Diamond_Jim

The last Australian game is played in Sochi..the site of the Winter Olympics. The city is on the Black Sea and is a major tourist resort. Predicted weather for kickoff is 30 degrees. Bad luck we are not playing one of the European teams as I suspect the Peru team is used to the warm. Could however be a tough day at the office. Nearly 30 degrees here in Kazan and boy is the sun warm. Had Russian dumplings for lunch...they are called khinkalis and if well made are absolutely delicious. Also had my first borscht... very good ?

https://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-06-23/analysis-how-demons-can-save-their-season This guy must be reading Demonland: AFL.com.au has taken a look at what must change for Melbourne, which has an extremely tough draw to finish the season, to become legitimate top-four contenders.

He's had a few good games for Casey. I recall the Port game where he played very well. A backman's lot is not an easy one these days. They are expected to position themselves correctly, outmark or spoil the forward and then either kick/handball to advantage or run it out. A lot to ask of one player. People might laugh at Zac Dawson but Lyon had it right in that Zac had all of the above except the disposal ability. Answer... surround him with those who have it. I don't know if Frost will make it but key backmen don't grow on trees. My real worry is that no one seems to be pushing to replace Vince or Lewis.

18 minutes with no score by the Dees is disgusting... I agree

Must be something about Friday night football.... rarely a good game including this one

he would have perhaps given us more than Juric in those last ten minutes... who is almost Pedersenesque.... great at VFL but in the big league .. doesn't quite have it Mclaren perhaps ?

My Kingdom for a Striker !!!

My son is just off to a bar somewhere to watch the Soceroos match. He had great difficulty finding anybody on the ever growing whatsapp chat group in Kazan because they were all too hung over from last night.

So.. on the what is good for the MFC theory are we hoping will win this one. Perhaps Essendon winning and taking a few more scalps is good for us as we don't play them again. Cannot see them recovering sufficiently to challenge for the 8 which would be a nightmare scenario.

Always thought Yarra Park was controlled by Melbourne City Council. I remember several years back there was a stoush between the Council and the MCG over the food vans outside the ground.They are on Council land and the MCG doesn't get a take on the licence fees etc for the food vans.

Looks almost like Russian nouvelle cuisine... probably a chain...they are big on chain restaurants in Russia. They used to have vodka dives in the old days I hear but they have almost disappeared. Just back from lunch at the Cafe Istanbul... very good cheap food but hell was it filling. Went to the Spain v Iran game last night ... all I can say is thank God we don't allow vuvuzelas at the AFL !! There was a guy a couple of rows behind me who had a pump action klaxon horn. When he blew it and he did that often the sound just cut straight through me. Interesting that the supporters of the big European teams are in the main absent for the group matches. Had to look hard for French and Spanish supporters. My next match is Poland v Colombia which could be an epic as far as fan involvement goes.

Just reading that the Netball comp now awards bonus points for quarters won in an effort to maintain spectator interest. With our record this year perhaps MFC should get into Gil's ear ?

So from who is on the plane .. we can confirm the one change ... Smith in Pedersen: Out cannot question that change. Smith offers more at ground level and seems to gel unlike Pedersen with the other two big forwards. Big game needed from Hogan amongst others. Strangely ambivalent to this game ... the QB game pricked my balloon of optimism well and truly. Go Dees

Seeing Jack W in the jail cell stripes means I can finally say goodbye to what might have been. I have now officially moved on !!!

In the wonderful Russian city of Kazan at present ... just thought I should mention they have a Hemingway restaurant. Might try it though I can never recall Hemingway getting this far east !!

Iran V Span was our match last night. Cannot say I loved it...there were the Iranian tactics and then there was the noise. Having airhorns going off constantly (and I mean constantly) together with people leaping to their feet at the slightest touch by Iran didn't make for the ideal viewing experience. And what is it about people and phone cameras... yeah take a few as I do but a few hundred. Perhaps there is truth in the sayng that "It never happened unless they have a photo and it's on facebook !!" Enough of my rant...today is our big match from an Australian perspective. It's 3pm local Russian time and the weather today is very pleasant. Go the Socceroos

One of the things that needs to be done is for all the stadium deals to be made public. All of the stadiums are built and maintained substantially on taxpayer money. There is no real need to keep them secret as their is no natural competitor that could make use of the information such as might be the case for the Australian Open and the tennis centre. The deal offered to clubs should be identical and I have no objection to clubs getting bigger revenue if their crowds are higher. At Docklands they really need to do something to resolve the Medallion club impasse. Absolutely ridiculous for the best seats to be left empty for so many matches.

Just saw the news report that SBS will show all the remaining group games live and that the Optus streaming service for the remaining games will be free. Plus a refund for anyone who paid. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jun/20/optus-world-cup-sbs-to-broadcast-all-group-stage-games Hopefully they get it right by the next WC as this is the future. In Russia the local network streams all the games as well as showing them on TV. Our apartment has an internet speed of 70 down and 80 up which makes for a reasonable product but it does have the occasional freeze frame. Must try the optus stream later as the Russian commentary is not that helpful. Mind you the half time shows are definitely different !!

I'm starting to like the Alice game but the 7k capacity together with hotel and flight limits doesn't bode well for a long term strategy. The only saver would be some serious national TV coverage. Not sure how to do it but perhaps we could play the highest ranking interstate team from the previous year and thus make it into a must see match. Ticketing would be balloted etc and it would become a"hot" event.

yep but with the game starting at 7:20pm local time it's either a late night or early morning flight. The last flight on qantas appears to be 8pm so that's a hard ask. As a very frequent traveller to the city of churches it's not blessed by the airlines like the east coast cities

The Blue Samurai win their first ever World Cup game in Europe. It will be a wild old night in Saransk. Our match in Kazan this Sunday is Poland V Colombia .... another crunch match perhaps

the business case for the Council would presumably run along the lines that with reduced car park revenue the Council will need to replace that money in order to maintain the park etc etc. So we would rent the oval for an agreed amount. The development over the rail lines will stand or fall in the first instance as to whether trains need to be re-scheduled for building works. Then there is the acquisition cost issue that the Government will need to subsidize or forego.Finally there is the additional build cost by such a site. A bridge too far or a a mountain too tall spring to mind but let's see.

One has to try but it's not a good time to be asking. Look at the complaints State governments are getting regarding stadium developments in Melbourne and Sydney. To make these schemes work you need to take a complex that has a cost to Council and say we will maintain it in return for using it for x hours and then it is public space for the remainder. Yarra Park doesn't meet the criteria. Gosch's paddock on the other does albeit that it is not a great site. Another example is the Magpies with the old greyhound track.

In your dreams... The annexation of public parkland (sure we call it a car park) for an elite sporting code... Even over in Royal Park there was enormous pushback to the hospital expansion. Good ambit claim

Not sure if I have mentioned my two flights on Aeroflot. Athens to Moscow and Moscow to Kazan. Great full service airline but what is the standout are the flight attendants. Think Pan Am outfits of the sixties complete with white gloves and hat plus stilettos to complete the uniform !!