ROUND 2
It's hard to believe you can get sucked in two
years in a row with hype but one has to admit it
happened again. Last year everybody thought that
the coming of Judd to Carlton would see them win
their first game – against Richmond by the way –
and the one player would make all the difference.
This year it was his mate Cousins playing for
Richmond which planted the seed of us conceding
the possibility that the Tigers would sweep all
before them in the 2009 season. Wrong! Again!
Will we get sucked into the hype next season if
we have a major player change or coaching change?
You bet. That's footy, you have to go with the flow dude.
Not a lot of time this week to spend with you
cogitating over the ins and outs and the whys and
wherefores. Getting on a plane at sparrowfart
tomorrow,a small plane, you know the type, a
couple of propellers outside your window and a
long flight to some god-forsaken gold mine in the
middle of a WA desert. Question: why is nobody
fossicking for gold in the metro area? Imagine
the savings if we only had to drive a short
distance or even take a train to the gold mine
located in a suburb where underground equipment
had to slow down for school crossings and you
could take your lunch break at the casino? Has
anybody investigated this possibility?
Apart from the Tiger error there were not many
who picked the Pies to fold to the Crows in a
close game. Well, people that hate Collingwood
would have picked that one, like people who hate
Carlton picked against them – incorrectly.
Enough. The draw looks cautiously straight
forward with a couple of doubts in a game or two
and we can only be hopeful that form shown so far
is the harbinger of consistency. Hmmm.
Adelaide V St Kilda at AAMI Friday Night
This match is probably the hardest to pick as
both teams won in round 1 albeit a tad
unconvincingly. I will commit to the Saints here
as a pick that might yield that extra tipping
point for the stupidity of the Richmond pick last
week. Adelaide were not all that convincing in
the last quarter and even playing at home I think
the Saints are made of stronger stuff. So be it.
St Kilda by 19
Collingwood V Melbourne at the MCG Saturday Arvo
As peeved as I was at the Collingwood failure of
last week, and surprised as I was at Melbourne
taking it up to North for much of their round 1
clash, I would need to have my head read if I
really thought the Demons could win this game.
Stand aside schizophrenia, it's the Pies for me!
Collingwood by 32
Geelong V Richmond at Skilled Stadium Saturday Arvo
Geelong almost blew a 7 goal lead against the
Hawks last week in the grand final replay and to
think Hawthorn had a few of their premiership
team missing! Richmond were as woeful as they
have been year in year out for the past 20
seasons and their challenge for some respect in
season 2009 will take another spanking when they
come up against the Cats on their own litter
tray. They might do better than they did last
week against Carlton but tipsters, this is not
the roughie of the week to be taking chances with.
Geelong by 29
Sydney V Hawthorn at ANZ Stadium Saturday Night
Buddy has declared his undying love for Hawthorn
and will NEVER leave the club. You can feel the
love from here folks. That's bad news for the
Swans who have taken a bit of stick for the way
in which they played the game against the Saints
last week. Buddy at one end and Big Bad Barry at
the other end. Sounds like an arcade game. Sounds
like another Sydney loss actually.
Hawthorn by 33
Carlton V Brisbane at the Telstra Dome Saturday Night
Hype and heart do not make for good tipping
sense so I will not allow my bias against the
Bloos taint my judgement in this game. Bradshaw,
Brown and now Rich will not be enough against Judd, Murphy, Gibbs and the Fev.
Carlton by 29
Essendon V Fremantle at Telstra Dome Sunday
This is another interesting game to tip because
truth be known either team can win. They both got
a flogging last week and turnover stats will be
an interesting review for the coaches after this
game. Last week Richmond conceded 10 goals from
turnovers, Freo conceded 8 and Essendon conceded
8. Here we have two teams who are vying for
turnover kings of the season. But tipsters, this
is due to the youth they have in their teams and
these turnover turkeys will become our next All
Australian selections. Shame they have never
found a team for the best AFL players to compete against.
Considerations – the game is at Telstra, the
Dorks have to travel, Tarrant is playing his
200th, and the Pav is as crook as a dog if you
believe the press. When Pavlich gets less than 10
touches in a game of footy it's time to call
either the drug squad or Geischen, the umpires
advisor, to ensure the men in white, or orange or
yellow can work as a team to get his stats up.
Then again, he just might have had a bad day. Put
him back to full forward and ditto for Lloyd and we have a game.
Essendon by 11
Western Bulldogs V North Melbourne at MCG Sunday
I have picked the Western Bulldogs to finish
either 2nd or 3rd in my ladder predictions. I
have picked North Melbourne to finish about 12th. Tipping this one is not hard.
Bulldogs by 41
West Coast V Port Adelaide at Subiaco Sunday
Eagles supporters' hearts were beating fast for
90 of the 100 minutes in that game against the
Lions last week. The Power, without Brogan,
should still be good enough around the ground to
beat West Coast but like last week I think this
game will be closer than supporters will like.
The teams will go toe to toe over the 4 quarters
but the experience of Port will prevail - just.
Watch this space for a confession I have to make before the Easter fixtures.
Port Power by 6
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