binman

The g drains amazingly well. if it the drizzle clears in the next 30 mins or so it will be fine

Weather will clear if the 256km radar is anything to go by http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDR022.loop.shtml#skip

Perhaps you'r right and it was my confirmation bias at work.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one rjay. I don't think they should put out comms for every little thing, i think they should have been a little clever and mentioned it in an informal way to manage the 'narrative' Why - because even if not leaked it would have been noticed during the game that Maccas was not in the box and in the hot house that is the AFL in this town had the potential to become a story. And my evidence? It did become a story and Mahoney had to react to it.

subject to capacity worries me a bit

More rain falling in collingwood

Sorry, yes mfc.

Question without notice. I just got told all ga tickets have sold out. I have always assumed my membership would get me in in that eventuality. Is my assumption correct?

Snap. on smith street. Rain drying. Hoping that is the last of it. Fearing it isn't. At least macca will be on the bench to tell them to stop farting around with ball and get it forward.

Again i wonder about the external communication by the dees. Add this to the growing list of communication blunders (the departure of watts, the camp, the silence after the round 23 pies game, the woeful website etc). I mean as if in the AFL fishbowl that exists in Melbourne someone was not going to pick this story up (and really it is unbelievable it was a person contracted by the MFC who ran with it). Sheesh. Comms 101 is to get ahead of stories, which could have easily happened in a casual, informal way. For eg mahoney booking a interview on the weekend and responding to the inevitable question about how we respond to last weeks game, with an answer like: 'We have looked at the game as an opportunity to improve all all aspects of how we go about things, including how we can better communicate key messages to our players when the opposition gets a run on. It is easy to forget how young our list is and we have two key leaders in TMac and Jack out so this week we are going to have Macca go back to his role that he played so brilliantly for the last 3 years as a key person communicating directly to players on the bench and conveying messages from the box' Do we do this? No, instead once again we are reactive and in damage control. And to be honest comments such as: 'That’s been the change and there isn’t much more to add to it than that.' begs the question 'well perhaps there is not much more to add but i'm really interested in the bit you are leaving out ' Amateur hour.

Me too. Can't put my finger on it, but myconcerns centre on our football department not our administration, who i think are performing better than at anytime in at least the last 20 years. There seems to be some problems with communication.

So that me done for Autumn fellas. Me and my betting partner had a pretty good day on Saturday, particularly in Sydney where i was fortunate to get the pattern right (on the speed, near the fence). In addition to my best bet (tough win by a horse that is a winner - good odds) my best value bet, Higher Ground saluted - just, the caller called it the other way around, nice surprise. Ironically also got the next in a close photo with the only horse that defied the pattern to win running on in Moss Trip. Very good win and a horse to follow. But the punters lament is it could have been a huge day with a touch more luck. We had six seconds! That included a 20-1 pop in Adelaide (didn't have it each way). And i thought Guerrier in Sydney was going to win, but just ran out of gas (and unfortunately just out of the placings as i had it each way). I was also a bit annoyed not to get something from the Le Romain trapeze Artist quinella, which paid a remarkable 10.80. Crazy. Thye were the two horse i really liked. Should have boxed up a quinela in addition to the box trifecta i took (or even better instead of it). And even more stupidly did not take the Demonland trif! Also annoyed weir elected to run Brave smash. Clearly does not like firm tracks. Good luck on the punt fellas. To keep an interest i'll do the form for the elected DL weekly trifecta race, post it on this thread and even put a little money on it! Roll on Spring!

My best bet for the weekend is Sprightly Lass at Caulfied. Some very short horses at Caulfield and i think most will salute - French Emotion, Widgee Turf, Kiwia, Nature Strip and Cliff's Edge. Of those only Widgee Turf and perhaps Kiwia are backable really. But i think Sprightly Lass is overs at 3.60 as i think there is only one real danger in that race, Property. The form through Dothraki is very solid and it always gives a great sight. Best value for the day (apart from Sprightly Lass) Higher Ground at at Randwick Best longshots for the day Mo Femme at Morphetville and Guerrier at Randwick

Have only just finished making my final selections and emailing our bets to my betting partner. I found this race super hard in terms of choosing another winner bet in so far as i i kept coming back to trapeze artist (though am concerned it had its grand final last week). I'm going to have to say Le Romain, but really only because Brave Smash and Trapeze Artist were taken. A good horse but again - and at the risk of being stubborn and repeating my error of last week, i'm thinking on speed will be the go with the rail out 6 metres and no wind to bother front runners. Le Romain will be running on hard and i think pinch a place, but of course can win. For my bet in that race i have actually landed on a box trif of these 3 horses and no win bet - which is very unusual for me. Won't pay much but i find it hard to see what else might place - though I'm somewhat has good rating

Can we draft Jake Kelly. Apparently a terrific intercept player. Perhaps we meant to and they got the names mixed up. Easy mistake to make. Kelly. Lever. Almost the same

1117 posts. And i don't recognise your name. So i am assuming you have changed your name. What was it previously?

Yep, i was thinking the same thing. i am still filthy about the loss. Well to be accurate filthy about the manner of the loss. I went with a good mate who has a young fella and so hard to get to games and time is an issue. He was filthy. In the heat of the moment, straight after the game, he said is going to come again this year. don't blame him and doubt he was the only dees fan one at the ground saying the same thing. It was so dispiriting. The funny thing was with all the talk about our strategy of bombing it long we should have done done precisely that when it started raining - not into our forward line to the stupid outnumber but from the backline and centre. Basic wet weather football rather than all those little handballs

I won't do my form to Friday. But trapeze artist was super impressive kast start. I backed le romain last start at huge odds.. A very talented horse but doesn't win out of turn. Those sort of horses often upset the aplle cart. Like catchy an wstb last sat.

I've got one more week in me Macca. I forgot about the All Aged. My Autumn is sputtering a bit so a chance to go out with a good day. Me and my mate are well up this Autumn but have been scratchy the last few weeks. That said we have avoided wipe outs (those awful days when you get no, or very few collects , which are hard to take when you put as many bets on as we do) which is critical n terms of turning a profit and when we have lost it hasn't been too bad. Actually ended up making a profit on Saturday, which was a pleasant surprise because it most definitely wasn't a leaders track. Had to laugh though with Qulaista leading all the way in the last. Which was good because we were on it. I actually watched that before the Sydney cup and thought there was every chance we had snagged the quaddy as we had 4 good chances. Unfortunately i decided to leave WSTB out (which i almost knew would cots me as i did so). Our bets result for the day, believe it or not was the Winx race. Was super confident in Gailo Chop running second so slammed the quinella (which remarkably paid $6.20) and stood it out second in short trif which we got a bunch of times. Happy to give trif numbers in selected races but still think we should put our best bets up. I like to see what people have selected.

Agree. I think the bolded bit is critical as he doesn't look like he has connected fully with his team mates. I had my binos trained on the defenders a fair bit after goals in the last q (as i like to do) and i have to say there was some pretty average body language (eg pointing and gesticulating) and not a little angst generally but also towards Lever. All didn't look rosy, which i guess is to be expected when being smashed but still it wasn't a great look. It made me wonder how well he had been accepted and how well the transition had been managed. I mean he appears pretty confident young man, prepared to share his opinion, lauded for his leadership who is paid probably twice say jetta and Hibberd and who has struggled thus far. On field he looks a young man devoid of confidence and second guessing himself. To be honest it is the coaching staff's job to help him with that and they need to accept some of the responsibility for where he is at in terms of how he is travelling emotionally. Not all. But some. Which is query i have with Goody - how strong is his emotional intelligence? A problem the coaching staff now face is that if it was say Frost they would put him back to the VFL to regain his confidence, as they did with Hunt. But dropping lever is problematical as it would point a huge mainstream and social media spotlight on him and might impact even more on his confidence. Imagine the social media jibes he would get playing at a wet and windy Casey fields.

That's all well and good. But 5 of his first seven kicks went to a Hawks player

You and 50, 000 others. Which is exactly why the contention that Channel 7 would actively encourage the AFL to give Carlton such times slots is so off the mark. Unless of course you think they have got confused and are actually trying to achieve low ratings. This is down to the AFL.

Channel 7 must be so pleased they used their influence to give carlton another fta night game.

Oh oh. Fotoo came from last. On the rails! Abort Will Robinson! Unfortunately too late

In terms of trying to guess the pattern of races it is obviously a bit riky if you punt as i do which is putting all bets on at the start of the day. If i get the pattern wrong i struggle. Last week i read it the same and picking Houtzen was a result of that. But it actually ended up playing ok and horses from mid field had their chances and i couldn't sang any more. That said i had remarkable number of seconds last week (across 3 states). Five or six i think from memory. In an ideal world i would put the first couple on and get a read of the pattern and then adjust selections as required. But my model of punting with a mate doesn't allow that as neither of us can focus on the races enough during the day (other than listening to them) Determining bets between races can be very time consuming, even if you have done the form thoroughly and have narrowed selections down to a handful of chances (which is how i do form)