He Certainly Doesn’t Lack Confidence
Nick Davis has never been lacking confidence and these couple of quotes are indication that he thinks he is traveling alright leading into the 2008 AFL Football Season.
“I have been pretty good. Yeah, I’ve been all right”
- Speaking about his performances during pre season
“I announced to the team I was available for the captaincy,”
- Just letting everyone know he want the Captaincy
He would want to get a kick this year as these type of comments tend to attract some good sledging attacks. The boys from Collingwood will be reading these comments with interest I bet!. It is a pitty Nathan Buckley still isn’t playing as I hear he has had a couple of good episodes with Davis.
These comments are on the back of other comments he has made about everyone writing the Swans off for 2008.
“I can’t see that we’ve got any worse than last year and I think we’ll get better, so dismiss us at your peril,”
I am not sure the coach would be all that happy with the latest comments from the prospective captain.
The Swans meet Hawthorn in their NAB Cup opener in Launceston, the look like they will be missing skippers Brett Kirk and Leo Barry. They will also be without Adam Goodes and Craig Bolton, one of whom will be announced this week as the third captain. Barry Hall who is recovering from his Extreme Makeover will also be missing making Davis the oldest and most experienced player in the side.
God help the Swans!!!
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.
Check out the Bombers 2008 Season Preview at the Articles Page. And for more pre season and NAB action then make sure you Subscribe to “The Inner Sanctum” our FREE Weekly AFL Newsletter.
Enough About the Interchange Rule Mick
As much as I disagree with what the AFL have done with their decision about the interchange rule for this years NAB Cup, Mick Malthouse just needs to let it go now! He has had added his 2 bobs worth in and mentioned just once or twice what he thinks but enough is enough.
In his latest outburst against the rule he mentioned AGAIN that he couldn’t play players who he would have liked because he couldn’t control their game time forcing him to play players he would other wise had not and also that the fact that if a player goes off with the blood rule that is counted in the total for that quarter.
“I’m waiting for the day that the two sides in the grand final are dead-set locked together and someone goes off with the blood rule at the 23-minute mark of the last quarter and someone has a shot from the goalsquare and wins $350,000 and the other side gets $160,000.
“We’ll see what sort of squawk there’s going to be then.”
I think we all know your stance on the issue Mick lets just get on with playing some football.
On the playing side of things the Magpies got a right old belting on Saturday Night in Dubai by a ready to play Adelaide Crows outfit. The Crows just seemed a bit more advanced in their pre season preparations than the Pies something that I am sure the Crows fans will be happy about it. I really don’t think it is something that the Magpies will be too concerned about given that they were at the end of a 3 week stint of altitude training and are more focused on Round 1.
The Crows looked impressive though and coach Neil Craig looks as though he has changed his game plan into a more free flowing attacking style of play, which was very good to watch. The area that everyone, including myself thought they would struggle in was the Ruck but the 2 youngsters in Kurt Tippet and Ivan Maric were quite impressive. And it looks like they have unearthed a quality forward in James Sellar who led and moved ery well down forward. Skipper Simon Goodwin also looked at home in the forward 50 as well. It will be interesting to see if the Crows youngsters can sustain that standard for 22 rounds of the AFL Season. The signs are good though.
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Here you are Dave here is one blogger in the blogosphere that is talking about Aussie Rules Footy.
Would You Pay $395 for These?
Not being a huge personalized number plate fan I just can not fatham forking out $395 for a set of number plates! Being a Bombers supporter not even “Hirdy 5″ would lure me into spending that amount of money on a set of number plates. But that is what the parents of a passionate Carlton supporter have done, they have paid $395 for the number plates that read “Juddy 5″. And I guess they will be the envy of all the passionate Carlton Fans out there.
She is certainly a dedicated Blues fan I will give her that, having not missed a game in Melbourne since she was a 5 years old, given that she is now 25, I reckon they are the best gift she has ever had.
Speaking of Chris Judd he must have the most talked about groins in AFL / VFL History, there is not a press conference at Carlton that goes by without there being a question about Chris Judd’s groins. How are they going? When will they be ready?. There have been quite a few rumours floating around that he is still 6-8 weeks off but the Blues are adamant that he will be right come Round 1 against Richmond. As Blues coach Brett Ratten says “He’s in a program that’s trying to get him to round one right on time and he is right on track for us so there are no hiccups.”
Let’s hope that “Program” gets him up for Round 1……
Spirited Intra Club Game at Whitten Oval
Just a quick one to keep you all updated on some intra club games that have been played over the last couple of days. The Hawks headed down to Aurora Stadium in Launceston. There were certainly a couple of interesting match ups during the game with tagger Brad Sewell giving new skipper Sam Mitchell hell and also Grant Birchill lining up on veteran Shane Crawford. But the biggest task of the day was given to Hugh Sandilands who was given the imposing task of nullifying gun forward Lance Franklin. Now from all reports he did OK keeping Franklin quiet early before he broke loose late to finish with three goals. But the standout was Tim Boyle, he kicked 5 goals all in the first half. Maybe the Hawks have been reading how their forward line is the least effective in the AFL. The boys over at DT Talk were at the game and have a great review of the game.
Western Bulldogs
Over at the Whitten Oval the Bulldogs were put through their paces in the pouring rain. Now intra club matches tend to be a glorified training session but there was a bit of intensity from a few of the Doggies with Brad Johnson and Nathan Eagleton involved in a wrestling match behind the play at one stage. New recruit Ben Hudson played the first half in the ruck and starred, while Ryan Griffen and Daniel Cross look set for big years as they return from injury.
The standout and clearly best on ground was Jason Akermanis, he played both up forward and in the middle of the ground. Other notable mentions went to Guy O’Keefe who impressed with his ability to win the ball, Jarrad Grant and Andrejs Everitt had an entertaining battle, with Grant narrowly taking the points for his intensity and presence around the contests.
As I mentioned in a previous post I am going to head out and have a look at the Bombers intra club game on the weekend and will report back with all the news.
AFL Pre Season Updates 1st Feb 2007
Well it is that time in the pre season when things are starting to heat up and we will start seeing some games of footy, albeit the NAB Cup. I thought I would compile a list of what has been happening around the Clubs and the AFL in recent weeks that many of might not have caught up with. All the talk at the moment is on the South Africa Region and how that could be the next big recruiting ground for AFL Clubs. And if you haven’t read the interview I did with Brett Northey from World Footy News then read it here to get an insight into Australian Rules Football Around The World.
Other Pre Season News
- At Geelong Matthew Egan and Matthew Scarlett look set to miss the NAB Cup opening match. Scarlett had an arthriscope on his knee on Thursday to remove “loose bodies” and Egan has hit a hurdle in his recovery from his broken foot which will see him have surgery next week to remove a screw from his foot that was causing irritations.
- There is already talk of Nick Reiwoldt heading to the Gold Coast to play for the 17th team. But he has hit that on the head for now saying “All my energy and focus is on winning a premiership with St Kilda”
AFL Pre Season Update - Stewart Dew
Well he was said to have been a gamble draft pick for Alastair Clarkson and the Hawthorn Football Club but it appears the weight seems to be coming off the ex Port Adelaide utility and we could even see him playing as soon as the NAB Cup. I have always thought that Dew could offer a great deal to the Hawks, not only in his leadership and experience but on the field as well. Provided he wants to be playing AFL Football, and from all reports he is “keen as mustard” as they say and it shows in his training and his commitment to dropping the kilos. He will slot in quite nicely as a pinch hitter up forward or in defense as a long kicking defender
Hawthorn Captain Sam Mitchell said “I’d be well and truly happy to run out next to him at the moment.” showing that he is just about ready to go which is a great sign for the Hawks and not such a great sign for opposition clubs. But the big area will be his experience that he will bring to the young side.
“He’s helping out the young guys, telling them what to do and where to go, and the patterns they should be running and the things they should be doing. When you can get an extra leader like that at the age of 28 or 29, and a premiership player into the footy club, it’s a great thing for us.”
You can’t beat the experience of a premiership player and all is going along nicely for the Hawks it seems as they gear up for the 2008 AFL Season.
Read the Hawthorn 2008 Preview here.
New Interchange rule too be trialed in the NAB Cup
The NAB Cup is the AFL’s experimental competition where it can trial, what they would like to say are improvements to the game of Australian Rules Football, mind you many would argue the complete opposite. The 2008 NAB Cup looks like it will follow similar lines as in previous years. It has been announced that during this years NAB Cup there will be a cap of 16 interchange rotations per quarter and 64 per match, and also the number of interchange players will go up from 6 to 8.
The AFL are hell bent on slowing the game down and it has been previously reported that they are undertaking a research project into whether there is a link between injury and the increased use of the interchange bench. Adrian Anderson has been quoted as saying:
“The suggestion is that because of the increased use of the interchange the players are hitting each other harder, are moving at top speeds for longer and more likely to suffer collision injuries but we really need to look at that in-depth to see if the theory holds true,”
From a spectators point of view I don’t think there is any need to change the speed of the game and I am sure if there was a survey conducted amongst the AFL players they would say a similar thing. But I guess the AFL have a duty of care to up hold and that looks like the direction they are heading.
It will be interested to watch how this effects teams like Collingwood and Sydney who in last years elimination final used the bench an extraordinary 174 times. There will need to be some new coaching strategies put in place and if the rule comes into the main competition it will be a race between the coaching staffs of the clubs to see who can come up with another work around.
Bring on the start of the season !!!
AFL keen to restrict interchange rotations
Although the AFL decided against any rule changes for the 2008 season they are very keen to limit the number of interchange rotations. Throughout next season the AFL will be conducting detailed studies to determine whether there is a link between the increased speed of the game and fatigue and collision injuries. It is believed the Laws of the Game Committee is concerned about the number of interchange rotations, which has increased by a massive 241% since the 200 season. It is pleasing to see that the AFL will conduct some in depth testing into this situation and not just change this rule because the Laws of the Game Committee don’t like what is happening.
I am glad they have decided not to bring in a change in this rule for next season, I really don’t think that after the contraversial hands in the back rule they would want any more supporter abuse. Speaking of the hands in the back rule they also considered ammending the rule to allow incidental contact, which I reckon some umpires brought in by themselves last year anyway. This would make an even bigger grey area in the rule which is all we need. Keep it “Black and White” is all I can say.
The AFL will not trial the new interchange rule during the NAB cup but they are going to persist with the rushed behind, and calling play on from kicking backwards (which sould be brought in!).
