In his 2011 Grand Final vidcast, Wayne Carey says Geelong can win the Big One on Saturday - with or without Steve Johnson. Carey says the Cats' preparation - which has been largely glitch-free - gives them an edge over Collingwood, who have struggled with all manner of distractions this season and now have Ben Reid and Darren Jolly's injuries to worry about. "They're much healthier, and playing better footy,'' Carey says.
The dual  premiership captain also assesses the two preliminary finals, and reckons the painful manner of Hawthorn's defeat - leading at the first three changes only to get pipped on the line - will stick in their craw all over summer.
The BPL interview was filmed at lunchtime on Monday. So who did the Oracle of Arden St think would win the Brownlow Medal being held later that evening? ''Chris Judd was about 10/1 last year and Dane Swan was red-hot favourite, and Judd ended up winning," Carey says. ''The situation's reversed this year: Swan's 10 or 12/1 and Judd's the favourite, and I think Swan will win it - and Judd will become yet another favourite who's beaten."  

In his weekly BPL Vidcast, Wayne Carey said he was 'disgusted' by Fremantle's treatment of Mark Harvey, and the club had acted brutally by sacking him without warning. Conversely, Carey didn't blame Ross Lyon for leaving St Kilda - and taking up Harvey's recently vacated chair at Freo - because the notion of loyalty had pretty much gone out of football. Now, Carey said, the system had encouraged an 'every man for himself' mentality, and Lyon was just looking after himself and his family. But, aside from the money and length of contract, Carey said it was hard to avoid the conclusion that Lyon also felt Fremantle's young list had much more upside than St Kilda's in the next few years. As for the coaching appointments of Mark Neeld (Melbourne), Brendan McCartney (Western Bulldogs) and Brenton Sanderson (Adelaide), Carey said he could not really understand the accent on young, untried coaches. The dual premiership captain said the best coaches he knew had a 'presence' and a fear factor, such as Denis Pagan, Mick Malthouse and even John Worsfold, and he wasn't sure some of the new breed necessarily had that trait. Oh, and the seven-time All-Australian gives his preliminary final tips, as well.

In his BPL Vidcast this week, former North Melbourne premiership captain Wayne Carey examines the first weekend of finals - and reckons the Magpies have yet to regain their lustre from earlier in the season and are looking beatable. Only a lack of poise and experience stopped West Coast from causing a massive upset on Saturday - and the work of Collingwood back pocket Leon Davis in the first half. Carey says Buddy Franklin had fluid drained from his damaged knee over the weekend - and describes the sensation of that particular procedure - but reckons Hawthorn might struggle to post a winning score without him on Friday night against Sydney. Carey is leaning towards the two non-Victorian sides, Sydney and West Coast, in this weekend's two semi-finals. And in a tribute to Sydney's Adam Goodes, who plays his 300th game on Friday, Carey said he doubted whether any player in the history of the game had reached that milestone in the sort of form that Goodes is in at the moment.

 

In his weekly BPL Vidcast, Wayne Carey says Collingwood's bubble of invincibility has been burst by Geelong - and the premiership race is now wide open. Carey says it would be unwise to read too much into Mick Malthouse's relaxed demeanour after the match: the Pies' coach would be very worried by what he had just seen. "That was a massive hiccup for the Pies at the weekend," Carey says. The dual premiership captain gives his tips, too, for what he reckons will be four close matches in the opening week of the finals. 

 

 

In his weekly BPL Vidcast, Wayne Carey admits he was wrong about Essendon. All through the year, Carey has said the Bombers wouldn't make the finals. But now it's clear they have, and a contrite Carey says: ''I was wrong ... and we have to take our hats off to the Bombers. They've been great.'' The dual premiership captain discusses North Melbourne's lame capitulation to St Kilda at the weekend and said talk in the North changerooms after that match was about the 2012 pre-season, so the club is already focussed on a much-improved performance next year. Looking ahead to Friday night's Collingwood-Geelong game - the highlight of an otherwise pretty lacklustre final round - Carey says he expects the Cats to rebound after their shock loss to Sydney, and reckons they should opt for Cam Mooney and his experience over Tom Hawkins in the forward line. And finally, the seven-time All-Australian urges clubs to have a look at reformed and in-form full-forward Brendan Fevola. "It's time to bring back Fev,'' he says.

In his weekly BPL Vidcast, WAYNE CAREY says he's looking forward to his old team, North Melbourne, holding centre stage on Saturday night when they play St Kilda at Etihad Stadium in what is effectively an elimination final. The winner is every chance to play finals; the loser is in strife. And Carey reckons the Kangas might just have enough firepower to

knock off the Saints, whose captain Nick Riewoldt now appears to be battling a knee complaint, as well as ordinary form. Carey says such is Riewoldt's desire to lead from the front, and do the inspirational, he's being crazy brave and doing silly things like camping under a massive pack - as he did against Sydney - which will only end in tears. The dual premiership captain says he can't remember a team struggling more than this current Port Adelaide side, and that includes Fitzroy in the mid-90s, which does not bode well for Matthew Primus' long-term future. And while he feels Collingwood has enough depth to cover its mini injury crisis, Carey says he becomes more convinced by the week that this premiership race is wide open - with the Pies, Geelong, Hawthorn, West Coast and Carlton all having decent claims to the flag. 

In his weekly BPL Vidcast, Wayne Carey said talk of Collingwood being a shoo-in for the 2011 Premiership is nonsense. Carey said St Kilda's effort last Friday in which they had more scoring shots than the Pies showed to him that

the premiers were beatable. Hawthorn, Geelong and Carlton would all provide a stern challenge in September as would West Coast if it played two finals in Perth, so Carey felt that the premiership race was wide open. In discussing the abuse of Stephen Milne by a section of the Collingwood fans, Carey said he doubted whether the Saints' goalsneak would hear many of the vile comments, and was unlikely to be worried about them anyway. The people most affected by that abuse were Milne's family, for whom the experience would be very unpleasant. The dual premiership captain discusses the highlight reel of high marks this year - Adam Goodes' being the latest - and looks ahead to the mouthwatering set of match-ups in Round 22, kicked off by Carlton-Hawthorn on Friday night, giving his tips for the four biggest games.

 

 

 

In his weekly BPL Vidcast, Wayne Carey says the recent spate of lopsided AFL results is an issue but not yet a reason to panic. Those results were to be expected with the introduction of Gold Coast this season. Having said that, Carey revealed he did not bother tuning in to Channel 10's telecast of the Collingwood-Port Adelaide match on Saturday night - won by 138 points by the Pies - because he knew it would be an absolute bore. The dual premiership captain says long shots at goal, such as the one taken by Adam Goodes after the siren on Saturday night, invariably drift left - and that's what caught the Swans' champ out. The resulting win to the Bombers leaves them well-placed to make the final eight, but no certainties: it all boils down to this weekend's match against the Western Bulldogs. In discussing Buddy Franklin's apparently rough deal at the hands of the umpires, Carey said some players always seemed to fare badly with the men in white - Barry Hall being a classic example. Carey said the umpires sometime used to blow the whistle before Hall had even arrived at a contest. Hobbling into the BPL offices after tearing his calf muscle in his comeback game at the weekend, the seven-time All-Australian vowed: ''That's it. No more football for me. The only time I'll raise a sweat in public will be out running on the beach.''