After the weekend.

Well like usual it has been an interesting round of footy and I don't know about you, but I'm already looking forward to the next round.

It started Friday night and Terry Wallace's much hyped last game as coach. Well there was some really good footy for the first half and for the first time in ages we thought that Richmond were going to get two wins in a row! But the professional Bulldogs came out to play in the second half and blew the game away and won by 68 points. Not the best way to send off Terry Wallace, lets just hope that their second half of the year is much better that their first. The weekend also saw the appointment of Mr Caretaker Jade Rawlings. Not too sure how he'll go but I have a feeling he won't be the senior coach next year.

To Saturday and after an early challenge from North Melbourne, St Kilda did the job and remained on top of the ladder. Carlton won a game that they needed against Brisbane. The Blue's away record isn't the best and to get a win up at the Gabba is valuable. And Fevola kicking 8 fantastic goals to seal the deal! Port did what everyone thought they would do and beat Fremantle.

To Sunday. And the game between the Bombers and the Crows was a beauty! In Tyson Edwards 300th game, he had a wonderful game to mark the occassion. After a quick start by Essendon, you thought after last week they may go on with it. But Adelaide came back and after being see sawing for a while, the Crows prevailed by 16 points. Kurt Tippett was brilliant with 7 goals.

Sunday saw another close game between Hawthorn and Sydney, which saw Hawthorn win by 11 points. The game was without controversy though with Barry Hall giving away 3 50 metre penalties! I couldn't believe it as I was listening to the events unfold I don't think anything like this has ever happened in VFL/AFL history. If anything has then please don't hestitate to email me carefactor0@live.com.au. Really we can say "Crap ya dacks Barry!"

Later on Sunday Geelong held off a pesky West Coast to win by 22 points at Subiaco Oval. The Cats only playing in 2nd or 3rd Gear and really need to play better than that if they are going to beat St Kilda who are flying at the moment and are my tip to win the flag!

Monday saw the annual Queen's Birthday clash at the G between Melbourne and Collingwood. This was the most anticipated first game from number one draft pick Jack Watts. Well it was a miserable day for Melbourne getting beaten by 66 points.

Well for round 11 it draws to a close and already we are half way throught the year. Things are going to change over the second half of the year and it would be interesting to see how the ladder pans out from now until the end of the year. I will have a mid season review where I will even try to predict what the ladder will look like at the end of the home and away season. It should be interesting to see how things pan out. Some questions that need to be asked:
1. Will the new Richmond coach help in the shift of form for the Tigers? Who will take over next year?
2. Will St Kilda and Geelong remain undefeated until the blockbuster round 14. And who will win that clash?
3. Will Hawthorn make a late charge and finish top four? Or will injuries plague inconsistency for the rest of they year?
4. Will the gridlock at the moment mean some teams will miss out on finals? Or will the gridlock be broken?
5. Will there be a surprise team that will make a mad rush towards the finals?

Really when it comes to these questions and more only time will tell. I look forward to each and every week when it comes to footy.

I am however not a big fan of the split round. Sounds like a Science experient gone wrong. How they could split a round of footy up into two parts is beyond me. Although this year the AFL has done things a lot better than previous year. This year there's 4 games the first week, and 3 games the second week. But there is still no Saturday day games both weeks, silly isn't it? Really they should seriously look at this. Although things will change when the new team comes in things will be better. Who knows really.

I will have my mid season ladder in the next couple of days. You may agree or disagree with me, who knows. I will compare it to the one I did before the start of the season and there are some real differences you will see.

Anyway catch ya!