AFL Football Round 2 - Swans Attacking and North Melbourne Bounce Back
A lot was spoken about the Swans game plan last week, slow, boring and ugly. Well the Swans were anything but that on the weekend as they opened up and drilled through 22 goals in 
their 68 point drubbing of the Port Adelaide side. Barry Hall had a joke after the game with this comment “We’re just all-round boring, I think,”. Hall was in great touch for the Swanies booting 5 goals. But is wasn’t just the performance of the Senior players that was a standout, the Swan youngsters in Jarred Moore, Craig Bird, Ed Barlow, Heath Grundy and Kieren Jack all backed up their impressive starts last week with another good game.
It was a dismal day for the Port Adelaide side and not many of their players could get into the game. Shaun Burgoyne played a lone hand up forward and ended the game with 4 goals. Kane Cornes was OK and worked his backside of as usual but his brother in arms Chad had no impact on the game whatsoever. The loss now puts the Power at 0-2 and their form would be somewhat of a concern to coach Mark Williams who does not take mediocracy all that well. The Power have another tough task this week against home town rivals Adelaide who are in some good form. While the Swan will take on the Brisbane Lions. Read more
AFL Football Round 2 - Brisbane Hold On, Hawks Flying High, The G Train is Back!
The game of the Round this week in AFL Football was certainly Friday Nights clash between the Brisbane Lions and Collingwood Football Club. In conditions that we are not that familiar with anymore the Lions were brilliant in winning by 2 points and that could just set their season up well an truly. That is the type of game that will lift the confidence of the group and they will draw inspiration from for the rest of the year. Mick Malthouse has at his best after the game by attacking the quality of the umpiring. I think he may well have been better off aiming that anger at his teams lack of skill and the turnovers that cost his side the victory.
Daniel Bradshaw again took a giant step forward in his return and showed that he will be a dangerous forward playing second string to the big fella in Jonathon Brown, who had a quietish night by his standards. But the good thing for the other lion forwards is that he command 2 nd 3 defenders at every marking contest. Leigh Matthew threw Jarrod Brennan into the midfield and he showed that he is more than capable of playing there and had a great game. I haven’t really watched Jed Adock that much but he is a quality player and on Friday Night in those conditions was outstanding! Not to be outdone the Magpies had their fair share of winers on the night with skipper Scott Burns showing why he was chosen as captain while Dane Swan again had a ton of the ball. Opposition clubs just do not respect Swan as a player, they refuse to man him up and he just runs around on his own gathering touches at will. Ryce Shaw provided good run and Travis Cloke was also a good target up forward. Brisbane tackle Sydney this week at the Gabba again while the Pies take on the Tigers. Read more
AFL Football Round 2 Review - Demons Stink!, Eagles Teribble, Geelong Awesome!
Melbourne Football Club Shocking!!
Well Round 2 of AFL Football is done and dusted and the Demons still Stink! The Melbourne Football Club are in all sorts of trouble on the field and their leadership group are not helping their cause. This is the group of players that the team needs to rely on when in these positions and the 
Demons leaders are just not up to it. They need ot have a good hard look at themselves if the Demons are any chance of winning a game this year. The one positive, they played 30 minutes of competitive football, but that was about it. If anyone saw the Demon fan giving them a serve as they left the ground on Saturday then you would know what the supporters are thinking. Nathan Jones was there only winner for the day and he backed up last week and is showing that at least they have one player prepared to have a dip. Read more
And I Thought It Was Cold At VFL Park (Waverley)
I remember going out “Artic Park” as we used to call it to watch the footy many years ago and couldn’t think of a colder place on earth to watch football. Well spare a thought for these soccer players. This was a friendly game between Estonia v.Canada in Tallinn.
That soccer footage was spotted on Dave’s Football Blog
AFL Football Round 2 - Sydney vs Port Adelaide
This could be a nil all draw. The Swans are the kings at playing the SCG and bottling the game up. While the Power I reckon need an open style of game with the Burgoynes needing the space to run and deliver to the forwards. Warren Tredrea with his big body becomes very important for the Power and will need to throw his weight around. The Cornes brothers will need to be in an under and getting the footy out to the runners. The Swans youngsters were brilliant last week, Keiran Jack, Jarred Moore, Heath Grundy all made impressive starts, while Irish man Tadgh Kennelly was outstanding with his run from defence with 25 touches. Will Craig Bolton use the “Tunnelling” Tactic on Tredders this week? All eyes will be on him you would imagine. Read more
AFL Football Round 2 - Saints v Blues and Kangaroos v Tigers
North Melbourne vs Richmond - AFL Round 2
Tiger fans had plenty of reasons to smile last week after their side’s first up win. Matthew Richardson was on fire against the 
young Blue defence kicking 5 goals. It is well documented that skipper Kane Johnson will not play this week and is a big out as he lead the disposals for the Tigers last week with 26. Someone needs to step up and take the place of Johnson.
Shane Tuck and Nathan Foley are going to need to be at their best in the middle and win their fair share of clearances so that Richo can get some good delivery up forward. I think Nathan Brown should spend a bit more time running through the middle and he just adds that bit of class for the Tigers in there and they should give the footy to him at all times.
The North Melbourne team were shown up with a lack of speed I reckon last week and will need to inject some pace somehow. Daniel Wells needs to lift and is the key for the Roos in that area. Nathan Thompson had a great return last week and will again be the focal point down forward. Grant, Harvey, Simpson, Harris were the leading disposal getters last week and again will need to be at that level this week. The Kangaroos rarely play 2 bad ones in a row and you can expect them to be a different side than they were last week. Read more
AFL Football Round 2 - Fremantle vs Hawthorn
This game promises to be a belter. There was a lot of critisism levelled at the Dockers after Round 1 about the poor form of Chris Tarrant and also the age of the team that played last week. Now they are back at home they will be looking to stamp it’s authority this week. It will a big task for the Dockers as they come up against a Hawthorn side that is is awesome form, after thumping the Demons last week. The Hawks will be going over there chock full of confidence and Mark Harvey has his work cut out for him in this one.
The Docker players went missing last week when the game was there to be won and will be something that Harvey will not be happy with. David Mundy looks like he will be a key for the Dockers, he was a shinning light last week on the wing gathering 26 touches. Tarrant needs to step up and kick some goals as does livewire Jeff Farmer, they can’t afford to leave it to “Superstar” Matthew Pavlich. From all reports Pavlich may spend some more time in the middle this week so someone else needs to stand up in the forward line. The loiss of Soloman and Black may hurt the Dockers a bit as well. Read more
AFL Football Round 2 - Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs
Will the Demon faithful get behind their team this week? The Melbourne side were shocking last week and the inclusion of Colin Sylvia this week will not make one iota of difference. I really think the Demons are in trouble even at this early stage of the year. They are too reliant on Russell Robertson and David Neitz to kick their goals and I can’t see anyone else putting their hands up to join the party. What was really disappointing last week was the fact that the “leaders” of the club just didn’t stand up for their team. Nathan Jones is a quality player and is one that you can count on giving you 100% week in week out and I think is a future captain of the club. Can they put that Round 1 flogging behind them?
Russell Robertson indicated that he thought that it was a lack of experience and poor skills that cost them last week. Well they can’t bring in anymore experience so rule improvement out there and the skill level of the Demons should be great considering they have worked on that all summer. If the Demons have any ticker and pride they will come out breathing fire this week and hit the Bulldogs with everything they have got. Simon Buckley showed some promise last week and looks like he has some potential but it is the senior players that need to lead this team and that means the likes of Neitz, Robertson, Yze, McDonald, Bruce, Green, McLean and Brad Miller need to stand up and be counted. Read more
AFL Football Round 2 - Essendon vs Geelong
No one will give the Bombers a chance. It is the toughest gig in AFL Football at the moment, trying to beat the reining premier Geelong. Well that is the task facing the young and enthusiastic Bomber team on Sunday at the Telstra Dome. Matthew Knights has said that his team will back themselves in to win and that is the way they need to play. With Scott Lucas going down last week and going to miss a fair chunk of the year the Bombers will need to find other forward options. Matthew Lloyd now will have all the attention on him which means there needs to be other avenues. David Hille and Jason Laycock now become more important when they are resting down in the goal square and need to stand up as forwards and kick some goals, as do the mid fielders. Courtney Johns may get his chance this week to prove he is capable of filling the shoes of Lucas, and Adam McPhee now needs to really step up too. The on ball brigade of the Bombers are going to have to play 2 way footy and will not get it all their own way that is for sure. Read more
AFL Football Round 2 - Adelaide Crows vs West Coast Eagles
After a brilliant NAB Cup campaign the Crows should have been extremely disappointed with the loss last week and would have expected a win against the Western Bulldogs. The loss of Reilly will hurt the Crow midfield and the new look West Coast midfield were great last week minus Ben Cousins and Chris Judd. Ball magnet Matt Priddis was again amongst the possessions and Daniel Kerr was brilliant before running out of legs. Goodwin may need to spend a bit more time there this week to counter these types and Jason Porplyzia will again need to play well. Porplyzia has certainly stepped up to be a quality midfielder in the AFL and the Eagles will need to watch him very closely.
The big contest that will shape the game will be that of the ruck department. Dean Cox is the best modern day ruckman and with the Crows inexperienced in this department they are going to have to find some way of negating the big fellas influence. Whether that is the mid fielders roving to him or some other way he needs to be tamed if the Crows are going to come away with the win. Cox lead the possessions for the Eagles last week with 29 touches and from a Ruck Man it is quite amazing, he also managed 22 hit outs. Braun and Fletcher gave great support racking up 27 touches a piece. Adam Hunter started back and was shifted forward when the Eagles were in a bit of strife again as John Worsfold tends to do and again it worked. Beau Waters hit bodies very hard as is his style and David Wirrpanda floated around as he does. Read more
