A year which has seen the AFL’s “fixture” decidedly unfixed and teams and players torn away from their homes has produced what seems an inevitable result: a season riddled with strange results.
The TAB reports that 37.7 per cent of games are resulting in the underdog getting the points — that’s way above the average of around 30 per cent.
Why? Just as in cricket, the shorter the game the more likely an upset and the 16-minute quarter just might be playing havoc with your tipping.
The rise of the Gold Coast Suns as finals contenders — and conversely the fall of teams such as the Crows and Swans — also seems to have thrown the bookies in the early part of this weird season.
Last AFL season started off at an extraordinary 48.9 per cent of games finishing in upsets over the first two months before it calmed right down to normal levels.
Our prediction for this year? The weirdness will continue right up to grand final day, where ever that game might be played.
The angst in Victoria over the location of the grand final seems, at this stage, to be moot. If things progress as they have been, you can bet the grand final will be played live and loud in your living rooms only.
(FYI: The NRL season is currently running at 31.9 per cent of upsets. That’s about standard for what is traditionally Australia’s most unpredictable footy code).
Streaker faces $50K fine
With only two minutes left on the clock, a fan at Perth’s Optus Stadium on Thursday night — no doubt delirious at being part of a crowd of 22,000 for the first time this season — jumped the fence for his own private victory lap during the Collingwood-Geelong game.
About 30 metres into his journey, four mask-wearing security guards caught up and dragged him away.
Normally that’s a $5000 fine but the penalty has gone up 10-fold considering the pitch invader wasn’t just trespassing, he was breaking the AFL’s COVID-19 protocols. So it’s now a $50,000 fine for a bloke who seemingly couldn’t even afford a shirt. That works out at $1667 a metre.
Lloyd’s bat on auction
We grew up marvelling at West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, the ‘Big Cat’ whoused the heaviest bat in cricket history. At three pounds 4 ounces (about 1.47kg), there wasn’t another man capable of wielding such a lump of wood as the 6’4” (193cm) giant from Guyana.
One of Lloyd’s bats is up for auction in Melbourne on Saturday, July 25 — an old County Clipper with what is described by the auction house as the thickest handle they’ve seen.
It’s a clumsy looking tool — a blunt weapon from a previous era of cricket. It’s match-used and signed on the back by Lloyd, and with 11 faded signatures including Wes Hall, Michael Holding and Malcolm Marshall.
Abacus Auctions estimate the bat is worth $800 but while it will be eagerly snapped up by a cricket fan of the era, Lloyd’s bats are no longer considered the heaviest.
Sachin Tendulkar — who stands at least 28cm shorter than Lloyd — used a bat of the same weight. India’s Little Master grew up sharing a bat with his big brother, so was used to wielding a bigger blade.
But cricket’s heavyweight champ is South African Lance Klusener. The Proteas all-rounder used a bat that weighed 3.375 pounds (1.53kg) as he plundered attacks through the late 1990s and early 2000s.
By comparison Steve Smith’s bat comes in at just under 2 pounds (0.9kg) while David Warner is Australia’s current top weight at 2.7 pounds (1.24kg). The modern big bats used by Warner and company use more wood than previous eras, but that wood has all the moisture sucked out of it, making them lighter and less durable.
Question of loyalty
The pile-on after PM Scott Morrison was seen sipping at beer at the Cronulla-Penrith game last Saturday while Victorians were locked down was swift and fierce from some quarters.
But which ever side of that debate you lie on, surely your eyes widened when some of his words from 2006 re-emerged this week revealing his passions of the time.
Outside of his love for the church, reading, travel and history, ScoMo listed his sporting devotions: “Kayaking, rugby (Randwick, Waratahs), AFL (Western Bulldogs).”
Hmmm, no mention of the Sharks, in fact none of rugby league at all.
It has always been suspected that Morrison — who was born in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, grew up in Bronte and attended Sydney Boys High (both also in the east) — was secretly a Roosters fan but this revelatory CV note blows that notion out of the nearby Pacific Ocean.
It was a year after this list was produced that Morrison successfully won preselection for the federal seat of Cook, deep in the heart of Sharks territory.
He wouldn’t be the first politician to suddenly discover a devotion to a sports team (Paul Keating’s hilariously fake attachment to Collingwood stands out) but at least admit you ripped the price tag off your scarf some time in 2007.
BC’s tips of the week
Brendan Cormick struck out last week when his tip was bumped early and failed to handle a heavy track but this week he’s locked in three picks he is very confident about.
At Flemington, he likes No 5 in Race 5, South Pacific. “Damien Oliver got off it last start and said he’d ride it where ever it went next time,” Brendan tells us.
He also likes No 1 in Race 6, Right You Are — another Oliver ride. This was Brendan’s tip of the week last Saturday before a scratching forced him in another direction. And in Race 7 he likes No 1 Sircconi. “Has improved according to trainer Nick Tyan, who rode him in a little gallop on Tuesday,” Brendan says.
Good punting.
mcloughlins@theaustralian.com.au
Join the conversation
Inside AFL’s draft combine: See the standouts, surprise packet
Draft hopefuls for both the AFL and AFLW were put to the test at this year’s combine, with one Victorian key forward producing a stunning 20m sprint. See the results and more here.
Read more
Dees’ Oliver, Trac bungles putting off prospective trade targets
Melbourne’s handling of Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca is making it harder to recruit big names to the club, after years of being able to land big names like Steven May and Jake Lever.
Read more