titan_uranus

It should never be up to the accused to prove their innocence. The system should always be innocent until proven guilty no matter how heinous the crime or how much you hate the person on trial. If ASADA can't prove it, then the players shouldn't be punished. Of course, if they can prove it, then the bans should be weighty and reflective of the seriousness of the offence.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly sure this is not true. The onus remains on ASADA to prove to the 'comfortable satisfaction' of the tribunal that the Essendon players took TB4. As far as a 'plausible alternative' goes, all the players have to do is acknowledge what is essentially conceded by everyone, and that is that no one really knows who took what or when. Multiple substances seem to have been injected but the charge is for taking TB4. Without positive tests, how does ASADA know for sure it was TB4? The onus remains on ASADA to lead enough evidence to discharge their burden of proof. You should know WJ it is not as simple as just claiming something happened and asking 'well if it wasn't that, what was it?'. It's ASADA's job to provide witnesses and lead evidence to make its case and if they can't get the evidence of Charter and Alavi in at the hearing, then their case is that much weaker. I'm confident, though not by any means sure, that the players can beat these charges.

Agreed. I'm not 100% sure how or where Garland and Grimes fit into our side, which is sad in a way as they really should be staples of the team, but good in a way too as it (maybe falsely, given it is December after all) suggests stronger competition for spots. M Jones should be down the midfield pecking order now with the arrival of Newton, Brayshaw and Petracca. Depth is necessary though, and I'm sure we'll be seeing him in 2015. I still don't rate Terlich at all and if he 'clogs' a spot on the 2015 list by hardly playing at all then that will be a good thing IMO. Same with McKenzie. Whilst I agree that it is starting to look like Grimes is going to be pushed out of the back line, I'm not sure the answer is to put him in the midfield. I haven't seen anything in his AFL career to suggest he's got what it takes to be a mid. His stints there over the last couple of years haven't worked. His best football has always been when he slots into the backline, either running with a smaller forward, playing loose and zoning off, or giving some drive off half-back. If it comes to it and there's no spot in the backline for him, then I'm not sure there'll be a spot for him in the middle either.

Marsh and Starc have been added to the squad for Brisbane, so it seems that Marsh will come in (and probably bat at 5, moving Smith up to 4 I think (he's in ripping form, Smith)), but I think Siddle will get one more game on a friendlier pitch. He was also sick in the first innings apparently, which hampered his pace.

Arizona pretty much can't miss the playoffs now. They still have a game against us which they can bank I'd think, even with Lindley at QB. If they can knock off Seattle next week on SNF they'll win the division too.

Fantastic effort from Lyon. Always coming under largely unwarranted criticism but stood up when needed. Should have had both Vijay and Kohli out well before they actually got out too, two horrendous decisions from Erasmus with those non-lbws (of course, Dhawan and Rahane didn't hit the ball either so it evens out). Amazing that Dave Warner could hit centuries in both innings and probably only be the third best player in the match. Clarke won't play again this series you wouldn't think, which will probably mean Rogers will save his spot for now. S Marsh might get Clarke's spot since he was in the squad, must be next in line. Siddle is also in trouble - he really doesn't threaten anywhere near as much as he needs to.

What happened? Haven't heard much about bad calls in either game. Kaepernick is what he is, I think. Huge arm, ability to run, but can't read defences, makes stupid mistakes over and over again (delays of game, burning timeouts, passing into double/triple coverage, passing the wrong side of a good route) and hasn't shown any - literally, any - development in the time he's been our QB. He's the same QB he was when he started. At his best he wins games (e.g. the divisional round playoff win over Green Bay a couple of years ago where he set the record for QB rushing yards). At his worst, well, see the game against Oakland, or the Seahawks game, or the Broncos game. So I'm not sure a new coach would make any difference to Kaepernick. Our WRs could use a refresh or two I guess but the talent is still there - an offence with Crabtree, Boldin, Davis, Gore at RB and a pretty strong O-line should be scoring more than we are - 6 of our last 7 games we've scored under 20. It's mainly down to horrendously inconsistent play at QB.

Huge win for Arizona. Keep their buffer over Seattle. That Week 16 Sunday night game looms large, could determine the number 2 seed. Browns were so close to a massive upset that would have kept them alive, but you'd have to think they're out of it now. Steelers' win over Cincy changes the AFC North again - they've got a strong division and conference record which keeps them above Baltimore if they finish on even wins. And as for SF, we're hopeless. Kaepernick is holding us back.

Green Bay and Detroit will both make it. Detroit's schedule is easy though - Tampa Bay, Minnesota and Chicago should be three wins for them, which will make Week 17 vs Green Bay a winner-takes-the-division game. Seattle and Arizona are fighting for the NFC West, and I think Seattle's going to win it. Injuries at RB for Arizona plus an iffy QB makes it tough for them. So I see it as Arizona vs Dallas (who are likely to end this week on the same number of wins) for the final WC spot (edit: and the Cardinals beat the Cowboys earlier in the year which means Dallas has to finish a win in front of them to get the WC over them. Same deal for SF and Dallas, though Dallas does have the win over Seattle which will help them if it comes to it.)

Sorry, I should have written 'he wasn't that good at it' - i.e. I was trying to say he wasn't really setting the world on fire down there, which to me means I'm not fussed about taking him out of the backline to try to make him into a match-winning forward. I think the wing could also work well, for the reasons you've suggested.

The AFC WC race is really tight and will be really interesting to watch it play out. Tuesday Morning Quarterback noted today how this December features so many critical playoff-implication matches, whereas in previous years December has been the playoff sides just tuning up for January. For example, San Diego has to play Denver, Kansas City, SF and New England. They looked good this weekend but that's an horrendous run home. Similarly, Buffalo has the Raiders, but also Green Bay, New England and Denver. Baltimore has crucial games against Cleveland and Miami, Miami has the Ravens and Patriots, the Browns have the Colts, Bengals and Panthers. So many important games with so much riding on them. If Miami beats Baltimore this week, they could get to 10 and get in. If Baltimore win they could do it, but they lose the tiebreaker to San Diego and they're weak in their conference record which also hurts. Chiefs will need to beat at least one of Pittsburgh and Arizona on the road if they want to make it (the Oakland and Tennessee losses are shaping up to make them miss the playoffs).

My vote is forward. I don't think a long-term successful MFC side has Howe playing off half-back; he wasn't that good at it, there was just more opportunity for him to touch the ball there in 2014 than there was in the forward line. I can definitely see him playing a long-term role as a dangerous mobile forward though.

I'm not particularly fussed if he was pushed or he decided (though I'd have thought it was a bit of both). It's a good outcome for both him and the club so the right decision was made.

Ripping week of games. Ripping season generally. Packers-Pats is going to be stunning.

If we're allowed to wear a red jumper, I'd hope we're also allowed to wear red shorts with it. Sydney wears red shorts when they're the away side in their normal jumper.

Parity in the NFL is much more of a reality than in the AFL. There are so many teams realistically vying for playoff spots this year. Two of Arizona, Seattle, SF, Detroit, Green Bay, Dallas and Philadelphia are going to miss the playoffs this year. In the AFC, there's Cincy, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Miami, Buffalo, KC and San Diego - battling for only 3 playoff spots. Green Bay right now has to be in one of the strongest positions to win the NFC, but right now hasn't got a playoff spot. Pittsburgh can absolutely thrash Indianapolis but lose to Tampa and the Jets. I find it a lot easier to believe in the underdog winning in the NFL than in the AFL. So many amazing games this week. NE v Indianapolis is my favourite, but Arizona v Dallas, Seattle v KC and Green Bay v Philadelphia are huge too.

That it came to this is terrible list management. But it was probably a good decision for both parties. Evans wasn't a part of our future which means he's no longer locked into playing for Casey in 2015. If it doesn't work out for him hopefully he can make something of his law/commerce degrees. Good luck to him.

Great win from the Niners, but essentially every other result went against us - Eagles, Cowboys, Packers, Lions, Cardinals and Seahawks all won. With Palmer going down Arizona might drop a few but that really only opens the door for Seattle rather than us. Meanwhile can Cleveland win the AFC North? Next three are against Houston, Atlanta and Buffalo. Play like they did against Cincy and they could pocket all 3 and be 9-3 with a month to go...what a fairytale that would be! Is Foles' time at Philly over?

To be fair, North Melbourne's home jumper is predominantly white, so of course their alternative is going to be predominantly not white. Hawthorn, West Coast and the Bulldogs all have white jumpers in addition to the coloured jumpers you've provided here, whilst Essendon has their grey jumper (did they even wear that wider-red-sash one this year?). Richmond is the only real exception - an issue which came to a farcical head in the finals. However, a fair point rests with the Dogs - if they are able to wear a red jumper where their blue is a clash but there is no need to avoid red, I don't see why we couldn't do the same. Use the red alternate jumper where possible and only wear white if red has to be avoided in addition to blue.

His passer rating was 2.0. Lower passer rating than number of interceptions. Ridiculously bad game. But go the Browns! Love seeing the Browns and Bills on the up.

That would make me a supporter of Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon - I watch all of them on TV, in addition to watching Melbourne games of course.

Fingers crossed we can get through a year without feeling the ridiculous urge to 'reward' players by 'upgrading' their numbers.

I'd rather us come to 2017 with a really strong midfield and a weak forward line than the other way around. That is guiding my thought process at the moment.

If you have the finances to pay for a membership, and you choose not to buy one, are you really 'supporting' the club? IMO, no, you're not.

My guess at this point: AFC 1. New England 2. Denver 3. Indianapolis 4. Pittsburgh 5. Kansas City 6. Cincinnati NFC 1. Green Bay 2. Arizona 3. Philadelphia 4. New Orleans 5. Detroit 6. Dallas The season is too even to be picking with any confidence right now. Both Philadelphia and Dallas have soft schedules so either could top the division. Detroit has 4 winnable games (Bears x 2, Bucs and Vikings) which if they bank gives them 10 wins. Not sure Seattle is going to get there, they have a much tougher run and aren't playing well enought to give me confidence. 49ers will get players back on defence but that's not going to help us score points and it'll be too little too late to catch the other contenders for wild cards. As for the AFC, three divisions are sewn up you'd think (West, East, South). I'll put Pittsburgh in for the win but if Big Ben fades from his current form watch out, they're not flawless (e.g. losing to Tampa) and all three of their division opponents are capable of pushing them not just off the top but off a WC spot too. AFC Championship game is shaping up for a boring old NE v Denver match-up. In the NFC it's impossible to call. Green Bay for mine is the stand out but Arizona is playing really solid football and both Dallas and Philly can do the job against anyone. New Orleans is good at home but useless on the road, so write them off unless they finish 1st (which they won't).