3 games, Empty Stands say’s the Gold Coast
Who does Ron Clarke think he is?
Who do the South East Queensland people think they are? This is a comment I was reading from the Lord Mayor Ron Clarke, “after rejecting the AFL’s relocation offer the Roos would not be welcome on the coast and would play in front of neat empty stands”. This proves to me that they have no understanding what so ever about the traditions of AFL Football and do not deserve to have one of our clubs move there as far as I am concerned!
3 Games in 2008
The North Melbourne Football Club are due to play 3 games on the Gold Coast next year, and if this is the kind of reception they are going to get then the South East Queensland people should be ashamed of themselves and their Lord Major. This is a group of people that less than a week ago were excited at the prospect of adopting the Kangaroos as their own.
Attention all Melbourne Football Fans
It was a brave decision by Brayshaw and the Kangaroos, one that I had concerns over in regards to whether he would be able to deliver the goods, but after comments like that I implore, not only North Melbourne fans but football fans in general to get behind the Roos in their endeavours to stay in Melbourne.
It will be interesting to see how the fans up there start out all jubilant about having a side in 2010, and then come plummeting to the ground when they struggle down the bottom of the ladder for the first 5 – 6 years of their existence.
Let’s see how the South East Queensland people respond to “their” team then?
AFL State of Origin Football Part 3 – Graham Moss and Alex Jesaulenko Medal
In part 1 we looked at a bit of history if AFL State of Origin, and then in Part 2 we relived the EJ Whitten and Fos Williams Medalists. In the final part to my State of Origin series I will bring you the Graham Moss and Alex Jesaulenko Medalists and also some more highlight packages.
Graham Moss Medalists
Awarded to the best Western Australian player in State of Origin matches
1995 – Tony Evan (West Coast Eagles)
1996 – Derek Kickett (Syd)
1997 – Scott Cummings (Port Adelaide)
1998 – Peter Bell (North Melb)
Alex Jesaulenko Medalists
Awarded to the best Allies player in State of Origin matches
1995 – Ryan O’Connor (Ess)
1996 – Matthew Richardson (Rich)
1997 – Nathan Buckley (Coll)
1998 – Shane Crawford (Haw)
Lets now relive some of the games in State of Origin.
Don’t miss these North Melbourne fans
I have just came across these two great videos, take a look North Melbourne fans this should stir your emotions and make you want to jump on board an buy a membership, I’m not a North Melbourne supporter but still enjoyed watching them.
The second one I first saw on Dave’s Football Blog which focuses on all the different codes of football from around the world.
Leave a comment after you have watched them both and tell me what you thought.
No Home? No Deal!
You don’t have a home for us?, then stuff ya !
They were the words of the North Melbourne Football Club’s chairman James Brayshaw, or as he known among the Kangaroo faithful “GOD” (not those exact words but that’s what he implied).
The North Melbourne Football Club is staying in Melbourne, while the AFL will push on with it’s interests in the Gold Coast it will not be with the Kangaroos. It’s good to see the passion is still alive in today’s football world, you just can’t beat “People Power” !
The North Melbourne fans turned out in droves to the Dallas Brooks Hall to hear their new “GOD” James Brayshaw outline his plans to resurrect the future of the embattled AFL Club. Hours earlier the Kangaroos board rejected the AFL’s rail roading tactics to try to lure them with a $100 million carrot, one I am sure was very tempting. But like most other football followers I am glad they refused, there is still enough room here in Victoria for the North Melbourne Football Club.
The AFL’s appalling tactics
The AFL’s decision to prey on a club that is in a vulnerable position like North Melbourne are just so Mr Demetriou 
and his board to can say they grew the game into uncharted territory is disgusting to say the least. I hope all North Melbourne fans and supporters of other clubs “Stick it up em”, to use one the late great Teddy Whitten’s cliché’s. Remember this is a club with 138 years of tradition here in Melbourne, and what a lot of people may not realise is that this is a club that battled for 30 years to get into the VFL, and then another 50 to win their first premiership !, but the AFL brushed this aside and could only see their own agenda.
What now for the Roos?
The Gold Coast is ready for AFL Football
SHOCKED !!!
They were the words of AFL boss Andrew Demetriou this morning when the AFL announced that they WILL NOT grant the Kangaroos a 12 month extension on their decision on whether they will rellocate to the Gold Coast or not.
What does this mean ?
Well the AFL is desperate to be the fastest growing sport in the country and they will take AFL Football to South Eastern Queensland, there is no question of that, it is just a question of whether the Kangaroos will be the ones to cash in ?
They now have 2 options either take the AFL’s lucrative offer or take a chance on James Brayshaws proposal, which is a huge gamble let me tell you.
Is this a gamble they should take ?
An emotional showdown at tonight’s members meeting is a certainty ! And I can understand the passion that some board members and general members are going to have, but is it really a gamble they should take ?.
This the biggest decision in the Kangaroos history. The AFL should have given the Kangaroos at least the 12 months they were asking !!
It is an Australian tradition to rise in the face of adversity and I am positive that will be shown at the meeting. I think the AFL and the Kangaroos will be overwhelmed by the passion that will be shown tonight.
Although I am still a bit sceptical of Brayshaw’s proposal I hope for the Kangaroo fans he can deliver what he says he can and they can continue to be a Melbourne based club in their own right.
7 of the most irritating players in the AFL
Everyone has their favourite players in the AFL that are always talked about on AFL Football Forums and in the media all over Australia, but what about the players that just don’t get the accolades that the top players receive.
Well here is a list of my top 7 most irritating players in the AFL. Players that really get on your goat and make you want to jump inside the TV and strangle them !, but yet we are still compelled to watch them.
- Kayne Pettifer (Richmond)
- Warren Tredrea (Port Adelaide)
- Brendan Goddard (St Kilda)
- Robert Copeland (Brisbane)
- Mark Williams (Hawthorn)
- Stephen Milne (St Kilda)
- Cameron Cloke (Carlton)
My List is in no particular order after the first name. Give it some thought and come up with your best most irritating players in the AFL. It will be interesting to see who the popular ones are.
AFL State of Origin Football Part 2 – EJ Whitten & Foss Williams Medalists
In Part 1 of AFL State of Origin Football I brought you a bit of AFL State of Origin histroy. In Part 2 I will go though the the EJ Whitten and Foss Williams Medalists. There have been may great players and some would argue not so great players that have pulled on the Victorian and South Australian gurnsey’s. You could probably argue the same point when it comes to EJ Whitten and Foss Williams medalists.
David Calthorpe would have to be my pick of the players that has won an EJ Whitten Medal that I think How the hell did he win that!. He is not what you would call a great player in the history of our game, especially with those little stumpy legs, but he can tell his grand kids that he has won an EJ Whitten medal, a great honour.
EJ Whitten Medalists
(awarded to the best Victorian Player in State of Origin matches):
1985 – Paul Roos (Fitz)
1986 – Dale Weightman (Rich)
1986 – Kevin Walsh (Ess)
1987 – Greg Williams (Syd)
1987 – Chris Langford (Haw)
1988 – Paul Roos (Syd)
1988 – Greard Healy (Syd)
1989 – Gavin Brown (Coll)
1989 – Jason Dunstall (Haw)
1990 – Simon Madden (Ess)
1990 – Dale Weightman (Rich)
1991 – Barry Mitchell (Sys)
1991 – Alan Ezard (Ess)
1992 – Stewart Lowe (St K)
1992 – Robert Harvey (St K)
1993 – Chris Langford (Haw)
1993 – Robert Harvey (St K)
Why Nathan Buckley will coach Collingwood in 2010
For one reason RESPECT. Nathan Buckley commands respect when ever he speaks. When Nathan Buckley speaks players will listen. In my short experience at Collingwood Football Club on what was back then the Supplementary List, I experienced first hand what Buckley is like as an athlete and a leader of a football team. The presence he has is amazing. The professionalism and dedication he had for playing for the Magpies was second to none, only Robert Harvey in my opinion would come close.
Buckley is a ready made AFL senior coach, and things are already falling into place for him to return to Collingwood and take the senior coaching position. Mick Malthouse has just signed a deal that will take him up to the end of the 2009 AFL Season, by then Buckley will have had basically 3 years of coaching experience (including 2007 when he missed most of the year with that hamstring injury and spent a lot of his time with Malthouse and the coaching staff). He has just begun his position as the AFL High Performance Coach at the Australian Institute of Sport where he will help mould the careers of the best youngsters in the land. That coupled with the relationship that he still maintains with Malthouse will only further enhance his coaching aspirations.
16 Players that need to make an impact in 2008
As clubs get into full swing of pre season and the new draftees come out with great enthusiasm and the obligutary cliche’s
- “I just hope to get a game”,
- “All the boys down here have been great”
- “I’ve still got a lot of hard work ahead of me”
- “To start off with it’s a little bit strange, you’re used to watching them on telly you’re not used to playing with them.”
There are a number senior players that i reckon need to make a bigger impact in the 2008 AFL Season, not just to keep the careers alive but to help propel their team towards the finals.
Need to make more of an impact !!
- Adam McPhee (Ess)
- Simon Prestigiacomo (Coll)
- Kris Massie (Adelaide)
- Stephen Armstrong (W.C)
- Leigh Harding (Kangaroos)
- Jason Akermanis (Western Bulldogs)
Is Brayshaw giving Kangaroo fans false hope?
In what is shaping to be the biggest decision in the Kangaroos history the man who will be President if the Kangaroos stay was on holiday in Las Vegas?
In what could be an even worse situation for the Roos, they failed to inform the AFL of the incidents involving Grant, Edwards and MacIntosh. Under AFL policy clubs are supposed to inform them of any incidents like this involving a player from their club. In a time that the Roos can ill afford any of this controversy it will be interesting how the AFL handle that one.
$10 million over 2 Years?
Brayshaw has a proposal that will see $10 million over the next 2 years and would be invested as non football revenue. I can understand the
Kangaroos decision in saying that they can’t vote for the move given that the AFL is yet to even give them a stadium to play at and such a decision would be irresponsible, but can he deliver on his proposals? It seems to be that he is full of passion for the club, which is great don’t get me wrong, but there is a big difference in being passionate and being realistic. He is going to have to pull a big cat out of the bag to get the club out of this one. The fact that he chose to go to Vegas with his mates from the Footy Show at this time just doesn’t sit right with me, and makes me question whether he is the best person to be leading this charge. Sure he has a big profile and lots of connections but is that enough to run an AFL Football Club? It is understood that the AFL is yet to see any documentation of the plans that would deliver what Brayshaw says they will.
