JLT Community Series- Essendon v Collingwood

It's hard to believe but we have reached the start of the AFL pre-season, this year represented by the JLT Community Series over the next few weeks around Australia. Tonight Belinda and I headed to Etihad Stadium to watch the first game of 2017 between arch-rivals Essendon and Collingwood. There was a large turn out of Essendon supporters to welcome back our players who were suspended by WADA last year over the 2012 supplements scandal.

It was great to have new captain Dyson Heppell playing again, along with former captain Jobe Watson, Michael Hurley, Ben Howlett, Travis Colyer and David Myers. We also had the debut of our number one draft pick Andrew McGrath tonight. The game itself was quite enjoyable and free flowing at times, and Essendon led for the majority of the match. We had quite a few goal kickers, which was an encouraging sign considering last year's scoring issues. The moment of the night for me was in the second quarter when Jobe took a mark and had a shot at goal and the crowd erupted in cheers for him (unfortunately he only kicked a behind).

We went into the fourth quarter with a 23 point lead, but a combination of our veteran players coming off the ground for the night and two super goals by Collingwood sparked the Magpies to make a comeback and ultimately win the game. Although I didn't get my birthday wish of a win, there were a lot of positives to take out of the match for the Bombers, including the fact we played competitively and everyone got through the first match injury free.

Final Score
Essendon: 0.14.10 (94)
Collingwood: 2.13.9 (105)

Expat Observations: Australian Rules Football

If Melbourne had a religion, it would be Australian Rules Football. Aussie Rules is the native game of the country, played on an oval field with an oval shaped ball. Players are allowed to kick and handball the ball to teammates on the field, and you score by kicking the ball through the posts - 6 points (a goal) if through the center of the tall sticks, and 1 point (a behind) if through the sticks on either side.

The game is fantastic to watch as there is such a flow of play as players run up and down the field. One of the unique features of the game is players leaping and elevating themselves onto the backs of other players to mark the ball. There are also some amazing goals that are kicked from impossible angles.



When I first arrived in Melbourne I was living in Carlton so I thought I would pick them as my team. However, my friends talked me out of that decision and I ended up becoming an Essendon supporter. While they are a proud and successful club, it has been a trying past few years with the 2012 supplements scandal still hanging over the club and players. I am hopeful this will all be over once the WADA appeal is done in December. With new coach John Worsfold (ex-premiership coach of West Coast) it may finally be the turning point the club needs to have a successful season.

You may assume that the game would be the equivalent of the NFL in popularity nationally, but that is not the case. While Victoria is firmly Aussie Rules, New South Wales and Queensland are rugby states. There really isn't a unifying sport that everyone watches around the country. Aussie Rules is also the only sport I'm aware of that seems to have significant rule changes every year because the AFL brass can't seem to help themselves.

Essendon v. Port Adelaide

Tonight's game at Ethiad Stadium against Port Adelaide was always going to be an interesting one from an Essendon perspective. With our shot at finals over for this year the coaches have been playing the "Baby Bombers" for the past couple weeks, which has brought some much needed excitement and energy to the team. Dyson Heppell, currently acting as captain with Jobe Watson out injured for the rest of the season, was celebrating his 100th game. In addition, we had the return of two popular former Essendon players now with Port Adelaide- Angus Monfries and Paddy Ryder, who was facing his old side for the first time.

Essendon got off to a fantastic start by scoring 6 goals in the first quarter, but unfortunately in the second we couldn't kick through the middle and had eight behinds to just 2 goals. Although we were down 8 points at halftime, we managed to come back to life in the third quarter and tie up the game heading into the final term. However, Paddy Ryder managed to kick a few goals in the fourth quarter (despite boos from the crowd every time he touched the ball throughout the game) and although we got on a couple runs and clawed the score back to be in touch, Port managed to kick away and win by 13 points. It was a disappointing loss due to some questionable umpire calls and skill errors in defense, but it's good to see the young Bombers starting to play well and give us some hope for the future.

Final Score
Essendon: 17.14 (116)
Port Adelaide: 20.9 (129)

Essendon v. Hawthorn

It has been an unusual start to the 2015 AFL season for Essendon. The 34 current and former players who were serving provisional suspensions after being given infraction notices by ASADA last November over the 2012 supplements program were finally cleared by the AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal just days before the start of Round 1. While this meant our 13 current players could finally play in the team, they hadn't had any match preparation until our first game last week against Sydney. Although we started strong and had a 41 point lead into the third quarter against the Grand Finalists, we ended up fading in the fourth quarter and got overrun, losing to Sydney by 12 points.

For today's Round 2 match we faced the reigning Premiers Hawthorn. No one really had any hope that we could win, especially after Hawthorn's emphatic win over Geelong last week. I joined Tash and her mum and sister at the MCG, seated behind the Hawthorn goals for the game. Amazingly Essendon had another fantastic start and we were up by 22 points at half time (which should have been more but we allowed two late goals before the siren). In the third quarter Hawthorn started to come back, and we went into the fourth quarter with an 8 point lead and a sense of deja vu from last week.

Hawthorn kept coming and eventually went in front by 16 points midway through the fourth quarter. Although it looked like the game was over, the Essendon players did not give up and they cut Hawthorn's lead down to 10 points with 2 minutes left to play. We then somehow managed to kick two goals in a little over a minute, with defender Cale Hooker's goal putting Essendon back in front by 2 points with 57 seconds left on the clock. The ball was back in Hawthorn's 50 as time ran down, and they would have won the game had the siren not sounded a couple seconds before Luke Breust kicked the ball through the goal. The Essendon supporters erupted as we somehow managed to beat the best team in the competition, while the Hawthorn fans were in shock that they lost the game. As the Essendon club song played over the loud speakers former coach Kevin Sheedy walked around the boundary waving his scarf over his head and the crowd joined in.  It was a great moment and a fantastic win for the club.

Final Score
Essendon: 12.6 (78)
Hawthorn: 11.10 (76)

Essendon v North Melbourne Elimination Final

Twelve months ago Essendon finished eighth and should have been in the finals, but due to penalties by the AFL for the supplements scandal were stripped of the opportunity.  This year we finished seventh and tonight faced the sixth place North Melbourne in an elimination final at the MCG.  Both teams have not played that consistently throughout the year, so it really was anyone's game.  My ticket guardian angels for this season Simon and Colette were kind enough to let me join them for the match.  Essendon had an excellent start kicking the first two goals, but North played well in the second part of the quarter and brought the score back to within a point.  However, the second quarter was all Essendon as we gained a 27 point lead and held North to only one point for the whole quarter.

Essendon's lead was up to 33 points early in the third quarter, but then the tide turned as North managed to kick five goals in eleven minutes.  The burst came out of nowhere and completely shifted the momentum of the match as North got to within 3 points.  Both teams kicked goal for goal for a period, but as we entered the fourth quarter you could sense it was only a matter of time before North hit the lead.  Once they did, Essendon managed to get back in front, but from there on it was a nail biter as the lead switched back and forth.  Within the last four minutes North managed to kick two goals and that was it for Essendon and our finals hopes.  It was a disappointing loss as we shouldn't have given away the game after such a big lead.  Not playing for the full four quarters has been an issue all year and this time it cost us dearly.  Considering all the distractions the players have faced it was a great effort to make it into the finals.  Hopefully they will take some lessons from this season and come back next year mentally stronger.  I also hope that Mark "Bomber" Thompson stays at the club as he has been so entertaining as a coach this year while James Hird was suspended.

Final Score
North Melbourne: 14.9 (93)
Essendon: 12.9 (81)

Essendon v. Adelaide

It's been a tough few weeks for the Essendon Football Club as we've likely lost captain Jobe Watson for the rest of the season due to a hip injury, had 34 current and former players issued with show-cause notices by ASADA over the 2012 supplement program, and managed to lose to Melbourne last week by one point (after kicking 17 behinds). We weren't favorites going into tonight's game against Adelaide, but I had a feeling the players might stand up and fight this week.  Essendon had a fantastic first quarter scoring 7 straight goals to Adelaide's 2 goals and 6 behinds.  This helped set us up for the rest of the game as each side had patches of strong play, including former Bomber Josh Jenkins who kicked 4 goals.  Adelaide managed to close the margin down to 9 points a couple times during the last quarter, which made for a nerve-racking finish, but we managed to hold on and get a confidence boosting win.

Final Score
Essendon: 15.11 (101)
Adelaide: 14.8 (92)

Essendon v. Sydney

It was a big Friday night of footy at Etihad Stadium as Essendon faced the Sydney Swans and our nemesis over the years, former Hawthorn and current Sydney player Lance "Buddy" Franklin.  Considering how we have been playing lately I wasn't overly optimistic about this match, but I did not expect us to only manage to score 1.1 and be 6 goals behind by the end of the first quarter.  It was good to see Tom Bellchambers back from injury, and that freed up he and Paddy Ryder to go forward from the ruck at times, although it didn't have a massive impact on the scoreboard.

Of course, the biggest worry was Buddy, and he was up and about getting 3 of his 5 goals in the second quarter.  In the third quarter an umpire collided with a Sydney player and was down on the ground motionless for 5 minutes before being stretchered off.  Some in the crowd were actually booing him, which was a bit rough (Onagh and I even had a guy sitting behind us who wanted him put down like a race horse).  Part of the reason for the booing was likely the bad umpire calls, with the last straw being Michael Hurley getting a head high bump from Sydney's Dan Hannebery that put Hurley on the ground for a few minutes and resulted in no free kick.  Jake Carlisle was our sub for the game and managed to kick 2 goals, so hopefully that is an indication of his form starting to improve.  In the end Essendon lost by 50 points but at least we managed to stop Buddy from getting his 600 career goal!

Final Score
Essendon: 9.10 (64)
Sydney: 18.6 (114)

Essendon v. Western Bulldogs

It's been a mixed start to the season for Essendon.  After the first three rounds we had two wins and a close loss to the reigning Premiers.  Everyone was very optimistic for our prospects this year.  However, we have lost the last three games and have not been playing consistently, so it was very important to get a win tonight against the Western Bulldogs.  As Belinda is a Bulldogs fan she joined me at Etihad Stadium for the match. 

It was a scrappy game from the start with the Bulldogs going into half time with a 14 point lead as we had another disaster second quarter for the second week in a row and did not score a goal.  After watching Darth Vader and some Stormtroopers walking along the boundary at half time (there was some strange Star Wars cross-promotion going on) I was hoping the force would be with Essendon in the second half.  Thankfully a few minutes into the third quarter the boys started to show some life and kick goals again, and we went into the fourth quarter with a 13 point lead.  The last quarter was tense as the Bulldogs got within a goal, but we managed to hold on for a gritty win as our senior players stood up.  Dustin Fletcher had an amazing game but we are still having issues with the forward line.  Hopefully the team can start putting together a full four quarter effort and play better in the coming weeks.

Final Score
Essendon: 10.13 (73)
Western Bulldogs: 9.11 (65)

NAB Challenge: Essendon v. Port Adelaide

Can you believe that the footy is already back?  This year the AFL has created an 18 day carnival of footy with the NAB Challenge (aka preseason).  Tonight was our first opportunity to see Essendon play in town so I brought Leilani along to Etihad Stadium for her initial foray into Aussie Rules.

Essendon started the game well against Port Adelaide although we kept missing shots on goal and getting behinds.  The second quarter was a shocker and Port soon took the lead.  This is the preseason so you'd expect some mistakes but it was as if many of the players forgot even basic hand balling skills. The amount of times we kicked the ball to the opponent was very frustrating.  By the end even Lei was yelling at the players and completely over it like the rest of us.

This was the first game back for several of our veteran players, including new Geelong recruit Paul Chapman.  It was also nice to see former player Angus Monfries on the field again, and he sealed our defeat with a goal after the siren.  Hopefully this poor game will wake up the players to the fact they have a lot of work to do before the season starts in a couple weeks.

Final Score
Essendon: 0.9.11 (65)
Port Adelaide: 1.11.15 (90)

Food Trucks, Monet, and the Bombers

Melbourne is known for its food, art and sports culture, and since there is always so much on it is easy to find activities relating to all three things to do in one day!  Food trucks have been slowly taking off here over the past couple years, and a new event called Trailer Park has started at Village Melbourne on St Kilda Road where a group of food trucks are featured each month on Saturdays and Sundays.  Tash, Carly and I met up for lunch there yesterday, and were able to sample some food trucks we haven't tried yet.  We shared tacos from Cornutopia, a mesquite smoked pulled pork po' boy from Gumbo Kitchen, and a combo plate from The Curry Truck.  Of the three my favorite was the po' boy, but they all tasted good.  For dessert we each picked a different flavor creme brulee from The Brulee Cart, which while tasty was not worth the price considering the size of the serve.  Trailer Park has a great atmosphere and we look forward to coming back in September to sample the next group of food trucks.

Tash and I then headed to the NGV to catch the Monet's Garden exhibition.  It mainly featured paintings Claude Monet did of his garden at Giverny in northern France, including the waterlilies and Japanese bridge he is most famous for.  It was so interesting to see these impressionist paintings up close and compare the variation of colors used to paint the same setting at different times of the day.  I didn't realise that later in life Monet had cataracts issues which affected his vision and perception of color.  Thankfully he was able to have surgery to restore his sight, but it must have been fairly devastating to go through that as an artist.  At the end of the exhibition there is this great panoramic film of the gardens at Giverny which makes you want to go there to visit it in person.  The exhibition is on until 8 September so if you are in Melbourne get down to the NGV to check it out.

After a mulled apple cider at the Tram Bar outside the NGV we hopped onto a train to get to Etihad Stadium for the twilight match between Essendon and North Melbourne.  Tash's cousin Nick O'Brien was starting in the team this week, and we were fortunate enough to get tickets from Tash's aunt.  The Bombers have not been playing well for the past month, and with the interim ASADA report on last year's supplements program and the club and senior officials being charged this week by the AFL for bringing the game into disrepute, I did not have high hopes for this match.  The skill level was poor throughout the game and we paid the price for errors on the scoreboard.  Although the boys finally showed a bit of life in the fourth quarter it was way too late and we ended up losing to North by 45 points.  There are two more matches left in the regular season, and we are going to make the finals no matter what (as long as we don't get stripped of our premiership points by the AFL).  I hope the team can find some form so we aren't completely embarrassed in the first round of finals.

Final Score
Essendon: 9.16 (70)
North Melbourne: 17.13 (115)

Essendon v. Western Bulldogs

It's been an embarrassingly long time since I was last at an Essendon match so I dusted off my Bombers scarf and headed down to Etihad Stadium this afternoon to see us play the Western Bulldogs. While Essendon are having a great season and currently sit third on the ladder there is a dark cloud that has been hanging over the club since the start of the year around the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) investigation into the supplement program last year and whether or not players were injected with performance enhancing drugs.  Their report is due next month and depending on the results we may be facing some severe sanctions.

Today's game was a bit frustrating as we would get a comfortable lead only to let the Bulldogs kick themselves back into contention.  I think the team was missing captain Jobe Watson, who is out for the next 4 weeks with a broken collarbone.  There were some amazing goals, including one by Jason Winderlich which could be in contention for goal of the year.  And Tash came along to the match to see her cousin Nick O'Brien play his first senior game of the year (It's the only time she will be caught supporting Essendon!) as he came off the bench in the third quarter as our sub.  Thankfully we won comfortably in the end.

Final Score
Essendon: 18.13 (121)
Western Bulldogs: 14.6 (90)

Here's the Winderlich goal:

Footy in Sydney

Since I didn't have any solid plans for today, I joined Tash for the train ride out to ANZ Stadium at Olympic Park for the Sydney v. St Kilda footy match.  I'm a bit embarrassed that this was my first footy game of the year (and not even an Essendon one).  Before it started though there was an AFL International Cup match between South Africa and the USA, which the USA won!

Tash's friend Belinda joined us for the Sydney match.  We were quite amused throughout the game as the big screens were used to explain the footy rules to the crowd as things happened on the field.  I know rugby is the preferred sport outside of Victoria, but this was a bit ridiculous.  The game was close, and although St Kilda led for most of the afternoon, Sydney won in the end (despite their inaccurate kicking). 

Final Score
Sydney Swans: 10.23 (83)
St Kilda Saints: 10.8 (68)

After the game we headed back into the city for a bit before catching the train out to the airport for our flight home.  We spotted a few of the St Kilda players at the airport at Krispy Kreme of all places.  We flew Tiger Airways back to Melbourne and I thought Tash was joking when she said their terminal was in a shed.  Sadly she was telling the truth- it was comical.  You even have to walk back to the main terminal to catch a taxi!  In any case, it was a fun little weekend trip away and a brief preparation for my much longer flights to the States in a couple weeks time.

New Essendon Coach

The Essendon Football Club announced today that former great James Hird will be the new coach of the club. He replaces Matthew Knights, who was fired a few weeks ago after what was possibly the club's worst season in 40 years. While Hird has no AFL coaching experience, he will help reunite the various factions in the club and shore up the fan base that has been unhappy over this past season. Hirdy will have a lot of work to do to bring the club back to its former glory, but we have a good list of young players who will only get better in the coming years. And with a four year contract, hopefully the club and the board will be patient and give him time to improve the team.

ANZAC Day Match

Today is ANZAC Day, the Australian and New Zealand equivalent of Memorial Day. Besides the dawn service and veterans marches, there is also the tradition of the annual footy match between Essendon and Collingwood at the MCG. Jonathan joined me on the day and wore the Essendon colors even though he is a Melbourne supporter. We had standing room tickets near the members' section, and were surrounded by Collingwood fans (more on that later). I knew going into this game that either we would play well and win or get destroyed. Unfortunately, the later was the case and it was all pretty much over after the first quarter. The boys seem to have lost all their confidence and had so many skill errors. We could not move the ball inside 50 and often if we did it got turned over. We were dominated by Collingwood all day and at the end of the match it was a disappointing 65 point loss. I have a feeling this is going to be a long season.

Being at the footy surrounded by the people we were made me wonder why no one has done a sitcom focused on footy fans. Jonathan and I were amazed by all the different characters standing around us. There was the loud guy who would start cheers or rebuke the fans of the other team's cheering efforts. There was the one liner guy who I am convinced spends his week coming up with lines about various players to shout out at the game and impress his friends. Then there were the hangers on or yes men, who are big, burly, and you wouldn't want to meet them in a dark alley. At least they all provided some entertainment on a depressing afternoon.

Final Score
Essendon: 8.7 (55)
Collingwood: 18.12 (120)

AFL Grand Final Parade

Yesterday Inala and I escaped the office to attend the AFL Grand Final Parade. This year the reigning premiers Geelong were playing Hawthorn. All the players were in the parade from the Arts Centre up Swanston and Collins Streets. There was a huge crowd there to cheer on their teams. It was the first all Victorian final for 8 years, and Hawthorn's first trip the Grand Final in 17 years. The game itself today was fantastic and Hawthorn pulled off a huge 26 point upset of Geelong (who had only lost one game this season). I'm sure Tash will be celebrating this victory for the next month or so.

Essendon v. Western Bulldogs

Last night a group of us headed to the Telstra Dome to watch Essendon play the third ranked Western Bulldogs. I knew we wouldn't win, but was hoping it would have been a bit closer than a 46 point loss. We did lead early into the second quarter but then the Bulldogs started playing much better and dominated the rest of the match. We had at least four kicks hit the post, which was frustrating. It was good to see Paddy Ryder and Mal Michaels playing up forward and Mal even got two goals. There is one more game left in the regular season, and considering the amount players on the injured list for Essendon that's probably a good thing. We definitely have a lot of young talent which will serve the team well in the future.

After the game it was time for what Danny likes to call "dirty Asian" food. We headed to the Nam Loong Chinese restaurant on Russell Street and had a very tasty late dinner. We shared six or so dishes amongst the group and then everyone headed for home around midnight.

Mark of the Year

Matthew Lloyd flies up, up!

The Footy Is Back!

These are very exciting times for sports fans in Melbourne because Australian Rules Football is finally back. It's the preseason at the moment, which means the NAB Cup is on. I joined Michelle and her extended family for tonight's semi-final match between Essendon and St. Kilda at Telstra Dome. Michelle's parents saved us some seats near the goal at the bottom of Level 2. We had a great view of the field and the game. It was a tight match with some pathetic umpiring decisions that resulted in St. Kilda winning by 3 points on a questionable free kick at goal with less than a minute to play. However, the Bombers have been very impressive over the last few weeks. New coach Matthew Knights has introduced a fast and entertaining style of play, and all of the younger players have been fantastic. It looks to be a promising season, which will kick off on Easter weekend.

AFL Grand Final Parade

Today was the Grand Final Parade through the streets of Melbourne. Since the parade ends at the Old Treasury Building, a bunch of us from work went to watch. About 50,000 people came out to cheer on the players for Geelong and Port Adelaide, who are playing for the Premiership Cup tomorrow at the MCG. It was cold and windy outside with the occasional rain shower (what happened to spring?). Most people in the crowd were there for Geelong, who last won a Premiership 44 years ago and are the first Victorian team to make the Grand Final in the last few years. One added bonus to the day was seeing Essendon's Alwyn Davey and James Hird. After the presentations on stage the players got back onto their buses we headed back to the office to warm up.

Essendon v. Richmond

It was an emotional evening at the MCG as over 88,000 people showed up to farewell two of the greats in Essendon football: James Hird and coach Kevin Sheedy. It was their last game in Melbourne and unfortunately the fairy tale ending just wasn't to be as Richmond played a far better match than we did and deserved the win. After the game Sheedy and Hird did a lap of honor around the grounds to thank everyone for their support. The entire crowd stood and clapped for them as they passed by and then the fireworks went off in the middle of the field (freaking out all the seagulls that had congregated there). Despite the result, I was really glad that Michelle and I were able to witness this historic event in person.


Final Score
Essendon: 13.14 (92)
Richmond: 17.17 (119)