TooSerious

For those who take it way too seriously

<p style='font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 18px;]That's right, we're back again onStadium Sport
<p style='font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 18px;]This week, we've got a prize fund of $350 on the Fremantle v Richmond game.
<p style='font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 18px;]So jump in, sign up and take the few minutes it takes to put in a team! And yanno, if you want, add me (Les Wales) as a friend- love tracking how you guys do!
By Charles Happell from BackPageLead.com.au

The AFL will make its first serious foray overseas on Thursday - ANZAC Day - when St Kilda and Sydney play a match in Wellington, the first game contested outside Australia for premiership points.



A lot of money will be spent on the staging of the event, its marketing and promotion, and the transporting of teams, officials, television crews and sundry AFL hangers-on to New Zealand - hundreds of them in total. A lot of time and effort will also be devoted to ensuring the game's success. AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou will be wheeled out to talk of the close ties between the two countries on this historic and poignant occasion and the benefits of such a trans-Tasman sporting initiative.



But the questions have to be asked: Is it all worth it? What is the AFL trying to achieve here? And what will the return be on that million-dollar investment?



For those AFL clubs left back in Australia and continually beset by financial problems, for those struggling country leagues forever battling the population drain to the cities, for those Australian states who'd love to host more AFL footy, the New Zealand experiment is an expensive folly; a delusion the code doesn't need and can't afford.



Melbourne FC is the oldest sporting club in Australia and, as you might have read during its recent run of crises, has been around since 1858. And, sure, many of its current problems are entirely self-inflicted. But how the Dees - or St Kilda or Port Adelaide or the Western Bulldogs, for that matter - would love some of that promotional money, marketing effort and AFL love.



Similarly, Tasmania can't get enough of the indigenous code, yet that affection has hardly been reciprocated by AFL HQ in the past decade or two.



Australian Rules is an Australian game, just as sumo wrestling is Japanese, and no amount of marketing and slick TV advertising will make it universally popular....
Round 4 saw the Donor team finally get back into a bit of form, scoring 2165 for the week. It was only enough to place us 49,434 for the round, but it bettered our average, so we're moving in the right direction.We're now ranked at 58,588 for the season, and on the leagues front we won all five! This puts us 6th, 5th, 3rd, 8th, and 12th in our leagues.



Our team for round four looked like this:
Backmen
Goddard 117
Dixon 103
Gibbs 95
Heppell 88
Pittard 79
Heath 60
Midfielders
Ablett 131
Pendlebury 105 (V)
Cotchin 106
Goodes 108
Wines 91
Dangerfield 120
Viney 9
Crouch 83
Rucks
Cox 96 (Captain 192)
Leuenberger 79
Forwards
Westoff 149
Kennedy 68
Franklin 116
Rockliff 95
Zorko 105
Neade 66
Bench
Stevenson 67 (E)
Terlich 62
O'Meara 100 (E)
Dwyer 65
Rowe 68 (E)
Currie 0
Macaffer 58
Karnezis 0 (E)



In the backline we had both of our bench players score more than Heath's 60, otherwise it was good selection. Swapping out Heath for Stevenson and his 67 would have made us an extra 7 points.



In the midfield we got stung, like nearly everyone else, with the Viney 9 points&amp;hellip; Swapping him out for O'Meara and his 100 points would have given us an extra 91 points. We also went with the captains loophole, with Pendles as VC, but chose not to take his 105 points, thinking that Big Cox would carve up against an undermanned Blues ruck division.



Which brings me onto the rucks, and captain Coxy only scoring 96 points really hurt. Had have we stuck with the permacap himself, we would have gained an extra 35 points, however this wasn't our best option.



Westoff in the forward line top scored for the donors this week, with 149 points, meaning our optimal captain selection would have made an extra 53 points for us this week. We did have the right players on the bench though, and luckily didn't get stuck with loophole captain Macaffer and his 58 points!



So, all up in round...
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Similar deal to R1 this year, if you have players in Thursday's matches (ESS/COL, STK/SYD) they are locked in as of the commencement of the ESS/COL game. All other players are locked in as of the commencement of Friday night's match.



More to come soon. Promise.



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As mentioned in the preamble, we are lucky enough to have Shenanigans putting in the work this week, doing most of the heavy lifting this week.



So give him a hand, and a few kind words as we dive into this week's review.



Sydney vs Geelong

Result: Geelong by 21



It was an epic game. 15 goals kicked in the first quarter gave us a taste of what could be, before the brakes were put on with both teams reasonably modest on the score board for the rest of the game, in comparison anyways.



Watching the game though, in particular, to the third quarter, harks my mind back to the pre-season, and my prediction that injuries would hit and Geelong would drop out of the eight this year. I gotta say, they way they are all playing- even if the injuries kick in, I don't see them dropping out. They're playing some magnificent footy.



Leading from the front for the Catters was none other than captain courageous, Joel Selwood who had 31 disposals, 18 of them contested and still managed an 81% disposal efficiency rating. Worth every last big of the 163SC that he put out!



Harry Taylor had one of those games out of the bag that he has, with 20 disposals and 2.3 for a very solid 125SC.




Not many poor scores from the Cats who were all firing, with even Mark Blicavs stepping up for a 47SC off 7 touches and 11 hitouts.


On Sydney's side, it was Kieren Jack who top scored. 29 disposals and 130SC for the tagger, sadly though his target, SJ, had a good one himself.



Nick Malceski was the only other Swan to score a ton, with 28 disposals and 123SC. A whole bunch of that (25)...
Many a coach has been able to take advantage of the captain loophole in recent years and in 2013 it has become even more prominent with a rolling lockout each and every week. We have already seen the strategy pay off time and again over the first four rounds thus far; however, having a non-playing player able to be used to exploit the loophole has been a bit of a luxury for a lot of us. I think this could be partly due to the perception that we need as many players available to take the field and making cash for our upgrades as possible.



In those good ol' days before there were byes, it was a common and almost necessary strategy to have set and forget premium rucks and a cheap backup in case of emergency, leaving the R4 position almost redundant and only the cheapest of cheap rucks suitable for the role, with job security irrelevant. Although, with the introduction of the byes when Gold Coast joined the AFL, we had to adjust to the new landscape and job security became more important than ever for all 30 positions, and this carried through to last year as well with the 3 bye rounds still causing havoc - especially if we had any players not pull the boots on over that stretch.



This year is very different in both regards, the effect of the 3 bye rounds have been softened with the new rule of the best 18 scores counting for each given week and, as mentioned earlier, we now have the rolling lockout every week.[span style='font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;]So, having as many playing players as possible is probably not as essential as the last two years... But, having as many players as possible making cash? With the extra trades this year, yes, it is probably better to have as many options to cash in as possible, but is it more important than being able to exploit the captains loophole? I personally do not think so.
Lets have a look at the first games of each round so far and see if there were any VC...
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What a round. Close matches, huge scores, some extremely low scores. Exciting debuts and devastating injuries. It was all happening in the ORFFL.

Review of the games below.




<strong style='font-weight: bold;]MOUNT BUGGERY DISAPPOINTMENTS [/b][span style='font-weight: bold;]1381 DEF<strong style='font-weight: bold;] SARAH ISLAND SAVAGES [/b]1360

Match of the round with both teams battling it out in a massive point-fest as Mount Buggery savagely defeated the disappointed Sarah Island to be the only team remaining undefeated in 2013. It certainly helps when nine of your players score above 90 and only two below 70. Aptly named Sidebottom top-scored with 136, Stanton 117 and Hooker getting in on it with 115. Stoic effort from the Savages despite suffering premiership hangover and Kepler-withdrawls. Sloane turned it on for the first time this year with a massive 146 and Harry Taylor proved he could play at both ends on his way to 125. The jar has been been broken but they are not out yet.


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<strong style='font: inherit; background-color: #ffffff;]WARBURTON WANDERERS[/b] 1188 DEF TARWIN LOWER PIGS 1066

The Wanderers continue heading in the right direction, backing up their first win last week with a comfortable victory over the Pigs. Hartlett top scored for them with 144, revelling in his new D/M status (not to mention Port's 4-zip start). Bailey (113) too is enjoying his time in Warburton, grateful for being put back together again after being pushed off the wall. Scully turned it on for the first time this season against his old club, getting 109. So cocky was the Wanderers coach he didn't even bother to play GHS (105) this week. Few positives for Tarwin but they will be pleased with Giles (97) progression and...
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<p style='font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 18px;]Or yanno, drop into theChat
Today coming in from Les Zigomanis at BackpageLead.com.au, Les takes a close look at Collingwood, and why Hawthorn seems to have the wood.




Sunday saw another Collingwood capitulation to Hawthorn, which some might believe is true to form - Hawthorn have won ten of the last thirteen such encounters, after all.

However, let's consider Collingwood's three victories in that trend: in Round 4, 2010, Collingwood by 64 points; in Round 15, 2011, Collingwood by 41 points (a game in which they relaxed once they'd established a commanding lead); and the famous come-from-behind victory in the 2011 Preliminary Final, a match the Hawks had all but won.

They're three relatively meritorious wins, and suggest Collingwood has the potential to beat the Hawks, but, since, haven't been able to put it together to remain competitive throughout a game.
Here are my five reasons why:

5. The Mental Edge
Collingwood's period of mini-dominance against Hawthorn (2010-2011) occurred when Collingwood exercised a stranglehold over the competition through their defensive pressure, unrelenting harassment, and frenetic tackling - the manic system known as The Press. This was their form of intimidation. Now it's well and truly gone.

Defensively, it not only leaves Collingwood lacking, but also vulnerable to sides who are - as Hawthorn have been under Alastair Clarkson - unsociable. Simply, ugly football seems to rattle Collingwood, and they no longer have the punch - or counter-punch - The Press offered them.

Consider, for example, Luke Hodge sliding into Harry O'Brien's feet and upending O'Brien in Sunday's match. O'Brien gets up and appears to check whether Hodge is okay, whilst Burgoyne comes in and offers mini-remonstration.

It's emblematic of the mindset. One side enjoys it down and dirty. The other doesn't. That's not to question Collingwood's courage, collectively or individually, but when the game strays purely from football, when it...
<p style='font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 18px;]This week the Best Buys looks at a lot of the players that are increasing in value, and a few who might be decreasing slightly but are still bringing in the big points. There's a few surprises again in the list, with some players continuing to impress and a few others dropping out of the picture.
<p style='font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 18px;]The Best Buy this week is none other than Justin Westhoff. Admittedly he isn't as cheap now as he was last week, but he has had another game against good opposition by which to judge him. The Hoff is sitting on top of the SC leader-board this season, and has so far been in incredible form for the coaches brave enough to take the punt early on.



DEFENSE
ROOKIES



Jack HUTCHINS (GCS) DEF 115.9k 83 +78k
Dean Terlich (MEL) DEF 109.5k 59 +48k
Jack Frost (COL) DEF 96.2k 56 +48k



MID-PRICERS



Dyson HEPPELL (ESS) D/M 471.3k 105
Heppell has been good so far this season, after a worrying start he has come back to the numbers his coaches were expecting from him pre-season, and is now averaging 105 for 2013. A solid pick and while still priced under 500 grand should be a bargain.



Jarryn Geary (StK) DEF 425.7k 102
Geary has so far been great value, averaging over 100 and now priced at just over 400 grand if he can maintain this level of output then the under...