The biggest match on the home and away calendar is going to break new ground in the year 2020. The second annual Anzac Day blockbuster is going to be played in the twilight slot for the very first time in its history. The AFL each year understands the gravity of the Essendon and Collingwood contest, and are set to capitalize on its status as one of the biggest games of the year. Next year this is going to fall on a Saturday and it is going to be played at 4:20pm. This is one hour later when compared to the start-time this year. When you look at the scheduled bumper day of football you will see that the later bounce is going to ensure clean air around the other matches on the day. The annual Essendon-Collingwood match is going to be entering its 25th year next season and it has been played over eight different start times. They span from 1:15pm to 3:40pm.
When you look at last time the day fell on a Saturday, you will see that five matches were played. They took place across five different cities and this includes Perth, Sydney, Adelaide, Wellington and even Melbourne too. Port Adelaide and Fremantle both hosted matches in 2015 and they have played home games in the same round since the year 2013. If you go onto any betting site you will soon find that you can gamble on a huge range of Australian games, as and when they happen. When you do, you can even see odds on certain players scoring too, which makes everything that bit more exciting.
In Other News – Paddy McCartin to be investigated following concussion comments
In other Australian football news, it looks like some comments are going to be investigated after St Kilda forward Paddy McCartin stated that he did worse on a concussion test so that he could then be allowed to play games. He has been delisted by St Kilda even though he has one year to run on his contract. This gives him ample time to continue his recovery even though he has already had eight concussions across his career of five years. He has stated that he submitted a lower baseline during the pre-season testing. The AFL have done a good job at trying to improve testing as much as they can, but it is easy to bludge your way through it if you really want to. He has given a lower baseline so that if he does have a concussion, his results will be similar to his already low baseline.
He has stated that he was worried about what people would think of him if he were to miss out on games and that he is not proud of doing worse on the test on purpose. At the end of the day, he is putting his own health at risk and he looks to be sitting out the entire 2020 season as a result. Only time will tell if his situation doesn’t improve but this news isn’t going to be good for him and people may not even be able to trust the results of any test that he does in the future.
