[retired_nela]

Geelong 23.18 (156) dftd Kangaroos 8.2 (50)

Wow. No doubt at all that Geelong are the outright favourites for the flag now. And to think that pretty much the same side didn't even make the finals last season!

Next week:

West Coast v Collingwood Subiaco Sep 14 (Fri 8:45pm)

Kangaroos v Hawthorn Melbourne Cricket Ground Sep 15 (Sat 7:30pm)

[Nicoblu]

Se;wood wins rising star with pendulbury (sp) runner up. I have to say I pretty poor selection of up and comers this year.

The all Australian team is surely a joke? surely? How on earth did Matthew Richardson get selected he just huffs and puffs and I have honestly never seen him kick a pressure goal. And Craig Bolton for me was decent but not all Australian quality, he stitched up a few fat full forwards but I never saw a game where he truely hands down beat a quality player and he really struggled on Saturfay night.

[Nicoblu]

Sorry lots of spelling mistakes

[retired_aishwarya]

They're just nominations thus far, and I doubt Richo will get a guernsey ahead of Pavlich, Buddy and BROOOOOOOWN.

And I beg to differ on Richo, here's a bloke who's carried a team on his shoulders for the best part of a decade, kicked in excess of 700 goals and been crucified by all sections of footy for whingeing or sooking or whatever. I reckon he's only entitled to have a bit of whinge given the basketcase of a club he's given superb service to for 15 odd years.

[retired_aishwarya]

Also I've got to disagree about the year's crop of emerging players - Selwood had the best debut season of anyone since Judd, Pendlebury looks to be real quality, Jesse Smith has held down a key back position in his first full season, Shannon Hurn has happily slotted into the Eagles midfield/backline with his 80m boot, Justin Westhoff went Pick 71 and kicked 30+ goals in just over half a season, Mark LeCras has been a small forward for the Eagles in the absence of Sampi etc etc etc.

There's plenty of good young talent about.

[retired_nela]

Bolton's best work is probably as a creative defender rather than man-on-man player. Particularly with Kennelly missing so many games, he played a quite important role.

Richo...well, I wouldn't argue with 197 marks in 22 games. His kicking and decision making are certainly downsides, but he is a real presence up forward. It's not easy for a key forward in the cellar dwelling side.

It's certainly too early to judge the latest crop of draft picks after just one season, though Westoff and Selwood have been excellent. Still, I think a lot of young players, like Foley, Priddis, Malceski and Adcock have really stepped up out of nowhere. It's going to be really hard to replace all the talent we're losing through retirements, particularly with Bell set to go and Buckley still in doubt.

[retired_nela]

Don't know how many of you are aware, but there are two full-version free AFL management games out (and no, they have no relation to Kevin Sheedy's AFL Coach).

First is TAR: http://www.stratagemsports.com.au/index.html It was formerly a commercial game, though I can't understand how people would pay for it. There are some nice ideas, such as hiring staff for recruiting, admin and the like, and a very clear game interface, but it seems quite shallow.

Second is Footy Fanatic. The new version of this looked like coming some time after Duke Nukem Forever, but appeared quietly at http://footyfanatic.net/ It has a clumsy game interface and no editor, but is brilliant from a stats perspective.

[retired_nela]

West Coast vs Collingwood tonight. West Coast has lost Cousins and Judd, with Kerr already out, so this is one of the rare times West Coast will go in underdogs at home. They certainly have the finals experience, but I'm not sure that will be enough.

[retired_!SprintR!]

It will be interesting to see if Collingwood can actually find Subiaco, seeing they don't travel outside of Melbourne very often.

[retired_nela]

Here's the full teams, BTW. Interesting turnaround for Kangaroos v Hawthorn - last time, Jones kicked 7 for the Roos and Franklin and Mitchell were out for the Hawks. Now Jones is out and those two are back.

WEST COAST v COLLINGWOOD
Friday, 6.45pm WST, Subiaco Oval
WEST COAST
B: Brett Jones, Darren Glass, David Wirrpanda
HB: Beau Waters, Adam Hunter, Tyson Stenglein
C: Michael Braun, Adam Selwood, Andrew Embley
HF: Daniel Chick, Ashley Hansen, Mark Nicoski
F: Mark LeCras, Quinten Lynch, Mark Seaby
FOLL: Dean Cox, Chad Fletcher, Shannon Hurn
I/C: Rowan Jones, Matt Priddis, Matt Rosa, Brent Staker
EMG: Chad Jones, Jamie McNamara, Mitch Morton

In:Hansen, Fletcher
Out: Ben Cousins (hamstring), Chris Judd (groin)


COLLINGWOOD
B: James Clement, Shane Wakelin, Tarkyn Lockyer
HB: Heath Shaw, Harry O'Brien, Tyson Goldsack
C: Martin Clarke, Scott Burns, Nathan Buckley
HF: Nick Maxwell, Anthony Rocca, Scott Pendlebury
F: Dale Thomas, Travis Cloke, Sean Rusling
FOLL: Guy Richards, Shane O'Bree, Leon Davis
I/C: Dane Swan, Josh Fraser, Alan Didak, Paul Medhurst
EMG: Paul Licuria, Rhyce Shaw, Chris Bryan

No change


KANGAROOS v HAWTHORN
Saturday, 7.30pm AEST, MCG


KANGAROOS
B: Daniel Pratt, Michael Firrito, Josh Gibson
HB: Jesse Smith, Shannon Watt, Ed Lower
C: Brent Harvey, Adam Simpson, Brady Rawlings
HF: David Hale, Drew Petrie, Aaron Edwards
F: Glenn Archer, Shannon Grant, Scott McMahon
R: Hamish McIntosh, Daniel Harris, Daniel Wells
I/C: Lachlan Hansen, Jess Sinclair, Andrew Swallow, Eddie Sansbury
EMG: Matt Campbell, Leigh Brown, Leigh Harding

In: Lachlan Hansen, Ed Lower
Out: Corey Jones (foot), Leigh Brown

HAWTHORN
B: Brent Guerra, Stephen Gilham, Campbell Brown
HB: Grant Birchall, Trent Croad, Rick Ladson
C: Jordan Lewis, Sam Mitchell, Richie Vandenberg
HF: Chance Bateman, Tim Boyle, Ben Dixon
F: Lance Franklin, Jarryd Roughead, Luke Hodge
FOLL: Robert Campbell, Brad Sewell, Shane Crawford
I/C: Michael Osborne, Joel Smith, Simon Taylor, Clinton Young
EMG: Travis Tuck, Ben McGlynn, Tom Murphy

No change