Macca

There are 2 on the footy boards that I know of ... prominent posters too I'm not going to give them up though

To be honest, I wasn't taking a lot of notice of the quality of the game when watching it live ... just wanted to win Watched the highlights and summary of the game etc and then I realised how good a game it was. Again, at the time you get too immersed in the winning ... same thing happens with Demon games only on a larger scale. Just win! Fair enough ... If we don't win the NFC I'm gonna blame you Dappa haha ... in all seriousness, I'm taking it one game at a time! Gotta say I'm happy to beat the Pats ... just to see the Brady reaction near the end was gold. He's a champ but beating him is certainly an achievement. Order restored in the tipping comp ... no points earned! Leaderboard 4 - Dappa Dan 3 - JV7, Go the Biff, Georgiou R. R. Martin 2 - pantaloons, Macca 1 - cowboy_from_hell, Gorgoroth Week 14 games ... 2 big points on offer this week (week 15 - 1 point, week 16 - 1 point, week 17 - 3 points)

There's a few things that can impact negatively even if the Packers win out and get the 1 seed. We all saw what happened in 2011/12 ... 15/1 and knocked out in their first playoff game ... what I do know is that we haven't been a team that needs time away from exercising our game plan. Rodgers is a deep ball thrower and what destroyed the team in 2011/12 was him not throwing for 3 weeks (he was rested in week 17 of that year and we didn't play on wild-card weekend) Seattle are a real danger if they win the NFC West. Your blokes at home are a different proposition as well. Detroit should win their next 3 so that week 17 game against the Packers could decide the NFC North. It ain't over till it's over.

The reality is that this draft like every other draft will be all over the place in terms of an accurate appraisal of the talent on offer. Time will tell. Emma getting the draft order correct means diddly squat in the whole scheme of things - people here are getting excited about something they shouldn't be getting excited about. Honestly - who cares? Perhaps Emma could tell us the "real" order? Now, that would be something to get excited about. The odds are that 3 of the top 10 will be busts and 7 of the top 20 will be busts (in terms of expectations) Can we have one of these so called "experts" tell us who those 7 players are? Not in 8 years - now.

Some other observations .. San Diego & Buffalo won't go away ... 10 wins probably gets a wild-card in the AFC & both teams can get there. The Giants and Panthers are terrible Cinci just don't lose games (8/3/1) and their week 16 game vs Denver looms as a season definer Some joy to be had for Vikings & Rams fans - especially the St Louis win - a rout. Packers hold out New England and get a vital win - defense stood up but we should have scored more heavily - missed a number of 7 point opportunities Belichick gives a bit of credit - what gives? More mind games? All done in typical monotone style

You're hanging in there ...

Next Monday night at Lambeau for your blokes ... might be a 'trap' game for the Packers after today It's now out of the Falcons & Saints for the division you'd reckon. Excellent win against a good opponent - a game you had to win. Although a game behind the Eagles and Green Bay, Seattle will almost certainly hold the tie break against those 2 teams if they draw level on wins (and win the NFC West) It's conceivable that the Seahawks could have home field advantage right through to the Super Bowl if they win the NFC West. Next weeks Seahawks @ Eagles game holds the key to the NFC I believe.

We've got 2 social venues - the Leighoak & Bentleigh club ... the MCG Hotel was always a good place to meet up after a game and besides all that, I'm not sure of it's importance anyway (these days) Having the Admin away from the FD could be construed as a good thing anyway ... both can work autonomously and they don't need to be in each others pockets on a constant basis. As for our facilities - they are supposedly "state of the art" so again, what's the issue? One could make an argument that we're too pampered anyway ... we seemed to do a lot better on the field when we had to train at those "awful" facilities at the Junction. Gosch's paddock is a fine oval to train on - an almost perfect surface, it's an oval and it has goal posts - what more is needed? There's a whole bunch of reasons why we've been a poorly performed team in the last 8 years but training facilities, social hubs & all the clubs departments not being under the one roof aren't the reasons. Having a poor list for all that time is the prime reason we've been a poorly performed team.

Monday 5.00am - 11.30am RedZone (ESPN) 5.00am San Diego 7/4 at Baltimore 7/4 (7mate) 8.25am New England 9/2 at Green Bay 8/3 (7mate) 12.30pm Denver 8/3 at Kansas City 7/4 (7mate & ESPN) Tuesday 12.30pm Miami 6/5 at NY Jets 2/9 (ESPN) All the week 13 games & BS Report Bill Simmons' column

I reckon Roos will go with Jamar and a back-up type who isn't a pure ruckman. The 2nd ruck usually has to play deep forward and neither Gawn or Spencer are strong overhead - nor is Fitzy for that matter ... Gawn and Fitzy don't know how to use their height in marking contests and Spencer doesn't have good hands ... of course, they can all improve and they all need to. Much will depend on injuries, form & improvement but Pedersen is probably the 2nd ruck for now ... Watts could be tried again and Dawes could do some rucking in the forward line. We're probably going to be taller in the backline so a bit of pinch hitting can be done there as well (depending on match-ups) Jamar rarely breaks down in a game so the risk isn't that high in not picking a pure 2nd ruck.

It's gotta be the right match-up for him though ... we'd have to have a situation where our back-up ruckman picked that day is not a pure ruckman (like Pedersen) He's certainly got a good enough leap - it's the rest of it that would be the concern. There's nowhere to hide when rucking and it could make him realise that physical contact doesn't mean you're going to get hurt ... I'm only suggesting a 4 or 5 minute spell a couple of times a game ... the back-up rucking role can be shared. Having a 2nd ruck who doesn't have another string to his bow is a liability in today's footy.

Yep, in his prime Dean Cox was also another very good midfielder who was almost impossible to match-up on ... so, in my scenario Sandliands would need to break even with Cox around the ground but if that happened, both can still be influential. A better example would be 2 ruckmen who are very proficient at tap-outs but not that great around the ground ... nullifying each other in that situation leads one to possibly believe that neither are 'necessary' A ball belted forward from the ruck even in today's footy is still a weapon ... it gets the ball moving your way and it's also a team lifter ... there should be more of it. There's nothing wrong with gaining metres for your team ... Lumumba has often been an 80 metre player - looking forward to seeing that happen in our colours. It makes you appreciate Jeff White looking back ... the enforced circle nullified his game to a certain degree but for a 4/5 year stretch there, he was a dominant player.

From a neutral perspective, I'm not so sure that Dallas will win next week - the Bears are capable and their coach (Trestman) will need to get some wins to keep his job. The match is line ball in my eyes. As for the Seahawks, their weakness all year has been their passing offense (currently 30th) Stats are stats but in this sport, they really do tell a story. However, I'm worried about them because they're strong in nearly all the other facets of the game ... so, I'm hoping like hell your blokes can knock them off. If you kick 2 games clear in the NFC East it's then only a matter of the seedings - the division will be yours.

I reckon a good example of ruckman not being appreciated could be Cox vs Sandilands if both were at the top of their game's ... we could see a situation where the tap-out numbers are relatively even and neither of their taps advantage either side to any great extent because they've nullified each other. However, you take either Cox or Sandilands out of proceedings and everything changes. Also, "Breaking even" is easier said than done - any team's goal should be to dominate in the ruck - it's a big advantage when it happens.

And if a team doesn't break even, they might get towelled up. Usually, if that happens, a loss is often forthcoming. Right now, if we didn't have Jamar, it would probably cost us half our potential wins. Rucks are underrated because they often nullify each other. Some don't notice either "dominating" when that happens so a conclusion is reached that neither are having any influence - that view is too simplistic. Jamar gets marked down because he doesn't do a lot around the ground ... the alternative (right now) is to be fair-to-poor in both facets of ruck play.

It is still quite possible that Dallas could end up at 8/8 By the time they get to their last game (@ Washington) they might be out of the running already ... their next 3 are @ Chicago, @ Eagles and vs Indi. If they lose to the Bears the "meltdown" will be in full swing.

You only know the value of a good ruckman when you haven't got one. We still need a good ruckman in order to nullify a team who has got a good ruckman. You can't just put anyone in there otherwise we run run the risk of the other mob waltzing the ball away from clearances and ball-ups. Jamar* is the man (still) and if big Max can stay injury free, he might develop into a good ruckman. Spencer should get better and we've got a few who can pinch hit ... that 'pinch hitting' probably needs to coincide to when the other mob are pinch hitting otherwise ... Besides that, as others have indicated, King is still very young and we might pick up another back-up ruckman in the rookie draft ... *If Jamar can remain injury free, I can see a situation where he goes on past 2015 - especially so if we don't produce an adequate replacement anytime soon.

Yeah, you're right about that ... I had a quick look at the stats but didn't notice the attempts ... I did notice during the game that Forte was not making any sort of impression when he often does make an impression. I guess we can say that Detroits run defense was so intimidating that Chicago didn't even bother That's my excuse anyway. The Lions have had a decent year so credit where it's due I reckon. The Pats @ Packers has all sorts of intriguing match-ups ... our run defense is our weakness and of late, they've been quite strong in that area ... Belichick is the master coach and it's him who I'm concerned about as well. I'm just glad the game is at Lambeau. I'll take any sort of win. I'm not sure that the 49ers are done with yet but I feel they're going to have to win their last 4 games - that includes a trip to Seattle. I think a wild-card team in the NFC will need to win 11 games ... 10 wins might get it done but there will need to at least be tie-break advantages involved.

Eagles, Seahawks & Detroit all looked good ... their opponents just didn't come to play. Could have done with 1 close game but the victors won't be thinking that way. Line ball on who looked the most impressive ... Eagles or Seattle - the truth is that both were very impressive. The Eagles because they blew the Cowboys off the park (Sanchez had a good game) and the Seahawks because of their fantastic defense (especially Sherman) Romo & Kaepernick both had games they'd rather forget. The Lions won as expected with Stafford posting excellent numbers ... Tate has really added to their offense but it's their rushing defense that was the standout feature (again) ... they lead the league in that area.

I had the same thoughts ... same deal for Toumpas in my eyes. Those 2 in particular just need a clear run at it. Edit: ... haven't given up on Trengove either ... really hope he makes it back.

Excited at the prospect of seeing all our draftees becoming good players ... they're all coming into a good environment and they'll have every chance to prove themselves. On the surface of it, we've had another good off season ... Lumumba Frost Newton Garlett Stretch Petracca Brayshaw Oscar McDonald Neal-Bullen Any of the above 9 players can be terrific acquisitions. Jetta's promotion makes it 10 changes to the primary list. Last year we brought in ... Salem Tyson Michie Riley Hogan Cross Vince Hunt JKH King (rookie) Harmes (rookie) Georgiou (rookie) The overall list has a much more solid look about it. Our depth is much better which will help with the last 6 players chosen in each selected team. We just need a few stars to emerge and some others to step up to very good and we're well on our way ...

Yeah, I'm with you Gorgoroth ... Bengals Miami Giants

Possibly the best line-up of TV games I've come across ... Friday 4.30am Chicago 5/6 at Detroit 7/4 (7mate & ESPN) 8.30am Philadelphia 8/3 at Dallas 8/3 (7mate) 12.30pm Seattle 7/4 at San Francisco 7/4 (7mate) Monday 5.00am - 11.30am RedZone (ESPN) 5.00am San Diego 7/4 at Baltimore 7/4 (7mate) 8.25am New England 9/2 at Green Bay 8/3 (7mate) 12.30pm Denver 8/3 at Kansas City 7/4 (7mate & ESPN) Tuesday 12.30pm Miami 6/5 at NY Jets 2/9 (ESPN) All the week 13 games & BS Report 'Elo' ratings and playoff chances

A terrible tragedy and to be taken so young is difficult to understand. I feel deep sympathy for his family and teammates. RIP Phillip

Looks like Washington have run out of patience with RGIII ... The end is near for RG III, Redskins