Archive for Aussie Rules

Making inroads

October 28, 2009 at 5:52 pm · Filed under Aussie Rules, Rugby

Couldn’t have been initiated by a better club either ;-)

Hawks cast recruiting net across Tasman

EXCLUSIVE: HAWTHORN has muscled in on New Zealand, running a nationwide school competition with a view to tapping into a fresh source of international recruits.

The cashed-up 2008 premier has been quietly monitoring Kiwi talent for several months, overseeing a “Hawks Cup” for Year 9 and 10 students.

Rivals looking at frontiers beyond Ireland have been left behind, with the Hawks striking up a partnership with AFL New Zealand.

Still, the article is a bit more optimistic than I think what the actual reality is here in NZ. On the other hand, there have been a few more examples of rugby (league and union) players making the transition in recent times, such as Mike Pyke with the Swans.

The Karmichael Hunt experiment is going to be interesting. It seems slightly incongruous to me that he’s been signed up on such a massive salary. I’m not a follower of the NRL, but I believe he’s a very good player. But you can’t tell me the new Gold Coast franchise hasn’t got at least one eye on his marketing potential in getting him to sign. I’m be happily surprised if he’s more than an average player in the AFL, but it’s not just the issue of transferring skills from rugby to AFL, it’s the whole area of tactics as well. You don’t want to run at the opposition and get tackled, right?

Where AFL clubs might be successful is if they find promising 17-18 year olds, get them over to Aus, put them on their rookie list, and give them a year or two to develop. Then I think we might see some Kiwi players go across and do well. At least they’d be used to the oval ball, unlike Gaelic football players.

And so the Aussie Rules quest for global domination continues…

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AFL Grand Final 2009

September 24, 2009 at 5:35 pm · Filed under Aussie Rules

weg-2008-hawks-premiers-17cmI’ve had one or two queries regarding how/where to catch Saturday’s AFL Grand Final here in NZ.

Basically, Sky televise the game live on Sky Sports 3, so you can catch it there. Failing that, there are live radio streams outlined in my previous post (this is surprisingly fun, easily the best time you can have drinking a coldie while yelling at your laptop).

But apart from that, it’s pretty slim pickings, and so my previous advice pretty much still stands (trawl the comment for some suggestions on live Internet streaming options. You mileage may vary.).

Also, the AFL site has a page set up with international venues that are hosting events for the game. However so far it only includes The Paddington in Auckland. The NZAFL also have a few more venues.

Anyway, good luck to any other Aussie expats watching the game on the weekend. May the Cats lose in the most humiliating way possible, hopefully by completely choking and blowing a comfortable lead in the last quarter, and making Gary Ablett Jnr cry (again). The Hawkers aren’t there this year, so the Saints will have to step up to the plate on this one.

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Dingo Deans: Saviour or Saboteur?

July 19, 2009 at 9:08 pm · Filed under Aussie Rules, Rugby, Trans-Tasman Relations

The scenario: The All Blacks bombed out of the last World Cup badly, as did the Wallabies. Much of the blame for the All Blacks’ failure was placed on their coach, Graham Henry, due to his controversial rotational selection policies.

Most ABs coaches don’t last long after such an embarrassment, and there was another younger coach who’d been very successful at Super 14 level by the name of Robbie Deans. Many expected Deans to replace Henry.

At this time the Wallabies were also looking for a new coach, and were interested in getting Deans (a kiwi) on board. However his preference was to apply for the ABs job, which he did.

So, the NZRU had the choice of two main contenders: Henry, who’d tried and failed, and Deans, seen externally as the favourite.

We all know what happened: Henry, despite pretty much being seen rightly or wrongly as one of the main causes of the ABs under-performance at the World Cup,  was reappointed. Leaving Deans to take up the Wallabies job.

The Wallabies camp thought they’d won lotto, but I think we might’ve been duped.

I mean, last night, an out-of-form All Blacks comfortably beat a supposedly in-form Wallabies after a second half comeback. This is an ABs team that only managed to flog, rather than massacre, a weak Italian team recently (I’m led to believe a comfortable 27-6 victory was disappointing).

And I don’t buy the whole we-haven’t-won-in-Auckland-for-137 years excuse. Australia does not do losing. At least not well. Don’t get me started on the bloody Ashes.

So, until Deans proves otherwise, I think he might be the Terry Wallace of international rugby coaching. For you kiwis, Wallace could probably be best described as all sizzle and no sausage, as the recently departed coach of the Richmond footy club.

Either that or he’s a saboteur, sent by the NZRU to ensure the Wallabies don’t win the next World Cup (because if anything could cause riots in the streets of NZ, the Aussies winning a WC hosted by New Zealand would be just about it. Actually it’d be beautiful to watch – from a distance). If this is the case, then well played NZRU. It’d almost be an Australian-esque venture into questionable ethics in the sporting arena. About time you caught on.

Of course I wouldn’t have the slightest clue if I might be right, seeing as I follow proper football, and really I am completely uninformed and unqualified to be commenting.

But still, there’s a small chance I might be on to something. Let’s wait and see.

In the end, none of this really matters of course, because the Hawks are doing a pretty good impersonation of Lazarus, easily beating the Pies and keeping alive their finals chances (until they play Geelong again). Carn the Hawks!

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[Updated] Setting a Precedent?

May 2, 2009 at 5:14 pm · Filed under Aussie Rules

Something significant is happening this weekend at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Tomorrow, the ex-Canadian rugby union international Mike Pyke is going to make his AFL debut for the Sydney Swans. New Zealanders might recall he’s the guy who intercepted a Dan Carter pass and ran the full length of the pitch to score a try.

Anyway, Pyke decided to move the Australia towards the end of last year, and immediately had his eyes opened to the greatest football code, Australian Rules.

Mike Pyke training with the Swannies.

Mike Pyke training with the Swannies.

What followed has been pretty amazing: the Swans, coached by a slightly mad, meditating Buddhist, tofu eating coach, Paul Roos, decided to recruit Pyke via last year’s draft. Now, about six months later, Pyke is going to make his debut at the top level of his new sport.

Now, while I’m sure there have been ex-union player who have gone on to join the AFL ranks before, I’m not sure there’s been a former international who has done so.

Mike Pyke is boldly going where no man has gone before.

Apparently his handballs are still a bit shoddy, but surely quite a few of the union skills are transferrable to AFL?

Could he be paving the way for other union types to make the transition as well?

I’m sure you could picture a Richie McCaw-type on a half-back flank. Maybe a Dan Carter on the wing.

Actually, maybe Carter is a bit much of a pretty boy. But you get my drift.

Let’s hope Pyke at least gets a kick tomorrow. It could be the start of something.

Update:

Four kicks, one tackle, one mark, and eleven hitouts, one of which directly resulted in a goal. Not brilliant, but not bad either first a first-gamer ruckman.

Still, I think up-and-coming All Blacks are safe for now.

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Cold Turkey: How to ease the withdrawal from AFL coverage in NZ

April 8, 2009 at 8:58 pm · Filed under Aussie Rules

Well, the AFL season has kicked off again. That’s aussie rules football for the Kiwis.

I should be pumped, especially as my team won the premiership last season.

And I sort of am.

I keep up to date with the latest news and results, injuries, form, drunken escapades and court appearances of my team’s players via Real Footy and the Hun. I visit various fan forums to keep abreast of the latest inside gossip and conspiracy theories.

But it’s really just not the same, because there aint no footy on the TV here folks.

Nothing reminded me that I was in a different country more than the complete absence of and AFL in any news media over here. It’s a rugby country, unfortunately.

So, for the poor old Aussie immigrant from one of the football states, there are slim pickings if you actually want to catch a match live.

However, we have to make do with what’s on offer, and so here are some resources to ease the withdrawal tremors.

Pay TV

To say there’s no AFL on television isn’t completely correct: if you have Sky pay TV then you can get some limited coverage.

However I believe that, for your dough, you get one live Friday night match and one 60 minute highlights package of the rest of the weekend’s games.

60 minutes isn’t enough to fit in each weekends’ Buddy Franklin highlights package, so I hardly see the point. Therefore, you’re basically you’re stuck with the Friday night match. If you want to pay $75 a month for that, then fine, but I’m obviously a cheapskate.

Streaming Radio

Luckily, you can get live streaming radio via the intertubes very easily. Both SEN and MMM have live radio streams where you can listen in live to Buddy’s latest haul of goals.

However I do find that at match time often their sites become overloaded, so often it’s best to go to the AFL official site, where there is a Live Match section, which contains links to the radio streams of various stations. These seem to work pretty well.

This is the way I caught last year’s Grand Final. Beers, a barbie, and the laptop plugged into the stereo playing the Hawks’ pantsing of Geelong. Wasn’t as good as being there, wasn’t as good as watching on the tele, but by god, still pretty sweet.

So, there you go. This is the best solution I’ve managed to come up with so far. I think Bigpond have some sort of video streaming of matches available, but I haven’t really tried it, as I just know the quality is bound to be crapola. Not sure it’s even available outside Aus actually.

If you just want to watch the matches and don’t care if they’re live, then you’re in luck. Thanks to the goodness of P2P downloads, it is possible to get hold of the the match broadcasts. So I’m told, I mean. I wouldn’t personally know about that. But if you want more info, email me. Not that I could really help (but seriously, email me).

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