bing181

Fatality rate from TTS is falling as doctors etc. become more aware of it and better able to treat it. Rates are approaching 10% from what I've seen: i.e. fatal in 1 in 10 people who get TTS post AZ vaccination. People with more time on their hands than me can compare that to the risk of death from lightning strikes, car accidents or daily aspirin use. Tragic of course, but Covid takes no prisoners.

Great win, but not good for anyone that the Suns were so poor. They had a few good wins early on, but have really dropped away.

Looking forward to seeing Jake Bowey out there. They say a first-gamer always perks a team up, so hope that's the case.

Messiah syndrome.

Max provides some great insights into match play and structures, especially around centre bounces and clearances.

This.

Don't kid yourself.

Dogs very very good, will go close this year, especially once you add Dunkley and Treloar to that mix. We're missing at least one more decent mid/small forward. Melksham in his prime would have been useful tonight. Still don't think this is going to be our year, still too inexperienced for mine. But building nicely for the next few years.

No idea of the changes, but at least in the forward line we need more potency. OK, I get it with the pressure and all, but ANB and Spargo are just not turning that pressure into many goals. They just never feel dangerous. Was scary watching some of the Dogs' mid/small forwards, always felt like something could happen every time they got near it. Perhaps time to give Melksham another run? I'm also in the Weideman for Jackson camp.

Jesus, this is doing my head in. That's not what he's saying. He's saying that if the grand final was only open to people with confirmed cases of Covid, +/- 3000 of them would die. As opposed to, say, a grand final attended by people who had the flu, where the figure would be less than 10% of that. (Though dying is only part of the story, as the long-term symptoms/consequences of Covid are turning out to be life-changing for a lot of people.)

No real problem with vax rates in the UK, they're one of the leaders in getting needles into arms. As to everything else re Covid, the populist Brexiteers at Downing St have been a disaster. We in the rest of the world largely have them to thank for first up the Alpha variant (also known as the UK variant) because they didn't close down early enough last winter, and now the Delta variant because they dragged their feet on closing their borders to their populist mates in India. Meanwhile, they're forcing everyone coming in from France to quarantine, regardless of their vax status, because of a rise in the Beta variant - though there is effectively no Beta variant in mainland France. They're doing it because anything anti-French plays well with their jingoistic supporters, also because they're very bad at geography and haven't grasped that the Beta variant rampant in the Reunion Islands shows up in French figures. It's a bit like closing the door on the UK because of an outbreak in the Falklands.

So, nothing to do with the coaching then. (agree with this of course).

* in the VFL.

Maybe, but you'd better buckle up, going to be a bumpy ride if that's the case.

One of Demonland's meaningless platitudes, trotted out every time we lose.

Classic, almost predictable inconsistency from what is still, in many respects, a young team. If this is happening when Petracca, Gawn, Brayshaw etc have 150 - 200 games under their belt, we can perhaps worry. Also, starting to get noticeable under-performance from the youngest players, Rivers and Jackson especially. You can only go to the well so many times at that age.

No change. Let the players take responsibility.

Not sure. AVB is more of a like-for-like replacement for Harmes. If it had been Fritsch or ANB go down, you'd think they would have preferred Melksham. Amongst all this, the other one that might have been taken is Jones, but he can hardly string 2 matches together now without picking up an injury.

Your assertion that "In Europe, for the most part, people are going about life as usual." is just that, not at all true. I live in France, and have travelled to Belgium and Germany recently. Masks at the ready and keep your distance. There are a LOT of rules in place, right across the EU.

Nothing to do with my word, what I sent are the official guidelines from the Italian government. It also covers restrictions on restaurants and bars, public transport (50% capacity and mask-wearing compulsory) etc. etc. It's a long list. It also depends where you are in Italy, some areas have more/less restrictions. As for quarantine, I got my sentence back to front so what I said was wrong - if you're coming from Schengen states, you need proof of vax or a negative Covid test. http://www.italia.it/en/useful-info/covid-19-updates-information-for-tourists.html

Cough.

Actually, that's not at all true: "Wearing a face mask is always mandatory in indoor public places throughout Italy. Masks are no longer mandatory outdoors, but you must always carry one with you and wear it if you find yourself in crowded conditions that do not allow the 1 metre safety distance to be maintained." As for quarantine, you only escape it if you're fully vaccinated, and even then, arrivals from some countries still have to do the negative test/quaratine routine. Same as for most European countries.

Maybe Melksham for Neil-Bullen? Melksham has been consistently decent and "a class above" at VFL level for a while now, while ANB is probably the least effective of the forwards. Equally, we'd lose some tackling intensity, but perhaps it's something they'd consider. At some point soon the selectors will be looking at bedding down the team to take us into/through the finals - is ANB in that team over Melksham (or Jones)? Similar conversation perhaps re VDB - he'd bring more pressure and agression than ANB, though he's a long way behind Melksham as a disposer. Yes I know, Melksham is a frustrating player, or has been over the past couple of seasons.

Better than nothing perhaps: “… a Canadian study that's still awaiting peer review found that a single dose of Pfizer's shot was 56 percent effective at preventing symptomatic infections caused by Delta after two weeks. That rate was 67 percent for AstraZeneca's shot and 72 percent for Moderna's.”

Big Tour de France night as well: bunch sprint into Nîmes, will Cavendish equal Eddy Merckx's record of 34 TDF wins? (Cavendish, now there's a story. Bigger comeback than Tom McDonald.)