MadAsHell

So a bit of a mixed bag with the opening ceremony. For the most part I thought it was good. Having it on the river front by boat etc and some of their set pieces were quite impressive. Gives Brisbane some options for 2032 so they don't have to go with the small rectangular stadium option. While on the negatives, some of the set pieces were just plain weird (probably very Europe)! Also I didn't get the mass other nation and in particular American influence in the names for the opening ceremony. Lady Gaga, Michael Phelps, Carl Lewis, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams. None of them French. I always thought the point of the opening ceremony was to showcase your nation and your people and their accomplishments. But maybe that's just me?? Edit: I'm also not sure how I feel about the Olympic Flame/Cauldron. I mean what they've done is impressive. However, it feels a little odd with it not being at the Athletics stadium...

Don't poke the bear. Has always been a motto I think we should use when it comes to the American Swim team.

Wallabies do it again, this time with a 18-0 win over USA. That means it's now a Semi Final against the Flying Fijians on Saturday evening our time. A win will ensure our first (or one of our first) medals for the games in the early hours of Sunday morning. A loss will put us in a bronze play off match against one of France or South Africa. Meanwhile we won't talk about the Matildas 0-3 thump to reality...

Thanks for the breakdown Macca. And great to see the Mens 7's get a 22-14 over Argentina and top their group. Hopefully a kind draw for the Quarter Finals later tonight will now await. Very happy for the men, as their previous Olympic campaigns have been left wanting and the Women have been our only real serious chance.

Got the chocolates 21-7 against Kenya in the middle of the night. So a guarantee spot in the Quarter Finals. A win over Argentina would obviously help with a better draw, so touch wood they can keep the form rolling this evening.

Good tough fought opening win for our Mens Rugby 7's team over Samoa to kick off the games 21-14. The Pacific Island nations are always difficult in the 7's. Here's hoping the win at the start of the games is a good omen for things to come!

Beating the efforts of 2020/21 will be tough. I think their goal should maybe be around how we went in 2008 - 14 G, 15 S, 17 B should be a good ball Park for them to aim for. Main thing is to avoid the disappointment of 2012 & 2016. If there's one event for me to put my house on for a gold medal for the Aussies this Olympics, it's the women's 4x200m Freestyle relay. While it could be tough work for us in the team events this Olympics. Matildas and our Hockey teams are probably as good a chance as anyone.

Great work above Macca. Haven't been online much this year, so apologies for my late arrival. I can advise as an early warm up for the games, the Football and Mens Rugby 7's kicks off tonight! Olyroos aren't there, but our mens Rugby 7's are in action at 11:30pm and 3:00am against Samoa and Kenya. Then I think our Matildas will take the field tomorrow night. And in other great news, Roy & HG are back for their daily Olympic Coverage! I'm listening to Roy and HG - Bludging on the Blindside | INTRODUCING: People, medals and cheese on Podbean, check it out! https://www.podbean.com/ea/dir-n7htx-1fb6aa1b

It's good to see West Indies doing ok in their tour match. Yes the CAXI aren't exactly Australia A, but there's some decent players in the CAXI. Peter Handscomb, Tim Ward, Jake Doran are all very handy first class Cricketers. And Teague Wylie has some big wraps on him. Brief score run down approaching lunch on Day 3 (final day). West Indies 1st Innings 8/251dec J. Greaves 65 L. Haskett 3/57(18) K. Hodge 52 D. Warren 2/47(20) CA XI 1st Innings 174 T. Ward 50 K. Roach 2/23(9) B. Hope 24 S. Joseph 2/28(8) West Indies 2nd Innings 4/235 J.Da Silva 105 L. Haskett 3/61(10) K. Hodge 92* L. Scott 1/15(11) So looks like Kavem Hodge has guaranteed himself a test debut as a middle order batsman with twin 50's. Shamar Joseph has probably won out for the 3rd fast bowler spot ahead of Akeem Jordan given his extra pace. Though will leave the Windies with a really weak tale from 9 down. Also worth noting that keeper Da Silva made his 100 as an opener. Could they promote him to 3 for the tests given there's no obvious candidate for that spot? Anyway I was concerned that CA XI might have won this tour match easily. The fact that the Windies have been comfortably in control though, gives me some hope they might be a total embarrassment for the series.

Pakistan played a pretty good series and could have easily won a test or two with a bit more polish. Will be an interesting watch the Windies series and whether they have Green or Smith open or go with another option before heading to NZ for that tour? Then comes the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean before some white ball tours of Afghanistan (neutral venue anyway), Ireland and England before we're back home. And I hope the ICC don't green light another T20 or T10 comp in October/November. We've often toured South Africa then, the ODI World Cup was then last year and is set for then in 2027 and its also the start of our domestic season. Cricket needs to make sure they don't let private enterprise ruin the sport.

I agree that the sport of cricket is in good health, however the ICC needs to make sure that all forms are looked after. I've heard a few suggestions of late that all have merit and could work. Someone mentioned earlier in this thread about about England and India moving to a 3 year cycle instead of 4, which I think has strong merit. Especially if to allow for the future tours program to work they start those summers off with one off tests against the likes of Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Ireland etc before the 5 test Ashes or Border/Gavaska trophy starts. Then on the 3rd year you can have two 3 test series against South Africa followed by New Zealand. Or a 2 and then 4 test series against one of Sri Lanka or West Indies followed by Pakistan. Steve Waugh came out the other day and called on the ICC to start to make separate payments to players (outside of the country boards) to incentivise selection for your country in Test match and ODI cricket. I think this is a great idea and a way to help keep players playing for their country. T20 cricket still needs Test and (to a lesser extent) ODI cricket to thrive. T20 cricket is built off the back of stars from the longer format such as Warne, Kohli, Dhoni, Gilchrist, Gayle etc. I could go on. And finally from the ODI perspective. Wasim Akram had a great idea I remember him talking about during the World Cup. He mentioned no one cares about the bilateral ODI series anymore, so that they need to get back to the old tri series. His theory that every country only plays one tri or quad series a year each and that you have to win a series to qualify for the World Cup. By the 3rd year of a World Cup cycle, any full member nation that had yet to qualify would have to host a tri series against an associate nation who would have gone through their own qualifying process (think Scotland, Netherlands, UAE, Hong Kong etc) in order to get a final World Cup squad. This allows for each ODI series to feature multiple teams with their own final and proper steaks. All really good ideas in my opinion which could all work in conjunction with eachother.

Here's a link to the last 2021 Phantom Draft by Cal Twomey. Van Rooyen listed as Defender/Forward that can play either end. *Twomey had him going at 20 to Brisbane. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.afl.com.au/news/688361/cal-twomeys-2021-phantom-afl-draft-top-30-late-picks-club-whispers/amp

4. Harley Reid - Would be fitting having Jack Watts present him his jumper. 6. Vacant. Potential new number for McVee if he wants it. 14. Jack Billings (wore 15 at St Kilda) 23. Shane McAdam (same number as at Adelaide) 27. Kynan Brown (reckon we'll grab him with our pick 42. Close to Nathan's old number) 34. Tom Fullerton (because) 39. Rookie pick.

Disagree with the above. I started working on a mock draft last night, and while I do have it coming in, I only have it coming into 40. Gold Coast have a heap of Picks before us yes, but most will be chewed up with their first academy player. Then they'll mainly be using picks with points after our Pick 42. Throw in Bulldogs and Hawks using points for Father Son selections with picks after our 42. It won't be as drastic a pick upgrade from 42 as some think it will be.

As stated in the OP. I expect Melksham to be moved onto the rookie list and we'll have 2 picks in the National Draft and 1 in the Rookie Draft. If we can package 6 & 11 up to move up to 1, then we'll use Pick 42. If we keep 6 & 11 then I expect we'll pass at 42 and hope we can get Brown in the Rookie Draft.