Macca

The Tigers are the outlier ... they play a style that sometimes ends up giving free kicks away. An unsociable style Often deep in the oppositions backline. And like the sport of soccer, they back themselves to win the ball back in a counter-attacking style. Happy to give the ball back to the opposition on occasions but not always of course - they pick their moments And the above is quite obvious to keen observers of the sport The Bulldogs are a team that will fight for the front position like a good team does. We know that players who play in front win a lot more frees and the Bulldogs are also adept at winning free kicks. In my view, better than the rest The outlier the other way ... 2 distinctly different styles.

Good teams play in front more and the player in front has a much greater chance of winning a free kick And many players who play in front are adept at winning free kicks So there is a simple explanation to the numbers But besides all that, the numbers aren't skewed that differently anyway Just more supporter-speak

And what about the biggie ... all the grey areas in the sport. At best, we could alleviate the difficult decision making but we'd still be left with grey areas everywhere Unless we turn the turn the sport into a version of AFLX I often wonder if people realise they've been complaining in the same way about umpires for their entire lives ... brainwashed from a young age surrounded by confirmation bias "It's never been this bad" gets said every year Not convincing for you because you're just triggered every time you see an umpiring decision that you don't agree with The numbers say it all, you and many others sweat the small stuff and you're wasting your life on such nonsense Try analysing the actual game for once and you might end up posting something worthwhile How about you give it a rest about umpires hey? It's so boring and will get you nowhere You're just repeating yourself on a daily basis where as I rarely get involved other than to try and set people straight And the conversations soon descends into labeling the umpires as cheats Every.Single.Time

So we often average around 400 possessions per game and now we can add 1.4 possessions per game because we're +14 free kicks for the year That amounts to about 0.35% of our total possessions (approximately) The insignificance of it all is right there to be seen. And by the way, when and where the free kicks are paid evens itself out too

Well there's a bit to play out tonight Spurs & Arsenal are battling for a CL spot (Spurs 2 points ahead) West Ham & Man Utd are vying for a Europa League position (United 2 points in front) And as previously discussed, there is only 1 point between Man City & Liverpool for the title whilst one of Leeds & Burnley will be relegated (both are level on 35 points)

The Melksham inclusion can be justified and equally, the MC might want to see if Jake can recapture his best form ... so he gets his chance because of injury And against North, he'll get every chance to stand out and excel If he strikes form, we've got another nice problem For all our speculation, we generally haven't had to leave out a player who is performing well in the seniors. It nearly always seems to work out well, Franky (mystery ailments, covid, suspensions, long term injuries etc) Apart from the GF when Jordon was the sub, Hunt missed out and Jones & Jetta just couldn't break back into the team. Or Melksham for that matter I wish Jake well today and I really hope he stands out

Reckon Brayshaw will go back to his wing as we haven't got a player who can play that position anywhere near as well as Gus (apart from Langdon on the other wing) So Salem slots back to the HBF with Rivers on the other back flank. Bowey as the floater With Langdon on the other wing we have great contrast and a huge headache for the opposition And a proven way of using defensive & offensive avenues to scoring (that works) The talk might be just that ... talk. But not a bad tactic to mess with the opposition with regards to what they might be able to do as a counter measure ... and the options that we may or may not use We're in a position of strength but I doubt that we'll mess with a winning formula

My gut feel is that Man City will go a goal-spree but I hope it doesn't turn out that way If Villa score early it could get interesting! Soccer can often throw up skewed results and the 'Own Goal' or a dodgy penalty is always on the cards haha Liverpool & Man City to both win and I can see both teams scoring 4+ goals each!!

Hammers draw with City! At one stage West Ham led 2-0 Opens the door for Liverpool as long as the Reds gain full points against Southampton If that eventuates, we'd see a 1 point margin (at the top) going into the EPL final day Although, it's difficult to see Villa gaining a point at Man City on the final day. But you never know! Nothing is written in stone

5 - 6 goals ahead at quarter time and then we might even go into lockdown! haha Not concerned about the team not being switched on as the competition for spots in the team is fierce ... so our lesser-lights (if we have any) could shine today 45 - 60 point victory

A few upcoming matches to look out for Sun 15th May 1.45am FA Cup Final - Chelsea vs Liverpool Thurs 19th May 5.00am Europa League Final - Eintracht Frankfurt vs Rangers FC Mon 23rd May 1.00am - Final Day EPL Sun 29th May 5.00am Champions League Final - Liverpool vs Real Madrid Wed 1st June - Socceroos vs Jordan (Friendly) Tues 7th June - Socceroos @ UAE (World Cup Qualifier) ... winner to play Peru for the right to be included in the World Cup

With a few exceptions, the players have adapted and frivolous infringements are not being penalised

Isn't it great to see that Magpie scoreline!! Ideal start to the weekend by the looks of it

And De Bruyne puts a casual 4 past the Wolves defence (what a player!) ... that CL catastrophe has really fired them up, layzie Got to take your hat off to them though, when they are on they are damn good Liverpool of course has the CL final to look forward to and that's a bigger prize - 29th May 5.00am (Sunday morning) A pity it's not on FTA but I'll be able to stream the game (it's on Stan Sport)

Roos & Barassi set things up for Goodwin & Northey but RDB & Roos didn't have much talent to work with (that talent blossomed or was recruited soon after) But structure was established by both coaches ... A1 important And Laurie Fowler reckons that Big Carl was the best coach he played under (Laurie was coached by Hafey & RDB) Bobby Skilton got the team going late in '76 and we were playing well enough to win a final or 2 if we'd got in (missed by half a game) We went on a run similar to '87 I was at Vic Park that day in the last round of '76 and the Collingwood members stand erupted with joy after the scores came through in the drawn game between Footscray & Carlton They had long memories from all those Finals losses and they hated Melbourne. So we hate them and any QB win should always be savoured! They (the Pies) are our true enemy. Love reminding Pie fans that we have defeated them in 14 of the last 15 encounters against them in finals ... the red & blue makes them shudder in September And I've learnt so much about Norm Smith over the years that I feel like he should be on top (but I missed all those glory years - too young) In the end it's a close call between Northey & Goodwin for top honours 1st - Goodwin (The Flag) 2nd - Northey (Great motivator) 3rd - Daniher (The players played for him) 4th - Barassi (or Roos) 5th - Roos (Or Barassi) Skilts, Big Carl & Riddles did their very best

The big Saturday 2.10 game is all but gone as well. Cats/Bombers & Pies/Tigers the only good match-ups so far this year And no FTA either. We had a delayed telecast on FTA for a while but that's gone as well Good for local footy but Saturday 2pm was once the only time you could go to (or watch) an AFL game How times have changed (no pun intended) And all the other finals being played in the evening (apart from one twilight game in the first week of the finals) has been the pointer to how much influence the broadcast partners have Like it or lump it, that's what we are getting served up. A TV game with the real keen supporters attending the matches But sport worldwide is very much the same

The Broadcasting people get to have a big say ... if you were forking out $Billions wouldn't you want to know what you were getting for your money? It's real money too and big money talks big Again, I'm not siding with the broadcasters, just pointing out the reality of the sutuation

It's more about the total broadcast rights money ... the last broadcast deal was worth $2.518Billion That buys you a big say in proceedings So it's not necessarily about the extra 2% or 4% Not that I'm siding either way, more so pointing out the reality of the situation As it stands, 7 of the other 8 finals games are played in the evening with the other final played as a twilight fixture (in the 1st week of the finals) Again, I'd prefer a day GF

Yep, it's about the TV money And it's a lot of money and money talks I'd prefer a daylight game starting at 2pm (with the red sherrin) but those days are going to be a thing of the past Eventually the starting game time may be pushed out to 6pm or 6.30pm so as to maximise advertising revenue for the broadcasters

Those who believe that the umpires cheat are more likely to be flat-earther types Conspiracy theorists who delight in jumping the almighty shark any time a free kick is paid against their little army (their sporting team) I'd like to see the evidence of the cheating and therefore the sound reasoning on why umpires cheat But there is no evidence, never was and probably never will be. And the sport is over 160 years old The umpires just pay free kicks as they see them ... and it's nothing personal. In a sport where it's impossible to get all the umpiring decisions right (grey areas) You can throw up free kick counts, the mentality of the mob (and all other such nonsense) but that will not change anything

The tide is turning with the AFL taking the huge step of making sure the players respect the umpires and their decisions on the field That will filter down to the junior leagues and soon enough, more people will take up umpiring at all levels Eventually that can lead to full time umpires at the top level with continuous fine tuning of the rules to make the game far easier to umpire I understand that many just want to lash out at the umpires and that will never stop but I care about the sport as a whole, not just about self-interest You should take up the same stance

And it bears repeating too. I'm sending an important message As a society we are so much more enlightened in so many areas these days. Minority groups no longer have to put up with undue prejudice or narrow minded thinking. They've got a voice But not footy umpires it seems ... they are almost the last group of people treated as fair game. All based on an idiotic myth that they are somehow cheating How about the bloke on the game-day thread who has called the umpires ××××××× cheats about 500 times over a 10 year period Acceptable behaviour? Why don't you pull him up about repeating himself? He'll be on the thread next weekend. There's nothing surer

Every time I put the onus back on you, you come back at me as if it's my issue It's others that are blowing the foofa valves, not me. I'm just trying to save them from a lifetime of angst. But apparently, according to sue ... "People enjoy the whinge" Me, I enjoy the actual game whilst taking very little notice of the umpiring decisions ... is that a crime?

And there is a way of ignoring all the umpire 'references' on the game-day thread Just put those perpetrators on ignore ... however, that leaves only about 5 posts per page! I did it last year and the game day thread became an enjoyable and informative read. True story

Sorry dc, I don't give up that easily. Why walk away when something can be fixed? The harder it gets, the more motivated I become I'll keep battling way, thank you very much. And if the biggest issue is the umpire bashing (on the game day thread) why is that a problem for you? After all, it's not like you are with me on respect for umpires. And if I'm wrong on that, can you point me towards your posts where you have gone into bat for the umps