Macca

Yes, the fickle finger of fate

8 new cases in Victoria ... hot spots includes the MCC reserve at the MCG (Carlton vs Geelong)

Olympics Official Site (Schedule) ... Once into the site, click on any date for the full rundown Roy & HG Daily Podcast (begins July 23rd)

Here's a handy/easy-to-navigate website catering to the Socceroos campaign Ultimate Guide Socceroos FIFA World Cup Qualifying Qatar 2022 Final Group Stage And here are the all-important dates for the Aussies (the times are approximate only based on all the games being played in the evenings) Around 20 points should get it done but last time we got to 19 points along with Saudi Arabia but finished 3rd (Japan finished on 20 points) We then had to defeat Syria on aggregate (Home & Away) who finished 3rd in their group. Finally we then had to defeat Honduras on aggregate (Home & Away) Couple of tough games to finish with so we'll need to get our points up early Thurs Sept 2nd vs China 7.30pm Tues Sept 7th @ Vietnam 10.30pm Thurs Oct 7th vs Oman 7.30pm Tues Oct 12th @ Japan 9.30pm Thurs Nov 11th vs Saudi Arabia 7.30pm Tues Nov 16th @ China 10.30pm Thurs Jan 27th vs Vietnam 7.30pm Wed Feb 1st @ Oman 1.30am Thurs March 24th vs Japan 7.30pm Wed March 29th @ Saudi Arabia 2.30am

Should have closed the border earlier but the governments wait until the proverbial hits the fan Mind you, the truckies probably get exemptions so Covid finds a way in somehow And the truckie in question may not have been showing any signs of the infection and then tested positive later on

Happy to see the Italians win but I've never liked penalty shoot-outs and probably never will By all accounts Italy were the better team anyway but I favour the 'Golden Goal' in extra time with reduced numbers every 5 minutes ... play the actual sport to decide the outcome Don't like the penalty shoot-out in other sports such as Ice Hockey as well. Next goal wins and keep reducing the numbers to heighten the chances of scoring Oddly enough, I don't mind the 'draw' in footy (except for finals)

Agreed The whole country with the various states (collectively) had a big enough sample size for NSW to then act quickly with their outbreak They go into hard lockdown 2 or 3 days earlier and we might have had a different result right now (in NSW) They will kicking themselves now as they could be months away from shedding the dreaded disease By the way, I'm not favouring either side of politics as we here in Victoria had a 20+ week lockdown due to the slapstick way we handled the quarantine hotels. Looking back now it was pure amateur hour

They'll find a way for the Sydney teams to hub in Victoria & keep playing. They have to otherwise the season will be derailed But my fear is the disease getting out of control in NSW. The footy could end up being of secondary concern if the delta varient escapes into the other States As someone else here commented, NSW could end up being isolated like an island State

It's 'Cambage' But this is a thread about the wonderful achievement of Ash Barty isn't it?

The families of the 2 Sydney teams will almost certainly only have until midnight today and after that permits and14 days isolation/quarantine? The AFL have often been ahead of the stringent government rulings (of late) so a plan might be in place already Could be at least a few more weeks (months?) with the high Covid numbers up there so the Swans & Giants will be staying put in Victoria for now

NSW border about to be closed and up there they are expecting over 100 Covid positive cases tomorrow (78 today) The whole of NSW has been declared a red zone by Victoria Giants & Swans won't be heading home anytime soon. Still, Victorian clubs hubbed for long periods of time

Yeah it's tricky because Japan would have spent hundreds of millions (perhaps billions) to set the whole thing up so even if they could walk away, the cost would be enormous for next to zero return And the contract with the IOC is water tight anyway so the financial penalties for breaking the contract are enormous It's become an unfortunate situation whichever way you look at it ... although the broadcast rights money will soften the blow (and we're talking tens of $Billions of dollars of broadcast rights money) As always, follow the money trail! Thousands of soccer games in Europe still go on without crowds but because of the broadcast rights money, there's no talk of cancelling As for holding the games where Covid is under control there aren't many choices apart from Australia & NZ. And I doubt whether either Country would take on such a major exercise at short notice So the games must go on! No crowds lessens the while thing as a spectacle but most professional sports have got by despite playing thousands of times in front of empty stadiums in the last 18 months The lack of crowds won't bother me personally as my concentration is on the athletes and the contest The important thing that needs to be remembered are the athletes themselves ... they've given up everything to be able to compete and they've earnt that right to compete in my view Most of the opposition here comes from those who are not invested in the Olympics anyway ... and they are often hypocritical as they are not at the same time calling for other sports to be cancelled because of Covid

8 point swingaround ... we lose and Lions win and they'd be ahead of us Instead of that we are now 2 games clear of them (and 4th place) ... we're now staring at an MCG qualifying final (if we're good enough) Better to have the destiny in your own hands *Mozz factor deactivated

Yeah no good ... I'm off to the UK tonight again after another ordinary day Will probably switch to the exotics next Saturday. Tough work finding winners! That's racing!

I reckon something might have gone wrong with the horse ... might even need a spell and bring it back in the late Spring/early Summer

100 up for Jamie Kah! Fantastic achievement!

Forward line defensive pressure is the key ... apart from this year, when have we ever consistently displayed that feature of the modern game? Structurally we're ok up forward but not great. But we don't have to be great Pound for pound our forward line personell isn't A grade but as long as our talls are involved in the game deep forward, around the arc and up around the attacking wing, we give ourselves a chance But the real pressure comes from the small forwards combined with our midfield pushing & pressing up Often leads to the rushed kick from the opposition landing in the hands of our 3rd line of defence (Salem, Brayshaw, Rivers, Hunt etc) Then May, Lever, Petty & Hibberd as the back 4 We are going to be hard to beat as long as we can maintain the disciplines that we've put in place ... shy away from all that and even the lesser lights can knock us off

ANB got better as the game went on ... he fumbled once or twice earlier in the game but after that, he lifted his game Started using his elite endurance getting to contest after contest Along with a few others in the forward line, our defensive pressure was great to see. In the end, the opposition started making errors because of our pressure. They had no answers Given the circumstances of the 8 point game, it could be our best win although the wins against all the other contenders have all been very good

As I love Viney's tenacity and fierce attack on the ball I don't see him as an A grade player from an overall perspective (although, it must be said that he is capable of A grade games) Wines on the other hand I see as an out and out star of the game But he was no star last night thanks to Jack

Reckon we won the Viney vs Wines match up too So, good player (Viney) takes on elite player (Wines) and reduces Ollie to a good game only. Most of Wines' 33 disposals were non dynamic and often inconsequential. For instance, he had 19 handballs but were any of them creative? A number of scrubbed kicks too. Crouch Bros. style stats Viney got it 18 times so as a tagger/stopper he's done a bit better than expected with regards to disposal numbers End result was Viney played a good game as he was able to subdue Wines whilst Wines was nowhere near his match winning self (currently 3rd overall with regards the coaches votes) So it wasn't necessarily head to head, it was tagger vs star and we came out on top in that vital battle

Bookies finding another way to increase their own percentage. Crooks! Already on it with a win bet Gorg ... Ollie has stuck with this horse throughout and it'll be flying home I've included my pick (Red Santa) in a 2/3 parlay bet with 2 others

Best Bet Saturday (Caulfield) R6 No.7 Red Santa (J Kah) $4.50 (Win)

38 new cases in NSW today is not good news for the rest of the country ... the delta varient could easily escape across their border as there are any number of exemptions being handed out to those returning to other States And we know this disease can show up days later after people have previously tested negative Of course, if NSW moves away from the elimination strategy of the virus and moves towards containment then all hell could break loose FWIW I believe they'll stay on the elimination strategy but that will probably mean stricter lockdown methods and they could be in lockdown for quite some time But there shouldn't be any point scoring or finger pointing as we're only 1 case away from the outbreak happening again in any of the other States ... then more lockdowns

No winners for Jamie today! Nevertheless, Saturday awaits where she sits on no fewer than 6 favourites. Gotta be at least 1 winner there but perhaps 3 or 4 Dipped out on the Jamie double but managed to snag a place double at decent odds. Back to Saturday's only though ... midweek racing is a raffle!

Now down to one for the champion jockey (Jamie Kah) ... on a number of chances tomorrow so much so that I've taken out a one-out Jamie double! Quietly confident too! The best bit when doing the form is finding a horse that you like and then seeing that J Kah is on board. Some of the best Jockeys ride well into their 40's but Jamie is still only a 25yo In Melbourne it's Kah, Oliver & Williams whilst in Sydney it's McDonald, Bowman, Berry & McEvoy. Elite company