THE FOOTBALL TRAGIC'S DREAMTIME

by the Oracle

There's a spring in my step as I walk to the bus stop on my way to work these days. No. I haven't fallen in love again - just that it's the right time of the year for a football tragic like me. The last tennis ball of the Australian Open has been volleyed away, the international cricket season is virtually done and dusted, the Winter Olympics is a non-event as far as I'm concerned (unless a miracle and all of the fancied competitors in the 1,000 metre short track speed skating crash into each other leaving another stunned Aussie to take the gold medal) and I don’t really give a rat’s about the forthcoming Commonwealth Games, let alone the Formula Grand Prix.

The thing that's tickling my fancy again is the rapidly approaching commencement of the football season. In the blink of an eye, the first practice match will be upon us – this coming Friday if you count intraclub practice matches (as I do!).

I love this time of year. Your footy team starts out on an even footing with all of the others. You're undefeated and, quite frankly if you happen to be beaten in any of the pre-season competition games, who really cares? After all, Carlton won the Wizard Cup last year and where did they finish in the Big Show? Stone motherless last!

Come to think of it where's the Wizard Cup now? The 16 AFL clubs will be competing for a different prize in 2006 - the NAB Cup - and even the rules are going to be a bit different.

Still, there's plenty to speculate about when push comes to shove during the pre-season. What the football tragic is looking for at this time of year are some changes taking place within a football club that will ultimately translate into improved team performance overall bringing hope for a better overall result in the forthcoming regular season. Some of those changes will be subtle, almost indiscernible while others will hit you right square in the middle of the face.

So what can we look for in the coming weeks before the start of the regular season?

Neale Daniher has already flagged the fact that, with his team's greater maturity and the club's slight financial improvement, this time of year will be used to give his younger charges some exposure. The veterans in David Neitz, Jeff White and Adem Yze are probably going to be held back while we get a chance to see how our younger brigade can handle things.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the likes of Nick Smith, Chris Johnson, Paul Johnson (who have all seen a bit of senior AFL action) and the as yet untried Matthew Bate, Lynden Dunn and Nathan Jones travel in the NAB Cup. Hopefully, one of them might step up to the plate as Jarrod Rivers and Aaron Davey did two years ago when their impressive early season form was a precursor to a 1-2 finish in the NAB Rising Star award.

Then there are our Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Brent Moloney, Brock McLean, Colin Sylvia and Daniel Bell. Not wishing to put any pressure on these guys but they now have a bit of experience in their legs and should be ready to answer the big question we've been asking for the last couple of seasons. Can they continue their steady improvement to the point where their presence lifts our midfield to the rarified atmosphere level of the big boys?

Our defence has come under criticism as being too brittle when the pressure's on. Many pointed their fingers at this area when the club went into freefall in midseason last year. We certainly need Rivers and Clint Bizzell back in form but will Nicho, Ferg and Nathan Carroll be good enough to hold the top forwards in the competition or are we going to be forced to bring Brad Miller back into defence to help them out? And if so, who takes his spot on the forward line?

And what of our over-dependence on ruckman Jeff White in recent seasons? Can Mark Jamar come to his aid and kick on in this department? What about Liston Medal winner Paul Johnson? Have his suspect marking abilities improved to qualify for AFL tall standard or can he make do as a big man who really has the attributes of a midfielder in terms of pace and agility?

And will Byron Pickett single handedly destroy the rest of the AFL without attracting the attention of the Tribunal or the faceless men with their calculators defining whether a strike was in play or out of it if the ball's 50 metres away? Or have they changed the rules and moved the goalposts again? I can't remember any more because it all seems to be made up as they go along. In any event, I think Byron might be one of those changes I alluded to above that hit you right square in the middle of the face but don’t get me wrong. I’m talking metaphorically here – not literally.

The Reverend has promised us that the club won't change its attacking style of play despite Sydney's finals success playing its dour brand of football. That's fine as long as he has a few different plans in place just in case Plan A isn't working and the wheels start falling off as they invariably do from time to time even at the strongest of clubs. While we need to remain positive at all times, we need to be able to arrest the type of slumps the club has fallen into in the past two seasons just when the attainment of the Holy Grail was in sight.

What about the changes in the rules and their interpretation? I hope that we can get our kick in strategies right – we haven’t looked totally comfortable in both defence of the opposition kick ins or in our own movement from the minor score. We have to get it right this year.

I like the change in interpretation that requires umpires to be stricter on players who hold on to opponents going for the ball. If they're fair dinkum about this then Neita could become the first Demon to kick 100 goals in a season (leaving Kelvin Templeton aside because he got them playing for the Doggies). The disadvantage of all this is that in order to police this rule (and I bet there will be numerous complaints about inconsistency when it's applied) they will trial an extra field umpire and give goal and boundary umpires the power to make decisions. Great! That's all we need. Four, five or six white maggots or orange maggots or whatever to vent our spleens upon.

Away from the Demons and the football field itself, possibly the biggest change we’re going to see will be in the media with the new TV rights having been issued to Seven and Ten and the situation with the Footy Show which will be without compere Eddie McGuire for the first time. This means that the programme might become suitable for viewers other than Collingwood fans. The announcement that Eddie is to become Nine’s head honcho has certainly made it a big week in football.

From now on, every week is only going to get bigger. Bring it on!