacked immediately and some knob from the nufty factory that is Channel Nine questions whether he even gives a shit about his job any more.

How Terry walked away without slamming this Channel Nine reporter’s head in the door is beyond me…

What fine journalism by the young brainiac who did the football media equivalent of leaving a burning paper bag filled with dog poo on the Punt Road door step, knocking on the door and running away. But on that form, he is destined to become the next Tony Jones and/or Craig Hutchison. Great! Just what we need…

Speaking of the nufty factory, Monday night football was the latest experiment to be held by the League as they explore ways to incorporate nine matches per round when GC17 and WS18 are artificially brought to life. Sure, it was on Channel Seven last night but if this timeslot becomes a regular fixture in years to come, it really does have a wanky, over-hyped Channel Nine feel to it. And if the League hopes to milk as much cash as possible from the next media rights agreement, they better prey that the nufty factory comes to the party.

The Games:

Buddy checks out the scoreboard and refuses to believe that his team is actually behind Essendon at quarter time. It only got worse from there…

The Bombers have been getting all nostalgic this week and it just may have helped inspire them to an upset win over bitter 80’s rivals Hawthorn. Though it would be fair to say that the Hawks are far from firing on all cylinders, Essendon are far from full strength and have four wins already. Speaking of full strength, they face St Kilda next…that might tell us more about the Dons.

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What is with Richmond players breaking their faces this weekend?

Richmond are starting to look ahead to life without Matthew Richardson… unfortunately, that life looks exactly the same as it has with Richo there. That is – not very good! Brisbane tough it out and claim victory at the MCG, leaving Terry Wallace threatening players with the axe. Well, he should probably do some sacking of his own before it happens to him…

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Barry Hall contemplates giving up football so he can take up boxing and start legitimately hitting people for money!

Paul Roos thought that Geelong would still be a tough task without the brilliant Gary Ablett. He thought right! The Cats remain undefeated as they brush the Swans aside, Roosy counting the cost of poor ball use. The Cats also shut Barry Hall out of the game, making him look like a pro boxer who plays footy on the side rather than the other way around. At least the two sports didn’t merge on him this week…

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Look – Elvis Lives…and he resides on the Gold Coast! Thank you very much, Warwick!

The classy folk of the Gold Coast were on hand to witness three in a row for Fremantle. No, not losses…and no, not denials by Matthew Pavlich that he would ever, ever leave the club. The Dockers have actually won three games of football in a row. I know, how crazy is that! Carlton let another winnable game slip and the coach is blaming the handball…though I would have thought it had more to do with Fev doing stuff-all! But Brett Ratten did also say his boys need to grow up…ok, now he’s talking about Fev.

Fremantle won the match, Carlton took the money but who won this battle of the minds…Chris Tarrant or Brendan Fevola? Must have been a nil-all draw!

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The Kangas in financial strife? Bulltwang! Just look at their fans…they are loaded!!!

It hasn’t been the best of seasons for North Melbourne…and that was before ex-AFL head honcho Wayne Jackson had them merging with the Demons! But they did manage a win on Saturday night…and a very good win at that! Port go home empty handed with sore shoulders and a pissed-off Mark Williams…that’s one flight home I wouldn’t want to be on!

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Sunday was a triumph for the Bulldogs…and a tragedy for haters of crappy white away jumpers!

The Western Bulldogs hadn’t won for a while and the trip to AAMI Stadium is usually a daunting task. Not this time, however. The powers of belief in the mind of Rodney Eade propelled the Doggies to a big win over the Crows. What were they worried about? It looks like the people who should be worried are Adelaide fans…and don’t say that Neil Craig didn’t warn you!

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Coming into this match, I had tipped one result out of six for the round. So when Melbourne held a slender lead in the third quarter, I was preparing for a complete tipping disaster! But the Eagles spared my blushes by hitting the front and then holding off a dogged Demons outfit. Dean Bailey must be pleased with their endeavour…not so pleased with the injury toll.

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Mick and his trusty binoculars embark on a desperate quest to find a Collingwood forward. No luck, I’m afraid!

It’s Monday night footy. It’s prime time. The glamour, the excitement…and Collingwood kick only one goal in the first half? Sure, half their forward line was missing and the other half was Anthony Rocca but…one goal in a half? The Saints continue to demolish every team they face; next victim…Essendon. Even with three extra days to prepare, the Bombers are in serous trouble!

Round Six – When The VFL Came Back To Life

Yes – these are the legs of Ben Cousins. Yes – they are covered in ice. No – he is not injured. No – we will not make any obvious Ben Cousins/ice jokes today. Sorry ’bout that…

With two derby games, the reigning premiers taking on the rising stars and two undefeated teams cutting a swathe through the competition, round six should have been all about the AFL. But when you have a Ben Cousins sighting near a footy field (or anywhere for that matter), that seems to take precedence somehow…

As it did on Saturday afternoon when Benny donned the red and blue of Coburg in the VFL to test his dodgy hamstring as he works his way back to fitness and a place in the Richmond midfield. He showed up, he ran around, touched the ball a few times and finished the afternoon on the bench with his lower half covered in ice.

Players from both teams fight with the gathered media in an attempt to sell their ‘Day With Ben Cousins’ story to the highest bidder.

Oh yeah, and there was a massive brawl! It was more like a massive pushy, shovey melee than an actual brawl but hey  – Ben Cousins was there, so let’s describe it as a brawl because it sounds more violent and bar-roomish (is that a word? It is now!). Not entirely accurate but very dramatic…

These stories were almost the lead items in Melbourne news last Saturday night. No kidding! A rare win for the VFL over the AFL…though if the powers-that-be continue to be unnecessarily full-on and pedantic, the VFL could be the only league us cyber-types will be allowed to talk about!

The Games:

Two of the most talked about figures in footy go one-on-one in a scintillating TV interview…where they cover not one of the topics that any of us are interested in. YAWN…

Collingwood didn’t let the Anzacs down this week after easing past the Argentinian national team on Friday night. The Kangas continue to be hit by injury while Mick Malthouse, as usual, still managed to find something to whine about in victory. This time it was his call for substitute players after an early injury to Paul Medhurst…I’m sure Mick was equally concerned when David Hille wrecked his knee in the second minute last week.

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Last year it was 99 goals, now he’s blown it by hitting the post! Maybe Fev is destined to be a ‘so close yet so far’ kinda guy…

It should be all about Jarryd Roughead, who kicked eight in a winning side, but the Carlton-Hawthorn game will be all about Brendon Fevola! On the day Carlton’s premiership credentials were questioned due to their reliance on the Fev, he went from legend to loser when his shot at a ninth (and match winning) goals hit the post. The Hawks might consider themselves lucky to get the win but they should be extremely fortunate that they don’t rely on Fev to win them games every week!

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An emotional Paul Hasleby praying that this win by Fremantle will convince Matthew Pavlich to never piss off back to Adelaide!

Western Australian footy fans love the western derby and they got another good one, this time it was Fremantle who came away with the win. They needed a second half fightback to do it too…though some wayward kicking by the Eagles certainly left the door open. Matthew Pavlich clocked up his 200th game in style…so maybe he will want to hang around after all!

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Brisbane takes flooding to a whole new level at the Gabba on Saturday night.

Brisbane may have been shite last week but the Gabba is far from Kardinia Park…and Essendon are far from Geelong! The young Lions, with the help of Browny, cruised to victory and helped spoil the party for 300-gamer Dustin Fletcher. At least Fletch received a nice momento to take home from the evening…a nice little leg fracture and several weeks on the sideline!

How many Bombers does it take to carry an old bloke with a fractured leg back to the sheds?

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Is there any explanation why Chad Cornes would wear two different coloured boots that wouldn’t make him sound like a knob? Doubt it…

Yee-haw…it’s another Hoedown win for Port Adelaide! The Crows fail to fire in the biggest game for the state of  South Australia in what the coach described as their worst loss of the season…though they still have four months left to top that effort! Port look like they are headed back the finals this season on this form but would Mark Williams hang around to coach next year for less money? Hmmm…

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Jack be nimble, Jack be quick…but Jack is not quicker than Marty Mattner!

The Sydney Swans secure a hard fought win thanks to Mattner’s great tackle and their new foreign recruit Mike Pyke…a ruckman from Canada, eh? Richmond were gallant in defeat but have still only won once this season – so, naturally, Terry Wallace is talking finals footy at Punt Road. Gee, we are really going to miss Terry when he is gone, aren’t we!

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Gary Ablett? Injury scare? Then why is this guy not wrapped head to toe in ice like Benny Cousins was? Don’t Geelong care?

Geelong win over Melbourne…check! New record for possessions by the Cats…check! Keeping Gary Ablett fresh and injury free…maybe not! Brownlow punters might be shitting themselves right now but lil’ Ablett has been so good that he can afford to miss a week or two and take out the medal anyway. And good on Jimmy Stynes giving it to the likes of Jeff Kennett and Sam Newman about their stance on umpiring…though the Dees have more chance of making the finals than those blokes have of actually listening to anybody!

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Great match-up, shitty timeslot! The Saints-Doggies game kinda got lost a little without the prime-time, free-to-air spotlight it deserved. The Dogs should be grateful! St Kilda remain unbeaten after a solid win and while they are not talking flags just yet, at least the hype appears to have plenty of substance this year…provided they kick straight!

Talking Heads (Media Street)

Robert Walls in high definition may not be pretty but watching a full hour of One Week At A Time is no problem…

…but Footy Classified? Can’t do it! The very sight of Craig Hutchison makes me scramble for the remote every time…

It has been with us for less than one week but already Channel Ten’s 24-hour sports venture, ONE, is getting a decent run on the plasma TV at HBF Central. And it was with great relief that the new Monday night AFL discussion show One Week At A Time made its debut. I say relief because without the pricey television goodness of Foxtel, the only AFL analysis program available to me during the week has been Footy Classified…which is not my cup of tea, to be honest.

Sure – the prospect of tuning in to see a casually dressed Robert Walls in high definition is not the most visually stunning image…but it made a nice change to have a panel partaking in an enjoyable hour of footy without a single hint of interruption, contrived provocation or wild accusation. It still needs some work, obviously, but after one airing, it already beats the shit out of cringing through Craig Hutchison and the Channel Nine hype machine. So call me ‘faint-hearted’…but I have no place for Footy Classified. Give me OWAAT or, if you are up late around Footy Classified time, try 30 Rock on Channel Seven. You’ll be much better for the experience…

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Speaking of talking heads…have you seen the movie Watchmen? There is a character called Doctor Manhattan…he’s big, blue and can create duplicate physical versions of himself in order to perform more than one task at the same time. Well, Eddie McGuire obviously thinks he is the Doctor Manhattan of the AFL. All he needs to do is announce which ‘Eddie’ he is being at any certain time and we are expected to forget about all those other ‘Eddies’ out there – be it President Eddie or Media Eddie or Former Game Show Host Who Really Needs A New Game Show Eddie!

Thankfully, unlike the various versions of Doctor Manhattan, the various versions of Eddie McGuire all choose to wear pants!

So, when Eddie floats the “Kevin Sheedy coaching Richmond by round four” theory after the Tigers were flogged by Carlton, it’s not poor form coming from an opposing club president because he’s not a president any more…it is Media Eddie talking. But when President Eddie frowns on speculation about Collingwood’s coaching position by people in the media (people just like Media Eddie), that’s ok too.

Um, is the line becoming blurry yet?…Well, stiff! Try telling him that he’s out of line and you can guarantee that one or more versions of Eddie will be after you . The only other guarantee we can make about this whole saga is it will end up in another Caroline Wilson article on The Eddies later this year! And it will probably include many parts of this article too…

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Well well…don’t  Anna B and Andy D look pleased with themselves!

The Gold Coast now have a footy team…well, almost! The licence is ‘provisional‘ but Andy D and Anna B wouldn’t have put on such a flashy Gold Coast stylee show, signing contracts and smiling a lot, if it wasn’t going to go ahead, right? So if you are an AFL club, lock up your youngsters…especially if they are Queenslanders!

Now how is the League going to pay for GC17…and WS18 for that matter? The next media rights, of course! Andy D is already spruiking it up…big time. And don’t think that the massive interest created in last week’s AFL season opener won’t be used by Andy and friends with a view to milking as much cash as possible in the next rights deal. Well, last Thursday night’s hype-fest was more a result of good fortune with the Ben Cousins saga.

So unless the league plans an annual roll-out of previous Brownlow winners, straight out of rehab, to participate in the opening game of the year, we won’t experience the likes of last Thursday night again. And after the result of that game, it would be just as well…

Six Months of Football Madness Starting…NOW!(AFL Season 2009)

Honestly…how friggin’ lucky are Channel Ten!

Welcome to AFL season 2009 and year two of Half Back Flanker! The last footy-free weekend for six months has passed and now it is just a matter of days until the madness kicks off at the MCG between Chris Judd and Ben Cousins…and whoever it is they play for.

Normally, the free weekend between the NAP Cup final and the opening round allows us footy heads one final opportunity to indulge in some non-AFL activity. You know; some relaxation, a few household chores and meaningful conversation with loved ones – all those activities that fall by the wayside once the season swings into action.

There were plenty of memorable moments during Channel Seven’s The Essence Of The Game documentary last Friday night. This was NOT one of them!

This year, in a radical departure from recent years, we received something a little extra to help celebrate the oncoming season – some decent footy-based television viewing! If the football documentary The Essence Of The Game that screened on Channel Seven on Friday night didn’t get you all fired up for AFL footy then you must be crazy! Or a Geelong supporter who did not enjoy reliving the events of grand final day 2008…in which case, Sunday’s viewing would not have been that enjoyable either!

After a slow build-up to the new season, that doco has me primed for footy season. Chuck in the unveiling of the kick-ass AFL season launch commercial and that grand final rematch next Friday night can’t come fast enough! The AFL’s biggest stars, some impressive CGI work, the Dropkick Murphys blaring in the background…doesn’t get much better than that!

Some rare kudos to the AFL’s marketing gurus – the new ad rocks!

So, what can we expect from season 2009? Hawthorn and Geelong will rightly start off as the two favourites to reach the grand final but identifying which team will rise to become their biggest challenger is not so clear cut. The Doggies were the third best side last year but prolonged success is something this club has struggled to achieve. St Kilda have been touted as The Next Big Thing for five years now but we are still waiting, waiting, waiting. They were downright lucky to finish in the top four in ’08 and anywhere between the GF and tenth spot would not surprise me!

North Melbourne are tipped to tumble down the ladder every year but always seem to deliver – they are the anti-Saints! The Crows? The Swans? Both make me sleepy! Collingwood? Can’t bear the thought…but of those teams just outside the top four from last year, they loom as the most likely to challenge. Carlton and Richmond are soooooo hot right now but just making the finals would be a fine achievement.

Which reminds me…should probably have a shot at ranking the sixteen teams in order of ladder position after round twenty two in the next day or so. Though last year I had the Bulldogs in the bottom four…so much for credibility!