Macca

A few replays from the weekend (including the French Oaks) ... Ipswich Cup 2150m Group 3 Eye Liner Stakes 1350m Group 3

A Bears fan ... well, what can I say other than the 2 biggest encounters in any given season is when my Packers face Chicago. It might be the biggest old school rivalry in the NFL too. Wadda is a Packers fan too so you might need to enlist some outside support! And yeah, we can expect our Aussie horses to be under the odds but I will be looking at the exotics as I normally do ... the pools should be big enough for the trifecta at least. Not so sure on a First4 though. It's a week out but here's the early field, form guide and odds for next Saturday's Diamond Jubilee Stakes 1200m $1Million ... the field will be reduced but they run down the straight over the 6 & 8 Furlongs at Royal Ascot. Click on any horse for it's latest form. But it all starts late Tuesday evening with 3 Group 1's - Ascot Tuesday 19th July - Full Race Card ... I might have a few 'interest' trifectas in the Group 1's as I'm now a bit more familiar with a few of the horses. More so races 1 & 4 on Tuesday. Just hoping the pools are half decent. Top Hats & Tails will abound. The Free-to-air racing channel is covering the 5 day Royal Ascot carnival from 10.30pm ... beginning Tuesday evening.

I follow the Socceroos by default Wadda ... just like the Wallabies, the Test Team & ODI International team, all the Olympic teams in various team sports and even the Kangaroos at Rugby League International level. Then there's the Green Bay Packers & Boston Red Sox. Every now and then one of the teams gets up and wins something ? And then of course there's any racehorse with even the tiniest/remotest connection to Australia - racing overseas ... go Aussie! (even if it's a horse) So I'm all in with Redkirk Warrior & Merchant Navy over the next month in the UK! Could they go 1-2 next Saturday at Ascot? Trifecta time for me!

Robbie would be compelled to play a different 'role' in today's footy whilst Jack could have played as a tall wingman back in the day. Might have gone alright too. Sylvia is another who was better suited to footy in those decades ... just playing on one opponent on a HFF would have seen Sylvia dominate.in my opinion. Pre-season's back in the 70's also involved a barrel or 2 on a pleasant Sunday arvo. Bliss for many. And Hogan playing as a pure full forward would probably see him have multiple 100 goal seasons. Back in the day. A different era and in many ways a different sport.

n.b. Australia are playing Denmark next Thursday evening at 10pm (AEST) Podcasts ... BBC World Cup Daily The Guardian World Cup Football Daily Here are the games coming up over the next week ... SBS televised games are in dark italics. SBS are also showing a one hour highlights package from 5.30pm daily. All times AEST ... Sunday, June 17: Costa Rica v Serbia, Samara (10pm) Monday, June 18: Germany v Mexico, Moscow (Luzhniki) (1am) Brazil v Switzerland, Rostov-on-Don (4am) Sweden v South Korea, Nizhni Novgorod (10pm) Tuesday, June 19: Belgium v Panama, Sochi (1am) Tunisia v England, Volgograd (4am) Colombia v Japan, Saransk (10pm) Wednesday, June 20: Poland v Senegal, Moscow (Spartak) (1am) Russia v Egypt, Saint Petersburg (4am) Portugal v Morocco, Moscow (Luzhniki) (10pm) Thursday, June 21: Uruguay v Saudi Arabia, Rostov-on-Don (1am) Iran v Spain, Kazan (4am) Australia v Denmark Samara (10pm) Friday, June 22: France v Peru, Yekaterinburg (1am) Argentina v Croatia, Nizhni Novgorod (4am) Brazil v Costa Rica, Saint Petersburg (10pm)

Here is what I don't necessarily believe (or believe at all) ... That the AFL had to rubber-stamp the appointment of Pert That PJ wasn't involved in the decision making process That Pert is not the correct appointment That there is some sort of mythical rift between Bartlett & Jackson That our current board can't be trusted in making good sound decisions There are a lot of assumptions being made without any proof-positive evidence to back up those assumptions. All things considered the club is in a sound financial position and our last 5 annual reports back that up. And the current CEO is responsible for the last 5 annual reports (apart from this year) I wish Gary Pert all the best and the good news for him is that we almost certainly are ready for some sustained growth. Winning more games than you lose has always been the key and a good basis to work from. Previously, I've held an almost polar-opposite view to the above.

Apparently it can only be a yellow card (although there was no yellow card given out) because the ball was not heading towards goal. But the infringing player was on his own 5 metres from goal and another player may well have been able to head the ball in or slot the ball in with his foot if the ball wasn't deflected by the players hand. Was the player waving to the crowd? To me it should be a red card ruling because the act is absolutely deliberate and maybe even premeditated. And I'd be arguing just as fiercely if an Aussie had committed the act. Is it any different to what Maradona did? Ok, one is an attacking player and the other is a defender but it's the same act. VAR missed a penalty given away in the Argentina/Iceland game too ... Argentina can count themselves to be very very unlucky despite the sentiment given towards Iceland. Again, I'm not blaming the referee, he doesn't get the benefit of replay and has to make a split-second decision. Mistakes will happen under those circumstances.

That was an amazing defensive performance by Iceland ... Argentina threw everything at them but just couldn't find a way through to find a winner. Iceland were super-disciplined and they just refused to yield. Messi was trying to beat 3 or 4 players all game and to his credit, he played one hell of a game (albeit missing a penalty) But Iceland get a vital point and a fully deserved point too. So Spain and now Argentina only get a point from their opening games ... that gives real hope for the other teams in their respective groups

Messi could get amongst it here but the Icelanders are plucky. They (Iceland) showed great form in the last Euro's and will be up for the challenge. Hope we get to see the 'Viking Clap' at some stage ... it's their motto and any imitation just doesn't cut it.

I'm surprised that the panel back in Oz are not outraged ... you can't just be satisfied with winning the penalty. Anyway, what happens the next time it happens? A player gets sent off? I am not one to ever complain about decisions made by umpires & referees ... they are often in a no-win situation and they don't have an inbuilt replay system inside their heads. But they've brought in VAR and then it's not used properly or not used in a consistent fashion. Why have it? The French were the better team but do they score again if they were down to 10 men?

France were the marginally better team anyway but we were far from disgraced. We can get points in our remaining 2 games ... forget the rankings, Peru & Denmark are not that good and are beatable.

Isn't VAR there to spot these things? VAR alerted the referee with regards to the penalty to the French (earlier) so why not alert the referee with regards to a seemingly deliberate hand ball in the penalty box? I was under the impression that VAR rulings were of a comprehensive manner. Unless I'm wrong on that understanding?

The French guy should have been red-carded ... deliberate hand-ball?

We did well to hold them out and the scoreline suits Australia more than the French. And we've looked dangerous with the few times we've gone deep forward. The French have been lazy going forward however. Cahill will come on around 60-65 minutes in you'd reckon.

The $1.60 the place for Pounamu was almost a certainty so good luck with the other 2 legs Wadda ... I've got a 1-1 draw in the Aus/Fra game going for some bonus bets at Laddies. Cost me nothing - that's my kind of bet!

1 from 3 today! ... although I got another decent collect with 'I'm a Rippa' I'll scroll back and figure it out in the next few days Wadda. Not sure we would have got the trifecta in the Ipswich Cup but we would have nailed the trifecta in the Hyperion Stakes in WA - paid 9 bucks. ha ha. Pounamu didn't show a lot of dash but Material Man was just too good anyway ... the pundits over there were saying that both horses could be in Melbourne for the Spring. Pounamu is a better horse at Ascot but the connections are hoping that the horse can get into the Caulfield Cup field - needs to find that finishing burst it had in December though. It's still only a 6 year old and maybe the horse needs it longer. It will almost certainly run in the WFA Strickland Stakes over 2000m in 2 weeks time so keep an eye out.

No worries DZ - we just don't know when a horse needs a spell sometimes ... happens a lot. This time last year the horse was running in the series of Group 3's in WA but I reckon they'll freshen the horse up for the Spring in Melbourne.

We had the first 2 in the Eye Liner but missed 3rd ... back to the drawing board. And Lite 'n' In My Viens looked threatening but needs a spell now you'd reckon. We got on at the wrong time but that's racing for you. It's a good horse, all the same.

Looks a real horse ... the trainer was talking about the Lightning Stakes down the track. Goes for a spell now until the Spring.

Thanks Wadda! Miss Leonidas absolutely streeted them - definitely one for the black book down the track. A bit better than winter-grade. Laddies were kind enough to hand me some bonus bets so I loaded up on our 3 tips. That's a good start to the afternoon!

There are any number of good horses that you don't hear of again ... from one season to the next they are either retired without any fanfare or the retirement isn't public knowledge. And sometimes the horse might have an ailment and then suddenly reappear after being off the scene for yonks. 'Black Heart Bart' is another who is off the scene for whatever reason but it's a long list Wadda.

The Spain/Portugal game was an absolute beauty. The draw might feel like a win for Portugal and a loss for Spain from their own point's of view. Here are the goals from the game

We're all set in the Eye Liner Stakes Listed 1350m $175k No.2 .... Religify $7.50 No.11 ... Tyzone $4.60 No.7 ..... I'm a Ripper $7.50 No.4 ..... Moss 'n' Dale $4.40 No.1 ..... Lucky Hussler $7.50 Good luck with however which way you might configure the picks ... let's see if we can gat a few collects out of our choices ?

For those who like their podcasts, the following 2 quality productions are available daily ... BBC World Cup Daily hosted by Mark Chapman & Kelly Cates The Guardian World Cup Football Daily with Max Rushden & Barry Glendenning

One UK pundit quipped about whether the Saudi's had ever played 'football' before! Anyway, we're off and running and the home team might progress past the group stage at least. The atmosphere for the opening game was something else. Here are the games for the weekend ... SBS are broadcasting live the Australia/France game as well as the games in dark italics. SBS are also showing a 1 hour nightly highlights package at 5.30pm daily All times AEST. Friday, June 15: Russia 5 Saudi Arabia 0 Egypt v Uruguay, Yekaterinburg (10pm) Saturday, June 16: Morocco v Iran, Saint Petersburg (1am) Portugal v Spain, Sochi (4am) Australia v France Kazan (8pm) Argentina v Iceland, Moscow (Spartak) (11pm). Sunday, June 17: Peru v Denmark, Saransk (2am) Croatia v Nigeria, Kaliningrad (5am) Costa Rica v Serbia, Samara (10pm) Monday, June 18: Germany v Mexico, Moscow (Luzhniki) (1am) Brazil v Switzerland, Rostov-on-Don (4am) Sweden v South Korea, Nizhni Novgorod (10pm).