Macca

Might help explain the Bills picking EJ Manuel when they did. There's a lot of rumour and information flying around. Buffalo may have got the word that the Jets had spoken to all the possible QB's on offer. I reckon these things work like an auction sometimes. The impulse to pull the trigger can be quite high. Can't wait for the Rex comments now. Geno? Sanchez? Tebow?

Geno Smith to the Jets.

One thing is for sure, fast bowlers need down time to rest and recuperate. Either one decent long break or a couple of reasonably breaks. CA have to find a way. With the batsmen and spinners it's not as important although time away from the sport to freshen up is vital. As has been stated before, at issue here is the money on offer. Clarke made a pointed reference during the tour of India re the IPL. The powers at be are probably fully aware of the workloads but restraint of trade obviously comes into things. England are a little lucky because their players are required to start their summer season with their central contracts. Unfortunately for us, we're rarely involved at International level in April / May (unless we're touring the West Indies) so the players most probably see it as a chance to 'Cash in'. It's far worse for the West Indies as that April to June window is when they've traditionally held their home Tests (and continue to do so) . They can't afford to pay their players a lot of money and obviously many of their better players can earn very good money in the IPL. Huge dilemma for them. Harris bowled a truckload of overs in the last 3 Shield games he played (130+?) so that may have contributed initially to his achilles problems. Good luck to him trying to get over the injury he's got - achilles issues can hang around for an age. If it's tendonitis he'll need plenty of rest.

By the way, I hope Moloney has a shocker tomorrow and is subbed off

Ha ha ! Suppose if the Bills really wanted him and were committed then they may have felt compelled to grab him with pick 16. They may not have been confident of him being available by the time their next pick was up (pick 48?) Just a quick heads up on who supports who here (from memory) With apologies to anyone I've missed ... Philadelphia - Dappa Dan (Dappa started this thread) and 45HG Washington - jezzzza, Demon Land 7 Giants - JT9 San Francisco - QueenC, DemonDave, Titan_Uranus and Whispering Jack St Louis - condemned 84, New Age Hipster. Jets - Dr Gonzo KC - pantaloons Denver - Cards13 Minnesota - cowboy from hell, daisycutter Chicago - old dee Green Bay - DirtyDees DDC, Macca Houston and Seattle have a few fans who haven't posted for a while. I think you're the only Bengals fan, Strafford.

Judging by the above post, you're acknowledging that last year, up to 40 of our players didn't 'buy in'. By the way, Grimes and Tom McDonald had reasonable years. So we're up to 4. So in summary, it was Moloney and about another 40 odd players who possibly didn't 'buy in'. 15 of those 40 were traded out, were delisted or left of their own volition. Fair enough. I now make all applicable references to the 'Coaching staff', stuie. Much safer ground

Didn't seem that many 'bought in' last year, if the truth be known. In fact, if you went on actual output last year, we might be only able to name Jones and Clark as having 'bought in' 2 blokes ain't a whole lot Gonzo. Care to name any more? Who else had a good 2012? Does that mean that roughly 40 blokes didn't 'buy in'? 15 of those 40 were delisted, traded out or left of their own volition so we could safely say that those 15 didn't buy in. Or have they got other excuses?

Jones is a better player than Moloney. Brent had his deficiencies but he was easily better than our 3rd best clearance player. Instead of having 2 reasonable clearance players we've now only got one (right now) Magner started the season quite well last year and won plenty of his own ball. Next thing, the coaching department tried to turn him into a tagger. Now he's back to being a rookie and his career is at the crossroads. Remember the threads we had about him last year? 'rjay', I'm a great believer in 'Do what you do, do well'. Some blokes are only good at one thing in footy and it's highly unlikely that you can change them. You can end up spending a lot of energy on a totally fruitless exercise. You can't turn the 'proverbial' into strawberry jam !! We've got plenty on our list who could do a lot better in the midfield but for whatever reason they don't. There's a bit of talent there but they don't produce.

Packers picked up DE Datone Jones. Anyone know much about him? 'cfh', they're saying that the Vikes have done very well with your 3 picks. All ready to go?

I'm by no means calling him a great player - he's not. But it should be acknowledged that we've only got one effective clearance player on our list right now. So it was Moloney bombing it forward or the opposition gets it (if Jones doesn't get it) And because of our poor defensive skills, if the opposition win more of the clearances, we get punished - often severely. I could always see his value, even though he was never a great user of the ball. As I said, if Jones goes down, who's our next best clearance player? Right now? Sometimes you have to make do with what you've got.

That is just not true Gonzo. For instance, Moloney averaged 19 possessions in our losses in 2011. Which was close enough to our best average for any of our players in those losses. Think Jones averaged 20 or 21 in those same losses. Completely missing? Don't think so. The brutal truth is that none of our players have stood up consistently in all our losses from 2007 - 2012. None of them. Jones did ok last year in our big losses. I'm constantly astonished that this vital piece of information is ignored.

With the probable exception of Jones, it's interesting that Moloney is possibly playing better for the Lions than any other Melbourne player is playing for the Demons. We're down to one clearance player and if Jones goes down then heaven help us. The coaching staff last year trying to turn a 28 year old attacking midfielder into a defensive half forward was a poor decision. Much like trying to turn Rivers into a forward. If you don't possess A grade players you definitely don't get rid of your B grade players. Or not try and keep them. Free agency should give the lower placed teams a chance to fast track to be a better performing team. So far the opposite has been the case for our club. Sylvia may well be on the move at seasons end - which will no doubt please the Sylvia haters. Frawley could ask for a move even though he is contracted. We could end up with many of our experienced players being rejects from other clubs.

There's so much money involved for the Indians in the IPL that they probably have no need for the much smaller money on offer in the BBL. Some of the Indian players earn close to $2,000,000 in the IPL. As for the England players, their season starts in late April / early May and they probably have to sign contracts precluding them from being available for the IPL. (although KP wants to play in the IPL. He's got a huge contract with his Indian franchise, subject to availability) For our players, that April / May period was usually a time to put the feet up. But if there's obscene amounts of money on offer, what are they to do? They are professional sportsmen. For example, Maxwell is getting $1,000,000 for a maximum of 45 hours of cricket (that's about 1 and a half Tests) He might spend 15 - 20 hours of that time sitting on the sidelines. Easy money in anyone's book. CA could pay our players not to play in the IPL but it's highly doubtful that they'd do that. Not sure they'd have enough funds anyway. It all comes down to money and that money supply keeps coming. It's not stopping anytime soon. Harris is/was on 350k for about 50 overs worth of bowling in the IPL. Ridiculous isn't it? But that's the reality. He's 33 years old and he can't play forever, so like just about anyone else, he'll most probably take the money. Faulkner is playing in the IPL this season for 400k. Our interest in the IPL (or lack of interest) is largely irrelevant. It's high stakes and the players are the commodities. The lack of down time or rest for the best cricketers has evaporated. I can just see more of the same in the future - especially if all the t20 Leagues get bigger and more widespread. There has been talk of a 2nd IPL League as well. Who knows where it will end?

The Record Fakers For the 80 minute BBC podcast click here It that link doesn't work go to this site and scroll down to 'The Record Fakers' where you can click on the download. Well worth a listen

The keeper at no.7 with some hard hitting at 5 and 6 (if it comes off) has a better look about it, TD. Here's how I think the 1st Test will line up (in batting order, assuming that Watson is bowling) Cowan Warner Hughes* Clarke Khawaja Watson Haddin Starc Siddle** Pattinson Lyon *Rogers might have to wait for his opportunity but I'd have him in before Hughes. ** I can't really see Siddle not playing first up but I'd start off with Harris or Bird instead.

I'm remaining unrealistically optimistic until proven otherwise! A 2-1 series win but we'll need just about everything to go our way (did everything go our way in '89? ... it seemed so) Interesting facts ... The 1st Test is at Trent Bridge where England have only beaten us twice since 1930. The 2nd Test is at Lords where we've only been beaten once by England since 1934. Re Agar. If he's our 1st choice back up spinner then that might be ok. If not, maybe we can get Warnie to take his 'Whites' over there (just in case )

Would have liked to see an extra spinner in the squad for a few reasons 1 - In case we need to replace Lyon because of lack of form 2 - To step into the team if Lyon has a training mishap and is unavailable 3 - In case a 'spinning wicket' is prepared or is presented because of local conditions. 4 - To give valuable experience to another spinner on an Ashes tour. The above 4 points should not be seen as a criticism of Lyon as I believe he's easily our first choice spinner right now. It's more the principle of only having one spinner in the squad. Maybe we'll have a few of our other spinners over there playing County cricket during the tour. If that's the case, then there is most probably a back-up plan. Remembering that Wade had to play with a fractured cheekbone in India because we didn't have a reserve keeper on tour (Haddin was belatedly flown over) On the choosing of 6 fast bowlers ... Even though it was a predictable move because of the rotation policy, it effectively means that 3 quick bowlers will sit on the sidelines for every Test. 5 quicks would have been enough and if we had done that it would have allowed us to pick an extra spinner and create more balance. Also felt we could have picked a 17th player to tour and ideally that player would have been a batting all rounder who bowls medium fast. Henriques or Mitch Marsh could have fitted the bill. As it is, if Watson breaks down again, we won't have a 5th bowler in the team. We could fly a player in but it would be best to have that player as already being part of the squad. I thought we could have included another young batsman at the expense of Hughes or Khawaja. Burns or Doolan could have been included in the squad. Happy for Rogers though as well as Harris and Faulkner. You'd reckon that Haddin will play seeing as he has been named as VC. Who knows with the selectors though? Our batting is going to have to improve dramatically if we're going to be any chance. The selectors have only included one new batsman (Rogers) so they've all got another opportunity. Let's hope they make the most of it. Like you, I'd have Rogers in the team but he might have to bide his time initially. Also reckon that Haddin will play but whether he keeps or not is another matter. In an ideal world, either Wade or Haddin plays and bats at no.7. Think they might play one of the left arm quicks initially as well. Would like to see either Bird or Harris in the team though. Both those seam bowlers look suited to English conditions. They've picked 6 fast bowlers in the squad so we could assume that the rotation policy will be persevered with. I'd like to see us start off with Pattinson and Starc with Harris or Bird making up our 3 fast bowlers (with back up from Watson) Siddle can be rotated in. Our fast bowling is our strength and you could make a case for any of the 6 to play. I like what Faulkner brings to the table as well. He's a good competitor.

Right now watching LA @ Detroit on cable. Detroit leading 2-1 early in the 3rd period with the Red Wings with it all to play for. If they can snag the 8 seed it sets up a classic encounter against Chicago in the 1st round of the playoffs. Looks like the Canucks will meet San Jose or St Louis in the 1st round. Yeah, that Toronto / Montreal match-up would be a classic series.

The rumour is that he'll end up at Real Madrid. Depends on the transfer fee of course, but if Liverpool get the right price it will allow them to buy in some more talent. Certainly a dilemma for them. He did come out and apologise the next day but the act itself is unexplainable. The decision to keep him or not keep him might depend on the owners of the club.

It's hard to see Sir Alex Ferguson stopping anytime soon. And why should he retire? He is managing as well as ever. Well done to the 'Red Devils'.... and yeah, a rather unfortunate moment for Suarez. Shame really as he is such a good player. Hard to know what Liverpool's next move with him will be. Anyway ... the race is still on for Champions League spots. The May 8 encounter between Chelsea vs Tottenham may help decide things. Chelsea also have to visit Manchester Utd whilst Arsenal are at home to Man Utd this weekend. .... Table The Hammers are finishing the season well. 10th spot at the moment which is a reasonable achievement, all things considered. Big Sam has done a mighty job and Andy Carroll has been vital. Reckon Spurs might just get that 3rd spot and automatic qualification for the Champions League. However, they're probably going to have to get at least a point at Stamford Bridge to do so. Just on the Champions League, both 1st leg semi finals are on this week. Starting with Bayern vs Barcelona in the morning then Borussia Dortmund vs Real Madrid on Thursday morning.

Bulls even the series against Brooklyn and the Clippers/Grizzlies encounter ends up with a thrilling finish. Highlights LA Clippers / Memphis Grizzlies ESPN are covering the Boston / New York game from 10am tomorrow. Celtics won't want to fall 2 down.

Milwaukee's Brandon Jennings predicted a series victory in 6 games ... the Bucks had better get a move on after today's game 1. ... Milwaukee @ Miami game 1 highlights

They'll all slot back into other positions someplace ... the College system or in other roles within the NBA. 7 or 8 NFL coaches were all gone within a day or so of the completion of the season. It's all very matter of fact over there. A few of the picks are no-brainers in the 1st round but we may see a surprise or 2. The Lakers may extend their series vs San Antonio but that might have more to do with how healthy the Spurs are. For those with cable, it looks like ESPN are covering selected games in the 1st round (beginning tomorrow with game 1 of the Bulls @ Nets 10am AEST) ESPN radio will be covering various games as well. Will post details when available.

Playoffs start from 5am AEST tomorrow ... ... schedule for the 1st week of the playoffs Tips (Winners in dark italics) OKC vs Houston San Antonio vs LA Lakers Denver vs Golden State LA Clippers vs Memphis Miami vs Milwaukee New York vs Boston Indiana vs Atlanta Brooklyn vs Chicago

In a last ditch effort our embattled Board brings in the Kardashians. Miraculously, we start winning. Vlad dubs it a 'Masterstroke' Watts weds Kim (complete with beard) 'Jack and the Kardashians' becomes a new hit series.