John Dee

Possibly, but there is never any harm in research. There is a great book about this sort of thing called Money Ball, recommended reading even if you know nothing about baseball. It is the story of how the Oakland A's ceo, Billy Bean?, came up with a well researched new metric to evaluate baseball players and kept it to himself and his team This enabled his team to make out like bandits for many years by recruiting and trading in a manner that was counter-intuitive to others. Billy was smart enough to cash in with the book, but only after the system they were using started to become known.

In baseball the stat that is regarded as the most important when evaluating a hitter is OPS, which stands for on-base plus slugging. It is the percentage of plate appearances that result in him getting safely on-base plus the number of bases he gets per bat (I am doing this from memory and the slugging percentage may be a bit out). We need to come up with something similar for football; where's Teddy Hopkins when you need him. The idea of some amalgam of metres gained per disposal plus kicking efficiency would seem to have merit. BTW, in MLB OPS's of 1.6 are good, 1.8 very good and 1.9 elite.

I used to do that, but now I get off at Bourke Road and park at Gardiner Station. Train it to the G and don't have to worry about any parking issues. A Sunday Saver ticket costs about $3, way cheaper than the tolls and parking fees. Non Sunday ticket about $7. Don't get me wrong, I hate the Dump, but try taking the freeway all the way through the tunnel, getting off at Kingsway, turn right and park at Crown, first entrance. A bit of a walk to the Dump up Spencer Street, but no parking hassles. Crown can never make up their mind what they are charging; anywhere from $2 to $10. When you get back, there is an exit straight out of the carpark onto Kingsway and then straight onto the freeway.

Apparently, as of this year, rookies will be able to be selected without need of elevation after round 10. Jurrah did not get injured as such, so he never appeared on the injured list. From what I have been able to glean, he had an abscess which was surgically removed. These things can knock you about a bit, but he should be fine for this week-end.

Jack Grimes

Lighten up people. Terrance is a long time caller to SEN, and has been quite funny over the journey. That fact that he has branched out to making ads is a credit to him.

I come from the eastern suburbs and I despise Prices Park. The only reason that I would go is that my daughter will want to go.

No, I mean the option for an MCC member to become an MFC member. Last year it was $40, I think. The AFL never used to let us count these as members, but relented a few years ago. Whilst this makes our figures look good, other clubs, in particular Hawthorn, have also taken advantage of it and the AFL now regards the three game membership package in the same light as a full member. Many argue that this inflates the figures, and this may well be true. I am just saying that many club members go over and above the standard membership and wonder just how much this offsets the lower value members. BTW the reserved seat option is value for money in spades, and I have told the club this. $60 for a reserved seat, and a good one too, at 10 home games, priceless!

It would be nice to know the breakdown of all the different types of membership packages that each of the clubs have sold. This would reveal how many cut-price memberships have been sold, but also how many premium packages have been sold. I ante up for 3 packages at $210 a head (11 Home games with reserved seats), but they are counted as the same as a $40 gift from an MFC member.

Make that 1 and 17. like us last year. If they finish last and we attain less that 16.5 points, we still get pick 1, like Carlton did to Richmond? a couple of years ago.

29, 952

Depending on your audience; to me it would make perfect sense and be syntactally correct. I am a web programmer and HTML and XML are second nature to me, which is why I chose to use 'syntax' instead of the more general 'spelling'.

Shouldn't that be - <sarcasm>Am I the only under 20 melbourne supporter?</sarcasm>

Bloody hell, mate; thin skinned or what? Or are you just baiting us to help you with your thesis. I find some of the syntax and grammar on this forum to be atrocious; and that is the first time that I have ever been moved to say so.

Couldn't agree more, digga. Cale will be a beauty, Palmer will be a good serviceable footballer. Big blokes, particularly the tall rangy types, need a great deal of time and patience. I still think that Cotchin will ultimately be the best of the 2007 draft, but I am not at all disappointed in Cale thus far.

Just shows how simple some things are; tweaked his knee and looked to be ok afterward. Routine scans picked up a near full tear of his ACL; out for the year.

I was just perusing the stats, and as the great Mark Twain said - There are lies, damned lies, and statistics. Newton is not credited, or is that debited, with any clangers! I'm sorry, set shots for goal from 5 metres out on not overly oppressive angles from your full forwrd that do not score goals are clangers of the first order!!!

Wona kicks goals ffs; just what we are screaming out for!

6. Davey 5. Moloney 4. Petterd 3; Dunn 2. Frawley 1. Rivers

I would have said ad nauseam.

I got a bit sunburnt at the North game too. I usually take enough hats for all to cater for sun in the eyes; my PC kids do not normally wear hats. There used to be a really bad corona effect over the top of the old members stand that made things difficult late in the season, but the new Members stand has fixed that.

The kids and I are in the Southern stand reserved area, by preference. We prefer to be protected by the stand from the weather and to be in the winter sun.

A great player; I would take him. The question is what would we have to give up? Surely Freo would be asking for plenty in compensation, and at this moment in time we would not be prepared to give up overly much. So, yes, I would take him, but only in the PSD; and that is not likely.

Wheelan was limping after playing a half; not good. Cheeney did not play.

I caught both games, and am grateful that the normal sou'wester was absent; it was still pretty cold. The reserves were never really in the game and got towelled up by 40 points or so. Wheelan was going half rat power, but still doing ok. I would think that he came into the game with an injury and did not appear after half time. I love Wheels; very sad. Healey did ok despite the heavy strapping on his knee. Not disgraced by any measure. Watts looked a bit at sea early, but worked into the game. Played mostly deep forward, but came out to CHF for periods and up as far as the wing on occassions. Kicked a couple, gave a couple off. Good performance for the first game with a new team; he would have met at least half of them for the first time. No problems here, the kid will be a beaut. Hughes ws the best forward on the ground, should progress to seniors next week. He provided the highlight of the match with a huge speccy. The seniors was a scrappy game, Casey kept coming back, but could never get the lead and went down by 4 points. If you look at the scores you might think it was a real wet and windy night at Casey, but that wasn't the case. The lights aren't top-notch and there was, strangely, no wind. Casey missed a few shots they should have got and will rue a couple of short passes deep in defence that resulted in interceptions and Port goals. Valenti was BOG for mine. The game suited him and he lapped it up. He would not be disgraced at AFL level; he would at least have a go. Grimes was excellent. Very classy; neat and clean. Played accross half-back for thr most part, but snuck forward for a nice mark and goal. This was the first time I had seen him play live, and I see what all the fuss is about. The trick is going to be - can he back up next week, and the next ... Jurrah; not really his night. The delivery into the forward line was atrocious, but he tried hard, very quick. McKenzie did ok, hard runner and breaks the lines. Roberston was the premier forward on the ground and played very well. Will be in the AFL sooner rather than later. Spencer is coming along nicely. Did ok in the ruck and much better around the ground. Learning to play a kick behind the play; and that's the sort of thing that wins Brownlow medals. Maric is ready for the step up to AFL; did you hear that Colin? Zomer played deep in defence for the most part, took the ruck ocassionally. Not startling. McNamara, I was really interested to see this kid; he is into his second year on the list and I had never seen him play until yesterday. He is a medium sized defender who shows a touch of class. He is yet to turn 19 and needs to fill out a bit more, but looks a chance.