2014 Grand Final - Flopalot Delivers Daily Double

On behalf of Ugly Bustards Footy Tipping and its esteemed Board of Directors, it's my honour & privilege as Uglybustard, your humble footy tipping administrator, to announce Flopalot as the well-deserved fifteenth Uglybustards Premiership Titleholder in 2014!!!

Flopalot takes home $265 cold hard cash, the inaugural Uglybustards footy guernsey, and two first choice picks of official Uglybustards merchandise; a cap, t-shirt, executive pen or coffee mug. He'll almost have a full Uglybustards kit to strut around town in!

Read on for final 2014 standings and an assessment of the Top 11 GFs since 1966 by Brutas the Barber Mudcake...

AFL Finals Week 3 - Purple and Brown

The favourites came to the fore for the 2nd week in a row in the Prelims after this year's final series began with a few upsets. The good news is we have the best two teams at the pointy end of the season, which means the Grand Final should be a ripsnorter.

Hawthorn's prelim final scoreline was eerily similar to last year's 5 point win over Adelaide where it also almost kicked itself out of contention. However the win over the Cats was much more meritorious and should stand them in good stead for Satdee. And wouldn't Varcoe be spewing.

Freo on the other hand have developed a new style of play seen by no other team this year. Fanatical frenzied pressure at the ball carrier. They did it to perfection against the Swans in the first half but can they keep it up for 120 minutes against an outfit like Hawthorn?

Freo's lack of experience will tell

That for me is the big worry.  As well as their decision to wear the white clash strip instead of the purple, after the AFL forced them to wear white shorts. A white haze descending on the MCG just doesn't feel right.  Then there is the Hawks' finals experience. Whereas Freo has been a basketcase for so long and make their GF debut Satdee.
Finally how can a team with Zac Dawson win a flag.  For mine it is the Hawks by 25.

Don't forget this is your last week to win great prizes in the Uglybustards "Show Us Your Footy Finals Form" Photo Comp which closes Monday 30th September after the GF. There is a huge opportunity to win that Uglybustards T-shirt and stubbyholder that you have always craved. All you have to do is send in a finals happy snap. Any pic at all and you could win! You can Enter here on Facebook, tweet your snap with #showyourform, or email me.

Time to roll the prelim finals tapes Acropolis, then read on for the latest Uglybustards tipping results. And well done Gaz Yaaaaaablett takin Charley home for the 2nd time.

2013 AFL Finals Week 1 - Upsets Abound

A sensational start to the 2013 AFL Finals Series saw Collingwood booted out, Geelong beaten at the Cattery for only the 2nd time in over 40 games, and a 9th placed team in the Blues create history and progress to the 2nd week.  The only match that went to script was the Hawks belting a depleted Swans.

Sweet hangover after Blues win

Having tipped 2 of those 3 "upsets" I can tell you the writing was on the wall. Freo has the talent to go all the way and the Blues had the wood on Richmond. The one that got me was Port Power pounding the 'Pies. It is quite incredible that Collingwood who were in great form just a few weeks back have now finished 8th, while Carlton, a team they smashed by 41 points recently, is into the semis. Ken Hinkley gets my nod as coach of the year over Rossy Lyon at this stage, getting the Power up from the footy wilderness.

As for the Blues come from behind win on the weekend, I celebrated long and hard and paid for it dearly on Monday morning (see pic). I'll be at ANZ Stadium with Little Bustard this week to see Carlton down the Swans and will no doubt have an even bigger hangover next Monday.

Don't forget the Uglybustards "Show Us Your Footy Finals Form" Photo Comp is up and running this finals series with great prizes, and entries are literally flooding in.


Read on for a video review of eight telling plays in each of the Finals matches on the weekend, and for the latest Uglybustards tipping results.  Great highlights including a Heath Shaw brain explosion.

Roll the tape Monopoly...

AFL Results R21 - Freo Firm Favourites To Top Table

Get on your nearest AFL Ladder Predictor - the Fremantle Dockers can finish top. Yes that's right, and you heard it first here on Uglybustards.  All it takes is Hawks to lose to Norf and Swans, Swans to scrape home against the Cats and Hawks, Cats to lose to Swans then beat Brisbane, and for Freo to thrash Port and St Kilda.  This puts Freo on top, same points as Swans but with a healthier percentage. The top 4 finishes up Freo, Swans, Cats, Hawks with a couple of very interesting Qualifying Finals in week one of the finals series.

Ladder Prediction R21

The bottom half of the 8 is also looking very interesting. Richmond should beat Essendon and the Giants comfortably, keeping its percentage above Collingwood who face the Ducks and Norf.  The Dons will probably stumble into 7th with six losses on the trot, with Carlton and Port to play off in what could well be an Elimination Final at Aami Stadium before the real thing happens.  The winner will most likely play the Tigers, which I'm sure they'd prefer over Collingwood.  The Pies should pumble Essendon in the other Elimination Final as the Dons scandal-plagued season splutters to an end.

What's your prediction?

On to the highlights tape and Cyril celebrates the start of the EPL with some exquisite soccer skills, he played the oval ball as it were round, beat two defenders and got past the goalie to slot a major. Casboult's wasn't too bad either except he was offside.  Roll the tape Zenon, then read on for the latest in Uglybustards tipping results.

AFL Results R18 - Swashbuckling Swans Tear Tigers a Newy

Took a trip to the SCG this week for a bit of twilight footy between the Swans and the Tigers on a glorious Sunday eve in the Harbour city. Got the right seat but got the wrong Bay and was amongst a group of hardcore tattooed toothless tiger fans who had made the trip up from Melbourne.

Twilight footy SCG

The contrast could not have been greater when, upon finding the right seat, I found myself amongst the chardonnay set Sydney fans with a rugby background and was forced to suffer ill-informed shouts of "He dropped it Sir!"and "Holding the ball Sir!". I had never witnessed such respect given to an ump in my life and it was all I could do to stop vomiting over said elitist Swans' fans shoes and general clothing.

At half time I scrambled to the bar, snuck into the members and caught up with Uglybustards tipster and 2007 Champ the boot for some normal footy-speak.

As far as the game went, Richmond were awesome early especially Matty White's opening goal, but it was scary how the Swans reeled them in very quickly before powering home. Surely it's just the big 3 in contention now - Swans, Hawks and the Cats.

In other matches Jezza Cameron is just a frikkin superstar who I'm sure Big Jack would've nabbed on a form four in the early 80s ten years before he was born, it was nice to see Robbo collect Ablett, and The Pod took a pack crunching spekky. All this and more on the the round 18 highlights reel. Roll the tape and read on for the latest in Uglybustards tipping results.

AFL Results R13 - Brisbane Burst Brad's Bubble

Joined the injury list meself this week getting me hand caught in the meat shredder. Muriel from the typing pool's done the honours. Never stopped me from playin the 62 GF so wont stop me now!!

Uglybustard v meatshredder

What a classic round of footy considering only 5 games were played. Brad Scott was handed a flag in his 1st year of coaching by a team he admitted coached themselves. On the weekend there came a time when that team needed a cluey coach to stop momentum building into an unspeakable loss. And Brad Scott was exposed. Badly. What moves did he make to stop the rot? What message did he send out via the runner? With his team continuing to play-on with seconds left, a point up and in possession, they lost the 4 points when it was theirs for the taking.  You gotta do more than sit there in "restrained fury". You gotta actually make some moves son. Makes you think what would've happened if Neeld had've had a sliding doors moment with Scott - who would be on the scrap heap and who would have a flag?

More strange was how the Lions' 8 goal last quarter was kick-started, literally, by the ump (yes, the man in green, what do they call them these days, boogie instead of maggot) getting in the way of a Stevie J miskick that rebounded off his shin into a magnificent goal assist as Brisbane took it down the corridor and slotted it from CHF.  37 Supercoach points to the ump for that little effort. Geisch still on holidays?  Too scared to return no doubt.

Kurt Tippett made a dream return that soon turned into a nightmare, booting a major in the 1st minute only for the Swans to capitulate to Port in the other upset of the round.

The Lions and Power victories make the final 8 race more interesting, and while it was a relief to not have to watch my beloved Blues get overrun for yet another "admirable" loss, they now have some new rivals for 8th spot.  Round 23 Port v Blues at Alberton could decide both teams' fate for 2013.

Roll the tape Stavros.  And check out Tyrone Vickery's mark.

AFL Results R11 - Bombers Blitz Blues from Behind

The rubber-band effect was in full swing over the long weekend where two teams in the Blues and the Saints were reeled in by the Bombers and the Ducks respectively. Some very controversial umpiring decisions especially Garlett's non-goal, but the Blues only had themselves to blame for missing too many easy shots when 5 goals up. As for the Saints, when the umps got going in the last quarter the Ducks were never going to lose. 22 - 14 free kick count for the Ducks. They've lost only 2 counts to round 11 this year and top the "ladder" for free kicks. At this time last year they'd lost just one free kick count. Not much has changed in Ducks games, whereas other matches were deemed to be well umpired in general by both winning and losing coaches.

The Gold Coast Suns are on fire and the Giants put on a bold display against the Cats, and they too will be a force - it is Demetriou's main objective to get these two teams in the finals asap, and win a Premiership. That leaves a team like Melbourne with just about no hope whatsoever.

The other talking point for the round is the ramp up of the Swans. Get your hard-earned on them now for the Flag. Two years ago when the Juddy Blues beat them in the wet at the SCG I could've sworn they were on the downhill slide to mediocre mid-tableness. Now, in two weeks time, I'm sure they'll absolutely slaughter the Blues, who are looking very mid-table indeed. Who would've picked it?

Let's roll the tape for round 11. I can't watch this week.  Too many Bomber highlights. Hit it, Aris, then on to the Uglybustards tipping results.

AFL Grand Final Review & Tipping Prizes

What a Grand Final. Gotta be the best one I've seen in 40 years. Pips the Swans own classics Vs the Weagles a few year back, and even both drawn Grannies in 1977 and 2010. It left me with the feeling that any team can win it, you don't need high draft picks, its about working with what you've got. Try to name the Swans star forwards to compare with Roughhead, Buddy and Cyril, and you'll see what I mean.

Read on for more on the GF, the video highlights, then the final results and prize winners for 2012 Uglybustards Tipping.