Australia

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#339900" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="3fa285a1dwnjun.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>Aussie Rules Global Invasion</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Aussie Rules Global Invasion"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>Australia</B><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fiji"><U>Fiji</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id62.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nauru"><U>Nauru</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id63.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="New Zealand"><U>New Zealand</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id64.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Papua New Guinea"><U>Papua New Guinea</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id65.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Samoa"><U>Samoa</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id66.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tonga"><U>Tonga</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=9.375% BGCOLOR="#339900" TEXT="#080000" background="3f9d4fe0dwnjun.png"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFCC00" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Australia</I></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="213" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 72 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="28680420.png" border=0 width="128" height="66" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="71"><div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="History"><U><B>History</B></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <I><B><U>News</U></B></I></div> <div> <I><B><U> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="708" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#339900 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="702"><div> <B>Ending of a 72-year wait</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 794 WIDTH="702"><div> Sep 25 2005</div> <div> From the age</div> <div> The Sydney Swans yesterday unleashed a torrent of emotion and unbridled jubilation after their victory in one of the greatest grand finals of all time and snapped a 72-year premiership drought - the longest in the history of the game.</div> <div> Sydney coach Paul Roos described the four-point victory over West Coast as "my greatest moment in football" - sealed with only one second remaining when Leo Barry cut off a Dean Cox kick with a heroic mark - and he also delighted in the joy it would bring to the long-suffering supporters.</div> <div> "The only reason you play the game is to win premierships. The only reason I took the job on for the Swans is to win a premiership, so it's unquestionably my greatest moment in football," said Roos. He had gone 439 games as player/coach before claiming his first premiership</div> <div> It was an emotional day for the red-and-white, as the Swans won their first premiership since 1933 and the fourth in the history of the club that was born in South Melbourne.</div> <div> "What it means to the people who haven't seen the Swans win a premiership for 72 years, the letters I get, I can't believe there's so many people over 90 in Australia who barrack for the Swans. They're the people I'll be thinking about. It means so much to me, but when you win a premiership, you realise how much it means to so many people," Roos said.</div> <div> Triple Brownlow medallist Bob Skilton and former captain Paul Kelly were among the thousands delirious with joy at the result. Kelly hoped it would launch the Swans to greater heights in the harbour city.</div> <div> "At the start of the year, they were criticised for the way they played and it should be admired, they do absolutely everything they can for the team, and the win, they just won a grand final," Kelly said.</div> <div> Roos was uncertain whether this would be the start of a dynasty, but said it would help their cause in the harbour city to raise the profile of the Swans and the game.</div> <div> "It puts an exclamation mark on the Sydney Swans. We're no longer the only team who hasn't won a premiership. We're now a premiership team. I don't think it can be understated how significant that is: Sydney Swans footy club, 2005 premiers. That will be there forever. It can only help," he said.</div> <div> Roos paid tribute to the persistence, character and work ethic of his players, who had fought not only yesterday against the determined Eagles but throughout September to earn the accolade of the best team in the country.</div> <div> "I don't think there's a group more deserving of winning a premiership than the Swans . . . today they were dead and buried, and they never say die and end up winning a premiership. It's just phenomenal," Roos said.</div> <div> "I gave a guarantee to the players before the game, and I don't think I've ever done it before. I guaranteed them that if they put in two hours of maximum effort, they'd win the premiership.</div> <div> "I couldn't have done that last year and the year before because I wasn't sure we were absolutely ready to take that step. But I felt, after three years, we were ready . . . It's a bond that you're never ever going to break."</div> <div> Roos shook hands with AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou on the ground after the game, but later declined to talk about the criticism that Demetriou had unloaded on the club in April when he called them "ugly" and said "they will lose more games than they win".</div> <div> "I spoke to Andrew on the ground and he congratulated me."</div> <div> "In an ironic way, we've won a premiership with eight goals which no one would have said we could have done, and we've done it."</div> <div> But the coach promised the issue was not dead. "It's probably something that I won't touch on today, but I'll certainly address it later in the week. I don't want to take anything away from these guys and what they've done," Roos said.</div> <div> "You almost rehearse your victory speech and your losing speech all week so you think about things you might say and mightn't say. I was thinking just let it go at this particular stage. If you win, it's about enjoying the moment and celebrating. It's got nothing to do with anything else, but at some point I might give someone a spray."</div> <div> Both Roos and captain Barry Hall said the only painful part of the day was the "football tragedy" which prevented former captain Stuart Maxfield from being part of the historic day, with the coach and Hall determined to make him feel part of the celebrations.</div> <div> "He's probably the best captain I've played under and the way he goes about it, his knee injury was really bad . . . We just wanted him out there and unfortunately for him it didn't happen. I went over and said 'this is for you and we'd love to have you out there'," Hall said.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></U></B></I></div> <div> <I><B><U> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="712" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#339900 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="706"><div> <B>Battle of the Birds in Grand Final</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 262 WIDTH="706"><div> Sep 18 2005</div> <div> The Sydney Swans will take on the West Coast Eagles in the AFL Grand Final next weekend. Sydney was the first team to qualify for the Grand Final after defeating St.Kilda on Friday night in a great game. Sydney got off to a flying start leading by 4 goals at one stage in the first quarter but St.Kilda gradually reduced the defecit and where begining to outplay the Swans and by 3 quarter time the Saints had a 7 point lead and it looked as though the where going to be playing off in the Grand Final. But as most teams have found out this year you should never wright Sydney off because in the last quarter they came home with all guns blazing and St.Kilda looked overwelmed, in the last quarter Sydney kicked 7 goals to none to ran out 31 point winners 15.6.(96) to 9.11.(65). Barry Hall was a star for the Swans kicking 4 goals but he will have a nervous wait this week to see if he will be reported for punching Saints player Matt Maguire in the guts behind play.</div> <div> On Saturday Adelaide travelled to Subiaco to take on the might of West Coast and the Crows got off to the perfect start by kicking a goal before the ball had even been bounced, a free was awarded to Ken McGregor after Gaspar elbowed him in the face. West Coast then took control of the match and looked the better team but the game was still on a knifes edge until a West Coast goal mid way through the 3rd quarter opened the flood gates and West Coast seemed to be running away with the game. In the last quarter the Eagles got out to a lead of 33 points but Adelaide where not finished and with only a few minutes to go the Crows had silenced the crowd by getting to within 9 points. But West Coast where not to be denied and kicked a couple of late goals to win the game 14.9.(93) to 11.11.(77).</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></U></B></I></div> <div> <I><B><U> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="714" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#339900 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="708"><div> <B>Footy at the Games</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 112 WIDTH="708"><div> Aug 7 2005</div> <div> From the Sunday Herald Sun</div> <div> Revelations the AFL plans to take our game to the world with matches in London and Los Angeles, and even South Africa, Tokyo and New Zealand demonstrates forward thinking. But now there are whispers of a very exciting target. There is talk that an exhibition game in Beijing that be of enormous value to the code and Australia-China relations. And why not play the math as a pre-Olympics event in 2008 when a major Games venue wouls be available? Beijing's time zone would make it ideal for television and may be another lure for the new TV rights bidders.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></U></B></I></div> <div> <I><B><U> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="716" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#339900 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="710"><div> <B>Bombers finally go the distance</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 402 WIDTH="710"><div> May 18 2005</div> <div> Essendon has finally shown that it can go the distance in a game of football. Essendon had not won a last quarter all season and after letting a nice lead against Fremantle slip in the 3rd quarter it seemed the trend would continue as they went into the last quarter 1 point down. But Essendon proved that they are no push overs as they went on to kick 7 goals to 1 in the last quarter and ran out 35 point winners.</div> <div> In other matches Geelong handed Carlton its second thrashing in as many weeks. On Saturday the Hawks upset Melbourne and West Coast continued on its winning ways with an easy win over St Kilda. On the Saturday night the Bulldogs won its second game in a row while Brisbane held on for a tight win over Adelaide. On Sunday Sydney had another ugly win over Port Adelaide while Richmond came from behind to defeat Collingwood.</div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="691" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 230 ><NOBR><div> Round 8 Results</div> <div> Carlton 10. 13. (73) def. by <B>Geelong 22. 11. (143)</B> </div> <div> <B>Hawthorn 19. 14. (128)</B> def. Melbourne 13. 11. (89)</div> <div> <B>West Coast Eagles 13. 10. (88)</B> def. St Kilda 7. 10. (52) </div> <div> Kangaroos 13. 14. (92) def. by <B>Western Bulldogs 18. 10. (118)</B> </div> <div> Adelaide 8. 15. (63) def. by <B>Brisbane Lions 11. 6. (72)</B> </div> <div> <B>Sydney Swans 9. 15. (69)</B> def. Port Adelaide 6. 9. (45)</div> <div> Collingwood 8. 10. (58) def. by <B>Richmond 13. 15. (93)</B> </div> <div> <B>Essendon 17. 15. (117)</B> def. Fremantle 11. 16. (82) </div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="366"><div> AFL ladder after 8 rounds</div> <div> 1, West Coast 32</div> <div> 2, Geelong 24</div> <div> 3, Richmond 24</div> <div> 4, Melbourne 20</div> <div> 5, Kangaroos 20</div> <div> 6, Fremantle 16</div> <div> 7, St Kilda 16</div> <div> 8, Adelaide 16</div> <div> 9, Bulldogs 16</div> <div> 10, Sydney 16</div> <div> 11, Brisbane 12</div> <div> 12, Essendon 12</div> <div> 13, Port Adelaide 10</div> <div> 14, Carlton 10</div> <div> 15, Hawthorn 8</div> <div> 16, Collingwood 4</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></U></B></I></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="715" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#339900 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="709"><div> <B>Collinwood Hit ROCK BOTTOM</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 213 WIDTH="709"><div> May 9 2005</div> <div> Collingwood has cemented last place on the ladder with a pathetic performance against the Fremantle Dockers on Sunday, the final score saw the Dockers run out 112 point winners 180 to 68. The poor form of Collingwood took the spotlight of Carltons equally pathetic performance when they where trounced by the Tigers by 85 points, the Blues can count them sellves lucky because it should have been a lot more when you consider Richmond scored the first 46 points of the game and Carlton didn't get their first goal until there was less then 2 minutes to play in the first half.</div> <div> In the other games Brisbane have proven that they are not back in town but instead drove straight past it into poor-form-vill when they where beaten at home by the Western Bulldogs who where lead by Brad Johnson after Luke Darcy season ending injury last week.</div> <div> Essendon proved once again that they are only good for 3 quarters after leading all night against the Swans they squanded a 16 point lead at 3 quarter time to loose by a goal. In the other matched Port beat the Roos, the Eagles continued their winning ways over Hawthorn. Melbourne defeated Adelaide while in the match of the round Geelong came from behind to defeat an injury hampered St Kilda side.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="712" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#339900 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="706"><div> <B>Lions back in town thanks to the man called Brown</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 180 WIDTH="706"><div> May 2 2005 - <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Australia"><U>Australia</U></A></div> <div> Round 6 of the AFL will be remberred for the awe inspiring return of Johnathon Brown to the Brisbane Lions line up. After missing the first 5 rounds of the season to suspension Brown returned to a Lions team with only 1 win on the board and bottom of the ladder. Brisbane travelled down to Melbourne to take on Essendon and by the end of the night Brown had kicked 8 goals and taken 14 marks, 10 of which where inside 50. To make Essendons night even worse they not only lost by 48 points but will be without James Hird for the next 3 to 4 weeks with a hamstring injury.</div> <div> In the other matches Carlton beat Hawthorn by a goal, Adelaide ended the Kangaroos winning streak and Fremantle pulled off a major upset by defeating Melbourne at the MCG.</div> <div> West Coast continued its undefeated run with an easy win over Sydney. On Sunday St. Kilda put an end to Collingwoods season, Geelong defeated the Western Bulldogs who also lost their captain Chris Grant for the season with a knee injury while Richmond demolished Port Adelaide who are now only 1 win and 1 draw after 6 rounds.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="711" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#339900 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="705"><div> <B>Eagles Soar</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 164 WIDTH="705"><div> Apr 25 2005</div> <div> The West Coast Eagles have soared to the top of the AFL lesson after taching the once feared Brisbane Lions a football lesson at the Gabba. Along with the Eagles the Kangaroos remain undefeated after a hard thought victory over Hawthorn. Round 4 started on Friday night when Geelong recorded a rare away victory when the defeated Port Adelaide in a thrilling match, while on Saturday Fremantle got back in the winners circle with a home victory over Carlton. On Saturday night Melbourne travelled to Sydney a pulled off an impressive victory while the Bulldogs defeated Adelaide in Chris Grant's 300 game for the Bulldogs. In the other Sunday game St.Kilda proved the are back in town with a big win over Richmond. The big match for the week was the Anzac day match between Essendon and Collingwood, the Bombers went into the game under a lot of pressure from both the media and themselves but when the stepped out onto the MCG the stepped up a gear and proved to stong for Collingwood with young gun Andrew Lovett receiving the Anzac medal for best on ground.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="710" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#339900 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="704"><div> <B>Ireland claim series</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 131 WIDTH="704"><div> Oct 25 2004</div> <div> Australia came out stong in the final game of the series with an all in brawl breaking out before the game even started. The first quarter will best be remered for a small dog running on to the field and stealing the ball, Australia had the better of Ireland in the first quarter but could not take advantage of the situation as the two teams went into the second quarter all square. Nathan Brown lead the way for Australia as they took a small lead into the half time break. Going into the second half it looked like Australia would step up as they have done in the past to over run the Irish, but it was not to be as the Irish skill with the round ball proved to much as they run out 14 point victors on the day and 50 points on aggregate. Nathan Brown recieved the Jim Stynes medal for Australias best player over the two games.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="711" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#339900 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="705"><div> <B>Irish Outclass Australia</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 228 WIDTH="705"><div> Oct 18 2004</div> <div> The Irish continued their tradition of getting off to a flying start, the Irish where to fast for the Australians and the kicking by the Aussies was something the would rather forget.  At half time the Irish had a 30 point lead. Stephen McDonald and Mattie Forde each scored a goal in the first half for Ireland.</div> <div> Australia got off to a strong start in the 2nd half with Nathan Brown kicking a goal, but just when the Aussies looked like they where back in the game the Irish teams scored a couple of overs against the run of play which meant Australia would need a miracle in the last quarter if they where to win.</div> <div> The last quarter was an even affair but Australia never really looked like cutting back the difference, with Ireland running out 36 point winners</div> <div> Apart from Nathan Brown most of the Australians struggled, for 16 of the Aussies it was their first game of International Rules. Looking ahead to the next game you would expect the Aussies to come out fighting and possibly win but to overcome a 36 point difference would be a miracle. The final score of game one was:</div> <div> <B>Ireland:</B> 1.7.1; 2.9.4; 3.11.6; 3.17.8 (77)</div> <div> <B>Australia:</B> 0.1.2: 0.3.4; 1.6.7; 1.9,8 (41)</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="711" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#339900 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="705"><div> <B>Power Surge</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 196 WIDTH="705"><div> Sep 26 2004</div> <div> Port Adelaide are the new AFL champions after defeating Brisbane in a great Grand Final. In front of a crowd of 77,671 spectators Port Adelaide in their first ever Grand Final took on the might of Brisbane who where aiming at their 4th straight flag, only Collingwood has ever won 4 in a row and that was over 70 years ago.</div> <div> Port Adelaide got off to a great start kicking the first 3 goals of the game before Brisbane settled themselves back into the game, at the end of the first quarter Port had a 15 point lead. Brisbane came out stong in the second quarter lead by Mal Michael and Jason Akermanis who where really the only players to stand up for Brisbane on the day. Going into the third quarter Port trailed by a point but with Pickett, Wanganeen and Peter Burgoyne staring the hit the lead late in the quarter and then extended it to 17 points. Brisbane where well and truly out of the game in the last quarter, Port Adelaide just seemed to fast and fit and in the end ran out 40 point winners to claim their first ever premiership 17.11.(113) to 10.13(73).</div> <div> Byron Pickett was adjuged best on ground and received the Norm Smith medal, after the game Alastair Lynch announced his retitement.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>