Hi everyone,
Collingwood’s Jack Crisp broke Jim Stynes’ consecutive games record on Saturday night when he played his 245th straight game. It is an incredible achievement, but sadly for Magpie supporters, Crisp missed a shot after the siren, which would have won his team the game.
On the field: Last Thursday night, Essendon just held on for a narrow 3-point victory over North Melbourne. Fremantle played a woeful game on Friday night at Marvel Stadium versus St Kilda. The Saints had dropped their previous three games but looked pretty good against Freo, holding the Dockers to a paltry score of 5.3.33. The Saints recorded a percentage-boosting 61-point victory. Most of the Saturday games were lopsided. Port Adelaide capitulated in their game against the Western Bulldogs in Ballarat. The Dogs crushed their hapless opponents by 90 points. Carlton had shown signs of improvement a week ago when they defeated Geelong. However, the hometown Adelaide Crows totally outplayed the Blues this week, winning by ten goals. West Coast were hoping for their first win of the season when they played visiting Melbourne at Optus Stadium. The Eagles led by a goal at halftime, but fell away badly in the second half as the Demons roared to life—final score, Melbourne 16.12.108, WCE 11.10.76.
The most exciting game was Saturday night’s Collingwood vs Geelong match at the MCG. It was a see-sawing game, but the Cats rallied strongly in the final quarter and then withstood a final Magpies push to record a memorable victory. Final score: Geelong 13.12.90 defeated Collingwood 12.15.87.
On Sunday, the Sydney Swans continued their mastery over their cross-town rivals, GWS, with a hard-fought 12.15.87 to 10.13.73 victory in the Sydney Derby. Since GWS joined the league in 2012, the teams have met 30 times, with the Swans holding a 20-10 edge in these games. (GWS holds a 3-1 advantage in their head-to-head finals matches.)
Richmond was expected to face an uphill battle in their game versus Hawthorn at the MCG, which proved so. With less than three minutes to play in the first half, the Tigers had failed to score a goal, which prompted an announcer to say that Richmond were in danger of equalling their worst ever first-half score at the MCG (0.4.4 in 1927). The Tigers must have heard the comment as they quickly booted two goals in 40 seconds. That was as good as it got for Richmond. The Hawks’ 34-point halftime lead blew out to 65 points at the final siren.
In the final game, the Q-Clash, Brisbane hosted the Gold Coast at the Gabba. The Lions won by a score of 66-49.
Tipping
Our leading tipsters this round were: Naples Road, Thrice Winner Hullsy, Wi11ow, Croc Junior, John Oliver, St Lindsay, K2Health, Lynchey, Kylie1004, and Caramondo1, all of whom tallied eight winners. Great work and congrats to all of you. We are a third of the way through the season, and here is our leaderboard.
Heaver13 53
Naples Road 52
CD Saint 52
Super Storm 51
Warragul Lynda 51
Big D 51
Bruce McBriar 51
Weazr1 51
Valerderos1964 51
Andy Mul 50
Lenny Hayes 50
LamboM73 50
The Urq 50
Martin Hunt 50
Darty! 50
The first game of Round 9 will feature Fremantle and Collingwood from Optus Stadium in Perth. Thursday comes around quickly each week… please place your tips.