Diamond_Jim

Lindsay Tanner interviewed today on 3AW before the Blues v Essendon game: My two take aways: No attempt to make an apology despite ample opportunity Even the media call it "the affair" and tend to blame the AFL. I am sure that in a few years it will be known as the "CAS corruption scandal" or similar.

not a good night for Max and Dan ..... will be interested to see the aftermath. Bottas .. a puncture .... Vettel a wheel lock and... our "favourite man" Hamilton does a Bradbury. Not sure if I will watch the race replay.. the Azerbaijan circuit does however look very beautiful on TV

Boy.... 4 odd hours and they only managed the first round .. sounds worse than the Brownlow count ! Was watching a newspaper live update... it seems that a lot of clubs know exactly who they are going to pick but drag it out so they can get a free plug for their club. As if the Browns really needed to think about who they would take as the first pick. O well can't blame em for a little theatre... the boys at AFL house are I am sure taking close notes.

The last sale of world cup tickets started a couple of days ago which won me an email from FIFA. Anyway their ticketing site had an interesting comment about who bought tickets: "1,698,049 tickets have already been allocated to football supporters from all over the world via the official website at FIFA.com/tickets since September 2017. Most of these tickets have been allocated to Russian fans (796,875), followed by fans from the USA (80,161), Brazil (65,863), Colombia (60,199), Germany (55,136), Mexico (51,736), Argentina (44,882), Peru (38,544), China (36,841), Australia (34,628) and England (30,711) – the top-ten countries from abroad." Australia right up there and ahead of England and every European country bar Germany is a surprise. Must say from reading Guardian articles there seems to be a degree of weariness about the WC with many saying that the WC is no longer that exciting etc and stating a preference for the Champions League etc. This is borne out perhaps by the high number of South American countries featuring in the top 10. Those fans are now forced to go to the WC to see their stars play. The venue for the 2026 WC is between Morocco and a joint US, Canada and Mexico bid. One would think it's an open and shut case but who knows how the politics will play out. The vote takes place on 13 June (the day I arrive in Moscow). Suspect that the FIFA delegates might well be at a more upmarket hotel than my Stalinist era digs on Prospekt Leningradsky.

agree.. did not look out of place and did some good things... certainly not disgraced and hopefully the next few weeks rewards both him and us with some good demonstrations of his skills. Wish I could be so sure of young Stretch who we all hope makes it as well.

my God... WSTB must be around 12 at least

My Road to Russia continues.... Late one night recently I check my emails and there is a message from my Kazan airbnb host. In Russian of course so out with handy Google translate and it says he wants to cancel my three week booking as he wishes to increase his price. Having consumed a lovely bottle of red you can imagine how the exchange of emails then went. Quickly onto the airbnb site and of course the only available accommodation is worse and astronomically priced. Fast forward to next morning and I ask him the new price. Answer around double. Well the natural thing to do is yell.. we have a contract etc etc and report him to airbnb... but when you think about the alternatives not to mention the cost of air fares etc saner heads prevail and we agreed a new price which I am sure will pay his rent for the next year at least. And just to round it out I found that one of my two days in Moscow coincides with a public holiday they call Russia day. It apparently is a recent holiday to commemorate the establishment of Russia as distinct form the Soviet Union following the collapse of that wonderful national grouping. In practice it means Red Square partially closed for " celebrations". And Japan sacked their coach ... perhaps we are not so badly off with the flying Dutchman after all.

You are right of course Deanox and it will soon become obvious that sports betting is the same. No longer is it the days of the walk down to the TAB for a few dollars or the occasional visit to the track for a Saturday afternoon flutter. It is a sophisticated 24 hour a day addiction pumped to vulnerable people by means of their umbilical cord otherwise known as their smartphone. Ask yourself why have football betting when there is plenty of racing to bet on. The answer is that it is another market ie. young people who think that it is easy money. I don't object to race betting. It is an industry that has been around for a few hundred years and is here to stay. It is the insidious proliferation of sports betting into all other sports that worries me. O by the way do you think the Diamonds are a good bet in the Netball this Commonwealth games? My grand daughter wants to puts a few dollars of her pocket money on them.

In 2022 Poker machine licence holders are required to pay a premium or licence fee for the next ten years followed by another in 2032. It will not be chicken feed

the cynic in me says that pokies are on the decline as they are a baby boomer entertainment from my limited observation. Sports betting will be the new scourge

Mustn't be many people with the right skills then. Let's face it .... the problem with sports betting is that it is now pervasive among the young (mainly males) following the game. It will soon attract the same criticism that rightly we give to the pokies.

Perhaps the AFL could give up on the jolly for Port to China and the AFLX to Hongkers. Would go a long way to making up the short fall across the clubs. Next challenge is to get off the "teat" of the sports betting agencies.

Fantastic news ..... whatever you say the continued reliance on this form of revenue is unsustainable from a social responsibility aspect

Thanks D77 As that accords with our position on the ladder at present how apposite. Now to get them both to number 1 !

Guys please some perspective ... what happened in the big one ? Did the Zephyr salute?

Macca when you say Internationals do you mean owned from overseas or simply bred overseas. Not sure but it seems that we don't see as many of the visiting internationals any more. Strange given the ease of transport but I suppose it's the old quarantine problem. Good luck to the Demon Zephyr !

Funny if it was not so true MR! Remember that no one actually saw the sandpaper being used. It was merely in Bancroft's pocket like the stuff in the Bomber's fridge. Oh what a great tribunal the AFL put together !

Bancroft's press conference was an example of what we should have got from the Essendon players. It goes a long way in healing the hurt suffered by the Australian public. I will have no problem welcoming him back to cricket when he has served his suspension.

just looking up Winx' prize money to date and came across this interesting point: Unlike many elite racehorses, Winx does not have a particularly long stride – her stride was measured at 6.76 metres (22.2 ft) compared to nearly 8.5 metres (28 ft) for Black Caviar and Phar Lap. Instead, her success has been attributed to a "freakish" stride rate that allows her to take 14 strides every 5 seconds, compared to 12 for her rivals. "This means she can settle or accelerate at any time during a race," said Dr. Graeme Putt, who has studied the science of racehorse success. "I think this makes her unique."[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winx_(horse) Would have loved to see her at Ascot.... perhaps we can get some stars from overseas to come and contest the Cox Plate. I see the second favourite for the Cox Plate is Humidor which is a little like ground hog day.

Won't happen but I would like Australia to stand out of international cricket for the year. The way we play cricket is toxic and a circuit breaker is required. To argue that everyone does it and that we are just taking the rules to their limits etc etc is just not good enough. As to those directly involved I hate to say it but two year suspensions are in order. That is light.

no... you miss the point Both last year and this we have suffered key injuries which should have given a chance to several fringe players. No one was expecting him to star either last year or this but the fact that he is not considered capable of filling a short term gap is as Dr G just said ... "underwhelming". And don't say he isn't getting a run this time because he lacked a pre-season. He wouldn't have been considered anyway. Lists require analysis and this is what we are entitled to do as followers of the team. Just accepting the mediocrity of the last fifty years got us to where we are. By the way good luck to the young man and we all hope he makes it.

boy ,,, what else would you expect from Goodwin. Don't tell me.... "he's on track"

The pressure on Weid perhaps comes about because he was a number 9 pick. At that level the player is expected to contribute to the senior team within a year. This includes talls. Look at Moore and Daniher. Similarly look at the pressure on McCartin. If he had been a pick 40 development player the debate today would have a different tone. Football has changed and the need to get a player from a team's first round pick is essential. I haven't written him off but this is the year where we need to see repeated signs. As an aside longer term you have to wonder if he has a role to play in the modern game even if he develops in the classic FF mode. That role seems to be going the same way as the ruckman

He needs to show this at VFL level let alone AFL level. The fact is he had one decent game for Casey last year ... Even the great Juice Newton killed it at VFL level. Unfortunately yes Dr G ... and we all want him to succeed. Finally I will make the point again that the shortened VFL season means Weid misses 3 games in which he might show development.

Here's the latest report: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/judge-reserves-decision-on-latest-twist-in-essendon-supplements-saga-20180321-p4z5jc.html Our legal system is not really designed to deal with cases such as this so I suspect it will go no further "AFL lawyer Gregory Harris QC argued any case would be expensive and should be limited. He said a trial should not involve lengthy cross-examination of many witnesses and discovery of documents. Harris added the matter was not a usual one, where a plaintiff seeks damages from a defendant but was a case brought by a "punitive plaintiff" enlisting the help of a "highly qualified" and "sophisticated" lawyer like Burnside. Burnside said a limited or "mini-trial" before a trial would not be the best way to decipher the facts on whether the league had acted in ways to protect its commercial interests during the scandal which became public in February, 2013. Justice John Dixon reserved his decision to a date to be determined about which form a trial should take. In his statement of claim, Taylor alleges several statements by McLachlan about the AFL's joint investigation with the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority were misleading or deceptive. He also alleges several statements made by AFL executives – about former Essendon coach James Hird, player welfare, an interim report by ASADA and the AFL's decision-making – are examples of misleading or deceptive conduct."