Macca

The race is on for the title! (my money is on City - ultra impressive against United yesterday) But any of the top 4 can win it Nov 6th Newcastle vs Arsenal Nov 7th Tottenham vs Chelsea Nov 13th Chelsea vs Man City Nov 25th Man City vs Liverpool Nov 27th Tottenham vs Aston Villa Dec 4th Man City vs Tottenham Dec 7th Aston Villa vs Man City Dec 10th Aston Villa vs Arsenal Dec 11th Tottenham vs Newcastle Dec 18th Liverpool vs Man Utd Dec 24th Liverpool vs Arsenal

Here's a movie that slipped past previously but upon watching the film the other night, it was well worth watching Nothing glitzy about it either. Just a story about an idealistic lawyer running for the senate in California. Redford plays his part superbly Looks like the movie is out in the public domain (at least for now)

NFL Preview Week 8

Chiefs Ravens Eagles

Maxwell 100 off 40 balls - incredible! Sets a new record ... power and clean hitting & reverse pull shots the highlights The Dutch were plucky and they fielded exceptionally well but they couldn't contain Warner & Maxie Assuming the Aussies go on to win the match, we should be able to set up a buffer (run rate & W/L record) in order to qualify for a SF berth

2 participants went pointless for the entire season last season and 1 of the 2 participants still hasn't got off the mark this year! Intolerable cruelty But said participant could get up and win it. You never know! And we had a 4 or 5 week stretch last season (around the same time frame as right now) where no one received a point It's a tough comp that gets tougher Still, everyone is within striking distance of leading the comp so there's that As for the Falcons, your division is down to 3 who can win it. Handy win against the Bucs on the weekend

Just got to get to the playoffs and then anything can happen. At this stage maybe the Chiefs/Eagles to get to the SB but there are any number of teams that can get on a roll. Home field may or may not be an advantage And there's bound to be a couple of teams get hot at the business end

@layzie @Gorgoroth @JV7 @DeeSpencer @Go the Biff @titan_uranus @BDA @Dr. Gonzo @Clintosaurus @DemonDave @Dee Zephyr @Dappa Dan 1 point on offer this week (the bonus point on offer as well) Good luck! haha Leaderboard Tipping Comp 3 - Dr. Gonzo, Clintosaurus, DeeSpencer*, Macca* 2 - DemonDave, Go the Biff, layzie 1 - Gorgoroth 0 - Everyone else 🤔 * Denotes 1 bonus point awarded

Yeah, they're an extremely solid outfit playing very well. And how do the other teams stop the tush-push? Working a treat right now Eagles, Jags, KC, Lions, 49ers & the Ravens (?) are starting to create separation in their respective divisions But it's a long season and there's probably still 20 teams in contention for the playoffs (remembering that 14 teams contest the playoffs now) I'll have a go at the top 10 Eagles 49ers Chiefs Miami Jags Bills Ravens Lions Atlanta Dallas

NFL Week 7 Preview

Bills 49ers Washington

Must win #2 tonight Another big factor is we don't need a washed out match (only the 2 SF's & the Final have a reserve day)

@layzie @Gorgoroth @JV7 @DeeSpencer @Go the Biff @titan_uranus @BDA @Dr. Gonzo @Clintosaurus @DemonDave @Dee Zephyr @Dappa Dan 2 points on offer this week (the bonus point on offer as well) Another challenging week! Good luck Leaderboard Tipping Comp 3 - Dr. Gonzo, Clintosaurus, DeeSpencer*, Macca* 2 - DemonDave, Go the Biff, layzie 1 - Gorgoroth 0 - Everyone else 🤔 * Denotes 1 bonus point awarded

England losing to Afghanistan might mean that whoever loses our match against England could be out of the tournament ... as it stands both us and England could miss the SF's anyway Also of note - no West Indies! How the once mighty have fallen

Yes, mentioned him in a prior post. But Fullarton might only play if we play 2 rucks or if Max is unavailable. Schache ends up being the spare We tend to see the best in a ruckman once they are the main man. Right now that is Max easily but we'll probably play 2 rucks in at least 4 or 5 games. Unless Fullarton cements a spot. And the seasons are getting longer for Max Not forgetting that JVR can also ruck occasionally (more so in the forward line) And he's not too bad at the caper - doesn't mind body contact

I don't believe we'll be relying on T-Mac or Brown but they're both contracted and if either can get reasonably fit, that's ok back up I didn't mention Schache either but he's back up as well. Jefferson might come on too and we have extended his contract so the MC can see something. He's one to watch Where we will probably be reliant is with Petty & Fritsch being fully fit and over their foot complaints There's a few if's & but's so fingers crossed we can get healthy up forward Still, our backline is stellar with good depth and if we acquire 2 x midfield/ Utility types in the draft, an already established midfield will be bolstered I'm reasonably confident going into the next year as even with our forward line woes we still won 16 games in the season proper and went very close in 2 finals In the dark days winning 16 games was a pipedream so we've got a good team right now that just needs to be a bit better I can't imagine playing finals next season with a C- forward line. That would be unlikely to happen again ... as for our kicking at goal, practising under pressure is a good remedy. And an easy thing to simulate

Well we're running out of time to pick up an experienced forward and we may feel we've got the personnel anyway The issue with the forward line is staying healthy along with the delivery to the forwards ... and our forwards need to be able to create separation better as well McQualter coming on board with new ideas is sure to sharpen things up in that area So Fullarton (Forward/Ruck) and McAdam (small forward) have been added to JVR, Petty, Smith, Fritsch, Chandler & Kozzie with some back up from Brown & T-Mac (if required) Melksham might be available at the back-end of '24 And in the games where Fullarton plays, Gawn can push forward occasionally as more of a surprise packet And if we bolster our midfield (2 x midfield/utility types?) then we can safely push Petracca forward whenever required And I agree with you with regards Brayshaw

The reverse mozz in operation Lankans now 4-166

And now we're staring down the barrel at another loss Batting first Sri Lanka 1-156 off 26 overs

It's a mystery unless a modicum of logic is applied ... but that logic can be flawed logic haha

A lot of our errors and poor decisions from our mids were caused by the pressure from the opposition ... and we need to fix that Yze was our mids coach so the faults can be sent his way. Put it this way, if it's no fault of Yze why did we have him in his role? What was he there for? And I'd argue that if Petty, JVR & Melksham had have played instead of Smith, T-Mac & Chandler, we don't exit in straight sets Brayshaw being taken out hurt as well as Petracca couldn't be used forward as much But these things happen and let's not forget that we got a dream run with injuries in 2021

As disappointed as we were in exiting the finals the way we did, September football exposes weaknesses Ours was a forward line that lacked quality and marking power. And to win the flag you can't hope to win 3 finals with a makeshift forward line And that's not an excuse, it's a reason For what it's worth, the reasoning on why we exited doesn't make me feel any better

And what were Schache & Tomlinson going to do? Neither are forwards of any note Grundy wasn't under consideration and he's no forward either Face it, we ran out of options in the forward line (in terms of injuries) and that's all there is to it

But you didn't say that or know that at the time. None of us did You're using hindsight to strengthen your argument

Wouldn't have made much difference at all and we might have been worse off So not the fault of the coach