QueenC

Agreed Rogue, and too pricey you would think....... Plus am I having a deja vu and we meandered down the Bradshaw rumour mill only a couple of years ago?

Good post Oracle..... But this time of year is always a little (putting it mildly) hysterical, and now that one of our favourites has jumped that was always going to happen. I hate trade time for that very reason, but I agree with your assessment of what we (the club) have got and done so far. Hopefully a positive Davey announcement will happen sooner rather than later if for no other reason than to calm some very rattled nerves in here. But if not then we are all just going to have to learn to deal with it, hopefully with a small dose of rationality !!!

Says in here that Port are after Jordan Lewis....... Port Adelaide's Shaun Burgoyne says he wants to join Hawthorn

Agree with you OMR....... I'd be happy to give him a home without it costing us anything, otherwise, well, forget it.

Agree with you on the Burgoyne to us stuff, that doesn't really work for me at all...... And as for Pick 4 for Lovett, I think this can just be put down as yet another in what will be a long and entertaining line of nonsense between now and the end of trade week.

But if you are to believe those who think they know all around here he is going to be the one pushed...... This rumour, such as it is, I would have thought would be about a more "valuable" player than Miller. And lets be honest most Demon fans in here would rather spit on Brad than have to support him.

Well it certainly hasn't hurt her game and her fitness is back to being first class........ But I think that what motherhood has probably helped more than anything else, and I think she has said this herself, is the mental side of the game. No longer is tennis the be all and end all, she has a daughter that is the most important thing, and tennis is there more for the fun of the sport and she can play for enjoyment and without the pressures she had before, because while the push to win is still there, it is not the most important thing and once she leaves he court life goes back to Play School and The Wiggles. Now it wouldn't be that simple but she had struggled with pressure and closing out matches in the first half of her career (I remember an Australian Open final against Serena in which she should have won in two, easily, but instead lost in three), now that pressure is elsewhere and the court is a place to enjoy yourself, win or lose. Of course winning helps here!!! All that, and her beautiful little girl doesn't care if mummy won or lost (despite the look on her face after the final), she is still her little girl !!!

Don't know about the potential contract extension, but they were definitely at either the All Australian dinner or the MVP function in recent weeks!!!

Agree with you here Titun..... Huge congratulations to Kimmy for her win at the USO. It was one of those fantastic sporting fairy tales that gets thrown up every so often, and it couldn't have happened to a better or nicer person. It's strange to remember that this is only her second slam win, but hopefully it will be the first of many in this the second chapter of her stellar career. And generally if you are able to beat both Williams girls (albeit the second one in spectacularly ordinary circumstances) you probably should be winning the event. Great stuff!!! Nadal's injury has been with him since the tournament in Montreal, but got progressively worse as the Open wore on, but being a grand slam pulling out was not an option (like it ever is ever with this kid). Apparently he has a large tear in his right abdominal and has been banned from playing or training (that will kill him) for a month or so. It is a shame that his comeback was curtailed by yet another injury, kind of like his year to date really, given how he started, winning here and four other tournament wins (including three masters) up until the French. And it's funny you should mention the Nadal v Federer matches of the past, as those have made plenty of tennis history in recent years on all surfaces (except the US Open) because Del Potro is the first person to beat Federer in a grand slam final other than Rafa. And Roger even mentioned in a presser prior to the final the fact that he was thrilled he wasn't going to have to face Nadal again, given the Spaniard has a massive winning record over Fed in all tournaments. He also mentioned Nadal again after the match regarding the quality of their past finals. I'm not sure he is so happy about it now though !!!

It's happened a few times over the years, but not too many..... It was an interesting final to say the least. I mean from what I saw in the opening set and a half I would have thought Federer was going to walk away with it. Delpo had no penetration into the court and was having trouble with Fed's serve, as well as his own. But after the squabble at about 5-4 in the second things seemed to go down hill for Roger. He lost his normally air tight composure on a few occasions and couldn't close out either of the tie-breaks, either of which would have won the match. And while all of this is going on Del Potro is getting more confident and stronger and is hitting the ball with a hell of a lot more authority (like he was able to do in the semi) and eventually Federer got rolled in the fifth. And if you think the men's tour is getting younger have a look at the babies running around on the WTA !!!

Well it didn't even take him getting back to full fitness to re-gain the #2 ranking..... The system is based on twelve months of consistency. The only reason Murray gained the #2 ranking (and to a lesser extent Federer regaining the #1 ranking) was because Rafa was not able to defend the points that he won at the French Open, Queens and Wimbledon because of his poor knees. So while he gets hit with a massive points subtraction Murray, who went further this season at the All England Club and won Queens, picked up enough to jump into the second spot and Federer did the same to jump into the first. I remember reading that Nadal only had to make the quarters at Wimbledon to hold onto the #1 ranking even if Federer claimed the crown, but he couldn't even contest it and therefore suffered the ranking consequences. As for Andy Murray's grand slam record, it is actually fairly ordinary, especially in the two tournaments he should prosper in being here and the US. Many people in the know believe that he will, or at least should win a grand slam at some point but so far he has only made the one final and seems to fall pretty early. You need to be mentally tough to win one of these things, which is what makes Federer and Nadal so amazing in their pursuit and success in recent years. Murray needs to get a bit more of that into him, and soon before he becomes the best never. He made the final last year in New York but was blown off the court and this year was bounced in the fourth round both here and there. His ranking is not because of grand slam success like the other two now above him, but more so on the Masters events which give 1000 points to the winner (more than other tournaments) compared to 2000 for a grand slam win. He was won two this season and a couple of runners up as well. Although Nadal has won three with a runners up thrown in as well as a grand slam, so those lost injury points really do hit very hard.

I'm sure he'd be thrilled !!!

Over the last few generations of my family we have had Collingwood, Carlton and Hawthorn all represented........ My dad became a Demon after moving to Melbourne from Brisbane when he was a kid, because of their success at the time and because he went to school with Norm Smith's son. I am the first second generation Demon supporter being my dad's eldest, but even my younger brother did the apparent standard family thing and now barracks for Essendon. So that is five different clubs in five straight generations, which I think makes us a little odd !!!

Different kind of little ?!!!

We'll see...... I mean he has all but admitted to the unnecessary and unreasonable contact to the head or face. But the reality is he is still seen as untouchable !!!

Ahh logic, it's always nice to see it :D !!!

Fair and rational summation MikeyJ..... But it doesn't change the facts that it is irrationally satisfying to watch this "obnoxious behaviour" fall in a heap. And while we are all well aware of what Melbourne had to do and did, it is still more than a little hypocritical for a Carlton supporter of all people to be questioning it. Same as we really shouldn't be questioning the Blues for doing what they did over those years, because the situation is not all that different. You do what you have to get the best fro your future. Besides I just think that people simply don't like Andy Mahar and so watching him come a whop amuses us !!!

Alistair Clarkson gets his just desserts? Hardly !!!

Melbourne-based clubs secure more money from MCG in new stadium deal (September 03, 2009)

For your own fairly obvious reasons Jarka :D ?!!!

True there would be less of a need for it if he plays further away, but that doesn't really change the fact that he needs to learn how to kick them with a hell of a lot more accuracy.

Not completely sure about that [censored] (although Col has copped a bagging for underperformance, but not necessarily the abuse I was talking about)....... Sometimes I think it becomes a gang mentality. Criticism of poor play is fine, cathartic even, but some people can't or won't let go of certain players and will berate them until the end of time. And it then ramps up across the entire board against said individual (Miller is the most common victim of the tirades, but Sylvia and Newton are among others that we don't seem to have any tolerance for). One of the worst points is that it doesn't seem to matter what that player does from that point on, as they will never be congratulated for doing the right thing, only condemned for doing the wrong thing.

Stole my thoughts there [censored]...... But by god he would want to do something (anything at this point) about the goal kicking, or complete lack there of !!!

The use of the word "scapegoat" is interesting here..... I mean these guys are generally not the reason, or at least not the only or entire reason we or any other team lose on any given day, and yet we as vocal (and often player biased and vitriolic) supporters continually berate, abuse and blame them for our worlds coming to a premature end, when it is not even near the complete truth, and we know it, or at least we should. What is forgotten in the (often violently crude) criticism as it is hurled around about these poor suckers is that it is a team sport, they all try, and while one guy can and often is disappointing on any given day, he really is nothing more than a whipping boy for our frustrations. It will always confound me how absolutely bloody awful and malignant we can get about one of out own. Some of the personal attacks on players (and the posters who defended those players) in here over the years has been appalling :angry: .

Got a vote too !!!