titan_uranus

Yeah, I expected the appeal to be held off. The BCCI has a lot of power, I'm surprised they didn't win this battle. And it helps the Australians dramatically. Too right HT. Which is why the toss is so important. If we can get in first and set a nice score in the first innings, then maybe the match will play out a bit more like Bangalore than Mohali (provided the pitch is good for batting). In Bangalore we had a big first innings, which I think helped us bowl to the Indians. If we bat second, with a 500-600 deficit to chase, well you can probably write it off then. I would bring Siddle in for Clark. Clark's only taken 2 wickets in 4 innings, and he just isn't dangerous enough. In the second innings in Delhi he consistently bowled a ridiculous line outside off stump to Gambhir when we were in need of quick wickets. Yes, he's economical, but I think Siddle's aggression is more highly required at this point in time. Cameron White's batting in the second innings may just have saved him from being dropped for Krejza. But that's a 50-50, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Krejza come in.

I have been informed by the club that this logo is an old logo. Why it is called 'new_logo' we won't know, but according to the club, this is an old logo which we can 'disregard'.

Not to mention the fact that he promised lots but never delivered.

Agreed. We played shocking football, no doubt about it. It's quite embarrassing to be in the crowd and hear nothing but Melbourne supporters shouting abuse at the team because they don't kick the football. And you're right about Wheatley. He was over-rated by some just because he can kick 50 metres.

Good one Deeman. As for your conspiracy theory, I don't think so. But it would be a hell of a plan if it was true.

To be honest, I thought about it a bit before I did it, but I figured, if it was top-secret or something, then it definitely wouldn't have been sent to me. At first I thought it might have been an old logo from the 50s or something (I wouldn't know) which is why I asked if anyone had seen it before. I guess it's probably just an unofficial logo of the club.

I'll try. Probably not though. Yeah I think from the way Jimmy's been going about it so far, this isn't the kind of thing I would expect from him. That's not to say I don't like it, because I do, I just don't think this will end up being our logo. I should just remind people that this was accidently (I believe) sent to me by the club, and might not represent anything at all.

Whoa. Had no idea about this until just now. Surprised me somewhat. But I understand. After being shopped around, I'm guessing one of the West Australian clubs has made some sort of offer in the PSD, and CJ feels he'll do better at a club that wants him. He had enough time to earn a spot on the Melbourne list, but didn't. A couple of good games this year doesn't make him a required player, and both the club and Chris knew that. One could argue that it's a problem that we can't retain our players and that no one wants to play for us, but one look at McLean donating $10,000 of his own money to keep the club afloat shows that there are still those who care about the club. Put simply, I don't care that he's gone.

Got an email from the club today in response to a membership enquiry, and attached to the email was the file 'new_logo': Is this a sign of things to come, or is this an old logo?

Tait wouldn't help, the problem is we need a spinner. Plus I don't think Tait is good enough at Test level. Warne is gone. Get over it. (I'm not sure if you were being serious or not though) I'm not convinced that Symonds will be the saviour of this team. Has anyone noticed how badly he's doing in Queensland? Ineffective bowling and terrible batting. It's quite concerning.

Well folks, Test number 3 is upon us. Team changes are as followss: India: IN: Kumble OUT: Harbhajan Australia IN: Clark OUT: Siddle Siddle was unlucky to go. Harbhajan out is a positive for us. India won the toss, batted first, and in the third over Lee took Sehwag LBW for one. Score is 1/16.

Well said Demonland.

A possible conclusion, but Hawthorn would disagree. I think Hawthorn got improvements on their draw based on their success this year. However, you're right in that Carlton and St Kilda seem to have been the biggest winners/losers in terms of their 2008 seasons. Nothing the AFL says will justify Carlton's fixture in my mind.

I wonder what will happen when Collingwood is meant to play there, what with Emirates being their major sponsor and Etihad, their rival, being the naming rights sponsor of the ground. I wonder if there will be any problems there. Though I know there haven't been problems previously (e.g. us and North with iPrimus playing at Telstra Dome)

Carlton, on the other hand, a side that has not distinguished itself in any fashion for eight or nine years, will play on a Sunday on only four occasions in 2009, enjoy six Friday nights and have 16 matches broadcast free-to-air. That's what I don't understand. They haven't played finals since 2001, they only won 10 games this year, and they get the second best draw of all the clubs, including St Kilda, who made a Preliminary Final (and have done so on three occassions since Carlton last played a final). I don't really care about our draw, but it's hard to stomach when you see other clubs getting gifts from the AFL whilst we struggle. It's a chicken and egg kind of thing here: some may say you need to perform well on the field in order to be rewarded with a decent fixture (examples being Hawthorn, Geelong and basically most premiers). Others may argue that you need a stable member base and sponsors for the AFL to look kindly upon you (the obvious example being Collingwood).

I never questioned his ability to bat. I was just saying that, from my point of view, his fracas with Lee probably affected his batting. My point was that I think Ponting's communicative skills aren't flash, and because of that, and the subsequent incident with Lee, his batting suffered. Overall, his batting is fine, it's just at those specific moments where I think some of his other roles can get to him a bit. But maybe not. I'm with you 100%. When you look back on what happened, and India's subsequent actions, you see just how ridiculous they acted. I'm surprised more hasn't been said about Sehwag not walking when he was clearly out, considering what happened over the summer.

Good one deanox.

Breakdown: Timeslots 1 x Friday Night (vs Essendon in 2nd half of Split Round) 5 x Saturday Day 2 x Saturday Night (vs St Kilda at GC and BL at Gabba) 6 x Sunday Early (including 4 in a row between rounds 17 and 20) 4 x Sunday Day 3 x Sunday Twilight (vs Adelaide at MCG, WCE at Subiaco and Hawthorn at MCG) 1 x Monday Day Venues 13 x MCG 3 x Telstra Dome/Etihad Stadium 1 x Manuka 1 x Subiaco 1 x AAMI 1 x Gabba 1 x Skilled Stadium 1 x Carrara Opponents whom we play twice (bold are those who played finals this year): Collingwood, West Coast, Port Adelaide, Geelong, Richmond, North Melbourne, St Kilda

Here's Gillon McLachan's take on our draw: "They’ve got a good footy draw. What they do have is a lot of Sundays. "In the end there’s actually no difference between your average crowd on a Sunday versus a Saturday, but it will have an impact on their corporates. "That’s where the impact is felt, on the corporate revenue. "We try to do the best we can to keep everyone happy in the end and there’ll always be a couple of clubs who I guess will be marginally more disenfranchised or marginally less happy than everyone else." http://www.afl.com.au/News/NEWSARTICLE/tab...px?newsId=69209

New timeslots in some rounds as well: http://www.afl.com.au/Default.aspx?tabid=2...mp;newsId=69217 Coll v St Kilda on a Monday night (7.20 bounce at Etihad Stadium) Haw v West Coast on ANZAC day (Saturday twilight, straight after Ess v Coll) Preparation for Gold Coast

It's official: http://www.afl.com.au/Fixture/tabid/10586/Default.aspx

4* night matches in 2 years. Humph. *Edit: 3 this year.

Is this official? Hasn't been released on AFL website, and HUN site says it will come out at 11.30. So maybe a fake? Plus only 4 interestate and Manuka and Geelong. Hmmm.

From March next year Telstra Dome will become Etihad Stadium. Named after Etihad Airways. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,2...298-661,00.html

I don't see it happening YM. As much as I think he would make a good forward, and he's played there before, he's done so well for us in defence that he should be kept there now. Let him and Martin and Warnock and Rivers etc. gel together and become a defensive unit, rather than a rabble.