Round 4 - I Walk The Line

Danger Is My Business

Late again... but I have reasons aka excuses.  I was down in Melbourne on the weekend with The Nipster and I am still battlescarred from seeing the two tribes that are Tigers n Pies go to war.  It's a different language when you whistle it through 3 teeth.

Nips Enjoys a Mid Strength

Safe to say the Nips was not amused during the first half - which was some of the worst football played since the Dees took to the field any time in the last 30 years. Fortunately for the Pies they kicked into gear in the third quarter and it was game over.  I was interested to know what the Tiggers supporters actually thought of Jake King so did a little vox populi.  Apparently this is a touchy subject, akin to asking if your wife is pregnant and finding out that no she is just extremely fat.  They get defensive do those Tigs.  Then aggressive.

The biggest win of the week was by Melbourne.  To come back the way they did against such experienced quality opposition as the team most picked for bottom really showed the kind of courage and determination that the Dees are full of... Just as well they have been on the supplements.

I didn't see much other footy for the weekend... but from what I saw, the Cats played good footy to beat the Swans and stay unbeaten.  They keep on keeping on hey?  And unlike the other unbeatens they have actually played decent teams.  The Paps beat the Suns comfortably and the Bombers beat the Sinners in a game that yielded many $ to the AFL as they pushed and shoved.  Milney got in the face of his opponent and after getting suspended showed photos of Judd.

Not much else going on in an average round of footy... the Crows pounded the Doggies in appalling conditions, the Roos smashed the Lions, and the Hawks beat the Dockers comfortably.  But did you pick the Blues to beat the Eagles?  1:3 for the Eagles ain't a good start for a Premiership contender... 2:2 is the perfect launchpad though.

The Tippers
Three 8 from 9's this week but no big mac.  Or whopper.  While the Dredd picked the Tigs to miss the full house, McAleer and WildJ went the Beagles.  Still 8 from 9 was a great effort.  That leaves BJAK all alone up front on 27 points - one clear of a bunch.

In the Streak Dave 'WEPIT' Cassell is on 15.  FIFTEEN!  He's 20th overall in the tipping but jeez he streaks with the best of them.  Now if he could only put our money on the right team...

Round 5
Some toughies this week, starting with the ANZAC Day special - which is of course Thursday.  The Bombers n Pies duke it out.  And I hate to tip the Bombers.  Or the Pies.  But after seeing the Pies last week I think they will struggle against a top 14 team like the Bombers.  That and injuries.  So Bombers it is.  Over in NZ the Sinners play the Swans.  Swans to get back to winning.

While Freo will bounce back to beat the Tigs, the Cats will cream the Dogs, the Lions will poop on the Dees, and the Hawks will comfortably beat the Roos, the other games are less cut n dried.

GWS and Gold Coast.  In the Suns favour is that the Giants couldn't even beat the Dees.  But the Suns just copped a cuppla injuries... hmmm... right now I am sunning up but the Giants could be back in my calcs by the weekend.  The Blues host the Mighty Mighties and you can all tip the Blues but we'll be a-clicking and account for the Blues by 10 goals I tellsya!  And then we have the first test for the Paps - they host the Beagles.  If they are playing good footy then they should win this game.  I think they are playing ok... and they will win... yes... I know...

Better late than...

Footy seems to have taken a back seat this week - even Robbo on 360 spoke about something else.  Boston. Fark hey?  I had friends there - all safe -and was there last year so must admit it all hit home.  Fortunately we have Alan Jones - brainiac of this century and the last - to do the police work for us.  The FBI must be pissed off they don't have him over there.  He managed to link those pesky foreign students in Australia with the bombing.  I think he was referring to those students who are... *shhhhh* moozies!  Can't diss his brainstorming ability. They DO have a lot of students over there in Boston.  And that massacre a couple of months ago featured... students.... far out!  He IS onto something.... We can only hope we have the ability to freeze AJ's brain before he dies so his vision can live on.  Actually Lets freeze it now before it gets away.  Although when I saw an interviewer ask one of the marathon runners if they would think twice about going in a run again I thought maybe they could also freeze his brain.  Good question Koshie! Typical port supporter.  

Adam Scott. Friggin awesome. Admittedly my golf was better on Sunday - he didn't have to contend with some of the greens I had to.  But still, not bad.  It was also good to see Tigger Woods respecting the game.  Next round he will bring out the shoe-wedge.

Back to the footy.  Yes I was pissed off.  Apparently the Roosters also beat the Mighty Double Blues.  It didnt pay to be Mighty this weekend.  Some of the worst decision making ever seen on a football field since... Well probably since Jack Watts pulled on a guernsey.  Walker misses a goal from point blank only to see it rebound down the other en d for a goal.  Dzzzt.  That was bad.  But what about where Wright marked 50 out then hand passed to dude who was then run down, holding the ball, and then another goal at the other end? Petrenko hand passed to walker 2.5m out and almost missed him.  It was a disgrace!  The Paps did play well though - and I did say prior to the season that I thought they would play better this year.  High standards there but compare them to the Dees...

And didnt The Dees played well... for the first half... and STILL lost by 15 goals!  That has to be a record.  Maybe they need an inspirational coach like Hirdy.  He would want to be 100% innocent cos he is talking the talk.  The media just loves Baby James - he was a good looking great player who is articulate.  And probably took banned substances.  But thats ok for now.  And its ok to have someone on the board investigating you come over for dinner to give you advice on what the best way to answer questions may be.  The Bombers comeback over freo WAS inspired.  Indeed it was unbelievable.  But the 22 calf foetuses that were hanging outside the rooms just prior to half time seem a long way removed from the half orange I was given in the under 12s for Mt Lofty.

The Lions beat the Suns in a great game between two teams that won't feature, but the Suns won't finish bottom.  They are a more even team this year although Gaz is still unbelievable.  Nor will the Giants who lost Patton in their game against the Sinners.  Not sure why the GWS home games are all in Canberra early on - we wanna see them in Sydney before they have been totally smashed.  The Siners did that to them.

The two big games of the round were the Cats n. Blues, and hawks n pies.  The hawkers were struggling early but ended up pounding the Pies who now have a few more injuries.  Franklins Lomu moment was UNBELIEVABLE.  That will be replayed ad infinitum.  Amazing.  MiniMouse is still raging against the machines.  Did I hear him say he didn't care about the supporters?  Bizarre man.  Anyway they have played three reasonable teams so not surprising they are zip n three.  The Cats keep winning.  The Tiggers did what they should have, the Swans did what they could for a quarter and then went back to sleep cos thats all they had to do, and I am still grumpy about the crows.

Oh and some horse retired.  Who cares.  Seriously? It's a horse

Grrr

Grrrrrrrrrr!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Knob.

No mention of Mick Malthouse on here which surprised me.

http://knobfeel.co.uk/

Round 2 - The Cream and The Drop

SHUT UP BRAD!!!

Jeez... has there ever been a bigger crybaby in the game than Brad Scott?   Actually... Hirdy springs to mind.  And Nick Riewoldt could turn the tears on faster than Meryl Streep.  And now you mention it Malthouse wasn't afraid to hug n tug when the ole tears were making an appearance.

But STILL, Scotty.  Yer embarrassing us.  Mostly because we knew exactly what you were going to do before even YOU did it.  Milli Vanilli knew it 2 decades ago.  Stop it.  you lost.  41 points lead was what you had - but then all of a sudden the Cats started doing what they do best and ripped their guts out.  Ten years ago people spoke about the shinboner spirit - they don't do that now eh?  They talk about Brad Scott being a lil crybaby whinging and moaning at absolutely everything that he perceives as going against him.  Absolute sook.  That's zip n two Scotty.

Speaking of annoying people, the Pies n Blues game was billed as Malthouse v Malthouse Jr.  I have never wanted Collingwood to win anything.  Ever.  But listening to Micky Mouse continuously rant and rave is enough for me to yell GO ELLIOT! at the telly.  The Bluebaggers looked good against an underladied Pies side who also lost their ruckman midway through the second quarter.  But they lost.  Much like they lost to the Tiggers last week.  So are the Pies good or are the Baggers bad?  That's zip n two Micky...

Liam Shiels and Jordan Lewis try the new Peptide Absorbtion Method on the Bench During the Eagles/Hawks Game

And then there was the Beagles/Hawks game.  This was the only game that I missed the tip on for the weekend and as the Beagles struck back during the third quarter I thought here we go... 3 games in a row where the team that was smashing em lost... no doubt MadJacob was laying on the couch in a fetal position thinking of zip n two himself as the inevitable was about to occur.  The gap got to 14 points.  He kept checking his phone for warm wishes.  And then the Beagles stopped dead.  50 point margin.  Bang.  That's zip n two Johnny.

Have to say the rest of the round sadly looked ineffectual in terms of the impact on the finals - Sydney aside.  And yes that includes my beloved Crows who played like it was 2011 again.  Or maybe 1999.  I'm telling myself it's cos it's early in the season after making it through to late September but things look a little out of place at the moment.  More chips than Dave from 12 foot off the green.  The Mighty's did of course win leaving the Lions to say to themselves.... ZIP N TWO VOSSY!  It was a close tense game but not one where you go wow... they'll be hard to beat.

The Sinners are gone.  I told you that last week but you didn't believe me did you?  Scotty Watters has clearly read my blog and had a moment of self-realisation.  The question is, are the Tigers good enough to make the 8?  Tell me on the side.

Finally, we knew the Dogs were average and the Dockers proved they will be up there, the Paps n Swans did what they had to, but the less said about the Dees the better.... no seriously... the cream may have risen but the plop went plop plop PLOP!

The Tippers
Five Whopper Rounds!  Yep, there were 17 that almost tipped the perfect round but only BJAK, Nips, TomRosewall, MadJacob and TaaaaliaPaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa pull off the full set of chicken mcnuggets.  I give you a burger voucher you will never use.  Overall that means we have two newbies in the comp at the top of the table - Luke Maguire (not sure what his real name is - coming out with these tricky pseudonyms) and TaaaaaliaPaaaaaaa - along with BJAK.  I'm thinking those point selections could come in handy at the end of the year.  As will your GF/WS picks.

In the side comp PieMad clearly was and picked as his certainties the Cats, Pies n Hawks.  He who dares wins and now leads with 8 in a row.  Remember when you miss yer pick you can restart straight away - the winner is the longest streak for the year.

Round 3
First up we get to see Freo wipe the smile off those Bombers faces.  And they will.  Simple.  The Roos then host the Swans - down in Tassie.  This would be the first test of the year for the Swans, and a chance for the Roos to show if they are more than just a bunch of whingers.  Tough game cos there's no real formline for the Swans.  Faith picks the Swans, logic probably the Roos... No homeground advantage means I'll stick with the Swans.

The Beagles head to Melbourne to pick over the carcass of the Dees.  Everyone please look away, move on, there's nothing to see here.  The Eagles are even considering sending over everyone that is injured just to even up the contest.  The Giants host the Sinners in the nations capital and this could prove interesting - after all, the Suns beat the Sinners eh?  I can't really pick the Giants for this one - surely the Sinners are better than that over four quarters.

On Saturday night the Blues will wanna get their skates on if they are gonna get some points on the board as they take on the Catters.  I'll stick with the favorites and enjoy seeing Micky go zip n 3 - it's a long way back from there.  Meanwhile up on the Gold Coast the Suns take on Brissy.  Boths teams are playing better than many thought.  Brissy would want to get this win and I think they have the hard bodies to do it.  Brissy by 6 goals. 

Sunday sees the Tiggers get their chance to prove they are top 8 contenders - you have to beat the low teams to make it and the Doggies will finish bottom 4. Then the round finishes with a bang - the Hawkers take on the Pies and the Crows n Paps do battle in showbag bertiebeatle.  I may have to leave my Hawks/Pies tip till later in the week but at this stage the Hawks finished pretty strongly... hmmm... Hawks it is.  And of course the Crows will beat the Paps although after beating the mighty Dees and Giants in two consecutive weeks I can understand how the Paps should be favorites.

Round One - Finally Over

Finally the first round is over and the Paps can now stop stop stop cos they're top top top! Unbelievable! The Dees were absolutely rubbish and the Paps played rather well. Although how do we know how well they played given the $hit that was served up by Melbourne?  Safe to say you can't be choosing spooners now folks cos they would be everyone's pick.


Every other spooner pick actually played pretty well. The Doggies smashed the Lions, the Giants played solid footy against the Swans, of course the Abletts beat the Sinners, and the Peptides beat the Crows last week.  Round 1 is the round where we all write the losers off before their time, but the Dees are gone. Dead. History. Rubbish. 

Just putting this out there - I picked the Suns. I am awesome. So why the F did I only get 4 from 9? It would have been three if I didn't change my pick to the Catters 10 minutes before the game started. Glad i did - why did i even give those chokers a look in to start with? Probably having to look at that dodgy poos n wees bag of Ando's over the pre-season.  The cats looked dead n buried 25 mins into the second quarter and then bang. bang.  Selwood absolutely set fire to the Cats and they exploded.  Kennett has now come out and called for the head of Clarko. A very smart man cos he clearly can't coach.  Maybe he can take buddy with him to GWS?

What else happened... Hmmm the Pies left Heath Shaw out of the team cos he was in my super coach team and they didnt want to risk him against the crapperoos.  Wise move.  And the Tiggers defied my wisdom and beat the Bluebaggers. What the...?

Just quietly I am getting a bit tired of fox footy continuously playing those little pearls of wisdom by the old coaches. I guess if I didn't have it on for 72 hours straight it wouldn't have been an issue.

Tippers
Yep it was tough in the tips but 3 people picked 6 from 9 which was a great effort. Miss World, chooka and Luke Maguire get the lead early. In the streak comp 4 people have 3 on the board - a handy early start.

Round 2
A few big games this week and it starts with a game that defines where the Sinners an Tiggers are going in 2013. The Tiggers lose and it is back to the last 10 years of failure for them... The Sinners lose and they will not make the 8.  I will tip the Tig.

At the SCG the Swans will unfurl the Premiership Flag against the Suns. The Swans have a dream start to the year as they play the young teams in consecutive weeks and the will easily beat the Suns.

The Doggies host the Dockers at etihad and here is a chance for them to show us they aren't that bad. The haze need to win to show they are genuine contenders and they will.  An the same goes for the Mighty Mighties against the Lions. Both teams will be smarting but the Crows have too much class and will win comfortably.

The Paps n bombers will easily beat the Giants n Dees, and in the battle of the Scott's, the angry Scott will win.  Then the round finishes with two massive games - the pies n blues, and beagles n hawks.  The Pies should have some players returning while the blues are still learning the grumpy bastards game plans. That said, mick will know the way they play intimately... Hmmm tough pick. Logic says the Pies, I think the Blues will get home. In the West Coast/Hawks game one of the Premiership faves will leave the game 0-2... The eagles have a few injuries but with the home ground advantage I think they will have enough...

Go you Crows!