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The Palestinian game was probably the best from a technical aspect. The Syrian game for a change involved relatively all out attack against the socceroos which is something we rarely see. Good win but the performance did not inspire great confidence in the team's ability against the likes of Korea and Japan. Hopefully they surprise me. Mabil could be the future. McLaren does not impress. Ikonomidis may have the goods. Kruse seems on his last legs.

You really think so? I mean I was joking but you know your footy so perhaps you're right and lever was recruited to support omac. And whilst personally I'd have may, hibberd, jets and lever ahead of him good on you for giving him the FMD (Fore Most Defender) title. Takes a strong character to admit when you got it wrong and change your tune.

Pretty good sign for the future that he polled the most coaches votes in front of 90,000 people in his 20th game of footy. I’m not convinced he’ll have an epic 2019 (say 40+ goals) but as long as he shows incremental improvement, then I think we’ve got a pretty serious centre half forward on our hands.

You've reached the last 4 out of 32 Gorg and SB's are hard to win ... so whatever happens from here, you've contended well and can contend well in the future. My view on team sport is that you have a good list that is constantly being improved on, never bottom out and make sure you're in some sort of contention in any given year ... and if you get enough goes at it you'll eventually win big. The obvious key is to have X amount of good players in various positions. And that's what the Rams have got. Rest on your laurels and you'll go backwards at a rate of knots.

Paddy Payne is taking Strategic Command to Morphetville R6, his only horse hes taking there. He often does this and wins. He is getting better and better and might be the next big trainer.

The toe issue is obviously far worse than we feared. Tommy can't even use his legs to get around the gym.

Harmes is no slouch either! Hopefully Hunt can stay fit and build on his early career form. He looks to have put on some muscle in the upper body over summer. He could become a serious weapon for us, and is probably the player I'm most excited to see in 2019.

Bet you didn't say that when Jacko did it and that was incestuous.

I watched them for a while. Spargo is noticeably stronger. His skills impressed me. Petracca out muscled Hibberd in one drill and took off with the ball. Clarry was with a smaller group probably the rehab group working on short kicking and fast ball movement. He was very comfortable. Melksham was walking around the boundary line with his shoes in his hand past Clarry who asked him " Are you ok ? " Melksham just shook his head. Looked a little downcast. He was walking with no apparent discomfort so I m not sure what was going on there. When the rain came there was a bit of fumbling but the ball must have been pretty greasy. Easy to forgive.

Must say that when you have regard to the various "no access" memberships offered by all the clubs the membership figures are all a bit flaky. Time for some transparency perhaps. I'm sure any sponsor worth their salt has access to the detailed membership breakdown.

We shouldn’t be assuming anyone’s gender. The fella on the right may be a chick.

I just don't get what the issue is with Trac. I reckon he had a really good season last year playing a difficult position and contributing consistently. I watched a few games since season end and this week watched the game against Freo in Darwin specifically to watch Billy Stretch. Petracca was very good that game and close to best on. If you watch the two finals games he was influential and his touches are quality and his vision elite. He uses the ball exceptionally well and just needs to overcome the yips in goal kicking to be even better. I doubt the footy department have any of the concerns that are often expressed here about Petracca. He's just finished his third year of playing at this level and doing very well. People's negative comments are based more on their heightened expectations than any failing in Petracca's performance. The kid is a gun.

Thanks I will and it's not, but the scuba diving is 1st class in DJB, swimming with whale sharks next week. Reason for going is my partner got a (good) job there. It is 50 to 55 deg in summer Jul/Aug/Sep, utterly miserable, but she is the love of my life and mother to our kid so what to do. Security wise it is safe in Djibouti so no stress there. I also bought 200kg + of italian produce ( kilos of walnuts and pine nuts and pasta etc) so I can make pizzas and bread etc which are hard to find. The cheese will require some more logistical expertise but that is in my lane as well. As for Yemen it is close to her and has good FIFO ratio, and well my life insurance is huge... and we will build a bunker at the port like you wouldn't believe for when those Saudi S.O.B. are bombing everything. Upside to Yemen is the Houthi hate ISIS and they have all been potted, so hopefully no orange is the new black style jump suit for moi. But yes sad to be leaving Rome. PS she did organize an awesome TV and internet connection for home so watching footy will still happen.

Not a poster but I use this site to help keep up to date with the Dees. I’m in San Francisco. Little tip for those wanting the watch afl pass (which is USD150 on its own if you’re in the USA). The Demons international membership includes the watch afl pass and is AUD170 (USD120ish). Save some cash and increase the membership count!

He’s a player. You can be a flash in the pan and get on the end of a few every now and then but, that EF against Geelong, he showed he has all the tricks a great key forward needs to have. Strong marks. Crunching tackles. Repeat efforts. Well timed bumps (Dangerflog) Sweet kicking action. Etc. As long he stays fit and has great pre-season, I’m confident the Weid will be even more valuable than Hogan.

Gives us 21-1 (boosted) ... not too bad for a 3pick. Fingers crossed for the collect!

EPL Fulham v Tottenham - Monday at 03:00 Tottenham Win/ Over 2.5 match goals $2.60

Weekend Specials (both Monday morning) Italy (Serie A) 6.30am $2.80 Napoli Win & +2.5 Goals Match Score vs Lazio NFL 10.40am $2.50 Kansas City (1-13) vs New England

Couple of very good Group 1 races at Sha Tin tomorrow. 'Beauty Generation' should win the mile race but 'Conti' is a real up and coming lightly raced 5yo and it could run BG close. Moreira on board Conti (11-2) but Zac Purton is on Beauty Generation (1-8) In the Sprint race Mr Stunning will take a power of beating but DB Pin, Beat the Clock, Fifty Fifty & Little Giant are all racing well and Mr Stunning might have to go around all of them to win (if it settles back) Sha Tin - The Stewards Cup 1600m ($1.8Million Aud) Sha Tin - The Centenary Sprint Cup 1200m ($1.8Million Aud)

30-35 Goals but consistent effort and a steady mark of improvement from his past seasons is my prediction for Weid in 2019

Tell them I accept Macca as long as I can bring a couple of sidekicks from DL on the show.? Not sure how many that is in a row, the formula seems to be working at the moment. It was a very strong win in the end, I thought it was done 100m or so from home. Your pick ran on well, it just seemed the leaders had a decent break on the rest. Creedence is usually a pace horse i thought. El ran ok too for a first time attempt at 1400m in town. There wasn’t much separating 2nd-6th. He did some work early, mate thinks they should have gone back from the wide barrier early.

Is that 4 winners in a row or 5 DZ? Racing.com just called and you're needed as a replacement for Gator!

While he has a long way to go, what I really admire about the Weid is his willingness to chase, tackle and be a giver rather than a receiver. Has a big big future I think.

LAR 38 - NO 28 NE 21- KC 28

You're a very attractive man. Well, you did give permission...

He was swung forward against the Hawks a few years back and turned the match for us there, so it’s not the worst idea. Personally I’d like to see him settle on the wing. Ideally him and KK own the wings, so we have good running power, elite pace in Hunt and elite kicking in KK.

Rams 21 Saints 38 Patriots 24 chiefs 27

Thats awesome. Then I'll get my Geelong supporting mate to fix me up for half of the the subscription as we share the log in credentials. Therefore a Geelong fanatic is adding to the MFC membership tally without realising. Win/win/win

A snippet from a Ben Guthrie article on afl.com.au from this mornings training. While McDonald's determination to keep presenting at the footy was noteworthy, Kade Kolodjashnij's foot skills; Bayley Fritsch's aerial ability, as well as his decision-making, and Michael Hibberd's run and carry were among the other highlights of the match practice.

I can help you with this. I know a bit about body language. Did he shake his head up and down or side to side. The answer will offer a clue to his state of mind and body.

Probably using the same pocket calculator they used when finalising Kurt Tippett's contract.

Seems that Adelaide have been fudging the figures according to Cornes: https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2019-membership-numbers-kane-cornes-accuses-adelaide-of-providing-misleading-numbers/news-story/bb12219519d2e60c9780c377b6045f74?nk=a3f3f69eceec23e1e3bffc463ac32d51-1547723303

jesus... do our players really need to talk to Dal Santo? If anyone was going to have a shitty nickname it would be Dal Santo himself.... Pinky maybe?

Not sure about a lot of that. The Pies don't have 2 key forwards and a resting ruck. De Goey is a very undersized full forward, a throw back to when full forwards were a thing. Mihocek is a hard working competitor who's just key position sized. Cox is really a forward in a ruckmans body. He leaps at the ball and can lead like a forward. The 3 options work well together - a super tall, a medium and a small marking option. Plus Stephenson as a zippy leading player. The Eagles forward line works for a lot of reasons, a large part of which is that they left Vardy and Lycett on the bench for a lot of the grand final! That puts a toll on their mids and flankers to cover rotations but they can do that because they have a lot of experienced players. We're slowly getting older but we'd be mad to waste rotations when our midfield was mainly kids. The other big reason it works is because Josh Kennedy is a tackling/pressure machine as is Darling who is very mobile and short for a 2nd key forward. They also have great pressure medium/small players. The gains of covering Max with a proper ruck for 20-25% of the game (or 5-7 minutes in the middle of each quarter) have to weighed against the losses in our forward line. I don't think a forward line with 2 genuine tall marking options in T Mc and Weid as well as a number of medium sized players - Melksham, Petracca and Hannan/Vanders/Harmes/Oliver/Fritsch is going to work with a 200cm+ lump in the way. The final thing to consider is that Weid in the ruck seemed to rejuvenate him as a player. He might not win a lot of taps but he follows up and tackles well, links up in general play somewhat like a midfielder and gets involved in the game.

It looks like he's moving on...

More on ACLs, which I found interesting. It's from Demonland's own star resident expert in these types of things @Webber - posted some time ago: "There is no greater incidence of hamstring injuries post ACL reconstruction where the hamstring is used as the graft. The hamstring 'group' (3 muscles) compensate as a collective to take over the progressive loads imposed during rehab. The surgery is a very elegant and efficient process. The graft length is computer calibrated to be anatomically correct, and anchored to the bones top and bottom of the knee (femur and tibia). That graft is initially dead tissue, but over the period of 5 to 6 months, the blood supply re-establishes through the bony attachments, such that it becomes fully vascular, and therefore a self-regenerating tissue. It is 'living' and able to absorb the stresses applied. Fully competitive, full speed multidirectional sport is allowed at 9 months. At the elite level, there are seldom variations to this timeline, and the outcome is as if the ACL had never been damaged."

My bother is a north fan. He's been giving me crap about Tyson for years. This trade is delicious.

I think TAB was showing 4/1 to make the QF. That might be a safer bet. Last time an Australian woman won the AO was 1978

Those soft culture days are slowly being totally wiped out of MFC. The last 5 years, it seems everyone at the club is on the same page and building a hard culture both on and off the field. It pervades everything, all the way down to list management, drafting, and selection. In the past I doubt we would have traded former number 1 draft picks or dropped obvious walk up selections. It came together in the elimination final where you could see exactly the hard edged culture MFC has been trying to build. Any setbacks won’t be because of a soft culture.

I’m in Perth.

boom boom... I'll see myself out.

After almost 7½ years, it appears that the mystery of the numerous intersecting issues raised in the No T$ No B$ Thread are finally being unraveled. I heard about the bananas in the fridge trick a little while ago so I tried it and in the end, my bananas didn’t turn black but rather, a deep brown color with the inside turning yellow. Now which AFL player who we can’t name in this thread will, if he gets over his injuries, be wearing a guernsey in those brown and yellow colours this year? The penny is dropping at last.

Philistines, boors, oafs, ignoramuses, louts, yahoos, hoons, vulgarians, plebeians, atheists, sceptics, heathens, beasts, brutes, peasants fail to understand these deep issues. Is this a description of Collingwoood, Carlton and Esssendon supporters ?

Red that would be a different joke and one regularly used by a late friend Master Evans.

I've never shied away from the fact that I'm probably a pervert and a bit [censored] up. However, the posts I read on this thread, reassure me that I'm the only sane and balanced [censored] here.

Page 999 - [censored] you Scully I hate you just as much at Hawthorn as I did a GWS. Look forward to booing you this year if your ankle is up to it. Max Gawn is one of if not the best players in the league and you are worthless as far as trade value. So glad he spewed on you in China it has improved our culture.