Taber Talk, now in its 7th season, returns. Each Thursday during the 2013 AFL Finals!
Taber Talk – Now in its 7th Season!
He was the President of the then Hanoi Swans’ in 2005/2006. He held aloft the spoils of our first ever international victory in 2006!
A year later, in 2007, he started writing a Monday morning column for this website which reviewed the weekend’s AFL matches for the benefit of the Swannies’ tipsters.
During the AFL Finals, the column, which quickly became known as “Taber Talk”, became a “must read” for all serious footy followers. Monday’s review quickly escalated to became the all important preview on a Thursday morning. Taber Talk’s been happening each week on this website of the AFL Finals since 2007.
He is Daryl “DT” “Smooth” Taber.
He’s opinionated, controversial and insightful.
For example, DT made his intentions very clear in his debut season when wrapping up the last week of the 2007 home and away season:
“Yesterday the diehard fans paid tribute to an ex-ballet dancer and a Richmond plumber with James Hird’s and Kevin Sheedy’s Goodbye Game. Excuse me but this has been longer than the record-breaking consecutive send-off parties for ex-Hanoi Swans President Dave Kainey. Seriously though, even though I generally hate all things Essendon, these two deserved this send-off in front of almost 90 000 spectators.”
Well, Hirdy’s just had another send off. There’s not much that Taber Talk hasn’t seen or commented on since then. And now, #standbyforDT as Taber Talk returns each Thursday for the 2013 AFL Finals!
The Focus Is Now on the FOOTY!
The blossom is out. The heaters have been turned off in Victoria where all the finals action occurs this weekend. The dust has settled around James Hird and his besieged Bombers and FINALly all the talk is about what happens on the field.
History, and many experts, tell us you can’t win a flag from below 4th on the ladder. The Smooth-moving Scott Pendlebury says ‘it’s only a matter of time before a team does it’. In 1998 the Adelaide Crows were amazingly resilient to win the flag from 5th back when the final 8 sides played according to the McIntyre Finals System. That year the Crows only won 13 home and away games. One less than Collingwood this year. A huge reward, a week away from football’s brutality, means the four qualifying final combatants will leave nothing in the tank. For the four Elimination Finalists it’s sudden death!
It would be very easy to pick the bookies very clear favorites in all games this week. Instead, I’ll make a case for the lesser-fancied teams. Juicy odds for the punters this week but as an ex-Swannie reminded me this week, ‘You can’t feed your kids on odds.’
All opposing teams this weekend have either recent or long-standing fierce rivalries.’
The Swans and Hawks teams will be very different to the line-ups that faced off just last Friday night. The Swans will be bolstered by the returns of Kurt Tippett, Daniel Hannebery, Nick Smith and possibly even Lewis Jetta. Unfortunately, Adam Goodes looks unlikely. The Hawks lose Lance Franklin to suspension, but most likely will regain Cyril Rioli, Max Bailey and Brent Guerra. There were only 12 points between these teams last week and the Swans look at least two goals stronger this week. But this week the game is not in Sydney’. The Hawks play well with and without Buddy. These modern-day rivals should produce a cracker to open the 2013 finals series.
Geelong, and a lot of other teams too, hate the scragging and scrappy defensive tactics of Freo. Remember the day Scarlett whacked the human-leech Ballantyne? He succumbed, like so many others, to constant harassment. Suns supporters are still seething about how Gary Ablett was pinched, punched and pushed out of most contests against Crowley recently. The Cats aren’t traveling that well but usually do in September. A lucky one point win last week against Brisbane at home isn’t great form. They come up against the best defensive team in the competition that rate themselves a chance on a narrower field that actually may suit their style. That’s right, I’m suggesting the Cats home ground just may suit Fremantle. The Cats have won 43 out of the last 44 games at this venue. For a bit of fun, I’ll part with $10 of my ‘hard-earned’ on Fremantle. Can’t resist the juicy odds. Kids, it’s about time you left the nest anyway.
The Saturday night combatants have a very long history of warbling off at each other even though they’ve often been in different states. On Saturday night, one will be chortling their success while the other will be wallowing in ‘what-ifs’. That’s enough talk about the election. Seek relief by watching the action at the ‘G’.
Port Adelaide won their only encounter against Collingwood this year by 25 points. Collingwood were lacking fit troops last weekend and looked tired at the end of their match game against the Kangas. Maybe Collingwood have patched up enough of their wounded warriors and will put on a better show for their home ‘Party’ faithful. At the MCG the sides have met six times for three wins each. So Port, like all politicians, will fancy themselves.
Another long standing rivalry comes to the fore on sell-out Sunday in the clash of the Titan Tigers against the ‘Lucky-To-Even-Be-There’ Blues. This year the Tiges have won 4 more games than Carlton, have a whopping 16% better percentage and play more of their games at the ‘G. Riewoldt returns to bolster their attack while there is plenty of talk that Judd is fit enough to survive this epic. The team finishing 5th should beat 8th right? Keep in mind, very few Richmond players have ever played in a final. Carlton have won 10 out of the last eleven times these two have met. The solo Richmond win occurred in one of the many games Carlton failed to kick accurately at goal. Chris Newman is set to play his first final after 232 games in a team with just 17 games of finals experience (all played at previous clubs). Carlton, meanwhile, has 92 combined games finals experience. In a knockout final, will form through 2013 or experience on the big stage prove more telling?
After this weekend’s round of finals only 5 games remain for the year. Enjoy them while you can!
Taber Talk, now in its 7th Season and syndicated on AFL Asia’s website – Each Thursday of the 2013 AFL Finals!
[polldaddy poll=7372221]
