Running Aussie Rules thread
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HanSenSE
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Which explains why there's a "Best of SportsCenter" on ESPN2 now.
New Zealand's rugby teams are part of a league that also includes teams in Australia, South Africa and one in Argentina. Because NZ has been able to almost eliminate COVID-19, its five teams are playing a double-round robin schedule. And they're playing in front of real crowds instead of a scattered few with pumped-in crowd noise.
Once again, Fox gets around to signing an Aussie Rules carriage deal, this time eight weeks into the season (though to be fair, there's still 4 1/2 months of regular season left and the finals series until the Grand Final in late September).
maumann
Well-Known Member
Cats slaughter Swans. Good on ya, mate.
Happy to report that, not only is the Grand Final this weekend but Brisbane, the club I developed an interest in during COVID, is one of the finalists.
It'll be the Lions against Collingwood (kickoff 11:30 p.m. Central) for the flag at the MCG. Here's a primer for all two of you who will read this:
The Lions, who finished second (of 18) in the regular season with a 17-6 record, have made Finals (the playoffs) in each of the last five seasons but this year managed not to screw up in the tournament for once, quickly dispatching third-place Port Adelaide in the qualifying final, then overcoming a bad first quarter to dump Carlton out of the preliminary finals.
Brisbane won the Grand Final three years in a row from 2001-03 (and was runner up in 2004) but has not been back since. Among their best players are Charlie Cameron, an Aboriginal player who often celebrates goals by revving a pretend motorcycle, Eric Hipwood, who is 6'8", and Hugh McCluggage, who has a terrific name.
Collingwood was the minor premiers (regular season champions). They are generally treated as the Yankees of the AFL, as they've been in the Grand Final a record 42 times (not counting Saturday), but very much unlike the Yankees, they tend to screw it up (a phenomenon known as the "Colliwobbles," when they went winless in eight straight Grand Final appearances from 1958-1990). They're 15-27 in Grand Finals and are 2-4-1* since 1990. Their most recent win was in 2010, which is denoted by the asterisk. That Grand Final vs. St. Kilda ended in a draw (those have since been abolished) and the Magpies won the replay handily.
Collingwood includes Mason "Coxzilla" Cox, a 6'10" Texan who was discovered as a walk-on on the Oklahoma State basketball team and was on (American) 60 Minutes earlier this month. Pat McAfee thinks he's awesome. Also, he has special dispensation to wear glasses on the field because he gets poked in the eye so much.
Game will air live on FS1.
It'll be the Lions against Collingwood (kickoff 11:30 p.m. Central) for the flag at the MCG. Here's a primer for all two of you who will read this:
The Lions, who finished second (of 18) in the regular season with a 17-6 record, have made Finals (the playoffs) in each of the last five seasons but this year managed not to screw up in the tournament for once, quickly dispatching third-place Port Adelaide in the qualifying final, then overcoming a bad first quarter to dump Carlton out of the preliminary finals.
Brisbane won the Grand Final three years in a row from 2001-03 (and was runner up in 2004) but has not been back since. Among their best players are Charlie Cameron, an Aboriginal player who often celebrates goals by revving a pretend motorcycle, Eric Hipwood, who is 6'8", and Hugh McCluggage, who has a terrific name.
Collingwood was the minor premiers (regular season champions). They are generally treated as the Yankees of the AFL, as they've been in the Grand Final a record 42 times (not counting Saturday), but very much unlike the Yankees, they tend to screw it up (a phenomenon known as the "Colliwobbles," when they went winless in eight straight Grand Final appearances from 1958-1990). They're 15-27 in Grand Finals and are 2-4-1* since 1990. Their most recent win was in 2010, which is denoted by the asterisk. That Grand Final vs. St. Kilda ended in a draw (those have since been abolished) and the Magpies won the replay handily.
Collingwood includes Mason "Coxzilla" Cox, a 6'10" Texan who was discovered as a walk-on on the Oklahoma State basketball team and was on (American) 60 Minutes earlier this month. Pat McAfee thinks he's awesome. Also, he has special dispensation to wear glasses on the field because he gets poked in the eye so much.
Game will air live on FS1.
2muchcoffeeman
Well-Known Member
… assuming somebody at the Fox Sports broadcast center remembers to flip the switch. (Don’t laugh. It happened a couple years ago.)
dixiehack
Well-Known Member
Good Old Collingwood Forever!
That was my team from the 1980s and overnight ESPN in the summer, back when it was still the VFL and having a team all the way out in Sydney was considered a novelty.
That was my team from the 1980s and overnight ESPN in the summer, back when it was still the VFL and having a team all the way out in Sydney was considered a novelty.
Shropshire Slasher
Well-Known Member
Found this of interest: Collingwood (which never had a population north of 10,000) no longer exists as a municipality or as a home playing site. The City of Collingwood was annexed by the City of Yarra in 1994, and the club now plays at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Collingwood is also one of the LGBTQ meccas in Australia.
Collingwood is also one of the LGBTQ meccas in Australia.
dixiehack
Well-Known Member
Back in the 80s I thought every Victorian club played at the MCG, like city high schools sharing a stadium. What I didn’t realize was that it was just the Mecca for the important matches each week.
Shropshire Slasher
Well-Known Member
Aussie Rules are easy to suss out. You'll do so within the first 20 minutes of watching.
Four of them still do, and I think it was more before they built another large stadium in another part of Melbourne.
Vombatus
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Lots of kicking at narrow posts IIRC.
Brooklyn Bridge
Well-Known Member
I’ve only heard about that the other way- Aussie players being recruited to play American football. Nice to see it going the other way.
Collingwood claimed the victory, 12.18.90 to 13.8.86, before a capacity crowd of 100,024 at the MCG.
It was razor close throughout, with neither team leading by more than 13 (two goals and a behind) at any point. When Brisbane was on, they played with great fluidity, and had some really nice goals, but it seemed like there were large stretches where they either couldn't hold on to the ball or got muscled out. Mason Cox had an impact throughout the game, and though I'm guessing his contribution was a net positive, he got duped at one point in the first half and got his kick blocked, leading directly to a Brisbane goal. The entire second half was basically the AFL equivalent of trench warfare, which probably benefited Collingwood more.
The biggest part I don't understand yet about the game are the rules around tackling, but there seems to be a rather heavy consensus from everyone except Collingwood fans that the officiating was poor (apparently officiating bias in favor of Melbourne teams is a common occurrence) and aided Collingwood, in particular, a useless advantage call that precluded a free kick that could have given Brisbane a look at a go-ahead goal inside the last two minutes.
Still, I never felt like the game was ever any more than a coin flip for Brisbane and when you can't do better than that, you leave yourself vulnerable to bad breaks or bad calls. Disappointing, but we'll see you in March (or maybe April if it takes the league a while to get TV rights done, like usual).
It was razor close throughout, with neither team leading by more than 13 (two goals and a behind) at any point. When Brisbane was on, they played with great fluidity, and had some really nice goals, but it seemed like there were large stretches where they either couldn't hold on to the ball or got muscled out. Mason Cox had an impact throughout the game, and though I'm guessing his contribution was a net positive, he got duped at one point in the first half and got his kick blocked, leading directly to a Brisbane goal. The entire second half was basically the AFL equivalent of trench warfare, which probably benefited Collingwood more.
The biggest part I don't understand yet about the game are the rules around tackling, but there seems to be a rather heavy consensus from everyone except Collingwood fans that the officiating was poor (apparently officiating bias in favor of Melbourne teams is a common occurrence) and aided Collingwood, in particular, a useless advantage call that precluded a free kick that could have given Brisbane a look at a go-ahead goal inside the last two minutes.
Still, I never felt like the game was ever any more than a coin flip for Brisbane and when you can't do better than that, you leave yourself vulnerable to bad breaks or bad calls. Disappointing, but we'll see you in March (or maybe April if it takes the league a while to get TV rights done, like usual).
Back again to dig this thread out of page whatever because it's almost Grand Final Saturday!
Kickoff is once again at 11:30 p.m. Central on Friday night on FS1, and this year's Grand Final at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) features the losers of the last two Grand Finals:
Sydney were the minor premiers (regular season champions) with a 17-6 record and are aiming for redemption after getting blown out by Geelong in the 2022 Grand Final. Meanwhile, the Brisbane Lions (the team I started supporting during COVID), followed their narrow loss (see above) to Collingwood in last year's Grand Final with the Australian equivalent of a Super Bowl hangover, starting the season 2-5 before winning nine games in a row to get back into the top eight for a sixth consecutive season.
In the playoff system, Sydney's first-place finish meant they needed only defeat Greater Western Sydney in their first playoff game to skip to the last four. They beat GWS by a goal, then two weeks later dumped a Port Adelaide side that had beaten them eight times running. The Swans are seeking their first Premiership since 2012.
The top four teams get the "double chance," which means that they get two chances to win once to get to the preliminary final (think conference championship game). However, Brisbane finished fifth by a half-game at 14-8-1, which meant they had to win three games to get back to the Grand Final. In the elimination final (wild card game), they dominated the first half against Carlton and won easily, but in the semifinal (divisional), Brisbane was down 44 points in the third quarter at GWS and came back for a shocking win, then repeated the feat somewhat against Geelong in the other preliminary final, winning 14.11.95 to 12.13.85 in a game they trailed by 25 points early in the third quarter. Brisbane won three straight titles from 2001-03 but hasn't since.
Katy Perry is performing at this year's final, for what it's worth, which is also the fourth all-time and first since 2006 in which no Victorian teams (Melbourne and environs) are participating. The pairing is somewhat notable because both Brisbane and Sydney are on the wrong side of the traditional "Barassi line," an unofficial demarcation from north to southeast in which the part of the country east of the line prefers rugby and west of it prefers Aussie rules. The other three no-Victorian Grand Finals at least had teams from Adelaide or Perth, on the AFL side of the line.
Kickoff is once again at 11:30 p.m. Central on Friday night on FS1, and this year's Grand Final at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) features the losers of the last two Grand Finals:
Sydney were the minor premiers (regular season champions) with a 17-6 record and are aiming for redemption after getting blown out by Geelong in the 2022 Grand Final. Meanwhile, the Brisbane Lions (the team I started supporting during COVID), followed their narrow loss (see above) to Collingwood in last year's Grand Final with the Australian equivalent of a Super Bowl hangover, starting the season 2-5 before winning nine games in a row to get back into the top eight for a sixth consecutive season.
In the playoff system, Sydney's first-place finish meant they needed only defeat Greater Western Sydney in their first playoff game to skip to the last four. They beat GWS by a goal, then two weeks later dumped a Port Adelaide side that had beaten them eight times running. The Swans are seeking their first Premiership since 2012.
The top four teams get the "double chance," which means that they get two chances to win once to get to the preliminary final (think conference championship game). However, Brisbane finished fifth by a half-game at 14-8-1, which meant they had to win three games to get back to the Grand Final. In the elimination final (wild card game), they dominated the first half against Carlton and won easily, but in the semifinal (divisional), Brisbane was down 44 points in the third quarter at GWS and came back for a shocking win, then repeated the feat somewhat against Geelong in the other preliminary final, winning 14.11.95 to 12.13.85 in a game they trailed by 25 points early in the third quarter. Brisbane won three straight titles from 2001-03 but hasn't since.
Katy Perry is performing at this year's final, for what it's worth, which is also the fourth all-time and first since 2006 in which no Victorian teams (Melbourne and environs) are participating. The pairing is somewhat notable because both Brisbane and Sydney are on the wrong side of the traditional "Barassi line," an unofficial demarcation from north to southeast in which the part of the country east of the line prefers rugby and west of it prefers Aussie rules. The other three no-Victorian Grand Finals at least had teams from Adelaide or Perth, on the AFL side of the line.
TrooperBari
Well-Known Member
I'm old enough to remember when they were the Fitzroy Lions. In unrelated news, my back hurts.
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