Macca

On cable, over here in Oz, I'm fairly sure we get game 1 of the Rangers/Flyers game on "Good Friday" morning (9am) Always great to watch these games live and I'll certainly be tuning in. It's quite haphazard with the scheduling by Foxtel though ... they are apt to only listing the live games at the last moment (say a day or 2 beforehand) Still, here's hoping they show plenty of the matches. I'd neglected to remember the rivalry between those 2 aforementioned teams - as Barry Melrose would say ... "These 2 teams hate each other!" Your tips are interesting ... agree for the most part with regards to the length of each series. Just differ on a few winners. Regardless, we've got 2 months of great hockey coming up.

He looked to have gotten back his spark in the Richmond practice match and this latest setback may explain a lot. In that match he took 13 marks and was running all over the place to receive the ball. It's my guess that he's had the injury in some form for some time and after the injury had "quietened down" for a while, it's resurfaced and gotten a lot worse. Again, that's just a guess but foot injuries are notorious for flaring up at odd times. Some hairline fractures may not show up but the pain might be still there. Many of us have been perplexed on how he'd lost so much pace from his early years (especially in his first few steps at a contest) Perhaps we now have our answer on why he's lost a yard or 2. I wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to him being at his best for the start of the 2015 season.

Ah yes, we all remember the Bryce Gibbs cup (the Bombers were involved in that game as well) Tanking has been going on for a long long time - right back to the 90's. Judd has been tanked for twice. For a long time tanking was given the green light and people turned a blind eye - I often wonder why the football world suddenly changed their tune. And why the focus only on us? If it looks like Carlton have a real chance for the no.1 pick this year, the Blues will tank for that pick and no one will care. After all, they tanked for Walker, Kennedy, Murphy, Gibbs, Kreuzer and Judd and got away with it. Why not go for the "magnificent" seven? :-7

Yep, it's frustrating but hopefully, we'll start running harder in games sooner rather than later. We're starting to show some signs and it was noticeable how we outran the Blues on Saturday. It seemed that way anyway. Carlton were the ones who looked lazy. Not so sure about our overall kicking skills but it does look as though we've started to recruit more players who can kick a footy. It's long overdue IMO. Salem, Tyson, Vince, Cross, JKH and Michie all kick the ball quite well. Salem especially so although he's yet to do it in the big time. Not sure on Riley but someone here will know. Clisby is another who is a decent kick. I've heard at various times that the Hawks look closely at the kicking skills of a prospective recruit and after drafting them, teach them the "Hawthorn way" (to go in hard for the ball when it's their turn or win their own ball)

The Hawks train as they play and they're very fit. That 30 metre bullet pass that they employ in games can only work if all their players are prepared to run to position (constantly) It sounds simple and in some ways it is. You can't have one lazy player though - otherwise it all breaks down. Oh, and you need supreme kicking skills from all the players. Simple really

Here are the playoff match-ups after today's final games in the regular season ... for what it's worth, my tips are in dark italics. The playoffs start on Thursday AEST (Montreal @ Tampa Bay, Columbus @ Pittsburgh and Dallas @ Anaheim kick things off) Eastern Conference Metropolitan Division No. 1 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. WC1 Columbus Blue Jackets No. 2 New York Rangers vs. No. 3 Philadelphia Flyers Atlantic Division No. 1 Boston Bruins vs. WC2 Detroit Red Wings No. 2 Tampa Bay Lightning vs. No. 3 Montreal Canadiens Western Conference Pacific Division No. 1 Anaheim Ducks vs. WC2 Dallas Stars No. 2 San Jose Sharks vs. No. 3 Los Angeles Kings Central Division No. 1 Colorado Avalanche vs. WC1 Minnesota Wild No. 2 St. Louis Blues vs. No. 3 Chicago Blackhawks It's fairly wide open as usual with a lot of the big guns in there again. Boston/Detroit looks a good match-up along with San Jose/L.A and St Louis/Chicago. Colorado/Minnesota is another interesting duel. Montreal are in with a shot.

Tremendous match, fantastic atmosphere and both teams went for the win. Best game of the year so far. Liverpool can win the whole thing but ... they can't get too focused on the Chelsea game in 2 weeks time (not yet anyway) At Norwich next week might be tricky as the canaries are locked in a relegation battle. The match is on at the user friendly time of 9pm next Sunday - ideal. My Hammers just need to eke out a few more points to be assured of safety.

In relation to Robbo's comment and those here who have a similar view ... The draft is a glorified lucky dip. Sure, we can all look back and put any given draft in it's correct order but that's precisely the point. It can't be done correctly at the time. It's almost purely about luck when we're talking about the top end picks. Besides all that, we have to wait at least 4-5 years before we can start to evaluate any draft. For a proper appraisal, we have to wait until all the respective player's career's are over. These kids are often only 17 years old when judged. I doubt that there's another sport in the world where a clubs future list is based on 17 year old's being virtually picked out of a hat. It's the players picked after the top 10-15 picks where a good recruiter comes to the fore. On that score, we've done reasonably well without unearthing any real stars. Even so, there is still a lot of luck involved with any area of any given draft. The Draft should be viewed as bit of a guide only. Any given 18 year old who comes to the club should be viewed as just another recruit - there shouldn't be a number attached to any such player. At least that way, a player can be judged fairly. Unfortunately, too many view the draft as if it's some sort of proper system. It isn't and never will be (that would almost certainly still be the case even if the draft age was increased to 20 years old) The proof is right there in front of us - go through any draft prior to 2007 and the proper order bears very little resemblance to the original order. There's such a thing as getting something wrong though incompetence as opposed to getting something wrong when "guessing" Those 2 wrongs shouldn't be confused with each other.

Big, season definer on tonight at around about 10.30pm ... Liverpool vs Manchester City - I'm tipping a 2-2 draw. It's sure to be a cracker as both teams will be after a win ... Table For those without cable, you can listen to the game from the rights broadcaster here ... EPL games live - TalkSPORT

And the Canucks are like St Kilda (although the Saints have at least won a premiership) All the same, I'm looking forward to the playoffs. What are your thoughts on St Louis and who is your team to win the whole thing? I reckon there's any number of teams who could win the Stanley cup but maybe Boston? Minnesota could cause a few headaches and they've finished the season off well ... however, at this stage, it looks like they might be matched up against the Avs or the Blues in the first round (unless Anaheim lose the overall 1 seed in the West) As for our teams, there's always next year!

If history repeats itself then we might see a few of our tall's turned into much better players. LRT and Richards are 2 that come to mind from Roos' time at Sydney. There's probably others but Roos definitely improved Hall, O'Loughlin and Goodes in terms of body positioning and footy smarts. Roos' teaching capabilities with regards to all our tall players is something we can look forward to. Hogan, Garland and Jamar all have various degrees of improvement in them and as we know, they're not even in the team yet. We need a decent 2nd ruck to help Spencer out and at this stage, Jamar may well be next cab off the rank - however, he needs to do a fair bit more than just win his fair share of hit outs (Spencer looks like he wants the no.1 ruck position and is on his way to claiming that role) Last week's final quarter fade out is hopefully a thing of the past. The better teams are still going to be an issue mainly based on pure skill but ... there's at least 10-12 games where we're going to be in with a real opportunity (if we keep up yesterday's effort, application and 100% determination) *McDonald thrives on having greater match day responsibility and hopefully, this rubs off on a number of others. That "take the lead" type attitude can be infectious.

A few of our big men are showing some traits of how Roos himself played the game. At the last moment pushing off their opponent to have the advantage in a marking contest or ... doing the same thing and then gaining 4 or 5 metres on a lead. A face to face push off is generally allowed if it's done the right way. Just generally playing in front instead of hesitating or playing from behind is another somewhat noticeable trend. Watts, Frawley and Dawes all looked dangerous in the forward line just by doing these simple things. Our tall's all should become better players if they're all able to grasp hold of what's being taught to them. Roos' vast experience as a top class tall utility player is starting to come to the fore (in terms of passing on knowledge)

Keep an eye out for "Fargo" ... I believe the first season is in 10 parts (1 hour each) It's based on the Coen brother's 1996 film of the same name. This time around, the Coen Brothers are Executive producers. Looks the goods with a decent cast ... starts airing in mid April (in the States) and on SBS in Australia, 2 weeks later. Orphan Black is back for a 2nd series as well. Also on SBS around about the 20th of April. The first season was excellent. Tatiana Maslany plays the lead and does a superb job.

The injury list decoded (thanks to the good people at Bletchley Park) Available = 1 week Test = 1-2 weeks 1-2 weeks = 2-4 weeks 2-4 weeks = 4-6 weeks (the TJ special) 4-6 weeks = 8-12 weeks TBC = season TBA = expect a retirement announcement Indefinite = we're clueless.

So there's no crossover between divisions in the 1st round of the playoffs unless the wild-card with the least points is in a different division to the division winner with the most points. (in each conference) I've re-read the above back a few times and it's about as clear as mud. Anyway, this link explains it a bit better. The way I read it, the 2nd and 3rd seeds in each division play each other in the 1st round of the playoffs. And the other match-ups are dependent on the least and most points gained by the division winners and wild-card teams. In that situation, there can be crossover games. As an example, as it stands right now, the Avs would be up against Chicago in the 1st round of the playoffs.

We're getting to the pointy end of the season and it's not looking good for my Canucks. We'd probably have to win at least 7 of our remaining 9 games to have any chance. Some tough games in there as well Meanwhile, the Sharks look safe whilst the Avs should make it. The Leafs are in the wild-card spot right now but it's a tight tussle for spots. Boston, Pittsburgh, St Louis, Chicago and Anaheim are all well placed. Playoffs are about 3 weeks away. ... Standings ... and here's some highlights from the game held today between the Red Wings and Minnesota .

Putting aside the obvious mismatch with regards to tall talent, our midfield will need to break even with their midfield if we're to have any chance of being able to keep pace with them. We probably need to pick a whole team of runners* and hope like hell we can keep control of the ball. Our turnover ratio has improved from our previous 2 seasons but we'll need to get even better when considering all the factors at play. For instance, any time they've got the ball, they can exploit our lack of height. We need to win the clearances by a decent margin - that stat is all important. First use of the ball is paramount in today's footy. I can see us going in with a few more medium sized marking targets. Kicking it long into our current forward line just isn't going to work. If we go in with more medium sized forwards, our midfielders will need to be a lot smarter with their inside 50 entries - we'll also need to move the ball a lot more quickly to catch their defender's out. Our forwards will need to make a lot more leads and in general, there needs to be a lot more movement and pace in our forward line. It's a bit of a long shot but we've got to try something. Failing all that, there's a bit of rain forecast * Of course, we still need to play a number of tall players to try and match their tall timber.

Until we get our tall players back, and in particular, our tall forwards, we'll struggle to kick winning scores. No good blaming their replacements - certain players clearly aren't up to holding down key forward positions so we'll need our forward line to function in other ways. Easier said than done though - an injection of pace might help but we're light on for those types as well. We need to somehow find a way to win without Clark, Dawes, Hogan, Garland, Jamar, Gawn, Fitzpatrick and McDonald. A few of those might be available next week but probably not any of the first 5 listed. In the meantime, we need the midfield to contribute at least 6-8 goals per game. We got 3 goals from our midfield last night and that area of our game just has to get a lot better. The midfield also lost the clearances 30-40 last night and that's largely why we lost the game IMO (the forward line was always likely to struggle so we needed to be strong in other areas) First use of the ball is even more important in today's footy and we lost that battle. Reverse that number and we probably win last night. The positives from last night were that we played more like a team and fought the game out well. Not having targets in the forward line is a difficult thing to overcome but our work out of the centre was a disappointment.

Our midfield will need to be a major factor in order for us to win IMO. That doesn't mean that our midfield has to dominate their midfield - we just need to be better than their midfield to a reasonable degree. We'll need to outnumber them in the clearances. Also, our midfielders need to use the ball well as a consequence. A number of goals from our midfielders will be a necessity unless our forward line can work as a fully functioning unit. Not expecting that last bit to happen but we'll need our forward line to stand up to a certain degree. Lot's of ifs and buts but the players should be jumping out their skins for the new coach. They've got a new coach as well but Roos has it all over Richardson when it comes to experience. I'm expecting Roos to pull a few moves that are unexpected and those moves can help us win the game. One of our players might unexpectedly bob up and kick 3-4 goals. We may need that to happen as in order to win the game, our whole team might need to kick at least 14-15 goals.

Yep, I agree on the timeline 'od'. ... and if he plays well if he gets into the side, they'll then have to monitor how many games they want him to play or how much game time he may get. In principle, I agree with Roos' stance on young players so he may well be held back for a lot longer. He could start off as the sub for a while and then as a loose man off half back. Maybe as the final link player when considering his kicking skills. He is an excellent kick and hopefully, he can bring that skill to the team. We could do with a few players who can kick the footy well to position However, decision making at the top level can sort a few out and of course, he'll need to win his own ball as well if he's going to be a good player for us. Time will tell.

I voted for Salem but I've been a bit liberal with the interpretation of the thread title. In 3 or 4 years time, we may look back at 2014 and say that Salem was the find of that year. I don't expect him to play a lot this year but he might force his way in if others picked before him aren't doing much. Christian may get in the team and then stay in. The same applies for JKH although he may get into the side earlier than Salem. Hogan is another who is a first year player and should be on the list I believe. I would have voted for Hogan if he was on the list as I believe his value in years to come could be immense. I guess we might be treating him as if he's already "arrived" but Jesse still needs to do it.

If our forward set up and the personal involved in our forward line is our greatest worry leading into this match, we could break it down this way ... • The selected line-up released on Thursday night may or may not give us any indication as to how our forward line will line-up on the night. • Even though our performance in our practice game against the Hawks wasn't up to par, where our players played in that match and for how long could be a real pointer. We know that Watts had a bit of game time in the forward line and Pedersen spent a fair bit of time in our backline (a whole half?) • Howe will almost certainly line-up in the forward line and with Gawn possibly being ruled out, (?) Fitzy will most probably play a role in the forward line as well (and used as the 2nd ruck to back up Spencer) Pedersen will probably play forward but he's no absolute certainty. Trengove might start there and Bail is a chance as well. • The match committee might also have other options for our forward line including using players like Watts, Toumpas and maybe even Dunn. Those aforementioned 3 are all accurate with their kicking. Roos may decide to rotate players through our forward line. • The other option is that we might go with a speedy forward line - pace being the major focus rather than marking power (which we lack anyway with Clark, Hogan and Dawes being ruled out) Roos, above all else, will want to win this round 1 encounter. The difference between a loss and a win for both the playing group and the supporters is quite pronounced. Many fans, who are locked on to our club, won't be greatly affected if we lose the match but it's the lapsed members and those members who are no longer attending games that are all important here. The players need to attain the confidence gained from winning.

I was genuinely surprised with the Trott stuff (if true) Not sure what to make of it to be perfectly honest. There may be more to come out for all we know. With Clarke, no surprises there. The value he puts on his wicket once he's set, is Steve Waugh/Allan Border like. Opposition teams know they have to get him early. Just hope his back can hold up. Yep, spot on. All the players seem to know their roles and they just get on with the business. Most people that I speak to comment that Clarke often seems to be ahead of the game. Bowling changes and field placements are done with a minimum of fuss and the opposition batsmen seem to be constantly faced with a fresh challenge. Lehmann needs to take a fair bit of credit of course and I reckon he and Clarke compliment each other very well. They are different characters but that might be a good thing. Where they come together is their knowledge of the game.

Couple of items of interest ... Clarke played Test with fractured shoulder ... from Michael Vaughan Players will look at Trott and think he did a runner

Watts possibly has to go forward in order for us to win this game (against the Saints). At the moment, he's our 7th or 8th choice midfielder in an unproven midfield so are we really going to giving up that much? We might need to kick about 15-16 goals in order to win the game. Jack is ahead of both Fitzy and Pedersen both in terms of goal kicking ability and being used as a target. Howe is better suited as the 3rd or 4th forward. The circumstances have changed dramatically from when the concept of Watts moving into the midfield was mooted. Two of Clark, Dawes and Hogan were almost certainly being penned in for round 1. Possibly all 3. Right now, Jack's best position is that of a utility or a kind of "swingman" so him playing a role in the forward line (for now) is not that much of an issue. Roos is also known for his flexibility so I'd be surprised if it hasn't at least crossed his mind. There's plenty of time for Watts to learn how to be a decent midfielder and for what it's worth, I reckon it's an admirable idea that I fully support. But it's all about the here and now - we need to find a way to win. There's nothing wrong with a change of plans - especially when the circumstances are extraordinary.