Macca

Had forgotten about Ryder ... he can certainly hit the ball. The last 2 rounds hasn't been as tricky as I thought. With so much cricket being played over the 3 forms of the game, there is a reasonable amount of depth I've had my eye on Pollard for quite some time. The depth in batting in my tail allowed me to have a bit of freedom with the no.6 bat. Plus, you've got to have the bowling capacity to get 20 wickets and Pollard is more than handy with the ball. Think I've got 8 bowlers in my side

Need a hard hitting no.6 who can bowl decent medium fast. Someone with a touch of 'Grinter' about himself The bloke I'm picking can have a 'licence to thrill' as my tail bats deep (Prior, Vettori, Bresnan). This fella is only 25 years old and is a very good outfielder who (arguably) took the catch of the summer. Hasn't played Test cricket yet but according to that doyen of cricket writers, Tony Cosier, it's "Time to check Pollard's red-ball value" Round 11, pick 85 Kieron Pollard (West Indies)

Well, you have to take into account that we'd already played a game beforehand. Reverse the circumstances and we may have even won the game. We ran the game out well and only lost by 15 pts. And our team in the 2nd game wasn't as strong. Richmond only kicked 3 goals.(they kicked 6 goals against North) Depends on how you wanted to view the practice games Munga. If winning was a priority then I can see how some might be disappointed. I was mainly looking at our fitness, endeavor, structure, teamwork and the use of the corridor. We weren't too bad - not great by any means but there was some good positive signs.

Didn't get to see much either but heard that Clarke was in complete control again. His batting has gone into overdrive since he assumed the captaincy. Great to see. From what little I saw, Henriques didn't look out of place and he spoke very well and succinctly after the days play. I can see him snaring a wicket or 2 when he gets the ball in hand. He's a confident young bloke! Evenly poised but we need to get to 400+ to give ourselves a reasonable chance. Hoping that 'TD's forecast of our quicks coming through with the goods happens. Pup's spin could be handy as well (to back up Lyon) . That is of course if his back holds up.

Yep, excellent debut by Moises. We were in a precarious position and it's been a great fightback by the boys. Pup is just outstanding. N.B ... I've got to learn to post quicker - lost 2 wickets typing this - sheesh

They're practice matches OD. I was quite pleased, we didn't win but we ran both games out well and it could have been a damn side worse. I reckon most of us would have taken a close loss or win against North before the game. Watts looks comfortable out there - gee he's got some class - just needs a bit more mongrel - keep the beard, Jack! We all would have loved a win but realistically we had a much better chance in game 1 - and we only lost by 2 points. It's Friday night mate, go pour yourself a nice single malt and think about how good Hogan, Toumpas and Viney are gonna be for us.

We showed a bit. We look quite fit and a few of our new players were quite promising. Hogan looks the goods and Viney is a real goer. Watts and Dunn were both good down back and we ran the 2nd game out well. Attack on the ball was good and our overall endeavor was pleasing. Just need to finish better and improve our disposal. Thought our style of play was interesting - we brought the ball back into the corridor nicely and we kicked long and accurately to position on occasions. We had a whole bunch of new players in and it will take a little while for it to all gel. We didn't let the Tigers get away from us too much. Overall - reasonably pleased. That's a good hit out.

The Lakers paid a great tribute today with a terrific win over Boston. Jerry Buss had a huge positive influence over the League, over a lengthy period of time. The Lakers won 10 Championships under his ownership - phenomenal. Nice pre-game words by Kobe as well. Game highlights ... Boston @ the Lakers Had a listen to the last half of the Houston/OKC game today. The Rockets came back from a 14 pt deficit with just over 7 minutes to go. Harden went silly with 46 points - he's good to watch when he's 'On' . Jeremy Lin had 29 pts. Here are some highlights ... OKC @ Houston

Cale is living proof that the Draft can sometimes be a glorified lucky dip. If he went at pick 40 or 50 we wouldn't even be talking about him. The Draft has major flaws and always will have major flaws. These kids are 17 or 18 when drafted and there is no way you can tell for sure how these draftee's are going to turn out until they reach the age of 21- 23.(sometimes that footy 'maturity' comes at an even later age) From what we've been told, just about every recruiter in the land had Cale at pick 3 or 4. There is a very good chance that at least 2 of the top 10 picks in the 2012 National Draft will turn out to be below average footballers. And the other 8 won't all be 'A' grader's. Often a 'failed' top 10 pick can be injury related (Luke Molan) The stats don't lie. Go through every draft from 2006 and back, for the evidence. We didn't make an error in our selection nor did Cale let us or himself down. Cale is what he is. It didn't work out for us and I wish him all the best.

Well done to Moises Henriques and 'all the best' if, as expected, he makes his Test debut on Friday. He's probably dreamt of this moment all his life. Congratulations and good luck !

Was probably Hutchy being mischevious but I want to believe that version - therefore I will. Hissy fit it is - forget the overseas stuff. Time for us to embellish ...

Didn't Hutchy 'tweet' after last weeks show that she'd chucked a 'hissy fit' and threatened to not do the next show? This was after Gazza and her continued the 'verbals' post show. They should ditch her anyway. She adds nothing but muckraking rubbish that is mostly made up. If I watch it, it will be on delay so that I can mute and FF her part in the show. Excluding adverts this will allow me to watch the show in about 8 minutes.

Any idea why? Apart from the fact that she knows nothing about footy. She could get bumped for Dame Edna and it would be a huge step up in footy knowledge. A gossip columnist as 'chief football writer' - astonishing.

Pre-season games don't count ... but they do matter. As a team they will learn a lot about themselves. Our best chance is the 1st game against North. What will be interesting is how we run the game out against Richmond. Looking forward to seeing the new recruits. Especially Hogan, Dawes, Viney and Toumpas. Disappointing not to see Tapscott in the squad but he might be carrying a slight leg injury. I reckon Luke will prove a few people wrong this year. He just needs a good go at it. Still just 21 years old.

Fair enough 'dl' ... For those without cable or at work there is still not any news on whether ABC radio are covering the Test matches from India - not looking good There might be audio commentary of the games online by Test Match Sofa (click for online audio) As I'm typing this, they are 'calling' the New Zealand / England ODI. Here is there 'Wiki' page. But beware, the commentary takes a bit of an irreverent or flippant view of the games with a heavy anti Aussie slant. They are an English outfit who I believe commentate the game from a 'live' TV feed (from an 'unknown' location in London) They do have the official rights so it's not a dodgy link. Edit : Test Match Sofa are covering the Tests but probably not the 1st session of most or all of the days.

Yep, it could just be about the 'evidence', not how it was procured. More so if the VCGLR look over the report and then make their findings - in turn, they could make a judgement at a later date. We then may find out the detail in the report. We were alerted and forewarned about a month ago that the VCGLR could get involved. I guess most of us thought that once the AFL came down with a 'Not guilty of deliberately losing matches' we were out of the woods.

We're possibly going to find out what's in the 800 page report now. Although I've no idea how transparent these VCGLR investigations are. Maybe our legal eagles will know. The AFL's 'want' to keep everyone in the dark (on the detail) has attracted the wrong type of attention by the looks of it.

We're all feeling it mate, as 'rjay' said on the VCGLR thread - too smart by half. The punishment in no way fits the crime. All too vague and in a lot of ways it draws attention to itself. 16 weeks for Bailey and a year for Connolly and we still have no idea what for (in actuality) . Then there's the 500k fine for being 'Not guilty' . Amateur hour by the AFL and they may well have really landed us in it. Obviously I hope I'm wrong ...

Yep, on the surface it looks rather serious, Stuie There's a whole new bunch of questions - How long will this investigation take? What 'real' evidence is there? The 500k fine has probably attracted the attention of the VCGLR. Although they might have had us in their sights anyway ... This is gonna do our heads in ... enough already.

I just hope the club (and the AFL) were aware that this was on the cards and have covered themselves. Will this thing never end?

Yep, it's a bitter pill to swallow in that sense, JJC. But every dog has it's day. What we need is wins to shut 'em all up. Lots of wins. We need a winning season asap. We desperately need Neeld to be a very good coach and our players need to develop a winning mentality and must detest losing. We've got a kind draw and if we start well then anything's possible. If ever a team has the perfect ingredients for an 'us against them' mentality, it's us. By the way, I would have given that Carlton work colleague an earful. Reminding him/her that they 'cheated' to get Walker, Murphy, Kennedy (who they later traded) Gibbs, Kreuzer and Judd. Of course, I would have said it in a nice polite but pointed way Unbelievable what they got away with.

It's been going on for a few years now (ducking into tackles and being rewarded with a free). In days gone by the decision was nearly always paid against the player ducking (this had the effect of players not ducking into tackles very frequently) The more ducking into tackles we see, the more likelihood that we will see a serious neck injury. I blame Jeff Gieschen. How this bloke has held down the position of 'Umpires Director' since 1999 is beyond belief. Those above him should move him on and get an ex umpire with the right qualifications into the position. A serious neck injury with a tragic outcome is an accident waiting to happen.

The opening 2 comments from Gillon McLachlan was what we all wanted to hear ... In fact, to have these 2 comments upfront was very important in terms of our 2 gaming venues and our sponsors (and future sponsors) Here is the full transcript ... Tanking investigation: Full text of AFL statement Thought this was an interesting comment ... though I'm not sure that any other club will be investigated in the same way that we were ... Overall, it's hard to know how to feel. A 500k fine seems quite steep, all things considered. Bailey getting 16 weeks is also odd considering we're still none the wiser to what he actually did wrong. Connolly has taken a bullet for the club and I hope the club looks after him. Again, we're still unsure about the context of CC's comments and what was actually said. The whole thing was vague right to the end. Maybe in a few days there will be a sense of relief but right now I'm annoyed that we've taken the brunt for all the indiscretions (and that probably won't change) I guess we can all say that the AFL found us not guilty of deliberately losing matches. Does that mean we're not guilty of tanking? Probably, but there is the issue of the 500k fine ... There are still a lot of unanswered questions and it's doubtful whether we'll ever hear the full story.

Anyway, enough about rotations ... How 'bout this for a catch .... most of you would have seen it but it's worth another look ...

One thing is for sure HT, the rotation policy will remain controversial for some time. As stated before, I can see the merit in it, though I'm not sure how they can implement it without causing other issues. I tend to think that over time, more and more people will warm to it. It must have been a big decision to go down this path. My reasoning is that it might be best to get the new policy as 'right' as possible - then evaluate it. Part of the opposition to it is that it is a vastly different policy that has gone on before. People don't like change but one thing is true, nearly all Test series these days are crammed into a shorter time frame. T20 comps all around the World are extremely lucrative so many of the Fast Bowlers aren't getting the 'down time' that they once used to get. It's difficult to tell players to resist the big money on offer in t20 cricket. It's a 12 months a year sport like never before. I still believe you've got to have your best combination playing whenever possible. But how you do that is quite complex. Take the Indian series. We are playing 4 Tests (20 days) over 33 days. It's always hot, the wickets are more suited to spin bowling and outfields can often be rock hard and tough on the legs. Apart from this series in India, the IPL is then on. After that we go to England for the Ashes and a series of ODI's. We've then got the Shield season before we go to India for 7 ODI's in October/November. Then England is here for the Ashes and more ODI's. The Big Bash is on again before we go to South Africa for 3 Tests and more ODI's . There is no let up ..... In an ideal world we wouldn't have 'back to back' Test matches. Many of our front line bowlers are often 'unavailable' for Shield games (in other words, 'rested' for Shield games) That practice been going on for a number of years now. I remember when there was outcry over that 'new' policy. It's now regarded as accepted practice.