Used to watch it back in the 80's. Somebody said to me that it was like American football but with the only protection being a light covering in bruises !. Watched a grand final once where the entire teams got involved is a massive punch up at the start. Also one of them, unfortunately can't remember his name was getting dogs abuse from the stand. He jumped the barrier and lumped this gezzer so hard he flew over backwards flashing the soles of his shoes in the process. Player had a massive moustache if I remember correctly. Anybody knows who this might have been?.
That Grand Final sounds like 1989, Hawthorn v Geelong, which was one of the best I've seen (although the four West Coast wins top that ). The Hawks' CHF Dermott Brereton was cleaned up at the opening bounce (resulting in broken ribs and internal bleeding) and that sparked, ahem, "wild scenes" as everyone piled in.
Hawthorn's Robert DiPierdominico ("Dipper") ended with broken ribs, bruised kidney and a punctured lung - not that he knew he had a punctured lung until after the game. Dipper was one of those players with a massive 'tache and was just the sort of bloke who'd carry on like that with the crowd!
Round 5 of the 2024 season begins on Thursday morning when the Demons and Lions face off at the 'G. At this stage there are still 7 sides with 100% records: GWS, Carlton and Geelong have won every game; Adelaide, Hawthorn, North Melbourne and West Coast have lost every match (although West Coast can take some pride in winning their first quarter of the season against the Swannies last week in a closer-than-expected loss, only 26 points, and still had a sniff in the final term).
Collingwood and Sydney have the week off so only eight matches are being played this weekend.
Fri 12 Apr Western Bulldogs (8th, 2-2) v Essendon (12th, 2-2) Docklands, 10:40am
Sat 13 Apr GWS (1st, 4-0) v St Kilda (9th, 2-2) Manuka Oval, 4:45am Carlton (4th, 4-1) v Adelaide (15th, 0-4) Docklands, 7:35am Gold Coast (10th, 2-2) v Hawthorn (16th, 0-4), Carrara Stadium, 10:30am Port Adelaide (6th, 3-1) v Fremantle (7th, (3-1) Adelaide Oval, 10:30am
Sun 14 Apr Geelong (5th, 4-0) v North Melbourne (17th, 0-4) Kardinia Park, 4:00am West Coast (18th, 0-4) v Richmond (14th, 1-4) Perth Stadium, 7:00am
I've picked Richmond but, as always when tipping against the Eagles, I'm hoping I'm wrong. It should be one of the closer games that WC have had over the last year or two and they're an outside chance of an upset ... especially if they can actually kick the ball to a blue-and-gold guernsey instead of giving the ball to the Tiggers in dangerous areas.
Last week saw one club lose its first match of the season (Carlton) whilst a couple won their first game (Adelaide and the mighty West Coast - yay! ). The end of this week's fixtures will see only one winless team left in the comp (unless there is the rarity of a draw) as North takes on the Hawks who are 0-5 for the first time in over 50 years.
Round 6 fixtures
Thu 18 Apr St Kilda (12th, 2-3) v Western Bulldogs (11th, 2-3) MCG, 10:30am
Sat 20 Apr Collingwood (13th, 2-3) v Port Adelaide (3rd, 4-1) MCG, 4:45am Carlton (6th, 4-1) v GWS (1st, 5-0) Docklands, 7:35am Brisbane (10th, 2-3) v Geelong (2nd, 5-0) Gabba, 10:30am West Coast (16th, 1-4) v Fremantle (7th, 3-2) Perth Stadium, 11:10am
Sun 21 Apr Sydney (4th, 4-1) v Gold Coast (8th, 3-2) SCG, 4:05am North Melbourne (18th, 0-5) v Hawthorn (17th, 0-5) Docklands, 7:05am
Melbourne and Richmond have a bye this week and return to action against each other next Wednesday to start ANZAC Round with their now-traditional ANZAC Eve clash.
Another tough game for Carlton. Last week was a bit unlucky but for a while now we have been scraping by with single digit wins. Been lucky that most have ended up in our favour but if we can't establish good leads in games we are always vulnerable
With all teams having played six matches there are now only two clubs with a 100% record: Geelong (six wins) and North Melbourne (six defeats). West Coast had a massive Western Derby victory over Freo (and would have been even bigger if the Eagles hadn't put the cue in the rack in the final term) which was quite amazing to watch with the No 1 pick in last year's draft, West Coast's Harley Reid, putting in a Chris Judd-esque performance in just his 6th game of AFL football, taking a Mark of the Year contender to go with his Rising Star nomination last week. My tipping left a bit to be desired with the first six matches of the last round being wrong before redeeming myself with the last two.
It's now Round Seven: ANZAC Round.
Proceedings kick off on Wednesday morning with the Tigers and Demons before the main game of the round on ANZAC Day itself, Essendon v Collingwood. Both of those will probably be played in front of 90,000+ crowds.
I think the Mark Of The Year competition has been settled with 16 rounds of footy left in the season: Jamie Elliott's hanger in the Anzac Day draw is the clubhouse leader and it's going to take something special to beat this:
Ben McKay, the human step-ladder, is listed as 2.02m tall which is 6' 7½" in old money ... and Elliott leapt onto his shoulders with ease and then caught the ball at almost full stretch above his head.
This week it's a round of local derbies, traditional rivalries, a meeting of two of the oldest professional football clubs in the world (any code) ... and some matches that don't seem to have a great deal on them.
Thursday night sees the Showdown - Adelaide v Port Adelaide - taking centre stage for once with traditional foes Carlton and Collingwood coming together on Friday night. Saturday's big matches start with the 'Battle of the Bridge' Sydney derby followed by the AFL's two oldest clubs (both founded in 1859), Melbourne and Geelong, and a real I-can't-stand-you clash between West Coast and Essendon, a rivalry that goes back to the early 1990s and legendary Bombers coach Kevin Sheedy indulging in dirty tricks like tying down the wind sock at Windy Hill (Essendon's former home ground). The round comes to a conclusion with Brisbane and Gold Coast meeting in the Queensland derby, the 'Q Clash'.
Thu 2 May Adelaide (12th, 2-5) v Port Adelaide (5th, 5-2) Adelaide Oval, 10:30am
Fri 3 May Carlton (6th, 5-2) v Collingwood (10th, 3-3-1) MCG, 10:40am
Sat 4 May Sydney (2nd, 6-1) v GWS (3rd, 6-1) SCG, 4:45am St Kilda (14th, 2-5) v North Melbourne (18th, 0-7) Docklands, 7:35am Melbourne (4th, 5-2) v Geelong (1st, 7-0) MCG, 10:30 West Coast (15th, 2-5) v Essendon (7th, 4-2-1) Perth Stadium, 11:10am
Sun 5 May Richmond (16th, 1-6) v Fremantle (8th, 4-3) MCG, 4:00am Western Bulldogs (11th, 3-4) v Hawthorn (17th, 1-6) Docklands, 7:00am Brisbane (13th, 2-5) v Gold Coast (9th, 4-3) Gabba, 10:10am
Went to the Hawthorne Hawks v Sydney Swans game at the MCG on Sunday. Like idiots we supported the Hawks. They lost 118 to 42 and I thought our defence was crap this season 😅
Comments
Dipper, thats the fella. Hard as nails. Thanks.
Collingwood and Sydney have the week off so only eight matches are being played this weekend.
Thu 11 Apr
Melbourne (2nd, 4-1) v Brisbane (13th, 1-4) MCG, 10:30am
Fri 12 Apr
Western Bulldogs (8th, 2-2) v Essendon (12th, 2-2) Docklands, 10:40am
Sat 13 Apr
GWS (1st, 4-0) v St Kilda (9th, 2-2) Manuka Oval, 4:45am
Carlton (4th, 4-1) v Adelaide (15th, 0-4) Docklands, 7:35am
Gold Coast (10th, 2-2) v Hawthorn (16th, 0-4), Carrara Stadium, 10:30am
Port Adelaide (6th, 3-1) v Fremantle (7th, (3-1) Adelaide Oval, 10:30am
Sun 14 Apr
Geelong (5th, 4-0) v North Melbourne (17th, 0-4) Kardinia Park, 4:00am
West Coast (18th, 0-4) v Richmond (14th, 1-4) Perth Stadium, 7:00am
I've picked Richmond but, as always when tipping against the Eagles, I'm hoping I'm wrong. It should be one of the closer games that WC have had over the last year or two and they're an outside chance of an upset ... especially if they can actually kick the ball to a blue-and-gold guernsey instead of giving the ball to the Tiggers in dangerous areas.
Round 6 fixtures
Thu 18 Apr
St Kilda (12th, 2-3) v Western Bulldogs (11th, 2-3) MCG, 10:30am
Fri 19 Apr
Adelaide (14th, 1-4) v Essendon (9th, 3-2) Adelaide Oval, 10:40am
Sat 20 Apr
Collingwood (13th, 2-3) v Port Adelaide (3rd, 4-1) MCG, 4:45am
Carlton (6th, 4-1) v GWS (1st, 5-0) Docklands, 7:35am
Brisbane (10th, 2-3) v Geelong (2nd, 5-0) Gabba, 10:30am
West Coast (16th, 1-4) v Fremantle (7th, 3-2) Perth Stadium, 11:10am
Sun 21 Apr
Sydney (4th, 4-1) v Gold Coast (8th, 3-2) SCG, 4:05am
North Melbourne (18th, 0-5) v Hawthorn (17th, 0-5) Docklands, 7:05am
Melbourne and Richmond have a bye this week and return to action against each other next Wednesday to start ANZAC Round with their now-traditional ANZAC Eve clash.
It's now Round Seven: ANZAC Round.
Proceedings kick off on Wednesday morning with the Tigers and Demons before the main game of the round on ANZAC Day itself, Essendon v Collingwood. Both of those will probably be played in front of 90,000+ crowds.
Wed 24 Apr
Richmond (16th, 1-5) v Melbourne (6th, 4-2) MCG, 10:25am
Thu 25 Apr
Essendon (7th, 4-2) v Collingwood (10th, 3-3) MCG, 6:20am
GWS (3rd, 5-1) v Brisbane (12th, 2-4) Manuka Oval, 10:35am
Fri 26 Apr
Port Adelaide (5th, 4-2) v St Kilda (13th, 2-4) Adelaide Oval, 10:40am
Sat 27 Apr
North Melbourne (18th, 0-6) v Adelaide (15th, 1-5) Bellerive Oval, 4:45am
Geelong (1st, 6-0) v Carlton (4th, 5-1) MCG, 7:35am
Fremantle (9th, 3-3) v Western Bulldogs (8th, 3-3) Perth Stadium, 10:40am
Sun 28 Apr
Gold Coast (11th, 3-3) v West Coast (14th Nosebleed territory! 2-4) 4:00am
Hawthorn (17th, 1-5) v Sydney (2nd, 5-1) MCG 7:00am
Ben McKay, the human step-ladder, is listed as 2.02m tall which is 6' 7½" in old money ... and Elliott leapt onto his shoulders with ease and then caught the ball at almost full stretch above his head.
This week it's a round of local derbies, traditional rivalries, a meeting of two of the oldest professional football clubs in the world (any code) ... and some matches that don't seem to have a great deal on them.
Thursday night sees the Showdown - Adelaide v Port Adelaide - taking centre stage for once with traditional foes Carlton and Collingwood coming together on Friday night. Saturday's big matches start with the 'Battle of the Bridge' Sydney derby followed by the AFL's two oldest clubs (both founded in 1859), Melbourne and Geelong, and a real I-can't-stand-you clash between West Coast and Essendon, a rivalry that goes back to the early 1990s and legendary Bombers coach Kevin Sheedy indulging in dirty tricks like tying down the wind sock at Windy Hill (Essendon's former home ground). The round comes to a conclusion with Brisbane and Gold Coast meeting in the Queensland derby, the 'Q Clash'.
Thu 2 May
Adelaide (12th, 2-5) v Port Adelaide (5th, 5-2) Adelaide Oval, 10:30am
Fri 3 May
Carlton (6th, 5-2) v Collingwood (10th, 3-3-1) MCG, 10:40am
Sat 4 May
Sydney (2nd, 6-1) v GWS (3rd, 6-1) SCG, 4:45am
St Kilda (14th, 2-5) v North Melbourne (18th, 0-7) Docklands, 7:35am
Melbourne (4th, 5-2) v Geelong (1st, 7-0) MCG, 10:30
West Coast (15th, 2-5) v Essendon (7th, 4-2-1) Perth Stadium, 11:10am
Sun 5 May
Richmond (16th, 1-6) v Fremantle (8th, 4-3) MCG, 4:00am
Western Bulldogs (11th, 3-4) v Hawthorn (17th, 1-6) Docklands, 7:00am
Brisbane (13th, 2-5) v Gold Coast (9th, 4-3) Gabba, 10:10am