Whispering_Jack

I notice that this thread is approaching 452 pages which was Sir Donald Bradman's highest first class score. Surely, the time has come for us to do a Matthew Hayden and put an end to this thread at that number of pages to honour the great man?

Highlights - Round 4 NAB U18 Championships

Following on from Tom Langdon's stellar introduction to the AFL - TAC Cup's19-year-old rule blossoming in 2014

Another early Phantom Draft and some interesting observations on this year's main prospects - Paige Cardona's Phantom Draft.

Will be unusual playing Norf at a venue other than Etihad too.

Articles on the weekend's games:- Plenty of the Wright stuff in Vic Metro win South Australia 1.2 4.8 5.10 10.12 (72) Vic Metro 3.4 7.4 10.6 13.8 (86) GOALS South Australia: Hone 3, Hamilton, Neal-Bullen, Press, Read, Spurling, Tahana, Wigg Vic Metro: Langdon 4, Payne 3, Wright 3, Brayshaw, Langford, Miller BEST South Australia: Wigg, Neal-Bullen, Hone, Johansen, Stretch, Gregson Vic Metro: Wright, Petracca, Brayshaw, De Goey, Langdon, Viojo, Vickers-Willis, Ellis Quick, smart, skilled: Lonie stars for Vic Country Western Australia 0.1 2.2 2.4 5.5 (35) Vic Country 4.6 7.7 11.8 14.13 (97) GOALS Western Australia: Stewart, Pickett, Watson, Bevan, Nelson. Vic Country: Lonie 4, Butler 3, Webb 2, Wilson 2, Parish, Nyuon, Marchbank BEST Western Australia: Blakely, Hardisty, Winton, Watson, Dent, Smith Vic Country: Lonie, Dixon, Parish, Tucker, White, Nelson, Cunico

Our first TAC Cup Future Stars Rolling Draft for the year and they have a bit of a surprise player at the top:- 1. GWS Giants Christian Petracca (Med Fwd) Ranges 2. St. Kilda Patrick McCartin (Tall Fwd) Falcons 3. Brisbane Peter Wright (Tall Fwd) Cannons 4. Melbourne Angus Brayshaw (Midfielder) Dragons 5. Bulldogs Sam Durdin (Tall Fwd) West Adel 6. Richmond Jarrod Pickett (Mid/Sml Fwd) Sth Freo 7. Carlton Tom Lamb (Tall Fwd) Stingrays 8. West Coast Clem Smith (Sml Def) 9. Adelaide Lachlan Weller (Sml Mid) Broadbeach 10. Gold Coast Caleb Marchbank (Tall Def) B'rangers Draft order based on positions at start of Round 13 #TACFSrollingdraft

You have to admit it sooner or later guys. The loss through injury of Shannon Byrnes who was our leading goalkicker earlier in the season has been a massive blow to the club.

Actually my advice for Mick, if he were to ask me for it, would be to stay right away from Magpie players. If word gets out it could tarnish his reputation.

Check out whose jumper is handing in the restaurant behind Mick and Dane in the snapshot close to the bottom of the article - Magpie Dane Swan star guest at Mick Gatto restaurant fundraiser Methinks with Mick on side, that #5 will be safe to continue his coaching career for many years to come once he serves his suspension in two months time. All it takes is a friendly word in the ASADA ear from Mick and everything will be sunshine and roses.

KNIGHTMARE'S OTHER EARLY DRAFT PROFILES

Personally, I would be gobsmacked if the other clubs allowed us to pick Billy Stretch in the third round.

KNIGHTMARE'S ROUND 3

KNIGHTMARE'S ROUND 2

KNIGHTMARE'S ROUND 1

One of the most comprehensive of the phantom drafts is the one produced by Knightmare on bigfooty. He usually comes out early in the season and then reviews his work on a regular basis. There's always food for thought in his work and, as he's posted an update this week, I thought it was a good time to look at what he's thinking at the halfway mark of the season. He starts with his 2014 draft power rankings:

As a general rule that's the case but if the umpire stops play to line the player kicking for goal and signals time on then he must restart play. As I said above, invariably the player will be allowed to play on because it's after a mark has been taken and you should be allowed to play on in those circumstances. In this case where Jetta was outside 50 and never really lining up for goal, the umpire was being ridiculous but he will be supported by the umpires adviser who will argue that he was correct technically. Like many of the game's rules, that's OK if there is consistency - there never is with that one in those circumstances and we were well and truly dudded. In the instant that Vince kicked it through, you could see the team lift and a goal then would have involved a centre bounce rather than a kick in which gave Collingwood the ball and the capacity to move it into attack. We simply don't know whether Collingwood would have received that late goal courtesy of some dumb sequences of play from us in the last minute of that quarter.

I don't really have a problem with the low number of free kicks we received on the day but rather with the fact that Collingwood picked up three or four technical ones which, together with the Jetta/Vince situation had a profound influence on the outcome. Technically, we can't argue with disallowing the Vince goal but the problem is that you often see the umpires call play on in exactly the same situation. A goal to us at that point in time would have put us 4 points down with very little time left to play in the third quarter. Who knows what the end result would have been in those circumstances?

Fremantle got 4 frees in the previous round v Western Bulldogs.But seriously, in a game where they aren't paying many free kicks anyway, how does a kick along the wing to the HFF get paid as deliberate OOB?

Who wants to be the No. 1 draft pick?

Painful loss for WA under-18s SA 2.1.13 5.5.35 6.7.43 10.11.71 WA 2.2.14 3.4.22 7.10.52 9.12.66 GOALS - SA: Press 3; Johansen, Neal-Bullen, Burton 2; Hone. WA: Pickett, Keitel 3; Stewart, Cripps, Bevan. BEST - SA: Johansen, Stretch, Press, Gore, Neal-Bullen, Wigg. WA: Pickett, Winton, Watson, Lim, Stewart, Walsh. Vic Metro v Vic Country Game Notes (Round 3) Vic Country Scouting Notes Vic Metro Scouting Notes Bloodlines

Somewhat belated I know, but there's a name on the playing list from Sunday's Under 18 Australian Under 18 Championship game that piqued my interest. Joshua Hone. Melbourne had a player named David Hone who was with us for only one season (circa 1969 or 70). He was a very good backman and I think might have come as a more mature age recruit. Left after only one very promising season. It's an unusual name and I thought he could be related.

Arrived in New York and was surprised to find that BBO has dozens of relatives walking the streets of town. One or two might even be twin brothers or sisters. Not only that but there are a number of establishments in The Big Apple which bear a close resemblance in nature and style of building as well as type of residents to the Gat.

Time for you to reacquaint yourself with the laws of libel Redleg. You'll hear from my people in the morning.

Mad Monday Show: U18′s WA v SA – Match Report South Australia 14.8. 92 defeated Western Australia 8.13. 61 Best Players SA Gore, Johansen, Burton, Wigg, Coulson WA Blakely, Keitel, Smith, Hardisty, Garlett