AFL bird battle cracker

SIX rounds down and the AFL season has more surprises, intrigue and oddness than Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.

It seems the only thing certain this year is that dodgy haircuts are back with a vengeance and club doctors are need a wheelbarrow to carry their wages home.

Yep, more serious season ending injuries to blight what was a pretty lacklustre weekend, apart from the game between the Swans and the Crows, which turned out to be a cracker.

Adelaide were all the rage after taking out the preseason cup (which currently sits in the Crows members bar as a chewing tobacco spit bucket) and have somewhat fallen off the radar after a run of ho-hum, nothing-to-write-home-about games.

The Swans however were coming off a great win over Hawthorn and were undefeated. But more importantly, happy people were actually taking note that they still existed. After two hours of the most bruising, ball tearing, fierce football that can be possibly played on a postage stamp, the Crows held on and the crowd at the SCG were left wondering if they could still make it to see the Rabbitohs’ second half. They hated AFL anyway, apparently.

That result left the mighty West Coast Eagles as the only unbeaten team sitting atop the ladder after they took care of the Kangaroos. Even with most of their salary cap out with injury, the Eagles never truly looked troubled, although the Selwood brothers did their best to even things up a bit by trying to get decapitated.

The Eagles finally get a real test when they fly to Essendon on Saturday. Genuine feeling exists between these two and extra paramedics will be on standby. Not to be missed.

I have to mention the Suns’ effort against Freo who ‘apparently’ have a mystery virus circulating through the club. I think everyone is hoping its name isn’t ‘Jessie’. The Suns were simply superb and were unlucky to not get a maiden win on their home deck.

And the Tigers got a win; they were just disappointed there were only 350 people there to witness it. But hey, that’s a pretty good crowd for a Port game.

Read more of Will Denton’s AFL Rubdown, here

Image: SILLY BIRDS: The Sydney Swans Ted Richards (left) and Heath Grundy compete for a mark with Kurt Tippett (centre) of the Adelaide Crows during their round 6 AFL match in Sydney on Saturday, May 5, 2012. (AAP Image/Paul Miller)