titan_uranus

This is pretty terrible atm. Rubbish midfield, no hunger, too slow. Again slow start with too many handballs and weak tackling. All the things we say we needed to improve on we have failed in Not good. These performances should be behind us.

I fail to see how bringing MacDonald in for Gysberts makes the team any better. It doesn't make us any worse I don't think, but IMO changes should only be made if there's a net benefit to the side. MacDonald for Gysberts doesn't take us anywhere I don't think. I would have rewarded Gysberts for 2 great games and being a part of the 22 that drew with a premiership contender by letting him go to Adelaide.

Awesome news.

Not really, commentators can be pretty slack when it comes to English... lol just messing around. This match is seriously one of the most unbelievable sporting occurances I can think of.

Why do you do that? You didn't have to insult him. And I doubt your knowledge of the game is that much superior to his anyway. His opinion is that Gysberts was unlucky to be dropped. Yours is that he wasn't. Next time just leave it at that.

Melbourne B: Clint Bartram, Matthew Warnock, James Frawley HB: Colin Garland, Jared Rivers, Jack Grimes C: Brad Green, Jack Trengove, Cameron Bruce HF: Cale Morton, Matthew Bate, Tom Scully F: Neville Jetta, Brad Miller, Aaron Davey Foll: Mark Jamar, Brent Moloney, Nathan Jones I/C (from): Joel Macdonald, Jordie McKenzie, Jack Watts, Lynden Dunn, Jamie Bennell, Kyle Cheney, Jake Spencer In: Macdonald, Cheney, Spencer, Bennell Out: Jordan Gysberts Hoping for a bench of McKenzie, Watts, Dunn, Bennell. Don't want to see Spencer, and to be honest I'm not sure MacDonald should be in. Despite him doing close to nothing on QBW I'm disappointed Gysberts got the chop.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/bailey-gives-dees-five-out-of-10/story-e6frf9jf-1225883845341 Says we're a 5/10 for the season so far, can't really be any higher according to him with only 4.5 wins from 12 games. Again mentions the slow starts as of more importance than winning interstate.

Would have been great if they'd kept going till the end last night. Isner wanted to. Of course light and the time of night played a factor, but I wonder whether the overnight rest will refresh them and the break will come really early.

In the entire game Mahut's only had 3 break points, and converted 1 of them. Isner's had 12, and also only converted 1. Both have broken Ivo Karlovic's record for number of aces in a match, with Isner on 98 and Mahut on 95. Winners: Isner 218, Mahut 215 (includes aces). The fifth set has been going for 424 minutes

Oh yes, forgot Hawthorn-Essendon, which trumps Fremantle-Geelong IMO. So my top 5 would be: Round 12: Melbourne vs Collingwood Round 11: Sydney vs Essendon Round 2: Hawthorn vs Geelong Round 2: Collingwood vs Melbourne Round 13: Hawthorn vs Essendon

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/demons-wait-on-injured-stars/story-e6frf9jf-1225883712274 McDonald is 50-50, Sylvia will be monitored at training.

Yep, that's about right I reckon. Hawthorn-Geelong, Melbourne-Collingwood x 2, Sydney-Essendon and Fremantle-Geelong are the top 5 for me. Surprised Melbourne-Dogs didn't get there, if only for Lake being shifted forward with 5 minutes to go and virtually winning it for them.

Unbelievable match. Mahut's saved 4 match points in the fifth set already, including one at 59-58, right before the end of play. Apparently someone was there watching it, left at 7-8 to go watch England vs Slovenia, when that was over he came back and re-commenced the tennis at 28-27. I wonder how the umpire's back's feeling?

Also, Tim Paine has been called up to replace Haddin in the 14 man squad for the Tests against Pakistan. I reckon that's a bit of a slap in the face to Chris Hartley from Queensland and Wade from Victoria. Both of them seem to be better first-class batsmen than Paine.

Stuff the neck and nose, look at the arms. They look tio big to be Trengove's.

Josh Hazlewood debuted for Australia last night at the age of 19. Youngest ever player to debut in an ODI for Australia. Took a wicket, too, but we lost to England.

And she's out in the first round. 6-4 6-4 to Kaia Kanepi. Schiavone lost yesterday as well. So both the French Open finalists are out.

Article in the HUN today gives the points differential for teams over the first 10 minutes of all games in 2010, and for 2008-2010. We're -315 in all games since the start of 2008. Next worst is West Coast in the -90s. In 2010 we're -75. For mine if we can get that -75 closer to 0 over the rest of the year we'll see more wins than losses. In wins this year we're +7 in the first 10 minutes.

That's the key to every week. If we're on, then we all know we can go with the best of them (Collingwood x 2, Bulldogs, Brisbane). If we're not we can lose to anyone (West Coast). If we're on this week we are good enough to beat Adelaide by 5 goals. If we're not we could go down by 10 goals.

Sylvia and McDonald will play if fit. The two ommissions will come from Miller, Jetta, Watts, Dunn, Gysberts and McKenzie. I'm tipping McKenzie and Jetta, but I wouldn't be surprised if Gysberts is 'rested'.

Ah. I get it now. But given that there is a rule that each club must make 3 selections at the ND (at least I'm 99% sure that's a rule), then it follows that we have to make enough room for 3 picks. So it's not 'we shuld have 3 picks', it's 'we must have three picks', and then given that McKenzie and possibly Spencer are going to be promoted, it follows that we must clear 4/5 spots from our senior list. So whether or not Miller gives us the spot we will eventually fill with a 1st rounder is somewhat irrelevant: 4-5 players have to go. Those would be the worst 4-5 on the list. Miller is one of them.

Yeah, then we'll get Ablett for pick 95.

Very odd line for them to take considering their tactics 2 weeks ago. Think back to Robinson/Betts/Davey at quarter time. It's not like they're the only side whose midfielders cop attention. But unlike Geelong and St Kilda, the Carlton mids don't help each other out.

Bell, PJ and Miller are certainties to be delisted. Assuming we promote McKenzie (certain) and Spencer (probable), we need at least another 2 spots opened up on the list, and I don't think we have any players moving to veteran status. Possible players to be either delisted or moved to the rookie list are Maric, McNamara and Cheney. Whilst I rate McNamara, it doesn't seem that FD does, and if push comes to shove the spot on the list might be needed more than TMac. Maric will not be on the senior list next year, but since I think he's contracted he'll do a Meesen and end up on the rookie list. Cheney would be the next player in danger I think but should be right to keep his spot. Blease and Strauss haven't set the world on fire either but neither have had enough of a chance to prove themselves either way (in Blease's case not even at Casey). Dunn's future lies solely as a forward, not a midfield tagger. We need to recognise that and move on. A defensive forward is as far as I'll go with him. I think he'll retain his spot on the list, but he will not be there when we lift the premiership cup, so until then he's just warming a seat, which makes me question whether we should be keeping him, especially if someone like McNamara or Cheney is forced off whilst we keep Dunn. Bail is more than safe. He should hopefully crack back into the senior team this year. Not many mentions of Martin here, but I think he gives decent depth and has more than enough talent to hold his spot. Bruce will stay, but I wouldn't be totally surprised if he is 'pushed' into retirment. Or maybe I'm just hoping. Healey, Hughes, Meesen and Newton will all be cut from the rookie list.

Yet another ridiculous thread. Must be something to do with the split round and Melbourne not playing.