Whispering_Jack

I've just been speaking to Redleg who is still swanning around the Gold Coast with all the celebrities. Told me he sold three colts at the Magic Millions sales so I reckon he might be cashed up ATM. He's given me a tip to pass on for the next at Kilmore (5:12pm) - No Dispute. Reckons it's a bit like those Demons in Friday's time trials - a definite improver. Redleg has some big footy news from one of the brains of AFL football with who he is now on close first name terms. More of that later. The one on the left is Redleg for those who don't know him.

Sorry make that 8 ... now 9 Hilfy has taken WW..W Three wickets in 5 balls with Umesh Yadav coming in to partner Kholi. This test match won't last half the distance. Edit: Siddle gets Kohli and it's all over red rover. Warner must get MOM.

Kohli is batting well in the circumstances and his duel with Siddle is interesting. His problem is that he's running out of partners and the Aussies are playing at a war of attrition out there. Currently 7 down.

Gai Waterhouse gets 1 - 2 with No Looking Back and Driefontein.

I believe we have a Demonlander on the spot at the Magic Millions. Redleg has been hobnobbing with the greats of horseracing all week including the great Gai Waterhouse, trainer of Driefontein which is the hot favourite. Redleg's tip is Amorino with jockey Larry Cassidy on board.

ORANGE AND CHARCOAL - Recollections and tales of a tragic football club Chapter Two The coach, whose usual complexion was as red as the most ripened of tomatoes, sat ashen-faced throughout the pre match press conference. Alongside him and with a face that was equally as pallid was his club's new chief executive officer, the third in the new club's brief history. The press pack was having a field day interrogating its quarry about the defection of three players on the very day of their team's debut game on the national stage. The whole wide world was watching. The news had attracted the attention of the international media with coverage on CNN, the BBC and Al Jazeera. In the Middle East there was rioting and looting in a dozen countries after the news came through that the team from the heartland of their culture in the western suburbs of Sydney had been so ravaged. In the mid west of the United States, entire congregations massed in prayer, North Korean warships bombed villages in the south and on the subcontinent, bookmakers went on strike. Finally, the coach spoke. "I blame the Martians for this. One of our kids pockets the club's hard earned two million bucks and the Martians - they know who they are - make up loopholes in the laws just so that he can end up at their new franchise. Well, it's not fair and we're not going to put up with it, we're going to fight back!" He was careful not to elaborate any further on the form the fightback would take or about the so-called controversial "Demetriou rule" which the Launceston Lyre Birds had cleverly exploited to secure their first recruits for 2013, a 20-year-old now earning $5 million a year plus 10% of home gate receipts and a 25% stake in the new franchise, a former rugby league player who suffered stage fright and a kid straight out of the TAC Cup grossing $500,000 for making television commercials advertising a product that allegedly cures facial blemishes. The loss of the three players followed hot on the heels of the news that a highly ranked GWS recruit, sent to Sweden for consultation with a leading surgeon on his patella tendinitis injury, had disappeared with the specialist's nurse. Both are believed to be in hiding at the sprawling Swedish mansion of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The media pushed ahead with their cross-examination. One crusty old reporter asked the question on everyone's lips. Were the players becoming uncomfortable with the fact that the GWS coaches simply hadn't attempted to train them to counter the forward press? The question clearly caused the coach to bristle. The colour seemed to rush back into his cheeks, his jaw jutted out in front of his face at an almost perpendicular angle and some later said they even saw puffs of smoke coming out of his ears. "I've had enough of this forward press stuff. We put these lads up for nothing at Breakfast Point. We feed them, we clothe them, we even organise the occasional blind date but we draw the line at doing their laundry. Show's over folks. We're outta here!" And with that, the coach and the entire GWS entourage left the room. The start of the game was two hours away and the Giants were still waiting for reinforcements in the form of a couple of rookies who had taken off on the 11:00am flight from Sydney. Meanwhile, as the media people began to shuffle out of the hall, one of the cleaning staff picked up a crumpled scrap of paper with a note written in the coach's handwriting that read: "Choko, why do they keep asking me these stupid, bloody questions about presses?" To be continued ...

I'll try to write up Chapter 2 now that I've been inspired by that run coming to within almost two minutes of the world record. Aiming to write it up in under 9 minutes and 37 seconds. In the meantime, here's a quote from Sheeds on Twitter from today:

Fair catch this -

I'm never going to be sold on this game but the cream seems to always rise to the top and, once again. JP Faulkner proved his worth netting four wickets, despite him being expensive. He was not needed as a batsman Also watch out for Hanscombe who was 12th man for the Stars. The kid can play.

A few of you might be wondering about the mysterious disappearance of Redleg so I'll fill you in on what I know. As you're aware, Redleg is regularly accused of flogging a dead horse on these forums. Well, he's currently involved in flogging some horses but they're not dead ones - at least yet although the way some of them run you might be forgiven for making the error of believing that to be the case. Yes, Redleg is up on the Gold Coast feasting on bananas and trying to sell a few of his ponies at the Magic Millions. Those of you who watched the Gold Coast v Melbourne Heart game this evening might have caught a glimpse of him during the Foxtel telecast where he was apparently hobnobbing with the official party. That's right he got in on a freebie. And he's promised to make a comeback to this thread very soon if I post Chapter 2 of Orange and Charcoal. However, I don't have the time to do that and fit in MFC training tomorrow so one will have to wait.

Strange game this soccer. Newcastle Jets players score all three goals of their match against Melbourne Victory and they lose 1-2.

Strange game this soccer. Newcastle Jets players score all three goals of their match against Melbourne Victory and they lose 1-2.

Brad Wing couldn't make it at the Sandy Dragons but he's doing ok in college football in the States: Brad Wing, cut by the Sandringham Dragons, finds fame as a US college punter He will be in the action in the BCS National Championship game between LSU and Alabama. The game will be telecast live on ESPN on Tuesday at 12:30pm.

With so many of our quicks breaking down, I would have been inclined to lift their load by including an all rounder of the ilk of Christian or Faulkner at the expense of Cowan or Marsh but I believe the 12 has already been selected so that debate is off the table. Presumably, Siddle's knee has come up OK.

Thanks for that. They really need to overhaul the rules about use of technology in cricket and have it standardised from test to test. I suppose we have to satisfy the people who control international cricket that it's in the interests of the game.

Question about the dismissal of MS Dhoni on a return catch to Hilfenhaus. I wasn't watching at the time the wicket fell but wonder why the umpire referred the decision to the third official to check on whether the shot was a bump ball. We either have a referral system or we don't. What was the justification to refer when the Indians are against the use of this technology? Where's the consistency?

Now, Snatch was a very, very funny movie and Pitt played the very sensitive Mickey beautifully.

Watching the cricket before (as you do on a balmy day by the sea shore) and wasn't it another selfless team act on the part of Michael Clarke to take himself off whilst on a roll in favour of the new ball bowlers? I reckon taking Tendulkar's wicket secured him the MOM for the test.

How did they sack him? By phone or email?

He might have done that. I have it on good authority that he recently arrived in a banana republic.

Take that Foster you imposter!

I watched a bit of today's game involving the Melbourne Stars and the Perth team and I'm starting to think of it as being a bit like basketball - the last few overs of each innings are interesting but the rest is a bit Mickey Mouse. I was interested in Faulkner who showed something and continues to impress me as an all rounder of the future who will hopefully one day supplement the bowling attack led by Pattinson, Cummins and possibly Heazlewood, Starc, Copeland et al. There are a few other youngsters coming through which suggests that as long as Nathan Lyon comes along, we'll have a fantastic bowling line up. Faulkner was good before his fourth and last over but it was great to see a young bloke get the ball thrown to him for the final over and keep an even keel with all that stuff going on with every ball. That said, the BBL will always pale against test cricket IMO.

And let's hope that he goes on and beats the all comers record for tests at the SCG. I'm sick and tired of these touring cricketers having the gall to score test records on our grounds. By the way, surely someone around here can remember Reginald Foster's record of 287 runs at the ground. Old Dee? Very Old Dee? I'm just a youngster but I can remember Bobby Cowper's 307 at the MCG!

Thanks to George on the Outer and Deeman for the foreword:- ORANGE AND CHARCOAL - Recollections and tales of a tragic football club Foreword “The truth is out there”. Who said that? Was it Fox Mulder or his accomplice Dana Something? You too are about to discover the truth in this enthralling inside story of the Greater Western Sydney football team, its history, its foundation and the tragedies that subsequently led to its demise. Whispering Jack takes the reader through the few highlights and many of the lowlights. He traces the defection of three of the club's players before its debut game in Launceston, the unsolved mystery disappearance of the aircraft returning from the match and carrying half the team just two days later and the dramatic final days of the club in the wake of the collapse of the world economy. Were Martians responsible for the loss of that ill-fated aircraft? The coach had certainly made reference to seeing them in the past and Fred Valentich had disappeared under similar circumstances over Bass Strait years before….. But this wasn’t the only disappearance. What happened to the TV footage of those early games? Is there truth in the rumour that the missing flight was a desperate ploy by a number of players who chose to defect to North Korea rather than to face hostile home town fans after a record NAB Cup defeat? And what of the lost millions of AFL money, prawns in batter, banana fritters and doughnuts that simultaneously went missing in Blacktown? Contained within these pages is the truth. It is for you, the reader, to fill in the gaps but, before doing so, consider some previous advice given to my good friend Kim-Jong-Il and his glorious successor son, and former GWS number one ticketholder Kim-Jong-Un. “Search for the truth. I tell you things and I always ask you to verify what I say”. Never before in the annals of Australian literature has there been an historical narrative dealing with sport so stirringly and emotionally recounted than Orange & Charcoal - Recollections and tales of a tragic football club. In it, you will surely discover the truth about the enigma that was the Greater Western Sydney Football Franchise Club. Sir Les Pattinson FMD as told to Mohammed Saeed-al-Sahaf, Iraqi Information Minister.

ORANGE AND CHARCOAL - Recollections and tales of a tragic football club Preface The Second Global Financial Crisis which began in 2013 wiped out six European countries, Venezuela, the Ivory Coast, a handful of Arab oil sheikdoms and most of Russia's oligarchs. It brought an end to the Internet, lifestyle television programming and Zumba. Among its victims in Australia was the national icon Vegemite which went out of production after 91 years, the Big Bash League and nine AFL clubs including two recently formed franchises which were placed into liquidation when the much vaunted television rights deal collapsed. Several members of the AFL hierarchy resigned and went into hiding amid rumoured sightings in various parts of the world of the former league CEO who had been on the run since the infamous "Pendlebury" incident. The surviving AFL clubs - those fortunate enough to be debt free when GFC2 hit - completed the season and thrived in the boom years that were to follow but the Greater Western Sydney Giants sank into oblivion. At the Rooty Hill RSL where a wake was held for the now defunct Giants, ten of the club's staunchest supporters attended to mourn the passing of the competition's least successful team which survived to make only 39 appearances for no wins in a brief history wracked with scandal and controversy. Only one former player was in attendance but this was merely a coincidence on account of the fact that he now found employment as a food waiter at the RSL club. The function's organisers had catered for 200 guests so they were grateful for the attendance of the Giants' former interstate recruiting scout who single-handedly managed to polish off the lavish spread of finger foods, prawns, cold meats and several banana fritters for dessert before attacking the other more substantial foodstuff on offer in the club's lounge area. At one stage during proceedings, Snowy O'Toole, a diehard fan stood up. It was said that Snowy, a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War, was an addict who got high from sniffing avgas but he was much loved by the Giant faithful and he hardly missed a single game, home or away. Now he rose to exclaim at the top of his voice, "Let's sing the club song once more for old time's sake!" The remaining faithful looked at him, heads swaying in a downcast manner. None of them knew the words or the tune, not even Snowy, so they drank a toast to the bloke whose name nobody could recall but who coached the team through seven rounds of the first season before the sackings took place. Then they sat around tearfully exchanging stories of the past including that glorious day in 2012 when their boys outscored Port Adelaide in the third quarter of their round 19 fixture at Skoda Stadium. They were the real supporters of the GWS Giants and the fact that at least four of these loyal and true men and women reside today at the pleasure of the NSW prisons and corrective services department has not deterred me from dedicating this volume to them. Now proceed to Chapter 1 on post # 1512 above.