The semi finals of the NAB Cup take place this weekend ith the Melbourne Demons taking on the Adelaide Ravens at AAMI Stadium in the city of churches on Friday night and the Pussies from Geelong hosting the Dockers at Telstra Dome on Saturday night.  For mine, Geelong V Adelaide for the GF in a weeks time.

Seems Diggers comments in last weeks round up have been echoed in the Melbourne press.  Tony Shaw, former Collingwood stalwart wants to see more biffo, high marks and man on man contests as he reckons the game is becoming soft.  I am "wiv ya" Tony.  The great Ron Barassi said in the ‘70's that society in general was becoming soft so I would like to hear his thoughts today.  Ron who turned 70 last month is now in training to walk the famous Kokoda Trail later this year.  With the Ozzie soccer team making the world cup finals in Germany later this year and the debut season of the A - League getting kudos we need to maintain the aspects of Aussies rules that makes it the most unique and best of all the footy codes.

LETTER OF THE WEEK

Sally from parts unknown asks:

Digger, can you tell me what the numbers on the back of the players jerseys indicate?

A:         Well Sally, from your question I can see that you are a rugby fan looking to expand your Aussie Rules knowledge.  In fact the numbers on the jumpers, we do not wear jerseys in rules, indicates absolutely nothing.  From memory, the story goes that when the Footy Record was introduced, the Record being the book on sale at the grounds on match days, it needed to fill a couple of extra pages.  Therefore, the administrators of the day, decided to issue players numbers and put them in the Record to one, fill up the pages and two helps the fans identify the players.  The numbers are now quite coveted by both players and clubs with some players wanting to have the same number throughout their career and clubs issuing players with numbers worn by previous club greats as a show of faith in their ability.  At some clubs the captain will wear number 1.

Each week Digger will select his LETTER OF THE WEEK so send in your questions, related to football please, and Digger will do his best to answer them.

Our final 2 experts have given us their predictions for the 2006 season and here they are,

2006                Flea                              Crazy Fool

Premier                Geelong                        St. Kilda

Runner Up          Adelaide                       Sydney

Wooden Spoon    Carlton                         Hawthorn

Leading Goal

Scorer                     Matt Richardson           Barry Hall        

Brownlow        Andrew Mc Leod         Barry Hall        

Will a coach

be sacked         Yes                              Yes

If so, who?       Thomas                        Eade

All seems quiet in the West this week after a quick perusal of the court listings.  Cousins up in a couple of weeks.  Swans Big Bazza Hall has had his eyes operated on over the off season and is having trouble reading the flight of the ball.  Commandant Andrew wants more Asian and African immigrants to get interested in the game.  What about concentrating on those fans of rugby and league from New South Wales and Queensland.  Digger tried to enter a print media tipping competition last years using the name Phuc.  Was told to change the name - wonder why?  But what happens when Nguyen Van Phuc plays his first game of AFL footy.  Change your name boyo.  Still, it would a change to see him playing footy than stabbing rival gangs or looking after his sister hooking at Crown casino.

Carlton boss Collins has taken offence at a headline in the media - BLUEBEGGARS.  Their still blaming John Elliot for the financial mess they are in.  Pigs arse.  Global warming update - AFL coaches are complaining that it is too hot to play football in Darwin, Cairns and country Western Australia.  Get the atlas and encyclopedia and discover what the word tropics means.

This week we will look at the 3 remaining teams to the west of the Victorian border.

Fremantle have yet to establish a reputation in the AFL.  Shocking jumpers, bad draft selections and poor performances have dogged them during their short but colorful history (those damn jumpers again).  However, this year may be the start of something big.  The Dockers seem to have shaken off the little brother tag and will make the finals this year.  Whether they can win consistently when on the road will determine their position in the top eight.

Port Adelaide seem to be on a similar page as the just announced Australian cricket team.  An ageing side that suffered a huge premiership hangover last year the Power will struggle in 2006.  Can Mr. Smug motivate his old timers for one last hurrah.  In a word, no.

The Adelaide Ravens could be the pick of the crop when talking about non Victorian teams.  A real surprise packet last season,  coach Craig, a virtual unknown before being handed the reins after king of the mullet Gary Ayres was sacked in late 2004, had a huge go last year.  Good young stock and some seasoned veterans will ensure that Crows are thereabouts when it comes September.

TIPPING UPDATE

Okay, we will have two tipping competitions this year.

1 - Normal tipping comp. selecting the 8 winners each with the tipster with the most winners at the end of the year being the ULTIMATE CFN tipster.

2 - Knockout Comp.  You only have to pick ONE winner every week.  Sounds easy eh.  However, you cannot tip the same team to win 2 weeks in a row and you cannot tip the same team to lose two weeks in a row.

More details soon.

For those who reckon they are experts at all things AFL you can join the Super Coach competition at http://www.heraldsun.com.au/

I am in and I have created a local league called Saigon League.  The local league is restricted to 16 teams so first in best dressed.  Follow the directions on the web site and where it says local league type in Saigon League.

The basic format is to pick 30 players within your salary cap of $10,000,00.  You select your best 22 each week and points are allotted based on the players stats.  You can trade players at certain times.  Sick of typing now, see the rest on the web site.

Keep on kicking goals,

Digger