Macca

Should be 4 down only though. Wade had to get through to lunch. We need a few more 'Kid Charlemagne' types. They don't have to classical A graders either. Just players with great temperament & fighting qualities. Matt Renshaw, Will Pucovski, Kurtis Patterson & Alex Carey are the future. I would be playing them sooner rather than later. All 4 have got a bit of class about them too. And they're young and ambitious.

On the bit and never out of 3rd gear Wadda The bloke is on another sphere right now. Just incredible how he makes it look so easy.

Yep. Poor shot by Wade ... he had to bat for the team and for the partnership. Amateurish. Could be really costly too.

Drinks and we've lost just the 1 wicket Wadda ... I'm looking at the clock rather than the run count. The longer we're out there, the less chance we have of losing the match. And there will be more rain. An ideal scenario sees us attacking from safe ground. As expected, they've dried up the run supply (somewhat) but we still scored 44 runs (13 overs) in that hour.

If our lefties get their front foot at the trajectory of the delivery (around the wicket by Broad) they take the LBW out because it hits them outside the line Playing from.the crease is asking for trouble. Batting 101. I know Broad isn't exactly pedestrian but our lefties don't play him well.

Well, we can decide to just bat long enough where we take the loss out of equation. Batting first and them batting last means we can control the tempo. As long as we bat well of course. We hold the Ashes and they need to win the series to wrest the Ashes back. Bat for time and the runs will mount up. And then England have to try and force a result. As long as Smith is out there batting it is advantage Australia.

After lunch we might see a bit more rain ... 14° being the expected top temperature. Footy weather! And they might decide to put the brakes on our scoring in this pre-lunch session. We are scoring at just under 4 runs per over but I'd take 3 an over whilst only losing 2 wickets (not Smith either!) In this session. That would take us through to about 5 - 260. We don't want to be 7 down with Smith gone.

Do you remember when Roos made mention of the player managers having too much influence? That was in early 2014 not long after he took up the role as coach. The comment got brushed off but I thought it was quite an important observation. Prior to that Roos often said that "There is something wrong at that club" Make of that what you will.

Decent recovery with our 2 best batsmen at the crease. Labuschagne continues to impress. Loves the contest. A fighter. Smith is making a welcome return. 2 - 98 Aus 10 Eng 8

We are lucky that Archer is bowling half rat power. 15k - 20k down on his best pace. Lose another one here and we're in allsortsa

Best Bet Saturday Moonee Valley Race 7 No.4 Eduardo (Win) $4.80

Copy & Paste to 'Google' Ranking the best 25 Best Moves of the NFL Off Season - Bleacher Report

I'm with Dappa & JV7 Rams Ravens Chiefs

I will keep an eye out for that All Ireland Final ... and the Pats will probably win it again! See you on the NFL thread (Other Sports) We run an interesting comp for those who might want to partake. I'm reasonably eager for the footy as I have watched very little AFL this year. Tigers & Dogs might do well (?) With some sports I'm more inclined to follow the league (NRL, EPL & NFL) whilst with footy it's the Demons front & centre. With cricket it's the Test side. Ashes cricket No.1

Ashes comes first PSD and then the footy. And the Rugby League finals are on the week after. The NFL kicks off this weekend whilst the EPL is in full swing. Spoilt for choice! Most I know are into all of the above and more. For what it's worth ... Eagles by 45 Cats by 35 Bulldogs by 10 Tigers by 35

We still look brittle after Smith ... no.5 onwards. I would have left Labuschagne at no.5 for that reason. One of Head or Wade makes way then. Still leaves a gap at no.3 because of Khawaja's average form but I've still got Khawaja ahead of Head & Wade. My team uncludes Renshaw & one of Pucovski or Patterson but none of those 3 are in the squad. The current batting order does not inspire. DJ's idea of Warner at no.5 has real merit as well. Alex Carey ... just pick him now as the choice of Paine is far too conservative. The Ashes are on the line so you make the moves now. It's nothing personal ... all players who aren't top-notch are expendable. And those players know it too.

The NFL Is Back! Guess the Lines Week 1 - Bill Simmons With Cousin Sal

Vega Magic out for the Spring They can't figure out what is wrong with the horse but the horse is being sent home to Perth and might run in the Winterbottom in the Summer (at Ascot)

Jones is still in our best 12 - 18 players. And that's if they're all fit and healthy. We've got a list full of C & D graders who have never been any good and probably never will be. List cloggers. In fact, I'd add a couple more Jones types 'to' the team. Even if it was only for a year or 2. Those concerned about 1 spot out of 47 are overplaying the value of 1 spot. In any given year the list is often clogged up with non achievers often replaced with a new batch of non achievers. Not just our club either. The overall depth of talent in the AFL is quite shallow. Good players are hard to find. Older experienced types should be kept on instead. Not all obviously but again, we often bring in delisted free agents and they do nothing. Better the devil you know. And Jones isn't the reason why we only won 5 games. The whole team & FD more like it. Everyone. The overall list is well below par. We can ill afford to lose any more experience. Why he isn't playing forward is baffling though. He fights hard for the ball and is an excellent kick for goal. Which is something that none of our forwards showed this year. Fritsch if he played there all season being the exception. Petracca if he could kick straight.

Money talks Rusty And you normally have to pay overs anyway. We're not as badly placed as we were previously and we're more like a 10 win team with a functioning forward line. And that's without a big name forward or 2. Fritsch and a fit Melksham would have made a difference if they'd played forward all season. And plonk Viney and/or Jones forward and another win or 2 could have eventuated By the time we started ringing the changes it was way too late.

Hunt plays from behind too much and doesn't get to enough contests. Nor does he apply enough forward pressure. Apart from that he's 'ok' Good pace, elusive and can kick goals. Melksham plays for frees too much and again, doesn't get involved enough. An excellent kick to position and he's got class but he has a few issues. He's not that good. I'd keep both but neither player is B+ level by any means.

The good KF option would be a left field get. But that is what it often takes anyway. The Tigers changed tack when they went after Lynch and the deals for Buddy, Kennedy etc took a bit to get across the line. First of all the salary offer has to be through the roof and then the deal has to go through. We got Hogan with the Scully compo pick (kinda, sorta) and Freo got Hogan with 1 top end pick. So it's not impossible to land a big fish if the club is hell bent on securing a decent key forward. And we're not necessarily going to hear about it until it happens. The 2 that we've got are lazy. T-Mac has been a disappointment and I'm not sure we can rely on him. Weideman just flies for marks like it's 'kick to kick' . If the plan is to go with those 2 I'm not at all confident. Imagine if you were the coach?

If I was part of the recruiting team I'd find a way. By hook or by crook (To bring in 2 decent key forwards over a 2 or 3 year period) As a collective our forwards play from behind, they don't lead enough or lead to space, can't kick straight and don't play as a team within a team. And the marking skills are well below par and they don't 'relish' the front position. As individuals you could make a case for any number of them but as a collective, we fail. Ironically the bloke who does play in front and who does make multiple leads and make position is too small for the task (Spargo) And Spargo isn't quick enough nor does he have the kicking skills to be a decent small forward. Our forward line deficiencies first reared its ugly head after half time at Port Adelaide in 2018. Hinkley decided to pressure & press our midfielders and the rest is history. Sooner or later all the other clubs were going to cotton-on and that's what has happened. A hurried or haphazard kick into a forward line can still be retained if all our forwards get to the front position and relish doing it. But we play from behind and won't adhere to the fundamentals. We also need cleaner delivery from our midfield and those issues can be addressed with more skillful midfielders, pace, outside run, spread etc etc

I'm just going to stream RedZone then ... I can't go without JV. I won't! Still, as Gorg pointed out, Foxtel covering 3 games is good news whilst it looks like the 7Network will cover 2 games (early & late Sunday games?) As for the divisional outcomes, I'm out of the loop a bit so I might have a go on the weekend. Packers could battle a bit this season. Maybe 8-9 wins but we're up against it. Good pipe-opener though (Friday 10.20am) ... Packers @ Bears. The teams and fans hate each other so it'll be game on! Packers have to keep it close and hope that Rodgers does his magic. Bears could be good though. The oldest rivalry - bring it on!