...but I've been out of it for a few days now. Let's catch you up on events from the last weekend's games:
CFL: There was a moment when the western division was four teams at 2-1...and Saskatchewan balancing the records at 0-4! They've lost four games by a total of twelve points, with two of those in overtime! (So, in our rating system, we actually count those as "losing by zero", so they've lost four games by seven points!) The RoughRiders have played well, and will win several games soon. But Calgary's back where they're used to being - leading the division at 3-1 now after a win against Winnipeg on Saturday. On the East side, Toronto sits at 2-1, with Montreal and Ottawa both at 2-2, and Hamilton at 1-2 with two tough losses to good teams - basically, it looks like if the RedBlacks are for real, it'll be a four team race all season long!
Last week's scores: Montreal over Hamilton, 17-13; Edmonton for the second time over Ottawa, 23-12; BC over the Riders for the second time, 27-24; and Calgary by one over Winnipeg, 26-25.
Round 5 forecast: Two easy picks.... Calgary over Ottawa and Edmonton over Winnipeg...and two that are too close to call...Toronto/British Columbia and Hamilton/Saskatchewan.
AFL: Two emotional games on Sunday - St. Kilda and Richmond played "Maddie's Match" honoring Madelaine Riewoldt, sister of SK's Nick and cousin of Richmond's Jack, who died of bone marrow failure syndrome in February; and of course the Adelaide Showcase, the first following the death of Adelaide Crows head coach Phil Walsh, who was a long time assistant coach with the Port Power as well - so, an emotional week, an emotional game for both teams. Many writers and pundits argued that it may change the fundamental nature of the adversarial relationship between the two teams going forward.
The other big story was Hawthorn's utter annihilation of fellow favorite Sydney by 89 points, IN Sydney, immediately following their 72-point rout over Fremantle last week. If you haven't already pencilled the Hawks in as the current favorites for the flag...do it now.
Last week's scores: Kangas by 25 over Essendon, 93-68; Geelong holding on vs. Western, 72-64; GWS holding off Gary Ablett's incredible game to beat Gold Coast 94-79; West Coast finishing off Collingwood's rough month ofer four winning 87-56 (Collingwood played four great teams, and played well enough that despite losing all four, they RAISED their rating about a point!); Fremantle surviving Carlton 95-53; Melbourne got four points by outlasting Brisbane 60-36; Richmond 89-73 over the Saints; Port Adelaide scores the last four goals...but needed five: Adelaide won, 116-113. And of course, Hawthorn 146, Sydney 57, but Lance Franklin kicked three incredible back-to-back-to-back goals in the second, the center one being his 700th all time.
Round 17 forecast: Hawthorn is favored by 69.5 points over Carlton; Adelaide should handle Gold Coast; take Port Adelaide over Essendon; North Melbourne should be able to beat Briabane (should, that is); St. Kilda looks more reliable than Melbourne; and Sydney probably has no answer for Nic Natainui in the ruck at West Coast. Not sure on Geelong/ GWS, but tradition says the Cats find a way; can Western take advantage of a Collingwood losing streak? Maybe... And believe it or not, we're taking Richmond on form over Fremantle this week!
Showing posts with label Week 4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Week 4. Show all posts
Monday, July 20, 2015
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Wild Week 4 down under!
What a wild ANZAC holiday weekend in the Aussie Footy league! I spent thirteen straight hours listening to the quadruple-header on line from Friday evening at seven through eight a.m. Saturday morning (ok, I heard all of the first two games, and dozed on and off through the other two!), with another five or six hours last night for the three overlapping Sunday games! Heaven!
Friday night, the opener for ANZAC week set the tone as the harder working team won; the fact that they were twenty point underdogs is immaterial. Melbourne dominated Richmond 83-51 in the second half, holding the Tigers to one goal in the entire second half. Jack Riewoldt, the lead forward for Richmond, hit four behinds and zero goals in the game, for example, as the team went 6.15 (meaning six goals, fifteen behinds). And it was a PHYSICAL game, too, with each team racking up almost a hundred tackles.
Saturday started in Wellington, NZ, with St. Kilda 'hosting' Carlton, two bottom feeder teams. They played like it, too, and in the fourth quarter the younger Saints simply wore out, as Carlton pulled away and won by 40.
The traditional ANZAC day game over the last twenty years has been Essendon/Collingwood, at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Grounds, "the home of footy"). This year's version did not disappoint, as Collingwood looked far better than expected and won comfortably in the rain with 90,000 close friends, 69-49. It wasn't pretty (twice as many behinds as goals), but the Magpies are suddenly 3-1 and in the top 8 at the moment!
Next came the continuing degradation of the previous flavor of the month, the Gold Coast Suns, at the hands of their 'little brother', fellow expansion team GWS Giants, who set team records as they ripped the Suns apart 119-53. Frankly, the score flattered GC, as they were NEVER competitive; GWS had 157 more disposals than the Suns. Giants star Jeremy Cameron was spectacular with ten scoring shots, just missing a goal with a ridiculous backwards bicycle kick.
The two nightcap games were the headliners, and played out virtually identically! The Grand Finalist (Hawthorn, Sydney) travels to the Up-n-Comers (Port Adelaide and Fremantle, respectively), and the home teams spend the first halves absolutely dismantling the champs (Port led Hawthorn 69-11 towards the end of the 2nd; Fremantle held Sydney to NINE points in the entire half). But the Champs are champs for a reason, and they found a gear at halftime that overwhelmed the younger team for a time (the Hawks scored 34 straight in the fourth to cut the lead to seven; the Swans outscored the Dockers 41-1 from the third into the fourth to cut that lead to three), before the opponent stabilized and won - Port Adelaide beat Hawthorn 99-91, and Fremantle became the only 4-0 team, winning 74-60 over Sydney. Great games!
On Sunday, West Coast outplayed Brisbane 118-65. WC had seventy inside 50s over the less experienced Lions, and played to their usual pattern: whomp the little guys; get whomped by the big guys. The Kangaroos held to form for a change, overcoming a virtual shutout in the first quarter to defeat aging Geelong 83-67 in a defensive battle where neither team played great defense. (Both teams moved an extra man into defense, which meant the offense couldn't just kick it in - the Roos figured out they needed to RUN the ball into the forward region, ending with just 10 marks inside 50 of their fifty-three inside 50s.)
And the upset of the round, unless you really believe in the hardest working team in the league: the Western Bulldogs, who amazed the unbeaten Adelaide Crows 125-68! Despite having more than fifty more possessions than the Crows, the Bulldogs still out-tackled them by eighteen! Already leading 69-35 at the half, the Doggies ran off thirty-four more points in a row to close out the third quarter. Suddenly, Western's got a 3-1 record, sitting comfortably inside the top eight, and looking like they may STAY there for awhile!
Friday night, the opener for ANZAC week set the tone as the harder working team won; the fact that they were twenty point underdogs is immaterial. Melbourne dominated Richmond 83-51 in the second half, holding the Tigers to one goal in the entire second half. Jack Riewoldt, the lead forward for Richmond, hit four behinds and zero goals in the game, for example, as the team went 6.15 (meaning six goals, fifteen behinds). And it was a PHYSICAL game, too, with each team racking up almost a hundred tackles.
Saturday started in Wellington, NZ, with St. Kilda 'hosting' Carlton, two bottom feeder teams. They played like it, too, and in the fourth quarter the younger Saints simply wore out, as Carlton pulled away and won by 40.
The traditional ANZAC day game over the last twenty years has been Essendon/Collingwood, at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Grounds, "the home of footy"). This year's version did not disappoint, as Collingwood looked far better than expected and won comfortably in the rain with 90,000 close friends, 69-49. It wasn't pretty (twice as many behinds as goals), but the Magpies are suddenly 3-1 and in the top 8 at the moment!
Next came the continuing degradation of the previous flavor of the month, the Gold Coast Suns, at the hands of their 'little brother', fellow expansion team GWS Giants, who set team records as they ripped the Suns apart 119-53. Frankly, the score flattered GC, as they were NEVER competitive; GWS had 157 more disposals than the Suns. Giants star Jeremy Cameron was spectacular with ten scoring shots, just missing a goal with a ridiculous backwards bicycle kick.
The two nightcap games were the headliners, and played out virtually identically! The Grand Finalist (Hawthorn, Sydney) travels to the Up-n-Comers (Port Adelaide and Fremantle, respectively), and the home teams spend the first halves absolutely dismantling the champs (Port led Hawthorn 69-11 towards the end of the 2nd; Fremantle held Sydney to NINE points in the entire half). But the Champs are champs for a reason, and they found a gear at halftime that overwhelmed the younger team for a time (the Hawks scored 34 straight in the fourth to cut the lead to seven; the Swans outscored the Dockers 41-1 from the third into the fourth to cut that lead to three), before the opponent stabilized and won - Port Adelaide beat Hawthorn 99-91, and Fremantle became the only 4-0 team, winning 74-60 over Sydney. Great games!
On Sunday, West Coast outplayed Brisbane 118-65. WC had seventy inside 50s over the less experienced Lions, and played to their usual pattern: whomp the little guys; get whomped by the big guys. The Kangaroos held to form for a change, overcoming a virtual shutout in the first quarter to defeat aging Geelong 83-67 in a defensive battle where neither team played great defense. (Both teams moved an extra man into defense, which meant the offense couldn't just kick it in - the Roos figured out they needed to RUN the ball into the forward region, ending with just 10 marks inside 50 of their fifty-three inside 50s.)
And the upset of the round, unless you really believe in the hardest working team in the league: the Western Bulldogs, who amazed the unbeaten Adelaide Crows 125-68! Despite having more than fifty more possessions than the Crows, the Bulldogs still out-tackled them by eighteen! Already leading 69-35 at the half, the Doggies ran off thirty-four more points in a row to close out the third quarter. Suddenly, Western's got a 3-1 record, sitting comfortably inside the top eight, and looking like they may STAY there for awhile!
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