Geelong look solid, the Demons have what it takes to go back-to-back and Dustin Martin’s looms on the horizon for RichmondHow do you top that? It wasn’t until deep into Sunday afternoon, as Seven’s commentators were hacking up their last chunks of rhetorical phlegm over Jamie Elliot’s goal in the closing minutes of the biggest game of the home-and-away season, did we know just how this finals thing was going to shake out.Yes, it’s only a game, but as it says in the Hagakure: “Matters of great concern should be treated lightly. Matters of small concern should be treated seriously.” Continue reading...
As Essendon decided Ben Rutten’s fate, diehard fans were already making their way to the MCGDavid Barham, who took over as Essendon president this week, was the producer of the 1996 documentary ‘100 Years of Australian Football’. From Jezza to Jacko, from John Coleman to John Bourke, it showcased the best and worst of the sport. Heading into round 23 – whether it was Essendon refusing to return Ben Rutten’s calls, Kevin Sheedy speaking sideways, or Tom Browne offering $1.05 on Alastair signing with the Bombers – a century of footy’s folly and folderol was crammed into a few days.By Friday, people who should have known better were floating the idea of James Hird returning as senior coach. A few...
Six of the nine fixtures have finals implications and for eight teams – nine at a stretch – it is a round of great significanceTo bastardise F. Scott Fitzgerald, the sentimental person thinks things will last, the Carlton supporter has a desperate confidence that they won’t. Since coughing up a loss to Adelaide at the end of July, Carlton’s season has had the anxious inertia of a house succumbing to a landslide.To be among the Carlton faithful last Saturday night was to see grown men cry – first tears of joy, before squirting a few out with genuine sadness. It was to remember that in Melbourne, football remains a vital part of life, albeit one where grief is often softened...
The Blues were seconds away from securing a finals berth but there is little time to dwell on the club’s latest episode of anguishFootball, the historian Manning Clark once said, is “an emotional bath of agony and ecstasy”. For Carlton, this week’s bath was run on Thursday night, with a two-hour soliloquy from a crack QC. It bubbled over 48 hours later, at the City Road end of the MCG, with the son of a stand-up comedian sinking them at the death. The Blues had it in the bag. They were a dozen seconds away from finals. “Did you see that?!” Luke Darcy kept squawking in the commentary box. We’ve been seeing it for a quarter of a century, the...
It was a big weekend for two players who marked their 300th and 350th AFL games respectivelyTwo champions of the sport, two men taken in the same draft but with completely different career trajectories, celebrated major milestones over the weekend.Shane Edwards was hoisted up and carried off following an astonishing comeback win over Brisbane. Edwards was nearly a Brisbane player himself. The Lions’ chief recruiter was desperate to get him, but was outvoted by senior figures at the club. They settled on Albert Proud, who ended up in jail. Continue reading...