Any Storm In A Port?

Final Analysis For Aussie Rules

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

It's the last Saturday in September, so Melbourne has come to a grinding halt to watch the Grand Final. The second quarter has just started and Geelong, the firm favourites, are in front of Port Power, 67 to 14. Can Port come back to win another premiership to go with their 2004 flag, or will Geelong win their first flag in 44 years?

Geelong won 163-44, the biggest Grand Final defeat ever.

Get Your Kicks With Aussie Rules

Repeat After Me: Adopting A Team Is My Goal

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Time for everybody to get involved in Aussie Rules football. This weekend, the Australian Football League finals series gets under way and I thought since more than 95 per cent of my readers are from overseas, I'd ask you to``choose'' a team to follow through the series. Yes, that includes you, too, Dawn, Bart, Dan and Brian!

As an interesting aside, there are three ex-Aussie Rules players in NFL teams - Ben Graham with the New York Jets, Mat McBriar with the Dallas Cowboys and of course Saverio Rocco, who will take the field this weekend for the Philadelphia Eagles.

After 22 rounds of the home-and-away series, only the top eight teams now face off in the quest for the Grand Final. The first four teams are safe this week, but a loss this weekend for at least two teams ranked 5-8 is a slippery slide to oblivion. The eight teams and their stats are listed below. Come on. Embrace Aussie Rules. Let me know which team you're choosing ....

Geelong Cats: 18 wins,72 points

Port Adelaide: 15 wins, 60 points

West Coast Eagles: 15 wins, 60 points

Kangaroos: 14 wins, 56 points

Hawthorn Hawks: 13 wins, 52 points

Collingwood Magpies: 13 wins, 52 points

Sydney Swans: 12 wins, 1 draw, 50 points

Adelaide Crows: 12 wins, 48 points

Click here: Pentax K100D, Shutter speed 1/60, F6.7, ISO speed 200.

This Is Aussie Rules Football

Black And White (And Cred All Over)

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

There can be nothing like the pain of a loss in the Australian Football League. Well, yes, there is, actually - it's even worse when your team gets beaten in a complete upset that even has the bookmakers shaking their heads at the size of the total payout. Yesterday we headed to the Melbourne Cricket Ground to watch the Collingwood Football Club (black and white club colours) take on the Richmond Football Club (black and yellow club colours). This is Round 19 of the national Aussie Rules competition and Richmond, having won only a solitary game all year, came out firing and thumped Collingwood. This shot (above) was taken on the concourse near Gate 6 of the MCG.


We got to our seats very early and I took this shot (above) to give you an idea of the size of the historic sporting arena. We call football ``footy'' and night footy has a completely different feel to afternoon football fixtures. My fellow blogger Dan, who recently posted a glowing review of my novel Vegemite Vindaloo, might be interested in this shot. You see, the novel begins (and ends) with the depiction of a night Grand Final here at the MCG.


Here's a sight (above) that you don't see too often at the footy. The woman on the left is a Collingwood loyalist, while her father (right) is a Richmond fan. When we first came to live in Melbourne 20 years ago, most families has single-club loyalties, with children barracking for clubs because their parents barracked for them. But now that the competition has gone national, it is more common to see members of one family who follow different teams.

This shot shows the black-and-yellow colours of the Richmond cheer squad, celebrating an all-too-familiar sight - a Richmond goal. But we won't go into too much detail on that subject! But you might be interested in the configuration of the goalposts. A goal (a kick through the centre posts) earns six points, while a behind (a kick between a centre post and a shorter side post) earns one point. Hope you enjoyed your brief introduction to Aussie Rules.