Season 2009

The game didnt take place last year, but it was a popular feature on the footy calendar for a few years prior.

Anybody know whether we'll see the return of the U23 rep game this year?

Not sure if AFL Victoria are still using some whiz bang software for their fixturing but if they are I reckon they should ask for a refund.

I suspect Hook gets one of his lackeys to look after it, but as seems to be the case every year at AFL Victoria there's very little innovation in the scheduling of matches.

Anyway here's my five point wishlist for the 2010 fixture:

- Endeavour to play a few "triple headers" during the season. Perhaps in Rounds 1, 2 and 3 when conditions are good and its light until later they could play TAC Cup at 9.30, VFL Res at 11.45 and VFL seniors at 2.30. Or even better maximise the lights at Casey and Werribee - say for example play Gippsland v Dandenong TAC at 1.30pm, Casey v Frankston Reserves at 4.15pm and Casey v Frankston Seniors at 7pm.

- Stop the rediculous practice of reserves teams meeting in consecutive weeks. Surely it can't be too hard to rid the draw of such a horrible and unfair scenario.

- Have a greater focus on "rivalry matches" and fixture them prominently. And do the same with local derbies (perhaps even have a round devoted to the local derbies) - Williamstown v Werribee, Nth Ballarat v Bendigo, Frankston v Casey, Sandringham v Port, Coburg v Northern Bullants.

- Significantly improve what is an appauling TAC Cup fixture this year by scheduling the vast majority of Metropolitan TAC games into two timeslots - 10.45am and 2pm. Allow fans and recruiting personel a chance to get from A to B and to stop off for a bit of lunch between games!! There are a heap of 1pm games this year which is smack bang in the middle of the day, the fixture should be in two clear time brackets so people can see two games in the same day. When there is an AFL C/R at Geelong, there should be a TAC game at Werribee or Williamstown in the arvo. Make it user friendly cos at the moment it isn't.

- Try to maximise the AFL split round by playing a full round of matches on the weekend when there is no AFL footy in Melbourne on the Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

No notification on the VFL website anywhere that people would see it, but the Roosters game against Coburg will be at Eastern Oval.

And more importantly, Bendigo v Box Hill on Monday has been moved from QEO to Windy Hill.

I'd love to know your thoughts what impact a premiership to the Gold Coast would have in their single year in the VFA/VFL?

:beer:

Back on the winners list! A really solid performance to finish off with, but the side still looked a little sluggish early. But the footy played was tough, with 22 tackles in the first quarter.

Schulz after struggling to kick goals last week, kicked 4, 3 of which were in the first quarter. Lots of those that were quiet last week, were prolific today. Good signs after a lot of questions were raised last week.

In typical VFL fashion they haven't updated the media coverage on their website for Round 8 and beyond.

Fellas give yourselves a shameless plug, where are you this week??

I noticed today the ladder that the Herald Sun have published in the online edition of Super Footy.

Can anyone spot the errors?

2009 VFL Seniors
Box Hill Hawks: 6.3.39 ~ 11.10.76 ~ 16.17.113 ~ 23.21.159
Frankston: 3.0.18 ~ 3.5.23 ~ 6.5.41 ~ 9.5.59

GOALS:
Box Hill Hawks: Dew 4, Pedersen 4, Smithwick 3, Yze 3, Lisle 2, Bello 2, Breust 2, Neil, Renouf, Gibson.
Frankston: Berry 3, Pollard 2, Hibberd, Baguley, Whelan, Limbach.

BEST:
Box Hill Hawks: Ellis, Kennedy, Kenna, Dew, Renouf, Pedersen.
Frankston: Keely, Magner, Hibberd, Berry, Dickson, Baguley.

REPORTED PLAYERS:
Box Hill Hawks: Nil
Frankston: Nil

Williamstown: 2.7.19 ~ 8.10.58 ~ 12.14.86 ~ 15.21.111
Port Melbourne: 0.6.6 ~ 2.12.24 ~ 6.13.49 ~ 9.15.69

GOALS:
Williamstown: Little 3, Davies 2, Egan 2, Rose 2, O'Keefe, Skipper, Jolley, Reid, Cordy, Grant.
Port Melbourne: Deluca 2, Cain 2, Pleming, McLaren, Raymond, Hassett, Robbins.

BEST:
Williamstown: Tiller, Cloke, Reid, Davies, O'Keefe, Skipper.
Port Melbourne: McMahon, Wall, McLaren, Smith, Deluca, Hassett.

North Ballarat: 7.4.46 ~ 11.4.70 ~ 15.10.100 ~ 15.12.102
Casey Scorpions: 2.3.15 ~ 6.11.47 ~ 8.13.61 ~ 11.20.86

GOALS:
North Ballarat: Smith 3, Driscoll 2, Jones 2, Richardson 2, Sewell, Wundke, Cartledge, White, Goodes, Clifton.
Casey Scorpions: Hughes 2, Bell 2, Jetta, Wall, Newton, Cheney, McGough, Jamar, Matthews.

BEST:
North Ballarat: Smith, Moloney, Garlett, Stephenson, Clifton, Jones.
Casey Scorpions: Jamar, Bell, Wall, Silvagni, Valenti, Dunn.

Sandringham: 7.5.47 ~ 10.9.69 ~ 14.10.94 ~ 18.14.122
Geelong: 3.1.19 ~ 7.5.47 ~ 13.8.86 ~ 19.11.125

GOALS:
Sandringham: Sautner 5, Lynch 4, Gallagher 2, Summers, Smith, Stanley, Gram, Steven, Heyne, McEvoy.
Geelong: Johnson 8, Westwood 3, Allwright 2, Podsiadly 2, McKenna, West, Moles, Simpkin.

BEST:
Sandringham: Lynch, Armitage, Gram, Sautner, Begley, Stanley.
Geelong: Tenace, Djerrkura, West, Johnson, Gillies, Hogan.

Werribee Tigers: 1.3.9 ~ 3.8.26 ~ 5.11.41 ~ 10.17.77
Northern Bullants: 5.2.32 ~ 8.6.54 ~ 13.10.88 ~ 16.13.109

GOALS:
Werribee Tigers: Pask 4, Dickson, Banjanin, Obst, Martiniello, Bongetti, Chisholm.
Northern Bullants: Fisher 4, Saddington 3, O'hAilpin 2, Boundy 2, McCorkell, Gianfagna, Everington, Garlett, Ellard.

BEST:
Werribee Tigers: Greenwood, Castello, Gleeson, Sharp, Martiniello, Barlow.
Northern Bullants: Fisher, Grigg, Bransgrove, Ellard, Hartlett, Anderson.

Bendigo Bombers: 0.3.3 ~ 4.4.28 ~ 11.5.71 ~ 15.8.98
Coburg Tigers: 2.4.16 ~ 9.7.61 ~ 15.8.98 ~ 24.14.158

GOALS:
Bendigo Bombers: Crameri 4, Lucas 3, Laycock 2, Hurley, Bock, Reimers, Davies, Redpath, Prismall.
Coburg Tigers: Carnell 6, Riewoldt 6, McMahon 3, Liddle 2, Thomson 2, Gourdis 2, Cattapan, Horne, Oakley-Nicholls.

BEST:
Bendigo Bombers: Hurley, Laycock, Crameri, Flaherty, Skipworth, Prismall.
Coburg Tigers: Liddle, Carnell, Riewoldt, McMahon, Silvester, Clarke.

2009 VFL Reserves
Box Hill Hawks: 2.6.18 ~ 6.7.43 ~ 8.11.59 ~ 10.13.73
Frankston: 4.3.27 ~ 8.7.55 ~ 12.9.81 ~ 14.10.94

GOALS:
Box Hill Hawks: Hoegel 4, Conyers 2, Carey, Walsh, Cross, Fagan.
Frankston: Crowe 6, Lean 3, Potts 2, Purves, Clark, Barnes.

BEST:
Box Hill Hawks: Cross, Conyers, Hoegel, Sandilands, McGuinness, Van Unen.
Frankston: Sienkiewicz, Bosward, Conroy, Hobbs, Westcott, Crowe.

Williamstown: 7.3.45 ~ 12.5.77 ~ 19.10.124 ~ 24.17.161
Port Melbourne: 4.2.26 ~ 10.5.65 ~ 12.7.79 ~ 14.13.97

GOALS:
Williamstown: Galea 5, Lynch 3, Miller 2, Cartelli 2, Cravino 2, Florance 2, Gotch 2, Shaw, Mulligan, Daniels, Kelly, Georgiadis, Isbister.
Port Melbourne: O'Farrell 5, Thomas 2, Fanning 2, Batsanis, Siciliano, deBruin, Dare, Sengstock.

BEST:
Williamstown: Cravino, Gotch, Galea, Grossman, Miller, Lynch.
Port Melbourne: Martin, Kyriakides, deBruin, Suckling, O'Farrell, Fanning.

Bendigo Bombers: 3.1.19 ~ 6.3.39 ~ 9.7.61 ~ 12.8.80
Coburg Tigers: 2.5.17 ~ 7.7.49 ~ 13.11.89 ~ 14.14.98

GOALS:
Bendigo Bombers: Weekley 4, Taylor 3, Mason 2, Hackett, Delahunty, Coulson-Hoffacher.
Coburg Tigers: Rayson 3, Smith 3, Gilligan 2, Hislop 2, Jordon 2, Kellett, Polak.

BEST:
Bendigo Bombers: Delahunty, Bristow, Holmes, Weekley, Mason, Matheson.
Coburg Tigers: Clifton, Rayson, Ambrose, Deledio, Hislop, Jordon.

Werribee Tigers: 4.1.25 ~ 10.10.70 ~ 11.12.78 ~ 18.16.124
Northern Bullants: 2.1.13 ~ 2.4.16 ~ 8.4.52 ~ 8.6.54

GOALS:
Werribee Tigers: Speight 4, McKerracher 3, Prismall 2, Kovacevic 2, Lawson, Magnabosco, Quigley, Robbins, Lunardi, Normington, Wormald.
Northern Bullants: Young 3, Adams 2, Totino, Cunningham, Saad.

BEST:
Werribee Tigers: Kovacevic, Wormald, Black, Quigley, Speight, Normington.
Northern Bullants: Totino, Totino, Young, Gale, Merkel, Smith.

North Ballarat: 1.2.8 ~ 3.4.22 ~ 3.10.28 ~ 7.12.54
Casey Scorpions: 5.4.34 ~ 7.6.48 ~ 10.11.71 ~ 15.14.104

GOALS:
North Ballarat: Radley 2, McMahon 2, Linke, Bell, Raworth.
Casey Scorpions: Waite 3, Jurrah 2, Oldmeadow 2, Scanlon 2, Creed 2, Sykes, Zomer, Blaser, McLeod.

BEST:
North Ballarat: McMahon, Beardsell, Peters, Hall, Limb, Niblett.
Casey Scorpions: Creed, Lees, Scanlon, Blaser, Spencer, Waite.

If the weather stays fine on Saturday, then this game shapes up as one of the games of the season.

Williamstown, two weeks back had a fright when Frankston challenged them. The Seagulls however, held on to take the four points. Bendigo last week were simply outclassed by the Williamstown juggernaut. The club looms as a genuine premiership contender.

Can Port Melbourne win? Certainly the form has been patchy so far in 2009, but when Port Melbourne turns it on, they look as threatening as they did throughout 2008, despite the personnel change onfield. The new kids to come into the Borough side have performed well, and the two Deluca's make Port difficult to match up on.

I for one, and eagerly looking forward to another gripping clash between these two sides.

Comment thread.