One can only hope that it sends them broke. Couldn't happen to a nicer organisation.

After 9 rounds, Hawthorn are now the only unbeaten team although, once again, it was an unconvincing win over bottom team Melbourne. The Western Bulldogs had a kick after the siren to beat North Melbourne in one of the best games of the season but missed it.

Today's other game was almost unwatchable as a wretched St Kilda lost 141-95 at the Gabba. We kicked 8 goals in the last quarter after Brisbane gave up otherwise the margin would have been humiliating.

If St Kilda lose to Melbourne next week, the season will be dead before half way and coach Ross Lyon will have lost what little credibility he still has.

Didn't some twit write in "The Age" today something along the lines of "we've got the greatest football code in the world- because of its unpredictability..."?!

This is what Rohan Connolly said in The Age today:

GOD I love this game. You can take your Australia-Ghana soccer friendlies, your rugby league state-of-origin clashes — I'll take what North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs served up at Telstra Dome last night any day of any week.

It's already been a great AFL year, less than halfway through, chock full of fantastic football and incident. The Roos' three-point win after Brad Johnson's post-siren miss overflowed with both. It will be hard to top as the best match of the 2008 season. But round nine as a whole spoke volumes as to why we footy fanatics are so blessed.

It's about unpredictability. The belief that you're going to watch a contest between two teams never quite sure what is about to unfold. And the weekend just gone proved again why, on that score, AFL football can't be beaten. Ask the tipsters nursing their wounds today.

Before yesterday's games, four of five favourites had been beaten, Carlton outlasting Fremantle, Sydney prevailing away to Port Adelaide, the supposedly hapless West Coast thrashing Adelaide, and the one that kicked it all off, Collingwood thrashing Geelong.

Had Melbourne managed to hang on for another quarter or so against undefeated Hawthorn yesterday, the season's biggest turn-up would have remained the Demons'. As it was, the new ladder-leader's eventual 19-point win at the very least confirmed how narrow is the gap between the best and worst in a 16-team competition.

By the time Brent Harvey had been chaired off in his 250th game, it was five of eight favourites on the receiving end. Tipping the card in the old VFL a couple of decades ago was the norm rather than the exception. Now, getting eight winners is akin to winning Lotto.

The fortunes of clubs swing wildly from week to week, let alone year to year. West Coast was within an extra point of a preliminary final last season. Now the Eagles are a game off the bottom of the ladder. Carlton was just two points shy of another wooden spoon less than a year ago. Now the Blues are only a game outside the top eight. And the quality of what we're watching can seldom, if ever, have been better.

The North-Bulldogs clash always shaped as a beauty, but so good was it that it should perhaps be seen as a template for how we want our game to be. Fast, flowing football. Still with plenty of scope for hard, physical play and contested ball. Courage like that shown by Harvey when he returned after being knocked into the middle of next week. The drama of Johnson hitting the post twice in the final, pulsating quarter, then missing the match-winner.

All great sport features not only action, but great storylines, pathos, drama, and that feeling that you never quite know what's going to happen next. That was the case not only at Telstra Dome last night, but across four states over an entire football weekend.

We've got the best football code in the world. And even a doubtless annoyed Brad Johnson would this morning surely agree how lucky we are.

Some interesting results at the weekend, the Pies win in particular.

Any news on the Gold Coast team? Any suggestions on their moniker or their colours?

Interesting story about the AFL potentially buying out ANZ stadium. What do you think their view would be on the Soccer (yuk) World Cup coming to Australia? Would they be in favour?

Things are moving at a fair old pace, Jamzinho. Michael Voss is now working for the GC17 consortium and looks likely to be the first coach. With St Kilda's premiership window apparently slamming prematurely shut, Nick Riewoldt is the hot tip to be the club captain.

The AFL's proposals for acquiring a playing list have yet to be ratified but include the first 5 picks of 2009 going to the Gold Coast with western Sydney getting the first 5 in 2010. There is also a suggestion that Gold Coast could have Queensland as an exclusive recruitment area which Brisbane, not surprisingly, are fiercely opposed to. Northern Territory might also be thrown into the mix. There's also been an intriguing report that western Sydney could have an alliance with the GAA in Ireland including exclusive access to Irish players.

The top 5 draft picks suggestion is causing a lot of controversy. Those clubs on a downward slide (Melbourne, Essendon, Fremantle and, possibly, St Kilda) could have their periods near the bottom extended if they don't get the chance to rebuild with the best young talent. If the draft isn't deep, getting pick 6 after a wooden spoon (especially if it happens 2 years in a row) could be a disaster. The club who will benefit most from all this will be Hawthorn who have a young list that should see them challenge throughout this period.

As for the ANZ Stadium thing, there's been a lot of talk about the AFL trying to kill off rugby league but, although the NRL use ANZ Stadium a lot, they don't really need apart from State of Origin and the Grand Final. I don't see the AFL doing anything to damage the World Cup bid – this would be a good way of making lots of money out of it.

I'd have thought that the AFL would be *spewing* about the World Cup happening in Australia during their season, but primarily for the Melbourne stadia upon which they depend heavily, and which would need to be appropriated by FIFA for something close to 2 months.

Just a couple on Gehrig for you, MA.
You wrote upthread the he today made the decision to place himself on the Club's long-term injury list.

What are the implications of being on the injury list? Is this a formal thing in AFL? Does it mean we won't be seeing him again? And why didn't you accompany the seeming epitaph with a picture of his mullet as of around 5 years ago? I had a quick google and could find nothing to do justice to my memory of it.

If Australia does get to host the World Cup, Melbourne Victory's new stadium will have it's capacity increased to 50,000 so I don't think Telstra Dome would be used. In theory, the AFL could continue playing through a World Cup but I think it's pretty unlikely they would.

As for Fraser Gehrig, going on the long term injury list means he is out for 8 games and that a rookie can be elevated to the list to replace hm. Rookies, who are mostly teenagers, can play in the preseason cup and the reserves but not the AFL. My guess is that, if St Kilda are in finals contention late in the season, Fraser will return to the list if only as cover for another big forward going down. If St Kilda continue to struggle, I don't think he'll be seen again.

I had heard that Riewoldt was a Gold Coast boy, and had a bit of a thought that he might be the kind of headline player that the team might want to entice for their first season.

I gather that there is some kind of ruling that means the club will have to play at the Gabba before actually settling on the Gold Coast. Presumably the AFL will do their best to get around this problem.

I'm not entirely sure how far west in Sydney the ANZ Stadium is - I've been but can't remember it's location. I imagine it will be too big a base for the West Sydney team.

That St Kilda strip is really something.

If/when the AFL has expanded previously, is extra draft picks rather than an expansion draft how they've stocked the new team(s)?

The proposed draft picks for Gold Coast and Western Sydney are incredibly generous compared to what's happened before - a reflection of the fact that these are not Aussie Rules locations and the clubs will need to be competitive straight away if they're to have any chance of attracting support.

The most recent club to enter the competition, Port Adelaide in 1997, got very little - just picks 6, 7 and 9 in the 1996 draft. Fremantle, who were admitted a couple of years earlier, got the number 1 draft pick in both 1994 and 1995.

It's been confirmed that International Rules is back.

Two tests between Australia and Ireland will be played at the end of October in Perth and Melbourne.

Melbourne, what's up with the yellow bits on the St. Kilda kit above?

And in case anyone cares, the Victory-Juve B match was live on Sky Italia last night.

ursus arctos wrote:

QUOTE:
Melbourne, what's up with the yellow bits on the St. Kilda kit above?

For the duration of WW1, St Kilda ditched the red, white and black (then the colours of the German flag) in favour of red, yellow and black (the Belgian flag). Yellow has been used in away tops a few times over the years and, a couple of years ago, the Belgian top reappeared for Heritage Round.

QUOTE:
And in case anyone cares, the Victory-Juve B match was live on Sky Italia last night.

There's been a lot of boasting here about the number of countries that broadcast the game. Apparently, people in 99 nations now know that Juventus reserves are far better than Melbourne Victory and that half the population of Melbourne appear to be Juve fans.

Today, in Round 10, the last unbeaten record went as the Western Bulldogs beat Hawthorn in Tasmania. Hawthorn are still top though.