#AFL Round 6 Weekly Discussion Thread

[stevoswan]

I didn't expect Richmond to be traveling so well in their premiership defense but I think we are witnessing a mid to high level talent team that are gelling beautifully as their belief in themselves rises......a dangerous combination that reminds me of certain Swans teams of recent past. They will be prone to off days, as their loss to Adelaide suggests but they are becoming a formidable force.....albeit with a fairly soft fixture so far, softer than ours has been.

[dejavoodoo44]

Something from an AFL.com article on the Max Gawn/spectator incident:
" "The patron in question from today's incident actually removed himself from the seating bowl," an Etihad Stadium spokesperson told AFL.com.au."
WTF is a seating bowl!?? Are individual seats now seating bowls? Or instead of bays, do we now have seating bowls? Or is seating bowl now the innovative, proactive term for stadium. As in, "Yes, Derek, our administration has been instrumental in upgrading the MCG to a magnificent, state of the art, seating bowl; offering the consumer an unsurpassed match day experience."
Grrrr! Language like that should be flushed down the seating bowl, located adjacent to the free-flowing, aqueous grime removal facility.

[Swansongster]

Something from an AFL.com article on the Max Gawn/spectator incident:
" "The patron in question from today's incident actually removed himself from the seating bowl," an Etihad Stadium spokesperson told AFL.com.au."
WTF is a seating bowl!?? Are individual seats now seating bowls? Or instead of bays, do we now have seating bowls? Or is seating bowl now the innovative, proactive term for stadium. As in, "Yes, Derek, our administration has been instrumental in upgrading the MCG to a magnificent, state of the art, seating bowl; offering the consumer an unsurpassed match day experience."
Grrrr! Language like that should be flushed down the seating bowl, located adjacent to the free-flowing, aqueous grime removal facility.

As opposed to the "concourse", I suppose.

[Swansongster]

Does anyone else feel that skills are down in general this year? I know it's very anecdotal, based on what games I see, but I seem to be thinking "plenty of intent let down by poor execution" in a lot of games. Cobwebs are normally shaken out by now, but almost feels like they aren't.

I concur. I took a mate - down from Sydney - to Docklands yesterday for his first ever AFL game. It was a scrappy affair that never reached any great heights. Neither of these two teams will figure late in September based on that performance. Given, they were both the tired losers from ANZAC Day games, but I can't see either Dees or Bombers getting anywhere near the pre- and early-season hype that was heaped upon them.

There was some good transition at stages but a lot of that was due to to poor forward pressure (from both teams). Lots of intercepts from misdirected kicks, handballs to no-one and dropped easy marks. I've seen better play at Port Melbourne games.

The 36,000 crowd never really got into the game either. Old mate enjoyed it but I think I let him down taking him to that game. I literally nearly fell asleep at one stage.

[dejavoodoo44]

As opposed to the "concourse", I suppose.

Dunno. We can only guess as to what they meant. Which to me, is poor use of the language.
Another similar bug bear of mine, is the occasional commentator still using the phrase "early doors", instead of early. Again, WTF is an early door?!

[Bloods05]

Dunno. We can only guess as to what they meant. Which to me, is poor use of the language.
Another similar bug bear of mine, is the occasional commentator still using the phrase "early doors", instead of early. Again, WTF is an early door?!

From Wikipedia: "[It] is a British slang phrase meaning those who arrive earlier than is customary, and was often associated with pub customers who wait for or arrive soon after evening opening, around 5:30 pm. Until the law was changed in 1988, pubs in England closed in the afternoon. Most are now open all day. It is also widely heard in British football circles, and was resuscitated in comments about football. The phrase originates in the practice of British theatres from around 1870 of allowing customers who paid a little extra to enter the theatre early and choose their own seats before the rush just before the performance started."

Though what that has to do with early in a footy game escapes me.

[dejavoodoo44]

From Wikipedia: "[It] is a British slang phrase meaning those who arrive earlier than is customary, and was often associated with pub customers who wait for or arrive soon after evening opening, around 5:30 pm. Until the law was changed in 1988, pubs in England closed in the afternoon. Most are now open all day. It is also widely heard in British football circles, and was resuscitated in comments about football. The phrase originates in the practice of British theatres from around 1870 of allowing customers who paid a little extra to enter the theatre early and choose their own seats before the rush just before the performance started."

Though what that has to do with early in a footy game escapes me.

Ta, it makes even less sense now. Thankfully, the trend of using the term seems to be dying off. And it's use was always more popular in soccer, rather than AFL.
Though it probably still leaves the question, why did a number of commentators feel the need, to use a phrase that had no relation to what they were describing?

[Bloods05]

Ta, it makes even less sense now. Thankfully, the trend of using the term seems to be dying off. And it's use was always more popular in soccer, rather than AFL.
Though it probably still leaves the question, why did a number of commentators feel the need, to use a phrase that had no relation to what they were describing?

Maybe they think it makes them sound sophisticated or something? It's a time-honoured tradition among mediocre commentators; viz. Dermott Brereton, Dwayne Russell.

[dejavoodoo44]

Maybe they think it makes them sound sophisticated or something? It's a time-honoured tradition among mediocre commentators; viz. Dermott Brereton, Dwayne Russell.

Yes, though they're probably not fooling too many people.

[stevoswan]

Maybe they think it makes them sound sophisticated or something? It's a time-honoured tradition among mediocre commentators; viz. Dermott Brereton, Dwayne Russell.

Add to those, Luke Darcy.....Mr Cliche, Hamish McLachlin, Basil Zempilas......all knobs.

[stevoswan]

We don't feature in the 'Mark of the Round' top three much.....this week, twice!

Mark Of The Year - Round 6

Heen's was typically gutsy, Howe of Collingwoods was typically flashy but for a classic 'hanger', Fox gets my vote......

[liz]

We don't feature in the 'Mark of the Round' top three much.....this week, twice!

Mark Of The Year - Round 6

Heen's was typically gutsy, Howe of Collingwoods was typically flashy but for a classic 'hanger', Fox gets my vote......

Fox's might have been the most "classic" hanger but it was probably the easiest of the three to complete. I expect Howe's will win the overall nomination this week, but it is great (and unusual) for the Swans to feature twice.

[Bill Posters]

I concur. I took a mate - down from Sydney - to Docklands yesterday for his first ever AFL game. It was a scrappy affair that never reached any great heights. Neither of these two teams will figure late in September based on that performance. Given, they were both the tired losers from ANZAC Day games, but I can't see either Dees or Bombers getting anywhere near the pre- and early-season hype that was heaped upon them.

There was some good transition at stages but a lot of that was due to to poor forward pressure (from both teams). Lots of intercepts from misdirected kicks, handballs to no-one and dropped easy marks. I've seen better play at Port Melbourne games.

The 36,000 crowd never really got into the game either. Old mate enjoyed it but I think I let him down taking him to that game. I literally nearly fell asleep at one stage.

Titus O'Reily had some great withering commentary on the state of football this year. Eg for this game:

"The first half was like both sides had thrown down the gauntlet to see who could destroy the hopes and dreams of their fans the most.@

Fittingly, both sides fumbled picking up that gauntlet for the entire first half until the Bombers emerged in the second half with it firmly in hand."

Reading his summaries leaves you with the feeling that about half the teams in this year's comp are total rubbish. Might be true.

[YvonneH]

Titus O'Reily had some great withering commentary on the state of football this year. Eg for this game:

"The first half was like both sides had thrown down the gauntlet to see who could destroy the hopes and dreams of their fans the most.@

Fittingly, both sides fumbled picking up that gauntlet for the entire first half until the Bombers emerged in the second half with it firmly in hand."

Reading his summaries leaves you with the feeling that about half the teams in this year's comp are total rubbish. Might be true.

But he is funny. Makes a change from the usual media doom and gloom.

[stevoswan]

Sad news about Bomber Thompson......seems to have not handled the Essendon 'drugs' scandal fall out well at all. Charged today with drug trafficking offences. Real sad......