Macca

Rangers now have a 2-1 lead ... could we have a game 6? Lundqvist doing his utmost to keep them in it. Edit: 30 seconds later it's 2-2!

A bit of a dubious penalty to Brazil but without video technology, the ref and his assistants get one look at it. The defender at least put Fred off balance and it's not a good idea to put a hand on a strikers shoulder right in front of the referee. Not sure the goalkeeper for Croatia had much of a game anyway. A predictable result in some ways but I reckon Brazil will only get better from here on in. The Spain/Netherlands game tomorrow could be cracker and let's hope the Aussies can acquit themselves well against Chile ... our best hope for some sort of result might be if we're not trailing at half time. I'm not predicting a win or even a draw but our huge underdog status might be a motivating factor for the team. If Chile score first and score early then it might be a tough day at the office.

I've caught a hold of the first few eps, Cards - good show although a fair bit like "The Daily Show" A fan of John Oliver, all the same. Very funny bloke... his rant, whilst highly amusing, probably didn't shock those who follow the sport closely. FIFA makes the AFL look like a well run, scrupulously fair and totally transparent organisation! They have given a whole new meaning to the word 'corrupt' ... all the way through to the testing (or lack of testing) for PED's in the sport ... Doping in association football Regardless of all that, I'm eagerly anticipating the World Cup. A Brazil/Argentina final would be an amazing match-up for the final. Can you imagine the scenes if Argentina won and defeated Brazil on the day as well? After looking at the draw and the set up of the groups, I can see Brazil, Italy, Spain and Uruguay getting through to the Q/F's in the groups A to D whilst I reckon Argentina, Germany, Belgium and possibly France might get through to the Q/F's in the groups E to H. The Semi-finals involves a cross-over from those aforementioned groups so we could see any number of combinations of teams in the Semi's ... Bracket Predictor

This could be all over in 4. The sweep is on. Who was it that tipped the Rangers again?

Excellent post ... not much to add other than to say that if this is one of our worst efforts, there's a big upside. We can only get better with time and with at least one productive off season. Probably 2 off seasons in all reality but one thing at a time. By the end of the season, a much clearer picture will have unfolded. At 3/4 time we had a realistic chance of winning the game but luck was against us and we ran out of legs (which in turn, affected our poise and delivery) The fact that a lot of us are annoyed that we're not winning these sort of games says to me that we've come a long way and we're on the right path. The truth is that we lack finishing skills and to fix that problem, we require the time to practice and work on our skills (under pressure) and also, our list management will be high on the agenda.

Norm Smith had good numbers ... played in 6 for 4 wins, a draw and a loss. Coached in 8 for 6 wins. 14-4-10 Jock McHale for the Pies would have similar numbers (but only a total of 9 flags I believe)

Found a few sites that might be helpful to use during the event ... Guide to All 32 FIFA World Cup 2014 Teams: Key Players, Predicted Line-Ups & More (when entering this site, scroll down and click on the teams highlighted in "red" - for the likely line-ups and key players) ... all the squads ... & the groups ... all the matches in time & date order ... (you can change the starting time of the games to your local time) N.B - your local time doesn't change the day on this site ... as an example, the tournament kicks off next Thursday in Sao Paulo at 5pm - which makes it 6am next Friday (AEST)

Excellent points, rjay ... a quick ball up when the ball is held to a player is the best solution. If the ruckmen aren't in the vicinity, bad luck. The powers that be are trying to fix an unfixable problem (with regards to when the ball is held to a player) Their "continuous play" argument is fatally flawed. By letting the play go on, they're effectively creating packs and rolling mauls. It's one of the major reasons as to why we often see most of players around the ball. This is a management issue, not the fault of the umpires (who are umpiring to instruction)

Most clubs have room on their list for 4 or 5 ruckmen so the Spencer re-signing should come as no surprise. Jake has a couple more years of development in him and he's at least a reasonable back-up who should get better. With regards to our other rucks, it's great to see Jamar firing again and he's another player who is responding well to the coaching of Roos. Fitzy apparently got 48 hit outs against Hudson today (for Casey) so maybe he's another who could be responding in a positive way. Gawn needs more time and King is quite young and has loads of time. However, we may need to draft or trade for another ruckman at seasons end (Jamar can't go on for too many more years) I'm not sure we should be ruling a line through too many players yet (considering how many players have improved this season) The list has only been coached by Roos for half a season - more improvement is sure to happen.

Our game is impossible to umpire - we'll never even get close to getting it right. The same old issues for what, over 100 years? They'll never fix it - every part of our game is a grey area with each decision having about 6 outcomes ... that's on top of varying degrees of biased supporters. Even a lot of the neutrals are baffled most of the time. Just accept it for what it is. A total mish-mash where no one knows what the hell is going on. Try explaining the rules to an overseas visitor - the white coat people will be needed within 10 minutes. For both you and the overseas visitor :-)

"They're trying to smoke us out of here" ... LeBron James. The A/C broke down in the San Antonio facility in yesterday's game and James was forced out of the game late with severe cramps (brought on by the heat, apparently) In any event, the Spurs win game 1 and if they can notch up the next one at home, it's game on! ... highlights of game 1

3 more tracks from 'Lead Balloon' "Benny the BadMan" & "Martiniville" by Danny Baker (tracks 9 & 15 on this link)

If Salem turns out to be as good as Yze, we should count our lucky stars. Adem was a top player, he certainly wasn't soft and he was not a frontrunner.

Yep, LA certainly know how to come back from a 0-2 scoreline. They just can't be counted out. The Rangers had a huge opportunity today and they'll be smarting from that defeat. The next game is on Sunday (oz time) and you feel that the Rangers almost have to level the series. If not, the Kings will go to New York knowing that they just have to win 1 of the 2 games there to gain a big advantage. ... today's highlights

I literally could go either way but the series is sure to have high interest. Rangers in 7 but that's just a guess. The last time the Rangers won it ... Spring of 1994 still remembered 20 years later

IMO, the AFL's goal (and more importantly, the goals of free-to air TV and cable) is to have each game of every round to be a "virtual" stand alone affair. It stands to reason because from an economic standpoint, the time slots need to appeal to the people who are paying the big bucks for the rights - the television networks and cable providers. They won't want competition from the same sport so we'll almost certainly see less and less games clashing with each other - there may be a point in the future where each game has it's own separate 3 hour window. Therefore, we can expect more Thursday night, Sunday night and Monday night fixtures ... the clubs and sponsors will buy in - why wouldn't they? 50,000 people at the games or millions watching on TV? In the end, it's all about the dollars.

Spurs get through after a close one. San Antonio get home court advantage but they'll probably have to win at least one game in Miami to win the whole thing. Finals start on Friday (our time) with the first 2 games @ the Spurs. If the Heat win one of the first 2 games, they'll gain a decisive advantage. Miami in 6 is my tip.

Maple Demon, I usually visit NHL.com or the hockey sections of SI.com or ESPN.com for anything I would like to catch up on (whether it be feature articles, highlights, or topical stories) I'll try and search out TSN's version of Sportscentre - thanks for that. However, I was more interested as to why hockey often gets shunted back behind the other 3 big sports (in the mainstream media in the USA) 'GTG' explained it quite well but it does seem quite disproportionate, all the same. Found this thread on HFBoards.com ... some reasonable explanations were found after a bit of sifting through. Anyway, the Rangers vs Blackhawks/LA final is an intriguing one for a few reasons. We could have an original 6 match-up, the big city team vs big city team scenario is going to happen and we'll find out whether the Rangers can win against either of the 2 teams who have recently won it. Looking forward to it but in the meantime, tomorrow's Western conference game 7 should be a beauty.

Yeah GTG, Toronto are doing well (15 wins from 17 games in actuality) I haven't taken a lot of interest in the baseball other than noting that as your blokes were on a winning streak, my Red Sox were on a losing streak (10) We've now recovered to win our last 5 but I wonder if the hunger is there. Our division is always a tough one to win but the Yankees aren't doing a great deal either. Might be your best chance if New York and Boston don't get a move on.

I wasn't talking about our media. Most people here understand where our media's focus is. I was specifically talking about the US media - "Sportscenter" is a US production shown on cable (ESPN) in Australia (most probably worldwide). My point was that Hockey in the States doesn't seem to get the mainstream attention in the media that the other 3 big sports get. Obviously that same opinion doesn't pertain to Canada where the sport is huge.

Game 7 in Chicago in a couple of days ... today's game 6 highlights for those who haven't caught up Big city team vs big city team regardless ... I wonder if that will make any difference with the media coverage? ... I find it a little frustrating that sportscenter never gives the hockey a huge amount of coverage. We rarely see any in depth back stories per se ... still, Barry Melrose is always good value (especially his sports jackets!)

Yep, some players are just not suited to the short kick disposal. They may see their target alright but unless the pass is bullet like, an opposition player can often intercept or run on to it. By trying to be too careful, the moment is lost. I reckon he could be instructed to do as you've suggested or alternatively, a long kick to forward target is also an option. Players running and receiving a handpass from Grimes is another way of increasing his disposal efficiency. Grimes can get the ball alright, has good courage, reads the play well and never gives in. He's at his best when he has a no-nonsense straight ahead approach to his footy. Terlich is in the same boat. Hopefully, after a years coaching from Roos, both these 2 as well as a few others will improve their decision making and disposal skills.

You could argue that it was our best performance of the season. We would have beaten at least 8 other sides today and in many ways we've already caught up to the middle tier sides. It's no disgrace to lose like that to a top 4 side ... we've come a long way and the future looks exceedingly bright. It was a gutsy performance and we almost got the chocolates. We just lack a bit of polish and we badly missed Dawes. If he'd have played, we may have won. It's quite remarkable that we nearly won the game against a top side whilst having Gawn and Frawley as our key forwards ... and, we've still got Hogan* and Trengove to add to our forward line next year (we may also draft or trade in another KPF for depth) Watts becomes a far more dangerous high half forward in that scenario. We got a taste of things to come with that Toumpas/Salem combo in the last quarter - so composed and I especially liked the way Salem took out one of their players before running on to take the mark - heady stuff. All our young players are showing us something. Bring on the Pies! *Hopefully Hogan can get on the park at some stage this season.

Yep, and it might be that he felt obligated to carry on playing because he was co-captain of the club. If nothing was showing up in the scans that he was having then that could have been another reason to brave it. Trengove has a lot to offer if we can get him right.

Someone here posted that he ran 2.9 seconds in the 20 metre sprint in the draft camp (when he would have just turned 18) It could be assumed that with maturity, muscle development and lots of sprint training, he would be highly likely to get quicker in the next 4-5 years (past the age of 18) Peaking at 22/23 years of age. Unless injury intervened. If ever we should be giving a player the benefit of the doubt, it's this time. Found this ... AFL Draft Camp All-Time Top 10 for Each Test (Trengove's time stacks up reasonably well)