binman

Sorry didn't catch that - say again?

Great post BB. Could not agree more

Funny you should raise this. I love betting on the ponies, but in the main focus on the Autumn and Spring Carnivals (well when i say carnivals i really about now to end of May and September to end of November). I have looked into some punting sites but none have grabbed me and thought about a thread on the off footy forum (an area i never go into) on DL. So i reckon a horse punting thread would be great to share tips, thoughts etc (and perhaps tipping comp) given there seems to be a fey regulars who are keen punters. I also like footy betting (in the main line betting) so perhaps a footy betting thread?

I can feel the onset of my annual pres season pollyanna syndrome

Obviously you have your reasons for strongly disagreeing with the appointment of Jones however it was always going to happen given what he brings to the table (passion, a good character, an elite trainer, playing well in losing teams, on field leadership, hard at it style, consistency of performance - as evidenced by back to back blueys - and most of all the seeming universal repsect for him by the footy world and his peers) meshes so closely with the values and attributes that Roos has made clear are fundamental to his philosophy on football. Always going to happen and would have sent a strange message if it didn't. It is worth noting that Roos made it 100% clear that whilst the players voted for the LG he chose the captains.

Yep, that may be the case. Even with the magpies announcement we still got pretty good coverage in today's Hun and Age papers - better than Norths who didn't even crack a photo.

Well more fool clubs. Makes no sense not to try and coordinate these announcements to maximize exposure for all. But unlucky? Not in terms of the Maggies announcement - they made it clear some days ago Buckley would be announcing their captain last night so we had ample warning not to announce ours on the same day (though as i said perhaps this was their intention ie gazump collingwood). If we had left it until today we may well have snared tomorrows back page of the Hun and Age and certainly not had the reporting of it diluted.

A Small thing but if i was an exec at AHG (or any other sponsors) i would have preferred the dees announced our skippers today as opposed to yesterday, when the blues, norf, the suns and the big one, the magpies all announced their LGs and skippers. We still got pretty big coverage but of course pendles becoming skipper was going to be the lead story in the Hun and Age and got the respective back pages. The Maggies also announced a few days ago they were going to announce it last night. Perhaps the dees thought they would get in before then and grab some news space but even in this day and age a back page large photo would be worth a fair bit in terms of exposure for sponsors. Also i don't know why clubs couldn't have a chat and stagger the announcements which would maximize exposure for all.

I'm in for SC Name: The Phoenix

I'm keen to join (was in sc last year) the redlegs DT if a spot is open. Team name: The Phoenix

Post post ironic post.

Speaking of opening up a can of worms this quote from the Age to me sums up a key difference in approach from Roos and Neeld: Roos made it clear the coaching staff had the final say on the choice of captain, once the players had gone through the Leading Teams process to select the wider leadership group. ‘‘It was a little bit more transparent than it has been in other years, the players have been able to have a big say in who they want as their leaders," Roos said. "But it’s a bit of a myth that the players pick the captain, the players pick the leadership group," he said. "I think it’s really important that the captain is picked from that group by the coaching staff and the board, etc." Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/jack-grimes-and-nathan-jones-to-cocaptain-melbourne-20140129-31me8.html#ixzz2rlADvM5y When queried about the the the risks of selecting two young skippers Neeld frequently put it back on the players saying that the decision was based on a survey about leadership qualities players had to complete and Trenners and Grimes were by far the top scorers and therefore had to be captain. Poor decision and one he never took any responsibility for.

Perhaps DL can trade him in from Big Footy. We could swap him for posters who figure high on ignore blocks

Is this supposition or do you have some inside oil (and if so what is the source)?

Excellent idea old dee. And the bonus is we might get a straight answer rather than Schwabb's spin.

We will have to agree to disagree. I can't see how a report on an injury, in of itself, could be viewed as a negative article (eg the ones about Jesse's injury - indeed you could argue they were positive as they reported it was only a jarred knee, allaying the fears of demon fans and if you recall there was much rejoicing on DL when the first article reporting this went up). Sure an article criticizing a clubs handling or record with injuries would be negative but these are very rare. I can only recall the ones about the bomber in recent years that might fit that bill, and even with these it was some time before questions were asked. Injuries are a fact of life in footy and each year at least one club has a spate of injuries. Which ever that club is this year will do poorly in your ladder.

Interesting idea MD, good luck with it all. A couple of thoughts. Firstly you have deducted points from Dees for the reports of Jesse's injury. I had assumed negative press meant articles that are critical of a club or put them in a bad light. I don't see how reports of injury are negative, sure bad news but is that what you are trying to measure? You note in the 'How it works section that you won't be including match reports as you want the table to reflect the 'quality of the football club as a whole'. I can't see how including reports of injuries achieves this goal. Just as match reports from poorly performing clubs would skew the results so would a team that have a really bad run with injuries (and usually there s a correlation between the two). Using a metric of reports of injuries resulting in losing points would have consigned the Dees to the bottom of such a table for the last decade (even leaving aside the genuine negative press we have received) The other query was your selection of articles. Obviously there are frequent examples of the same articles appearing in those paper owned by the same company and there also examples where competing companies will report on the same issue (eg both the Hun and the Age reported on Hogans' injuries). How will you determine which article to 'score'?

unless it is to escape the heat

I'm loving the new avatar hood, very apt

Yes, yes and yes. For me this is absolutely crucial. To me the talent pool is the elephant in the room. The game is already suffering i reckon from too few really good players and too many teams. Without a good ongoing supply of talented players coming into the game 18 teams is not sustainable in the long run as the quality of games will be too low and the big clubs will dominate.

I wondered if that was you clint (same photo). Agree on journo even being there but even more unlikely is a news.com.au journo getting the story correct. Seriously the worst news site on god good earth (or at least Australia's good earth)

Can someone with a twitter account tweet the club and ask about Hoges? The suspense is killing me.

What would you know doc (insert smiley face indicating i'm joking)

Desperate for info on Hogan i thought i'd check Bigfooty to see if there was any info (which i hadn't before such is my concern). Read this post 'According to a poster on Demonland Jesse might have done something to his knee.' and this post in response: 'Nothing from the news.com.au article or anything on twitter. Most likely made up.' Gold

Your avatar GTG was never more appropriate!