Special Interest

Footy is back! And in classic AFL fashion, it’s starting with a whimper.   We have a little over half a round, four fifths of which will be played in the northern states to “take advantage” of the NRL being in Vegas this weekend.   I’m not quite sure how that works but stick with me!   There’s also a fifth game, but that’s happening at the MCG because Collingwood has cracked the sads and doesn’t want another interstate trip to add to their three this season.   The internal logic of the Fast and Furious movies makes more sense than the AFL’s decision making around “Opening Round”.   By the way, don’t call it Round 1 or Andrew…

There’s a fine line between an admirable iconoclast and a stubborn idiot.   You can so quickly go from being Ange Postecoglou dragging Tottenham to their first trophy in a million years, to Ange Postecoglou not winning any of his only eight games in charge of Nottingham Forrest and getting sacked after 39 days in the worst Greek on Greek crime since the civil war.   Adam Kingsley, with this hyper talented but ageing and injured Giants’ list, is treading that line.   Kingsley has a clear way he wants to play, and when it works, oh boy is it sexy. They win the ball back close to their own goal…

At the start of last year, I compared Fremantle to Catherine Tramell from Basic Instinct. I knew that they would probably let me down, but they were just too hot to listen to my better judgment.  After kicking 5.3 against the Saints in Round 8, I was calling coach Justin Longmuir Mark Jackson and demanding his head.  Heading into Round 23, I said that a Fremantle win against the Bulldogs in a win and in game was an existential crisis for the AFL.   After Round 23, when they beat the Bulldogs, I was singing Longmuir’s praises again.  With that much back and forth last year, you’d have to send me…

Why Couldn’t Brisbane Do It Again?  At this point, Brisbane has the feel of the Oceans movies.   In Ocean’s 11 they were stacked across the board. In Ocean’s 12 they added Julia Roberts to the team. For Brisbane in 2024, that was Levi Ashcroft as well as a fully healthy Will Ashcroft.  In Ocean’s 13 they added Al Pacino or, for Brisbane, Oscar Allen.  They just kept adding and adding and adding. And they stayed successful through their additions.   But, you know, they were movies.   The Lions have to pull their own smash and grab to win three in a row and, almost as impressively, make their fourth straight grand final.   If there’s ever been a team that’s set to do it, it’s Brisbane. Indeed, I’m picking them to…

Neil McCauley lived by one rule: “don’t have anything in your life that you can’t walk away from in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner”.  That’s a bad rule in life but a good rule for a bank robber. It’s also one that Neil abandoned time and again, particularly to save Chris during the bank robbery and to kill Waingro.  Neil didn’t stick to his own rules.   With their spending spree in this past offseason, adding Tom De Koning, Jack Silvagni, Sam Flanders, and Liam Ryan the Saints have abandoned their rule as well.  The Saints were less explicit than Neil in…

Following on from Part 1.  In brief, I’ve gone through every list and picked out just the high-end talent. I have identified the superstars, stars, and the potential stars and given each tier of player a certain number of points. From there, I’ve stacked teams by total points to tier premiership contenders heading into the 2026 season based on list talent alone, not taking into account balance, coaching or anything else.  Tier 3: Teams that don’t suit the exercise  Hawthorn ($8.00)  Superstar: N/A   Star: Jai Newcombe, James Sicily, Will Day (injured – not for season), Dylan Moore, Blake Hardwick, Massimo D’Ambrosio, Jack Gunston, Josh Weddle, Josh Battle, Nick Watson, Tom Barrass (22)  Possible…

As we get closer to the season, it’s useful to remind myself who the good players are and where they play. This exercise does that. It’s like watching one of those 15-minute Severance recaps before season two, only to realise you didn’t need it because the show spent most of the season sniffing its own farts instead of advancing the plot.  So, what is the exercise?   I’ve gone through every list and picked out just the high-end talent. I have identified the superstars, stars, and the potential stars and given each tier of player a certain number of points.   From there, I’ve stacked teams by total points to tier premiership…

Tactically, Michael Voss is not a brilliant coach. He might not even be a good one. He’s stuck in an era of footy that doesn’t exist anymore.  He has pure ruckmen, pure key defenders, pure key forwards. He likes round pegs to fit into round holes and he’s not interested in fashioning different shaped holes for different kinds of players to fit into.  I assume that his whiteboard looks exactly like your school footy coach’s whiteboard and there is no acknowledgement of the new roles that have come to define the game.  Role flexibility is like BDSM to him. It’s just something people on the internet do.  His success as a coach to this point, however modest,…