MadAsHell

My one year old acted as my alarm, so am now up with thhe kettle on the boil , ready to watch the Matildas!

I'll have what he's having!

Sadly it wouldn't surprise me one bit if large parts of that article come to fruition. Edit: below I also note that in about nine hours the Australian campaign at the Olympics kicks off when the matildas take on canada!

Only if they add O'Meara and we'll throw in our 2017 4th Round Pick,

Reckon he'll be offered as trade bait. With the amount of midfielders Gold Coast are about to loose, I could see him going there.

What's next years draft suppose to be like? I wonder, as the only way that trade could remotely be acceptable is if we make the finals next year so the pick we give them is somewhere around the 12 mark. If we were to get their 2nd round pick this year (19) with Hibberd it mightn't be to bad if we feel pick 19 in 2016 is about equal to pick 12'ish in 2017.

I know this news is now a month old, but it's something i've only just picked up on; http://www.smh.com.au/sport/olympics/rio-2016/anna-flanagan-overlooked-for-olympic-selection-by-hockeyroos-20160704-gpxu3l.html Amazing decision, and i mean that in a bad way, not to select Anna Flanagan! She's the type of player that could be the difference between gold & silver, bronze & 4th etc. Plus the fact she was great to watch out on the field! Now no Flanagan and no Hollywood. I might be forced to watch the Hockey team purely for their ability and miss out on the added bonus!

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Australian cricket team need to start taking a horses for course approach to playing in the subcontinent. I'm a big fan of Joe Burns, but he's not a great player of spin, especially on low slow wickets. Compare that to say Shaun Marsh who's proved to be a very good player of spin but I never want to see play on Australian, South African or English wickets again. Mitch Marsh is talented, but how many chances do you give a guy. Meanwhile Marcus Stoinis made a century in the Australia A v South Africa A match. He also bats at 3 for Victoria. Plus we need to stop worrying about playing two specialist quicks over on those wickets. There's a reason the Sr Lankan's, Indian's & Pakistani's always play three spinners, time we started doing it also. The sooner Stoinis & Fawad Ahmed are drafted into the squad the better. Although I know it wont happen. XI for the 2nd test should be; Khawaja (promote to open) Warner Stoinis (Bats here for Victoria. Also get him to open the bowling) Smith* Voges S. Marsh +Neville Starc Lyon Holland Ahmed Starc & Stoinis to take the new ball & then an off spinner, leg spinner & left arm orthodox. Warner is even capable of rolling bowling medium pace if you really want a first change bowler, but really isn't required over there.

Some credit must go to Neil Craig also with Nev. Think it was the final Round of 2013 Craig played him down back against the Dogs at Etihad and he played very well. I remember going to that game thinking it would be his last and left thinking maybe we will keep him after all.

Like Grant Thomas did back in 2004 when they noticed the Saints players were a little flat, so took them all to the movies instead of training to continue their 10-0 run. Oh wait a minute..... We won despite being extremely flat at training, there for it sounds like the coaches did their job reasonably well.

Clubs had a 6 man leadership group for a few years now. Think they'll keep the same number. Nathan Jones (Captain) Jack Viney (Vice Captain) Max Gawn Tom McDonald (assuming he stays) Jack Watts Dion Prestia (if he comes over) failing which Angus Brayshaw Time for the club to start to put the responsibility onto the young brigade. Viney may well be ready for top honors come 2018.

Harmes went at 69.9% disposal efficiency. So that would be 7 out of 23 that weren't efficient. Sevens closer to 3 or 4 then 21....

IN: Kennedy, Spencer (only game he'll play for the year), White (Hawks small forwards) OUT: Dawes, M. Jones, Wagner Get Vince to run a hard tag on Rioli Viney run with Mitchell Garlett has a chance to make up for the last Hawks game and today's game. Gawn & Spencer to do a 70/30 split between ruck & deep forward to try and stretch Hawks defence. Also need the two rucks against McEvoy & Ceglar. Tempted to debut Weideman or Hulett, however would hold that off for a week against opposition where we don't need two genuine rucks. Bugg emergency for Harmes if he doesn't recover. Garland emergency for Hogan if he doesn't get up. That would involve Tommy Mac going forward and Garland taking Gunston down back.

I went with keeping Dawes over Pedersen purely for the reasons that i believe him being around the club will help with the development of Hogan, Weiderman and Hulett. And when i say keep Dawes, I'm actually more inclined to dellist him and then rookie him. Pedersen's been a handy player, but i reckon we can replace him easy enough by drafting Declan Keilty. I can certainly see the argument for keeping Pedersen over Dawes however.

Don't think Super Coach/Dream team points are the best guide to go by when selecting a Melbourne team 1997 - 2016. Think a more accurate 22 would be; FB: T. McDonald, Frawley, Whelan HB: Vince, Ingerson, Brown C: Tingay, N. Jones, Johnstone HF: Yze, Hogan, J. McDonald FF: Robertson, Neitz, Farmer FOLL: White, T. Viney, J. Viney INT: Bruce, Davey, Green, Stynes Apologies to the likes of Woewodin, Lyon, Schwarz & Steven Febey. The ox misses out only because that brilliant 94' season is outside 20 years. And i expected the likes of Gawn, Petracca, Oliver, Brayshaw etc to push into that 22 when the question is asked of Melbourne's best 22 of the last 25 years from 1997 - 2021 in 5 years time.

I still remember Brad Green signing his contract extension one year during trade week when it was rumored he was going to the filth a few years back.

So we have T Mac 100 games, Bartel 300, Enright breaking Nankervis record, Pavlich 350, Harvey games record. But the biggest one of all is still yet to be mentioned...... Chris Dawes 50 club games!!!

I think the only explanation is that Pickett is in fact Myke Cook and is so ashamed of what he's done, he can't bring himself to post his apology on this forum....

I know I'm replying to this nearly 7 months after it's initial post. But I do agree with your comment about the test becoming more irrelevant with it always being the last of the whole summer. Reckon they need to go back to having a Perth test in mid January and then the Adelaide test over the Australia Day period. Move the ODI's to November just after the Matador Cup and you can then play a few T20's in early Feb after the Big Bash. Makes a lot more sense to me. Also think it helps interest build over the summer. Let the ODI's work as a build up for the Tests which are always more popular and then have a few junk T20's for the kids at the end of the summer when the threat of AFL pre-season matches straling crowds away comes into the picture.

Anyone catch any of Day 1 yesterday? Rolled the Lankans for 117 and 2/66 at stumps when rain hit. Wickets were shared. I must say I was concerned with Joe Burns dismissal. He didn't look to have any idea against Herath.

And further to your earlier schedule posts macca it serms the opening ceremony starts at 8pm local time on Friday August 5. With the time difference that should be 9am Saturday morning. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Summer_Olympics_opening_ceremony

I've been impressed with Keilty when he goes into the ruck. He normally gives away a bit of height and weight, but you wouldn't know if given how well he competes. If you go back through the clubs videos I'd recommend watching him in the VFL Round 2 match v The Filth at the Holden Center. Was up against Mason Cox all day, and all things considered did a really good job. Thought he competed well weekend gone against Longer, Holmes & Pierce also.

Herald Sun has published what it believe to be our top 10 gold medal hopes. Bit of a break down see's 4 in the pool, 2 in cycling (1BMX), 2 in Canoe/Kayak, 1 in Rowing, 1 in Sailing plus the Mens Hockey team (wouldn't rule out our women either personally). The author of the article obviously has trouble counting as I think they've counted Em Seebohm & Mitch Larkin as the same person. Here's the article below, http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/olympics-2016/anna-meares-cameron-mcevoy-and-the-campbell-sisters-included-in-australias-top-medal-hopes-for-rio/news-story/3208ab54222afc23ca4e6c2958402e21

Not that I'm a huge fan, but Zac Clarke could fill that need. Otherwise I reckon we should draft Declan Keilty are give him a go. Has a bit of talent.

As Demon Dave said, he hasn't needed to, but did a bit of it in the under18's. Would be worth seeing what he's got to offer IMO.