A great game of footy...

I'll come right out and say it now.  I'm an Essendon supporter.  "Go the Dons!"

That being said, Essendon kind of suck a bit at the moment, having to tried to import some of Richmond's winning culture to give them an edge and help create their next premiership.

Anyway, not coming from a traditional football family I've never really gotten into the whole tribalism of AFL, even with the "traditional" rivals for Essendon.  I actually quite like Collingwood, I enjoy watching them play and like their team first structure.  I don't mind Carlton, especially this year and last year, never had much time for them before that.  I don't really like St Kilda (supposedly everybody's second team) and don't really care if they have to wait another 43 years until they actually get a premiership.  

I don't like Port but I do like Adelaide (this year anyway, not really before now).  I don't like the Weagles but I do like Fremantle (don't know why, they suck.  Maybe because the Pav is the best forward in the competition but nobody knows about it because he's always playing in the midfield).  I don't particularly like the Lions, but it's got nothing to do with the 2001 Grand Final, I can't explain it.  I also don't like the Hawks very much.  I don't really like the Bulldogs, although I do like Jason Akermanis.

Anyway, I just saw the Essendon/Adelaide semi final.  What a great game of football!  The second half was fantastic.  As outlined above, I actually like both teams.  Andrew McLeod is one of my favourite players and I really like how both teams play the game.  At first I was thinking I'd like Adelaide to win but with Collingwood close so they weren't disgraced.  Then I decided I didn't care.  I'd be happy for either team to win, I was just there to enjoy the contest.  So I did.  If you want to explain Aussie Rules to someone, show them the second half of that match of football.  No more explanation will be needed.

As for the grannie, obviously the smart money is on Geelong and St Kilda to be there.  Personally I think St Kilda will probably win.  I'd kind of prefer Geelong to win because they're in the position of 1 premiership from 3 years of dominance and I feel sorry for them.

Let's hope it rains so we have a mud fest and something interesting to talk about.

Oh, and a big congratulations to the Pies, great victory!

cheers

harry

to bump or not to bump, that is the question...

So Matthew Lloyd laid a bump on the weekend.  Of course anyone who has seen any media that relates to football at all would know this.

It now seems he has been offered a 6 week ban (4 with an early plea) and has accepted the 4 week ban.  Essendon are apparently choosing not to fight the charge.

While the consequences of the bump are quite obvious for all to see, I believe that it was not an illegal bump and therefore he shouldn't be suspended for it.  He was going for the ball.  However, someone who can make the case much more clearly than me is Greg Baum, who actually gets paid to do such things.  Read his article on the whole case here.

Personally, for me the much more worrying situation is that Chance Bateman got offered a one week suspension for his attempted coathanger on Lloyd.  The coat hanger is a true blight on the game of AFL, much different to the front on bump.  For many years the coat hanger was employed with brutal effect and the league spent a lot of time removing it from the game.  You still see it occasionally in country football, but generally it seems to have died off.  So Bateman launched a full coat hanger at Lloyd, with obvious intent, and collected him in the throat.  It didn't do what he wanted but that's not the point, he still attempted it.

And then he gets offered one week?  For me personally, I think that the two crimes are similar.  One is last minute, unplanned and with high consequences.  One is measured, planned and has low consequences.  Give them both equal time I say.

One quick point.  I am an Essendon supporter.  That being said, I don't believe that my vision is being impaired in this matter, I think that Lloyd deserves to play next week.

cheers

Harry

ps If you look at the bump from a different angle, so that Matthew Lloyd is facing the camera, you can see how fast the whole thing happens and that Lloyd is actually going for the ball.  The view that is being shown most commonly puts him in a much worse light.