Macca

More so 2 expensive ruckman vying for the one position. I suppose the club might have thought that one of Gawn or Grundy could have made a fist of it up forward but alas, that didn't happen But we always needed to replace Jackson with another ruckman and as a means to an end, we've now added Fullarton to replace Grundy In effect, Grundy helped us achieve a top 4 position by ably filling in for Gawn when he was injured (as well as rucking well with Gawn in the team) It was worth a punt as we couldn't just go into the 2023 season with Schache as the only back up to Gawn

It seems not everyone is happy about Dave's farewell test The Roar, ABC news or Yahoo has the full story from Mitch Johnson (unleashes on Warner, Bailey)

We also received a future 2nd round pick from Freo (for Jackson) which we later traded to move our own first round pick up in the draft to secure Tholstrup So it's Jefferson, Windsor & a needed 2nd round pick to secure Tholstrup

Chiefs Dolphins Lions

@Go the Biff @titan_uranus @BDA @Dr. Gonzo @Clintosaurus @DemonDave @Dee Zephyr @Dappa Dan @Gorgoroth @layzie @JV7 @DeeSpencer Leaderboard Tipping Comp 4 - Clintosaurus, Macca* 3 - Dr.Gonzo, DeeSpencer*, DemonDave, Go the Biff, layzie 2 - Gorgoroth, JV7 1 - BDA, titan_uranus 0 - Everyone else *Denotes bonus point awarded Next week (week 14) - 1 point Weeks 15, 16 & 17 - 2 points each Week 18 - 3 points And the bonus point is up for grabs if you are the sole winner in any given week 2 points on the line this week

And the silver lining is that we moved up at least 2 spots in the draft by losing both finals. Almost certainly 3 spots further down if we'd lost a PF So instead of a starting point in the draft of 13, the pick could easily have been 16 From that point, do we get to pick 11 and then snare the Danish wonder?!! If the kid turns out to be a star, the 2 losses in the finals will have been a contributing factor

And no one was predicting that Brown or T-Mac would be incapacitated rendered ineffective for nearly all the season On top of that Fritsch was nowhere near match fit when he returned. As previously mentioned, Melk & Petty were out Brayshaw being taken out in an act of thuggery meant that we couldn't use Petracca forward as we would have liked So if the majority of those aforementioned players were fit and raring to go, I'm not sure JVR gets a game ... instead of that he was a virtual linchpin I never make excuses but sound reasoning has to be acknowledged ... we did exceeedingly well to get so close in both finals All this misery talk of a straight sets exit seems to be bypassing that our stocks were bare (in the forward line) As for 2022, I reckon we mucked up fitness wise and if our top players were exhausted, take the chance and rest them ... we won our first 10 games so we had that luxury

Almost impossiblr to win 3 finals with a C- forward line ... we were always going to slip up somewhere along the line Having Melksham & Petty as inclusions with say, Salem & Sparrow injured instead, and the balance of injuries across the team selected would have had a greater chance of winning 3 finals So going out in straight sets although frustrating, was always a possibility 2022 was way more frustrating as we ran out of legs half-way through the season. Losing Burgess so soon after tasting success may have been problematical

Finally, points gained!! Leaderboard Tipping Comp 4 - Clintosaurus, Macca* 3 - Dr.Gonzo, DeeSpencer*, DemonDave, Go the Biff, layzie 2 - Gorgoroth, JV7 1 - BDA, titan_uranus 0 - Everyone else 😁 *Denotes bonus point awarded Week 13 (next week) is worth 2 points week 14 - 1 point Weeks 15, 16 & 17 - 2 points each Week 18 - 3 points And a bonus points is up for grabs if you are the sole winner in any given week

@Dr. Gonzo @BDA @DeeSpencer Don't forget your tips!

J-Mac starts his 6 week stint in Hong Kong as of tomorrow (Sha Tin) and he's got a full book of rides aside from R1 James & Zac Purton could dominate proceeding tomorrow as both jockeys are riding on any number of genuine winning chances

And 2 classics from Steely Dan's 'Aja'

Yeah and how about Stafford ... one year out of Detroit and he wins big! He was good at the Lions but needed a new environment

The Eagles deserve a bit of a run on this thread ...

Good points Gorg (re Lions) As for the Packers ... coming off 2 QB's with such talent (over a 30 year stretch) it's the smart move to not get your hopes up Up until today Love has been hard to judge ... at times both good and not so good (often within the same games) But today gives a bit of hope although the playoffs is a stretch We're a QB based organisation so there's a lot on Jordan's shoulders As for tomorrow, I've a feeling the J E T.S will take it right up to Miami

Jordan Love might just be a decent player! Can we trust the Lions?

Apparently it's 'Dirk' ... see RBG's post to follow

Miami Chiefs Ravens

Yeah, normally I wouldn't tune in to the t20 internationals with great gusto, but the 5 games could be very competitive Game time start isn't user friendly either

So Miami @ Jets is on at 7.00am AEDT Saturday as well as 3 games on Friday with the traditional Thanksgiving day games A total of 10 divisional games this week which can often be close games

'Fargo' is back! Season 5 on SBS tonight 9.20pm (episodes 1 & 2) Jon Hamm, Juno Temple & Jennifer Jason Leigh star Sure to be on SBS on demand

@Go the Biff @titan_uranus @BDA @Dr. Gonzo @Clintosaurus @DemonDave @Dee Zephyr @Dappa Dan @Gorgoroth @layzie @JV7 @DeeSpencer 1 point on offer this week (the bonus point on offer as well) Leaderboard Tipping Comp 3 - Dr. Gonzo, Clintosaurus, DeeSpencer*, Macca* 2 - DemonDave, Go the Biff, layzie 1 - Gorgoroth, BDA, JV7 0 - Everyone else 🤔 Bit easier this week but is it ever easy? (rhetorical question)

Australia @ Palestine (in Kuwait) on at 1.00am tomorrow morning (Ch10)

Derek Randall's big hundred, DK with 11 wickets, Marsh's 100, Hookesy's 5 consecutive boundaries, McCoskers courage, same margin as in the 1st ever test, England pushing for victory Centenary Test 1977 Highlights 1:07:45

I went to the first 2 days of the Centenary test ... felt devastated after day 1 but ecstatic after day 2! It was a memorable test match with many highlights I know a few people who went to every day but I had to work on the Monday (day 3) Thanks for the heads up on Packer vs The Board ... will take a look