Thought this was super cool at the time it happened - Cam Guthrie, himself a budding star for the Geelong Cats, stopped former Brownlow medalist Chris Judd of the Carlton Blues after the Cats had wiped them out and did something that happens on occasion on the soccer pitch but almost never in footy. He asked for Judd's jersey.
It was a sign of ultimate respect for the role model Guthrie had as a footy player, and probably the first and last time he'd play Judd in an AFL game. In fact, he probably outplayed his idol that night, but that didn't erase years of admiration.
Judd's reaction was..."I'm sorry, what?"
As I said, it's not something that footy players do. But Judd couldn't help but be grateful, and he willingly traded jerseys with this young player he may not even really have known.
@CamGu3
Results of Round 8...
Geelong def. Carlton 140-63
West Coast def. St. Kilda 131-78
GWS def. Adelaide 108-84
Collingwood def. Gold Coast 132-63
Sydney def. Hawthorn 73-69
Fremantle def. No. Melbourne 115-42
Essendon def. Brisbane 136-78
Melbourne def. Western 103-64
Richmond def. Port Adelaide 76-43
The AFL ladder right now...
Fremantle is still two games clear, and with Sydney's revenge win over the Hawks (possibly the game of the year so far!), Freo has four games clear of Hawthorn with 14 to go!
Two games back at 6-2 are Sydney and two surprises: West Coast (who will find out in the next four weeks if they're real or not, playing three finalists) and Greater Western, who won three in a row for the first time ever. To put the Giants' success in perspective: the best season in GWS' history, 2014, was 6-16. They're already 6-2 this season.
At 5-3 comes two teams who (while firmly in the top 8 right now) have questionable credentials given the quality of teams they've beaten: Collingwood and Adelaide. Right behind them are six teams fighting for the last finals spots - Hawthorn (very likely), Richmond (see Collingwood), Essendon (who knows?), Geelong (looking more and more probable), Western (depends which game you watch!), and North Melbourne (who may be as talented as anybody, but...). If you give the top four credit for likely making the playoffs, the next four most likely to last the season might be Adelaide, Hawthorn, Geelong, and maybe Western. But it's a long season...
...and Port Adelaide is still lurking there at 3-5, if they can return to earlier form. Their partner at 3-5 is Melbourne, but those were three upsets. Below them are St. Kilda and Brisbane, with two upsets in eight attempts, and 1-7 disasters Gold Coast and Carlton.
In the FF Rating system,
Hawthorn still leads with an 85.3 rating (it doesn't hurt that they lose by four and win by a hundred), but Fremantle has crept within a few points to 81.8 (a jump of thirteen points since round 1). Right behind them are Sydney (no surprise, 76.5) and West Coast (yes surprise, 74.1).
Then there's a huge clump sitting in spots #5-13, all close to the average score of 50: Geelong (58.3), Adelaide (56.5), Port Adelaide (55.0, despite recent losses), North Melbourne (54.3), Collingwood (53.6), Richmond (53.1), Essendon and GWS (51.7), and if we stretch the definition, Western (40.6, but until their last two big losses they were also around 50). You see why it should be hard to predict these games!
Below that, you have Melbourne (29.8), Gold Coast (who's dropped all the way to 23.3), Brisbane (21.6), St. Kilda (actually increased to 16.0) and lowly Carlton, who's lost 23 points this year and sits at a 14.3 rating. (Gold Coast has also dropped 23 points, and Port has lost 17. On the other side, GWS is up 20, Collingwood up 17, West Coast 15 and Fremantle 13 since March!)
Here's the latest on the NFL's "Race To LA" - I think I'll make that a tag! - from MMQB. Apparently, San Diego and Oakland together have purchased the land needed in Carson (part of LA, just south of downtown) to build a joint stadium, all while saying it's their "back-up plan". Protestors in Oakland are wondering why the owner (Al Davis' son Mark) would hire Carmen Policy to spearhead the Carson project if it wasn't his first priority.
So, who's going to end up in LA? As with virtually every comments section on the 'Net, the rational commentary devolves into a dick-showing contest, but many of the commenters think like I do - why are we compelled to bring ANY team to LA? Los Angeles just isn't a pro football city! If one team needs a new home, and all three of those (including the St. Louis Rams) have a legit history in LA, that's fine. But it seems to me as if there are loyal enough fan bases of a good enough size in St. Louis and San Diego to make those locales work, and to make new stadium deals work if need be. Oakland, however, was left behind thirty-five years ago for LA for a reason. The Oakland Coliseum is a POS. That city doesn't have the finances to do what Davis wants, or for that matter what the NFL wants.
Move the Raiders - and just the Raiders - to Los Angeles, or more accurately Carson, CA. (And in twenty years or so, they can move back...)
Michael Sam, the defensive end from Missouri cut from the Rams before the season last summer, and famous for being the first openly-gay American football player drafted by the NFL, has signed a two-year contract with his Canadian Football League rights-holders, the Montreal Alouettes, for the 2015 season.
(Which begins in just five weeks, by the way, with Montreal playing Ottawa!)
The most interesting comment, I thought, was in the press release from the general manager, Jim Popp:
"With the signing of Michael Sam, we have become a better organization
today," Alouettes general manager Jim Popp said in a release. "Not only
have we added an outstanding football player, we have added even a
better person that brings dignity, character, and heart to our team."
I find that interesting because there are two ways to take that: One, it's just PR to say how "hip" you are with gay people and he's really a great guy because he's gay...or Two (and having watched this saga the last 15 months or so, this is my feeling), he realizes that it's most likely the absolute truth. Sam has played every media opportunity correctly: not a self-promoter, not playing up or down his homosexuality, but simply being Christianly appreciative of the opportunities he's being given, as any non-star player should be.
I may not be a fan of his "lifestyle", as we euphemistically call homosexuality, but I'm a fan of his. Good luck, Mr. Sam!
PS - here's my fave tweet on the subject so far...
Geelong whomped Carlton from the opening bounce Friday night (again, that's already happened in Australia) 140-63, increasing the pressure on the Blues to do something dramatic when, truthfully, no quick fix is going to change the fact that they simply don't have enough AFL talent on their roster. Firing legendary coach Mick Malthouse, now the winningest coach in history, in mid-season is cruel and would do no good; the calls from the sensible folks to announce that Malthouse will coach out the season and a new coach (and lots of new players!) would join the Blues for 2016 makes more sense at this point. (A story on afl.com.au's "Pick A Winner" show listed only SEVEN players who should by consensus in the Carlton ranks, and another half-dozen who might; the others aren't really qualified to play at the highest level yet. Legendary player Garry Lyon said Monday that only THREE players "deserved to wear their jumpers" (which are uniform jerseys, statesiders). THAT makes it tough to win when you have a 22-man roster of grown men AFL players on the other side of the pitch!)
Meanwhile, the AFL has revised the system for two draft day peculiarities that Americans aren't familiar with: the father-son connection and the academy priority pick. This year, for example, Isaac Heeney, easily one of the two or three best players in the draft, went to Sydney at choice number 18 because he had been "raised" and trained in the Sydney Swan Training Academy. There should certainly be some credit given to a club for doing the work which made the player great, but Melbourne was willing to draft him at 2 and never had the chance. Similarly, Joe Daniher went to Essendon a few years ago at pick 10, even though he was arguably the best player in the draft and would have gone #1 in the open market - however, since his dad played for Essendon, he had the right to declare himself a Bomber, and being highly rated that required the Dons to spend whatever their highest draft choice was on him. The new system is extremely complicated, but computer apps can handle those details and level out the playing field without depriving clubs of those advantages. (Wonder how long it'll be for a Giant or Sun to be drafted as a father-son!)
One of the funny occurrences in the Geelong game, especially for an AFL regular season game, was the request on the field after the game from winning team member Cam Guthrie, 23 years of age, to veteran two-time Brownlow Medal winner Chris Judd of Carlton for his jumper, ideally signed! The speculation, well-founded, is that Guthrie had grown up as a footy player idolizing Judd (a good choice, as footy role models go), and although Guthrie frankly had a better performance than Judd Friday night, he's simply "that kind of dude", as they called him in the radio booth! Judd obliged, but hesitated about taking Guthrie's Geelong jersey in return...
It's always interesting to compare what a team "should" be doing (which only means what we on the "outside" thought we knew!) with how they're actually doing, and with a third of the footy season behind us, here's a peek at the AFL ladder...
TEAM (Current record, betting odds record, FF rating predictions, original FF and Sports Fan predictions)
Fremantle 7-0 7-1 8-0 15-7 14-8
West Coast 5-2 6-2 6-2 8-14 8-14
Sydney 5-2 5-3 5-3 18-4 16-6
Adelaide 5-2 6-2 7-1 14-7-1 13-9
GWS 5-2 5-3 5-3 10-11-1 7-15
Hawthorn 4-3 8-0 8-0 19-3 19-3
Collingwood 4-3 5-3 5-3 7-15 10-12
Western 4-3 2-6 2-6 9-12-1 5-17
N. Melbourne 4-3 4-4 4-4 18-4 15-7
Richmond 3-4 5-3 6-2 12-10 11-11
Essendon 3-4 4-4 4-4 11-11 11-11
Port Adelaide 3-4 6-2 6-2 15-7 17-5
Geelong 3-4 3-5 2-6 13-9 13-9
St. Kilda 2-5 0-8 0-8 2-20 3-19
Melbourne 2-5 0-8 0-8 5-17 5-17
Brisbane 2-5 1-6-1 1-7 6-15-1 10-12
Gold Coast 1-6 2-5-1 3-5 12-10 13-9
Carlton 1-6 2-6 2-6 3-19 8-14
Evaluating "how your team is doing" isn't always as simple as looking at their record. For example, the difference between Hawthorn and Western is marked, even though both are 4-3 right now. The Hawks, according to "punters", should have won all their games so far, but only have four wins to show for their efforts so far. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs (favored this week for only the second time) "should" have only won one game so far this year, but have managed to go 4-3 (and lost to Fremantle only at the moment of climax). By that, we understand why Doggie fans are happier than boosters of the reigning champs.
But more subtle than that, look at Geelong. Given the tough games they've had so far, they're faring as well as can be expected - so 13-9 doesn't look like it's out of range yet at all. For that matter, Melbourne fans look at their record, include the fact that they're winning games they weren't expected to win, and dream of maybe sneaking up the ladder farther than their 5-17 expectation.
There is some deception here, though. Gold Coast, for example, very quickly and obviously was NOT the team we thought they'd be when they came into the season, so their game-by-game predictions are not significantly better than their record. In reverse, West Coast has the same situation: very quickly it became clear that their injuries weren't going to be the problem we'd thought going into the season.
What do we expect going forward from here? I'd be surprised if Fremantle didn't keep up in the top two or so, barring major injuries or other issues unforeseen. West Coast still has some proving to do, since their record so far reflects the weaker teams they've beaten, but their play has been impressive. The vulnerable team at 5-2 besides them is the loser of the GWS-Adelaide game Saturday, whom Hawthorn would pass with a victory at the MCG against Sydney (not a foregone conclusion at all). The vulnerable team at 4-3 is still Collingwood, whose early fixture has had its share of lumps. It's hard not to see Port Adelaide finding some better form and moving up. Richmond has already seen its easy part of the schedule, and Essendon's dealing with outside issues again, and Geelong has a puncher's chance if they've really found a way to win without speed - but I'm skeptical.
What about this weekend? The betting public and Following Football each have Geelong over Carlton Friday night (meaning 4 am here in Idaho), West Coast over St. Kilda (big), Collingwood over Gold Coast, and Fremantle at home over North Melbourne on Saturday. We agree on Hawthorn beating Sydney again in the grand final rematch, but only because it IS in the MCG, where Hawthorn calls home. The rating system disagrees with punters in the GWS/Adelaide game: it lists the Crows as 4 point favorites, but the humans are putting money on GWS and the line's getting higher and higher in their favor (11.5 points GWS's favor this morning). On Sunday, we all have Essendon over Brisbane, Western over Melbourne, and Port Adelaide having enough to make it past Richmond at home, although I'm taking the Tigers and the 20 points myself.
Rarely does a team go from Finals favorite to last place - the NFL's Houston Texans of 2013 come to mind, after five straight games of pick-sixes doomed Matt Schaub's career as QB there - but the AFL's Gold Coast Suns have shown how to do it in style, going from fancied darkhorse premiership favorites to a 1-6 start that still looks better than they do.
Michael Whiting has written a great article about the Suns for afl.com.au - incisive, insightful, and cuts to the bone about the major issues without beating around the bush. Definitely worth the read!
The well-traveled Everett Golson is changing schools again (this is transfer number 3, for those keeping score), moving from Notre Dame, where he was a Heisman candidate until he learned giving the ball to the other team was easier than he'd thought, to Florida State, who apparently needs a quarterback after number 1 draft pick Jamies Winston left for Tampa Bay last month. (Seems to me the back-up did a pretty good job against Clemson last year, but hey, what do I know?)
ESPN's Mark Schlabach has done his usual thorough job looking at how transfers have managed over the last ten years or so - some good, some not so much. My personal opinion is that three transfers are a three-sided red flag against Golson, a sign that he can't handle adversity. I know FSU put up with a ton of crap from Winston, and think they got what they wanted out of him - a national title, another undefeated season - but the stain never goes away.
As for Golson, I'd recommend the advice of the 65-year-married couple, who when asked about the secret of how they'd stayed together so long, answered, "We stayed because we didn't consider leaving an option. If it's broken, we fixed it. We didn't just abandon the marriage at the first sign of trouble!"
The NFL has decided to change the extra point rule in order to add some excitement to the play following a touchdown.
In the last five years, the success rate for an XP kicked from the 2 (essentially a 19-yard FG) has been literally 99% - one out of one hundred missed or blocked. It's hard to argue for the two point conversion when you're risking a sure point - and the success rate last season on the few attempts (it was tried on less than once every twenty opportunities) was just 47.5% last season. Unless you needed two to tie at the end, why bother?
So the thinking is three-fold:
1) Make the one-point harder, thereby more interesting to watch.
2) Increase the interest in the two-pointer without skewing the balance too much the other way.
3) Give the defense a reason to give a bleep about defending it.
Here's how they did that -
1) The line of scrimmage for a kick for one point will be moved back to the 15. This makes it a 32-33 yard kick, which last year kickers in the NFL converted 92.5% of the time. Still relatively straightforward, but not a given any more.
2) The two-pointer is still going to be from the 2 yard line. (So the Eagles will have to decide ahead of time if they want to go for two! No more of Chip Kelly's bizarre line formations!) Do the math: if you have a 92% chance of one point, or a 47% chance of two, the multiplication slightly favors going for two now. Slightly. Don't go nuts; this isn't the XFL!
3) Extra points are now "live", which I don't believe means that the clock moves, but it definitely means that the defense can return a blocked kick or a fumble or interception for a two-point score!
For me, it looks like a win-win situation. Add interest, keep the kickers involved (and in fact feature them more), make it a more important strategical part of the game, yet don't change the fundamental nature of the game (for example, changing the goal-post width)...and just in case they've missed something terrible, the rule will be reviewed next off-season for reform or removal if it doesn't work.
I'm all for it!
This is an interesting way to look at how a team is accomplishing what it's accomplishing this year... team by team, top of the ladder to the bottom, here's a quick spot check of what the Following Football AFL Player of the Year standings look like:
Fremantle (7-0)
Nat Fyfe leads all players by a wide margin, with 87 points (no one else is over 55), but look at the help he's getting: David Mundy (36 points), Lachie Neale (31), Matthew Pavlich and Stephen Hill (both 30), and Luke McPharlin (25), all in the top forty or so. In fact, the Dockers have a total of 14 players with votes this season so far, a nice "in-between" number that seems to indicate that a good set of starters are getting the job done for Fremantle.
West Coast (5-2)
While the Eagles have 17 players with accumulated votes so far, their leading vote-getter is reigning Brownlow medalist Matt Priddis with just 32 votes. Eliot Yeo and Josh Kennedy sit right behind the midfielder with 28 votes each, and Jeremy McGovern has 24.
Sydney (5-2)
The "other" Josh Kennedy has 39 votes for the Sydney Swans, but it's the great midfielder Dan Hannebury leading the team with 51 votes, good for third so far in the competition. Superstar Lance Franklin (32) is the other Swan in the top twenty, with 15 players totaling votes so far after seven weeks for Sydney.
Adelaide (5-2)
Moving up fast on everybody's radar is the phenomenal little forward Eddie Betts, the leader in the goal-scoring race for the Coleman Medal, who leads the Crows with 49 votes. Remind me again why Carlton didn't want him? On his heels are Rory Sloane (34 votes) and Patrick Dangerfield (32).
Greater Western Sydney (5-2)
I find it interesting that the top five teams are all from outside of the state of Victoria...GWS has just 11 players with votes, but those eleven include Dylan Shiels, who's been top five all season and sits at 48 votes right now; and perhaps the best full forward in the league right now, Jeremy Cameron, at 35 votes. Stephen Coniglio, Shane Mumford, and Adam Treloar are all in the twenties as well.
Hawthorn (4-3)
Raise your hand if you thought the defenders would be sixth right now.
Liars.
Their percentage is still second overall, just behind the Eagles, because they lose by eight and win by eighty, but they'll have to win the big games from here on out, or the "Hawthorn mystique" will vanish completely.
In classic Hawthorn fashion, a league-leading 19 players have tallied votes this year, yet none more than relative unknown Jordan Lewis with just 26 votes. That's correct: no Hawk in the top twenty. But Grant Birchall (22), Shaun Burgoyne (20), Luke Hodge (20), Jarryd Roughhead (22), and the youngster Isaac Smith (21) all lurk just behind, ready to make Alistair Clarkston's "next man up" philosophy work!
Collingwood (4-3)
Even with this week's loss, the Magpies are still sitting higher than expected at this stage. They've gotten vote-worthy contributions from 16 players already this season, led by Scott Pendelbury (36 votes). Only Dane Swan (25) adds to the above 20 count, but individual great games from Paul Seedsman and Taylor "Tex" Walker add to the total scores.
Western Bulldogs (4-3)
13 players have led the way for the up and coming Doggies, led by veteran captain Robert Murphy (30 votes), and including twenty-something votegetters Liam Picking (26), Jake Stringer (22), Matt Boyd (22), and Marcus Bontempelli (20).
North Melbourne (4-3)
Out of the top eight by literally the slimmest possible margin (irrelevant at the one-third mark of the season!), the Kangaroos also have 13 players who have earned votes so far, led by Todd Goldstein at 32 votes. Only Jack Ziebell (21) has more than twenty votes.
Richmond (3-4)
The highest scoring differential of the sub-.500 crowd belongs to perpetually-underachieving Richmond, with 14 players tallying votes so far, led by stud defender Bachar Houli (30 votes). Trent Cotchin (27) is the second man on the list for the Tigers, with Shane Edwards and Alex Rance (17 each) tied for third.
Essendon (3-4)
Just 10 players populate the Dons' list, but they're led by two men in the top twenty: Cale Hooker at 37 votes, and Michael Hurley at 35.
Port Adelaide (3-4)
At the top of the "disappointment" part of the bracket are the Power, who expected to be sitting Top Four this season (and still might - there's a long way to go). Robbie Gray has been consistently scoring votes this season, with 37 votes so far, and goal-scorer Jay Schulz sits at 30. 12 players have votes to their names for Port so far this year.
Geelong (3-4)
Starting the season 0-3 makes 3-4 look pretty good, but as the Cats transition from one generation to another, it wins when the youngsters do their job. Yet the top votegetters for Geelong have been Mitch Duncan (36 votes), Joel Selwood (22), and fourth is vet backliner Harry Taylor (16), with only youngster Mark Blicavs (17) to break it up. 11 players have tallied votes so far.
St. Kilda (2-5)
The Saints depend on just a few players to do the bulk of the big work, it seems: 10 players have votes, and only five have double-digits, led by David Armitage with a remarkable 53 votes. Josh Bruce (30), Sam Fisher (23), and Jack Stevens (22) top the list for the black, red, and white.
Melbourne (2-5)
While the Demons have 11 players earning votes, after Tom McDonald's 43 votes, it's pretty slim pickings. Only Jack Watts (14) and Nathan Jones (12) have double digits to join Tom.
Brisbane (2-5)
The last two weeks have been kind to the former three-peat champion (2001-3), moving up from an 0-5 start to beat Carlton and then Port Adelaide. Before that, there were just four votegetters, the highest being Daniel Rich with 4 votes. Now, Rich is up to 10, and has been passed by Stefan Martin (20) and new body Dane Beams (18); vote getters total 8 players now.
Gold Coast (1-6)
When you lose almost every game, you don't get many votes for top players. 10 players have earned votes so far, with Charlie Dixon leading the club with just 18 votes, and Harley Bennell second with 16.
Carlton (1-6)
Just 8 players have votes this year for the Blues, who have the Blues this year, as does legendary coach Mick Malthouse. Three are in double-digits, starting with Tom Bell at 20; the other two are Mark Murphy (16) and Patrick Cripps (13).
