What an indictment on society, I’ve reached 50 posts!

AFL: Round 1, Only 2 days to go!

Just 2 days to go until the AFL season kicks off, and Richmond should yet again start the season by bending over their old rivals Carlton for the umpteenth time since 2013.

I remember not so long ago when Carlton bending over Richmond was the traditional way to kick off the AFL season, as the optimism of Tigers fans was sucked out by quarter time as Juddy and co ran rings around the MCG.

Staying on the subject of former Carlton captains, Marc Murphy is celebrating game number 250, and says that with the club now stable, it’s time for the Blues players to “get the ball rolling” and make some inroads.

I expect Carlton to improve and literally DOUBLE their win total this season- From 2 wins to 4.

Over in the Wild West and further South at Cockburn, the Dockers have stood down boom recruit Jesse Hogan for Round 1,after he missed a training run on Sunday morning due to drinking the previous evening, with General Manager Peter Bell saying Hogan will miss the game while he “Focuses on his personal management of clinical anxiety,” and that “His clinical anxiety can lead to him making poor decisions around alcohol consumption and, therefore, impact his health and wellbeing.”

Freo moved to Cockburn to get closer to Success, and they’re literally still a mile away.

And last but not least, the GWS Giants have sent out a PSA in the form of a song, teaching people on how to pronounce Stephen Coniglio!

They even managed to get another cheap shot in at Paul Roos!

AFLW: Preliminary Finals

The AFL have once again screwed the pooch that is the AFLW by not putting the Crows-Cats game as a double-header on Saturday afternoon at the Adelaide Oval… and instead deciding to put it on at the same ground 24 hours later when everyone spends the Sabbath having more important things on their mind than women’s football.

And then to top it off, ‘they’ have scheduled the Grand Final for next Sunday… which in all likelihood would be hosted by the Crows, and despite there being a game at the AO the previous day- Which in fairness, is being hosted by Port.

Imagine the league trying to get a Make-A-Wish dream to come true.

“We can’t get you to play on the MCG before a big game, but we can put you on the next day when nobody cares”

NRL: Concussion Problems

The league is starting to crack down on head-high hits , starting with Eels winger Michael Jennings, who earned a 1 game suspension for a careless high tackle on Panthers second rower Isaah Yeo which required a Head Injury Assessment, and also saw Jennings sent to the sin-bin.

There was also the incident with Latrell Mitchell and Sam Burgess, which left Burgess requiring a HIA. Mitchell was also charged with a low-grade careless high tackle, but was only fined $1650 as it was deemed to be less severe than the Jennings incident.

Then on Sunday evening, Andrew Johns was interviews by his brother Matty on Fox League, where he stated that doctors believe his epilepsy diagnosis may be related to head knocks he suffered during his playing career with the Knights.

Sin-binning players for high tackles should eventually send a message on-field, but grading charges based on the injuries of the other player is the same slippery precedent the AFL love using for head-high bumps.

Racing: The Slipper Field

The draw for Saturday’s $3.5 million Golden Slipper has been conducted, and Peter & Paul Snowden’s Cosmic Force (Owned by the China Horse Club) is now the market elect after drawing Barrier 2, combined with his dominant win in the Pago Pago last weekend.

Chris Waller’s Yes Yes Yes was the favourite prior to this morning, but he drew Barrier 19, so is he now? No No No.

The Blue Army are prominent with 6 runners to match their dominance of the juvenile races this season- James Cummings has 5, led by Microphone from Barrier 1, and Anthony Freedman provides the 6th in the form of Blue Diamond winner Lyre from the unlucky 13.

An epic fight to the death between The Chinese and the Sheikhs over a bunch of juveniles- It’s like Age of Empires II!

Racing Part 2

The Queensland Racing Integrity Commission has once again flushed the dodgy Currie down the toilet, banning trainer Ben Currie one month after he got a stay of proceedings and started abusing everyone on Twitter in celebration.

Expect Luke to go crawling back to QCAT to get another stay of proceedings, so this case can drag on to 2050.

Another bad case of diarrhea in Queensland.

Supercars: Bringing up the Big M

Race 4 of the season last Friday afternoon was a historic moment that slipped my mind by Sunday night- It was the 1000th ‘official’ race in the history of the Australian Touring Car Championship!

Having watched less than half of those 1000, I’d have to say the best one thus far was Bathurst in 2014- Mainly for the fact that after every utterly insane thing that happened that afternoon, Paul Morris managed to win at Bathurst.

Thanks to this 3 wins on the weekend, Scott McLaughlin moved into equal 10th on the all-time list, alongside his team boss Dick Johnson on 30 wins.

It probably would’ve been 31… but Cam Waters adopted the policy that if you can’t beat them, BEAT them…. on the warm-up lap.

Cricket- Last but not least.

With the Aussies now shifting their focus to Pakistan, the final round of the Sheffield Shield begins tomorrow, meaning that auditions for Ashes spots are almost over!

With Victoria already guaranteed to host the final, it’s a massive battle for 2nd place between NSW, WA , Queensland and Tassie!

Another Tuesday Tithbits down.