Up There Cazaly

The place to chat about Aussie Rules Football...esp the AFL

Just 4 more sleeps until the new season starts!

Expecting North, the doggies and west coast to improve significantly this year

what a start to the season with freo demolishing the pies and western sydney stunning the swans!

Hate the split round crap, makes no sense and doesn't work for TV as there's only 2 games a week on free to air. Just scrap the fancy mix and matching games on different nights and play some footy rather then needlessly spreading it out.

But on the actually season ahead my predictions-

Premiers- Freo- Originally had the Hawks going back to back but after seeing them smash Collingwood they just seemed to have added a bit more attacking flair to their game. Will be near impossible to beat at Subi and hard to beat any where else.

Spoon- St.Kilda- Hard too see anything positive for them, their best players are about 30 odd with a massive gap between the veterans and the kids, will be a tough year for them but the sooner Dunstan, Billings, Templeton get games into them the better off the side will be in the long run.

Brownlow- Tom Libertore- Maybe a bit bias on my behalf as a Doggies man but the kids got it all. Knows how to win the hard ball, lead the clearances last year and if the pre-season games are anything to go by has added a bit more balance to his outside game which to me is something the elite players do, a balance between inside and outside.

Coleman- I never get these right so I'm just gunna go Josh Kennedy from West Coast. The bloke is a star, accurate kick for goal, good on the lead and will have plenty of space to work in on Subi for a home ground so yeah why not jump on.

Coach Under Pressure- Brad Scott- North expect to make finals, and this is Scotts 5th year as coach and he hasn't really taken them forward, not that he has taken them backwards much either but if he misses finals this year think some questions will be raised. Doesn't help North that they're in a group of about 11 other clubs I rate has chances to get in the 8, lot of competition coming at them.

I can't say the first round of footy has been all that interesting for me, to be honest. The split round is a dumb idea. I think the first week gave a fair indication of what we can expect in the next few years - a game dominated by Gold Coast and GWS who will share around 8 of the next ten Premierships. Thanks to the new rules on free agency, the top clubs are going to continually top up their lists with older, experienced players from weaker teams, and the gap between the top and bottom teams is going to be entrenched...

Anyway, as to what will happen this year:

I think Jeremy Cameron from GWS is a fair chance to win the Coleman.

Ablett is likely to win the Brownlow - he generally polls pretty well, and this year he will be in a team that will be in finals contention late in the year.

Fremantle should probably win the flag, although the Hawks are still going to be a good side.

I think St. Kilda and Melbourne will fight over the wooden spoon with Brisbane this year... although, if ASADA stop being clowns and start suspending Essendon players, they might be in with a chance too...

i agree re the comments over the whole split round nonesense. You have to start the season at the G and it has to involve 2 Victorian clubs. I reckon the Carlton v richmond matchup was a good way to kick things off. I understand they couldnt play at the G on the off chance the Vics would host the Shield final but still...

As for me..not a fan of free agency. Great for the players and the rich few (clubs), bad for everyone else.

ALL teams should have the same salary cap or what's the bloody point. Sydney being able to get first tippet and then franklin is a joke.

Also, i really believe that every team needs to play each other twice during the home and away rounds, otherwise some teams are unfairly advantaged whilst others are unfairly disadvantaged.

Ironically probably the best match of round one (that i saw) was st kilda v melbourne. Both teams had a real dip for four quarters. It was a tough, uncompromising game by two teams that you wouldnt expect would win too many games this season.

Gotta say too that the umpiring in round 1 was generally very inconsistent and extremely frustrating

Next week should be a very interesting game btw North and the doggies...two teams i thought would be among the big improvers this year and two teams who would be very disappointed with their first round efforts.

Do think the weagles will do very well. So hard to beat in the west and with their list pretty much at full strength they should start well

@lwos

did you support the name change from Footscray to the Western Bulldogs? Funny to have the Western Bulldogs playing West Coast with both teams homes seperated by thousands of miles

Was just a kid when the name changed so know them more as Western but wouldn't be against going back to Footscray.

its funny...the corporate spin doctors convinced north melbourne to change their name to the kangaroos as they said that no-one outside of victoria would barrack for a team named after a Melbourne suburb and that the 'kangaroo' brand named was easier to sell. They of course ignored the fact the c'wood and essendon have a big following outside of Vic. Anyway, whilst the shinboners sold out their heritage they found that doin gso made no difference at all...if anything it was actually a negative...and so now they are back as North melbourne

the excuse for changing Footscray's name was that people from the western suburbs were more likely to identify with the name 'western bulldogs' than with the name 'Footscray'. What a lot of bollocks

and just on names....West Coast should have been called 'Perth' and dont even get me started with gws..i mean wtf! they should have been called 'west sydney'. GWS sounds like a council or govt bureaucratic name

anyway, really looking fwd to round 2 which is what round 1 should have been...lots of really good matchups.

The standouts are for me are ...

Carlton v richmond
essendon v Hawthorn and
the adelaide derby

That said every game has its own point of interest...should be a very interesting 4 days ahead