The AFL , has scheduled both Preliminary Finals , for night-time @ 7.45pm Friday , and 7.20pm Saturday .

Collingwood for 2010 Premiers?

Collingwood , play Geelong , on Friday night at the MCG .

St Kilda , play the Western Bulldogs,  on Saturday night at the MCG.

Lots of things, about the 2010 Finals Series, seem familiar .

Collingwood, walk the walk and talk the talk,  but are they capable, of winning the Premiership ?

Geelong ,  the reigning Premiers are quietly confident , as they present for another Finals series , and are a good chance for the Flag.

Western Bulldogs , the battlers from the West , are playing an exciting brand  of football , with the luck of Julia Gillard on their side .

The Saints , sentimental favourites of many, are poised to re-write history, and win only their second premiership, in their illustrious history .

Some questions abound .

Have the Pies , peaked too early ?

Will Geelong win , yet again?

Can the Bulldogs , get across the line,  carrying a  number of injuries , to their key players?

Will the Saints , finally hit paydirt?

Whatever the outcome , of this frenetic round of preliminary finals , of two things, you can be certain .

A record numbers of fans , will be out cheering their teams to victory, wearing their football jumpers , jerseys , guernseys .

That Molly Meldrum ,has already painted his fence in the red , white and black of the Saints. Is he a jinx?
Sit back , relax and enjoy . We're in for a bumpy ride to watch AFL Football at its finest.

The first AFL , Football Final , was held last night.

Appropriately , the curtain raiser, was a match between the two Grand Finalists , of last year . The two Victorian teams, St Kilda and Geelong , playing on a Friday night at the MCG in front of 63,000 parochial fans.

It was adrenalin fuelled , frenetically paced action from start to finish .

The rematch promised much , and the Game delivered . Blood flowed , umpires were maligned , fans roared , fowards missed set shots on goal, but the gritty Saints, ground out a heart stopping win .It was a brilliant spectacle.St Kilda ,avenging last years devastating loss, doggedly prevailed with a four point win, over the marauding Cats .

Fans , wearing their football jumpers , jerseys , guernseys , were at the MCG .What started as a mild , dry night ended in torrential rain , with conditions both on and off the ground , becoming slippery and rain soaked .

High profile Saints fan , Eric Bana , was willing his team to win but so were many of the Saints faithful .

Whilst there are still games to play , many Saints fans ,  left the game with a spring in their step , a smile on their face, and a bit of hope in their heart .

Collingwood , flag favourites , play the skillful Western Bulldogs today at the MCG with a huge crowd expected .

Magpies Vs Doggies today

Julia Gillard , their number one ticket holder will be watching .Is her struggle for power , to be likened to the Bulldogs epicurean struggle , for victory over the Magpies ?

Its fast , its fun , its exciting . Who will be the ultimate victor ?

Finals footy is here at last,  and last nights match was a spectacular forerunner , of whats to come .

Can the Saints relive their 1966 Premiership Dream ?

With only three rounds left of the AFL 2010 Season , teams are playing for a place in the Finals .

Will the Sharks make the NRL Finals?

The top four teams , are assured of a Finals match.

The four teams below them , will jostle for a spot on the league ladder . The victors will secure a Finals Game.

Stellar performances, from all teams will occur , over the next few weeks .

All will give superhuman efforts .Some teams will make it to the finals ,some will not .

Collingwood , are posturing as a serious Grand Final threat. Geelong,  are hoping to secure another flag , St Kilda,  are again struggling valiantly towards the ultimate prize .

The Doggies, and Dockers appear to be finals players, with the Hawks , Demons , Swans , Blues and Kangaroos , the five teams , set to battle it out for a finals berth .

Whatever happens , fans will be there , in their football jumpers, jerseys, guernseys , to cheer their team.

Get ready for some heroic, grinding AFL football action .

Will Collingwood win the Flag?

AFL Football, is a passionate game .

Just ask the Players, Coaches , Support Staff and Fans .

It can unite and divide. Family loyalties ,can even be tested, and friendship bonds breached.

At the conclusion of the match , after a great physical and mental contest ,there is usually only one winner , unless , extraordinary circumstances , deliver a rare draw.

Sometimes passions ignite ,and friendly banter , can turn ugly and vicious , both on and off the field.

Witness , Friday night's fiery clash , between St Kilda defender Steven Baker,  and Geelong forward Steve Johnson. Baker , finished the night with stitches in a blackened and cut eye,  arguably delivered, by Johnson's elbow to it .

Both are competitive , hard players , both niggle each other, on and off the field . It is their accepted ,style of play.

Fans enjoy the spectacle , many , attended the game in absymal weather conditions, in their football jumpers, jerseys, guernseys.

Fans don't want to see, on field spats , carried on after the Game .

Leave it on the field , don't turn it into a media circus , following the Match .

Another annoying , even predatory feature of Friday's game, was the reaction of Geelong players , to the umpires decisions.

Significantly, the losing side's players , argued vociferously with every decision.

Its a very unattractive feature of the modern game, which intimidates umpires,  and draws their attention away , from the game being played. Surely , the umpires decision is sacrosanct, and the AFL tribunal , is there to uphold any breaches,  of fair play .

A loser should accept the ump's decision, and be gracious in defeat. It's an inspirational feature,  of our great game .

Don't make fans regret , wearing their jumper , jersey, guernsey .

Saints jumper , jersey , guernsey

Melbourne Football Club ,(aka , the Demons ), are the oldest football club, playing in the current AFL competition .

Established in 1859 , they celebrated their 150 year anniversary, last year in 2009.

In 1859 ,two months after Melbourne , the Geelong Football Club, joined the competition .

Called the Victorian Football League, or VFL, it was based in Victoria .

Carlton joined the League in 1864 , North Melbourne in 1869 and Essendon , St Kilda and Hawthorn all joined in 1873.

Carlton Blues Original Vintage Jumper ?

These clubs have been kicking the Sherrin for a long time.

All, have pursued the ultimate trophy , of a Premiership ,with varying degrees of success.

All , have a proud history , of playing AFL football.

Fans , love their club , their support is tribal ,and will come to watch them play , win , lose , or draw.

Perhaps the only difference between the 1800's crowds, and today's, apart from numbers , is that modern fans, wear their  football jumpers, jerseys ,guernseys to the Game.

Melbourne Demons Jumper Celebrating 150 years anniversary

This weekend of AFL football matches is round 11 .It is the half way mark for the 22 round season .

Teams that are clear winners are Geelong and Collingwood . There is another group of teams that are in the middle range like St Kilda and Sydney Swans .

More teams further down the League ladder eg Essendon are hoping to continue their winning form so they can play in the Finals.

Richmond Tigers languishing on the bottom of the ladder recorded their first win last weekend .  It was a gritty , surprise victory over Port Power in SA at AAMI stadium in the rain .

Tipsters , amateur and professional alike are having difficulty picking winners .

Grannies in retirement homes are picking winners more accurately than the experts.

It wouldn't be AFL footy without the air of uncertainty .

Loyal fans , wearing their football jumper, jersey , guernsey attend their teams Games no matter their form ie ; Friday night's tussle between Saints and Tigers is believed to be a sell-out.

Whatever its outcome the fans come dressed in their football jumper to watch one of the greatest spectacles in the world.

The humble footy match .

Second Win for Tigers on Friday Night ?

AFL matches played out over the weekend yielded some surprising results.

Teams fancied for this years premiership flag , Brisbane , St Kilda and Geelong were all beaten.

The Anzac Day match between Collingwood and Essendon provided poor entertainment . Essendon were soundly thrashed by a resurgent Magpies side.

Melbourne with its young , fit team excited fans when they beat the Lions at the MCG . The match was watched by favourite son Jim Stynes.

Their charismatic former leader was thrilled along with hundreds of jubilant fans to see the David and Goliath struggle between flag fanciers and underdog result in a Dees victory.

Nothing is a certainty in Football.

One thing is constant . Fans will wear their jumper , jersey , guernsey to the match.

Melbourne Demons

Go Dees

signed Saints guernsey (number 9 Fraser Gehrig 08)

Saints are on a high after beating Adelaide at home at AAMI stadium in front of a parochial home town crowd .The Saints ran out victors by 15 points and welcomed back crowd favourite ex skipper Lenny Hayes into their midfield line -up.

The Western Bulldogs beat the North Melbourne side by the same margin of 15 points at the MCG on sunday afternoon .The Doggies managed to hold off the Kangaroos in a fiercely fought physical contest .

Collingwood out to reverse their poor form over the Crows in round one at AAMI stadium were successful victors over the Melbourne Football Club at the time honoured venue of football the MCG on Saturday afternoon at 2.10pm .The Magpies victory was tainted post match when the father of Demons player Nathan Jones was viciously attacked outside gate 4 at the MCG by 3 young Collingwood supporters . Charges have been laid and Collingwood Football Club has stated that they will cancel the attackers memberships.
West Coast playing at home in Subiaco ran out winners over financially beleagured Port Adelaide Power.
Geelong has continued on its winning way claiming victory over a Tigers side playing without star recruit Ben Cousins .How long will fans be happy with Richmond languishing on the bottom of the AFL ladder?
Carlton treated their success starved fans to a win over the Brisbane Lions in front of a capacity home town crowd at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
Sydney playng at home were able to beat the young post premiership Hawks who proved they are making a sluggish start to the 09 season with  2 losses in a row  .Sydney's ex - captain Brett Kirk has been charged with bumping an umpire highlighting the AFL's seriousness in their crackdown on player conduct towards on field umpires
Essendon outplayed a struggling Fremantle Dockers side to grab their first taste of success for the season.

The Easter Weekend is a split round of matches with the curtain raiser game being played this Thursday Night between  Geelong and Collingwood at the MCG at 7.40pm.The AFL determined not to break the tradition of no football on Good Friday will not host any games on that day..The easter break promises to provide a wide choice of matches for footy fans.

Further matches will be spread over the Easter period with one day game and three night games being played on Easter Saturday and three day games being played on Easter Sunday culminating with one Easter Monday day game. This final game of the round will be played at Etihad Stadium between  Richmond and the Western Bulldogs and is guaranteed to attract a sell-out crowd .Lots of games , times and venues are giving footy fans a football feast over the Easter Holiday.