Macca

Kinda reminds me of Michael Owen at the end of his career at Man Utd and later Stoke. A great player (and contracted) but his last few years were dogged by injuries But in soccer, those sorts of stories are quite common and there is a lot of money in the sport to cover those types of instances Much smaller scale in the AFL but some of the same principles apply (or will apply as the salary cap increases with more money coming into the sport) The salary cap could be $16Million+ soon enough with the new broadcast rights money kicking in Another example is Luke Jackson. Freo reportably offered him many $Millions over a long contract and I believe we just didn't want to match the offer (or couldn't do) even though we didn't want to lose him With Brown, North were only offering 2 or 3 years IIRC so we got him with the 4 year offer. Otherwise, we don't get him

I believe you're right, Rab

Fairly sure we gave Brown a 4 year deal to acquire the player which included his first year (2021) and T-Mac might have has his contract extended after the 2021 season But it should be remembered that T-Mac played 23 of 25 games in 2021 and there was no outcry when we did extend his contract. None that I recall anyway So you make decisions and you live with the decisions. There's no shouda, couda, wouda aided by hindsight

Recorded both games but followed the games on gamecast Looks like the Lions imploded or was it just the 49ers stepping up at crunch time? And the Ravens just couldn't score TD's despite being at or near the redzone a lot of the times. Couldn't get it done?

Leaderboard Post Season Tipping Comp 22 - BDA 21 - Go the Biff 18 - DemonDave 17 - Clintosaurus 15 - Dee Zephyr 14 - Macca, titan_uranus 13 - Gorgoroth 11 - JV7 9 - layzie 8 - DeeSpencer 3 - Dr. Gonzo

Haha! Kelvin* retired at the end of 1985, PF, but the point remains that by the end of any given season, the writing is on the wall for a number of players These days, a player like Templeton would probably command a 5+ year deal. Even average players can get 3 year contracts in the modern era So the times they are a changin' but after a while, we'll start getting used to it. To counter that, we probably need bigger lists *Ventured to Catland in 1983 when Templeton won the game for us kicking 8 goals (we were 6 goals down at quarter time) At the time, we thought we'd acquired ourselves a superstar after that match

Spot on LD And with these sorts of things becoming more prevalent, the AFL should be looking at add-ons to the salary caps (in a separate form) to cover the veterans Or a slightly increased list size so clubs aren't left short? Going back 40+ years ago the clubs had players on their supplementary list to call upon The Eagles & previously the Gold Coast have had massive injury lists in recent times yet couldn't even add State league players to help out (?) Stand corrected on that though

Ordinarily dropping a player because of form issues is quite straightforward But with Grundy it was different as he was doing quite well in the ruck but we decided to go down a different path and he became surplus to needs I've no doubt all that would have been explained to him but effectively, the relationship was over (in my view only, Kent) So picking him as an emergency was probably token to make it look a bit better? But again, that's only my view and there was probably a lot more to it I've come to terms with it as nothing ventured, nothing gained The rucking position and the back up to a stellar ruckman like Gawn can be problematical in terms of what is needed as back-up. And then we can't predict injuries. There's more than a few what if's

Full credit to the Windies and a star is born with Shamar Joseph! Just brilliant! To temper all that is hearing that it has cost the WI cricket board $2Million to send their team here ... that's sobering. And the WI is not at all cash-strapped. Test cricket in the Windies has no broadcast partner The big 3 nations and the ICC really needs to step in and save test cricket from a worldwide point of view But for the Windies, they ouplayed the Aussies fair & square Not sure that Smith should have exposed Hazlewood to the last 2 deliveries of Shamar's over? And apparently the West Indies were fired up after Rodney Hogg called them pathetic & hopeless And just 986 spectators on day 4 and it's a Sunday? That's a shocking turn-up

Interesting that Klopp told the ownership in November and apparently Xabi Alonzo is odds on to get the position (according to the bookies)

Travis Head with a king pair (out first ball in both innings of a test match) That would haunt you! It's happened 23 times now which includes 2 Aussies (Adam Gilchrist & Ryan Harris)

With Fullarton & Brown not being available for the first month of the season (that's a guess) here's the make-up of our Rucking & Forward line as I see it R Gawn (80%-85% game time) HF Kozzie/Trac JVR ANB/T-Mac F Fritsch Petty Chandler/McAdam T-Mac is the relief ruckman as it's either him or Schache as I see it (or JVR at a stretch) I understand that T-Mac is training with the backs but with Brown & Fullarton being injured, that thinking will possibly change Unless, we use JVR only as the back up ruckman but if that happens and T-Mac doesn't play, we'd only have one tall forward as a target in JVR's absence (Petty) ... Fritsch as a forward works best when he's the 3rd forward Gawn could go forward occasionally (as he once did) but it's his time on the bench as he gets older that creates the issue We need to at least neutralise the ruck contests in Gawn's absence as we can't lose them pointblank

I agree but we might have to use JVR as a bit of a forward ruck if Gawn needs time off the ground. As Max gets older, we will need to manage him through a long season. Max has taken a lot of punishment over the years As it stands, Gawn might only be on the ground for 80%-85% of the games So, maybe a total of 8-10 ruck contests in the forward line for a player like JVR ... not a great workload for a forward ruck But the question might be is who rucks around the ground with Gawn on the bench? With Fullarton & Brown not being options to start the season, who else is there? Schache? T-Mac? And if Schache or T-Mac are preferred as the relief ruck, where do they play on the ground when they are not rucking? The can't really play as the sub as either might be called upon to ruck early in the game n.b. T-Mac was the relief ruck in both finals last year and JVR was called upon occasionally in the QF Gawn shouldered the large majority of the rucking role in both finals but can he now do that for an entire season without risking breaking down?

Many would be thinking that our best 22 doesn't include either Brown or T-Mac ... they are both more so back-up players and you might rather have decent back-up than zero-experience back-up (as key forwards) We are in contention, after all But as others have mentioned, we don't have real cover for Gawn with Fullarton going down but it's hard to justify paying reasonable coin to more than one back up ruckman ( neither of whom may not play much at all) Although Schache had his contract extended so maybe the MC felt a need to have another back up ruckman anyway Many of us were wondering why Schache's contract was extended (if he was surplus to needs) but he now comes into play if Gawn needs proper help around the ground (forward line rucking can be the domain of JVR) Schache as the sub? Well, he's played that role before!

Interesting to note that in our run to the finals and indeed, our finals campaign in 1987, 3 listed veteran players were no longer part of the team But in real terms, all 3 were contracted and getting paid but were deemed surplus to needs. Injuries played a part as well And that was 37 years ago The players in question were Stephen Icke, Peter Giles & Peter Moore. All good players too And there were a few others that were coming to the end at the time as well As previously stated, these types of curcumstances are just a part of sport So Brown, T-Mac and 1 or 2 others fall into the same category. That's just the way it goes

KC 7-12 Detroit 1-6

Big news out of the UK Jurgen Klopp to step down as Liverpool manager at the end of the season

We need Petty available & firing. We also need JVR to improve on last year. If that happens along with Fritsch as the 3rd target forward, we'll be fine With Brown out for the time being, T-Mac could come back into calculations as the back-up key forward. Schache, Fullarton & maybe Jefferson as possibles The rest of the forward line to be made up of Petracca (part time) Kozzie (most of the time) ANB, Chandler, McAdam, Billings and maybe Tholstrup There's some depth there with the bolstering of numbers in the off-season

In a sport like soccer especially, the issue of players being contracted but not being very productive is an old, old story On a much bigger scale to the AFL, soccer has learned to live with contracted players that are past their prime. All the USA sports as well. There are countless individual stories, not just a few It's just a part of pro sports that we're not used to in Australia. Once the money became much bigger and the contracts water-tight, the timing of the contracts became more difficult In terms of value, both Brown & T-Mac have been productive from an overall perspective Both were integral in 2021 when we won the flag. And without that flag, it would be 60 years and counting instead of 57 years So if someone had have said (before the flag) that Brown & T-Mac would become unproductive post 2021 but you'll win the flag in 2021, who amongst us wouldn't have taken that?

Yes, but injuries intervened and none of us could have foretold that. No one And it can work the other way too What if Dunstan & Melksham were contracted this year on reasonable money?

Having contracted players who are past their prime is part of professional sports. Numerous examples are now being seen where a player (or players) are given an extra year or 2 in order to keep those players Or if a club wants to secure players in trades where offering an extra year or 2 is needed in order to acquire those players We're seeing more and more top players signing long term deals and even average players getting longer contracts And that type of list management is going to continue especially if we see more player movement between clubs So what that means is that in any given year, a club might have 3+ players who end up being depth only. Getting the timing perfect is wishful thinking The AFL is catching up with the rest of the world with regards to list management But if it's right across the board, across all the clubs, then no club is at a real disadvantage So gone are the days where every single list position is a productive one. It stands to reason that type of position just can't happen And players are not going to walk away from large amounts of money. You're a long time retired A way to alleviate the issue is to front end contracts but that's not always possible due to salary cap constraints (in any given year) In a nutshell, having players such as Brown & T-Mac as depth players was always a possible likelyhood. The upside is that we have a couple of experienced wise-heads around to help the young blokes coming through

With only 2 head coaching jobs yet to be filled (Washington & Seattle) it seems that Bill Belichick may end up getting squeezed out

All things being equal the 49ers should win by 2 scores. But this is the NFL where odd things often happen! So keep your fingers crossed, layz

Apparently the cheapest ticket to the Australian Open Mens final is $2000 ranging up to $6000! That's for one seat and it's in the bleachers A glass of bubbly is $30, a beer $15 and a hot dog $18. Chocolate bar $6

@Go the Biff @titan_uranus @BDA @Dr. Gonzo @Clintosaurus @Dee Zephyr @Dappa Dan @Gorgoroth @layzie @DeeSpencer Leaderboard Post Season Tipping Comp 16 - BDA 15 - Go the Biff, DemonDave 13 - Gorgoroth 11 - JV7, Clintosaurus 9 - Dee Zephyr 8 - Macca, titan_uranus 6 - layzie 3 - Dr.Gonzo 2 - DeeSpencer This week each win is worth 3 points plus 3 bonus points per game for the correct margin bracket (1-6, 7-13 or 13+) The Super Bowl is worth 5 points along with 5 bonus points on offer as well Good luck! Next week's games Mon 7.00am Kansas City @ Baltimore (-3.5) Mon 10.30am Detroit @ San Francisco (-7.0)