[AFL-Review] Round 1

Dear AFL Review Subscriber,

As you know, Tim Murphy, the author of the 'Review' for more years than I can remember, finally hung up his boots at the end of last season.

John Loffler, who has been writing the 'Preview' for the last few years, has kindly agreed to step into the breech. He has informed that he won't be able to produce such a thorough write up of each game as Tim did, but he hopes you will enjoy them/find them useful.

However, this was his first week with the Review, and he mistakenly sent it to his Preview list.....

So I am re-sending it to the correct list, with our apologies if you are on both lists and therefore receive it twice.

With thanks to Tim for so many years of great reviews, and with thanks to John in anticipation.

Here's to a great season.

Regards
David Layton
Footy Tipping Software


AFL Round 1 Review

Carlton 18.12.120 defeated Richmond 9.10.64
No doubt most tipsters started week one with a correct selection as the Blues gave the young Tigers a bit of a thumping. It wasn't quite as bad a game one last year but it looked like it was going that way near the end of the first quarter. Richmond made some valiant comebacks though a couple of periods of play but Carlton, with stand in captain Carrazzo notching 40 possessions, were far too good pretty well all over the ground. Without Fevola the Blues found nine players who contributed goals which will give them confidence for the rest of the season until they come up against a side that can cut those players out of the game. Early prediction? It will be a long and frustrating season for the Tigers and Carlton will be knocking on the door of the final 8 in September. The annual whinge? The game was televised into Western Australia an hour after the game had actually finished in Victoria. This is one area the AFL  has not been forward thinking. Just buy the rights to all the dumb shows the channels like to put on instead of the footy and show them at another time. Live games people. Keep up with technology.

Geelong 19.11.125 defeated Essendon  13.16.94

 I'd say 99% of tipsters were looking down the barrel of a lost point into the last quarter of this game as the Bombers almost pulled off the dream start to the season. Did the effort surprise many of us or was Geelong a little underdone due to a late start to the season after their premiership last year? A couple of vital turnovers in the third quarter by the young Bombers let the Cats out of the bag and as the last quarter rolled on they got better and better while Essendon seemed to fade. 9 unanswered goals in the last term put the result beyond doubt and if you had not watched the game you would have thought it was an expected final score line. Essendon did okay last year and they will be around that position again this season barring injury. The Cats will probably play off in the Grand Final again.

Hawthorn  17.15.117 defeated Melbourne 8.13.61

 The final score line flattered the Dees because at one stage the Hawks were up by almost 100 points. Up to half time Melbourne had kicked one measly goal and had lost Brad Green, carried off on a stretcher, to get that far. Rumour has it that the goal umpire, an entrant into this year's Comedy Festival, was practising his routine with the Hawthorn supporters behind the goal due to a lack of action with flag waving. He got a few laughs from that crowd because Hawks' supporters had a lot to be happy about. The game was well and truly over by half time, nay quarter time, with Hawthorn leading by 6 goals. Melbourne will fight for the Wooden Spoon, Hawthorn will fight for a finals berth.

 St Kilda 15.6.96 defeated Sydney 13.10.88

 The other grand finalist from 2009 was taken to the wire by a very valiant Sydney team. Again it is hard to guage how good the Swans are when the opposition is a little underdone with regard to training time pre-season. The Swans are still great in close quarters, a real facet of their game style. Goodes for Sydney was just that and Reiwoldt led the Saints superbly with 4 valuable goals and one of which was a real gift in the last quarter compliments of an umpiring decision I hope we don't see again this season. I thought players were going to be free kicked for staging? If that was the case the charity to Reiwoldt should have been cancelled out by his forward free fall. The Saints will be there again in September, they are a quality side while Sydney will be about where they were last year, maybe an extra win to their tally.

 Brisbane Lions 16.18.114 defeated West Coast Eagles 12.10.82

 West Coast started the last quarter a couple of points ahead but could add only two goals while the Lions booted 7 giving us a skewed final score relative to the rest of the game. The prediction was that the Eagles would not be able to contain Brown and Fevola and that proved to be true. Fev kicked 3 and Brown kicked 5 and these 8 goals constituted half the Brisbane score. The game was played at a great pace for three quarters with that greasy, sweaty ball causing every player handling problems except that freak Brennan in the Lions backline! Why West Coast were overrun in the last quarter is a puzzle as they have been training the house down in extremely hot conditions so that is something they will have to look at again this season. The old heads at Brisbane like Black and Power (put those two names together) were instrumental in pushing that ball continually into the forward line where the two spearheads were happy to receive and convert. Brisbane might climb a ladder position this year but the Eagles might be looking at their third consecutive year out of the finals although I feel they will be hard to beat at home.

 Port Adelaide 13.18.96 defeated North Melbourne 12.10.82

It was a miserable, wet day in Adelaide and an equally miserable first half of football played by North which ultimately cost them the game because they came closer as the match progressed but the bird had flown by then. We don't expect big crowds to the Port Adelaide matches at AAMI (why is that by the way?) but the weather really decimated an expected opening day of the season crowd of over 35,000. Mind you the 21,000 is above the average of the crowds that go to North Melbourne games anyway.  There were 5 new starters in the match today, 4 at Port and 1 at North. All acquitted themselves pretty well and I guess the standout was Bastinac for North. Hard to work out where these teams might finish in 2010 but let's guess at 11^th and 13^th respectively.

 Collingwood 19.15.129 defeated Western Bulldogs 13.15.93

 This was a tip I am happy to have got wrong but it sure blew a hole in the Bulldogs celebratory balloon as well. A 6 goal defeat for them is a thumping and while it bodes well for Collingwood it leaves a lot of unanswered questions regarding the Western Bulldogs. Tipsters have put both these teams into their top 4 with many suggesting that the Bullies might just go all the way in 2010. What is the suggestion now? I know, it's early days and Magpie supporters will be whistling well into the week after that effort and whispering 'grand final' to anybody that wants to listen so maybe the Bulldogs over celebrated their long awaited trophy they won in the NAB Cup final two weeks ago. Time will tell but Collingwood supporters are all happy I can tell you. These two quality teams will be there in September, no doubt, just what positions they will finish in will probably depend on injuries.

 Fremantle 17.16.118 defeated Adelaide 9.8.62

 Freo Heave Ho! The papers tomorrow in the West will be full of it. Admittedly the Docker played pretty well applying great pressure to the Adelaide ball carriers. There was a lot of fumbling by both sides but Adelaide was the worse. Their second quarter was poor and that is when Fremantle moved in for the kill. I know hard to imagine that of Freo but they did. This little effort will put Fremantle second on the ladder and being in the 8 is strange territory, a placing they haven't been in some 4 years I heard somebody say. Barlow for Freo was superb in his debut game gathering over 30 possessions and numerous goal assists as well as kicking one. Adelaide seemed out of sorts so they look like they will need to do a bit of work if they want to reach the lofty heights of last season. Hard to make a prediction on these two teams. We all Fremantle improves so they can notch about 8 or 9 wins. Adelaide has the players they just need to get their act together but based on that performance the 8 might be out of reach.

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