Special Interest

Brisbane and Gold Coast played in the “I’m not desperate yet but I’m getting there cup” on Saturday evening, also known as the Q Clash.   In the end, Brisbane got back to what they have done well and ultimately beat the Suns pretty easily. The Lions spent nearly 58% of the game in their front half, took about 100 marks, handily won clearance and contested ball, and held Gold Coast to 20 front half points.   It was the Brisbane formula from the last few years applied again to an opponent that simply could not go with them.   But why couldn’t Gold Coast go with them?   They…

There’s something strange happening in Fremantle.   With the new rule changes, footy is having a Woodstock season. It’s all free love and forward handballs baby.   Sydney is the AFL’s Hendrix leading the charge with the 755 metres gained by handball per game over their last five, which is more than 200 more metres than the second leading team, but others are doing it too.   We saw it on Thursday night with Hawthorn, for example. The Hawks are a run and gun team but under Sam Mitchell they’ve historically relied on long wide exits from defence by foot, then short, sharp and aggressive…

Do you have a seat at the Table?  What table? It’s like the High Table in John Wick. All of the most powerful teams in the AFL are on this table together, as equals and as competitors. Among them, they’ll decide who gets to win the premiership.  But what is it?  The Table is a group of six teams that can win the premiership. That’s it. Only six. I will check in on the Table at about the ¾ mark of the season and then on the eve of the finals and, if all goes well, one of the teams on the Table will win the premiership.   You…

I remember going to Dusty Martin’s 300th game a couple of years ago.   Just like old times, hordes of Tiger fans flocked to the MCG to watch the person that lay at the heart of so much of our happiness over the previous five or so years play.   But it was about much more than watching him play again, which we’d all done a hundred times.   It was more about saying thank you. Thank you for all the memories you brought us. Thank you for the brightness you brought after a long fallow period.   He spoke to Jack Riewoldt over the loudspeaker after yet another…

Heading into this year, it felt like we kind of knew who the good teams would be and who the bad teams would be. For the most part, we were right.   Everyone expected Sydney to bounce back and they have, sitting pretty on top of the ladder. By the same token, Richmond was expected to be terrible.  Mission accomplished in that regard.   Even teams like the Saints, who most were lukewarm on despite a big season, have been worthy of that tepidness as they currently sit 9th and at 5-5.  But what are the teams that we were just wrong about? Who changed the narrative on their season?   Let’s look into it.  Melbourne …