Essendon are dogshit. They havenât had a good team for almost a quarter of a century. Theyâre like the Manchester United of the AFL (well, Manchester United in 2038). Although Carlton would have a serious claim on that title too.
I became mildly intrigued some time ago by the figure of Adrian Dodoro, who was Essendonâs âlist managerâ for years (a sort of director of football type). I think heâs no longer in the role since the start of this year but like Putin âstepping asideâ it appears he still has the real power at the club.
For years this guy has had excellent contacts in the media and the game in general and has been consistently written up as a sort of âguruâ. And yet every year Essendon are shit. They havenât won a finals match since the last dying kick of their last good team in 2002.
Online, Dodoro, or Dodo as he is called, is possibly the most derided figure in the game. Heâd be a perfect fit for the âFailing Upwardsâ thread if anybody here had heard of him. The results would say this derision is utterly warranted.
Geelong are good though and bang in Premiership contention. Theyâre considerably better than they were last year when they lost the preliminary final to Brisbane.
In the spirit of never letting a vindication pass on the INTERNET, Brisbane have now lost three of their four games since this post.
Carlton coach Michael Voss visited Carlton fan Ange Postecoglu at Spurs in the off season to see how a âworld class organisationâ does things.
Carlton are 64-12 down to Port Adelaide at half time and after last weekâs limp loss to North Melbourne, Vossy will be following Ange out the door of their respective clubs very soon, except without a trophy.
Carlton have been a shambles this season and youâd imagine a lot of dollars will be flashed in the face of John Longmire very soon.
Both themselves and Melbourne both well out of finals contention though.
Adelaide are on a right streak of form and could top the ladder with Collingwood wobbling a bit recently, Collingwood have a tough last four fixtures too, Adelaideâs are all very winnable.
Only Footscray have a chance of breaking into the eight from outside and even that looks a long shot. Hawthorn might be the vulnerable team for Footscray to catch as they have to go to Adelaide and Brisbane and play Collingwood yet.
Collingwood v Brisbane this Saturday is a big game.
This is the ladder with four games left (Gold Coast have five left due a postponed game from the start of the season which will be played after the final round).
Sydney in 10th are gone so the Footscray Bulldogs are the only chance of a team dislodging one of the eight. Looking at the fixtures, they do have a chance to get in, but the question is who they might dislodge.
Big game going on right now in that race and the Dogs pretty much already have the job done as they lead GWS 81-20 at half time so that will bring them to 48 points with a very good percentage and breathing down the necks of the teams on 52.
Footscrayâs last three fixtures are Melbourne (MCG) , West Coast (Telstra Dome) and Fremantle (Telstra Dome). The first two look gimmes which would bring them to 56. The last one is a potential showdown for finals footy.
Geelong and Gold Coast both have very good fixture lists and should get in.
Hawthorn, GWS and Freo look the three vulnerable to being caught by the Dogs. Even Brisbane on 54 are not safe because they have four tough fixtures coming up.
Gold Coast looking for their first ever top 8 finish in their 15th season. Mad how much of a learning curve the AFL had then for GWS, who will be in their 8th finals of 14 seasons. Gold coast went looking for the big names and star attractions early rather than loading with top end talent.
They had some god awful recruits. Gary Ablett was a no brainer home run, albeit he cost them loads and in terms of the overall club, left them with one big star and fuck all else. Recruting Karmichael Hunt from the NRL was beyond fucking shite. And he coked off his head the whole time. Picking a load of top end talent from Vic State was also poor judgement, as soon as they could, they all ended up fucking off again. Need to at least tie them down longer or better or just not pick players that were likely to fuck off. They did well with the likes of David Swallow from Perth, and his other brother being a captain of North Melbourne too. But Gold Coast ultimately being a holiday location also permeates to the players too.
Hawthorn took a 7-33 lead at the Adelaide Oval in the first quarter of tonightâs match. Itâs now 49-33 at half time. Adelaide have now overtaken Collingwood as Premiership favourites with the bookies. I expected a big improvement from the Crows this year but theyâve surpassed everybodyâs expectations.
With Collingwood at the MCG and a trip to Brisbane to come in the remaining three fixtures after tonight, Hawthorn are a real chance to miss the eight. Allegedly one punter has put 50k on them to do so. This Hawthorn team reminds me of the current Donegal team under Jimmy. Halfway through last season they awakened the inner cunt that is the trademark of all great Hawthorn teams and came from nowhere to make the finals, and people expected them to push on this year, but like Donegal, that inner cunt is just not as cuntish as previous versions and as the season goes on it looks less and less intimidating.
Mark Keane starring for Adelaide and youâd expect them to push on win and this by 30 or more.
Hawthorn have reawakened their inner cunt. 63-71 at three qwawtah toym. Five of the last six goals now. Arch troll Jack Ginnivan cupping his hand around his ear at the Adelaide crowd.
Another Saturday night at the MCG and it looks like another Lions victory.
Collingwood 59 Brisbane 86 with 9 minutes left.
This is Collingwoodâs third defeat in four - their drop off in form is becoming a collapse and they will lose top spot for real to Adelaide with this defeat.
65-86 now with 8:24 left but itâs too late surely.
Simon Goodwin SACKED by Melbourne three days after an 83 point victory (OK admittedly this victory was over the West Coast Eagles so it doesnât count). Their only Premiership winning coach of the last 60 years.
Melbourne infamously sacked their previous Premiership coach Norm Smith halfway through the 1965 season. He had won just the six Grand Finals between 1955 and 1964.
Hawthorn leading Collingwood 63-24 at half time in tonightâs BLOCKBUSTER.
Only a month ago runaway leaders of the ladder, Collingwood will now struggle to make top 4 and could be going into an elimination final against Footscray, Hawthorn, GWS or Freo and right now you wouldnât be fancying them against any of those opponents.
It wonât happen but there is even a mathematically plausible scenario where they could miss the 8 entirely.
