I’ve got a Phelan
Forget about the Grand Finals, Danny’s Mad Monday at the Phelan Medal is always the highlight of his yearly list of engagements. This Monday promises to be another bumper event with over 600 people to attend the event hosted by Hamish McLachlan. Unfortunately, I haven’t been invited to the planning meetings so my proposals for Best Dressed, Worst Dressed and Best on Ground honours have been turned down. If you can’t attend, remember it will be live streamed thanks to Digital Sports at www.youtube.com/aflsydneylive.
GIANT win
Danny has been told an ‘unnamed Giant’ won 50 large (that’s thousand) thanks to a multi put on at the start of the year involving Perth Wildcats, Sydney Swans and Sydney Roosters who all conveniently finished as minor premiers. The Giants Div 2 side put a sizeable dent into the cheque on Mad Monday last weekend, so much so that the winner is only expecting coins when he banks the sucker.
DJ Robbo
Manly-Warringah star, Anthony Robertson had an unusual reason for missing the Premier Division clash against Pennant Hills second-up after a returning from a broken leg. Opposition clubs may have assumed that the leg didn’t pull up well after his first up hit out however it can be revealed that he missed the weekends football as he was interstate DJing at his niece’s 5th birthday party. One of the stranger absences Danny has come across... Luckily his boys made it through to the Grand Final.
Finals pressure
There is a well-known statistic that finals tend to result in lower scores compared to the regular season. This was definitely the case between two normally free-wheeling sides in the GIANTS and Pennant Hills in Premier Division last week. The 63 point total (Manly-Warringah 3.13 def Pennant Hills 4.6) was the lowest score of the Premier Division season. This means the GIANTS have kicked 16 goals, 34 behinds in their last two games at Henson. Interestingly, Pennant Hills kicked three of their goals in the opening quarter.
Battle of the west produces Magic
It was a battle of the west in the Division 5 Grand Final with Blacktown defeating Penrith by 49 points. Blacktown can repeat the dose in the Division Two decider against Sydney University this weekend. This leads me to....
Divisionalisation debate
There has been a lot of debate in recent times on forums and at the grounds about clubs such as Sydney University and UTS supposedly being able to “drop” players back to a lower division to ensure they are more competitive. Here is Danny’s two cents worth.
Sometimes passion gets in the way of fact. Divisionalisation has helped some of the emerging clubs gain a presence and achieve success in the AFL Sydney competition which otherwise would not have been possible. Just ask Penrith, Moorebank, Randwick City, Blacktown, Southern Power to name but a few.
The by-laws are not unjust as you can see with Sydney University on the weekend. They bowed out of Premier Division (Semi-Final stage), Division Three and Division Four (Preliminary Final). They will start slight favourites in Division Two and Womens Division One at their only chances at silverware this weekend.
The competition- any competition- should also reward any side, let alone club, with good depth. These market forces should encourage other clubs to put in the effort to grow their club at a sustainable level.
More participants= more fans= more advocates= greater good for the game.
Spotted
Jarred McVeigh, the Sydney Swans skipper, was sighted by yours truly at Henson Park last Sunday watching the Division One clash between Macquarie University and Pennant Hills wearing his Sydney Swans hoodie. Danny was spreading the news around the community that an AFL star was cheering on his junior club. However, further witnesses have come forward saying Jarred McVeigh was not at the ground, it was his stunt double Jarrod Myers cheering on the Demons. (Eds note - time to have a good hard look at yourself Danny!)
Website going bananas
There will be plenty on the AFL Sydney website to keep you entertained in the next week. We have my preview of the Preliminary and Grand Finals, Rising Star Nominations, Phelan Medal announcements, and Team of the Year Nominations.
Let us know your thoughts on if you would have selected someone else in the Team of the Year. Having a sneak peak, we know there will be a couple of controversial omissions on the sides who are selected by the coaches.
Power growing in the Shire
To end on a positive, it was great to see the back page spread in the Leader newspaper after Southern Power’s 2 goal win over Wollongong in the Women’s Division Two Grand Final. Well done ladies!
Last Modified on 10/09/2014 14:08
