Pett Family & Friends Tipping 2026

Not a week passes in this comp without a change of some kind at the top of the ladder. First, Janet and Tony were the stars this week, getting all 9. Then, Ausi, Fran, Gaynor, Grace, Helen, Judith, Peter, and Robert all got 8. But Tony’s 9 puts him back in the lead, now held jointly with his daughter Fran. Yes, it’s father and daughter of the Cardamone family sharing the lead. Dad is a mad Melbourne supporter and Fran goes for the Hawks. But we still have six weeks of tipping left. Anything could happen.

The Crows made pretty easy work of Gold Coast as Hardwick became the second coach this year to crack a big sook after someone in the Adelaide crowd said something unkind as he walked down to go out at three quarter time. These non-South Australians need to toughen up I say. Hawthorn brought an end to Carlton’s 7-game winning streak. Collingwood had another narrow win over North Melbourne. Geelong are losing more games than expected and Essendon are a waste of space. Next Friday night the Crows play Sydney in Sydney, with Sydney coming off a loss. Huge test. If the Crows can win that, we are serious premiership contenders.

The Ladder after Round 18…

For the first time this year, our tipster of the week was Lara with 7. Lara won this competition in 2008 and is now only 4 off the lead. But she wasn’t on her own this week. Ray also got 7, continuing his good form of late. Next best with 6 this week were Fran, Grace, Peter, Sally, Steph and me. And because Fran got 6, with Gaynor, Tony and Helen getting 5, Fran has edged back into the lead on her own. With seven weeks of tipping left, the winner could come from just about anyone currently in the top half of the ladder.

The Crows did what they needed to do and bounced back with a good win over West Coast. Next week they face Gold Coast at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night, which will be an interesting one with Gold Coast having lost their last six. And it’s good to see Port have two wins in a row. They’ve had a bit of bad luck this year with so many narrow losses. Carlton’s run of wins under interim coach Josh Fraser is now 7 but next week they play Hawthorn at the MCG on Saturday night, with Hawthorn coming off a loss. Can Carlton make it 8 in a row? We’ll see (but I won’t be watching because it’s on at the same time as Crows v Gold Coast).

The Ladder after Round 17…

This 50th year of Pett Family & Friends Tipping is shaping up to be one of the closest ever. This week, Helen, Jeremy, Judith, Peter, Robert and Tony led the way with 6. Next best were Ausi, Dee, Fran, Gaynor, Grace, Huddo, Janet and Ray with 5. But at the top of the ladder we now have a 4-way tie between Gaynor, Tony, Fran and Helen, with Huddo 1 back, Robert 1 behind that, and others still in contention.

The Crows came down to earth with a thud, but well done to Port, they wanted to win much more than the Crows did right from the opening minutes. For the Crows, hopefully it’s a just a temporary setback. It’s a long season and it’s hard to keep winning all the time. Their next opponent is West Coast in Perth on Friday night. Meanwhile, Freo and Hawthorn keep winning and Peter’s Pies are not out of the equation this year yet either.

Catch you later.

The Ladder after Round 16…

The star tipster this week was Fran with all 7. Next best with 6 were Gaynor, Huddo, Judith, Peter and Robert. There have been some serious moves at the top of the ladder. Tony has slipped to second, equal with Helen and Huddo, and the two joint leaders are now Gaynor and Fran. Anything can still happen – there’s still a long way to go in this season.

That was scary news about the great Tony Modra during the week but fortunately it looks like he is going to pull through – just with some nasty scars on his face, according to his wife. The Crows did it for him on Saturday against Melbourne. That was a tight game and the Crows did really well to pull away to win by 17 points. Freo continue on their merry way, as do Carlton, now with five wins on the trot. Port are now 4-10 for the season and next Saturday night we have the Showdown – bring it on.

The Ladder after Round 15…

Leading tipsters this week were Grace, Helen, Janet, Matt and Sal, all with 6 out of 7, followed by Ausi, Dee, Huddo, Jeremy, Judith, Lara, Ray, Rob and Tony with 5. Tony has now edged back into the lead on his own whilst Helen has jumped into equal second with Gaynor, and Fran and Huddo are 1 further back.

What a mighty win for the Crows here in Melbourne on Thursday night. It’s one that really stamps them as a premiership chance this year. Let’s hope they can keep it going against Tony’s Dees at Adelaide Oval next Saturday. Meanwhile, Port’s run of narrow losses continues. I thought they were great last night against Sydney but in the end the Swans showed their class. Essendon just seem to waiting for next year. It seems inevitable that they will appoint Hird. But who will win the flag in 2026? With apologies to all the Victorian-team-supporting tipsters in our comp (and there’s a few), here’s hoping for a non-Victorian grand final, with the two teams coming from the group of Fremantle, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane.

The Ladder after Round 14…

Best this week were Grace, Helen, Jeremy Colleen, Jeremy, Matt, Ray, Sal, Steph and myself, all with 6 out of 8. Next were Fran, Gaynor, Janet and Lara with 5. Gaynor was in the lead on her own for about 6 weeks until Tony jumped in front of her last week, but now Gaynor has bounced back and she and Tony are tied for the lead, one ahead of Fran, and with Helen and Huddo tied one further back.

That was a great win for the Crows on Thursday night – at last we have beaten Geelong. It was also good to see Matthew Nicks, Jordan Dawson and other Crows players at Noarlunga on Saturday watching their Reserves against South, with the Crows beating the Panthers by 44 points in the end. Noarlunga is a ground where you can drive in and watch from your car. That’s what some of the Crows boys were doing – the camera found them and zoomed on in them. So, the Crows’ season is back on track, especially if we can beat the in-form Dogs on Thursday night at Docklands. Meanwhile, Carlton’s run of wins is now at four, Gold Coast are faltering, and Freo go into a bye this week still sitting pretty on top of the ladder.

The Neale Daniher funeral is on Wednesday and I’m going. What an inspiration of a man.

The Ladder after Round 13…

Story number 1 this week concerns Steph. In what I think is a first in the history of Steph’s involvement in our comp, not only has she tipped 7 out of 7, but no one has equalled it, meaning she is our stand-out tipster of the week, followed by Janet, Jeremy and Tony with 6. Way to go Steph.

Story number 2 concerns Tony Cardamone, our neighbour two doors down here on Shore Grove. Tony has been having a couple of problems with his new Toyota RAV4 lately – the battery went flat because of confusion about how to turn the hybrid engine fully off, then two weeks ago there was a problem getting the side mirrors to turn in when you turn the engine off. But Tony has not been having any problems with his tipping. He has been consistent all year so far, and this week, when he even tipped GWS against his own Demons, he has jumped into the lead on his own, one ahead of Gaynor, with Huddo and Fran one further back.

It’s exciting times at Carlton all of a sudden. What a game that was on Friday night, with Cripps taking a big mark in front of goal with less than a minute left. Now Carlton are every chance of making it 4 in a row when they play Essendon next week. It’s also exciting times for Freo. Will they win their first-ever flag this year?  I’d like to see it. Next week they play North Melbourne in Bunbury. As for the Crows, it’s a huge game on Thursday night against Geelong. A win would restore hopes in the season. A loss might see it start to slip away. 

The Ladder after Round 12…

In a tough, topsy-turvy tipping round, there was some change on the leader board. Jeremy’s hot run of form continues. He got 7 for the third week in a row and has got himself off the near-bottom of the ladder. Next best this week was Fran, who got 6, with her Hawks beating the Crows on Thursday night. Fran was the outright leader for the first few weeks of the year and is now back in contention, just two off the lead. But it’s still Gaynor in the lead by 1, from Huddo and Tony in joint second.

It was a disappointing night for the Crows on Thursday night, especially after such a good first quarter. It’s hard to get a feel on how good the Crows really are this year. I’ve got a feeling we’ll end up playing off in the Wild Card Round for teams 7 to 10. As for Port, what a dismal night for them. Luckily for Josh Carr he’s a first-year coach, so he’ll be given some grace. Peter’s Pies scraped in over West Coast in Pendle’s record-breaking big game (not mentioning how players like Craig Bradley and Peter Carey played nearly 500), and meanwhile Freo just keep on keeping on. Could it be their year?.

Next week we are back to 7 games for the round, starting Thursday night.

The Ladder after Round 11…

It was good week for Jeremy, getting 7. Next best were Fran, Grace, Lara, Matt, Tony and me with 6. Gaynor still leads by 1 but now Tony has joined Huddo, just 1 back.

We all thought the Crows would beat North Melbourne but probably not that easily – it was good for percentage. On Thursday night we have Hawthorn at Launceston. That’s going to be very tough, especially with Hawthorn coming off an unexpected loss to Melbourne. Port are having a pretty poor season so far – is Josh Carr cutting through? And you have to feel sorry for Michael Voss. As soon as they sack him, Carlton finally have a win.

Till next Thursday…

The Ladder after Round 10…

Happy 18th birthday to Huddo!

Congrats to Ausi, birthday boy (man) Huddo, and Grace, who all got 9 this week. Next best with 8 were Dee, Gaynor, Helen, Janet, Judith, Lara, Matt, Peter, Robert and Tony. Gaynor is still in the lead but Huddo has jumped into second place, just 1 behind.

Poor old Port are making a habit of losing by only a few points. It will be interesting to see how they go against Gold Coast next week up in Darwin. Gold Coast never lose there. I didn’t see any of the Crows v Richmond game (I was flying to Sydney for work this week) but I was checking the scores and it was a worry for a while, although in the end a pretty good win. If we can beat North Melbourne next week, we will be 6 and 4, which isn’t too bad.

The Ladder after Round 9…