Round1.1 Adversity Over Drugs

BLOODY RUBBISH I TELLS YA! 

Apparently it takes 16 minutes for peptides to kick in.  As the media goes bezerko about how 'commendable', 'meritorious', 'gutsy' etc the Bombers win was, I have to ask WHY? why is it so farkin good that this team that is being investigated for a deliberate program of drug taking got the win?  What am I missing?  In 5 weeks time half the team will probably be gone for sticking needles in their fellas.  And apparently it was an amazing victory!  The Lance Armstrongs of footy overcame the adversity of being investigated and soon to be found guilty and it was a defining victory!  Give me strength... Only Oprah would believe

No. I am not biased at all.  The crows played excellent footy.  For 16 minutes. Then they played shite.   One word. Peptides.  Bitter? Not at all... 

The derby was played on Saturday. And I had LeCras in my dream team. Is there anyone else out there you particularly hate? Cos I will put them in my team and chances are they will be out for a few weeks.  The Eagles looked pretty reasonable for the first half but the Haze gave em a smacking in the second half.  So there goes two of the Premiership favourites losing in the first round.  Fortunate that it ain't the last game of the season!

Tipping

Only four people picked the drugs to work and only 2 picked both teams - so leading the way are LouMan and Dennis Cu.  Similarly only two people managed to get anything in the streak... I think there is a fair way to go in both...

Round 1.2

Fair dinkum I hate this split round thing. What was I supposed to do on Sunday?  Watch the bloody cricket? At least they played all ten episodes of Game of Thrones.  7 games this week but none on Good Friday which makes a mockery of the name.  Thursday night kicks off with the micky maltmouses v the Tiggers.  Big game as both teams have expectations.  I have none for either of them except for FAILURE!  Can't see the Tiggers winning though - I will let you tip em.

The doggies host brissy on Saturday and if you asked me 4 weeks ago I would have said the dogs comfortably but I think the Lions will start off strong and beat a very ordinary team.  In the so-called Battle of the Bridge the Giants will not even get close, but the other NKOTB will start with a win on Saturday night - that's right folks you heard it first here. The Suns will beat the Sinners. Wrap yer laughing gear around that.

Two other teams not making the 8 play on Sunday - Dees v Paps.  I already don't care. Ok I do cos I have a cuppla Paps juniors in my dream team.  In front of 15k people the Paps will get crowd shy and lose by 6 goals.  

The Pies will crush the Roos, and in the final game of the round the hawks take on the cats.  Will the Cats maintain their hoodoo over the Hawkers?  I would love it but the hawks should be full of beans and will win comfortably.  I am never wrong.

SuperCoach...

A quick ad for the Nipsters SuperCoach Comp - there is a 'free' one he is running in which there is one spot left - comp number 423193

OR there is one with $50 entry, the winner and runner up take their share of the cash - comp number 572379

I'm sure you all know the drill...

http://supercoach.heraldsun.com.au

For more information, drop me a line and I can send you the Nipsters email address...

It all starts here...

It Is Time!

It starts here!  What a shame that it only 2/9ths starts though eh? What's with these split rounds? And to start with one? Farrrrrk.

To the admin first...

Have you done the following?

1. Joined the comp? The name is www.footytips.com.au/comps/HorseboysAFL12 and the password is lovecrows - because you all do.
2. Got yer mate to join the comp? Go on - win his / her money!
3. Entered your tips and checked that they are entered for my comp? Just make sure...
4. Remembered to enter the margin cos that will be the tie breaker at the end of the year?
5. Entered your longest streak tips - same rules as last year (see the rules)?
6. Sent me your two grand finalists and one wooden spooner?  You have until the start of the SECOND PART of the first round - just to give a bit of extra time.
7. Sent me your money?  Email me for details.

The Year

Must admit that the Lions have thrown me a bit.  Are they the 2013 Eagles and Crows of the last two seasons? And if so, who will drop out?  I did my tips for the year pre-NAB cup... And this is what I came up with...

The Spoon

GWS - they will play better and they will be fun to watch but who will they beat? After all ther is only one Port Power in the comp... The Giants will struggle to win more than a couple of games this year but when Patton and Cameron finally enter puberty, watch out.

Positions 15-17

Port, Melbourne and Gold Coast - actually I have to say that the Paps do look a little better than last year but are they gonna be a lot better? 2013 will have more wins to the lower teams but they will still be at the bottom.  The Dees and Suns will also struggle but look out for better performances to the Suns as a few of their players bulk up.

Positions 12-14

St Kilda, Bulldogs, North - I originally had the Lions down here but their performance in the NAB cup pushed them up while the Sinners are on the wobble.  The Dogs are just plain shit, and the Kangas... I have no idea how they made the 8 last year but they will be the team to drop out this year.

Positions 9-11

Brisbane, Essendon and Richmond - they will all be around the mark but apparently only 8 teams can make the 8 and the Lions aren't quite there, the drugs will catch up with Hirdy, and the Tigers are just not good enough. Simple.

Positions 5-8

Sydney, Fremantle, Geelong and Carlton - in no particular order... Can Sydney back it up? Nup.  Goodesy is on his way down, Bolton is on his last legs, they still have LRT. The Dockers are on the way up and along with the Pies will be around the mark for the top 4, while the Cats will stay around the mark as they have a pretty good draw.

Top 4

Hawthorn, Adelaide, Collingwood, West Coast - hard to go past the top 4... Oh you say I am biased... You said it all last year.... You said the Crows weren't top 4 but I would suggest they were 1 kick off a Premiership given their record against the Swans... They will be amongst it.  The Beagles Re getting players back and with their home ground advantage it is hard to see them missing the 4.  The Pies have picked up the big Q and Clokey should come back into form, while the Hawks are in their last year to get that Premiership - their players are getting old... Franklin is already dreaming about life in Rooty Hill... We'll see...

So into the comp we go and we start with 2 games...

Round 1.1

The game to kick it all off on Friday night pits everything good about footy - clean living, honest as the day is long, sometimes hard-done by but they fight it out... Yes, the Crows... against those dirty drug taking, gambling, player snatching Bombers.  No wonder Dave likes them. They remind him of how he plays snooker.  But just like in the snooker Dave, you will lose against the better player... Lucky 4 cushion shots won't cut it here son.  The Crows will get off to a win - 36 points.

The second game is the western derby - the dockers v the eagles.  The eagles have a few injuries with NicNat and Kerr in particular out of the running early but I struggle to pick the dockers.  Eagles to win but 3 goals.

Feel free to drop me a line!

2013 Tipping Comp is Open!

Amid all the fun and games that the Bombers are trying to pull on us, believe it or not the NAB Cup starts very bluddy soon!  In fact is starts this weekend... So there is no more watching the 2012 Season any more... I mean how many times can you watch those exciting Melbourne v Anyone games? 

So that means it is ALSO time to start thinking about entering Horseboys 2013 Tipping Comp!  Hopefully it isn't too difficult - just click on the link over there on the right hand side of the blog, and re-use your existing ID - feel free to change your name... IH8Crows probably wants to change it to ILUVTex - but just get. on. board.

Any changes?  Not many... $30 entry, still the same old Wooden Spooner/Grand Final picks, still the side comp.  The main changes are we will use the margin as a tie-breaker if people are tied at the end, and the bonus points for a full round will NOT be used in the Finals (but still are used for the weekly).

Feel free to pass details on to friends... colleagues...

Now to the NAB Cup... How exciting!  Almost as exciting as when the Bank's ST department changed their name to IT!  Quite unbelievably exciting really.  The format is similar to last years, with the first set of games featuring 'manage au trois' of shortened battles before getting back to monogomy.  And yes, while we all know the winner ain't assured of much... recent results suggest that if you do well, you will get off to a good start for the year.

2013 NAB Cup Fixture

Round 1
Date	Venue/Tickets	Match One	Match Two		Match Three		Broadcast
Week 1
Friday, Feb 15	Etihad Stadium BUY TICKETS	Essendon v Western Bulldogs 6:45pm EDT	Western Bulldogs v Collingwood 7:50pm EDT		Collingwood v Essendon 8:55pm EDT		FOX FOOTY
Saturday, Feb 16	Patersons Stadium BUY TICKETS	West Coast v Geelong Cats 4:40pm WST	Fremantle v Geelong Cats 5:45pm WST		West Coast v Fremantle 6:50pm WST		FOX FOOTY
Sunday, Feb 17	AAMI Stadium BUY TICKETS	Adelaide Crows v St Kilda 4:10pm CDT	Port Adelaide v St Kilda 5:15pm CDT		Adelaide Crows v Port Adelaide 6:20pm CDT		FOX FOOTY
Week 2
Friday, Feb 22	Etihad Stadium BUY TICKETS	North Melbourne v Melbourne 6:45pm EDT	Melbourne v Richmond 7:50pm EDT		Richmond v North Melbourne 8:55pm EDT		FOX FOOTY
Saturday, Feb 23	Metricon Stadium BUY TICKETS	Gold Coast Suns v Hawthorn 6:40pm EST	Brisbane Lions v Hawthorn 7:45pm EST		Gold Coast Suns v Brisbane Lions 8:50pm EST		FOX FOOTY
Sunday, Feb 24	Blacktown ISP BUY TICKETS	GWS Giants v Carlton 4:40pm EDT	Sydney Swans v Carlton 5:45pm EDT		GWS Giants v Sydney Swans 6:50pm EDT		FOX FOOTY

Coincidence?

I just can't believe they listed the 'supplements' next to each round so brazenly.

The Confession?

Mick Mouse

Ahh Mick... sorry... I just had to re-read it for old times sake...

http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/mick-malthouse-slams-sydney-accusing-swans-and-crows-of-not-being-good-enough-to-be-in-afl-top-two/story-e6frf3e3-1226449200845?fb_ref=foxsports-rec

The Grand Final Report

Now lets get something sorted... I don't want to paint a picture of ALL Hawks supporters as arrogant, or thinking they had this in the bag or anything... although they are... but this advert in the Sunday paper down in Melbourne may indicate they thought they were pretty safe...

It was a ripper of a game - it's well documented the game ebbed n flowed.  Twenty into the first quarter it looked like the hawks were kicking themselves out of it.  Then they exploded and we all thought by how much?  All of a sudden you could actually hear cheers of Hawks over the knocking of their fearful lil knees.  Second quarter and the Swans exploded.  They couldn't miss.  Dare I say even LRT looked handy.  That KILLS me to say but he did.  All of a sudden it was the Swans by how much.  Third quarter had a bit of both - the Swans were out by 28 points at one stage but by the time we got the last change it was down to a point.  The breeze clearly favoring the one end - the Swans had it in the final quarter.  Up... down... gone... back... Hawks up by 12 - should have been 17...  LRT taking good grabs... Mike Pike doing the do... Malceski!!!!!!

Victory to the Swans... not as good as a victory to the Crows but better than the Hawks.

Of course Micky Mouse is yet to say sorry for his pathetic commentary... hey Mick... remember this? 'the crows and swans are not top 4 teams'... never mind the Crows got within 5 points of the GF and the Swans won it... Still not sure who the top 4 should have been yet - if not crows and swans then clearly not Pies n Hawks either.

Maybe the Paps?  Are they going to have a coach next year???

Thanks to everyone for being in the comp.  Apologies for any issues with Footytips.com but they are of course out of my hands.  I wasn't a fan of the bonus point for picking all in the finals... seemed a bit weird - but thats life :)  I'm open to suggestions for next year.

If you would like your money... come get it!
Cheers - And Go You Mighty Crows!

Tippers: The Winners

Update Number 1!  The most important for some... is that we have winners and we have money to be given!

The Winner was.... Well Pavsthaman came from behind much like the Swans to get a tie on the board at the top of the table - so he ties with long term leader IH8Crows!  Well done to both tippers.  Money goes to the Top Ten, which this year became a Top Twelve - positions 9 to 12 were tied on 156 so their returns are a bit diminished.

The table includes the money owed for the Streak Competition - the winner being Magyver - great effort getting 34 in a row.

More updates to follow but for now, congrats to the winners and if you want yer cash, send me your details... also if you think I have stuffed something up then let me know :)

View From the Stands

The Hawks miss another goal in the Prelim... back kicking is bad footy and in any other sport the Crows win 15 goals to 14 goals - we were dudded!