Hi everyone,
The ANZAC Round of football is now in the books. There were massive crowds attending 3 of the 4 ANZAC Day games, including 92,231 at the ‘G (Collingwood vs Essendon), 54,100 at Optus Stadium (Fremantle vs Carlton), 41,164 at Adelaide Oval (Port vs Geelong), but a very low 8,263 (Hawthorn vs Gold Coast) at UTAS. For fun, I am including photos sent to me from the MCG on Saturday and from Optus Stadium on Saturday night (love the purple hues!). Click the links at the bottom of this message if you would like to see these photos.
On the field
Again this week, it was disappointing to see mostly lopsided games, starting with the Western Bulldogs vs Sydney game at Marvel Stadium last Thursday night. After conceding the first three goals to the injury-riddled Dogs, the Swans clicked into gear thereafter and ran away with the game by 11 goals. On Friday night, Richmond lost to Melbourne by 9 goals at the MCG and the ANZAC games on Saturday saw three blowouts. The Gold Coast Suns provided little resistance against a menacing Hawthorn team, losing 9.9.63 to 16.16.112. The evergreen Jack Gunston booted 5 goals for the Hawks in this game.
After a fairly tight first half in the Essendon vs Collingwood game, the floodgates opened in the second half as the Magpies ran riot, to record a thumping 77-point win, 20.17.137 to 9.6.60. In his 431st career game, the ageless (38 yo) Scott Pendlebury turned in a career-best performance, notching 43 disposals and winning the ANZAC Day Medal for being best-afield for the fourth time in his career. FYI, Collingwood and Essendon have played one another 250 times since 1897, with the ‘Pies holding the edge in the overall number of head-to-head wins. Each team has won 16 premierships, but despite this being one of the league’s biggest rivalries, they have only met in four Grand Finals in 130 years. The ‘Dons held a 2-1 edge after their early Grand Finals in 1901, 1902 and 1911. The teams waited 79 years before they met again in the 1990 Granny. In that game, Collingwood finally shed their ‘Colliwobbles’ tag when they comprehensively defeated the Bombers by 8 goals. The relief was great amongst Magpie supporters, as their team had lost 8 Grand Finals over the 32-year span from 1958 to 1990.
In one of the season’s biggest upsets, Port Adelaide defeated Geelong 13.17.95 to 10.5.65 at the Adelaide Oval. The Carlton vs Freo game was ‘the close one’ on ANZAC Day, with the Dockers notching their sixth straight win while sending the Blues to their fifth straight loss. Final margin was 14 points in favour of Freo.
On Sunday, St Kilda had a percentage-boosting 101-point victory over the visiting West Coast Eagles at Docklands. The Brisbane Lions bounced back very strongly after last week’s narrow loss to the Demons, to crush the Adelaide Crows by 52 points at The Gabba. The win moved the defending premiers up to fifth on the ladder and relegated last year’s minor premiers to 13th position, with a modest record of 3-4 and a percentage below 100.
We finally had a close game in the final match between GWS and North Melbourne. The game was played at Manuka Oval in Canberra and saw the Giants narrowly prevail, 15.15.105 to 14.14.98. Only 1 game separates 5th-place Brisbane from 14th-place GWS after 7 rounds.
Tipping
Congratulations to the 42 tipsters who had 8 winners this week to lead the way (no one managed a perfect score).
Ladder Leaders
John Naughton 49
Romo 49
Jeremy 49
Bruce 49
Caramondo 48
Pauline D 48
Big D 48
Croc Junior 48
14 tipsters on 47
Please place your tips by the deadline for Round 8, which starts this Thursday with Collingwood hosting Hawthorn.
Don