With the success of former Geelong captain Ben Graham and North Melbourne/Collingwood goal kicker Sav Rocca and the recent addition of Chris Byran from Collingwood / Carlton to the NFL ranks, I think more AFL players will follow this trajectory into the US when they finish their careers. ...

1. The ultimate home ground advantage The biggest games of the calendar year are played at Australia's colosseum, The MCG.  As of Round 16 onwards, Collingwood don’t leave the place. As St Kilda found out last year; footy's biggest stage isn't the Indoor concrete jungle of Etihad, it's played under all weather conditions on footballs hallowed turf. ...

The West Coast Eagles' rare win away from home against Essendon Bombers will be remembered for Mark LeCras' record breaking 12 goals - the highest amount of goals kicked at Etihad Stadium. LeCras was inspirational on Saturday night, dominating the game with 22 disposals and 12 marks to go with his 12.2. ...

Deja-Vu all over again - as Yogi Berra used to say. "Hey Boo-Boo - let's get some of those pic-a-nic baskets" - as Yogi Bear used to say. Enough Hanna Barbara cartoons for today, we are here to talk about football. Time and time again we have seen St Kilda fall down in the wet against tougher opponents. Time and time again we have seen Kevin Sheedy say stupid misguided comments in the media. Time and time again we have seen matches in Darwin turn into fizzers due to the humidity. Time and time again have I heard my editor say how he lined up on Stewie "Buckets" Loewe in the Ammos. I heard that one again on Saturday afternoon as we were enjoying a feed and a drink at the wonderful Camel Sports bar. As the season reaches the 3/4 time mark, we can track that if the finals were to be played interstate, then Geelong are in big Barney Rubble (sorry… Hanna Barbara is my passion). But don't be fooled, these guys like playing close to home, and I am dead certain that Victorian teams will make up the top 4 with Geelong a part of this action. Major disappointment of the week would have to be Carlton who has lost their mojo. Seems that coaches have found their kryptonite. Amazing what you can find on late-night TV which helps block the Blues and also protect your eyes. Take it away MC Dr. Geek. 1    Collingwood    + (3)    Dominating performance by the Pies. Daisy Thomas still was the archetypical seagull hanging off the sides for some scraps. Opposition coaches need to draft someone with speed and relative strength in order to match up with him. Castor Semanya is being looked at very closely. 2    Geelong    - (1)    With so many coaches in waiting, no wonder they could not find a single avenue to goal on the weekend. Too many chiefs and not enough Indians. Also their idea of having a tee-pee at quarter times was dismal. 3    Western Bulldogs    - (2)    This was a messy yet effective performance on Saturday night. No, I am not talking about my performance at the all-you-can-eat teppanyaki, I am talking about football. ...

Stop what you're doing for 4:55. ...

The AFL's new Gold Coast franchise will announce its nickname and colours in an official function this Thursday. If you can read between the lines and buy into rumours then it appears they'll be known as the Gold Coast Suns. Indeed, AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou dropped a massive hint this week in the wake of speculation about the 'Suns' nickname. ...

5. Carlton to have no avenue to goal ...

6:30am, no one else awake in the house. No one to tackle me. What to do? Anything I want! Beers? Tad early...Turn the music up full bore!?! Something a little more special. Geelong and Hawthorn on the telly with ads for toilet and snack stops (beers? mmmmm?) (Can't get it out of my head, na na na na na na na na). It's the replay for busy dads, like the crying session at the cinema for mums with bubs. Its on Channel One. And this game really is the One for the AFL. A guaranteed blockbuster. Might not be the 80 or 90 thousand crowd of Carlton v Collingwood, but you know the game is gonna be a beauty. That's why they put us at the 'G.   Doesn't matter who actually gets on the field. No Sammy. No matter, someone'll step up. Chance Bateman came good after being quiet for a few weeks. No Stevie J.' in the hoops. Who is Simon Hogan? Matthew Stokes kicking them out of his left cheek at one end. Brad Sewell off the outside of his foot at the other. It must be one of those games. If the Hawks could play that footy every weekend they'd be like the Harlem Globetrotters against lesser teams than Geelong. (Crikey, almost need a wiki link for that reference. What happened to the globetrotters? Even the concept died. Surely there was more to milk from it. I'd like to see the trotters play a modified game against a team of socceristas a la Muhammad Ali v Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki in '76 - aaaah the theatre of it, and more wiki checks). The 'G is your theatre. Almost 70,000 filled the stadium. Smokers outside give the look of dry ice feel as if the whole arena had just landed in the hills of Richmond for the biggest show of the season. Inside an orgy of tackling, taps and precision passing was about to unfold. Unsociable, the Hawks? Au contraire, we just hadn't found our perfect partners till this game. Geelong are just as uh sociable, and what a pleasure it is to watch these two friends go at it. The game was a perfect combination of fierce tackling and deft passages of play unfolding one upon the other, like a thriller reaching another and another crescendo. Everyone at the game would have thought at some stage that they were going to win, right to the very end. Everyone would have been on their feet. Wanting more than just to stand. Shake your neighbour, 'Did you see that?', as if the unfolding play was a revelation so blinding only the chosen could see it. Now we've got it. The Hawks had the last two scoring shots of the game, from taps and split-second handballs that ended up on the failsafe foot of Clinton Young. Fill your lungs its Clinton Young!  He was on the fifty, just where he likes to be.  Two shots, two behinds told one story, but the ability to get those shots on goal in a forward line containing 34 players, that's the take home story. My only resevation is its hard to bounce back after these games. Hard for Hawthorn; not seemingly for Geelong. Maybe the tap 'n' tackle and precision passing only works against hard-running teams that are making the play and susceptible to quick changes of direction. Unsociable? ...

The Hawks are coming!  Seven on the trot prior to last week’s loss to Geelong has them right in with a chance.  As impressive as their string of victories has been though, it is the way they are winning that should be instilling fear amongst rivals. ...

Like many, I am so infuriated with 50 metre penalties. I was at the Richmond and Fremantle game on the weekend, and the 50 metre penalty for the interchange infringement killed the Dockers. You can’t blame it for the loss, but it did swing the momentum back to Richmond. ...