Macca

Grew up loving rep football but as soon as the game went national, the general interest died. EJ kept it going for a while Went to one of the last Vic/Allies matches at the MCG (2008) and the crowd seemed to be more interested in the Mexican wave (and it was a close finish) Still, a decent crowd of 69,000 attended Oddly enough, Rugby League copied the then Aussie rules Origin concept way back when, and now that version is incredibly popular. Some say the Rugby League Origin is now bigger than the NRL GF (it certainly gets a massive TV audience It helps enormously that there are really only 2 States that play the sport and the rivalry is as intense as it gets So who is going to be compelled to watch WA vs Vic in February? Top level sport needs a bragging rights component. And it needs to be fair-dinkum. It can't be bruise-free

I never knew that, HT (Gawn born in NZ) And the best sprinter in the world (horse) Ka Ying Rising, also hails from NZ They are good at Rowing too Oh ... and Rugby

Couple of good games tomorrow with a 3 hour starting time difference this time (not within time, spacing the 2 games) Lions should prevail against Tampa but the game could be close Seattle at home will be tough but Houston came into the season with decent expectations with CJ Stroud at QB

In the AFC, the 4 leading teams in each division ... Colts, Broncos, Steelers, Patriots ... that's a throwback But KC and the Bills are hovering Long haul back for the Ravens though. Jags need to find their best form to challenge Indi It's a lot tighter in the NFC although the Bucs look well placed in the South The Eagles should be able to maintain their advantage in the East

To challenge for the premiership again we will need at least 10 top players (or gun players) Right now we've got Gawn and Kozzie Of the experienced brigade, we'll need 3 or 4 of Lever, Petty, Langdon, Viney, Rivers, Bowey, Steele, Culley (?), Turner, Mihocek, Sparrow (?), Fritsch, Salem, JVR (?) & Chandler needing to step up to being B+ players Any more than 4 of the 15 achieving B+ status (or better) might be asking too much But most of the rest of the 15 aforementioned players need to be solid, consistent, contributors So if 10 is the magic number, the other 4 or 5 top players needs to come from the younger players or draftees ... Langford, Lindsay, Windsor, Kolt (?), pick 7 (?), pick 8 (?) from the 2025 draft and 2 or 3 draftees from next years draft (we already have 2 x 1st round picks) It's possible, but much will depend on the young players & draftees hitting the mark

Leaderboard Tipping Comp 15 - Clintosaurus, Dee Zephyr 14 - Go the Biff 13 - Macca 12 - Gorgoroth, BDA, layzie 10 - Dr. Gonzo, titan_uranus* 9 - ElDiablo14 *Subject to gain 1 point with a Falcons victory against the 49ers (later today)

Ha! And I checked twice! I'm gettin' old ... actually, I'm already old looking for the elixir of youth. So where is it? Any clues? So apart from DZ & Clint, we're all scrambling about for a solitary point! Damn you Pittsburg, damn you Rodgers!!

Rowing across the Pacific Ocean? Stunning! Apart from being extremely dangerous, just the thought of Rowing for 5 Months is hard to fathom They even rowed through the night when one of them slept. Unreal https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/oct/19/those-final-few-hours-were-brutal-british-duo-end-epic-journey-in-australia-after-rowing-across-pacific-ocean

Tips @Dr. Gonzo NFL Week 7 Game Picks & Preview(43 mins)

Yes, otherwise we might be doubly disillusioned

The winds of change has certainly been the new way Smith, Guerra, King and Co have been in the place for a very short period of time but they are not mucking around Reminds me of when politicians get into power at government level ... the first 100 days and all that For 10 years our team would often revolve around the influence of Oliver & Petracca but no more The team is going to have to reinvent itself but to contend, we are going to need a number of gun players That might take a while

Ange Postecoglou sacked after just 40 days in charge of Forest! The shortest ever period in charge on record (EPL) Apparently the sacking came within minutes of his team losing 3-0 to Chelsea My first thought is do they pay him out? And how much? (He picked up a cool $10Million when Spurs sacked him) It's a ruthless business, all the same. You've got to win in those types of leagues

'twas a day for the favourites with Ka Ying Rising, Half Yours, Abounding, Private Eye, Tentyrus, Bacash & Linebacker all saluting in impressive style Got a couple of 2 leg multi's up but would have cleaned right up if Apocalypse had have got up. That's racing On to the Cox Plate with Via Sistina now favourite again after Sir Delios failed a vet test (Sir Delios is also out of the Melb Cup) In the meantime, they race for half a million in the Geelong cup on Wednesday. The King's horse, Gilded Water, is the $2.50 favourite! Big money for a midweek Country Cup

Don't mind Briasa in the Everest In the cup, I like Meydaan

Flacco makes the Steelers pay! Hitting targets like he's been at the Bengals for years (it's been a week and a half) Pittsburgh's once renowned defence leaking yards & points And the tipping comp is back to being a difficult assignment again! Trap games rule 🙄

Patriots Pittsburgh Packers

What if we couple up pick 37 and next years 1st rounder (GC) for a mid to late 1st rounder this year? Woewodin staying being questionable

The gap created in the salary cap (with the departures of Trac & Ollie) allowed the club to sign 4 players who were all virtual, free agents Length of contracts for the 4 is quite manageable too (no long term deals) Cost us chump change in terms of picks. And there's a good chance that all 4 will start in round 1 of 2026 And apparently the Saints are paying a percentage of Steele's contract From an overall point of view the loss of Trac & Ollie is offset with the additions of all the draft capital Before the trade period we started off with a pick in the mid to late 20's as our first pick Suddenly, we've now got 3 first round picks with the duo off the books The ongoing debt of having to pay for a percentage of Ollie's salary will quickly be forgotten if we start winning again Do any Pie fans give 2 hoots about having to pay a percentage of Treloar & Grundy's salary? Not long after dispensing with the duo, they won the flag Sometimes it's just best to cut your losses

Terrific post, Doc. Excellent overview For those of us who don't follow under 18 footy, these types of posts are very educational By the time we get to the draft, we'll probably have a very good idea of who our likely candidates will be (remembering that picks can still be traded just prior to the draft ... and during the draft??) I've a feeling we might swap next years 1st rounder (from GC) to gain another choice in this years draft (late 1st round?) Taylor might have a smoky in mind

The upside was that the hole created in the salary cap (with the loss of Oliver) allowed us to sign a 'virtual' free agent in Steele Trouble walks out the door replaced with a solid citizen (and leader) who slots straight into a midfield role

All we need now is to get Viney & Rivers to start hitting up targets, and we'll be well on our way to banning the bomb The 2 chief protaganists are off the books

2 x top 10 picks for a very good 30yo is possibly overs according to industry standard ... often there's only 1 top 10 pick involved for such a trade But to get an extra 1st round pick is a real bonus as the same 30yo will hit the age wall in 3 or 4 years time Meanwhile, our 3 x 1st round picks could be all be hitting their straps in 3 or 4 years time So we got overs for Petracca, in my view Steele replaces the new Oliver (the Oliver who is no longer a dynamic player) Also, Steele won't be an accident waiting to happen Again, that's a win Of course, both Oliver & Petracca could dominate for their respective teams but that's the price you pay for peace We can now go back to being a club without a whole lot of nonsense going on in the background

Picking up GC's 2026 1st round pick tilts things our way to a solid B Maybe the rating is a B+ if Taylor can weave his magic (again) Taylor has probably got his eye on 6 or 7 likely types for picks 7 & 8 but he might also have an eye on a couple of smoky's for a late first round pick (we could swap the GC 1st rounder for another pick this year) Mihocek and Steele are starting 18 acquisitions whilst Cee Jay adds much needed pace & dash And Heath could be a real surprise packet If we want to use JVR as a stay at home forward along with Mihocek, Heath could be played as the 2nd ruck for a few reasons 1) Gawn is a year older and will absolutely need help in the ruck. A little bit more bench time beckons 2) There's now 5 on the bench so playing an extra ruck becomes more do-able 3) Heath looks a likely type and could pinch hit forward as he's a decent mark along with stints in the ruck and on the bench Either that, or we end up with JVR as the relief ruckman again. How about we just leave him forward?