2014 AFL season discussion

bruschi

yeah Port are definitely the form team right now, and to be honest, I wasnt expecting it. I thought they were lucky with a few games last year, and that they would be caught this year. but fair play, they have really built on last year and made themselves even better again. I've only seen one full game of them yet this year, their demolition of the Crows, and the speed and pace they work at is great. young players really standing up to the mark.

MANUTD99

Yeah hopefully ESPN show some of their games.Magpies has been on every week so far I think and will be again this week against Carlton.

Does anybody know if its possible to get a pass to watch the games online where you can log in at anytime and watch games in full.

Its not easy getting up at 7am to watch streams!!

bruschi

MANUTD99 wrote: »

Yeah hopefully ESPN show some of their games.Magpies has been on every week so far I think and will be again this week against Carlton.

Does anybody know if its possible to get a pass to watch the games online where you can log in at anytime and watch games in full.

Its not easy getting up at 7am to watch streams!!

http://watchafl.afl.com.au/

€100 for the season.

Mackman

Port are looking great, great game style to watch too.

Freo are in a spot of bother. Forward line is a shambles, bomb it long to a 3 on 1 with Pavlich seems to be plan A, B and C. Discipline issues all over the place too, Sylvia and Morabito getting suspended in the WAFL. Johnson just getting off with a good record this week.

Gotta sort something out cause if we keep dishing up the crap we did against North Melbourne, we will scrape into the top 8. The next 3 weeks are very tough, a derby which are always 50/50, a red hot Port Adelaide in Adelaide and Geelong. Could easily end up 3-6 going into the bye. Not looking good.

Real FM

Yeah Dockers aren't living up to expectations at all. The younger players coming through aren't taking any of the load at the moment. Mundy, Fyfe, 211, Johnson (bar the Roos game) and Pavlich have been keeping us competitive but there's not much Pav can do when balls are being pinged at him with three defenders on his back.

Mayne has been an embarrassment. His standout attribute has always been his goal kicking and how many has he kicked this season??? If he can't perform the main task that he's in the team to do why is he there at all.

Every player that has come up against Crowley this season has had over 20 possessions. Last year only 6 players managed to get 20 on him. Spurr, Suban and Sutcliffe are making up the numbers and would be under pressure if all our reserve players weren't too busy getting suspended and ensuring that they stay at the bottom of the WAFL with Peel Thunder. Not the start to the season everybody anticipated.

Big game for both of the WA clubs this weekend but for all the wrong reasons.

MANUTD99

bruschi wrote: »

http://watchafl.afl.com.au/

€100 for the season.

Yeah decided against it. Too many sport subscriptions at the minute to justify another €18 per month.

Got myself outta bed around 5ish on Sat to watch a stream of GWS v Port. Very small crowd turned up in Canberra. Must be the lowest of the season. Why are GWS playing games there?

Anyways weather was rubbish but a pretty high scoring game. Usually Port finish well as I reckon one of the fittest teams in the league but GWS gave them a little scare at the end and beat them in Q4. Polec the standout player for Port

Just watching the Eagles/Dockers game now that I recorded this morning.

Thank God, ESPN are going to show the Port game next week against the Dockers. I'll be able to record it and have a few beers in the evening watching it

seipeal1

MANUTD99 wrote: »

Yeah decided against it. Too many sport subscriptions at the minute to justify another €18 per month.

Got myself outta bed around 5ish on Sat to watch a stream of GWS v Port. Very small crowd turned up in Canberra. Must be the lowest of the season. Why are GWS playing games there?

Anyways weather was rubbish but a pretty high scoring game. Usually Port finish well as I reckon one of the fittest teams in the league but GWS gave them a little scare at the end and beat them in Q4. Polec the standout player for Port

Just watching the Eagles/Dockers game now that I recorded this morning.

Thank God, ESPN are going to show the Port game next week against the Dockers. I'll be able to record it and have a few beers in the evening watching it

Seemingly, a lot of the team had a virus going into the match. That was the reason why Hartlett and Carlisle were pulled out and may have been the reason behind the fourth quarter result.


I had the misfortune of being at the Oval on Saturday to watch the Crows being beaten up by the mighty Demons. All I can say is I hope the experience is never repeated. Worse than woeful. However, I am joining the Port bandwagon and going along to the game next Saturday so looking forward to that.

They are starting to make the Oval a "Portress".

Mackman

seipeal1 wrote: »

"Portress".

:rolleyes: *groan*

Should be cracker game on Saturday, pity i wont be able to watch it live. I'll be checking the updates from a birthday lunch that some fool organised at the same time.

The only thing giving me confidence for Freo is the belting we gave port in Rd 23 last year. But that was a long time ago and in Subiaco. If we can pull together 4 strong quarters we should win, but we haven't been able to do that all season. If the weagles kicked straight in the second quarter on Sunday it would have been a different game.

What is happening the crows? They're throwing my tipping all over the place. Melbourne were quite good it must be said, Dawes is massive for them in the forward line. Gives them a huge target and gives them lots of structure.

Mackman

Bull**** decision buy the MRP for Jack Viney. AFL trying to protect it's own ass while changing fundamental and unique aspects of the game

jackbhoy

Mackman wrote: »

Bull**** decision buy the MRP for Jack Viney. AFL trying to protect it's own ass while changing fundamental and unique aspects of the game

Yeah, love one of the panel telling him he could have pivoted onto his left foot to avoid contact. Even ignoring the arrogance associated with some asshole in a suit sitting in an office is telling you how you should have reacted in a split second decision on footy field, if Viney pulled out of that he would have been ridiculed for being soft.

They need to sort out the umpiring and MRP asap, it's beyond a joke now. Some of the decisions at the Richmond v Geelong game at weekend were incredible. I would be slightly biased of course, but was at the game with a Hawks and a Crows supporter and they were getting more annoyed than me. Some players get clotheslined and no action but Joel 'Ducky' Selwood drops his head into every tackle and wins free kicks with zero forceable contact or risk of injury. Meanwhyile Rance clears ball brillantly, makes slight contact on follow through and is pinged straight away. It's the inconsistency that makes it so maddening.

MANUTD99

I know he kicked a couple of late goals but for me Franklin stunk big time it that game. How many goal chances did he waste. Sydney should have won that game easily. Tippett with a good performance.

Have bet on a Swans/Port double this weekend. Looking good so far

Tigerandahalf

I got to see the Swans Hawks game this morning.
Sydney had about 17 behinds and Franklin kicked at least 7 of those. He is not a team player and just seems to love trying to goal from impossible angles. His work rate does not look good either. Sydney now have an abundance of players to play in the central forward positions with Goodes, Sam Reid, Franklin and Tippett. Plus T Walsh if he can make it after his injury.
Hannebury seems to be Sydney's key player. He has an outstanding workrate, is a real groundhog in fighting for the ball, disposes of the ball well off hand and foot and he is a great competitor. When he was off the field Sydney struggled.
McVeigh is still a great player. Any time I have seen him he does things well.

jackbhoy

MANUTD99 wrote: »

I know he kicked a couple of late goals but for me Franklin stunk big time it that game. How many goal chances did he waste. Sydney should have won that game easily. Tippett with a good performance.

Have bet on a Swans/Port double this weekend. Looking good so far

Yep, hilarious that newspapers and news this morning saying Buddy "came back to haunt Hawks" and "Buddy wins game with 2 goals in last quarter". Think media just wanted the story so badly they ignored his 3 quarters of inept kicking. If he had taken 50% of his chances in first 3 quarters Swans would never have been in danger, overpaid show pony imo.

jackbhoy

Wow, this is an impressive last quarter by Port. Still cannot believe how far they have come. Two years ago I would have closed the curtains if they were playing in backyard, now I don't think there is a better side to watch in the league.

Mad4simmental

jackbhoy wrote: »

Wow, this is an impressive last quarter by Port. Still cannot believe how far they have come. Two years ago I would have closed the curtains if they were playing in backyard, now I don't think there is a better side to watch in the league.

Can't be leave freo lost, hats off to port they are very impressive this year!

Real FM

Port were incredible. Wingard will draw all the plaudits but Ollie Wines is a freak of a man for his age. He looks like he's been playing AFL for 10 years.

Freo were good until the 4th quarter. Suban played well, as did Fyfe and Pav was solid as usual.

The outcome of the game was as expected. Port taking advantage of a weak defence and eventually running us into the ground.

Johnson was strong enough, Duffield was intent on kicking every ball over the boundary line, Spurr was non-existent against Wingard and Silvagni didn't have a shocker but has again shown that he's not good enough at this level. So too with Crozier, he'll make it in the AFL, but he's not good enough at this stage. Added nothing to the team today. Danyle Pearce is another one who had a nightmare.

I wouldn't be overly concerned if I was a cats fan.

seipeal1

jackbhoy wrote: »

Wow, this is an impressive last quarter by Port. Still cannot believe how far they have come. Two years ago I would have closed the curtains if they were playing in backyard, now I don't think there is a better side to watch in the league.

They are fit, strong, resilient and getting more confident by the week. I was there today. Freo played pretty well. It was a real test for Port and they answered it pretty good. Freowill be thereabouts at end of season, in my opinion. Probably best team Port has played to date.

MANUTD99

Delighted with result today. Power were brilliant in the last quarter. I doubt they can keep this intensity up all season though. Dockers looked ok up untill mid 3rd quarter. I hope Port are not peaking to early

Nice break to look forward to for the lads.

AAMI was a kip to go to when I was in Adelaide. Oval is rocking!!

SSK

Only saw highlights of the Swans Hawks game but I though Buddy was pretty impressive. Sure his kicking was way off but he was running and marking at a level I haven't seen him at for a couple of years. The Swans are certainly a dangerous proposition now that they're forwardline is fit and the likes of Hanneberry and Jack have found some form in the middle.

It's ironic that the first bye weekend has produced probably the best round of footy so far, all the games have been enjoyable with the result in doubt until close to the very end. I still for the life of me can't understand why Carlton and the Saints are playing on a Monday night though.

Mad4simmental

I still for the life of me can't understand cydectinwhy Carlton and the Saints are playing on a Monday night though.[/quote]

Is it a public holladay in Vic?

jackbhoy

Mad4simmental wrote: »

I still for the life of me can't understand cydectinwhy Carlton and the Saints are playing on a Monday night though.

Is it a public holladay in Vic?[/quote]

Nope. You'd think if AFL are trying to sell Monday night footy they'd put something a bit more attractive on the card.

Mad4simmental

Nope. You'd think if AFL are trying to sell Monday night footy they'd put something a bit more attractive on the card.[/quote]

True, even do it was well won it was a good game. A few scraps to rare these days but good.

seipeal1

Was at the "Crowval" tonight to watch Adelaide beat Collingwood. Great atmosphere, great stadium, great result. Even the 7 year old daughter enjoyed it. 50,000 fans. Noise was awesome. Unusual for a Crows match. And NOBODY left early!!! Happy days.
PS Remember the name, Charlie Cameron. Everybody is going to know his name in a few years.

jj1

Big game in Perth tomorrow for the Dockers. Up against it & a must win if they're to have any chance of the top 4.

Grest result for the crows last night & the Swans looked good again tonight.

jj1

seipeal1 wrote: »

Was at the "Crowval" tonight to watch Adelaide beat Collingwood. Great atmosphere, great stadium, great result. Even the 7 year old daughter enjoyed it. 50,000 fans. Noise was awesome. Unusual for a Crows match. And NOBODY left early!!! Happy days.
PS Remember the name, Charlie Cameron. Everybody is going to know his name in a few years.

I'd say the main thing is your daughter enjoyed it otherwise you mightn't have got the chance to enjoy it.

Tigerandahalf

Never saw it but a good win for the Swans today. Buddy Franklin with 5 goals and Tippett and McVeigh with 3 each. Essendon do not seem to be going great (havent seen them) and you would expect Buddy and Tippett to score highly in these type of games.
Who do ye think will make up the top 4?
Have to admit I have only seen Sydney against the Hawks so far.
I see from the ladder that the Gold Coast are going great guns this year.
The Brisbane Lions arent showing much.

jackbhoy

Absolutely sh1thouse performance by Richmond.

No ruckman for 1/3 of game meant Dees won practically every centre clearance. 20 behinds kicked. Hammered in contested marks.

Blah, season over.....

MANUTD99

Good win for the Dockers yesterday. The high intensity play in first 2 quarters blew the Cats away and were on a uphill battle from then on.

Rest of the games this weekend were a bit meh for me!

Power V Hawks next weekend will be class. Soon as I signed up for the AFL pass ESPN have showed/will show 2 Port games in a row.

WTF is with ESPN showing nearly every single Collingwood game?

bruschi

MANUTD99 wrote: »

Good win for the Dockers yesterday. The high intensity play in first 2 quarters blew the Cats away and were on a uphill battle from then on.

Rest of the games this weekend were a bit meh for me!

Power V Hawks next weekend will be class. Soon as I signed up for the AFL pass ESPN have showed/will show 2 Port games in a row.

WTF is with ESPN showing nearly every single Collingwood game?

For whatever reason, that's not unusual. It's been like that for as long as they have had the rights. Pies I reckon get more Friday night games anyway, but even despite that it's still far more than normal. Maybe it's the fact they are generally considered the biggest team around, so they command the most fans and therefore demand.

Doesn't excuse it tho

seipeal1

seipeal1 wrote: »

Was at the "Crowval" tonight to watch Adelaide beat Collingwood. Great atmosphere, great stadium, great result. Even the 7 year old daughter enjoyed it. 50,000 fans. Noise was awesome. Unusual for a Crows match. And NOBODY left early!!! Happy days.
PS Remember the name, Charlie Cameron. Everybody is going to know his name in a few years.

Just watched it there.

Terrible again from the Pies... scored about 10 points after HT.

That and the Freo game, those performances have been pathetic.
It's one thing to lose, but there was no positives to take from either of those games.

Cloke is having a shocking year... he's only had one decent game.
In the previous two years, if he was on form from set shots it determined whether they won or not.
I'd even go as far to say if he nailed 70-80% of his set shots it would have been enough to win the flag, he was taking a vast number.
Now he's barely taking any, I guess a plus there is they're still competitive with the losses and that change from previous years.

Mackman

bruschi wrote: »

For whatever reason, that's not unusual. It's been like that for as long as they have had the rights. Pies I reckon get more Friday night games anyway, but even despite that it's still far more than normal. Maybe it's the fact they are generally considered the biggest team around, so they command the most fans and therefore demand.

Doesn't excuse it tho

It's because the AFL is all about the $. Collingwood have the biggest fan base, = higher ratings for the highest profile game of the weekend.

Great win by Freo, back to 2013 form. If they can keep that up, along with an easier second half of the season, top four could still be on.

It was great to be there for Pav's 300th. When he kicked his 600th goal the place went nuts, great atmosphere.

Great win by the crows too, looks like they just clicked. Like Manutd99, rest of the games were a bit meh. Except for Melbourne getting over the line Against Richmond, very low point for the tiges, especially after such a promising season last year. Hardwick is under a fair bit of pressure

Mackman

Absolute cracker of a game between the pies and eagles. Another potential cracker starting now. Gotta love football

MANUTD99

WOW just ****ing WOW, What a game at the Oval. Chad Wingard. Legend in the making.

I honestly think the only team who could stop the Power winning a Grand Final is the Swans

seipeal1

MANUTD99 wrote: »

WOW just ****ing WOW, What a game at the Oval. Chad Wingard. Legend in the making.

I honestly think the only team who could stop the Power winning a Grand Final is the Swans

Was at the game tonight. Hard fought win for Power. Hawthorne will put it up to everybody again. They are a class team. Interested to see how Power do against the top teams away from Adelaide. They are really good, but still not Premiership favorites, in my opinion. Wingard is excellent. Boak and Ebert are reaching elite status. Robbie Gray having a great season.
Adelaide Oval is such a pleasure to attend. 52,300 tonight.

MANUTD99

seipeal1 wrote: »

Was at the game tonight. Hard fought win for Power. Hawthorne will put it up to everybody again. They are a class team. Interested to see how Power do against the top teams away from Adelaide. They are really good, but still not Premiership favorites, in my opinion. Wingard is excellent. Boak and Ebert are reaching elite status. Robbie Gray having a great season.
Adelaide Oval is such a pleasure to attend. 52,300 tonight.

Who would you have as favorites?

2 very winnable games coming up against the Demons and the Saints before away to Swans

jackbhoy

MANUTD99 wrote: »

Who would you have as favorites?

2 very winnable games coming up against the Demons and the Saints before away to Swans

Would love to see Port win it but I wouldn't class them as favs just yet, mainly because:
- They haven't shown they can beat the big sides when it counts or outside of Adelaide yet.
- It's one thing to beat an under strength Hawthorn in May, a full side in September will be a completely different proposition, especially if it is in Melbourne. It's a credit to Hawk's depth that they still competed well minus their 4 most important players and spine of their team.
- They have been very lucky with injuries, they don't have depth of some of big sides so a couple of injuries to key personnel would really hurt their chances.
- A huge part of winning flags is about mental strength when pressure is on, finals footy has killed some very good teams mentally. Sydney, Hawthorn, Geelong have that massively important finals experience which is key come end of year.

Would be a fantastic story if Port could win it though, would give hope to every side in the league!

MANUTD99

jackbhoy wrote: »

Would love to see Port win it but I wouldn't class them as favs just yet, mainly because:
- They haven't shown they can beat the big sides when it counts or outside of Adelaide yet.
- It's one thing to beat an under strength Hawthorn in May, a full side in September will be a completely different proposition, especially if it is in Melbourne. It's a credit to Hawk's depth that they still competed well minus their 4 most important players and spine of their team.
- They have been very lucky with injuries, they don't have depth of some of big sides so a couple of injuries to key personnel would really hurt their chances.
- A huge part of winning flags is about mental strength when pressure is on, finals footy has killed some very good teams mentally. Sydney, Hawthorn, Geelong have that massively important finals experience which is key come end of year.

Would be a fantastic story if Port could win it though, would give hope to every side in the league!

Well they haven't played any of the big 3 yet away from home so its unfair to say they haven't proved themselves on that point you made. They have won away to Carlton, WCE, GWS & should of won the game against Melbourne. They lost it in the last quarter.

The fixture list favors them this year in that they don't travel to Geelong or against the Hawks. If they could get home advantage come the play offs they have a good enough chance. Swans, Dockers, Suns & Magpies would be there toughest away games on paper for their remaining fixtures

Also now that they have a reserve team playing in the SNFL there is a lot of players getting competitive experience under their belt and changeling for the first team. I have being following them as much as I can and some very talented players in there.

Your right though very early days to be talking about grand finals. The game against Sydney in 3 weeks will be a indication of how serious a team they are this year

SSK

Port are very deservedly leading the comp at the moment but I have a couple of worries about them come finals:

- If Shulz or Lobbe get injured they have very little depth at key forward and pretty much none at ruck. I wouldn't trust Butcher to come in and be able to do a job as the main tall forward and they would be looking at Trengove being the number 1 ruck if Lobbe goes down which robs them of their number 1 key defender.

- How will they perform in a finals like environment away from the AO? On the basis of last season this shouldn't be a problem as they beat (an admittedly very poor) Collingwood side in the MCG and then could have beaten Geelong the following week. Assuming a top 2 finish, this may not be an issue until the Grand Final but as we saw with Freo last year, the occasion can get to players who haven't experienced it before, particularly if they come up against recent winners Sydney or Hawthorn.

Apart from that, I was at both MCG games at the weekend. Collingwood squeaked over the line against West Coast, which was particularly satisfying considering we had Goldsack, Toovey and Maxwell manning Kennedy, Darling and Coxanui for the entirety of the second half. Cloke is still playing terrible but we're getting good contributions out of second tier players like Blair, Witts and Macaffer while our extra class in the midfield carried us home even though we were second best in the clinches for much of the game.

Yesterday was a hugely entertaining but completely error-strewn game. Carlton were just about value for their win and would have been a bit more comfortable had they not gone completely to sleep for 5 minutes at the end of the 3rd. Having said that, if Dangerfield didn't play on after taking that mark or if Sloane had managed to get his kick away at the end it could have gone the other way. I didn't have either side in the 8 at the start of the year and nothing I saw yesterday convinced me otherwise. Menzel is all class though, he's going to be an out and out gun.

skippymac6

Some whopping the Swans put on the cats this morning. Tippett and Buddy dovetailing well at the minute!

SSK

skippymac6 wrote: »

Some whopping the Swans put on the cats this morning. Tippett and Buddy dovetailing well at the minute!

Being honest, if the Swans can maintain that kind of focus and intensity until the end of the season they'll be hard stopped. Their mids and forwards are downright scary when they're up and about.

jackbhoy

SSK wrote: »

Being honest, if the Swans can maintain that kind of focus and intensity until the end of the season they'll be hard stopped. Their mids and forwards are downright scary when they're up and about.

Bloody Shaw! Traded him out last week in SC and he chimes in with a 120 this week :mad:

Tigerandahalf

Great result but it is very early in the season to hit top form. Need to stay injury free now.

jackbhoy

What a cluster fook for Richmond at 'G tonight. Significant list and coaching changes needed come September. Shaun Hampson is leading contender for worst trade of 2014. If he was not good enough for crap list at Carlton what the hell did richmond list management think he could add to our already average list.

MANUTD99

Jesus Port were brutal today and really show fatigue but showed spirit and pulled away when needed Watched it on my AFL Pass. Westhoff came to rescue with 2 big goals at the end. I suppose the most positive thing from today's game was Port were strong when needed and mattered

Matty White limped through most of the game and Wingard got carted off after a kick to the head from his own teamate Shulz lol. Boak also picked up an inury

Swans looking scary at the minute.

Mad4simmental

Nice win by freo,

I can watch that happen to wce all day. Very poor, big shake up needed in that club IMO.

I'd say allot of people lost cash on the hawks game. Wtf they should have won by well over a hundred points. It's what the GWS young lads needed at the same time.

It's getting to the buisness time of the year and a lot of big names not doing what's expected of them but at the same time good to see the wheel turning for a few other clubs.

MANUTD99

Boak, Wingard & White named in the Port team to play St Kilda on Sat after picking up knocks last weekend.Bit of a risk IMO as I reckon without those players Port should still have the beating of The Saints and especially with the big game against Swans next week.

What games is everyone looking forward to this weekend?No big epic games for me although Swans away to Gold Coast might be worth a watch. Would love to see The Suns get a result

If the Demons play anywhere near the level they did last week in Alice Springs they might get a result against The Magpies.

Other than that Dockers at home to Crows could be a good game depending on what Crows team show up but would still fancy the Dockers to get the win.

Can't see the Cats or Hawks loosing either

SSK

On the face of it an easy weekend for tipping but the GC Sydney game will be worth a watch. The Suns better hope Thompson gets up otherwise they'll be absolutely beasted by the Sydney big forwards.

I'm very much looking forward to Monday as well, which is strange considering I left the Queen's Birthday game at 3/4 time last year because Melbourne were so pathetic. It's my first time seeing the Dees revolution in the flesh so I'm hoping for a competitive game with the Pies eventually getting over the line.

Ben Reid is back in the VFL which is a great boost for us and Juddy plays reserves for only the second time in his career alongside two Irish lads Sheehan and Byrne so it should be good experience for them playing with one of the greats of the game.

bruschi

Didnt bother putting the Geelong Carlton game on record, wasnt expecting it to be much. Sounds like it was a belter. Luckily repeated tomorrow morning though!

MANUTD99

Chad Wingard's mark in th 3rd QTR which he took, stared his opponent in the eye, high fived, his team mate, ran his fingers through his hair like a ponce, decided to take advantage and kick a goal instead of mark will be one of my highlights of the whole season. Seriously lads check it out if you have not seen it,commentators calling it the play of the year but its not really but very very good though

Can I ask some of our posters who are Oz based. What is the feeling on Port this year in the media over there?

EDIT
Of course AFL Website has it up already

http://www.afl.com.au/video/2014-06-07/is-this-mark-of-the-year

bruschi

Bloody Richmond. I've one game left in an 8 game accumulator and I'm 7 for 7. After Richmond's pathetic year so far, I've gone for north Melbourne to win. And here Richmond are nearly 4 goals up coming to half time. And playing well too.