Dennis Cometti

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AFL versus the World Cup, round 2

If you remember, I did threaten another column.Today I'm in Milan (this is worse than than having a slide night when I get back) and I'm wearing a Sporting Lisbon top.The best soccer news to come out of the weekend was Fulham's striking victory over...
Mon, November 2, 2009, 6:23 am WST
The world game is not the Australian game

I'd love to say I'm on assignment - that sounds so cool - but the truth is I'm on holidays.When I left Australia, I got my burly son to do the house sitting and thought the AFL should be able to take care of itself. After all, it was only going to be a...
Mon, October 26, 2009, 8:13 am WST
Saints dreams and old adages

I'm not sure the old adage of a champion team always beating a team of champions stood up on Saturday at the MCG.To be sure Geelong are a wonderful team but it was the individual acts of truly great players that got them over the line.St Kilda,...
Mon, September 28, 2009, 2:01 pm WST
Buzz for Ablett, but is that enough?

Saturday night showed exactly why Gary Ablett Jnr deserves to win tonight's Brownlow Medal.The gun of a son put the buzz back into the Cats early in the Preliminary Final as they laid the foundation for their third title tilt in as many seasons.But of...
Mon, September 21, 2009, 8:20 am WST
Malthouse and the Magpie Army sink the Crows

Two things conspired to rob Adelaide of a certain Preliminary Final appearance against Geelong . . . Michael Malthouse and the Collingwood faithful.Pitted against one of the AFL's best, Neil Craig, Malthouse took only a quarter to abandon the structures...
Sun, September 13, 2009, 12:02 am WST
Champ Riewoldt would be my first picked

Nick Riewoldt is a star! He proved it again yesterday.Opposed by a Collingwood defence constructed to prevent him getting the ball, he constantly got the ball.In the process he took his season's marks total to 215, far and away the best in the AFL.Mind...
Mon, September 7, 2009, 12:01 am WST
Was Lloyd's big hit the final act?

Matthew Lloyd may have made a career decision at half time on Saturday at the MCG.His ferocious bump that left Hawthorn star Brad Sewell concussed and suffering facial injuries is sure to land Lloyd at the AFL Tribunal this week.If nothing else, coming...
Mon, August 31, 2009, 9:51 am WST
Ladder leaders paying for flirting with form

Seems to me the AFL season started to go crazy at round fourteen. No sooner had St Kilda defeated Geelong in their epic winner-take-all contest at Docklands than their winning ways disappeared.Firstly it was Geelong.They "rested" a few key...
Mon, August 24, 2009, 9:12 am WST
In the race for September, it's tight at the top

It's starting to look a bit like the finish of a Melbourne Cup with a few of the leaders beginning to feel the pinch down that long Flemington straight.First Geelong, and now St Kilda have faltered.Sure, it's nowhere near fatal, more fallible, but some...
Mon, August 17, 2009, 7:27 am WST
Saints in a league of their own as rivals fade

I doubt I've ever seen anything quite like St Kilda's effort on Saturday in Launceston. Missing a truckload of its best players, it was still able to whip the reigning premier Hawthorn. More than any other victory, round 19 may be the one best...
Mon, August 10, 2009, 10:43 am WST
The AFL's fixturing pickle

The AFL finds itself in a ticklish situation. Should it reschedule its round 22 fixtures?As things stand, three of the top four teams are drawn to play on the last Sunday of the home-and-away season and Andrew Demetriou and Co (great name for a rock...
Mon, August 3, 2009, 10:52 am WST
The AFL talent gap has never been wider

As best I can I like to tell it like it is rather than like it was. But the older you get the tougher that gets.When you've been around a while your powers of comparison have had ample time to mature. These days people under thirty telling me 'what...
Thu, July 30, 2009, 5:58 pm WST
Cousins shows there's no substitute for class

It's amazing to think the round one clash between Carlton and Richmond is only 16 weeks old. It seems like an eternity!Remember the hype surrounding Chris Judd and Ben Cousins?Unfortunately their meeting, like the game itself, turned out to be a damp...
Tue, July 14, 2009, 3:03 pm WST
A game of 'what if' ...

It doesn't rain in Melbourne too much these days but yesterday was wet.Remarkably, the surface at Etihad Stadium got a little wet as well.Apparently the roof was left open following the Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn game.Perhaps it was in the vain hope...
Fri, July 10, 2009, 11:33 am WST
Never moon a werewolf

I remember writing a column at the start of the season suggesting AFL footy is morphing into World Wrestling Entertainment. Thirteen rounds later I see nothing to change that view. In fact, watching the Eagles game on television in Melbourne on...
Wed, July 1, 2009, 11:28 am WST