Americans Watching The Footy

Welcome to the midway round of the season, and one with no shortage of high-profile matchups and talking points heading into it. The swans have dropped 3 of 4, but can make things right if they get past a Lynch-less Tigers — how will Richmond have to adjust? Then there's the first real game for McVeigh's GIANTS at Brisbane, and Geelong's chance at revenge for last year's Round 1 defeat to Adelaide...

Not even the poorest of umpiring could derail the action in part one of the Sir Doug Nicholls Round, which lived up to a lot of the hype built around it. Call the round opener a typical Carlton win if you want, with a dominant second quarter preceding a palpitation-inducing second half, but they got the job done. Meanwhile, the Swans have dropped three of four, and the closeness of teams 2–11 on t...

The Sir Doug Nicholls Round is here! With it will come all sorts of Indigenous pride, great jumpers, and a round that wastes no time getting interesting, with short-rest Carlton and Sydney starting things off. Can the Swans take advantage of Harry McKay's absence, or will the midfields cancel each other out? The next day you've got Geelong having more to prove at home than visiting Port, as hard a...

Round 9 had a couple moderate surprises — like just how quickly the Bulldogs came out of the gate against Collingwood, and how Hawthorn had a good fourth quarter but only after a pre-halftime flameout — but there was an air of predictability to a lot of the round. We saw Port easily dispatching an undermanned North squad, Sydney playing like they should again versus Essendon, and the Lions and Dem...

It’s the rounds that don’t grab your eye initially that end up providing a swath of pre-match headlines. Ins and outs on both sides of the round opener, Collingwood v Bulldogs, beckon at least a partial reconfiguring of our understanding of the matchup. The same goes for both early Saturday games, Hawthorn v Richmond and North v Port; in each case, the home team is copping the blows more than the...

Round 8 may not have been the most eye-catching as a whole from a matchup standpoint, but a couple of the results certainly caught us off guard. Take the round opener, for instance, in which Port's midfield outdid that of the Dogs while the visitors' defense crumbled again. Add a spate of injuries, and 2021's runners-up are in a somewhat dire state. Fremantle dispatching North was easy to see comi...

With how many list changes and late-breaking news items there were leading up to Round 8, I'm still surprised we got this episode out when we did! It's no for the Bont, but yes for Buku as the Dogs look to even their record at Port Adelaide to open the round. Fremantle are without a half-dozen pieces for their clash with North… but that's against North, so they're fine. Five games take up three ti...

Well, both our teams lost in the first two games of Round 7, so we take a lot of time figuring out what went wrong for the Eagles and Cats… and what went right for their opponents, especially Freo, who are looking increasingly legit by the week. The round's true shock result came next courtesy of GWS rediscovering themselves in Adelaide, before Melbourne and Hawthorn displayed the transient aspect...

Holy list changes, Batman! If we had more time this week we’d probably have another list-based bonus episode, but instead all that information is in the same place as everything else for our Round 7 preview. The Eagles and Tigers kick off the round out west, neither at full strength and both with all sorts of questions considering their dip in form compared to the past decade. Fremantle are withou...

This Anzac round only had one close ending (Bulldogs v Adelaide) and a couple real blowouts (North v Geelong, QClash), which makes our discussions of each game's events all the more nuanced. From teams battling inaccuracy on the way to victory (St Kilda, Adelaide, Geelong, Melbourne) to clubs whose latest defeat draws the panic button nearer yet (GWS, Bulldogs, Richmond), nothing is as simple as i...

From games in 5 states + ACT to rivalries old (Richmond v Melbourne, Essendon v Collingwood) and new (QClash 22, Hawthorn v Sydney), Round 6 has all the markings of Anzac week. Add on the rest of the round's slate, and you're likely as grateful as we are that none of the fixtures overlap! Toby Greene and Braydon Preuss rejoin GWS in Canberra to face red-hot St Kilda on Friday night, while the 2–3...

Easter weekend solidified a lot of what we had thought about various clubs over the first four rounds. The Lions solidified their place among the league’s best, while the Pies showed they’re coming along well. On Good Friday, North Melbourne remembered they were North Melbourne, and the Bulldogs remembered how to kick straight. The Buddy-less Swans flew while the Eagles fell mightily without Jerem...

We’re thankful that none of the games in this Easter Week round overlap, because there’s not a dull fixture in sight! Brisbane and Collingwood open the action with a couple milestones, a debut, and some tall forward lines. The Kangas and Dogs should be a whole lot closer than their early-season meeting in 2021, while West Coast and Sydney have a lot of list questions but also plenty of room for ex...

Round 4 was the most unpredictable yet, with results (and some teams’ set shots) going every which way! Benjamin and Ethan each take plenty of time to go through their clubs’ wins; the junior brother remains in disbelief that West Coast actually broke through. Before that, though, they put Port Adelaide on blast, with one specific moment in their loss to Melbourne in mind. Also in this episode: co...

Round 4 may not be the most eye-catching outside of the weeknight matchups — with winless Port hosting Melbourne in a massive game for their overall trajectory, and Selwood-less Geelong and Big O-less Brisbane locking horns at the Cattery — but there’s no shortage of talking points leading into all of this week’s action! The most curious matchups overlap, and Benjamin and Ethan lament that, but th...

The Kassel brothers are still catching their breath after a hectic third round of the season. The weeknight games were all compelling despite being marred by terrible kicking accuracy, but both Thursday and Friday night saw games decided in the final minutes, including the unparalleled 51st edition of Adelaide’s Showdown. Ethan leads a walkthrough of the Cats’ rollercoaster affair with the Pies, t...

Round 3 of the 2022 AFL season is upon us, including a pair of huge rivalries with the Adelaide Showdown and Western Derby! Port Adelaide is one of four teams that have started the season 0-2. What do the Power need to do to get on track? How about Essendon facing a tough task against Melbourne, GWS in a sneakily compelling game against Gold Coast or the Western Bulldogs when they host Sydney? Whi...

The New Jersey Radio Gambling Parlay flopped, and we're here for an autopsy. Shaky starts from the Bulldogs and Port Adelaide have inspired us to introduce the Are-You-Screwedometer, in which the status of struggling teams can be measured on a helpful scale. Aside from answering how screwed those two are, we're also introducing the Legitometer, which is used to evaluate the three 2-0 teams with ne...

It's our first emergency pod! In the 24 hours since we recorded our Round 2 preview, numerous shockwaves were sent around the AFL with the official team selections. Another COVID wave has hit the West Coast Eagles, a Geelong star makes a surprising return while Richmond and Fremantle see theirs sidelined, and Adelaide and North Melbourne have some surprising omissions.

After a thrilling Round 1 which saw eight of the nine matches retain serious interest into the fourth quarter, Round 2 is set to begin as 2022's storylines start to take shape. The weeknight affairs are both blockbusters in their own right, and Saturday and Sunday both present plenty of opportunities for teams to take big steps forward... and backward. Each of the Kassel brothers have revenge on t...

Ethan and Benjamin are recording in person for the first time, breaking down all of the action from Round 1 of the 2022 AFL Season! In the weeknight matches, Melbourne won a Grand Final rematch, Carlton finally got the best of Richmond, and Collingwood started the Craig McRae era on a winning note. Geelong kicked off Saturday with a dominant showing, Sydney earned local bragging rights with a grea...

Footy is back! We've got previews of all nine Round 1 AFL matchups, featuring a Grand Final rematch between the Dees and Bulldogs, the traditional Richmond-Carlton opening round battle, a Sydney Derby and two other rematches of teams that made the finals in 2021 with Geelong facing Essendon and Brisbane hosting Port Adelaide. The five matches between teams that didn't make the finals last year all...

We're picking up right where we left off with previews of the nine teams we didn't get to last time! As we know, there's nobody you'd trust more for your AFL information than a pair of Americans who have watched the sport for all of two seasons.

We're back to preview the 2022 regular season, or to use the Australian terminology, the home-and-away season! We're looking at the first nine of the 18 teams. While most podcasts and shows organize teams alphabetically or by standings, we'll be going in random order, so get familiar and join us before the chaos begins!

Why do we love footy so much? We'll tell you! In the spirit of the tagline from some of the Toyota ads you see during matches, we discuss things that we consider to be good for footy.