It's All Over Now.

What a huge game eh? Of course it has all been written about ad infinitum and you are all over it. Indeed, all you are really interested now is WHERE IS MY MONEY?! To see where you finished on the ladder, scroll down a little. Congrats to Line in the Sand.

But I like to give my $1.50 worth, and so to the footy.

Many amongst you seemed lured by the fairytale that was the Sinners winning their first Premiership since 1966 - beating the Pies by 1 point. Surely after a year in which the Sinners were clearly the best (or second best - behind the Crows), they deserved to win. An unbiased person would think this only fair. Well, no. I quite enjoyed the thought that they would continue LOSING. Over the last 5 weeks The Sinners have become a team of players that continuously fell over at the slightest touch, and no one has called them on it. They literally stumbled into the Grand Final on the back of a free kick that would have made Lloydy blush, and they continued it on in the Grand Final assuming we wouldn't notice. Well my friends I will call them on it. They were soft. When they weren't missing sitters, they were looking for free kicks, falling over faster than a 90 year old in a taser attack. Nicky Riewoldt continued to be the prime example - and the final hurdle they fell before completion was the Grand Final. Sucked in.

Of course nothing prepared me for the Gold that was lil Stevie Milne's performance. If they handed out medals for worst performance in a Grand Final, there is no doubt they would call them "The Leon Davis", and Milney would have gone to bed with a Leon hanging around his neck. Couldn't happen to a nicer bloke eh? Even I was getting tired of calling out 'Kick it to Milney' by the end of the game! Actually that is a lie. I never tired of it, and he never let me down.

Chappers won the Norm Smith. No, he wasn't lucky but were there any standouts? 1.5 quarters of footy on less than that many legs.

All in all it was a great game and the best team of the last 3 years won it.

That of course brings us to the end of the Comp. These bluddy twilight games killed me but I will try and put in a solid pre-season and get things on track for next year.

My favourite moments? Well I am a fairly one-dimensional kind of guy so when my team ain't winning, I look for highlights in other peoples lowlights...

• Ports failure after their cockiness all pre-season. I could never work out why they were cocky given their team was full of old wood and players not prepared to go hard.
• Milney's Grand Final performance. As the Fauves once sang... Celebrate the Failure!
• The Hawks missing out. They were the luckiest Premiers ever and my how I chuckled.
• Dave Cassell'hoff's never ending tirade against Poor Matty Knights... indeed, he was the KnightRider.
• But the real highlight was of course that the two best teams making the Grand Final. If my team can't make it then ya can't ask for more.

I will send out the standard email just before the Pre-Season comp. If you have any suggestions for improving the comp then feel free to send me an email. I will continue using the blog to send out the updates during Season 2010 - emails come and go, but my blog ID shall remain the same...

Cheers and thanks for being a part of it.

Horseboy

The Ladder. The Prizes.

CONGRATULATIONS TO LINE IN THE SAND!!! That is TWO in a row for the big fella. Something his Hawks couldn't manage. Equal second were Grunter and The Nipster. $250 going straight into Grunters Trust Fund as overseen by his wonderful Father of Truth aka Horseboy! ;) Mother of Grunt aka 101 manages a neat 4th, while Shockeroo - courtesy of two selected draws - finished in 5th. Unbelievable.

Maddstarr picked the Sinners and fell out of the Top 10. As the Ponyboy Winner, she gets her money back - Well done Maddy - you can comfort yourself with the knowledge that you absolutely smashed yer dad (Pizerule).

You want yer money? Drop me a line and I will do my best to get you yer very own AFL Sponsored Stimulus Payment.

	Name	Total	$Main	$Side
1	line in the sand	145	$500.00
2	Grunter07	143	$250.00
2	The Nipster_2009	143	$250.00
4	101	141	$150.00
5	Shockeroo	139	$90.00
6	Footy Junkie	138	$65.00	$50.00
6	C.R.B.	138	$65.00
8	bjak	137	$50.00
9	the-falcon	136	$35.00
9	Horseboys a Crowsboy	136	$35.00
11	Maddstarr	135	$30.00	JnrWin
11	Muchacho1	135
11	TreeFiddy	135
14	jchr2041	133
15	Luke (the cute one)	131
15	Chris Judd's Hair	131
17	The Anti-Dave	130
17	DrizaBone	130
17	jklh	130
20	chickie_babe	129
21	gutterguard	128
21	ONCE GREAT	128
23	Home Park Streak	127		$140.00
23	mozza53	127
23	Fava Beans	127
23	pavsthaman	127
27	FlaminGalah	126
27	hooksters	126
29	Asylum Seeker	125
29	Hobomobo	125
31	Avoid Heathrow_0	124
31	kschafer	124
31	WildJohny	124
34	Kermit the Frog	123
34	PavPaaaa	123
36	Go Jana Love Tasmyn	122
36	hschafer	122
38	ruby2shoes	121
39	Judge Dredd	120
39	RedHotChilli	120
41	Pizerule	119
41	D Master	119
43	NQC09	115
44	Lady of the West	114
45	Dolores16	113
46	Nelson Rocks The Party	111
47	crowsfc	109
48	Bampo42	108
49	Chooka	107
50	jojomojo	103
50	Synneee	103
52	MadJacob	101
53	Paulverisor	101
54	Doorknob	96
55	The Mr Miyagis	86
56	beandmor	79
57	Deans & Erin	60

Results and Write Up

Whatta Game! The tipping comp results and the write up will be all yours soon... well. Monday night. You gotta give me a LITTLE time to recover from the game eh?

The Grand Final

Yes Ladies, It Is Here. Better Late than never. or not.

The Second and Third best teams of 2009 get to play off in what should be an absolute ball-tearer of a Grand Final. Could we have wished for anything more? Ace match-ups on every line, and some of the ugliest men in football taking pot-shots at eachother. Just how ugly would it be if Goddard and Ling had a car accident? "Sorry gov, we are pretty sure their heads smashed through the windscreen... it doesn't appear to be broken but NO one is that ugly..."

What is missing is the Fev. Yes, after the BrownlowGate, he has been banned from the MCG motorcade on Saturday by the AFL. A little harsh me thinks, but maybe they're worried he'll rock up half cut, try and get behind the wheel and take out half the Saints n Cats players before getting out his Sing-Star and mauling a version of 'American Pie'. I still think it couldn't be worse than friggin J Barnes singing 'No Second Prize' and Mark Seymour 'The Holy Grail'. *sighs*

Who WILL be at the ground is a certain Mr M Lloyd. Retiring 3 years too late for my liking. When was the last time an opposition team were genuinely concerned about him? Lloydy has been so crap for the last 3 years, that if he played against Essendon, they would play Fletcher on him. And he NEVER plays on a decent forward.

There are rumours that Lloydy will make a move to the media. I know being articulate isn't necessarily a business case for being there, but have you heard him talk? You may as well ask him to take Anthony Robbins spot as an motivational speaker. "ugh." Yeah thanks Matty. You'd have a room of people feigning the fall forward. And no, that isn't a typo.

Maybe Nicky Riewoldt attended one of his seminars, cos his ability to fall over in the third quarter of the Doggies game was the Softest act I have seen in football since Wakelin faked a broken face after Bickley tried to remove a speck of dirt from his jaw. Apart from Lloydy I don't think a player has fallen so quickly and so pathetically on the field of play. Ever. The Velvet Sledgehammer? You are kidding me aren't you? Did the media just make that up? I'd call him Turkish Delight. Promises so much but bite in and you just end up with a mess all over yer pants.

i don't quite know what that means.

Of course I am not surprised. NR is SOFT. He deserves a spot in the Hall of Shame - "Biggest Girls Blouses Edition". Right next to him would be Malthouse and Licca, and James Hird (get off the bench). CLOWNS all of you. You'd never catch a Crows player crying (unless he had Victorian heritage of course). *sighs*

So, the Cats will win. Despite Mooney. To be a chance, Koshitsme has to do something he hasn't done for the last 5 weeks - get a possession. The Big K has actually been a good player in 2009 but like the Leon Davis's and Didak's of the world, on come the finals, and on comes the failure. Expect Del Santo to have a good one but Ablett, Selwood, Corey, and about 50 others to have more than enough. Chappers will have a pearler and you just know that the Big J will only get 8 possessions but kick 4 and pass off 4 rippers.

OOF Manzi (dog) also just let off a ripper. DAMN YOU!!!!

ANYWAY... seriously. that is terrible and I can't stay at this keyboard any longer. FARK!!!!! Cats by 34 points.

*glug*

Ladder. One Round to Go - the Grand Final

So, with just one game left to tip - the Grand Final - I have added in your Grand Final bonus points on here, but not on the oztips website. A lot of Geelong was picked, but just two people picked the two Grand Finalists for 2009 - jchr2041, and chickie_babe. Great effort there, and they both pick up 6 points, while the rest of you (well, most of you) pick up 3 points.

What does this mean?

Well, i will let you work it out but with one tip to go, I think we may have a winner. All other spots in the Top 10 are up for change though, so pick wisely as it could be the difference between a $50 and $250 coming your way... Good luck.

	Name	Grand Final Bonus Points	From TipsLadder	Total
1	line in the sand	3	141	144
2	Grunter07	3	139	142
3	The Nipster_2009	3	139	142
4	101	3	137	140
5	Shockeroo	3	136	139
6	Footy Junkie	3	135	138
7	bjak	3	134	137
8	C.R.B.	3	134	137
9	Maddstarr	3	132	135
10	the-falcon	3	132	135
11	Horseboys a Crowsboy	3	132	135
12	Muchacho1	3	131	134
13	TreeFiddy	3	131	134
14	jchr2041	6	126	132
15	Luke (the cute one)	3	128	131
16	Chris Judd's Hair	3	127	130
17	The Anti-Dave	3	127	130
18	DrizaBone	3	126	129
19	jklh	3	126	129
20	chickie_babe	6	122	128
21	gutterguard	3	125	128
22	ONCE GREAT	3	125	128
23	Home Park Streak	3	124	127
24	mozza53	3	124	127
25	Fava Beans	3	123	126
26	FlaminGalah	3	123	126
27	hooksters	3	123	126
28	pavsthaman	3	123	126
29	Asylum Seeker	3	122	125
30	Hobomobo	3	122	125
31	Avoid Heathrow_0	3	121	124
32	kschafer	3	121	124
33	WildJohny	3	120	123
34	Go Jana Love Tasmyn	3	119	122
35	hschafer	3	119	122
36	Kermit the Frog	3	119	122
37	PavPaaaa	3	119	122
38	ruby2shoes	3	118	121
39	Judge Dredd	3	117	120
40	Pizerule	3	116	119
41	RedHotChilli	0	119	119
42	D Master	0	118	118
43	Lady of the West	0	114	114
44	NQC09	0	114	114
45	Dolores16	0	113	113
46	Nelson Rocks The Party	0	111	111
47	crowsfc	3	106	109
48	Bampo42	3	105	108
49	Chooka	0	107	107
50	jojomojo	3	100	103
51	Synneee	3	100	103
52	MadJacob	3	98	101
53	Paulverisor	3	98	101
54	Doorknob	3	93	96
55	The Mr Miyagis	3	83	86
56	beandmor	3	76	79
57	Deans & Erin	3	57	60

Next Year.

"Don't worry mate, there is always next year..."

Ahhh yes... how I enjoyed hearing that all last week - thanks people. We Were Robbed!

Of course this week I get to say something equally pleasing to the Pies n Dogs fans... and The Nipster in particular as he was cruising the Sydney region for potential recruits. "Don't worry mate... there is always next year..."

How re-assuring that after 22 rounds of home n away and a final or 2, that next year we all start at zero. Joy!

Friday night was a LOT closer than I expected. So were the Dogs good or the Sinners bad? I would love to tell you but the pub we tried to watch the last quarter in didn't have Channel 10. I know. Save it. As we watched the scores on the phone get closer and closer and the lead change, we loved that we were in a pub that could show the table tennis on ESPN but not the Prelim Final on a free-to-air station. Excellent!

On our cruising of Sydney nightlife Friday night we ran into quite a few treats. The guy sitting on a stool, sleeping, having a drool was special, but when the bouncer picked him up and he pissed himself? Mastercard Moment.

Saturday night had us in a quandary. The Pies are playing for a spot in the final. And we have tickets to Shihad. Of course the great part was LOYALTY (or lack of) meant The Nipster had tipped the Cats. 50/50 game and he tipped against his team. Again. After an initial flurry of fist pumping 10 minutes in... 'How good are they?"... normal service was resumed. Half time and we had to depart for some Mind Sedate at ye Annandale, and a quick look at the website showed the right course of action was indeed, departure. The 50/50 call was correct - a total of about a tonner difference at the end of the game.

Shame.

And so we are set for an absolute cracker of a game. The number one team of the year vs the number one team of the last 3 years. The Cats are hungry. The Sinners are nervous. Little Nicky will be wearing the ole brown jocks come Saturday, but they won't cover the fear that will result in kicks spraying left, right and further right when he's 45 out on a slight angle and the momentum needs shifting. And it won't cover the tears that spray left, right and further right at full time when he's listening to Tommy Harley given them the 'bad luck, there's always next year' speech... Sinners to get off to a flyer, Dave to suggest a margin bet as useful as his one that we should tip the Pies with a 19 point margin ("the Cats won't beat them by more than that"), and then the Cats by 36 points.

Finals Part 2 - Me Bitter?

*sighs*

I started this rant on Saturday, prior to the Pies/Crows game...

*sighs*

I was so full of venom...

*sighs*

And now I feel...

*sighs*

*sighs*

What I was GOING to say though, was just how UNBELIEVABLE it is that a PIES supporter (alleged) would tip AGAINST his team in a 50/50 game. Not once. But twice. And now actually probably three times cos if he didn't pick em against the Crows there's no chance of picking em against the Cats.

NIPSTER YOUR DIRTY ROTTEN FILTHY PIES MAY HAVE WON BUT YOU ARE STILL A DISGRACE TO YOUR TEAM!

You should have taken a lesson or two from another Top Ten Tipper - Footy Junkie. Yes, this brother of Peter Andre - you may have known his lil Bro as the Funky Junkie - is a Pies Supporter who had the fella's in his pants to pick his own team. Indeed if you click HERE then have a lil gaze at the street view at the corner of Martin Place and Macquarie St, you will see him just starting to STRIP OFF and DISPLAY HIS WARES TO THE MASSES! He has thus been reward with a move UP the ladder... Something that the Nips would have done if he has shown some of THESE *grabs my fellas* (no, I don't mean if you had mine...)

Indeed you are a part of a group we now refer to in the Horseboy Tipping Comp as "The Dave Five". Currently it only has 2 members (Dave and Nips) but we have to leave room for more to get on board.

Absolute.

Disgrace.

I must admit that I do not know why people do that. Fair enough if it was a lay down result. Say... you are a Melbourne supporter playing anyone but say... West Coast. Or maybe Hawthorn. But 2 x dead set 50/50s in a row and you go AGAINST your team? I think I am going to have to build some lack-of-loyalty-punishment into the comp next year. Dave & Nips would be lined up and shot eat and every week. And they'd probably have some words of wisdom on it like... 'I was a winner either way...'

Friday night the Doggies easily beat the Lions. Money for Jam. Didn't even bother watching it. Whoever won was going to get destroyed by the Sinners next week, and yes, the Sinners will absolutely destroy the Doggies. Simple as that.

Saturday night... do I HAVE to go through it? The worst part was that in Sydney we didn't even get it live - it was on an hour delay. And channel 10 being channel 10, they made us sit through the quarter/half/3-quarter time breaks with all their CRAP. Those stupid stupid stupid bluddy intros to the games. Do they REALLY think people are watching those going "wow, this is great! I didn't realise he could walk a tightrope!". Do they REALLY think people want to listen to some SACKED PIECE OF CRAP COACH tell us how they would go about it? If yer so go why did they SACK YOU YA BUM?!!!!

Yes, an hours delay, I have to listen to clowns like Laidley say things like "Spread and Dead" or something, and all the while the result lay there for me just 15 metres away... teasing me... I knew it wasn't gonna be good. Too many chances wasted as the Pies played crap. And when Knights went down and the rotations went up, the confidence went down. Mine did anyway. RUBBISH! No, I didn't think we'd be a chance to beat the Cats next week, but the game was ours... and yes, I was gutted mofo's!

But that's not the worst part. Oh no... the worst part is that the Nipster is heading North next week and I'm gonna have to listen to him blame the umps when they pay a free after some scabby Pies player has shoved his elbow into Ablett's face, or they place two hands flat in the back of Mooney, or they hold, scrag and wipe their blood on Selwood's guernsey. "RUBBISH!" he'll scream like a demented banshee (after tipping the Cats anyway) "soft! That blood was already coming from his face!"... ahh... joy...

Tipping...

So of course most of you picked the Doggies n Crows, but a few picked the Pies. Twenty of you. So by my reckoning that is 19 people who were well out of the running. With just 3 games left for the tipping comp (yes it includes the Grand Final), the major impact will clearly be your Grand Final picks, with 3 points per correct pick.

Without naming names...

* 46 picked the Cats

* 10 picked the Doggies

* 8 picked the Pies

* 3 picked St Kilda

Of all those...

* 8 picked the Cats n Dogs

* 2 picked the Cats n St Kilda

So what does that mean? Not much... it's all too late now my friends... just tip n hope.

Quote of the Day

Dave "Tree Fiddy" Cassell
"The Crows were lucky to win by 96 points - they only had 16 more inside 50s"

a-ha.....

Shame Juddy Shame

Is he a complete moron? "I wasn't trying to scratch his eyes, I was trying to stick a knife in his earlobe."

The Greatest 3/4 Time Speech of All Time.

Matty Knights delivers the speech that got him the job at Essendon.

(WARNING: rude language... sorry kiddies - but that is what has taken him to the heights he has reached!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULoQ_y1wu14

Finals. Part 1.

How bad are those intro's to the games? "For 3 years, Geelong have been walking a tightrope..." NO THEY HAVEN'T! THEY HAVE BEEN WALKING ALL OVER EVERY TEAM YOU IDIOT! And then we have that tactical genius Jade Rawlings tell us what HE would do to beat the Cats. Uhm. You wouldn't do anything, cos you DON'T HAVE A JOB. Idiot.

Well it all started on Friday night with a little game we call "Smash the Bombers". Yes, the Crows smashed em by 96 points. What does it mean? To be honest, not much, because as I have been saying all year long, the Bombers are pretty crap, and beating them means sweet FA. Still, better to win than lose. My "Men" at the ground - Gutterguard and JudgeDredd - were in equally dominant form, downing 1.5 West End Lights between them before getting back on the Cokes claiming they 'had a bus to catch'. They said the Bombers were the worst team they have ever seen. They said that Fletcher should just get it over with and finish off the sex change operation he clearly started work on 6 years ago, and Gg indicated they have lost all respect for anyone that claims to support the Red n Black. Personally, I never had any. Bombers? Result: Spank. Exit stage left. And of course as a footnote, the Bombers decided to visit some glamourous Adelaide Nightclub - The Electric Circus - and CAUSED TROUBLE! What is wrong with Jules, Rio's and Ambassadors? Ahhh *sighs* those were the days eh Schafe?

On Saturday the Cats walked a tightrope... then cut it down and used it to garrote the Dogs. The Cats have definitely slowed down their play in the second half of the seasib, but they were too good for the Dogs who wasted a few chances. Big bodies, and when Stevie J comes back in, look out. If it comes down to a Cats v Sinners Grand Final it will be huge.

Meanwhile up at the Gabba the Blues were way too good for the Lions. For 3 quarters. And then they weren't. And I was pretty happy with that cos I changed my tip about 30 minutes before the game. How good was Bradshaws goal? GO YOU LIONS! Never in doubt. Blues, we know you are going. Now please bugger off.

Finally on Sunday we had what promised to be a huge game. The Pies were playing some great footy coming into this game (and I don't say that with pleasure), while the Sinners have been in holiday mode since Round 16. But that was because they could. Riewoldt - too good. As soon as the Pies picked Rocca I'm sure half their supporters knew there was going to be trouble... how does a team look so good and then look so bad? Ahh... they call it "The Opposition..."

The Ladder

Coming Soon!

Finals 2nd Week

And then there were 6! Two huge games this week, with the Friday night game pitching the Doggies against the Lions. To be fair, this is the lesser of the games. The Lions only just beat the Blues at the Gabba. Nuff said. Akka will be out to punish, and may even pass the ball, while the rest of the Dogs will all just be too quick. Simple.

Deja Vu in the second final. Why is it always the Pies n Crows? Eh? I have to admit that the Pies have the wood (geddit?) over the Crows in finals over recent years. Memories of the 2003 prelim are not pretty. Surrounded by The Filth - most of them seemed to have tags mentioning something about 'Day Release' around their ankles - when yer team loses is not an uplifting experience. But add to that the sight of one Nipster taking speccies on otherwise inert cars on the way out of the ground, followed by a lifting of the t-shirt in the restaurant (and The Nipster was born), followed by a little nap between 2 8-ball tables a little later in the evening. Ahhh yes... good times.

Who will win? Well I will tip the Crows of course - they are my Grand Final pick - but they will need to play a lot better than they did 5 weeks ago. And they will.

Ladder Updated.

Finally.

The Things You Find

Walking the dogs this morning (not a euphamism) I heard a little tune coming from the bushes... after some searching, I found a phone... didn't think much of it, but got to work and thought i would try and find the owner... I rang 'Nonna' and apparently it belongs to a 12 yo girl.

Anyway, after looking through the contact list I started noticing some names were familiar - some with home phone numbers...

Ian MacFarlane

Malcolm Turnbull

Joe Hockey

Richard Colless

Ziggy Switkowski

There were literally hundreds of EXTREMELY high up government, bankers, financial institutional regulatory types in there. But my favorite, slotted away was the Hon Peter Costello... surrounded by many Honorable people, and maybe one not so honorable... -->

So. If anyone wants a number - especially one Mr. Horn Mo-f*ker - you know the man who has em all! Me!

[And no, I am not joking - all the numbers are 100% legit - she is one powerful 12yo girl!]