Macca

And now it looks like Mitch Johnson will lose his Triple M cricket commentary gig. Not listed amongst the 18 strong commentary team

Bancroft could have replaced an out of form Warner in the Test team a year ago but will Bancroft play for Australia again? By the way, I don't dislike Warner as many do and his white-ball form is still stellar. His fielding alone in the World Cup was exceptional and his runs were invaluable But his Test form is questionable ... ex coach Darren Lehmann is saying that Warner will need to make runs in the first Test against Pakistan to remain in the team

Excellent points Civ but Bancroft has suffered the most even though he owned his wrongdoing. He's made about 1500 runs in the last year and a half in the Shield but apparently he's 'Not knocking down the door' (?) That's a lot of runs that aren't being noticed Bancroft's papers might have been stamped Not forgetting that all the way through, miilions of $$$$'s in salaries were and are at stake. Those yearly contracts are worth a pretty penny as are the match payments

@Go the Biff @titan_uranus @BDA @Dr. Gonzo @Clintosaurus @DemonDave @Dee Zephyr @Dappa Dan @Gorgoroth @layzie @JV7 @DeeSpencer Leaderboard Tipping Comp 5 - DemonDave 4 - Clintosaurus, Macca* 3 - Dr.Gonzo, DeeSpencer*, Go the Biff, layzie 2 - Dee Zephyr, Gorgoroth, JV7 1 - BDA, titan_uranus *denotes bonus point awarded Just the 1 point on offer this week (bonus point as well) before we finish off as such Week 15 - 2 points Week 16 - 2 points Week 17 - 2 points Week 18 - 3 points

I reckon just about the whole team knew about what was going on (re sandpaper) ... the keeper especially and all the bowlers just had to know as the ball itself changes it's appearance with such methods And if there's an absence of normal abrasiveness, then even more so Bancroft himself hinted strongly that the bowlers knew and if Smith the captain knew, it's difficult to believe that the rest of the team didn't know So maybe Warner won't put his hand up because his teammates won't? CA probably want the whole thing to go away so the Warner farewell tour is rubber stamped (?) In my view it's a murky story

Looks like the large majority here on this thread have teams that are in contention, layz (apart from a couple of exceptions)

Purdy was fantastic and the 49ers are going to be hard to stop Going into Philadelphia's home field and winning that way was mighty impressive Of course, in this sport anything can happen and TD's can be scored from fumbles, interceptions or run backs so you never know Your Cowboys aren't far off leading the NFC East now Might be decided next Monday night - Eagles @ Dallas!

I listened to the whole match and the regular Packer commentators were quite impressed with Love's game. Made a lot of smart decisions from the pocket The team matched the Chiefs all game too so were worthy winners But the team is the youngest in the league so hiccups will occur. Run home isn't tough so we might fill a wild-card spot (vying with half a dozen teams along with your Rams, Gorg!)

Well done to DemonDave & Dee Zephyr in gaining 2 points this week - very well earned as they had to tip away from the Chiefs! Anyway, we're all on the board now with 10 points up for grabs in the last 5 weeks (plus a bonus point available in those 5 weeks) It's been a real test of patience for all of us in such a weird tipping year but I'm reminded that points are easier to gain at the tail-end of the season - good luck you blokes! Leaderboard Tipping Comp 5 - DemonDave 4 - Clintosaurus, Macca* 3 - Dr.Gonzo, DeeSpencer*, Go the Biff, layzie 2 - Dee Zephyr, Gorgoroth, JV7 1 - BDA, titan_uranus * Denotes bonus point awarded

My initial point is that it's not just the Gabba getting funding, as the NRL & AFL clubs get heaps of public monies as well Besides which, the AFL and Cricket will be the beneficiaries of a refurbushed Gabba So the argument is broad and widespread and not just confined to the Olympics As an aside, 84% of the venues needed for the Olympics in Brisbane are in place It's really just the Gabba that needs upgrading and again, after the Olympics are done, cricket & footy will be the winners In the meantime, the Lions can play at Metricon for a few years. And if anyone does care, the t20's can be held there as well But the money spent on the Gabba can be compared to the money spent on a would-be stadium in Hobart

Same story for all the 100's of $Millions spent on 'Training venues' for most of the AFL & NRL clubs? Often, those vast amounts of money comes with a caveat ... buying votes in close run electorates (except when it comes to the MFC of course, where the value of inner City votes is negligible) And as @Demon17 mentioned, the $Billion (at least) to be spent on the Hobart venue (for the AFL) may go ahead instead of that money being spent on health, housing etc etc The argument is broad, not just confined to the Olympics

More so 2 expensive ruckman vying for the one position. I suppose the club might have thought that one of Gawn or Grundy could have made a fist of it up forward but alas, that didn't happen But we always needed to replace Jackson with another ruckman and as a means to an end, we've now added Fullarton to replace Grundy In effect, Grundy helped us achieve a top 4 position by ably filling in for Gawn when he was injured (as well as rucking well with Gawn in the team) It was worth a punt as we couldn't just go into the 2023 season with Schache as the only back up to Gawn

It seems not everyone is happy about Dave's farewell test The Roar, ABC news or Yahoo has the full story from Mitch Johnson (unleashes on Warner, Bailey)

We also received a future 2nd round pick from Freo (for Jackson) which we later traded to move our own first round pick up in the draft to secure Tholstrup So it's Jefferson, Windsor & a needed 2nd round pick to secure Tholstrup

Chiefs Dolphins Lions

@Go the Biff @titan_uranus @BDA @Dr. Gonzo @Clintosaurus @DemonDave @Dee Zephyr @Dappa Dan @Gorgoroth @layzie @JV7 @DeeSpencer Leaderboard Tipping Comp 4 - Clintosaurus, Macca* 3 - Dr.Gonzo, DeeSpencer*, DemonDave, Go the Biff, layzie 2 - Gorgoroth, JV7 1 - BDA, titan_uranus 0 - Everyone else *Denotes bonus point awarded Next week (week 14) - 1 point Weeks 15, 16 & 17 - 2 points each Week 18 - 3 points And the bonus point is up for grabs if you are the sole winner in any given week 2 points on the line this week

And the silver lining is that we moved up at least 2 spots in the draft by losing both finals. Almost certainly 3 spots further down if we'd lost a PF So instead of a starting point in the draft of 13, the pick could easily have been 16 From that point, do we get to pick 11 and then snare the Danish wonder?!! If the kid turns out to be a star, the 2 losses in the finals will have been a contributing factor

And no one was predicting that Brown or T-Mac would be incapacitated rendered ineffective for nearly all the season On top of that Fritsch was nowhere near match fit when he returned. As previously mentioned, Melk & Petty were out Brayshaw being taken out in an act of thuggery meant that we couldn't use Petracca forward as we would have liked So if the majority of those aforementioned players were fit and raring to go, I'm not sure JVR gets a game ... instead of that he was a virtual linchpin I never make excuses but sound reasoning has to be acknowledged ... we did exceeedingly well to get so close in both finals All this misery talk of a straight sets exit seems to be bypassing that our stocks were bare (in the forward line) As for 2022, I reckon we mucked up fitness wise and if our top players were exhausted, take the chance and rest them ... we won our first 10 games so we had that luxury

Almost impossiblr to win 3 finals with a C- forward line ... we were always going to slip up somewhere along the line Having Melksham & Petty as inclusions with say, Salem & Sparrow injured instead, and the balance of injuries across the team selected would have had a greater chance of winning 3 finals So going out in straight sets although frustrating, was always a possibility 2022 was way more frustrating as we ran out of legs half-way through the season. Losing Burgess so soon after tasting success may have been problematical

Finally, points gained!! Leaderboard Tipping Comp 4 - Clintosaurus, Macca* 3 - Dr.Gonzo, DeeSpencer*, DemonDave, Go the Biff, layzie 2 - Gorgoroth, JV7 1 - BDA, titan_uranus 0 - Everyone else 😁 *Denotes bonus point awarded Week 13 (next week) is worth 2 points week 14 - 1 point Weeks 15, 16 & 17 - 2 points each Week 18 - 3 points And a bonus points is up for grabs if you are the sole winner in any given week

@Dr. Gonzo @BDA @DeeSpencer Don't forget your tips!

J-Mac starts his 6 week stint in Hong Kong as of tomorrow (Sha Tin) and he's got a full book of rides aside from R1 James & Zac Purton could dominate proceeding tomorrow as both jockeys are riding on any number of genuine winning chances

And 2 classics from Steely Dan's 'Aja'

Yeah and how about Stafford ... one year out of Detroit and he wins big! He was good at the Lions but needed a new environment

The Eagles deserve a bit of a run on this thread ...