Saturday came around and as much as I like to watch all the games on the weekend there was one game in particular that I was very keen on watching and that was the Saturday night clash between the Swans and Cats.  Now to give you some background the Swans have not won against the cats since that classic 05 encounter and between all the boys I love to dish it out when my teams gets one up over theirs and since that great day in 05 I have yet to experience the joy of letting Sarge know that the cats lost to the Swans.

Going into the match I was pretty confident that the Swans would win so I started talking it up pretty early as well as putting a wager on the game for a couple of drinks.  How wrong I was!!!!!  The Swans went down to the Cats by 27 points in a very wet game at the SCG, I ‘am very confident that the Swans will get back up and put a few more wins on the board but on this day the Cats were just better suited playing in the wet.

The aftermath of the game as you can imagine Sarge and Matty P all having a laugh while I sat their looking into the night sky wondering if this had actually happened and was I just having a bad dream but the reality was the Swans lost and after a few more frothies I was on my way home and getting ready for some more footy on Sunday with all the boys heading to the Suns Vs Demons game at the GABBA.

After a sluggish start to the morning I made the big trip up from the Gold Coast to Brisbane with alot of very confident and cocky Demon supporters and while it was a no brainer that they would walk away with the four points I was in the firing line from them as well, as a pretty passionate Swans supporter I was covered in head to toe in the great colours of the red and the white.  While the last time the Swans played the Dees was a draw in round one the clash before that we got belted big time and it’s a match I would rather forget as all the boys made the trip down to Melbourne for a footy weekend and that happen to be one of the games we saw and it’s a day that the boys never make me forget.

To add more misery to my weekend the boys all brought their Demons gear just to rub it in even more but I withstood all of it and took it like a man and we were entertained with a very one sided game with the Demons wining by around 90 points and to finish the end of the weekend we wrapped it up with a few frothies at the chalk hotel.  Hopefully the next time the Swans play the cats we get one up on them and Sarge watchout when that happens!!!!

1. Footyhigh League
   This is our websites main league and this involves all of us from the site as well as some friends and this year is going to be very competitive with alot of decent scores posted so far.
2. Longy’s League
   All the Footyhigh boys are in this league, just another league with friends so far it has been mixed with scores but hopefully it ends up being a competitive league.
3. Knock Off Maxy5
   This is one of Nick Maxwell’s leagues where out of the 5 leagues the grand final winners will win prizes, the highest grand final points scorer will get grand final tickets for this year while the other grand final winners will get 4 tickets to any round one game in 2012. Follow the progress of my team Beno’s Ganstaz at Nick Maxwell’s Dream Team league No 5.
4. Beat Swatta’s Swags
   I’m in this league with fellow Footyhigh panellist Sarge.  This league includes Wayne Schwass from foxsports and overall the league is very impressive so far with some very high scores.

Recap of Round Two: Score 2044

This week I made a big decision to make Leigh Montagna my captain instead of sticking with my safe option of Dane Swan and I paid for it big time with the difference if I would have had Swan captain 150 points.  I went with Leigh Montagna purely for the fact that the saints were playing the tigers and his past stats against the tigers have been very good, from now I’ll be sticking with Swan as captain.

My GC players coming into the team I didn’t have that much of a selection issue but I put in Swallow and Matera to cover the two bye players I had while I left Harris on the bench and while I got to attend the Suns Vs Blues game at the GABBA we all know the Suns got belted but through some periods of the game there were some good plays by the suns and Harris played a major part in those plays so he will be a definite starter for me next week.

Results

YOUR RESULTS – ALL LEAGUES

Although I went with the risk of going with a different captain and not paying off I still managed an ok score and still managed four wins which I was pretty pumped about.  So far I’m 2/2 in all leagues with the highlight of last week knocking off both footyhigh panellists Sarge and Matty p not only did I win I belted them and this was my first Dreamteam victory against them both, I have a bit of advice for you both “watch how the master does it” I’m planning on WINNING every league this year.

Round 3 Preview

This is going to be the toughest round so far  as I’m facing the trend setters so far in leagues 2,3 and 4 but I’m pretty confident and will walk away with 4 wins again it’s going to be tough but I look forward to telling you all about my victories next week.

In just a bit over 24 hours season 2011 will be underway but before the first bounce I’m sure everyone will be making those last minute changes to dreamteam (I know I will), putting in their tips and getting the beers ready for a weekend of footy but I’d thought I would take some time out to give you my thoughts on how season 2011 will pan out and look back at the end of the footy season and see how all the predictions go, so here is my prediction:

The Final Ladder

1. Pies

2. Saints

3. Cats

4. Hawks

5. Swans

6. Dogs

7. Blues

8. Dockers

9. Bombers

10. Demons

11. Suns

12. Crows

13. Roos

14. Lions

15. Eagles

16. Port

17. Tigers

Brownlow: Dane Swan

Coleman: Lance Franklin

Rising Star: Gary Rohan

AA Captain: Luke Hodge

Norm Smith: Dale Thomas

Bradshaw Games/Goals: 16/Over 50

Dale Thomas Top 10 for Brownlow: I’ll say yes

First of all I’m going to address my tip for Bradshaw on how many games he will play and how many goals he will score as I’m sure the boys will give me a hard time about this but while he won’t play the first round it’s just going to be a week by week thing to see how he pulls up but I’m sure once he gets a few games under his belt his knee will be able to handle the workload.

Alot of people have the Gold Coast Suns coming 17^th but I think the chances of that happening are very unlikely, I believe while they will not come last they will not make the top eight at the same time.  I think that they will string a few wins together this year and I have placed them to come 11^th this year but over the next few years I think they will become an extremely good team.

For the other boys 2011 predictions check out the following:

• Sarge’s Ultimate Prediction Post for 2011
• Matty P’s 2011 Crystal Ball

1. Dreamteam:  After last year I peaked very early and let my team slide in the last half of the season and as a result it was a very costly loss but this year it’s simple I’m going after a grand final win in the Footyhigh league.
2. Go to a footy match every week:  With the Suns now playing this year there will be alot more matches to see around South East Queensland and along with my Swans membership and a few trips to Melbourne I think this should be achieved pretty easily.
3. Footyhigh Website:  Need to be more active in posting on the website so in saying that I will post at least once a week.

I know this is very short but I just wanted to get it out on the site and with just a bit over a week away from the footy starting I’m sure we will see alot more posts come onto the site.

My impression of the game and while it was wet and the Suns had an inexperienced team the Swans ran over them, but the good thing about the game each team were playing the way they wanted to get the most out of the preseason.  The Suns focused on playing their rookies to give them some game time and experience while the Swans brought back their senior players who have not played so far in the preseason to give them some game time while resting a few other senior players as well.

A few highlights of the match for me was the performance of Goodes and I have to say he is the Goodes while he spent alot of time up forward kicking 6 goals the Swans had McVeigh, Bolton and Jetstar running around in the midfield and they were too good for the inexperienced Suns midfield.  For the Suns the two standouts were Fraser in the rucks but he did have a very on and off period of where he would control the ruck but in other situations just make some very simple mistakes and the other being Patrick May who kicked two goals in the first half while the conditions were not so bad compared to the last half.

Overall it was a good match for both teams in getting what they wanted out of the preseason but the Swans ran away with the match with a 72 point win over the Suns.  A highlight for me was the opportunity to catch up with David Swallow at half time while we were both walking to the clubhouse while I couldn’t get a photo as my phone was dead I did get to ask him a few questions and he said the mood within the camp was really good and the boys were looking forward to playing round two against the blues at the GABBA, I do have to say he was really easy to talk to and thank him for his time and I do think the Suns are in for a big year but I’m sure they will back that up with their footy over the home and away season.

With the introduction of the new structure and shortened matches I’m predicting that we will see a few surprises during the NAB cup, with alot of clubs utilizing their rookies and slowly return alot of senior players later on in the competition, who will rise to the occasion?  Who will fail to get their season off to a good start? Below are my predictions for the first round:

Pool 1: Demons
Pool 2: Pies
Pool 3: Dockers
Pool 4: Saints
Pool 5: Swans
Pool 6: Cats

Qualifier 1: Suns
Qualifier 2: Blues

Out of those selections i chose the Suns to get through to the next stage as i feel they can bag quite a few goals against a GWS team made up of very young rookies with no experience at an AFL level and this will help them secure a good percentage, as for who can win this my money is on the cats as the team has a new coach who brings alot of new energy to the team and with quite a few players running around on old legs I’m sure they will be out to impress their new coach. On a ending note I’m very happy for the footy to start back up again and i know Sarge is super excited as well and while Matty P may not be a fan of the NAB cup I’m sure he is excited to get back into the footy as well even though his team the Brisbane Lions may not perform well this year due to many reason which i will not go on about as they have been well documented about on and off field situations, at least Matty P can take some comfort in knowing that he can support another Qld team in the Suns and can not only see a team put a few wins together but also be part of something exciting as its their first season.

Now to answer Sarge’s prediction that Sydney won’t make the 8, Sarge you need to learn a few more things about footy because you are way off the mark with those little boy comments, but i accept your challenge and i propose that when the Swans make the 8 at the end of the footy season that you pay the bill for my Sydney Swans membership for 2012 and that’s not all you must forego your cats membership for 2012 and be a Swans member that year and the same will go if they don’t make the 8 i will pay for your cats membership and i will also become a member, but I’m so confident that we will make the 8.

I have posted a copy of our current dreamteam ladder and this is some pretty simple viewing, i’m coming first and as you can see i have not lost a game but next week will be the week i blow dreamteam apart when i play the mashers but i will get into that in a second, my question to Sarge and Matty P where are you coming on the ladder and what makes you dreamteam experts?  Pretty sure i’am the dreamteam guru!!!!

Now to the big game next week with Matty P, this is not just another game this is a must win game to finally prove that i’am the real deal but i’m going into the game with my same line up that has delivered me a perfect season so far, my advice to Matty P your season isn’t going to get any better and i think you will be lucky to make the 8 this year and next week i will beat you pretty easily and to Sarge you need to focus on your list management if your ever going to beat the top teams like mine.

What about the Swans sitting above the cats (only by %) I’m going to take the opportunity make mention of that as its been quite a long time since that has happened but Brisbane are still on top and travelling alright they play Sydney in two weeks at the SCG and will see Braddy come up against the team that sold him out, my prediction is Braddy will kick 6 majors in that game and the Swans by 4 goals will also see Browny and Fev have quiet games due to Sydney’s blistering defence, next time will talk about round 5 of dreamteam and my predictions of who will win and who will get chopped up and a little info on my thoughts as to other dreamteamers and their teams.

Alot has been talked about my Dreamteam capabilities from team selection to how i will do in the comp well i will clean up all this rubbish talk and tell you where i stand on dreamteam.  First my previous attempts at Dreamteam have not been so successful and i have usually tuned out for periods of time over the course of the season so i have no real results to back my claim up that i will smash everyone in my league but you know what i can do it, Matty P has been built up as the Dreamteam master but when he faces me i will make him look like a beginner we have made our deals and when i win the dreamteam comp and he buys me my carton of beer i will enjoy every single on of those beers!!!  As for the other competitors within our comp i will chop them up and show them how its done they are no real challenge for me and to do all this i need the team to do it and I’m sure your all wondering who i will have in my team but at this stage i have no comment as i prefer to tell the whole world who is in my team come round one.

As for the $100 challenge i will be making my first bet come round one and to start the AFL season i will be placing a cracker bet so stay tuned to find out more, next blog find out my thoughts on the opening round of the AFL season and i will keep you updated as to the Dreamteam feud that is sure to bring out lots of passion!!!