BONUS PICKS NOW (Payment Later...)

Seriously folks in the name of fairness gonna be hardcore on this one -

• Bonus Points Picks must be received before the START OF THE FIRST ROUND which is THURSDAY NIGHT... Penalty of 2 points for failure to send.
• Payments must be received prior to START OF ROUND FOUR... else you are removed from the comp.

Not sure if i have you marked down?  Look on the RHS of the blog - do i?  If not, email me ASAP...

Oh and your tips can be changed right up until the start of each game... so if you miss yer tip friday night then you can still put yer other tips in...

:)

Get Ready To Rumble! Round One Is Here!

Unbelievable... all that time you have spent waiting for Season 2010 to start and here it is!!! Can you SMELL it?  I can... and it's not just Fev's dirty skanky groin region I can smell, no I can smell anticipation.  I can smell desire.  And most of all I can smell a lot of false hope.

Of course everyone has their own take on what it is that makes you a successful tipper... At the Punch they give Ten Commandments of Tipping, while other people have dined out on tipping the exact opposite of what a proven loser tips (which is why we have 'The Anti-Dave').  But here in our own comp you need look no further than our own back-to-back winner looking to make it 3 in a row - Yep, 'line in the sand' is on the verge of giving up his daytime job as he dines out on your money... it's time to stop this plague!

So lets head straight into it.  Standard rules apply.  If you haven't given me your Grand Finalists etc by THURSDAY night (thats when the first game is) then you will lose 2 points.  You know who you are.  It says it on the side of this page - OPEN YER BLUDDY EYES!  Do you think you gave it to me but yer name ain't ticked off? Email me to make sure...

Oh and don't forget to put yer Winning Team in the side comp - jackpot is $10 a week... good luck!

Into it...

Yep, Season 2010 starts with a THURSDAY NIGHT (thats right... get yer tips in EARLY) blockbuster... Richmond v Carlton... oh lord.  So many possible games and most of them better than this.  To start the season between the teams destined to finished 15th and 12th seems a bit trite eh?  But there ya have it.  Last year this game cost Wallace his coaching job eventually.  This year it won't cost a job, but the Blues will get the 4 points easily, even if there ain't one Captain that thinks the Blues will more more than about 6 more games....  

On friday night for some reason the AFL has deemed that the Cats n Bombers will get yer loins going.  Well Andrew, the Cats will absolutely pummel the Bombers with their hands tied behind their back.  I can hear it now. "Bombers are bluddy rubbish... Matthew Knights... fair dinkum... he couldn't coach a bus."  Ahhhh Dave... you've done it again.  

In the season's first bye, the Hawks take on the Demons.   The Hawks must be pretty happy to get the extra week to overcome their injury problems - they can't take a trick and we're not even to the start line.  Injured?  Lets have a look... Bailey, his replacement Taylor, his replacement Skipper (and Gilligan), Young, Sewell, Burgoyne... probably Rioli... any others? Oh, Big Buddy is suspended for the first round...  all that and yet you can STILL mark down an easy victory for the Hawks - THAT is how bad the Demons will be in 2010.

Finally on to a decent game.  ON Saturday night we have the Swans n Sinners.  Now I know on paper the Sinners should be way too good for the Swans.  I know that the Swans are traditional mid-season starters.  But I'm tippin something slightly out of the ordinary here cos the Swans are going to cause the upset of the round here.  The Sinners are a little lacking in the backline - something you never said last year - but with Fisher likely to be out injured for a few weeks they will be relying on Dawson to cover Bradshaw (assuming he plays), and with Goodsey spending more time in the forward line... well don't say I didn't tell you.  I reckon this game with be an absolute ripper.

Also on show Saturday night is Brisbane hosting the Beagles up at the Gabba.  While the Coasters will be better this year, the interest is all about the Fev.  Will Lara turn up and offer herself to the big fella?  Will he send an SMS of her pic to the scoreboard at halftime?  Will he give Browny a go?  The relationship between Browny & Fev this year is gonna tell the tale for the Lions - if they gel they are an extremely dangerous unit.  If they don't, then they are worse off than last year.  The Eagles have some good players coming through but away from home and with the Lions keen to shore up some support before the Gold Coast Beige Shoe Brigade start to drift away.. well it's the Lions comfortably for me.

In a tough pick we see two teams who would give themselves a shot at the low reaches of the 8 duke it out - Port & the Roos.  When in doubt you pick the home team don't you?  The Paps now have ex-North coach Dean "the lip" Laidley in the box and apparently he is helping them through his "ability to deliver sensible instructions".  Says a lot for Choko eh?  Well I am leaving this pick until I see the teams but it is a genuine 50/50.  Brad Scott will add some real mongrel to the Roos, and they have some good young players.  The Paps have lost some experience but also have some young things coming thru.  The Paps NEED to win this.  Badly.  If they don't win this, they will NOT make the 8 - you heard it here.  Actually I now think they will win, but still not make the 8...

On to the Match of the Round, and Sunday arvo at Etihad will be a cracker - the Doggies play the Pies.  Obviously the Doggies have been in great pre-season form.  They now have a major forward target in Big Bad Barry 'the Saviour' Hall to kick to, and coming off the back of 7 goals against the Sinners in the Escort Cup he will be chockas full of happiness pills.  The Pies have had a quiet pre-season by their standards - no one (in the starting 22) has been arrested yet.  Ex-Team Mate Jolly is on their side and with him in the centre they can only be better than last year.  Dogs to start firm favorites but the Pies will be fires up and any dirty scummy stinky Pies supporter that doesn't back their team in the first game of the season is someone even MORE deserving of your lack of respect than you thought.

Finally... the Dockers n the Crows over in WA.  The Crows have a LOT of first up injuries in their forward line, and this IS over in purple land so it is a genuine 50/50... but i am fairly confident the Mighty Mighty's will get over the line.

Cartooned Doggies

Not bad...  First Dog on the Moon draws the Dogs...

(Thanks to Chris Judd's Hair for this link...)

Six Foot Track is Over and you Gotta Love a Massage...

It's Business Time...

Yes it is. It is indeed... BUSINESS... TIME.......

So do the following if you haven't already...

1. JOIN UP as per the link on the right hand side of this blog... 
2. Send me an email with your TWO grand finalists
3. Send me an email with your ONE wooden spooner
4. Send me an email with the round Barry Hall will receive his first points-incurring GUILTY at the tribunal
5. Send me your money - $30 - or ask me for my account to zap it to

Have you done all this?  Check the bit on the right hand side of the blog to make sure I have marked you off.

Not long yet ladies... Not long yet...

Season 2010: Adelaide

I had high hopes for the Mighty Mighty's a few weeks ago, and now I have had a look at our injury list.  Ouch.  6 pick players likely to be out for the first round... hmmm.  THAT'S a good start!

The Crows had a solid year last year... and the year before... and the year before... and the year before... but we - I mean they - keep falling at the business end of the season.  I like Craigy - champion player with Sturt (lets ignore his time at other clubs) - and he has brought a lot to the game as a coach.  Like... defence.  But this year he has to get more than a win over some shonky bunch of bombers in a final if he is going to keep my confidence.  It's Prelim Final or nothing for the Crows, injuries or not.  There is a solid bunch of kiddies who are exiting puberty playing at Footy Park - Tippett, Porps, Dangerfield, Davis, Knights, Van Berlo, Vince, Walker - and a buncha players who had their first pubes 20 years ago - McLeod, Goodwin, Edwards, Burton.  Put WifeBasherBocky, Thompson, Stiffy and Rutts in the mix and clearly there is enough to take them onwards and upwards.

But Craigy... this is yer last chance...

Expected Finish: 3-4

Season 2010: Brisvagas

One year left before the Lions have cousins sitting down on the Coast, and Vossy has done a pretty handy rescue job given where they started 2009.

Bradshaw out, Fevola in.  Ignoring the off-field fun of the fev, I still don't think this necessarily adds a lot to the team.  It's not like they didn't have forwards last year (and the year before) kicking goals is it?  Jonathan Brown is an out n out champion.  Simple.  And Black n McGrath are top line players even if they are getting a little old.  Adding in Buchanan and Maguire helps top them up to a degree, and Daniel Rich is already a mini-Ablett - if he can continue on like last year the Lions will be a solid unit.

There is, however, one major question for the Lions... and that is what is this man still doing on their list?

Yes, Travis Johnstone has clearly had a fairly unencumbered off-season.  His trips to Nimbin have got him in a relaxed state of mind, and Vossy must be confident that the TJ is going to have a HUGE year ahead of him...

Expected Finish: 6-10

Season 2010: Carlton

Gone is the Fev.  And if you remove the playing side of things, you'd say thats gotta be a good thing.

Juddy has been coming under a lil pressure lately though eh?  People pointing at him, pointing at West Coast re Couz, Gardiner, Kerr etc then pointing at the Blues re Fev, Betts, etc etc... hmmm.  Juddy = Strong Leader.  Not.  Of course he is a handy player but clearly not a captain.

The Blues will NOT be any better this year.  Simple.  Last year they told us they were coming.  They came, they saw, they were maudlin.  This year they ask us to smell what they are cooking.  I can smell it and it reeks of a team that is going nowhere.  They recruited Brock McLean.  Yay.  He adds precisely zero.  Never rated him, so another spot goes to a MOR player while they could have got a kid into the team.  Him aside, the Blues do have a good midfield of course - Juddy, Gibbs, Murphy.  Kruezer going between the ruck and forward line.    But every team in the Top 8 has a good midfield.  It's the second level of players that's lacking at the Blues, and when you mix in the clear lack of discipline and a coach with ears the size of plates,  well... it adds up to another disappointing season for the Blues.

Expected Finish: 10-14

Season 2010: Collingwood

The Pies have performed pretty well over the last cuppla years.  Do you know how much it hurts me to say that?  I'm not even sure how they've done it.  Travis Cloke had a horror year, Medhurst was a no-show, Rocca gone, and Dale Thomas - their big hope - didn't really come on as expected.  On top of that they had some clown run around pretending to be a ruckman (Fraaaaaaaaaser).

But they did perform well... and this year they bring Luke Ball to the dancefloor (great trade by the Sinners!) and Darren Jolly will give them a ruckman for the first time since Monkhorst opted to be a plumber.  Sadly I think the Pies will once again be around the mark... their final position really depends on how far the Cats n Saints fall though.

Expected Finish: 3-5

Season 2010: Essendon

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaave!!!!  Bomber Cassell reliably informs me that the Bombers are no chance this year.  He has said that every year I have known him.  It is a given that in his opinion the Bombers are either fantastic (after any win) or sh1t (after every loss).  'Balanced' is the word I rarely think of.  But I do agree with him every second week.

The Bombers will drop out of the 8 with certainty.  How they made the 8 last year after winning about 3 games for the entire season remains a mystery that only Leonard Nemoy hosting 'In Search Of...' could hope to answer.  The reality smacking they got from the Crows proved their place was a joke.

The weird thing is, they probably DO have a better team than last year.  Lovett - St Kilda's recruit of the decade - is gone, Lloydy has finally retired, and Lucas has gone.  All good things.  Hille should be back from injury, Ryder will develop into a good player, Mark Williams is a classy player, and I'd happily take Monfries to the Crows given his superior pedigree as a Sturt player.  Again, all good things.  The downside is they are that bad that they need to have Watson as captain.  And Stanton is still there... if there was a wasted disposal Brownlow these two guys would tie every year.  Nup, Knightsy will continue to bring his 'winning' Tiger ways to the Bombers and Dave will continue to tell us all just how RUBBISH they are... every second week...

Expected Finish: 9-12

Season 2010: Fremantle

Fremantle.  I will LAUGH when the Gold Coast win their first Premiership in 2015 while the purple ones finish outside the top 12.  Pavlich is the most wasted talent in the competition.  COME HOME TO ADELAIDE SON!!!!!  *sighs* Pavlich and Tippett in the one team would be rather nice.

The Dockers boast a list of talent that is... well... who cares?  Everyone loves to laugh at them.  They are like that little brother that never grows up... we know they won't seriously threaten - just put yer hand on their head and keep em a metre away... no dramas.  Sure, they  may get the odd punch in and pull off a win, but when every win you have had for the last 10 years has been an upset, I'm not sure that is a good sign.  YES, they do have some players you wouldn't mind in yer own team.  Pavlich would make any team in the comp, and Sandilands is probably the number one ruckman in the comp (surrounded by duffers).  Dodd looks a handy one, Palmer the same, and well thats about it.

No progress for them this year I'm afraid with the home ground advantage saving them from bottom.

Expected Finish: 12-14

Season 2010: Geeeeeee-long

The Cats.  What a team they have been over the last 3 years.  Unlucky to lose the 2008 Granny, possibly lucky to win the 2009 Granny, but they are THE team from 2007 onwards with an amazing win/loss ratio of something like 94.5%.  Yes I am making that up because I am too lazy to google it.  Get the facts yerself, but you know I'm near the mark.

It's Captain Ling this year.  That doesn't make him any less ugly.  You don't believe me?

Here is a before Captain shot:

Here is an after Captain shot:

Seriously ugly.  But pretty does not maketh a 2-time premiership player, cos if it did, Horseboy would have a dozen of the b'stards!  Nup, it pays to be ugly in footy cos you can put yer head down where others would not, and Lingy does do that without any fear of destroying his modelling career.   Of course it helps to have Ablett, Selwood, Corey, Bartel, Johnson, Chappers, Scarlett, and a dirty little drug mule on the team.  

So the only real question about the Cats is can they do it all for yet another year?  Seems like a tough ask but why not?  The team looks solid enough... it will come down to passion for the Catters, and I don't think they will climb the mountain again this year... sorry ladies...

Expected Finish: Top 4

Season 2010: Hawthorn

I loved watching the Hawks crash so badly last year after the luckiest Grand Final victory since the Power beat the Lions.  It made monday morning's so enjoyable.  I would go get my cappuccino, thinking of Jeff Kennett whinging about something the AFL had done (ignoring the fact that the AFL is in the strongest financial position ever, and has a competition with the most paid up supporters in Australia ever), only to be met by MadJacob telling me how bad the umpires were after every single game.  UNLUCKY!!!!!  22 games, 22 sets of umpires with no idea, always biased against those poor little Hawkies who had the worst disciplinary record in the comp (aside from the Collingwood cheer squad).

Yes, I do have to admit they did suffer from the odd injury though.  This is something that is going to shape every teams season though... suck it up ladies.  But now that Croad has retired there is less risk of him playing for them - he DID retire didn't he?  That is a good thing for them and bad for the opposition, and I was starting to think the Hawks would challenge again for the top 4...

Until I was having a cruise on the net this morning and saw that they are already heading down injury lane with ruckman Simon Taylor copping something that looks reasonably major, and Brad Sewell also limping away with his arm in a sling.  That could cause me to revise my thinking a little, but a team that has F(r)atboy Franklin, Roughead, Brown, Hodge, Mitchell and Rioli in its ranks can't be out of the eight for long eh Ando? Long? Ando? eh? Gettit?  Well maybe only I do.

Expected Finish: 6-8

Season 2010: Melbourne

Season 2010: North Melbourne

Or the Kangaroos?  I can't remember what the hell they call themselves these days.  All I do know is they should have moved to Canberra or the Gold Coast or Cabramatta or where ever they could find 5 supporters that actually show up and watch them play. Is there anything more inspirational that watching a Kangas v Power game and hearing the sound of one hand clapping...?  (OK - Freo v Port).  Which makes their membership campaign all the more self-defeating really... "Supporters are our inspiration"... Hmmm.  Sad to hear that.

New coach this year in Brad Scott.  Interesting that the 2 new coaches for 2010 are both seen as HARD units.  Hardwick and Scott both not afraid to give one behind play.  The Roos have always been reasonably hard at it though and Scott fits the culture well.  That and the fact that the Kangas have more cattle (as they say) than the Tigers means that they will finish a little higher up.

With the transition in players over the last few years, this is the last year for Daniel Wells to show whether he is more than just a good player. STEP UP MOFO!  Boomer Harvey will continue to get the possessions and damage on occasion, and I've thought about putting a cuppla Roos youngsters in the dream team - ended up just going with Robbie Tarrant on the bench.  Other than that and... well actually they don't have a lot more cattle than the Tigers do they?

Expected Finish: 9-12

Season 2010: Port Power

2010 brings a new guernsey for the ladies down at Alberton.  I was watching them play the Doggies friday night and for a moment I thought it was the Big V.  Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing but it is definitely better than the ole teal thing they wore.

Off-field the Power are struggling almost as much as they have on-field since the Grand Final against the Cats.  For some reason the SANFL didn't think it was a good thing to merge two broke clubs... go figure.

On-field the Power are struggling almost as much as they are off-field... and with Tredders still in the team... well come ON!  Not sure what he (or they) are thinking with that one.  Here is a team that does have a few reasonable youngtsers coming through, two new teams joining the AFL and taking all the youngsters over the next 2 years... and they let Tredders play on when he is clearly past his prime despite a handful of good games last year.  Well that is enough to keep em out of the 8 in my books.

And sucked in.

Expected Finish: 10-14

Season 2010: Richmond

This year promises even less than 2009, and 2009 was $hit. Yes, they have a new coach in Damian Hardwick - who will add SOMEthing... but 0 +0.05 is still approaching 0 my friends.  A firm favourite for bottom 2, Richo invited me down to Melbourne a few weeks ago seeking some advice on the commentary caper (see the pics below), and said he held out no hope for them.  To paraphrase him, 'I love the Tiges, but with me they were crap, without me they are those drippy bits that don't have the critical mass to even make crap'.

Richo is eloquent, no?   I was concerned with his use of the word 'they' - has he ditched them already?  I thought he was a tiger through and through?  Now he refers to Lloydy as his team mate... hmmm.

EXPECTED FINISH: 14-18 for the next 5 years