6 April 09
09 OFF TO A GREAT START
Some years start well, others poorly. This year has thus far been good to me. I still haven't been deported. With the footy season just around the corner, the news just keeps getting better - the webmaster has gone.
If there’s one person who's been holding me back from fulfilling my phenomenal potential, it’s been the work of the mysterious webmaster on this site. I must have submitted 100 articles over the past three years and he's brushed them off. "Stick to what you do best, Sheik. Be rude and aggressive and stay on topic," he'd say.
So the news that Hunty has opened the trapdoor on this clown is good news for all concerned (not that I care about ‘all’, I only care about me).
The erstwhile-webmaster is the Bernie Madoff of the Old Xavs, running a ponzi (not Ponzo, and a warm hello to Mike Nicholls back at Barkers Rd!) scheme that was bound to come unstuck at some stage.
I’ve had my finest prose edited to death by this self-appointed czar of the internet, so now I feel free as Andy Dufresne, without the suit covered in prison crap.
I eagerly await the 2009 season. It sounds like Brighton is aiming to kick 30 goals every week. Well and good, but I can't see that happening come September.
Roll on.
So, to my Top 30 for season 2009. I've been at this long enough to know that I am never entirely correct on this, but no-one else does a better job.
We've seen the usual comings-and-goings, most of which I am unaware. So if I have listed any players who have taken a hike, don't get all snooty. You could have told me. I know Xaverians have been hit hard, with some of their perennial fixtures on this list not in red and black this year - James Scanlan, in Europe with the G20; Adam Chatfield, playing closer to home at Balwyn; and Justin Arnold, driving to Bendigo each week to trial for Targa Tasmania.
Once again, the Sheik Medallist has departed the scene. Of the five Sheik Medallists to date, only Mark Paterson remains in the VAFA full-time. Al Neville, Heath Hopwood have gone from the charts and Ryan Colbert is tearing up the wings with the Magpies VFL team, though is still a Xavs' player. Last year's gracious medal winner Big Beanstalk Jack Watts is off to Europe, though rumour has it that he will return mid-year to attempt the defence of his title. I'll give him votes just for trying. Or more votes if he stays away!
The Sheik Medal 09 is perhaps the most attractive yet. It has again been struck in the colours of the premier A Section club, this time SBMT, which Ithink is shorthand for St Brians Mornington Terrapins.
But back to the players. Many good ones are playing in B Section, so they are off my list.. Many big-name recruits have joined A Section clubs. How will they go? Who knows?. Only the really stars can make the leap from the AFL,or VFL to the lofty heights of A Section and I'm not picking any of them here. Let them prove themselves first!
So, without further ado . . . . . here are 30 who might. The class is headed by Chris Blumfield, last year's runner-up.. He sits right on the top of the heap. Best player in the comp for mine, but how many favourites have the medal around their neck? Plus, there's another 30 here ready to knock him off (yes, 30, because I count the Biggs Bros as one, mainly because I can't tell them apart. Actually, I wouldn't know them from Ronald Biggs.) There are probably about twenty others who might have made it, but it's a long season and the veteran players usually stay a little better.
Don't blame me if they let you or themselves down.
| Rank |
Player |
Club |
Last Year |
| 1 |
Chris Blumfield |
COL |
2 |
| 2 |
Peter McGettigan |
SBM |
11 |
| 3 |
Matthew Gadsden |
BRI |
8 |
| 4 |
Hayden Heta |
IVA |
14 |
| 5 |
Luke Wintle |
SBM |
3 |
| 6 |
Leigh Hendra |
BRI |
26 |
| 7 |
Andy Bowen |
XAV |
19 |
| 8 |
Richard Eva |
SCO |
9 |
| 9 |
Sam Anstey |
SBM |
6 |
| 10 |
Adam Houlihan |
SCO |
- |
| 11 |
Andrew Scafidi |
SBM |
7 |
| 12 |
Jared Carlson |
MAR |
- |
| 13 |
Nick Ries |
COL |
17 |
| 14 |
Cam McLaren |
MAR |
- |
| 15 |
Nick Stone |
COL |
4 |
| 16 |
Andrew Lowcock |
UBL |
21 |
| 17 |
Simon Fragiacomo |
IVA |
- |
| 18 |
Biggs Bros. |
ESS |
- |
| 19 |
Matthew Handley |
XAV |
- |
| 20 |
Aaron Shields |
DLS |
12 |
| 21 |
Mark Paterson |
BLU |
10 |
| 22 |
Jon Perrett |
BRI |
13 |
| 23 |
Mark Ainley |
BRI |
- |
| 24 |
Scott Curatolo |
IVA |
16 |
| 25 |
Nick Serafini |
XAV |
27 |
| 26 |
Matt Smith |
BRI |
18 |
| 27 |
Robert Baddeley |
ESS |
- |
| 28 |
David Lowe |
DLS |
20 |
| 29 |
Nick Roach |
COL |
28 |
| 30 |
Angus Gray |
SCO |
29 |
Club Rep: BRI 5, SBM 4, COL 4, XAV 3,
IVA 3, SCO 3, DLS 2, BLU 2,
ESS 2, MAR 2
