AFL Season 2013

[stephenite]

Seeing that the Lions did not make the playoffs,wouldnt that make Pearce Hanly available for an aul game on the 22ind.

A guy that works with my cousin's girlfriend's brother's flatmate saw him waiting in Brisbane airport for a flight to Dublin just a few hours ago - he had an O'Neills with him and was soloing up and down the waiting area!!

Don't get too excited, that was me!!!!!

[Syferus]

Pearcey looks great in primrose and blue.

Flying the flag for Ballagh, County Roscommon. Our second favourite son, after Andy.

Ok, third favourite after Seanin Kilbride.

[JimStynes]

Id say Pearce will have to hang around to attend the Brownlow Medal night this year. Wont win it but could have got some votes throughout the year.

[Aerlik]

Round 23 - The final round of the Home and Away season.

Well, it wouldn't be the AFL without a few twists and turns in the final round and so it proved to be.

Hawthorn 112-100 Sydney
Fittingly the Minor Premiers should give us a great win in a great game.  This was yet another pleasure to watch on TV and I would have loved to have been there to watch live.  And to think this Sydney team are missing six or seven first team players through injury.  Either team will make the final, I feel.

St.Kilda 112-41 Fremantle 
Fremantle coach Ross Lyon knew he had a Top 4 position guaranteed and so rested 9 of his first team as well as having 4 out with minor knocks so decided to field the second team.  And so it proved.  A couple of good efforts from the new lads, and a special mention to a young lad called Josh Simpson from the tiny Indigenous community of Yalgoo in the middle of the desert of WA.  A further special mention to the three retirees from St. Kilda, especially one of my favourite players Jason Kosinzki.  All good things much come to an end.  This will certainly not be the Fremantle team to play Geelong next week.

Geelong 112-111 Brisbane
We all dream of scoring the winning goal in the big game in the last minute.  Well, imagine how the Brisbane forward is feeling having miskicked his shot from 15 metres out only to have it touched on the line and with only five seconds left...and a one point loss.  If you can watch the last two minutes.  Great stuff.  Some (yet again) shocking refereeing in that period of play and look out for the fancy footwork of Pearce Hanley.  He ghosted past three Geelong players in the process.  Great stuff.  As it turned out, even a victory would not have been enough.  But, signs are very positive for the Lions.  As for Geelong...I think they'll be just too good on the last Saturday...just hope they don't play Fremantle.

Carlton 104-103 Pt. Adelaide
A classic!  This game was simply great.  I couldn't watch but instead listened to the live stream.  The last quarter was some effort.  It even earned  Zac a spot on the Sunday Footy Show.  With the Essendon supplements debacle resulting in the Bombers being kicked out of the finals Carlton now make the 8.  Oh how lucky they were.

Richmond 104-65 Essendon
Salt in the wound.  The tigers were just too good.  Look a decent auld shot for a finals win, but that may be it.

Adelaide 129-43 West Coast Eagles
Well, I am not disappointed.  This was simply dire.  Garbage.  And 5 Eagles' players have pulled the pin too.

Gold Coast 146-63 Greater Western Sydney
I only saw the result and a couple of the stats.  Ablett must surely be the undisputed favourite for the Brownlow.  And deservedly so; a magic player to watch.

North Melbourne 125-114 Collingwood
And for the last time this season I will write...Why oh why did North Melbourne not play like this all season.  Had Carlton lost the roos would be in action in the finals.  But as it is, back to the drawing board for the Roos.  The pies go marching on.  I didn't see the game but was told it was great value to watch.  I won't be writing off the pies just yet.

Western Bulldogs 107-87 Melbourne
The horror has ended for the Demons.  And not about time for those of us who only had Murdoch-free TV, and were only given the option of boring, crap Melbourne games to watch.    A decent auld showing by the bulldogs over the past few weeks but both teams are years away from threatening at the top.

So folks, that is it for the league.  Bring on the finals. 

G'WAAAAAAN FREO
FINAL TABLE.

http://www.afl.com.au/ladder

[SLIGONIAN]

Thanks for the updates all year aerlik, love the summaries....

I had to leave early when I was watching Carlton v port and it was awful one sided first half, cannot believe the final score, wow.....

[HeaveHo]

Id say Pearce will have to hang around to attend the Brownlow Medal night this year. Wont win it but could have got some votes throughout the year.

Not on for three weeks - plenty of time to sneak to see friends and family.

[muppet]

Thanks for the updates all year aerlik, love the summaries....

I had to leave early when I was watching Carlton v port and it was awful one sided first half, cannot believe the final score, wow.....

+1

[All of a Sludden]

Another +1 for Aerliks updates.

Oddly the Hawks meet the Swans in the next game. I thought the Hawks played well within themselves today. I hope they go on and win it, I've always disliked Geelong.

All too easy for the Hawks today.

[Club Rossa]

Very strong 2nd half from Hawthorn.Will be hard for Sydney to raise it for next week.

[Club Rossa]

Massive win for Fremantle,to go to Simonds and beat Geelong will give them so much confidence.
Hopefully the Pies or Power can finish off those dirty Cats next week.

[Aerlik]

 

Well... what can I say? 
What a bloody awesome weekend of footy.  The top 8 teams served up four great games of footy with only one of the three results in any way "predictable". 

Hawthorn 105-51 Sydney Swans, First Qualifying Final
I doubt if a fully fit Sydney squad could possibly have done really that much better.  They were in it at half-time but there is just something damned special about this Hawthorn team.  In saying that, they are due a fall and it might just be in the next game.  Time will tell.  I only saw the first quarter but listened to the rest on the wireless...damned work...again.  A week off for Hawthorn and a battle with Carlton for Sydney next weekend.

Fremantle 87- 72 Geelong, Second Qualifying Final
I will be very, very honest.  I never gave the lads a hope in this game and at the end of the first quarter my worst fears were seemingly coming to fruition.  Geelong was all over Freo like a bad rash and there was nothing working.  Then came the masterstroke from the top coach in the AFL this year, our Ross the boss Lyon.  He switched the league's best tagger Ryan Crowley onto the Cats' Steve Johnson and the game changed.  Freo then kicked the next five goals in the second quarter to take a narrow lead at half-time.  The second half was fantastic stuff.  Real finals footy, typically hard, fast, ugly, sublime but ultimately successful.  No-one had foreseen this win as Geelong had won something like 41 of their previous 42 games at home.  That's almost 4 years without a home loss.  This was the first finals game played in Geelong in over 100 years.  This will be one to remember.
This win puts Freo in the driving seat with a home Prelim Final in two weeks' time against the winners of Sydney and Carlton which is next weekend.  Geelong lives to fight another day against Pt.Adelaide on Saturday at the MCG.
The tickets for the Prelim Final are booked and maybe, just maybe we can dare to dream of that one day in September and the ultimate prize in footy.   
Mini-me and I went to the airport to welcome the lads home and the reception was fantastic.

Port Adelaide 87-63 Collingwood, First Elimination Final
Whao.  What an exciting game for the neutral, if such an entity exists when Collingwood are playing.  Port Adelaide probably had all of Australia minus the Collingwood and Adelaide Crows fans willing them on in this one.  It was some effort and I managed to watch practically the whole game.  Last season, Port finished way down the table and things were not looking too bright.  In comes a new coach, Ken Hinckley, and now they are just two games from the Grand Final.  There were times when it looked like Collingwood would blow them away but stil the Power just kept coming back.  Wonderful result. But it only gets a lot harder for Port now who must go back to the MCG and play Geelong in the first Semi-Final on Friday night.  Something tells me they'll have the whole nation supporting them again.  My brother, a Power fan, was happy.

Carlton 116-96 Richmond, Second Elimination Final
Almost 95,000 fans packed into the MCG to see this battle of two of the game's biggest rivals.   And what a show they got. This was classic stuff.  Richmond seemingly could do no wrong in the first half and were well on top going in at the main break.  Then out came a different team, a Carlton which battled and conquered the Tigers in every area.  This neutral was loving it as I'm sure every other neutral was too.  It made it all that extra special seeing Zac playing his role really well.  He is developing into a bit of a class act as a defensive midfielder.  That's it for Richmond for this year.  A lot more was expected of them this year and were considered the most serious contender outside the top 4 for the flag.  For Carlton, which only made the finals because of Essendon being kicked out over the "supplements" scandal, a trip to Sydney next Saturday beckons.  I will be watching this game very carefully as the winner plays us in Perth in two weeks.

So, Freo and Hawthorn are automatically through to the Preliminary Finals and Port and Geelong play each other, and Carlton and Sydney play.

This is turning out to be some season.

And made even better with the resignation of the Eagles' coach and the failure after all the huff and puff about how fekkin wonderful they are.  Well, 'nuff said.

[All of a Sludden]

Port Adelaide 87-63 Collingwood, First Elimination Final
Whoa.  What an exciting game for the neutral, if such an entity exists when Collingwood are playing.  Port Adelaide probably had all of Australia minus the Collingwood and Adelaide Crows fans willing them on in this one.  It was some effort and I managed to watch practically the whole game.  Last season, Port finished way down the table and things were not looking too bright.  In comes a new coach, Ken Hinckley, and now they are just two games from the Grand Final. There were times when it looked like Collingwood would blow them away but stil the Power just kept coming back.  Wonderful result. But it only gets a lot harder for Port now who must go back to the MCG and play Geelong in the first Semi-Final on Friday night.  Something tells me they'll have the whole nation supporting them again.  My brother, a Power fan, was happy.

Early in the third quarter, the commentator said "Dane Swan is tearing it up at the G" and it looked like the Pies were going to win pulling up. Swan could do no wrong, he was catching everything and took a few good scores, but somehow Port stuck at it and for most of the last quarter Collingwood were chasing shadows.
A great game but if Collingwood want to look for a reason as to why they lost the game then they should look to the line.

[HeaveHo]

Aerlik

That (Freo v Geelong) was the best game I have seen this year. The pressure was intense.

Barlow doesn't look like a footballer but the boy knows how to find the footy. I thought Sandi was done but he proves the old adage about big guys not getting any shorter as the game goes on - the 2.11 metres came in handy as game went on and they had no answer to our clearance rate. And the Hill goal as special - he doesn't look like he is going that fast but no one can catch him - Christensen is no slouch and he was left behind.

Hopefully Jonno and Garrick come up. We will be hard to beat at home.

[Aerlik]

Heave Ho

got the email today that I got my Prelim Final tix.  Not cheap, $114 for the two, but ah fekkit.

I have also put in my application for two GF tix. which I will find out about either tomorrow or Thursday.  Hate tempting fate though.

[Aerlik]

I have also put in my application for two GF tix. which I will find out about either tomorrow or Thursday.  Hate tempting fate though.

At the risk of actually tempting that fate, I received the email today confirming that if we qualify for the Grand Final, mini-me and I will be getting our tickets.   


And I'm pleased to report that Marty Clarke and Caolan Mooney have survived the chop at Collingwood.  Six players were delisted by the club including three big name players.  But the Irish boys have received a reprieve for now.

However, it looks like the end of the road for Setanta.  He has just been de-listed by Greater Western Sydney.