Macca

We've been saying it for years ... our senior players/established good players need to lead the way ... too much emphasis is placed on the youngsters (but not by the current MC in my opinion) As an example - Hunt ... he's played some good footy and could be a more than decent footballer. But right now I'm not relying on him to necessarily play well. He's too young & inexperienced. Of course, we all want Hunt to play well but that reliance is better placed on the senior players. As for the line that I've highlighted, in previous years the list was full of C & D graders who had been tried & tested. And we didn't have as many decent players on the list (especially in those 2012/13 seasons) This time around there is a lot of upside for those players outside our best 10 players (Petracca, Brayshaw, Oliver, Salem, Hunt and 2 or 3 others) and we're working with a stronger base of good players. That's the way I see it anyway. Even so, we still need to finish off the season well to get a pass mark. Can't really see a win today but if Gawn, Vince, N Jones, Watts, Hogan, Tyson, T-Mac, Jetta, Viney & Garlett all play well, we'll at least make a good account of ourselves.

Whilst I'm not a huge fan of Chris Dawes I understand the MC's decision to play him today. Clubs are often put into these sorts of positions because of a variety of reasons. I reckon if Weideman or Hulett were a bit more ready they'd be played in front of Chris ... other youngsters have been blooded (especially in the backline) but there have been other reasons to blood those other youngsters. The zone defense and team structures being 2 such reasons. Whilst a number of us would like to have a look at Hulett and/or Weideman, both those players (or either player) may well debut against the Suns or Blues (which is a far easier introduction to AFL for a key forward) Or either or both players might have to wait until next year to debut. The real issue is we need all our good players all playing well all on the same day ... 7 of our best 10 were down on form last week and a club can't hope to win games of footy when that occurs.

I'm not at all surprised by this latest development. What I am surprised at his how so many have no real inclination to look at this issue from a much much broader perspective - and at the heart of the matter lies the issue with PED use. PED use is at rampant levels across any number of sports - it's not just the EFC, it's not just cycling, it's not just the NRL, it's not just baseball, it's not just the NFL, it's not just the Russians, it's not just the East Germans, it's not just the Chinese swimming team, it's not just the USA track & field athletes and it's not just the Olympics. Connected are the large sporting organisations with their enormous sums of monies involved ... and those monies are being protected. Where do these PED's come from and who controls them? Take a wild guess. These "billion dollar" sporting organisations turn a blind eye to PED use (including the AFL) and that ends up legitimising the use of PED's in a crude sort of way. So in steps the unruly & lawless types for the supply of these drugs. What else could be expected? Of course, no one wants to see anyone shot at and any sort of violence like this should be abhorred. A man might have been killed and his original "supposed" crime was to supply PED's to sportspeople who are basically allowed to use PED's by the sporting organisations that they are connected to.

General classification after stage 18 1 Christopher Froome (GBr) 2 Bauke Mollema (Ned) 03:52 3 Adam Yates (GBr) 04:16 4 Nairo Quintana (Col) 04:37 5 Romain Bardet (Fra) 04:57 6 Richie Porte (Aus) 05:00 7 Fabio Aru (Ita) 06:08 8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) 06:37 9 Louis Meintjes (RSA) 07:15 10 Daniel Martin (Irl) 07:18 Froome has almost certainly got the tour wrapped up but Richie Porte can still get a podium finish. 2 tough stages to come so there may still be a few surprises. Tonight's stage ... Saturday's stage ... Official Site SBS Tracker Cyclingnews.com

We're on the improve but we're not a good side yet ... we'll need to have at least 12 players who can all play consistently well on a regular basis for that to happen (injuries aside) Those who are very good players include ... Gawn, Vince, N Jones, Viney, Hogan, Watts (just), T-Mac (just) Close but still a little inconsistent ... Jetta, Garlett, Tyson Should or could get there ... Petracca, Brayshaw, Salem, Oliver. Hunt. After that it gets hard to find a player who will be or could be a consistently very good footballer (B grade or better) There are a number of other players with it all in front of them. Weideman & Hulett are a ways off and Harmes is a chance. The best sides often have 13-15 very good footballers who all play well most weeks. The super teams often have up to 18 very good players. We just haven't got enough very good players right now. In 2012/13 it was hard to find 3 very good players in each of those years. Again, we've come a long way and should end up on at least 9 wins. There is certainly room for improvement but the list does have a fair bit of upside. The off-season might bring the club another couple of very good players - we'll need them as not all of the above names can be relied upon to make it to the status of 'very good player'

Team events and other notable events and medal events scheduled ... all times and dates to be verified and all the times are AEST. Most of the sports highlighted have Australian representation but not all of course. The schedule obviously doesn't include everything so keep an eye out for the team event Q/F's, S/F's & Finals. Channel 7 are also doing a highlights type show/package from 7pm - 9pm every night ('In Rio Today') As well as that, ch7 are devoting 7two & 7mate to the Olympics coverage as well. Ch7 have also got an 'app' that shows a lot of live events and highlights. Here's the daily schedule from NBC.com ... although the site is US based, the website does convert the event times to AEST and is easy to read. Chronological summary, results & scheduling of each day of the 2016 Rio Olympics (Wiki) (click on any day for the schedule or results) * * * Denotes gold medal event Thursday August 4th (morning) 4.00am Women's Soccer ................. Matildas vs Canada -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday August 6th (morning) 9.00am Special events .................... The Opening Ceremony Saturday August 6th (evening) 9.30pm Rowing ............................... Heats 10.30pm Men's Road Cycling .......... Men's Road Race final * * * -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday August 7th (morning) 1.00am Beach Volleyball (W) ........... Australia (Clancy & Bawden) vs Costa Rica 2.00am Swimming ............................ Heats 2.30am Men's Hockey ...................... Kookaburras vs New Zealand 2.30am Women's Rugby 7's ............ Pearls vs Colombia 3.15am Men's Basketball .................. Boomers vs France 6.30am Women's Basketball .......... Opals vs Brazil 7.00am Women's Soccer .................. Matildas vs Germany 7.30am Women's Rugby 7's ............. Pearls vs Fiji 9.30am Women's Hockey ............... Hockeyroos vs Great Britain 9.50am Men's Waterpolo .................. Sharks vs Brazil 11.00am Swimming Finals ................. Men's 400 IM final (11.03am) * * * Men's 400M freestyle final (11.30am) * * * Women's 400m IM final (11.49am) * * * Women's 4 x 100 freestyle relay final (12.24pm) * * * 1.00pm Beach Volleyball (W) ............ Australia (Laird & Artacho del Solar) vs USA Sunday August 7th (evening) 9.30pm Rowing ............................... Repechages 10.45am Gymnastics ........................ Qualification 11.00pm Equestrian .......................... Eventing individual & team dressage 11.55pm Boxing ................................ Preliminary bouts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday August 8th (morning) 1.30am Women's Road Cycling ..... Women's Road Race final * * * 2.00am Swimming .......................... Heats 2.30am Women's Rugby 7's ........... Pearls vs USA 6.30am Women's Basketball ........ Opals vs Turkey 9.30am Men's Hockey .................... Kookaburras vs Spain 11.00am Swimming Finals................ Women's 100m butterfly final (11.03am) * * * Men's 100m breaststroke final (11.53am) * * * Women's 400m freestyle final (12.01pm) * * * Men's 4 x 100 freestle relay final (12.52pm) * * * Monday August 8th (evening) 9.30pm Rowing ................................ Heats, Repechages & Semi finals 11.00pm Beach Volleyball (W) .......... Australia (Laird & Artacho del Solar) vs Switzerland 11.00pm Equestrian .......................... Eventing individual & team cross country 11.00pm Women's Hockey ............. Hockeyroos vs USA 11.55pm Boxing ................................ Preliminary bouts ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday August 9th (morning) 2.00am Swimming .......................... Heats 3.15am Men's Basketball ............... Boomers vs Serbia 3.30am Women's Rugby 7's ....... Pearls vs Canada (S/F) 5.00am Diving ............................... Men's synchronised 10m platform final * * * 5.00am Gymnastics ...................... Men's team final * * * 7.30am Women's Rugby 7's ....... Bronze medal match * * * 8.00am Women's Rugby 7's ....... Gold medal match * * * 9.50am Men's Waterpolo .............. Sharks vs Hungary 11.00am Swimming Finals............... Men's 200m freestyle final (11.21am) * * * Women's 100m backstroke final (11.30am) * * * Men's 100m backstroke final (11.38am) * * * Women's 100m breaststroke final (11.54am) * * * 12.00pm Beach Volleyball (W) ....... Australia (Clancy & Bawden) vs Venezuela Tuesday August 9th (evening) 9.30pm Rowing .............................. Quarter finals & Semi finals 11.00pm Equestrian ........................ Eventing Individual jumping final * * * Eventing Team jumping final * * * 11.55pm Men's Rugby 7's ............... Thunderbolts vs France 11.55pm Boxing .............................. Preliminary bouts ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday August 10th (morning) 1.15am Women's Basketball ........ Opals vs France 2.00am Swimming ........................... Heats 2.00am Women's Waterpolo ............ Stingers vs Russia 5.00am Diving ................................. Women's synchronised 10m platform final * * * 5.00am Gymnastics ......................... Women's team final * * * 5.00am Women's Soccer ................. Matildas vs Zimbabwe 5.00am Men's Rugby 7's ................. Thunderbolts vs Spain 9.30am Men's Hockey ..................... Kookaburras vs Belgium 11.00am Swimming Finals Women's 200m freestyle final - Emma McKeon, Bronte Barratt (11.19am) * * * Men's 200m butterfly final (11.28am) * * * Women's 200 IM final - Alicia Coutts (12.29pm) * * * Men's 4 x 200 freestyle relay final - Australia - TBC (12.38pm) * * * Wednesday August 10th (evening) 9.30pm Rowing ............................... Abandoned due to bad weather 9.30pm Women's Road Cycling ...... Women's time trial final * * * 10.00pm Men's Waterpolo ................ Sharks vs Japan 11.00pm Beach Volleyball (W) ......... Australia (Clancy & Bawden) vs Netherlands 11.55pm Women's Hockey ..............Hockeyroos vs India 11.55pm Men's Road Cycling ........... Men's time trial final * * * 11.55pm Boxing ................................ Preliminary bouts ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday August 11th (morning) 12.30am Men's Rugby 7's ................. Thunderbolts vs South Africa 2.00am Beach Volleyball (W) .......... Australia (Laird & Artacho del Solar) vs China 2.00am Swimming ........................... Heats 5.00am Diving ................................. Men's synchronised 3m springboard final * * * 5.00am Gymnastics ........................ Men's all-around final * * * 8.00am Men's Basketball ................ Boomers vs USA 9.30am Men's Hockey .................... Kookaburras vs Great Britain 11.00am Swimming ......................... Men's 200m breaststroke final (11.03am) * * * Women's 200m butterfly final (11.54am) * * * Men's 100m freestyle final (12.03pm) * * * Women's 4 x 200m freestyle relay final (12.55pm) * * * Thursday August 11th (evening) 9.30pm Rowing ............................... All events below to be confirmed Repechages & semi finals Men's quadruple sculls final - Australia (11.22pm) * * * Women's quadruple sculls final - TBC (11.34pm) * * * Semi finals Men's coxless pair final (10.52pm) * * * Women's double sculls final (11.04pm) * * * Men's double sculls final (11.24pm) * * * Men's lightweight coxless four final (11.44pm) * * * 11.20pm Women's Waterpolo ........... Stingers vs Italy 11.55pm Boxing ................................. Preliminary bouts ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday August 12th (morning) 1.30pm Canoe/Kayak ..................... Men's canoe double slalom S/F & Final * * * Women's kayak single slalom S/F & Final * * * 2.00am Swimming ........................... Heats 5.00am Gymnastics ......................... Women's all-around final * * * 5.00am Cycling (track) ..................... Qualifying Men's & Women's team pursuit Men's team sprint finals (7.21am) * * * 6.30am Men's Rugby 7's ................. Men's medal matches & placings (5th - 8th) * * * 6.45am Women's Basketball ......... Opals vs Japan 7.00am Women's Hockey .............. Hockeyroos vs Argentina 11.00am Swimming .......................... Women's 200m breaststroke final (11.17am) * * * Men's 200m backstroke final (11.26am) * * * Men's 200m IM final (12.01pm) * * * Women's 100m freestyle final (12.18pm) * * * Friday August 12th (evening) 9.30pm Rowing .............................. Women's lightweight double sculls final (10.52pm) * * * Men's lightweight double sculls final (11.04pm) * * * Women's coxless four final (11.24pm) * * * Men's coxless four final (11.44pm) * * * 10.30pm Track & Field ..................... Heats, qualifying & preliminaries Women's 10,000m: final (12.10am) * * * 11.55pm Boxing .............................. Preliminary bouts ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday August 13th (morning) 2.00am Women's Soccer ................. Matildas vs Brazil (quarter final) 2.00am Swimming ........................... Heats 3.15am Men's Basketball ................. Boomers vs China 3.30am Track & Field ....................... Men's 20km race walking final * * * 5.00am Cycling (track) ..................... Women's team sprint finals (7.00am) * * * Men's team pursuit finals (7.34am) * * * 9.00am Track & Field ....................... Heats, qualifying & prelinaries Women's shot put: final (11.00am) * * * 9.30am Men's Hockey .................... Kookaburras vs Brazil 11.10am Men's Waterpolo ................ Sharks vs Serbia 11.00am Swimming ......................... Women's 200m backstroke final (11.03am) * * * Men's 100m butterfly final (11.12am) * * * Women's 800m freestyle final (11.20am) * * * Men's 50m freestyle final (11.44am) * * * Saturday August 13th (evening) 9.30pm Rowing .............................. Men's single sculls final (11.32pm) * * * Women's single sculls final (11.44pm) * * * Women's coxed eights final (12.04am) * * * Men's coxed eights final (12.24am) * * * 10.30pm Track & Field ...................... Heats, qualifying & preliminaries Men's discus final (11.50pm) * * * 11.00pm Cycling (track) .................... Qualifying & repechages 11.55pm Boxing ............................... Preliminary bouts ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday August 14th (morning) 12.40am Women's Waterpolo ........... Stingers vs Brazil 1.15am Women's Basketball ........ Opals vs Belarus 5.00am Cycling (track) ..................... Women's team pursuit finals (6.07am) * * * Womens keiren finals (6.33am) * * * 9.30pm Tennis .................................. Women's singles gold medal match * * * 8.30am Women's Hockey .............. Hockeyroos vs Japan 9.00am Track & Field ....................... Men's long jump: final (9.50am) * * * Men's 10,000m: final (10.25am) * * * Women's 100m: final (11.35am) * * * Women's heptathlon 800m final discipline (11.53am) * * * 11.00am Swimming ........................... Women's 50m freestyle final (11.03am) * * * Men's 1500m freestyle final (11.11am) * * * Women's 4 x 100m medley relay final (11.49am) * * * Men's 4 x 100m medley relay final (12.04pm) * * * Sunday August 14th (evening) 10.30pm Track & Field * * * ............ Women's marathon final - Milly Clark Jessica Trengove, Lisa Jane Weightman 11.55pm Boxing ............................... Preliminary bouts Men's light flyweight gold medal match * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday August 15th (morning) 1.50am Men's Waterpolo ................ Sharks vs Greece 2.00am Sailing (final races) ............ Men's RS:X * * * Women's Laser RS:X * * * 3.00am Gymnastics finals................ Men's floor * * * Women's vault * * * Men's pommel horse * * * Women's uneven bars * * * 5.00pm Tennis .................................. Men's singles gold medal match * * * 5.00am Diving .................................. Women's 3m springboard final - Esther Qin, Maddison Keeney * * * 5.00am Cycling (track) ..................... Men's sprint finals (6.04am) * * * 7.00am Men's Hockey ..................... Kookaburras vs Netherlands (quarter final) 8.00am Men's Basketball ................. Boomers vs Venezuela 9.00am Track & Field ....................... Women's triple jump: final (9.55am) * * * Men's 400m: final (11.00am) * * * Men's 100m: final (11.25am) * * * 1.00pm Beach Volleyball (W) ............ Australia (Clancy & Bawden) vs USA Monday August 15th (evening) 10.00pm Swimming ........................... Women's open water 10k final * * * 10.30pm Track & Field ...................... Heats, qualifying & preliminaries Women's hammer: final (11.40pm) * * * Women's 3000m steeplechase (12.15am) * * * 11.00pm Women's Hockey ............ Hockeyroos vs New Zealand (quarter final) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday August 16th (morning) 2.00am Sailing (final races) ............... Men's Laser * * * Women's Laser Radial * * * 3.00am Gymnastics finals................... Men's rings * * * Women's balance beam * * * Men's vault * * * 4.30am Women's Waterpolo ............. Stingers vs Hungary (quarter final) 5.00am Cycling (track) ...................... Men's omnium points race (final race) (6.23am) * * * 6.00am Boxing .................................. Preliminary bouts, Q/F's & S/F's Men's heavyweight gold medal match * * * 9.00am Track & Field ........................ Men's pole vault: final (9.35am) * * * Mens 800m: final (11.25am) * * * Women's 400m: final (11.45am) * * * Tuesday August 16th (evening) 10.00pm Swimming .......................... Men's open water 10k final * * * 10.00pm Canoe/Kayak (finals) ....... Men's canoe single 1000m * * * Women's kayak double 500m * * * Women's kayak single 200m * * * Men's kayak single 1000m * * * 10.30pm Track & Field ...................... Heats, qualifying & preliminaries Men's triple jump: final (10.50pm) * * * Women's discus: final (12.20am) * * * 11.00pm Cycling (track) .................... Qualifying & repechages 11.55pm Boxing ............................... Q/F's & S/F's 11.55pm Women's Basketball ...... Opals vs Serbia (quarter final) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday August 17th (morning) 2.00am Sailing (final races) ............ Men's finn * * * Men's mixed nacra 17 * * * 3.00am Gymnastics finals................ Men's parallel bars * * * Women's floor * * * Men's high bar * * * 5.00am Cycling (track) .................... Women's omnium points race final race (6.23am) * * * Women's sprint finals (6.44am) * * * Men's keiren finals (7.20am) * * * 5.00am Diving .................................. Men's 3m springboard final * * * 6.00am Boxing ................................. Q/F's & S/F's Men's lightweight gold medal match * * * 9.00am Track & Field ........................ Men's high jump: final (9.30am) * * * Women's 1500m: final (11.30am) * * * Men's 110m hurdles: final (11.45am) * * * Wednesday August 17th (evening) 10.30pm Track & Field ...................... Heats, qualifying & preliminaries Men's 3000m steeplechase final (12.50am) * * * 11.00pm Equestrian .......................... Jumping team finals * * * 11.55pm Men's Basketball ................ Boomers vs ? (quarter final) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday August 18th (morning) 2.00am Sailing (final races) ............. Men's 470 * * * Women's 470 * * * 3.00am Boxing .................................. Q/F's & S/F's Men's welterweight gold medal match * * * 9.20am Track & Field ....................... Women's long jump: final (10.15am) * * * Women's 200m: final (11.30am) * * * Women's 100m hurdles: final (11.55am) * * * 1.00pm Beach Volleyball (W) ........... Women's gold medal match * * * Thursday August 18th (evening) 10.00pm Canoe/Kayak (finals) ........ Men's canoe double 1000m sprint * * * Men's canoe sprint 200m sprint * * * Men's kayak double 200m sprint * * * Women's kayak single 500m sprint * * * 10.30pm Track & Field ....................... Heats, qualifying & preliminaries Men's 400m hurdles: final (1.00am) * * * 11.55pm Triathlon .............................. Men's final * * * --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday August 19th (morning) 2.00am Sailing (final races) .............. Men's 49er * * * Women's 49erFX * * * 3.00am Boxing .................................. Q/F's & S/F's Men's light heavyweight gold medal match * * * 5.00am Diving ................................... Women's 10m platform final * * * 6.00am Men's Hockey ....................... Men's gold medal match * * * 7.35am Track & Field ........................ Men's shot put: final (9.30am) * * * Women's javelin: final (10.10am) * * * Men's decathlon 1500m: final discipline (10.45am) * * * Women's 400m hurdles: final (11.15am) * * * Men's 200m: final (11.30am) * * * 1.00pm Beach Volleyball (M) ........... Men's gold medal match * * * Friday August 19th (evening) 7.35pm Track & Field ........................ Men's 50km race walk final * * * 11.00pm Equestrian ........................... Individual Jumping finals * * * --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday August 20th (morning) 3.00am Boxing .................................. Q/F's & S/F's Women's lightweight gold medal match * * * 3.30am Track & Field ........................ Women's 20km race walking final * * * 4.00am Women's BMX ...................... Women's individual final * * * 4.10am Men's BMX ........................... Men's individual final * * * 4.30am Women's Waterpolo ............. Women's gold medal match * * * 6.00am Women's Hockey ................. Women's gold medal match * * * 6.30am Women's Soccer .................. Women's gold medal match * * * 9.10am Track & Field ........................ Women's pole vault: final (9,30am) * * * Men's hammer throw: final (10.05am) * * * Women's 5000m: final (10.30am) * * * Women's 4 x 100m: final (11.15am) * * * Men's 4 x 100m: final (11.35am) * * * Saturday August 20th (evening) 10.00pm Canoe/Kayak (finals) .......... Men's kayak single 200m sprint * * * Men's canoe double 1000m sprint * * * Women's kayak four 500m sprint * * * Men's kayak four 500m sprint * * * 11.55pm Triathlon ................................. Women's final * * * --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday August 21st (morning) 3.00am Boxing .................................... Women's flyweight gold medal match * * * Men's bantamweight gold medal match * * * Men's middleweight gold medal match * * * 4.30am Women's Basketball ........ .... Women's gold medal match * * * 5.30am Diving ..................................... Men's 10m platform final * * * 6.30am Men's Soccer ......................... Men's gold medal match * * * 6.50am Men's Waterpolo ..................... Men's gold medal match * * * 9.10am Track & Field .......................... Women's high jump: final (9.30am) * * * Men's javelin: final (9.55am) * * * Men's 1500m: final (10.00am) * * * Women's 800m: final (10.15am) * * * Men's 5000m: final (10.30am) * * * Womens 4 x 400m relay: final (11.00am) * * * Men's 4 x 400m relay: final (11.35am) * * * 11.15am Women's Volleyball .............. Women's gold medal match * * * Sunday August 21st (evening) 10.30pm Track & Field ........................ Men's marathon final * * * --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday August 21st (morning) 12.30am Men's Basketball ................. Boomers vs Spain (Bronze medal match) 2.15am Men's Volleyball ................... Men's gold medal match (Italy vs Brazil) * * * 3.00am Boxing .................................. Women's middleweight gold medal match * * * Men's flyweight gold medal match * * * Men's light welterweight medal match * * * Men's super heavyweight gold medal match * * * 4.45am Men's Basketball .................... Men's gold medal match (USA vs Serbia) * * * 9.00am Special event .......................... The Closing Ceremony The Swimming finals will be held in the late evening in Rio (10pm start local time) which will mean they'll be shown from about 11am AEST. The swimming finals are held during the first week. The large majority of the Track & Field finals will be held in the evening (8pm) in Rio (about 9am AEST) with about another 10 finals held in the morning (marathons, walks etc) The track & field events are held during the 2nd week. The Rowing finals will be shown from 8.30am local time (9.30pm AEST) beginning from the first Wednesday of the games (August 10) The Track Cycling finals will be held from 4pm local time (5am AEST) beginning from the first first Friday of the games (August 12)

Fair enough dc ... I'm happy to agree with regards to the overall inadequate testing re the Olympics. Whole countries have a history of thumbing their noses at the rules of fair play. But many other sports do very very little in comparison. The pessimist in me reckons the problem is only going to get far worse too. WADA are ridiculously underfunded and have zero chance of fixing things. I refuse to blame WADA. There hasn't been any rich benefactors coming to the rescue of clean sport and that is not likely to occur in the future. Because of the money at stake, drug cheats will be allowed to continue cheating. The numbers will increase but we probably won't be able to see those numbers increasing. The "hidden" cheating per se. I like what cycling is doing with the blood passports but 'peptides' are hard to detect. And there's probably any number of new-age drugs that can't be detected. Though I'm dismayed by it all I've made a decision to continue to watch any sport (that I like watching) because I don't believe that the large majority of athletes across all sports do cheat. So Jack Viney, Aaron Rodgers, Dimitri Payet, Emily Seebohm, Anna Meares, Usman Khawaja and thousands of others all get the benefit of the doubt. Even Ronaldo

I did say or mean "up to" 30 - 40 blood tests ... the "up to" bit means that any given Olympic athlete may not be tested that many times. I mistakenly left off the word "to" in the "up to" phrase though - a typo. Anyway, it was a general comment pertaining to a large majority of the Olympic athletes ... of course there are a number of Olympic athletes who hardly ever get tested for PED's. However, I'd say at a guess that a large majority of Olympic athletes and would-be Olympic athletes are tested regularly in a rigorous fashion. Usually in those sports that aren't golf, soccer, tennis or basketball or the like. But of course those professional sports that are also conducted at the Olympics often have negligible testing standards for PED's of their own. The testing for PED's in a number of professional sports is negligible. For instance, The NBA & NHL have very poor testing procedures & standards. With soccer, it's virtually non existent. But the average person wouldn't know that because of various reasons (often because they don't care) Most people probably believe that soccer is a clean sport based on the fact that hardly any of the thousands of soccer players ever test positive to PED's ... my radar goes up instead. My cynicism runs deep. The NFL had about 40 players rubbed out for using PED's in the 2014/15 season - and the NFL's testing standards are not great either. Baseball's records are now completely skewed because of the steroid era. The AFL aren't serious either - one urine test per player per year on average. The Essendon saga blew up in their own faces because Essendon were so brazen about it - and of course the AFL then did their upmost to get them off. The thrust of my argument still stands ... PED use across any number of sports is often rampant. And by rampant I mean probably about 2-5% of athletes across most sports are using PED's (on average) That in turn means that around about or over 95% of athletes (across the board) are probably clean. Not every athlete is a cheat - in any sport. And not every athlete is clean either. The lack of transparency means we have to take educated guesses. That previous link involving Mr Pound tends to back up those numbers. But the above is an opinion - the numbers can't be exact. If you or others have a different opinion that's fine by me. No one knows what the exact numbers are and we'll never know what the true numbers are either. My argument centres on broadening the argument with regards to PED use ... you seemingly view things in a different way - otherwise we wouldn't be arguing the point. Where as I've mainly wanted to broaden the argument away from the Olympics (which is my right) you are well and truly zeroing in on the Olympics (which is your right) However, I have always acknowledged that the Olympics does have a major issue with regards to PED use ... but why stop at the Olympics? We''re going around in circles so it's probably best to agree to disagree. I'm glad that you have expressed your view because that has allowed me to express my full view on the matter.

Well that's good to hear ... Mr Pound constantly makes references to how the major sports do very little to catch their cheats ... and that's the real issue for me as well. So it's not the cheats who get caught - it's those who are virtually never tested that really bothers me. These sporting bodies give these would-be cheats a license to cheat. All in the name of protecting the almighty dollar. And I'm never going to believe that PED use is confined to certain sports either - that really is a naïve view. People are the same all over. Drug cheats will cheat in any sport. I still maintain the Essendon issue was merely a symptom of a much much larger problem. That's not to say they should have got off the hook - on the contrary, punish them but at the same time have a tougher stance on PED use in footy ... the AFL failed badly when they were put to the test. Nothing has changed.

Probably 9 wins but we may get to 10 wins ... the consensus from many here in the pre-season was 9-10 wins so the initial expectations are probably going to be fulfilled. The issue is that when reality sets in, we're dissatisfied and we want more ... not many are truly satisfied with an 8, 9 or 10 win season. Not many ever are. It just means another season where we don't figure in the finals. We move the goalposts to suit our mood. The St Kilda loss snuffed out any chance of a finals berth - therefore, the disappointment with that loss was more profound. We got our hopes up and those hopes were dashed. I will be satisfied with a 9 or 10 win season as long as we give a good account of ourselves in all our remaining games - we can't put the cue in the rack. We've taken it up to the best sides on a constant basis (save for the Swans game) and that's been the most pleasing aspect of the season. We're making real progress but we're not a finals side yet. Again, we still need to finish the season off well. I want to see the players have excellent levels of effort, energy, application and a will-to-win when there is nothing to play for. Do that and it will hold us in good stead heading into next season.

Didn't see the 4 Corners show but I only wish that it wasn't just the Olympics that gets looked at. I'd like to see 4 Corners take on the NFL or MLB. Or FIFA ... there's a real doozy right there. The PED issue needs to be viewed from a much broader perspective. I am by no means denying that the Olympics doesn't have a major PED issue but narrowing the focus down on the Olympics won't solve the much greater problem - narrowing the focus effectively lets the other sports off the hook. One urine test per player per year in the AFL compared to up to 30-40 blood tests per year for an Olympic athlete - which sporting body is fair dinkum? ... AFL not trying in fight on drugs Virtually the whole world of sport is riddled with PED use - that is the inconvenient truth. Most already know that but they don't know how to deal with it all. Others just simply don't want to know about it - head in the sand stuff. Many are happy to just give up the fight completely. Don't test = don't catch = clean sport (in the eyes of many) Drugbuster Pound says doping is so widespread that he no longer has faith in sport at the top

In a round about way - Kent. Kent = the compensation pick we ended up receiving for the loss of Moloney & Rivers (and the acquisition of Byrnes) ... the compensation was pick 48 in the 2012 Draft. Where we've lost out is not acquiring quality free agents in the last 4 off-seasons - but that's easier said than done and acquiring free agents would have affected our compensation in at least 2 of those years (which you highlighted, RP) Going forward we need to be a player with regards to free agency. Picking up one good player per year (via free agency) is not a big ask. Here's the list of free agents (Not sure how up to date the list is)

I'm sure that a few of the times of those events might be changed/wrong but on the day, I'll verify them TD. Posting the whole lot of them up now makes it easy to just copy & paste any particular day down the track ... most Olympic fans love/like the team events even if we're not a good chance to medal (the Boomers & Mens Waterpolo teams are good examples of that thinking) Don't know much about our Rugby 7's chances in both the Mens & Womens but that sport can certainly throw up surprise results. Anyway, with the Demons going into preparation mode for next season (still trying to win games of course) the Olympics will serve as a good distraction in terms of achieving some sporting joy for us success-starved fans.

Sports Illustrated has the Aussies winning 18 gold and finishing 4th ... nice of the Americans to see us featuring so well but I'm quite skeptical that we'll finish with that sort of result. 11-14 gold is my "optimistic" forecast. Last Olympics 'SI' had us winning 15 or 16 gold but we only won 8 (35 total medals was an excellent return though - that beats the hell out of zero gold and a total of 5 medals in Montreal) Anyway, Sports Illustrated has got the gold tally as such ... USA 42 China 31 Russia (22) Australia (18) Britain (17) Germany (15) Japan (12) South Korea (12) France (10) Brazil (9).

Excellent post deanox although of the 10 names that you mentioned, I might not include 1 or 2 names. And I reckon another 2 or 3 of the players that you mentioned have been quite consistent too. But your general summation is on the money, all the same. The reality is the quality of the 10 players that you mentioned aren't as good as the best 10 players at a number of other clubs ... and some of those other clubs have up to 13-15 players who are 'locks'. The good news is that we have others who could join that group of 10 players - time will tell. We often play well and can win games when those 10 players (or most of them) play well. Back in 2012/13 we had less than a handful of players who could be relied upon so we've come a long way. Those who can become locks are players like Petracca, Oliver, Brayshaw, Salem, Hunt and 2 or 3 others. Again, time will tell but the quality of our best players needs to get better and we need more of them. We just need to keep turning the list over with a view of picking up a couple of good players per season (any more than that could be seen as a bonus) As for the selection policy this season - I don't share the view that many here have had - I've liked the experimentation and that experimentation was always going to throw up some mixed results.

And there lies the difference in how each of us are viewing things and why our views are quite different dc. Footy is not my most preferred sport to watch ... I'm really only interested in the MFC but that addiction to this team we all follow on this site is quite strong! But if it's any consolation a lot of people I know share your attitude - they love their footy and can't get enough of it. But equally, I know a number of people who are indifferent to the sport and those people are more inclined to be all-in on the Olympics. In some ways the Olympics fills a void but I love it as it is (and always have) and can ignore all the other aspects that intrude on the Olympics and most of the other sports (money, corruption, drugs etc)

On their way to the Alps the riders encounter the 'Grand Colombier' tonight ... there are 8 climbs all up tonight and the stage promises to be a good one. Froome is looking very strong though and his Sky team have backed him to an immense degree but ... he still needs to get it done. Porte is working his way up the standings and could still get a podium finish as long as he doesn't have a bad day. *SBS are covering tonight's stage from 8.30pm. General classification after stage 14 1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 2 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 01:47 3 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange 02:45 4 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 02:59 5 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 03:17 6 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 03:19 7 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 04:04 8 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 04:27 9 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step 05:03 10 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 05:16 Official Site SBS Tracker Cyclingnews.com

I don't exactly embrace all that stuff either dc and a good comparison is the AFL ... Money driven Corruption & cronyism The over commercialisation Confusing TV coverage Rigged fixturing A commission that is often biased and conflicted. A soft approach to PED use (especially when it comes to testing procedures & standards) Undefined & confusing rules of the game Pandering to the big clubs etc etc Yet we still happily watch footy despite all of the above (myself included) About 90% (or more) of the Olympic athletes at these games will have devoted a good part of their lives in the pursuit of success and will not receive a medal of any colour. And most of the Olympic athletes don't make a great deal of money out of their respective sports either - especially in comparison to the professional sports (which are PED riddled)

Fair enough dc ... we all view the Olympics differently but no sport is squeaky clean. I know people who can't get enough of the Olympics and/or disregard the drugs completely and others who have no real interest because it's not their thing. As always, I'm all in. I get the angst towards the whole drugs issue but many sports are laden with PED use (even if it's not transparent) I just don't feel comfortable being selective about the Olympics if I don't have the same attitude towards other sports. If I took the attitude of 'turning away' from the Olympics my conscience would tell me to do that with a lot of sports - including the AFL. Another thing to consider is if you or anyone else believes that the Australian athletes are all clean, why not support them? Any medal won will have a double effect if they are defeating "supposed" drug cheats from other countries. We could go on for hours but I can accept your point of view ... I suspect you'll end up taking a good peek anyway Especially if the gold starts flowing. And that's ok too - we're all allowed to change our minds. Footnote: If only 2% of athletes are using PED's at these games, that adds up to well over 200 participants. The 200 number feels like a lot but the 2% figure seems small.

St George once won 11 flags in a row ... be careful what you wish for md

Decent climb to Chalet-Reynard tonight ... originally the riders were required to climb all the way to Mont Ventoux but gusts of wind have been predicted to exceed 100km/h for today's stage ... all the same, with those sort of conditions the stage could get very interesting - the climb beginning at Bedoin should begin a little before midnight (or thereabouts) Here's the preview from the official site ... Official Site SBS Tracker Cyclingnews.com

I could list any number of sporting bodies who do very little with regards to stamping out PED use in their respective sports. And those athletes who are inclined to cheat with PED use will cheat in any sport. There will be athletes caught testing positive to PED's at these games - there's nothing surer. But if every sporting body followed suit and tested their athletes in the same rigorous fashion (including the AFL), the results could be as similar (or worse) The large majority of athletes at these games (probably 98% or better) are clean and they don't deserve to be lumped in with the would-be cheats. They've got my support. And not just the Australian athletes.

There's a miriad of stuff to watch these days ... something for everyone. There's lots of stuff that doesn't necessarily appeal but each to their own.

Mr Robot (s02) has just started airing in the US so it's probably on 'Presto' (streaming) again ... you'll have to google etc. IT Crowd is great but the show finished up some time ago. Better Call Saul - excellent show. I've found a lot of European drama worth watching for those who like their drama to be real-life/gritty ... I'll post up a summary of what I've come across down the track.

Mr Robot is back (season 2) Another show to keep an eye out for ... The Bridge (A Swedish/Danish production) The French/UK have done a remake of the show called The Tunnel but the first season of 'The Bridge' was very good. Billions is also quite a good show and well worth a look. Paul Giamatti & Damian Lewis are superbly cast as high-powered foes. .