Macca

If we were to grade the output of our forwards this year only Petracca gets a pass mark. Weideman has been poor, T-Mac not much better, Hannan below average, Garlett runs past far too many contests, Spargo not up to it, Melksham average before injured, Hunt up and down. Collectively they don't play in front, can't take a grab, don't make position, can't kick accurately, don't make enough leads and there is a general lack of movement. As a result, we changed our forward line coach mid-season. But Rawlings needs new personnel. Yet the stats boffins here want to blame the DE of our midfielders? Amazing. Yes, the midfielders aren't perfect and they do spray it occasionally but they aren't the issue.

Yep BBO .... it is the worst forward line I can remember seeing since the 70's. It really is that bad. Plus, our forwards don't play in front so what hope have the midfielders got? In a dramatic move we changed our forward line coach but a change of player personnel is the real answer. Early in the season many here were blaming the backline but our forward line issues have been there since game 1.

What you've said isn't controversial at all AF ... the DE stats people will disagree and that's their right. Numbers can often paint the wrong picture. I prefer the eye test. Our midfielders can spray it but the real issue has been our dysfuntional forward line. The lack of movement, leading patterns, ability to create space and marking ability is really poor. And has been all season. Petracca is our best but it's a long gap to our 2nd best forward. It's happened before on countless occasions at various clubs. We ourselves once had an all-star centreline (Alves, Wells & Flower) but couldn't win games because our forward line was hopeless in those days. Thank heavens we didn't have the DE stats in those days otherwise all 3 star players would have been lambasted from pillar to post by the stats 'Gurus' It's just history repeating itself ... better personnel in the forward line is the answer or a massive improvement with what we've got (which is a long-shot) The value of a key forward stands out more so when you haven't got one. One of them stands up (T-Mac last week) and hey presto we look a different side (until he got injured) Our midfield isn't the issue ... we need better forwards.

To be honest I couldn't care less about the GCS but was more arguing that the more top end picks, the better, when it comes to drafting. The next no.1 could be a Nick Rewoldt or a Jack Watts or a Tom Scully. It's a numbers game.

Any extra pick at the top end can never hurt though ... not sure that Dew is doing the right thing by his club regardless of whether he is right or not. I agee that the messiah attitude with a top end pick is not the answer but again, you take what you can get in this league. In more recent times we angled at a high-end pick with the Frawley compensation. Managed to win just the 4 games in 2014 which enabled us to end up with picks 2 & 3 in the draft. And I'm a sceptic with regards to the draft ... the more picks the better rather than placing an absolute value on any given pick. Weight of numbers (so to speak) ... and that's not foolproof either.

We're no longer the powerhouse ... lots of good or decent players but short on A grade elite class. Which is what you need to be a powerhouse The bowling is good enough periodically but it's not McGrath, Lee, Gillespie & Warne. England were superb last night so credit where credit is due. We never looked like winning. But go the Kiwis hey Wadda! England should win the final but New Zealand are a determined bunch.

The Spring carnivals in both NSW & Victoria just got a hell of a lot bigger. Prizemoney has been ramped up in nearly all the feature races in both States as well as Country racing & the Country Cups. That's competition for you and I'm all for it ... much prefer to bet on the best of the best running around. And we're almost certainly going to see more overseas representation as the money on offer now is amongst the best in the World (if not better) I'll post up more details later with a few links but Racenet.com has all the details in their 'News' area. Horse racing in this Country is in fantastic shape but without the fierce competition between NSW & Vic that might not be the case ... along with of course the punting dollars and the collateral provided by the horse owners.

Nadal/Federer on late Friday evening ... Roger is now 38 so we might not see this match--up again too frequently. Could be another classic. One will advance to the final to meet either Djokovic or Bautista Agut (that match-up is on Friday evening as well)

Kiwis heavily favoured to make it through to the final ... India 119-6 off 35 overs chasing 240 with Dhoni & Jadeja batting. 15 overs to score 121. It's achievable but one wicket changes everything.

Agreed on the +2.5 match score in soccer ... reckon we'll do alright once the round-ball game starts up. The value is when it's good team vs good team ... and the dominant teams at home are often free scoring teams so it's not that risky a bet. And there are a number of baseball games not listed by Laddies and those games not listed quite often involve a dominant home team with a pitching advantage. Happens a lot. Barty is still no.1 despite going out in the 4th round and the US Open will now be her next big target. Good player.

My first choice was the White Sox @ -1.5 but they weren't up and listed at Laddies. They duly saluted - ugh! Dodgers was next choice but there was no pitching advantage. And I don't like picking road teams ... thus, the choices were limited. Was on 5 of Zac's winners on Sunday at Sha Tin though so from a personal point of view my weekend on the punt was a beauty! Soccer season is just around the corner but we should get a collect soon enough fellas ?

Petracca is getting better by the year but I'd like to see him play in the midfield a lot more. He's a rare talent and I see him as more of a big bodied utility who could play anywhere. Use him as we see fit should be the modus operandi. And in the off-season a reconstruction of his kicking action is required. Work could be started on it now of course so why not now? There's no time like the present.

Because Pruess is likely to play we may as well crash-course him on how to play forward and how to mark a ball (positioning himself as part of it all) He's a big unit so he's got that on his side ... he just needs to coached into being able to play AFL.

And there are degrees of realism mixrd in with pessimism & optimism for those who like to class thrmselves as realistic supporters. You've got to have a bit of hope otherwise misery can rule. True realists hate the bs ... for instance, any punter who isn't a realist will lose. And as Demon supporters we are invested which could also be described as a gamble.

A positive is that we get to see Preuss at work for the rest of the season (unless we somehow don't) Working in tandem with Gawn, they'll both play forward periodically in the absence of T-Mac. Neither are easy match-ups forward so that's another positive. And if it works well we can win a few more games this year whilst serving as a real option for next season. Jones was good again ... that's 3 decent games in a row off half-back. Freed up, he'll relish it back there whilst his fitness holds up.

Comes with the territory and it works both ways ... the optimists cop it here as well. Often labelled as apologists. Try being a realist ... you'll cop it from all quarters! If we had have lost yesterday it would have been bad news for the club. As it stands we still need a few more wins to salvage the season. Wins do matter.

I'm out of the loop a bit with KPF prospects ... drafting an 18 year old is fraught with danger so you almost have to draft 2 to find 1. Or you swap a top end pick for a proven performer. And that's paying a bargain price as clubs generally do not like parting ways with proven KPF's. So we might have to pay extras. Or a free agent ... again, you've got to get in real early as clubs are securing talent on long term deals. It isn't easy but if our trading is aggressive enough, you'll get what you need (as opposed to getting what you want) And what does the club want to do anyway? They might be happy with how things are developing. Our midfielders need to hit the scoreboard more often also.

We're all different Binman so we all see things differently. I didn't get a lot out of the win from a personal point of view but from the clubs point of view, a loss might have been seen as a real set back. My guess is that despite our poor W/L record this year many supporters still have high expectations. But I'm not venting over the win either ... I'm more relieved that we didn't lose as it's always club first in my view. Any win can be built on where as losing can become contagious. As we've seen previously. But most are agreed on our overall disposal efficiency, poor skills, lack of leg speed, poor conversion rates and wastefulness. So it's entirely feasible to critique the teams performance and be happy to win at the same time. T-Mac doesn't get injured and we win easily ... again, highlighting the value of a decent key forward. We need to recruit another key forward. The 2 that we have don't inspire me with great confidence. T-Mac is more of a number 2 whilst Weideman is a no.3. Taking the next step for both players is a stretch. A lot of if's and but's.

Zac Purton 5 from 7 today up in HK (so far) And he's probably not done yet with a few at value to come. Superior horseman is understating things. The race caller just quipped that he'd probably win on a Merry-go-round right now!

Weekend Special MLB Monday 06.10am LA Dodgers vs San Diego Padres LA Dodgers Win (-1.5) $2.20 Following Purton at Honkers today and so far, so good! Demons win but 'We are Us' applies. We make hard work of it all fellas.

Well 'Enable' won as expected ... they run these outstanding horses quite scarcely over there so not sure when it runs again. Almost certainly set for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (for no.3?) in early October so there is probably a race for it in between. The replay of the Coral-Eclipse Stakes can be found on Tab.com.au or Racenet.com

It's more about the overall and the greater good ... the extra players won't add to the quality either. More so playing games from a squad perspective rather than a best 22 Gawn to play 18-19 games per year for instance. Regardless of how good his form is. Not written in stone but as a real option. It's hard for even the best players to be at their best every week in today's footy so spelling a player for a week every now and again is not such a radical move. So to do all that the clubs need bigger lists. In some other sports around the world players are given good amounts of rest ... baseball pitchers, soccer players, NBA players, running backs in the NFL etc etc. AFL players in the veteran stage (Jones) was where this conversation originated. Bigger lists allow clubs to keep the veterans around (in theory) I was thinking it was a total of 44 so thanks for the correction on that LH. So 52-53 is more the case then. All full list players with various contracts. Players are now required to run up to 15ks (or more) in an endurance/collision sport played on a weekly basis with loads more congestion these days. It's any wonder we see so many injuries.

Add 6 players and dispense with the whole rookies thing. Make them full list players. I year contracts as the clubs see fit too ... 2 year deals for the top 36 draft picks. After that, a player takes what he can get. So lists of about 50 is my call. We're looking at about an extra million per club per year but the whole process could be done incrementally. The clubs & the AFL could find a way. But we're dealing with an AFL that are poor custodians and they too often have got their eyes set on the $$$$'s.

I would have Jones over Garlett, Hannan or Spargo any day of the week. At least you know Jones is going to provide a contest and he can win his own ball. And he is a more reliable kick for goal. Not exactly a small forward per se but why do we have to follow convention?

Agreed ... the game is now so taxing on the body that I'm surprised that there hasn't been a call for bigger lists. The salaries would be spread furthet but once the transition is made, you don't have to do it again. The lists were much bigger back in the day probably for good reason. The past can teach us a lot sometimes DJ. And footy can learn from other sports. For instance, Soccer is a lot about squads rather than best 11.