Diamond_Jim

yes that is a strange one. Immediately you would think it's the Ch 7 bargaining power or the anti siphoning rules but their is no prohibition on dual channel showing as long as one is FTA. On the bargaining power Fox pays the lion's share of the boradcast rights so you'd think they have a seat at the table. My pet hate is of course the Channel 7 commentators when the Fox game is also FTA

You have to look at internet charges as a function of local average wages. In Malaysia I have 1Gb fibre internet (up and down ) for A$50 per month but locally the average wage is around a quarter of what is earned in Australia. Where you see a big cost is in the area of laptops and other hardware. These items are "world priced" and to a local they are simply out of reach to many. During the pandemic families would share one or two phones for online learning. Kayo is excellent as it debundles sport from costly add ons. Its problem is that other providers will gradually cherry pick key aspects. A quick back of the envelope calculation shows that it is very hard to run a profitable sports streaming channel in Australia given the price paid to the bigh three .. AFL, NRL and Cricket. My guess is that next year when the contract runs out F1 will be cherry picked just as A League was last year along with the Socceroos. And that brings us to the 2022 World Cup. In 2018 most of the WC was behind the Optus paywall until their site fell over and SBS picked up the ball. Given the killer timezone and the location it may be the least watched World Cup in many years.

Very true Also I notice that he is rarely able to position himself so he is free to get the break on an opponent and take the relatively easy mark. Both Brown and Fritsch have this skill. If he is to replace Tom Mac his ball skills will need to improve.Tom Mac is very useful as a handball receive and give. Have rarely noticed Weid demonstrating these skills. Perhaps he is too one dimensional for the modern game

On ABC radio Glenn said that his father had to work this morning and that he had hoped to be at the ground by noon !!

A wonderful performance by Boland I think we may see a bit of discussion regarding ball technology shortly. The Kookaburra is a new design this year that is supposed to keep the ball harder longer. Interesting that reverse swing has been non exisitent and there has been very few sessions where batsmen of either side dominated. Don't think there has been more than one 300 run day if any. Winning away from home requires a great team and this England team is not clearly not one of them. Well done Scott Boland !!

The travel testing is starting to become ridiculous. Stories on social media about people having multiple tests in hope that one is in the 72 hour window.Others tell of friends and family in various queues with travelling party being ferried around the centres. Who knows if it's true but it's now farcical.

No ...just the spit in the tube... five minute test Given that they were all having Christmas lunch together 48 hours ago it goes to show that the definitions of contacts etc are going by the wayside ... good thing

Assume your problem with Kayo is the replays which are condensed. I doubt WatchAFL is much different as the source of the replays is probably the same. The live streams on Kayo are quite good in HD. They might add a 4k premium sub in future years. More likely if Foxtel is sold as has been mentioned by NewsCorp.

almost as stupid as the 72 hour pre departure test for the UK. By the time you land its 100 plus hours and they have 125k cases a day !!!

AZ may not be dead after all....just late which is the story of this seemingly cursed vaccine.... AstraZeneca has said that a third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine “significantly” lifted antibody levels against the Omicron coronavirus variant, citing data from a new laboratory study. Findings from the study, yet to be published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, match those from rivals Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which have also found a third dose of their shots works against Omicron. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/23/astrazeneca-says-booster-jab-works-against-omicron-study-finds

Not sure that Hannan is best 22 at the Dogs. He'd be in the 18-30 player cohort... and they have Ugle Hagen to fit in come 2022

With this thing it's hard enough predicting next month let alone four months out. Sadly though I think 2022 will be a dog's breakfast.

Would be very nice Just watching the Collingwood loss now as I work my way through the season. It seems like we played with leaden boots that day

Interesting that no politician speaks of either PNG or the Solomon Islands. Both within almost a stones throw of our Northern borders and vaccination rates among the lowest in the world Given the billions spent in Oz on this pandemic you might think that a billion spent vaccinating our near neighbours might be a good investment.

Big jump in case numbers today both in Vic and NSW. Lucky the cricket is not on in another 10 days... Reading a UK non medical forum and the general vibe is that for the vaccinated Omicron symptoms are typically a runny nose and a scratchy throat. Hopefully they stay that way

And once again it starts..... No fans at this weekend's Newcastle Jets v Wanderers match in Newcastle, NSW. And.... A League Men’s side Melbourne City has had six players test positive for COVID-19, resulting in its FFA Cup tie and its round six clash with Brisbane Roar being postponed. The club said the six cases were all double-vaccinated and had taken tests on Tuesday after being alerted by their rapid tests earlier in the day.

How prescient of my good self. Israel came out overnight recommending a fourth shot for many. Israelis over the age of 60 and medical teams will be eligible for a fourth Covid vaccination to protect against the fast-spreading omicron variant, prime minister Naftali Bennett has announced. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/21/israeli-pm-announces-fourth-covid-jab-for-over-60s-to-tackle-omicron

AZ's major producer.. Serum Institute of India has halved production due to no orders. AZ did have an update vaccine, AZ 2816 which was in third stage trials but so far nothing. Personally I have booked Moderna as my booster in a couple of weeks. There are a few studies that suggest it shades Pfizer but they're both similar. Looking forward to a fourth shot some time in 2022. PS: You can have AZ as a booster if you have reactions to MRNA vaccines (very rare for older people.)

The Arden Street Memorial Pachyderm Match https://www.nmfc.com.au/news/302603/arden-street-archives-the-elephant

He's a fifth year player. Even at a lower banded salary of say $250-300k p.a. that's a lot for a reserves player

He and Melksham are very expensive injury cover OD. I think he stands a chance of pushing Tom Mac out. Have just finished watchng the 3 or 4 games that Weid played in mid season. Got into a marking position mltiple times but couldn't complete the mark. Needs to get better in that area and we can see what happens.

Eagles and Crows closed off their membership lists at various stages over the years. Of those 125k members my guess is that 50k will never see one game for the season

Interesting figure 125k members. Only 3 years ago we were amazed by Richmond hitting 100k members. Memberships have become such a rubbery concept over the years I don't really put much stock in those numbers. A far better measure would possibly be "reserved seat holders"

Pakistan v West Indies One day series has been postponed until June due to positive covid tests. Nine positive tests amongst the West Indian players and staff who had mainly flown in from Dubai. Five or more EPL games deferred. Have to love the "new normal" 😢

Oliver by the length of the straight Petracca to shade Gawn followed by Salem, Lever and May