What is this epidemic with inaccuracy in front of goal? Do kids grow up not practicing set shots anymore? Does everyone just wanna kick around the corner? I don’t get it, because it seems if you kick straight, you win.
Hello, and welcome back to AFL from LA. I’m your host, Cindye. We’re back here in beautiful Beverly Hills on this very windy yet sunny day. We’re on Santa Monica Boulevard. Rodeo Drive’s just a couple blocks away. What a great weekend. There were some great games. There was a lot of movement in the competition. Essendon and Adelaide both fell out of the top eight this week, but do not count them out. Big questions over umpiring and goal kicking inaccuracy—it gets worse every week. But anyway, onto my hot takes for Round 8.
Carlton’s Crisis Intensifies
Carlton fans may have left at three quarter time, but they stayed longer than the players. Carlton fans, I feel for you. The most talked about team in the media and they’re chronic underperformers. It’s like they need a collective Viagra. They have some real players—Walsh, Curnow, Cripps, sexy Saad. But I have to ask, are any Carlton players taking a step forward this year? I mean, is Cripps really at the same level as the Bont? As Oliver? Neale? And then it seems the gap between their best players and their role players is huge. I was thinking that maybe the Carlton team needs to be tested for color blindness. See, you guys are blue, but you kept kicking it to the red. How can you win if you kick it to a Brisbane player every time you come out of defense? Josh Dunkley not only was best on ground, but he’s Hottie of the Week. 33 disposals, 14 contested, 13 tackles, 6 clearances, and a super scalp, Patrick Cripps.
Umpires v Gold Coast
Umpires 13.12 defeated Gold Coast 13.7. I feel robbed, and they’re not even my team. With 20 seconds to go, McPherson had a chance at winning and he missed. People! Inaccuracy! You cannot win games if you can’t score goals. Gold Coast were super impressive. They were matching it with the Dees for all four quarters, and that was without hotties Weller and Miller. Stewie Dew would be super proud and he’d also be, as you Aussies would say, spewing, because the Suns whipped the Dees in many key stats. He’d also be super spewing because of the horrible umpiring. Ugh! They were robbed. I mean that free kick to Melbourne when the margin was only eight points, and Swallow being held and not being paid, and Chol being bumped out of the marking contest in the dying moments. It truly seems like umpiring is getting worse. Am I wrong? Do I not know the game well enough? Let me know in the comments.
Adelaide’s Brave Stand
Adelaide had a few problems. Fogarty was not at his best, Rashele was quiet, but the Crows, with five 20 year-olds on the team, never gave up. To be in it with a chance of winning with three minutes left is the very definition of an honorable loss. So biggest issue, quite frankly, was the umpiring. Controversial non-calls to Keays and Pedlar could have cost them the game. But Geelong—they were too skilled, too experienced, and too attractive to the umpires. In all seriousness, though, Geelong supporters should be very proud. Despite constantly being called pensioners, Geelong is proving over and over and over that they’re contenders for the flag. And here’s hoping that Paddy Dangerfield’s hamstring injury is minor, minor, minor. Adelaide ended Geelong’s 120 plus scoring streak, they came within 20 seconds of beating Collingwood last week, and they came within a couple of umpiring calls of beating Geelong this week. Are the Crows the real deal? Yes, I think they’re the real deal. There, I said it.
The Return of Nat Fyfe
So a better performance this week by the Eagles, and a great fight from GWS, who ultimately could not beat Bontempelli and Tim English, I mean the Bulldogs. But the bigger story this week was the Docker’s return to the winners list. Freo won their first 1st quarter this season. And Luke Jackson finally had an impressive game. And Hallelu, Andy Bradshaw is back to his 2022 form. The biggest story of the game was Nat Fyfe’s return. Number 7 is back! He scored a goal. He had 10 disposals. He had three scoring assists. I’m really curious to see how much midfield time he’s gonna get from here on out. Even if he can get back to 60%, it will allow Brayshaw and Serong to really go to town. But this is what I don’t understand, and maybe you guys would be so kind to explain it to the American, how is it possible that the Hawks were beating Freo in center clearances and they were still down by five goals at halftime? Let me know in the comments.
Collingwood Can’t Lose
Port dug deep this week to overcome the ever improving Essendon, in a thriller of a match. But my attention went to Collingwood versus Sydney at the G. Sydney decided to experiment this week by letting the Pies be ahead at three quarter time. It didn’t work. But geez, it would’ve helped if Sydney actually kicked straight. Last week, Adelaide against the Pies, this week, the Swans against the Pies. Sydney totally dominated the 3rd quarter and didn’t kick a single goal. And they only kicked one for the entire second half. The big Texan really helped the Pie’s structure. He’s just so hard to match up against, and he’s a target down the line or up front. And Mihocek’s soccer goal on the line—oh my God! How great was it to see him finally kick five goals? I’m not sure what to think of Sydney at this point. Sure, they’ve got injuries and their goal kicking has been woeful, but they’re just not showing signs of being a contender. Collingwood, on the other hand, seems to be THE contender.