Macca

I honestly don't care who we play or where we play (although being there in person is a preference) We are equipped to play well against any team, even Richmond. We'll need to bring our best game but we've been trained and coached to do that. It's like we started off with a triple-chance - Swans then Eagles then GWS ... we blew the first opportunity then made amends with the 2nd go at it. We've now got chance no.3 to secure a home final first up or if we're really lucky, 2 more chances if we somehow snag 4th spot. But taking 2 wins in the last 2 rounds into the finals series would be great for the group's confidence. And then whoever we play we can beat. Richmond are ahead of the rest but the rest are all very similar in terms of talent.

Alright, what were the 3 games then Dappa? You can presume that I'm almost certainly going to disagree because I can't think of one game where the umps have deliberately set out to stitch us up. Putting the stitching up factor aside, if we don't get the rub of the green sometimes, so what? Do you want a situation where that can't happen? You have to take the good with the bad in footy - you and everyone else has got no choice actually. And a good percentage of every supporter group complains in the same way (forever and a day) about their make-believe misfortune. Is every other supporter group wrong and we're right? Or perhaps they're all wrong, including us. Moaning about it all won't change a damn thing either. The sport can't be umpired correctly so in my opinion they can only get about 70% of all decisions right. What I've never done is jump the shark and play victim - you should do the sensible thing and do the same. I'm just really surprised that more people haven't come to terms with it all ... perhaps they're afraid of jumping ship?

3 actually ... you wrote off the Eagles post Wentz and I thought you were still a chance ha ha And the 3 footy games where you thought the umps hurt us didn't happen to be close losses did they? hmmmmm. We blew the Port game by the way ... kicked wildly into the forward line in the last quarter and a half against their press. Our fault mate.

They can see it their way so I see things completely differently. But my view isn't often expressed here ... mainly because the place is so overwhelmed with so much angst about the umpires that there isn't much point I go hard on this issue for a day or so about once a year so in comparison to the norm, it's nothing. One day you will see it my way ... I will wear you down haha ?

But the umpires haven't been bad for us Dappa

One thing I do know is that the better teams can end up with more frees because the better players can put themselves into better positions to win frees. So the free kick count and the supposed equality of the count is a flawed idea as well. The good news is that we are becoming one of those better teams.

To be honest the only clear standout divisional winner looks to be the Patriots (again) In every other division there are at least 2 teams with claims. In some cases 3 genuine chances. Who wins the AFC South? All 4 teams are capable of having winning seasons if their QB's stay healthy.

There's a number of others who we can prompt up as we get closer to the start of the season ... JV7, T_U, DeeSpencer, Cards13, Dee Zephyr, Wadda We Sing, Strafford, Go the Biff, Clintosaurus (last year's winner) and a few others. The weekend before the first weekend of games works best for the tipping comp as it's fresh and people can post up their tips straight away if they wish to partake. No good going too early. I'll post up the honour roll, the rules and the upcoming week 1 games with the lines at the same time. Bonus weeks last year were weeks 2, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 & 17 and we probably need that many again to maintain interest. As we all know any point gained is to be treasured! In the meantime we could post up our tips for Divisional winners, MVP, SB Champs et al as we've done in the past. That's always tricky but a bit of fun.

The tipping comp might attract a few more here ... a dozen regular contributors would be ideal but we've probably had well over 20 different contributors over the length of the thread. I'm not big on fantasy sports but I know plenty who are so your idea is well worth persevering with Dappa. Once the practice games are done I'll try and post up the game highlights of last years playoffs. In the meantime, here's a treat - you may have seen the mic'd up version of the Super Bowl but if not, enjoy! To view the clip you'll have to go via youtube but don't forget to full-screen it.

September is now going to be chock-full of sports where we've multiple interests. Fantastic. Demons, Racing, Rugby League finals, Baseball playoffs later on in the month and of course the NFL starts as well. Speaking of which ... Your Chicago Bears are playing Wadda's & my Green Bay Packers at Lambeau in the first week of the NFL regular season (Monday Sept 10th) The biggest and oldest rivalry in American Football. Hopefully we'll see both of you gentlemen on the NFL thread ... at least for the tipping comp.

Well DZ I thought I'd hold off whilst we got the Best Sports bet off and running on the other thread. Just having to find 2 picks works quite well doesn't it? We'll probably have it down pat in no time. So I did have my eye on the Memsie Stakes on the 1st of Sept as that race looks like attracting a top-notch field. There are 3 or 4 other decent races on that weekend so it doesn't have to be the Memsie. Here are the early odds ...

I have still got visions of Performer veering off the track and in the process throwing Hughie Bowman off. Scary moment that was. And Performer was the early favourite for the Slipper from memory. There's a slight lull this week with only 5 Group or Listed races out of the Rosehill & Moonee Valley meetings but the rest of the program's at each venue are still quite solid. Still, the 5 Stakes races have a number of well performed familiar horses engaged.

Wow! Impressive copy & paste there DZ ... I believe I mentioned the match-up against Sandbar for Santos last week back but there's some decent opposition apart from Sandbar. Performer, Plague Stone & Dio D'ora round out at least 5 genuine chances in the race. The 1100m might suit Santos the best though. Small field but could well be a good betting race with so many chances.

I'm a huge fan of the Thursday night games ... either listening to the game live on tunein or try and avoid the scores and watch the game 'as live' on a Friday evening either before the footy or straight after. Once the footy is done it's pure NFL on a Friday night. We get our mini-fix of NFL before it all happens on a Monday. The full schedule of the week 16 games falls on Christmas eve this year and we even get a game on Christmas day as well (AEDT) - Denver @ Oakland. The Raiders will be an interesting team to watch with Gruden in charge. Similar for New Years eve here for all the week 17 games (again, AEDT) The other 2 Thanksgiving games (Nov 22) is the early game (Chicago @ Detroit) followed by the late game (Washington @ Dallas) The Falcons @ Saints is the evening game on Thanksgiving.

See I had no apprehension about the West Coast game beforehand DS56 ... in terms of the umpiring. I thought if we're good enough, we'll win. And we were good enough so we won.

The umpiring has been called into question on this site this year in a far greater way than any previous year. That is my observation. Coincides with the sport being even harder to impire, the fact thst we as a team are totally relevant again but most importantly, the close losses that we have incurred. In previous years when we were getting smashed not many cared and when we win easily no one arks up either. The close losses - different story. Not news to me though.

You just don't like or agree with my view on impiring and I understand that ... you don't think I already know that in advance? My comments are not really aimed at you ... they are aimed at the 10% - 15% that might be able to change their minds on umpiring in footy. Too many are happy to fall-in and play victim ... at every club. My views worked with regards to drafting and the wbole drafting process and to a lesser extent the over-evaluation of our playing stocks (not so much now but previously)

A bit like your outlier that the team has a chronically mentally fragile attitude when it comes to kicking for goal.

Ha ha! This is a risky comment but I don't even notice Nichols .either .. and I watch our games twice and sometimes 3 times. I view the sport and our games differentl ... my main focus is and always has been the state of our list and whether we are any good or not.

There are always outliers and aberrations in sport ... come to terms with it Webber otherwise you'll worry about something that probably isn't going to change for the rest of your life. If it wasn't the West Coast it would be another team ... in fact I clearly remember when it was other teams. Collingwood at Vic Park for instance and numerous other teams in numerous other sports And I formed my view oved 40 years ago. I just watch the games and largely ignore the umpiring decisions. You and others should try it ... have you ever tried doing that?

Home town decisiions are going to happen as well although I would agree that the Coasters seem to get a bit if a better ride. But I have come to terms with that as well. The key is to finish above them on the ladder so any final against the Coasters is played here.

From an overall perspective, we've never actually been disadvantaged by umpires anyway. Most would disagree but most have been brainwashed into believing that the umpires have got a set against us. Ditto for every other club and their supporters. The sport can't be umpired correctly and it is daylight to the next hardest sport in terms of the adjudication. So it stands to reason that the umpires are going to make a stack of errors and an equal proportion of those incorrect decisions are going to be awarded against all the teams. Over time. So comes to terms with it all, lose the persecution complex and stop playing victim. That attitude is all based on a mistruth anyway.

@Dappa Dan Foles & Wentz both at practice and in full training. Splitting the snaps in 11 on 11 drills. Not sure the 3rd QB Sudfeld is going to get a look in, in the season proper. In other news Adrian Peterson could end up at Washington, Deshaun Watson is back as the QB at Houston & Jameis Winston looks to have taken a step up for the Bucs.

Kizer is 22 so there is plenty of time to teach him the QB position - what hope did he have at Cleveland? He's only 1 year out of college. So there's a long term hope. Hundley would want to improve greatly as he's looking like being the 3rd banana right now. Rodgers will be 35 in December but elite QB's go on until they're 40 these days. Or more in the case of Brees & Brady. Aaron is still as hungry as ever so at least 4-5 more years as long as he stays healthy.

Only 2cm - 3cm difference in height but Kizer plays tall and Hundley looks small. Kizer looks a bit like Prescott and Hundley looks like a fish out of water sometimes. We've got both on the roster right now but if Rodgers stays fit, he'll be playing nearly all the minutes. I like the idea of having a back-up QB to Rodgers as someone who can take a hit and/or gain yards with the run. The throwing should revert to 6-7 yard lateral passes or shorter throws downfield as opposed to what a gun like Rodgers delivers - different QB, different type of role. McCarthy should be able to figure it out - hopefully.