The Multicultural AFL Football TV and Radio Show – Week 24

L-R: Vanessa Gatica, Harbir Singh Kang, Gabriel D'Angelo, George Demetriou & Ang Christou

The Multicultural AFL Football TV and Radio Show – Week 24

By Fiv Antoniou
28/8/2019

Here we are again at the end of a tumultuous AFL home and away season and ready for the most open finals series for many a year.

Round 23, the final fixture for 2019 kicked off last Friday night from the MCG with Collingwood dishing out a loss to a depleted Essendon outfit by 11 points the hard way (Magpies scored 11 behinds more than the Bombers). The win catapulted the Magpies into the top 4 ensuring them of a second chance final and as it so happens they play their final in Melbourne against the Ladder leaders Geelong the week after next. For Essendon, who finished with the lowest percentage in the 8, the road ahead is tough as they will have to travel to Perth in a couple of weeks to face off in an Elimination final with the Eagles at their home ground. However, take heed, the West Coast Eagles have yet to beat Essendon in any final.

At the SCG last Saturday, the Swans defeated the Saints by 45 points to end the year on a high and in the process honouring their retiring players - Jarrad McVeigh and Kierin Jack - in a lavish display of acknowledgment and appreciation. There was a negative side to the match, as in losing, St.Kilda may have harmed Brett Ratten’s bid to secure the head coach position at the Saints. It’s now a wait and see situation for the Saints on who they choose as a coach for 2020: Brett Ratten, Robert Harvey or Brad Scott.

From Hobart’s Blundstone Arena, North Melbourne faced Melbourne and although the Roos won by 5 points they still were the biggest losers when they failed to get Ben Brown over the line to win the Coleman Medal. They simply did not feed the big forward enough to kick the goals he required to win the league’s goalkicking award. It was 10 goals the week before and only 2 goals for this game which is a very poor team effort. Where to for the Demons after this season? Lots of soul searching, intelligent recruiting and an attitude adjustment, together with a rebuilding program that may get them back on track next year. If not, most of their good players eventually may want to jump ship for greener pastures

Geelong and Carlton played a non-event game last Saturday evening from the Cattery. As the inclement weather closed in, the Cats at home took command of the match and shut the Blues out for the first half of the game. Suffice to say, Geelong won the match comfortably securing top spot on the AFL ladder for the minor premiership. Now, that’s not the end of the story, David Teague, Carlton’s new coach tried a new tactic in the third quarter which saw the Blues kick 3 goals 6 to Geelong’s 1 goal 1, by positioning a couple of Blues players permanently in the defensive 50m arc frustrating most of Geelong’s forward thrusts and creating many opportunities on the rebound for the Carlton forwards to turn the game. Unfortunately, after a promising 9 scoring shots to 2, the rain and inaccurate kicking let the Blues down.

The GWS Giants travelled to the Gold Coast to take on the Suns. GWS finally cracked it for a 72 point win and, although it was against the cellar-dweller wooden-spooner Suns, it was a victory they needed to have before the finals. On their way to defeating the Gold Coast Suns, they presented umpteen opportunities to their full-forward Jeremy Cameron to kick his bag of 9 goals to win the coveted Coleman Medal for the AFL’s highest goal scorer in 2019. The Giants qualified for a home elimination final against the Bulldogs, but where to for the Gold Coast Suns as another year fades away without a finals appearance in sight and most probably will be candidates for the wooden spoon next year as well. More good news from the Giants last night with Stephen Coniglio re-signing with GWS -agreeing to a 7-year contract reportedly worth $7 million, ending speculation that the Giants star was either going to the Hawks or the Blues in 2020.

The West Coast Eagles in Perth hosted Hawthorn in what was expected in front of a home crowd. The Eagles turned on the afterburners and defeated Hawthorn by a healthy margin consolidating their tenure for a second chance top 4 finish to the season. Well, looks like no-one read that script as the game was turned topsy-turvy by the Hawks who went on to defeat West Coast by 38 points. Hawthorn very nearly made it into the 8, something no-one expected. The Eagles, on the other hand, looked anything but finals contenders. The loss came with a demotion, dropping from a top 4 position and forfeiting their second chance finish. Although the Eagles have qualified for a home elimination final against the Bombers by finishing 5th, the West Coast Eagles don’t look as dangerous anymore.

The confident Bulldogs went to Adelaide to face the Crows in a do or die effort to make the final 8. The Dogs last two games before Adelaide were phenomenal, decimating the Bombers and the Giants in back to back games. So it wasn’t a surprise when they got up and beat the Adelaide Crows by 34 points and finished in 8th spot. So watch out other finals contenders, the Bulldogs are back in town and playing devastating footy and maybe good enough to easily cruise into the Preliminary Final. Congratulations also go out to Marcus Bontempelli in securing the AFL Coaches player of the Year award for 2019. The Western Bulldogs player has had an outstanding year and will play a pivotal part for the Dogs and their premiership aspirations this year.

Richmond and Brisbane fought out a blockbuster at the MCG in front of a historic AFL record home and away crowd for a local vs. interstate side of 76,995 spectators. The Tigers were up and running early in the piece while the Lions had trouble reigning them in and when they did they slipped behind again. Overall the Tigers outplayed their rivals in the wet to win by 27 points leading into the finals. The result of this game was neither here or there for position. Richmond made the 4 and Brisbane kept their 2nd place for a home final. These two sides will meet again in the qualifying final in Brisbane. The Lions have never lost at the ‘Gabbatoir’ in all eleven finals they played at home over the years. Interesting statistic!

Last game of the season had Port Adelaide defeating Fremantle by 48 points. What can I say about these two? Nothing! Just good luck for next year! That’s all from me now, catch you next week for all the Finals previews and tips!

By the way, did you follow my tips this year –If you didn’t you missed out on a top score of 136 not a bad effort beating the top tipsters from the AGE and FOXTEL!

Yours truly finished with a tip score of: 136.

The leading AFL tipster from the AGE finished with 129 and the leading tipster from FOXTEL with 123.

To listen or download our regular weekly podcast, visit the NEMBC website, or NEMBC Soundcloud. The Multicultural AFL Footy Show is also available in English all around Australia on the Community Radio Network. The AFL News podcasts are available in Arabic, Sudanese-Dinka, Hindi, Greek, Italian, Mandarin and Spanish languages. You can view the Multicultural AFL Football TV Show on C31 Melbourne and Geelong on Thursdays at 7:30 pm, C44 Adelaide Friday 6:00 pm, on Aurora–Foxtel at 11:30 am Saturdays and on YouTube.

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