The Aussie Rules Football Thread - The Greatest Game On Earth

[Crow Boy]

The Westerj Bulldogs are into a preliminary final for the first time in 10 years after handing the Sydney Swans a 37-point hiding at the MCG on Friday night.

The Dogs will face Geelong next week after ending the Swans' season with a comprehensive 16.10 (106) to 9.15 (69) win in front of 42,731 fans.

[Crow Boy]

St Kilda will meet Hawthorn next week for a place in the Toyota AFL Grand Final after disposing of Collingwood by 34 points in their semi-final clash at the MCG on Saturday night.

The deadly-accurate Saints won 17.4 (106) to Collingwood's 9.18 (72) in front of 76,707 spectators.

[Old Man River]

I am not an Aussie rules fan (I like the sport, but we aren't able to watch it in Bangkok). I just thought it interesting in today's big game in the US between the Dallas Cowboys (who won) and the Philadelphia Eagles, both punters (kickers) are Aussie.

[Crow Boy]

I am not an Aussie rules fan (I like the sport, but we aren't able to watch it in Bangkok). I just thought it interesting in today's big game in the US between the Dallas Cowboys (who won) and the Philadelphia Eagles, both punters (kickers) are Aussie.

Darren Bennet was the kicker for the San Diego Chargers when I was there - added to my street cred in Qualcom Stadium

FYI the AustraliaNetwork cable channel shows the AFL, the NRL (rugby league) and Rugby Union games. It is shown at a lot of bars in Bangkok.

cheers

CB

[Crow Boy]

Geelong has taken a huge step towards back-to-back premierships, holding off a spirited Western Bulldogs outfit for a 29-point victory in Friday night's preliminary final at the MCG.

In a pulsating but often frustrating game, the Bulldogs threw absolutely everything at the contest and, despite a promising start to the last quarter, just couldn't convert on the scoreboard.

They mustered three behinds as the Cats added two goals to an 18-point lead for the final scores to read 12.11 (83) to 7.12 (54)

[Crow Boy]

Half time scores

Hawks 11:5 71

Saints 3:6 24

CB

[junki3korean]

GO GEELONG!

back to back i`m sure!

very excited today..... finals football all day all night!

GO MANLY !

junki3

[Crow Boy]

Despite the odds the Hawks came up as the Winner of the 2008 AFL Grand Final

Geelong 11 23 89

Hawthorn 18 7 115

Crowd was 100,012

congratulations to the Hawks - great game

CB

[junki3korean]

great game i agree

congrats to the hawks.

thanks for all the updates crow boy.

see you next season??

[fred2007]

good on ya Hawthorn great game. The first time 2 victorian teams in the final since I guess 9 years.

this will change next year when the crows play the dockers in the final

[robbo1]

Hi to all the Aussie farangs over in Thailand did everyone get to see the game or difficult to get Australian Footy in Thailand

Anyway Hawthorn had a great win they were the underdogs but the cats kicked them selves out of it in the second quarter

[Crow Boy]

thanks for all the updates crow boy.

see you next season??

You are most welcome

Yes I will be firing up the thread for next season in round one

CB

[Crow Boy]

good on ya Hawthorn great game. The first time 2 victorian teams in the final since I guess 9 years.

this will change next year when the crows play the dockers in the final

We like to give the vics an occasional Home Team Grand Final every now and then - I think once in about 9 years is sufficient

Dockers v Crows for the 2009 Grand Final - ahh that would be good

CB

[Checker]

Swanees, how I love ya, how I love ya, my dear old Swanees . . . . . .

[junki3korean]

CASHED-UP premiership team Hawthorn has paid itself almost $2 million in revenue from its poker machine club - and then claimed it as a community benefit.

The triumphant Hawks - along with other AFL clubs that own poker machine venues - have been exploiting a legislative loophole that allows them to claim a smorgasbord of venue expenses and running costs as community benefits.

In total, Hawthorn claimed that last financial year it pumped $3.3 million of revenue from its poker machine venue, Vegas at Waverley Gardens, back into the community. However, analysis of the payments shows only $3058 - or 0.1% - was for genuine community gifts or sponsorships unrelated to running the business.

The extent to which Hawthorn has manipulated its ethical obligations to the community as an owner of a poker machine venue was revealed last week when it lodged its community benefit statement with Victoria's gambling regulator.

The $1.9 million payment, to "subsidise football operations", was listed as a community benefit. It is all the more curious as records show that Hawthorn made no such claim last year.

A spokesman for the Hawthorn Football Club said the club was busy conducting its Best and Fairest yesterday and declined to comment.

The club - which also claimed the community had benefited from the purchase of nine televisions and monitors and a calculator - has come under fire from anti-gambling groups after winning approval in July to operate 80 poker machines in the economically repressed Caroline Springs, in Melbourne's west.

A Monash University analysis of community benefit statements lodged by the AFL clubs that own gambling venues found they contributed $15.6 million to the community last financial year. But only 4.1% of claims were for genuine charitable or benevolent purposes, the rest was for ongoing costs of venues such as wages, electricity, cleaning, rent and repairs.

[Checker]

[quote name='junki3korean'

CASHED-UP premiership team Hawthorn has paid itself almost $2 million in revenue from its poker machine club - and then claimed it as a community benefit.

And they are going to use this money to buy Ryan O'Keefe - BASTARDS

[Crow Boy]

The Season 2009 fixture list has been released

All starts up on March 26-29 2009

Carn Crows

CB

[Old Croc]

Crawford does about-face and announces retirement

November 8, 2008 - 12:42PM

Hawthorn veteran Shane Crawford has shocked the club by announcing his retirement, just hours after re-signing for another year. The 34-year-old, who battled knee tendinitis throughout 2008, apparently changed his mind suddenly and told the club last night. The 305-game veteran decided to leave AFL football on a high following Hawthorn's grand final win over Geelong this year.

Earlier yesterday, Hawks football manager Mark Evans said the club was thrilled to have re-signed Crawford as one of the last five players to commit for another season. But the star midfielder, whose partner Olivia recently gave birth to their second child, Benjamin, then decided to quit after reflecting on his decision.

He told coach Alastair Clarkson and Evans late on Friday night of his decision "following weeks of private reflection over his future" according to a club press statement.

"Crawford had battled with knee tendinitis throughout the 2008 season," the club said. "However, his condition had seen a significant improvement in the later part of the year, and Crawford had been given the all-clear by the Hawks medical staff to continue in to his 18th season.

"However, despite having recently agreed terms with the club on a new contract for 2009, time away from the game following the Hawks 2008 Grand Final win over Geelong had given Crawford the opportunity to reflect, deciding to end his 305 game career on a high."

Crawford said he had decided to walk away from the game after finally achieving his lifelong goal of playing in a premiership side.

"The recent break and distance away from the game has enabled me to re-think what I wanted to achieve in footy - and the answer is that I have achieved what I had hoped, when I set out," Crawford said.

"Winning a premiership with Hawthorn has been the highlight of my career.

"I am proud to have represented one club and will look back at everything we have achieved over my 17 years at the Hawks with fond memories.

"Having some time to reflect, standing on the podium on grand final day as premiers had always been my ultimate goal," he said.

"It is a great way to go out of the game on a high, with a premiership medal, at a time of my choosing.

"The club have been fantastic through this time and I can't thank them enough for their support in letting me come to my own decision."

Crawford, who made his AFL debut in 1993, won the Brownlow medal in 1999 and was a four-time club best and fairest and four-time All-Australian over a career spanning 17 seasons.

In 2008 he became only the sixth Hawthorn player to play 300 games.

Clarkson today described Crawford as "an outstanding role model to so many in the game".

"He was still one of the best trainers and he can stand tall knowing that he gave every last drop for the Hawthorn Football Club.

[Crow Boy]

Crawford does about-face and announces retirement

I think he made a wise decision - 18 years as a professional player in the AFL for one club, Brownlow medal winner, has been captain and Premiership cup winner. Not much left to prove from a champion player. Walk away proud and head high after a premiership year.

CB

[sceadugenga]

A thoughtful article by Tim Lane in The Age on Ben Cousins.

Cousins' shamefully harsh sentence

ANOTHER week, another debate about the treatment of Ben Cousins: the game failed him versus he failed the game. You could argue about it forever; lately it feels as though we have. But if Cousins did fail the game, and even that's arguable because his sin was more personal than it was professional, does he deserve a life sentence?

This is what the game appears to have imposed and it's what those who would dam_n him must justify. Cousins now seems condemned to having played his final AFL game 10 weeks after his 29th birthday, still in his prime, with much more enjoyment to give and derive. Based on Robert Harvey's assessment of his potential longevity, the 2005 Brownlow medallist could be denied as many as six playing years.

Notwithstanding the perceptions of some, there is no evidence Cousins used performance-enhancing drugs as did former Richmond ruckman Justin Charles. He didn't head-butt an umpire like Phil Carman; he didn't wilfully and grotesquely king-hit an opponent as did Barry Hall. The average penalty for those three capital football crimes was 14 games , the longest penalty for any of them 20 games — not quite one full season.

Cousins, who admits to having used illicit drugs, although he hasn't been convicted of an offence in either a sporting or criminal jurisdiction, has already been stood down for one season and it now appears he's banished for good. The contrast is glaring.

The responsibility lies with no one in particular, yet it lies with everyone. It belongs to the game.

The central administration set the tone then each of the clubs chose to reject Cousins, and many cheered. Everyone involved should consider their role, take responsibility for it, and recognise what it means. And what it might mean. As the AFL Players Association psychologist Pippa Grange stated during the week: "At the bottom of the scrapheap is a human being." You would scarcely think so.

When Hawthorn's president Jeff Kennett complains about "allegations and inferences that it was the clubs' responsibility to provide Ben with a second chance", he is right but he is wrong. No, Hawthorn wasn't obliged on compassionate grounds to draft Cousins, neither was any club. Yet what the game as a collective has delivered to a young man on the precipice is shamefully lacking in compassion. Hawthorn, along with every other club, has been party to that. Cousins has done the crime and done his time, yet he remains condemned. Within a fair-minded community, how can that be?

If nothing else, at least Kennett's response to Grange's letter was an honest statement of the degree to which AFL clubs are driven by self-interest. What he effectively said was that Cousins was simply too hard. At least now we know, but, if the clubs have so little concern for one of the game's own, they can't expect us to be too impressed next time one of them seeks to present itself as an altruistic, social benefactor on some feel-good issue.

Of course, if you listen to the chatter, there are myriad reasons for the rejection of Cousins. For a start he's been cocky, not contrite. In that respect he's been almost as bad as Lindy Chamberlain, whose great mistake was that she didn't cry in public following the death of her daughter. More recently, Cousins had his head shaved, just like that dubious threesome Chris Judd, Tom Harley, and Warren Tredrea. Then he attended the funeral of a dodgy mate. How dare he see off a deceased friend?

Then there's the danger he would create at any club stupid enough to have him. How would any mum feel about letting her kid go to a workplace that employed a drug-user? There wouldn't be many places like that would there?

Parents didn't have to worry about that sort of thing in my day. We had real role models. They took you to the pub on your first day at work and got you well and truly pissed before carrying you to your car so you could drive home. Taught you what it was like to be an adult Australian male. The fact is, danger always lurks when people come together. Even in churches.

Australian football's hypocrisy in the Cousins case might be best illustrated with a reminder of a sporting event that occurred here in Melbourne earlier this decade. It's the story of another young, indulged prodigy who rose and fell, before rising again in the most memorable of circumstances. Her name: Jennifer Capriati.

Capriati, too, had come off the rails and done drugs, even tasted the inside of a prison cell, before returning to tennis and reaching new heights. Her comeback culminated with her first major at the 2001 Australian Open. I guarantee many of those who have damned Ben Cousins would have been among the thousands who on that day wiped a tear from their eye and cheered to the echo.

Edited December 7, 2008 by sceadugenga

[Dudley23]

Thanks Mate great article on Ben Cousins, but there must be some more to it then we and others know.

Met him up at Kanchanaburi during the Anzac parade, we manage to play footy their every year and I must say after 10 minutes of conversation with him certainly the drugs had messed him around a fair bit. Great bloke however and one of my favorite players, even though I am a die hard hawks man.

I am hoping some one picks him up even though I think only six left in the picture, but with that kind of talent on offer there really must be other stuff happening you would be mad not to pick him up otherwise.

[sceadugenga]

Ben Cousins arrives in Melbourne.

BEN Cousins has touched down in Melbourne to kick start his football career with Richmond.

Cousins landed at Tullmarine at 7.45pm before fronting media and excited Richmond fans at the arrivals gate.

The former Brownlow medallist told the Herald Sun Online he was looking forward to training with the Tigers tomorrow morning.

When asked if he was looking forward to the early start Cousins replied "it hasn't stopped''.

Cousins said the past 24 hours has been gruelling as he was not sure he would be selected in today's pre-season draft.

Cousins said "yeah it has been a big day''.

Link

[Old Croc]

There was a three ring circus at Richmond yesterday. An estimated 2000 turned up to watch training (in december!) and cheered everytime Ben touched the ball!

1600 new members signed up in the 24 hours since the announcement he was joining the club. Normally 500 a day at this time of the year. It was reported a rich sponsor (from WA) offered Richmond $300,000 to recruit him. I think the club has won already.

At the press conference after training the usual <deleted> Melbourne Journalists asked a series of questions about who, in the underworld, he was friends with, until Ben's manager called them nobs and asked for footy questions. Probably for the first time publically he admitted he was a recovering drug addict. He handled himself very well through the grilling.

Everything he does for the next year or so is going to make the papers. I think he should stay out of all pubs and clubs in Melbourne because every <deleted> will try to stir.

[sceadugenga]

Good luck to the lad, although he's hardly a lad any more.

He HAS to accept that his off field life is going to be as much public property as his on field performance. One slip and it's all gone down the drain with more people let down.

I think he can do this now, the year in exile would have toughened him personally and I think Melbourne is the best place for him, where he has a chance of being "just another footy player" rather than the worshiped superstar he was in the West.

Curious to see whether the Eagles fans will boo him when he runs onto his old home ground next year.

[marsteele]

Just found this forum and can't wait until 2009 GO SAINTERS

[fred2007]

Just found this forum and can't wait until 2009 GO SAINTERS

Sainters? I guess you mean Saints

[Old Croc]

Good luck to the lad, although he's hardly a lad any more.

He HAS to accept that his off field life is going to be as much public property as his on field performance. One slip and it's all gone down the drain with more people let down.

I think he can do this now, the year in exile would have toughened him personally and I think Melbourne is the best place for him, where he has a chance of being "just another footy player" rather than the worshiped superstar he was in the West.

Curious to see whether the Eagles fans will boo him when he runs onto his old home ground next year.

I was hoping, for his sake, he would be recruited by Brisbane.

He would be much better off away from Perth and Melbourne where he still has links to the seedy criminal element.

Not the least of whom is Michael Gardiner, a former partner in crime in Perth, who is still a wannerbe on the fringe of the "made men".

[sceadugenga]

Nightmare At Visy Park.

Setanta O'hAilpin banned after unprecedented act of violence.

BLAME it on the heat. Call it a serious case of white-line fever. Add it to the burgeoning annals of that most serious of sporting conditions: the brain snap.

Whatever the reason, Carlton's Setanta O'hAilpin sent sports fans around the country scurrying to their televisions to witness one of the ugliest acts ever perpetrated on an Australia sporting field in recent memory.

The fiery Irishman was yesterday suspended indefinitely by the Blues following an incident so spiteful it can scarcely be believed.

In the off-the-ball skirmish, O'hAilpin punched teammate Cameron Cloke in the head with a right cross, then a swinging left fist which dropped the former Collingwood player. Cloke was then callously kicked in the buttocks as the ruckman lay motionless facedown on the ground.

O'hAilpin was ordered from the field immediately and sent home by captain Chris Judd.

Link

It seems the video is no longer available on this site but it's one of the worst things I've seen on the footy field. If it's possible to make things worse it was carried out on a team mate!!!

Edited February 7, 2009 by sceadugenga

[sceadugenga]

The pre season comp is underway.

The results so far in round 1.

COLL 116

WCE 54

WB 69

ESS 70

BL 65

STK 56

FRE 86

RICH 89

CARL 123

NM 70

Hawthorn play Melbourne tomorrow and Geelong play Adelaide tomorrow night.

Sydney and Port finish the round on Sunday.

[sceadugenga]

Anyone interested in trying their tipping skills for cash prizes go to the AFL site and join the NAB AFL tipping competition.

http://afl.com.au/

For people without AFL TV coverage the matches can be followed on this site as well.