Round four was one of mixed fortunes for me personally. The Saints loss saw me kitted out in Bombers gear on air Saturday Night and admitting my love for Courtney Johns but it also saw a return to form in the footy tips. The team of the week is back with two sets of brothers, I take a look ahead to ANZAC Day and a look back at some of my favourite names from footy.
GAZ GETS IT RIGHT
Full credit to Gary Lyon for making some great points in his article in yesterday’s Herald-Sun. He praised both Essendon and Collingwood for there lack of excuses leading into the ANZAC Day match after a four day break. It’s refreshing to see that both clubs realise how lucky they are to have this game locked in each year and they are not complaining about the scheduling issue’s it creates once every five or six years.
There a plenty of fans from other clubs that feel their team should get a look in but that idea just doesn’t wash with me. The Pies and Bombers have worked exceptionally hard to create the annual blockbuster for the fans while at the same time involving the armed forces and the RSL to create the perfect blend of sporting endeavour and remembrance. It is a credit to both clubs and also to individuals like Kevin Sheedy and Eddie McGuire that the game is now considered the centre-point of the fixture each season and, rather than whinge, the other fourteen clubs should work hard to find there own rivalries and regular blockbuster games rather than trying to move in on the tradition that these two clubs have formed.
The four day break looks to have been handled well by both clubs with players being rested from the VFL on the weekend gone so they can be fresh to play this weekend. Bolton and Bradley will be the fresh legs the Bombers need and Alan Didak will provide some spark in his return for the Pies. One thing that seems certain is that the game will be a good one as these sides always seem to put on a good show no matter where they are sitting on the ladder.
NAMING NAMES
After a discussion on the weekends radio show about my new favourite names in the AFL (Porplyzia and Bachar Houli) I got thinking about some of the better ones from days gone by. Always a sucker for a list, I came up with the following as my favourites either because of they way the roll of the tongue or there uniqueness. In no particular order:
Athos Hrysoulakis
Willy Dick
Troy Ugle
Frankie ‘Skeeter’ Coughlan
Sanford Wheeler
Winston Abraham
Jaxon Crabb
Jump in the OWAAT Forums and let me know which other players you think had the best names in footy.
TEAM OF THE WEEK
B Notting Rutten K.Cornes
HB Gilbee C. Cornes Hodge
W Headland Peverill Wells
HF Al. Davey Pavlich Ar. Davey
F Murphy Darcy G.Ablett
R McIntosh Judd Haselby
Int From Wilson, Kerr, McPhee, R. Harvey, O’Keefe, Archer
TIPPING
I’m back baby! A very nice week this week getting six correct and only missing the margin on the Friday night game by 1 point. It was good enough to get me 3rd overall for the week and move me up from 41st to 29th with a total of 17 correct. The only winners I missed were Essendon and the Kangaroos. I am still two tips behind my wife who is 10th but am completely dominating Mark who is in second last with just 12 winners for the season.
For what it’s worth I’m taking the Bombers against the Pies today in what I hope will be the first game involving them that I have tipped correctly.
