Macca

Big news out of the UK Jurgen Klopp to step down as Liverpool manager at the end of the season

We need Petty available & firing. We also need JVR to improve on last year. If that happens along with Fritsch as the 3rd target forward, we'll be fine With Brown out for the time being, T-Mac could come back into calculations as the back-up key forward. Schache, Fullarton & maybe Jefferson as possibles The rest of the forward line to be made up of Petracca (part time) Kozzie (most of the time) ANB, Chandler, McAdam, Billings and maybe Tholstrup There's some depth there with the bolstering of numbers in the off-season

In a sport like soccer especially, the issue of players being contracted but not being very productive is an old, old story On a much bigger scale to the AFL, soccer has learned to live with contracted players that are past their prime. All the USA sports as well. There are countless individual stories, not just a few It's just a part of pro sports that we're not used to in Australia. Once the money became much bigger and the contracts water-tight, the timing of the contracts became more difficult In terms of value, both Brown & T-Mac have been productive from an overall perspective Both were integral in 2021 when we won the flag. And without that flag, it would be 60 years and counting instead of 57 years So if someone had have said (before the flag) that Brown & T-Mac would become unproductive post 2021 but you'll win the flag in 2021, who amongst us wouldn't have taken that?

Yes, but injuries intervened and none of us could have foretold that. No one And it can work the other way too What if Dunstan & Melksham were contracted this year on reasonable money?

Having contracted players who are past their prime is part of professional sports. Numerous examples are now being seen where a player (or players) are given an extra year or 2 in order to keep those players Or if a club wants to secure players in trades where offering an extra year or 2 is needed in order to acquire those players We're seeing more and more top players signing long term deals and even average players getting longer contracts And that type of list management is going to continue especially if we see more player movement between clubs So what that means is that in any given year, a club might have 3+ players who end up being depth only. Getting the timing perfect is wishful thinking The AFL is catching up with the rest of the world with regards to list management But if it's right across the board, across all the clubs, then no club is at a real disadvantage So gone are the days where every single list position is a productive one. It stands to reason that type of position just can't happen And players are not going to walk away from large amounts of money. You're a long time retired A way to alleviate the issue is to front end contracts but that's not always possible due to salary cap constraints (in any given year) In a nutshell, having players such as Brown & T-Mac as depth players was always a possible likelyhood. The upside is that we have a couple of experienced wise-heads around to help the young blokes coming through

With only 2 head coaching jobs yet to be filled (Washington & Seattle) it seems that Bill Belichick may end up getting squeezed out

All things being equal the 49ers should win by 2 scores. But this is the NFL where odd things often happen! So keep your fingers crossed, layz

Apparently the cheapest ticket to the Australian Open Mens final is $2000 ranging up to $6000! That's for one seat and it's in the bleachers A glass of bubbly is $30, a beer $15 and a hot dog $18. Chocolate bar $6

@Go the Biff @titan_uranus @BDA @Dr. Gonzo @Clintosaurus @Dee Zephyr @Dappa Dan @Gorgoroth @layzie @DeeSpencer Leaderboard Post Season Tipping Comp 16 - BDA 15 - Go the Biff, DemonDave 13 - Gorgoroth 11 - JV7, Clintosaurus 9 - Dee Zephyr 8 - Macca, titan_uranus 6 - layzie 3 - Dr.Gonzo 2 - DeeSpencer This week each win is worth 3 points plus 3 bonus points per game for the correct margin bracket (1-6, 7-13 or 13+) The Super Bowl is worth 5 points along with 5 bonus points on offer as well Good luck! Next week's games Mon 7.00am Kansas City @ Baltimore (-3.5) Mon 10.30am Detroit @ San Francisco (-7.0)

Aussies not impressive but Uzbekistan did play well and they are not a bad team. But both teams didn't test out the opposition goalkeepers. Oz lucky to receive a penalty So next up is a round of 16 match against the best 3rd place getter from group A, C or D. So either Palestine or Indonesia at this stage

Aussies final group match vs Uzbekistan (Ch10 from 9.50pm) A draw means we top the group but a win means a probable match-up against a 3rd placegetter from another group (in a round of 16 match)

49ers should win, by rights, but if luck plays a decent part, the Lions can win. As you mentioned, if the Lions aggressive play calling works, Detroit are a real show And if the best version of KC turns up, they can beat the Ravens. Then there's the Taylor Swift factor (whatever that is)

We play 4 Thursday evening games and 1 Wednesday evening game within the first 15 rounds (2 away games @ Sydney and @Adelaide) If it was possible to start the games at 6.30pm the timeslot might fit better. As previously stated, I'm neither here or there on Thursday night games but we'll no doubt get used to it Most of the oldies here were brought up on 6 Saturday* arvo games where the only deviation were the 'split rounds!!' And if you played footy you could only go to a few games per year The timeslot that hasn't been exploited is Sunday evening. What's the bet that's next? *Standing in the outer you'd often here a question along the lines of ... "Who's E & F?" Great days all the same

Thursday evening footy has effectively replaced the Saturday afternoon fixture (albeit on delay) which was covered by Ch7 for years So we're getting about the same amount of FTA footy

Hundreds of thousands of TV viewers and those that attend the games is what really matters, DZ There's a high demand but it's not everyone's cup of tea

I can take it or leave it but it's here to stay Ch7, cable & streaming are forking out $Billions to the AFL so like it or not, they get to call the shots (at least in part) And if it wasn't for all the 5 day breaks that would be created, I reckon we'd have Monday night footy as well But that might happen in the future anyway. I wouldn't rule anything out especially with so much invested money

Next week's games Mon 7.00am Kansas City @ Baltimore (-3.5) Mon 10.30am Detroit @ San Francisco (-7.0)

How about everyone else?

Updated

If Brown is fit and firing he could probably handle a few rucking contests in the F50 but JVR is a much better option A lot depends on whether Fullarton measures up and whether we go with 2 or 3 tall forwards At this stage, I don't see Brown taking the place of JVR. They either both play alongside Petty or Brown misses out. And again, we need to see if Fullarton makes the grade (and the fitness of Petty is a factor) In my view, If we need a bona-fide 2nd ruck it's either Fullarton or JVR and in that situation, we'll probably need to play 3 tall forwards (otherwise it's 2 with one having to do the relief rucking) And the club probably needs to start 'managing' Gawn as he gets older thus the probable need for a bona-fide 2nd ruck

Hit outs do matter when the taps are to advantage and one team has the large majority of taps to advantage (say 16 to 4) Who wouldn't want first use of the ball an extra dozen times? But the 2nd ruck is there often just to neutralise with a minimal amount of ruck contests The issue however might be Gawn and how much time he can spend on the ball as he gets older. So, if we require a 2nd ruck needed for a decent amount of ruck duals, Brown is not the answer. As it stands, it's a big ask just for Brown to be fit and available If one of our tall forwards (JVR?) is required as the 2nd ruck, we may well play 3 tall forwards so as to not leave ourselves short up forward when the 2nd ruck is required. When not rucking, does Gawn go to the bench more so than up forward? Every player needs to be productive these days so hopefully Fullarton puts his hand up

Leaderboard Post Season Tipping Comp 16 - BDA 15 - Go the Biff, DemonDave 13 - Gorgoroth 11 - JV7, Clintosaurus 9 - Dee Zephyr 8 - Macca, titan_uranus 6 - layzie 3 - Dr.Gonzo 2 - DeeSpencer

If they had have picked Petracca, who might we have picked? Remembering that Hogan was at the club so we might not have picked McCartin. There again, we may well have drafted him to accompany Hogan But Watts & Dawes were at the club as was T-Mac but Tom hasn't ventured forward as yet, that happened in 2017 De Goey went at pick #5 in that draft so it could gave been him (along with Brayshaw) Jarrod Pickett went at pick 4 to the Giants and ended up being a bust (but we only know that in hindsight of course) Nevertheless, it was a real sliding doors moment

Trouble is that we have quite a few that can play half back (Rivers, Salem, McVee, Bowey & Brayshaw) And right now, we may be a class mid down to start the season. Can any of those HB's play as mids? Possibly Rivers & McVee but it's a big step up in terms of endurance and the ability to do so (play as a mid) Where as we know Brayshaw can play the role of a mid. The key is for either Brayshaw to release a fellow mid or being the release player himself. For that to happen we need better schemes from centre-bounces or stoppages But Brayshaw can play as a holding mid or defensive mid. From memory, a couple of times he played that role was against Adelaide & Brisbane. And he played very well on both occasions He was like a rock at the back end of the square And he was the release player when king hit by the filth thug. In the year when he finished 3rd in the Brownlow, he was often the release mid, dashing forward We're actually quite blessed that he can play so many roles