MadAsHell

Top effort by the sailign team again! Now only 2 gold short of what we got in 92'. And with the first week we had, if that can be achieved then it'd have to be a pass mark. With Mitcham to come along with the Kookuburras into the semi's and Steve Hooker into the final of his event and more sailers in good positions we'd have to be a chance. Then again I will note that in total medals won we are 8th on the medal tally. Reckon the IOC should change the medal tally to have positioning given to total medals won ahead of total gold, that way it's celebrating all medalists more. It just seems silly that Japan have won 4 times the amount of medals that Kazakhstan have won, yet are behind them on the medal tally.....

Been a long time coming, well done Anna and Sally. Two gold in the one night is a grat effort after our quieter then expected first week. Fingers crossed we can at least pick up another 3 Gold to equal the amount we won in Barcelona. With the Kookuburras and Opals in the semis, Matthew Mitcham, Steve Hooker (out of form I know) and more sailing still to come, here's hoping! And bad luck to our women's water polo team who went down in their semi final over night. Now to play off for a bronze.

Thinking we were ina position that we could afford to toss guys like McDonald away without it having an effect on the way we were playing or developing. McDonald could easily still be captaining Melbourne now. If Junior didn't go, then Bruce wouldn't of gone and I doubt we'd be in the position that we are now. I'm not saying we'd be in the top 8. But I doubt that 186 would of happened. At least the new regime is now in the process of trying to set things right and get the club back on track.

It's time to raise the bar by acting in the same way we did a few years ago that backfired terribly??? If Green wants to go on next year then he gets another year. Whether he plays mainly in the seniors or at Casey is up to him and his form and that would be the risk he'd take and no doubt Neeld will make him aware of that.

BOOM! Only 6 minutes in and the Kookuburras 2-0 up over Pakistan already. With only a draw needed to advance I'm feeling better already.

Further to what I posted above, this is the 2nd Olympics in a row the Hockeyroos have missed out on the medal stage. Maybe it's about time they looked at bringing in Quarter Finals for the Hockey. They have it for the women's water polo when there's only 8 teams competing, why not the field hockey when there's 12???? Edit: Link didn't work sorry.

Great effort by Slingsby! In other news unfortunatly the Hockeyroos drew 0-0 with Argentina, meaning they miss out on going through to the semi finals on goal difference only for the 2nd Olympics in a row. If they were in the other group they'd earnt enough points to get through but not in Group B. That first up loss to New Zealand really cost them.

Sharks get the win in the men's water polo and are through to the quarters! We're now 3 from 3 in team sports tonight. Hockeyroos need to make it 4! And congrats to McKnight and Buckman in the women's 1500m track for making it through to the semi finals. Top effort from 2 very young runners and bright prospects for the future! Oh and of course Sally Pearson, fastest qualifier for the semi's in the hurdles. How could I have forgotten that? Edit: Pearson.

Certainly a good omen for the evening leading into the Sharks and Hockeyroos matches. It does feel somewhat wrong backing in Great Britain though. Still it's for the greater good!

Anyone catch the end of the Boomers match? Epic finish! Mills drains a three with 0.2secs left on the clock to turn a 1 point deficit into a 2 point win. However this doesn't mean we dodge the USA in the quarter finals. Our loss to Brazil and Russia's win over Spain have really cost us there. But a great effort still. Meanwhile New Zealand and Germany played out a draw in the women's hockey, meaning the Hockeyroos now have to beat Argentina to get through to the Semi Finals. A draw would see us miss out on goal difference.

Men's hockey team have hit a bit of a stumbling block. After dominating our first two matches, we've given up good leads in our last two to only manage draws. 2-0 up against Argentina ended 2-2 and 3-0 up against Great Brittan ended up 3-3. Still leading our group but now must either draw or win against Pakistan in the final group match to get safe passage through to the semi finals and Pakistan are a good hockey team and will be no pushovers. I reckon Rick Charlesworth will be furious with the last two results. Our women's team are in a similar position with their match at 6:00am tomorrow morning (our time) against Argentina. If Germany manage to beat New Zealand in an earlier game then a win or draw will see them through to the semi finals, but if New Zealand win or draw with Germany then Australia must beat Argentina to get through, who again are a very good team. Edit: Spelling

Currently 66th out of 118 runners about 40 seconds behind the leader.

Well thought out and measured response. You're right. total medal tally wise we're doing ok, it's just a question of why our results aren't as evenly spread across the three medals when a lot of other countries are going at about 50% gold. Wouldn't be suprised if there's a review after the games depending on how the rest of the games go to see what it is other countries are doing that we aren't. In a couple of big Women's Basketball games tonight, let's hope Russia can down France to give the Opals a chance of topping their group with a win over Canada and then avoid any potential clash with the USA until the final at latest.

On another note, with the swimming now all wrapped up I can confirm that this has been our worst Olympics in the pool (medal tally wise) since Barcelona 1992 where we ended the meet with 1 Gold, 3 Silver and 5 Bronze, we even did better in Moscow 1980 with 2 Gold and 5 Bronze. Here's a list of how we've gone at every Olympics from a disaster of 1976 Montreal to how we're faring so far, not to good really! G S B Monreal 1976 0 1 4 (in the pool 1 Bronze) Moscow 1980 2 2 5 (in the pool 2 Gold, 5 Bronze) Los Angeles 1984 4 8 12 (in the pool 1 Gold, 5 Silver, 6 Bronze) Seoul 1988 3 6 5 (in the pool 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze) Barcelona 1992 7 9 11 (in the pool 1 Gold, 3 Silver, 5 Bronze) Atlanta 1996 10 9 23 (in the pool 2 Gold, 4 Silver, 6 Bronze) Sydney 2000 16 25 17 (in the pool 5 Gold, 10 Silver, 4 Bronze) Athens 2004 17 16 16 (in the pool, 7 Gold, 5 Silver, 3 Bronze) Bejing 2008 14 15 17 (in the pool 6 Gold, 6 Silver, 8 Bronze) London 2012 (current) 1 12 7 (in the pool 1 Gold, 6 Silver, 3 Bronze) Now after the disaster of Montreal, it prompted Australia to bring in the AIS to get us back up to World standard. Now if (and it's a big if) we don't win another gold for the rest of the Games what will the fall out be? Will more funding be given? Will there be some type of an overhaul of the AIS if we continue to finish below countries like New Zealand, Cuba, South Africa and North Korea on the medal tally, just to name a few. Thoughts? Edit: Specified pool.

Don't know if a sport where people beat the living snot out of eachother without any protective equipment/clothing really fits in with what the Olympics are all about???

Only the first half. Didn't see him cop an injury and he was being heavily rotated in the first half so makes me think he was only set to play the one half today. Fitzpatrick limping off late in the game was of concern though, didn't look good, not sure if it was ankle or shin.

Went to the game today, and while I don't like pointing the finger at young players, I have to admit that I wasn't impressed with Cook today. He's still young and I hope today was just a bad day at the office, but he failed to have any real impact on a day where he was needed due to the lack of Melbourne players playing, To be fair, delivery wasn't great but he didn't do enough for my liking. I know he has the tools to be a good players, I just hope he shows something in the remaining weeks this season, because if he keeps playing the way he did today, he'll have a battle to get a new contract. I am a Cook fan and have gone into bat for him before, but today he just wasn't good enough and I was really disapointed!

I've got two theories on the agenda. One I've mentioned in another thread already. That being that it's a hand grenade thrown by Carlton to throw some negative publicity our way in the hope that it puts Cloke off coming here and goes to carlton instead. Cartank may know that we have more money to offer and maybe Cloke's seriously thinking of the move? Second is it's the AFL that's behind the story. Far fetched I know, but with the Olympics having just started, and with the AFL at risk of having secondary media coverage for the next 2 weeks they\re after some big news to stay top of the sports news for a bit? Then in two weeks time they can say there's no hard evidence to suggest that Melbourne tanked around the same time the Olympics finishes up. While some people would say why would the AFL want a story like this out, making them look foolish? Remember the old saying. Any publicity is good publicity.

Still not to concerned. With the media going nuts they had to be seen to be doing something. They'll next announce they're interviewing us and then nothing more will come of it. On another note I have an idea of how the whole tanking for draft picks issue can go away. Rounds 1-17 everyone plays eachother once. After Round 17 comp is divided into 3 sections 1st-6th, 7th-12th & 13th-18th. Your win loss ratio against the other teams in your section carry over but all other win losses are then effectively useless. Over Rounds 18-22 you play everyone in your setion once. In the end section 1-6 play for finals spots positions of 1-6. Section 7-12 play for the remaining two finals spots with the 4 that miss out finishing with draft picks 7-10. Section 13-18 play off with the highest ranked team ending up with pick 1 down. Eliminates tanking as in the last five rounds if you're in the bottom section you need to win to get the pick while the top 2 setions would all be playing for finals spots.

Bingo! Does anyone else not think that this was just a hand granade thrown by a rival club on the same day our President stated we were going after a highly sought key position forward FA. They ask one of our former players who happens to be appearing on TV who no doubt will be asked about his former club to bring up the tanking issue. Brings some more bad media onto the club, might not look as nice a destination for Cloke as Carlton may??? Edit: Spelling

He'll be taken inside the top 10, anywhere from 6 onwards I reckon. Would love him, but doubt we'll be in contention.

Harsh on Jetta, but otherwise agree. Best case scenario we manage to package Petterd in a trade with a draft pick for either a pick upgrage or best case scenario with pick 13 for Caddy.

That is fair. In that case I'd probably be looking at maybe Fitzpatrick then. He's been in good for, and probably deserves another game.

After coming off a game in NT I reckon several changes need to be made to bring in some extra run, otherwise we'll be in big trouble at Etihad. For me. IN: Cook, Gysberts, McKenzie (if fit), Tapscott (if fit), Watts (if fit) OUT: Howe (susp), Bail, MacDonald, Magner, Petterd FB: Frawley, Rivers, Nicholson HB: Watts, McDonald, Strauss C: Grimes, McKenzie, Sylvia HF: Dunn, Martin, Green FF: Garland, Cook, Couch FOLL: Spencer, Gysberts, Jones INT: Blease, Jetta, Trengove, Tapscott (sub) EMERG: Bail, Morton, Sellar Edit: Re-word openning.

Before the champs I had him penciled in to go late 2nd round/early 3rd, most likely in the 40's somewhere. Could be a bolter!