50 Ways to Lose A Match

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#34 - Break even for the best part of three quarters with a decidedly better opponent but fail due to dismal kicking into the forward line.

And thus, as it was spoken it happened. It's been a long, long time since we've seen the boys live in action against real opposition and those who braved the half demolished, and completely filthy House "That Corruption Built" at Princes Park this afternoon probably wished in equal measure that this game had come sooner or had never happened at all.

Today we saw both the best and the worst of what Melbourne have to offer at the moment. We have a few strengths, and we have massive limitations and in four quarters today both of these were exposed for the world - all 2500 of them who were there - to see.

In a moment to make panting internet fanboys and forum users all over the world rise to applaud Meesen started in the ruck, and while he won everything early the Swans controlled around the ground. However, even with Hall looking dangerous they didn't have anything else going for them up front and within a few minutes we took over. Grimes, McDonald and Petterd were particuarly impressive earlier and "The man who nearly died" (TM - the media) set up the first goal wit a running intercept and laser like pass into the waiting arms of either Newton or Miller (one of the above). Ricky was easily our BOG in the first quarter. We went into the quarter time break a couple of goals to the good and looking ok.

A word, if I may about Newton. I know we've all had a crack at him, and I'm still waiting to see if he can get into the AFL Hall of Fame for being the one person whose sole lifetime contested possession was the mark of the year, but he has gone absolutely nuts in the defensive intensity stakes this year. He's chasing, tackling, bumping and generally making a nuisance of himself to the opposition Sure, it's one thing being a defensive cougar if you're an offensive kitten but he's getting there. At least if it doesn't work out for him in footy he can join the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Then there's the ruckmen. Now, I don't want you to think that the next thing I write is purely for shock value, to be controversial or to incite hatred amongst the internet community but Meesen was actually good today. He really was. I'm well aware that the Swans had a rugby player rotating through the ruck today, but Meese held his own against both Pyke and Jolly and even got a few decent touches around the ground. Spencer, on the other hand, might have beaten Pyke but got smashed like a guitar when he took on Jolly. He gets a bit of it around the ground but still looks incredibly unco and will do better for his experience against AFL ruckmen in the pre-season and at least another few weeks at least in the 2's.

I'm not sure what they're thinking about with Johnson but the first time he went into the ruck was in the 4th quarter and he was left up front for the rest of the time he was on. I think I'd still rather Jamar/Johnson as the R1 combination, but it's going to be interesting to see what they do if, in the absence of Robertson, Watts etc.., they sacrifice Johnson to the forward line full time. Is it Meese time? Tell you what, there will be partying in the street when he runs out onto the ground for the first time. Don't burn your Luke Williams #26 jumpers yet, there's still time to get some value out of them.

Err, anyway. The game. It's hard to write in much detail because we had barely any standout players in the second and third quarters - though Grimes was good - and the game was largely played in the centre. It was the same sort of scrappy shit that you expect from Sydney, but we simply didn't have the tools to combat it. McLean, Green, Moloney, Sylvia, Jones and McDonald (after quarter time) barely saw the thing. Bruce and Morton were getting it and doing nothing with it and while the likes of Strauss, Bennell, Bail and Jetta were getting touches they're not experienced enough to be relied on to deliver every time.

And delivery was the issue. The Johnson/Miller/Newton forward line were rarely given real chances to shine due to the pathetic quality of delivery they were recieving. I know the days of kicking to contests are gone, but is it really so bad to do it if you're kicking to the goal square? There's too much marking the ball 60m out and trying pissy little lateral passes that we're simply not good enough to pull off. This usually ends in Miller marking the ball 45m out on the boundary line where he is simply NOT SUITED to kicking goals from. I don't pretend to know anything about football but would he not be better suited playing from the square and having it kicked long to him? I'd love to throw Davey back in that forward line but he'd just be wasted by the fact that most of our inside 50's consist of spearing 19m kicks to somebody's feet.

Speaking of Davey - Jetta may very well be the 2.0 version. Some of his sidesteps today were great to watch. THE CELEBRATOR is going to be a handy goalkicker, but Jetta is the man most likely to deliver the goods when it comes to flair manoevures. Bennell also showed a bit today, especially when he gave it to Goodes in the 3rd quarter.

Another piece of tactical mastery that I couldn't understand was Bruce getting the ball 55m out 24 minutes into a shortened quarter and motioning to slow it down before going backwards to the wing. What school of tactical genius says that you don't at least put the ball deep into your forward line in the last few seconds and try to get a score. Would have been bloody handy at the end in the context of the game, and if you're so shit that the other side can rebound and kick a goal within the last 20 seconds of the quarter well then maybe it's time to go back to the drawing board anyway. This is the problem I have with the introduction of a countdown clock - sure everyone knows that the players get told how much time there is left, but it's fine to tell somebody there's a minute left but when they know there's precisely 12 seconds to go then that's the kind of shit we're going to get served up. Anyway, god forbid we managed not to turn it over whilst playing that intricate piece of footballing chess and went into half time a couple of behind.

This was mainly thanks to the work in the backline of Warnock, Martin and to a lesser extent Garland. Martin played a great defensive quarter, and on more than one occasion a certain Sydney mark was spoilt by one of his massive octupus like arms dropping it and punching. All three of these guys can punch, mark and dispose of a ball properly. Contrast that with your Nicholsons and Carrolls of the world who could win a body on body contest or stick a mitt in to spoil but were fairly well rooted when the ball landed in their hands. The winner of the "2009 Peter Walsh Lookalike Competition", Kyle Cheney also looks impressive, and when you throw Whelan and (god forbid) Rivers back into the mix our backline is easily our best asset.

The 2nd quarter also featured Brad Green's WORST EVER kick for goal. It was indescribably rank and missed the lot from 40m. The guy behind me declared "oh this is a certain goal" shortly before he kicked it. Well, I suppose the odds were in his favour. Green was everywhere again in the first half today but was off most of the second half.

Speaking of the 3rd quarter I suppose you want to know something about it? I hate these games where I can't just assume that you were either there or saw the replay and spend 4000 words make obscure Sylvia Plath references instead. The Swans dominated early on and it looked like they were going to turn us over handily, but as Sylvia got into the game and kicked a nice goal we started to wrest back the momentum and keep ourselves in it. We were destroyed in the clearances, but that was sadly the story of the day. Spencer was murdered by Jolly in the ruck early on but whenever Pyke came back into it we got back on top.

Interesting moment in the 3rd when Barry Hall started losing the plot and trying to slap people like the Ivan Milat-esque nutbag he is. Absolutely nobody stood up to him. Not one person ran over and gave him a nudge. Very interesting, and a bit disappointing. I'm not suggesting that somebody Stakerizes him and stands over the lifeless corpse yelling "HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?" but a bit of physicality would have been nice. Even Morton, who he had almost lifted off the ground without any trouble, just walked away.

So, the 4th quarter. Johnson into the ruck, Valenti into the centre for the first time and Hall off the ground having been taken to the cleaners by Warnock. We continued to get murdered out of the middle and the Swans kicked away. Even the Canadian bloke managed to kick a goal to great acclaim - which made up for the fact that the poor bastard was a mile out of his depth for the rest of the quarter. For us Sylvia suddenly came alive and was everywhere. On the strength of his first half my notes say "does not deserve to play Round 1" but he showed exactly what he can do in the last quarter and - not that my opinion counts for anything - saved his spot in my best 22. He is still to #3 draft picks what the Spruce Goose was to aviation. Cheney also continued to show promises.

The highlight of the fourth was undoubtedly Davey's full length smother in our forward line late, which could very well have been rewarded with a free after 12 people jumped on top of him. We got nothing out of it in the end but it was a great effort for a meaningless pre-season friendly. Shortly afterwards, with the margin three points, Johnson had a wild snap from 40m out that rolled across the face of goal for a point. They went up the other end, goalled and it was pretty much over. Then it really was over and we'd lost another tight one.

I'm not nearly as upset as I was last week. Sure we were playing another second string lineup, and we could have won it again but it doesn't feel like we deserved to win it like we did last week. We broke even with the Swans for most of the game, but we never dominated them like we did Hawthorn. As I said earlier our forward line isn't good enough to deal with the substandard delivery that they are getting. Fevola might have been served up crap on a plate for years at Carlton but he rose above it because he's a quality that the likes of Miller - sadly - will never be.

A big hand to Miller today for his talk through. He was just going nuts at every centre bounce. Maybe you just hear it more because there are less people there. Even the guys constructing the new dirty money Visy stand behind the goals stopped while the match was on. But since when did builders need an excuse to stop working?

I hammered Miller for years but I can see now that he wants to do well, and actually cares so I'm right behind him. Let's just not start having any sick fantasies about him winning a Coleman anytime soon.

Pen and Paper Corner
You can't take notes at a game you're at with other people without them thinking you're a lunatic. Thankfully my family were having a 'gathering' elsewhere today that I refused to go to because of this and was able to write whatever I wanted. Unfortunately I then proceded to forget to take a notepad and was forced to write on the back of an old Telstra bill I found in my car. Undoubtedly the most useful thing those pricks have done for Australia in years.

The Tactical Analysis Centre
Usually I don't give a stuff about tactics, trends or what 15 of the clubs in the competition are doing but it seems that all of a sudden low scores have become the in thing in the AFL. People seem to be blaming Hawthorn for this, but I'm not sure exactly how a side that had two guys kick 170 goals between them in a season can be said to have turned the game into a defensive stalemate.

Now, I'm sure the clowns running the AFL will - in their infinate drug induced wisdom - come up with rules to encourage open and attacking play soon enough but it looks to me like this new trend will actually benefit us in some ways if it continues into the new season.

We have a decent backline. We saw that again today. However on the other hand we have a below average forward line which is hampered by abysmal service from the forwards and a game plan that is starting to mystify. Therefore - low scores suit us down to the ground don't they? At least if we're going to get thrashed all over the park and lose by 10 goals we know that it would have been 20 goals any other time.

Kommentary Korner
The guy sitting next to me in the first half was one of those people who says everything that happens and effectively talks to themselves in rhetorical questions for the entire game. As the exact opposite - somebody who shuts the fark up and just goes nuts once in a while - I couldn't stand it and moved for the 2nd half to a much more civilised spot where the two guys behind me spent the 3rd quarter talking about getting blind tonight and cracking onto chicks.

Paul Prymke Plate for Pre-Season Performance Votes

From what I've seen the following differs wildly from what everyone else thought, so take it with a grain of salt.

5 - Warnock
4 - Grimes
3 - Sylvia
2 - Martin
1 - Petterd

Leaderboard

5 - Green, Warnock
4 - Bate, Grimes
3 - Whelan, Sylvia
2 - McLean, Martin
1 - Frawley, Petterd

Well, that didn't sort much out.

Next Week
No idea, but I hope we don't end up playing North because I'd rather choose to believe that we're a chance against them in Round 1 instead of having that notion blown out of the water three weeks before the season actually starts

UPDATE - Brisbane in Cairns apparently. Suffice to say that unless there's some sort of collection taken up I will NOT be there. PPPfPPP votes will either be taken from eye witness correspondant reports, or god forbid, the papers. Cue five votes to the only five players they know.

UPDATE 2 - This post will be updated further when I have more time to proof read it and/or remember things that actually happened.

New Season, Same Team

For the last two hours I've been trying to tell myself that the pre-season doesn't matter. That nothing today counts for anything during the home and away season. But fuck that I'm absolutely fuming. In the last decade I've seen us lose two first round pre-season games by more than a hundred points, and a semi-final by 1 point and I've never been more ropeable before Round One than I am right now.

I'm sick of this "it's only the pre-season" bullshit. From 2007 to today we have won ONE pre-season match - and look how well we've done during the season. This isn't some Paul Roos styled Sydney scam where you play Canadian rugby players and (allegedly) tell people not to kick goals in the last few minutes of a tight match. This is a sign of ineptitude. I wasn't the only one to try and convince myself that 2007 was some sort of abberation and that we'd bounce back - then we went out and fell apart like a house of cards in every pre-season game we played last year. Ok, there was the excuse of having about five fit players but anyone who saw the North Melbourne and Footscray games knew that on both occasions we showed glimpses of being a real club but ultimately couldn't get the job done and got embarassed.

So, to Launceston for a clash with a side carrying the same name as the reigning premiers. Without nine premiership players.

And our side. Well, you wouldn't pencil it in as the best 22 by a long way but it was hardly the sort of experimental lineup that you're used to seeing as this time of the year. Bail (named as a substitute under these bullshit NAB Cup rules), Spencer and Cheney were the only players without experience to take the field. Rivers, Robertson, Moloney etc.. and all the draftees except Bail were out but on the balance of things we were still lining up with a far more senior team than the Hawks.

Was looking forward to seeing Meesen and Zomer play but disappointing neither was named. ZOMGer's absence was especially irritating as not only did he kick 4 goals in the intra-club game last week, it is a genuine fact that our forward line is shithouse and desperately needs new blood to shake things up. If the idea was to have a win and rack up a few members and - god forbid - a major sponsor then I can see where they were going, but if the idea was simply to play as close to a best 22 as possible just because we could then somebody needs to give themselves an uppercut.

The game? Oh do we have to? It's just another chapter in the tale of thwarted ambition that we've been force fed for the last (insert your age here if you're under 45) years.

Spencer started in the ruck and did a good job early. For the first few minutes we were all over the Hawks and they almost looked shellshocked. Sylvia and Morton both missed opportunities early, but eventually Bate opened our account before Green finished off a passage of good play and slotted a goal from the boundary line. Down the other end Roughead was taking marks, getting cheap free kicks and slotting goals from ludicrous angles on the boundary line but was getting absolutely no support elsewhere. In between his first and third goals Bartram got his first and Bate his second to give us a handy twenty point lead approaching quarter time. Then the two late goals cut the margin to five. Still - we were winning a game at quarter time. There's something that doesn't happen too often..

In other notable first quarter moments Paul Johnson copped one of the worst reports of all-time. Not only did the Hawthorn player not actually get hit, the bump that he did have put on him wasn't even by Johnson. It's wonderful to see that the government are finding jobs for homeless drug addicts as AFL umpires. Would almost warm your heart if it wasn't so tragic. Ordinary performance all over the ground by the umpires today I thought. We got away with a few, and got stooged for a few as well.

The second quarter was a classic arm-wrestle (FIRST CLICHE OF THE SEASON!) with neither team scoring for the first ten minutes, until Roughead missed his easiest kick at goal of the day. Hawthorn briefly took the lead but when Bate got his third we were back in front at half-time. What do you say about a quarter like that? We got a lot of the ball and more often than not actually used it decently. McLean was all over it, and even though his disposal was a bit meh it was good to see him involved without breaking something. On the other hand Jones and McDonald were nowhere to be seen.

The third quarter was where it all started to come together and make you believe that we weren't the worst team since Fitzroy 1996. Suddenly Johnson was thrown into the forward line and looked more dangerous than anyone other than Bate had all year. He took two strong marks inside 50 for one goal and when Bate added his fourth, McLean his first and Bartram a 9pt goal we had opened a break of more than five goals going into the last break.

Now, what had impressed me the most to this point was the way that we'd kept the Hawks to five goals - and three of them had come from the boundary. We were denying them anything in front of goal and the likes of Frawley, Garland, Warnock etc.. were doing a handy job. More importantly Whelan, Petterd, Grimes and the running defenders were rebounding confidently. Even when they weren't racking up possessions they were doing positive things. Witness, for instance, Whelan throwing himself at his opponent's feet to force a turnover and a goal.

Having said all this wasn't it always destined to go wrong? Surely Clarkson and club came to and realised that they were being flogged by the worst team in the competition and that they had better fire up or risk looking completely shithouse.

Now this is where it really went wrong in the fourth quarter. I've been a huge supporter of Bailey for the last couple of years but I can't for the life of me work out why after he was our sole decent target up front for three quarters (other than five minutes of Paul Johnson) that he [Note from years in the future - I'm assuming that it was Bate being referred to here but it would have been helpful if that had been made clear at the time] played the fourth quarter up the ground while Newton, Sylvia and to a lesser extent Miller embarassed themselves inside the forward 50.

At first I felt bad for Newton today. He was tackling hard, leading out and getting shithouse delivery. Then in the last he got his chance and absolutely botched it. My blood pressure is already too high without cataloging his crimes against humanity. If Meesen is supposedly the complete athlete but clueless on a football field can't we at least try and turn him into a forward instead? At least he's got athleticism going for him. Newton took Mark of the Year and has never done one decent thing since.

Then there's Sylvia. My god. All I will say is that if there's not a significant improvement on today's effort in the next few weeks then I wouldn't even bother picking him for Round One. It was all well and good dropping Yze and White last year when they weren't performing but at least they had a decade plus of runs on the board. Sylvia on the other hand has played a handful of good games in four years and simply does not deserve to play at the moment. Get your Cranbourne line timetable out and go down there and get some form then come and talk to me. Of course given that we have very little innovation or sense of adventure I'm sure this won't happen and instead we'll be treated to another season of mediocre performances before he's inevitably traded away for pick 30 and goes on to win a Premiership elsewhere.

Miller was alright for the first three quarters but completely cracked in the last. What we need is somebody who can take a mark and kick a goal. Pretty simple eh? Cross your fingers and everything else you've got that Watts is going to come on and be the man, and that Robertson can drag a couple more seasons out of his body because otherwise it's going to be a long, long year.

The fact of the matter is that we had multiple opportunities to seal the game in the last quarter and botched them all. We got what we deserved. Sure if Roughead didn't have his hand on Garland's back at the end them I'm not here - but that's neither here nor there given that we should never have been in that position anyway. If you expected a correct decision in the context of what they'd been dishing up throughout the rest of the game well then frankly you were on drugs.

If they'd bothered to send me my membership yet I would have at least pulled it out of my pocket and waved it around with a few empty threats about burning it, but as it was I picked up the item closest to me - a shoe - and lobbed that across the room instead. Then I went to a driving range and tried to smash my frustrations out, however my talents with a golf club closely mirror that of our forward line kicking under pressure and it was a complete bust.

Kommentary Korner
Dwayne Russell is a knob of the highest order. When you're commentating a Hawthorn game with Dunstall - who is ON their fucking board - and still come off as the caller with the least credibility then you've truly achieved. Here's to being able to watch Fox Sports games with the radio turned up and the mute button firmly pressed down for the rest of the year. Shame too because most of the other people involved in their coverage (Dunstall/Colbert etc..) are fine to listen to.

Fashion Week
Why did we wear the white jumper today? How does our regulation jumper clash in any concievable way with the gold and poo brown Hawthorn jersey? In fact doesn't introducing white into the mix cause MORE of a clash? It's not such a bad jersey but we should not wear it if we don't have to.

Unless of course somewhere the real jumpers are having a sponsors logo added to them... Hah, yeah right.

Votes and Paul Prymke Plate for Pre-Season Performance leaderboard

5 - Green
4 - Bate
3 - Whelan
2 - McLean
1 - Frawley

Apologies to Davey, Morton, Bartram, Grimes, Spencer, Miller, Cheney, Garland and Johnson.

Round One Watch
If North are anywhere near as bad as they were last night, and we are anywhere near as good as we were in the third quarter today it could be interesting. One thing's for sure, if we go out and get flogged by them then we're rooted this season. And the first person to suggest 'tanking' to get the priority pick gets stabbed in the face. First things first, if last season was anything to go by we won't need to try to lose most of the games.

Next Week
God knows. One thing I can tell you for free is that it won't be Carlton at Telstra Dome Etihad Stadium on Sunday night. If the Herald Sun are to be believed it will the loser of Sydney vs Port at either Princes Park or Football Park. Presuming, as always, that the Swans will find new and innovative ways to avoid progressing in the pre-season cup, that will mean a clash next Saturday afternoon with them. See you there if you've honestly got nothing better to do.

Disclaimer
If this is your first visit to Every Day Is Like Sunday and you're wondering where the actual matchday analysis is then you might want to turn around and back away now. For the rest of you, strap yourself in and call your doctor to see if there have been any new anti-depressants released since September 2008.

Pre-Season Preview Spectacular

So, the first pre-season match is out of the way with a few handy performances, a number one draft pick as a runner and the amazing snapping man Jared Rivers injuring himself again. The Demonblog TAB is open for business.

Now, I apologise if you're of the head in the sand "everything will be alright if I believe it will be" persuasion, but there's no predictions that follow which have us making the finals. You have been warned - stop reading now if you're the sort of teenybopper/Uri Gellar-esque spoon bender who believes in negative energy and all that gash. I believe in honest realism and I'm writing, so deal with it.

On that cheery note, let's boogie.

Allen Jakovich Medal for Player of the Year
Previous Winners
2005 - Travis Johnstone
2006 - Brock McLean
2007 - Nathan Jones
2008 - Cameron Bruce

Now, I don't want to say Demonblog is on everyone's lips but have you noticed how every year the winner of this award doesn't do quite as well next year? Are opposition coaching staff scanning these match reports for the sort of accurate in-depth analysis you don't get from the newspaper journalists who just make up their votes based on whoever got the most touches? Probably not, it's hardly the Madden Curse, and McLean's poor 2007 had a fair bit to do with busting his foot in the first quarter of the first game of the year but it's worth keeping in mind if you're going to back Bruce to repeat.

$2.50 - McLean
$2.90 - Green
$3.50 - Bruce, McDonald
$5 - Jones
$8 - Bate, Moloney, Davey
$10 - Morton
$12 - Miller
$15 - Buckley, Wonaeamirri
$20 - Garland, Whelan
$22 - Rivers, Sylvia, Robertson
$25 - Johnson
$30 - Bell, Petterd
$35 - Dunn, Bartram
$40 - Grimes, Martin
$50 - Wheatley
$60 - Maric, Warnock, Frawley
$100 - Newton, Jamar, Valenti
$250 - Watts, Jurrah, Blease, Meesen, Strauss, Spencer, Zomer
$500 - Bail, Bennell, Cheney, Jetta, McNamara, Hughes, Healey, McKenzie

This is not to say that I think the likes of Johnson will have middle of the road seasons, but past analysis of the Jakovich Medal voting from the last four years shows that I'm unwittingly harsh on ruckmen and generous on defenders.

Marcus Seecamp Medal for Defender of the Year

Previous Winners (Most votes for a defender in the overall tally. Must play the vast majority of games in the backline to qualify.)
2005 - Nathan Caroll/Ryan Ferguson (and we made the finals. Hillarious!)
2006 - Jared Rivers
2007 - Paul Wheatley
2008 - Matthew Whelan

Now, this is an interesting one. We've had a big split over the years between running and key position defenders winning, so there's seemingly no bias one way or the other but you'd think it would be easier for a running defender to get noticed by an amateur hack in the outer like yours truly. There's also likely to be a larger focus on the backline when, like in the last two seasons, they spend all day repelling attacks rather than when we're playing well (remember that?) and all the action is at the other end.

$3.50 - Whelan
$5 - Garland
$9 - Rivers
$12 - Buckley
$15 - Wheatley
$18 - Petterd, Bartram (both ripe for disqualification though - BEWARE!)
$20 - Bell, Warnock
$22 - Frawley
$50 - Any other player

Paul Prymke Plate for Pre Season Performance
Previous Winners
2005-2007 - No Award
2008 - Aaron Davey

No votes for intra-club matches. Bad news for THE CELEBRATOR Wonaeamirri, but a clean slate for everyone else starting next week against Hawthorn. Then it's off to either Adelaide or whatever Optus Oval is called this week for a game against Port Adelaide or Sydney

Jeff Hilton Medal for Rookie Of The Year
Previous Winners (Highest player in the overall tally to play their first game that season OR to have played only in the last three rounds of the preceding season.)

2005 - No players eligible
2006 - Matthew Bate
2007 - Ricky Petterd/Michael Newton
2008 - Cale Morton

Good news if you're Jack Grimes - your solitary appearance in a meaningless Round 22 clash will no longer cost you a chance at winning the award. From this year on anyone who played their first game in the last three rounds of the season before will be eligible to win.

$4 - Grimes
$8 - Jetta, Jurrah
$10 - Spencer
$12 - Blease, Strauss, Watts
$16 - Bail
$20 - Cheney, Bennell
$25 - Zomer, McNamara
$30 - Hughes
$30 - Healey, McKenzie

Strawbs O'Dwyer Medal for Ruckman Of The Year
Previous Winners
2005 - Jeff White
2006 - Jeff White (2)
2007 - Jeff White (3)
2008 - Paul Johnson

While Jamar is servicable in the ruck he does bugger all around the ground, and that's where the votes are coming from. Spencer will play against Hawthorn next week, so he could be an outside chance - but at 203cm I hardly expect him to be galloping around like a gazelle and racking up possessions everywhere. And Meesen? Well, it's anyone's guess what will happen there - could be value if you're brave.

$1.90 - Paul Johnson
$3 - Mark Jamar
$10 - Jake Spencer
$25 - Meesen
$30 - Any other player

Top Goalkicker

Miller
Wonaeamirri
Robertson
Watts
Jurrah
Davey
Bruce
Green
Zomer

Take your pick

First Long Term Injury

$2 - Any played not listed
$5 - Rivers, Moloney
$10 - McLean
$14 - Whelan
$15 - Robertson

First Suspension

Yes, the NAB Cup counts. Even if somebody had done a Big Setant and kicked their teammate in the clacker at Casey Fields yesterday they would have won.

$2 - Any played not listed
$6 - Moloney
$9 - Miller, Whelan
$12 - Garland
$15 - Green, Jones, Bate
$18 - Davey
$25 - Meesen, Jurrah
$100 - Watts

First Win of the Season

Round 1 vs North Melbourne ($4)
Round 2 vs Collingwood ($9)
Round 3 vs Port Adelaide ($20)
Round 4 vs Richmond ($14)
Round 5 vs Adelaide ($12)
Round 6 vs Geelong ($20)
Round 7 vs West Coast ($18)
Round 8 vs Footscray ($17)
Round 9 vs Hawthorn ($20)
Round 10 vs St. Kilda ($15)
Round 11 vs Collingwood ($13)
No win before Round 11 ($20)

Last Win of the Season

Round 12 vs Essendon ($30)
Round 13 vs Brisbane ($32)
Round 14 vs West Coast ($15)
Round 15 vs Port Adelaide ($15)
Round 16 vs Geelong ($30)
Round 17 vs Sydney ($18)
Round 18 vs Richmond ($12)
Round 19 vs North Melbourne ($10)
Round 20 vs Fremantle ($4)
Round 21 vs Carlton ($9)
Round 22 vs St. Kilda ($8)
No win after Round 11 ($30)

Number of total wins in the regular season

$3 - 3-4
$8 - 5-6
$30 - 1-2
$50 - 7-8
$75 - 9-10
$200 - 11-12
$300 - 13-14
$600 - 15-16
$700 - 17-18
$800 - 19-20
$1000 - Zero, 20-22

Major Sponsor

$1.01 - Any Other Sponsor
$1000 - Ray's Tent City

There might be a post before the game next week, but I think I said that in October as well and we all know what happened next. Your predictions on the winners of the above categories in the comments please.

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