2008 NAB CUP Round 2 Preview - Game 2
St Kilda v Geelong - Manuka Oval Saturday 3.40pm
This should be a cracker! Eventhough the much antisipated bout between Mark Blake and Steven King will not eventuate in this game as King is going to be rested along with veteran Robert Harvey.
. I heard Cameron Mooney suggest he may give King a clip around the ears if King plays, but I guess that will have to wait. The Geelong side were in great form last week demolishing the Demons and there is no sign of the dreaded premiership hangover. The word is that the elder statesmen in Scarlett, Chapman, Ottens, Harley, Johnson and Jimmy Bartel will all be rested and obviously Ablett is out. Max Rooke, Corey Enright, Joel Corey, Joel Selwood and Travis Varcoe have been selected and will have their first hit outs. Brent Prismall was a standout player last week and is another player that was disappointed at missing the Grand Final and has pushed himself to the limit during the summer. Read more
2008 NAB CUP Round 2 Preview - Game 1
Essendon vs Western Bulldogs - Friday Night
Both these sides were pretty impressive last week and would be happy with their performances. The Bulldogs had a good win in tough conditions and are likely to rest some players from last week including Lindsay Gilbee, Jarrod Harbrow, Farren Ray and Ryan Griffen. Eade looks like injecting some more youngsters in including Paul O’Shea for his first game and Jarrad Grant is a chance to play also. Tough ask for the Doggies to recover from the Darwin conditions.
The Bulldogs showed good intensity last week and their tackling and their willingness to put their head over the footy was evident and looks like it has been a focus over summer. While over at Bomber land new coach Matthew Knights would have been impressed with the youngsters last week
after they had a good win over Brisbane. Knights is set to bring back a host of big names for the Bombers including Dustin Fletcher, Andrew Welsh, Adam Ramanauskas, Brent Stanton, Mark McVeigh, Scott Lucas, Alwyn Davey and Jobe Watson. Out from last weeks side will be Adam McPhee, Courtney Johns who both have little niggles and Scott Gumbleton who tore his hamstring. Also being rested will be Courtenay Dempsey, Jay Nash and Heath Hocking. Read more
Clubs Struggling to Find New Talent
It staggers me that recruiting officers from AFL Clubs have the opinion that clubs are running out of areas to unearth new talent now let alone in 2012, yet the AFL are going to be AGGRESSIVE in their attempts to expand AFL Football anyway. This is the area that I am most concerned about with the leagues decision to move to an 18 team competition. I certainly do not want to be watching games of AFL Football that is of a lesser standard that it is now! To me it all seems a bit blasé and rushed in order to get ahead of the competition (NRL).
It is not like they need to only get a few players here, we are talking about 80 odd additional players! This is what North Melbourne Recruiting Officer Neville Stibbard had to say.
“I wouldn’t have thought the talent pool is strong enough to make up a couple of extra teams. I can’t see what the new teams are going to get (from the AFL). Would they get the first 10 picks of the draft?”
This is coming from people that should know, they do it for a living. You can see already that the clubs are recognising this and experimenting in the South African and Irish Markets to try and recruit some new talent. Australian Rules Football is the centerpeice of Australian Sport and we don’t want to get into a situation that sees the standard of the game deteriorates.
There is always two sides to the argument and people that would be in favour of this move would certainly be the aspiring AFL Players. I tell you if you are 10-15 years old at the moment and are aspiring to play AFL Football then the moons might be lining up at the right time for you. Get out there and train hard!!
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That’s a Wrap - NAB Cup Round 1
Skill Errors, that probably sums up Round 1 of the NAB Cup for 2008. All games seemed to be riddled with them as you would expect I guess. There is no sign of the “Premiership Hangover” down at the cattery as they began their 2008 campaign in brilliant fashion against the Demons. Brendan Fevola has announced to the footballing public that he thinks the Blues will play finals footy (can you take him seriously when he wears those boots though?), and Richmond looks like they are going to be in real strife in 2008. Let’s have a look back at what transpired over the weekend.
The Doggies in Darwin
The Darwin doggies proved they have had a good pre season with a good win over the Kangaroos, who I thought would be right 
up there to take out the NAB Cup. It was a pretty ordinary game until the last quarter when the game broke open and we saw some free flowing footy. Not all was lost for the Roos with Nathan Thompson getting through the game OK. Finally we saw the doggies tackle well and throw themselves at the pill and I thought Akermanis was good and Adam Cooney looked in great shape racking up 26 touches. On ballers Boyd and West were also outstanding. Ben Hudson was very good in the Ruck and looks set to deliver for the Doggies in an area that they need to improve in. It will be interesting to see if the Dogs can play some consistent footy from here on in. Eade looks like he may be forced to rest a few this week after the conditions may take their toll.
Tigers In Trouble
It started on Friday Night with the Tigers and the Saints as I have already mentioned the Tigers are in trouble, while the Saints looked the goods with a side that was missing at least 10 walk up starts. Richmond’s skill level was just not up the waht it should be and their forward line was dysfunctional. They had to move their best 2 forwards - Brown and Delidio up the ground because the midfield was just not up to it. I know it is early but it is looking like it may be a long year ahead for the Tiger fans. While the Saints were pretty good, the 2 big ruckmen, King and Gardiner were good which now gives them the luxury of being able to play Kosi close to goal. At least 10 too come back in and all is looking pretty good. You can see why they are the most heavily backed side for the flag at the moment. Read more
NAB Cup Draw 2008 - Round 2 and NAB Challenge Fixture
Now that Round 1 of the NAB Cup is complete here is the draw for next week’s NAB Cup Games and also the NAB Challenge Practise Match Games.
NAB Cup
Friday February 22, 2008
Western Bulldogs v Essendon at Telstra Dome, 7.40pm (Channel Seven)
Saturday February 23, 2008
St Kilda v Geelong at Manuka Oval, 3.40pm (Fox Sports)
Hawthorn v Carlton at Telstra Dome, 7.10pm (Channel Ten)
Sunday February 24, 2008
Adelaide v Fremantle at AAMI Stadium, 4.40pm (Fox Sports)
NAB Challenge
Friday February 22, 2008
Kangaroos v Brisbane Lions at MC Labour Park, 4.30pm
Richmond v Melbourne at Cairns, 7.30pm
Saturday February 23
West Coast v Collingwood at Albany, 2pm
Sydney Swans v Port Adelaide at ANZ Stadium, 7pm
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Look After the 16 Teams We Have Already
Is this a matter of big ego’s or what? An 18 team AFL Football Competition by 2012! This has all the triggers to open up a mine field for the AFL. Listening to some talk back radio yesterday and not one caller had anything positive to say about the decision. AFL fans are outraged at the thought of their clubs struggling financially and maybe even having to merge or fold. AFL Club Presidents had no idea the the AFL were going to announce this. They knew they had plans for the Gold Coast and there was talk about another team in Western Sydney but by 2012? and at what expense to the existing clubs, especially the ones here in Melbourne, some of whom are already struggling financially. Club Presidents are outraged over the plans and rightly so. What are the AFL up too?
Why is it that they are in a race to overtake all other sports at the fastest pace possible? Greedy, Money Hungry, there are a few other that come to mind as well. Once again, like the rule changes in the NAB Cup that has caused the AFL to alienate themselves from the Clubs and the general footballing public even more, the clubs seem to have been left in the dark and the AFL have made the decision on their own when you would have thought their position as the sports governing body was to consult with the clubs they represent.
The Sydney Swans have previously expressed concerns that they didn’t think that there is enough room for a second team in Sydney, OK that may be them protecting their own interest and fair enough, but why put a team like the Swans in that position? All the hard work they have done in the Sydney market is in jeopardy when the new team is put in place. And you can bank on the NRL getting their gloves off now and will come back with a strategy to try and stop the AFL invasion. In Queensland the Lions are working their butt off to reach their target of 28,000 members for this year and the introduction of another side would mean even more competition for member numbers. Can Queensland support another team? That is the question.
The TV broadcasting: The AFL’s current $780 million TV deal will be renegotiated in 2011, with all of the code’s broadcast partners hungry for the content that increasing the competition to 18 teams would bring. Is this the reason for the rush? So they AFL can have
some more leverage when negotiating this deal, I certainly hope this is not their motive.
From a different angle, will this drop the standard of the competition? Think about it, there would have to be 80 more players? Is there enough talent around to accomadate this? I don’t think there is which would mean the standard of football may well deteriorate, which is not what football fans want to see. I wonder if Ricky Nixon got wind of this when he announced his recruiting network in Ireland?
Well there is no doubt there will be some heated and ugly discussion on this issue during the rest of the 2008 season and the AFL are not making themselves look any good at all, that’s for sure!
If this is going to be detrimental to the standard of AFL Football and the 16 clubs that are already in the competition then jam it!
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Alarm Bell’s Ringing for the GAA
News is spreading across the world at the moment after Ricky Nixon outlined his plans for a recruiter to be placed in each of Ireland’s 32 counties reporting to a national co-ordinator. Under his plan the young players, aged from 14 to 20, would be identified and their information placed on a central database that clubs could access for an annual fee of about $30,000. We all know that the games of Gaelic Football and Australian Rules Football in quite similar and the Irish tend to pick the game up quite quickly this is why the clubs are so keen on joining the recruiting network. And it looks as if they are queing up to fork out the $30,000.
It is already raising concerns in Ireland and it looks as if the GAA will need to act fast in order to protect losing the up and coming youngsters from their country. The Irish Newspaper the Intependant IE ran a story on it and mentioned that it is bound to cause concern for the GAA. Probably the most well known Irish export, Jim Stynes has weighed in on the situation:
“I know a lot of clubs are cashed up. This could do a lot of damage to Gaelic football in general,” he said.
“It’s a recipe for disaster with people (AFL recruiters) falling over themselves in Ireland.”
I just wonder know if the GAA and especially the Dublin County will still be so keen on the exercise that Eddie and the Collingwood Football Club are trying to tee up. Our Clubs are salivating at the thought of unearthing another player of similar quality to Marty Clarke (pictured above) or Tadhg Kennelly and it seems everyone wants a piece of the pie.
But I don’t think the GAA and the Gaelic Clubs are not going to take this all that favourably. With relationships already under strain this will not be helping the cause. Especially in terms of ressurecting the International Rules Series.
Let’s Get It On: Coaches v The AFL
AFL Coaches think they ignored and the AFL say that they are not. It is real He Said She Said stuff.
We have in the Red Corner the AFL who “Don’t trust coaches in their views on the game because they think they’re only interest is their own team’s performance and can’t be trusted.” and then we have the AFL Coaches in the Black Corner, some of whom think they own the game and should be consulted on every decision that is made regarding the game of Australian Rules Football. All this childish behaviour over a rule that is being trialled, let me say that again in case you didn’t hear it, or should I say read it, TRIALLED. I have not heard the AFL ever say that the rule will be definately in in 2009 have you?.
As much as I don’t really agree with the rule at least we have the opportunity to test it as see how it goes and then get feedback which the AFL will hopefully consider. I guess that is where the coaches are getting their back up. What will the AFL do if the majority of
coaches give negative feedback about the rule?
Will the AFL bring it in anyway? Part of me thinks that they will and that is the reason coaches like Mick Malthouse have been extremely outspoken on the issue. Malthouse says that the coaches were not consulted with bringing the rule in for the NAB Cup, but then you have Adrian Anderson saying that there was a memo sent to ALL Clubs and
“About seven or eight of the clubs responded, so every club had the opportunity to respond to that, and every coach had the opportunity,”
Why then did all the other 10-12 coaches not respond? My guess is that they think along the same lines as Malthouse. Regardless of how they responded the AFL would make their own decision anyway. Read more
The Bombers Intra Club Clash
Well I ventured out to Casey Fields in Melbourne’s South East on Saturday eventing to have a look at the Bombers intra club game. I think the idea was to test the younger players against the more experienced because the teams were that lop sided it wasn’t funny. At quarter time the black side was up by 10 goals. There were surprisingly quite a few people at the game. There is not a lot of AFL action down that way so I guess it is a good opportunity to get a close look.
Bomber fans would have been impressed with the performance of Ricky Dyson. He is a player that needs to step up for the Bombers in 2008 and it
looks as if he has had a great pre season and looks in great shape. He has put on a few kilos and his fitness was outstanding. He had leather poisoning by the end of the game. Brett Stanton in his first outing in the Number 5 gurnsey also looked like he had bulked up quite a bit and was rotated through the midfield and looked ultra fit. The standout for me was the performance of young Courtenay Dempsey, he played mainly in defense and the rebound he gave from the back half has great. He has blistering speed for a tall and once his lanky body develops he will be certainly a player of the future. Watch out for him this year, he reminds me a bit of Patrick Ryder but with a bit more flair.
The two speedsters, Alwyn Davey and Leroy Jetta showed glimpses of their dashing speed and evasive skills with a few tricks and they will certainly be in or big years and will be very dangerous in front of goal. Adam McPhee spent a lot of time up forward and looks as if me may spend a bit more time there (he looks in great shape). Courtney Johns also looks fit and raring to go and lead strongly and took a few good grabs up forward.
All in all it seemed to be a good hot out although I don’t think the coaching staff would not have been that happy with the skill level of the game with numerous skill errors and missed shots at goal. It was their first hit out though. There is a lot to look forward to for Bomber fans and don’t be surprised if they get on top of a few sides this year.
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Improve Your Football Performance With These Simple Tips - Part 1
As AFL clubs ramp up training for the coming season, local clubs are now well an truly underway with their pre-season programs too.
For many players that will involve simply running a couple of times a week, which experts say puts them in danger of serious injury. That being said I have teamed up with Mark Simpson from Pace Health Management to give all the Australian Rules Footballers out there an insight into what you can do to improve your footballing performance and get the most out of the Pre Season.
The first part of the series will concentrate on Nutrition For Peak Performance and what you should be eating and drinking during
the week while undertaking your gruelling pre season programs. When it comes to most local football teams, nutrition is probably the last thing that enters the minds of the players and coaching staff.
Let me tell you if you take this information on board you will go along way to improving your own performance and in turn the performance of the team.
Your performance can be enhanced considerably if you follow a few SIMPLE guidelines. Read more
