Americans Watching The Footy

You were wrong! Now how wrong will we be in seven months' time about what we think of the six teams we preview in this episode? This is the first of three parts to our team-by-team look at the season ahead. Learn about our sleeper picks to be impact players, as well as alternate sites and difficult stretches of the schedule.

...okay, we'll go with that for the title, Ethan! From a bevy of leadership changes to fresh injury concerns, a lot's happened since we last hit the airwaves. We catch ourselves and all of you up on recent AFL happenings, plus we talk about the intricacies of the league's salary cap and more. Listen to the end for a fun footy thought experiment!

We pick up where we left off in our season 2 premiere — recapping the offseason and filling out our wish lists for the remaining nine clubs. What do we want to see, and how reasonable are our expectations? Also included: the weirdest story about any listed player that's emerged in the past few weeks.

We're back for our second season! This episode and our next serve to recap each club's recent happenings, and to establish some of our expectations for 2023. Simply, what essential thing do we want to see from the 18 teams? When we look back 8+ months from now, what would be a sign they've gone the right way?

In our season one finale, we answer a question that's been brewing in our minds for close to three years: which club songs are the most factually accurate? We took to ranking all 18 songs into tiers, based both on clubs' recent veracity and on their overall trends. One in particular falls below the rest, especially after this past season.

With the full fixture now out, we assess strength of schedule, alternate sites, the Gather Round, and all that good stuff. Ethan shares his research into various team streaks and droughts, some of which may be broken this season based on matchups being at certain venues. Plus, a changing of the guard at Hawthorn — and lack thereof for the Bulldogs...

We're back... and a lot happened between our previous episode and this one. From more hirings to the draft, from delistings to un-retirements (Walla!), and from the opening of training camps to the opening fixtures taking shape, we play a bit of catch-up as 2023 looms on the horizon.

The nicest episode of all is here! If you've been counting, this is the 69th edition of Americans Watching The Footy. But it's only nice for certain teams as we talk about what all 18 did during the Trade Period. From the rich getting richer to the four-team deal, more clubs made big plays than not... but did some win by doing little? One team certainly didn't — and then they sacked their coach wa...

Welcome to our offseason programming! Thanks to all the news from the trade period, we've got a lot of teams and transactions to parse through. Plus, Essendon's a joke... and stick around until the end for a musical treat from Benjamin.

Don't worry, neither of us missed any of the big game — Ethan more than anyone had no excuse to do so, with his cat Gryan by his side. We talk about our (very different) Grand Final viewing experiences and give postmortems for both participating teams. Also included: player and coach movement updates, talk of on-field entertainment and medal presentations, and a review of the first year it's been...

The big day arrives Saturday, and Ethan's fired up as his Cats get set to take on the one team they haven't beaten in the past two years. He emphasizes Sam De Koning's importance in matching up against Sydney, as he was out concussed when Buddy kicked his 1000th and the Swans put up triple digits in Round 2. We also go over other facets of the matchup, but before getting into Grand Final talk, we...

What drama this past weekend in the AFL contained! ...Well, aside from the first prelim. The Cats cruised to victory, though not without an injury concern for their bright young winger. The next two nights, however, provided more than enough entertainment for a full week. Sydney and Collingwood played a thriller — surprise, Collingwood and thrillers — which swung and nearly switched hands after an...

In which we express our American-ness in multiple ways, from discussions of measurement systems to our recently acquired knowledge of a deceased Australian icon, to whom we pay tribute. We also talk trade news as the first domino on that front has officially fallen, and we give our postmortems for the teams eliminated in the semi-finals. The back third of the episode is prelim talk, and we're surp...

About which team did Ethan make this reference? And which player, if any, is Flanders? That and more can be found in this rundown of the pair of semi-finals. These two games actually had a lot in common: venue, Victorian v interstate, and even the home team's final score. However, one affair was very much a reversal of home-and-away results form this season, while the other largely stayed the cour...

Only two games on tap this week, but all sorts of things to talk about in this one! We begin with a short recap of around-the-league news, including the 7 / Foxtel TV deal extension, before giving postmortems for the pair of clubs that bowed out last weekend. Then, it's on to previewing this week's action. The results were lopsided in the home-and-away meetings between the semi-final pairings, but...

And wouldn't you too, unless maybe you're a Tigers or Pies fan given his heroics? Wow, what a weekend of footy we had — it took a while for us to process it all, even with only four games on the docket. I guess that's what happens when you have enough drama for a full round (or rounds!) in such a short time. Six teams remain in the hunt for the flag, with two very different forms of heartbreak suf...

It's September, and that means it's finals time! We go through each of the four matchups as they finally close in after last week's break... but first, we do an impromptu, rapid-fire rundown of why each of the eight remaining clubs can and can't win the flag.

Last time we covered five of the ten non-finalist teams — now we're finishing the job, closing that chapter before we focus on the 8 for the next month.

You can find finals coverage anywhere, and we'll certainly have our own... but before we get there, we wanted to spend time talking about the 10 teams who aren't playing on into September. This two-episode affair serves as our postmortem for those clubs, as we get into what shaped their season and what we take away from them.

It probably took some kind of scientist to figure out all the permutations and butterfly effects that led to such a tumultuous conclusion to the home-and-away season — and that was only with one down-to-the-wire finish! Before we got to Sunday's craziness, though, the two preceding days began to make the picture clearer: Melbourne reached the top 4 at Brisbane's expense, and Fremantle did their jo...

Ah, statistics and probability, keeping the longest of long shots alive. We've got one more round of the home-and-away season ahead of us, and it's hard to wrap our head around everything that's still up for grabs — while seven teams have clinched finals berths, only one (Geelong) are guaranteed of their position (1st). Everything's on the line this weekend, with Friday's Brisbane–Melbourne clash...

To which player does Ethan draw a comparison to the Indian restaurant staple, and why? Guess you'll have to listen and find out as we break down the penultimate home-and-away round. Multiple top-8 clashes have set the stage for a tumultuous final weekend, with a single game taking out a winning streak and a place in the top-4 for an upstart side. But that wasn't the game with the best finish — no,...

Given updates within the past day in the realm of discipline and list selection, we thought it best to put together a quick episode to let percolate in your mind throughout Round 22... so here you go!

It's hard for us to trust our eyes and realize that just two rounds remain in the home-and-away season! Six teams have clinched places in the top eight, bu everything outside the top spot is likely still up for grabs. It's clear that just winning won't be enough, and that percentage will matter in the fight for the double chance.. That's easier said than done, especially with Melbourne playing Car...

For whom were the vibes excellent, and why? That's the central question to unlocking the secrets of Round 21. The vibes certainly favored eleven-game win streaks, with two striped teams reaching that point — one in a much more entertaining and gripping fashion than the other. We also got plenty of Flagmantle vibes with another Freo win in Victoria, as well as vibes of persistence for multiple club...