Diamond_Jim

Thanks Macca ....not too bad... could be a lot worse. I was thinking of going over for a few of the early matches. Doesn't need to be an Oz game. I am very much an independent traveller so if anyone has ideas of how you do it would be very grateful.

Cahill to Honduras is a strange move...... Mind games with the other side is all I can think of. Conditions in Honduras will be a killer with kick off temp around 30 and humidity at 80%. Not confident at all given the lack lustre performance against Syria. Would like to think otherwise but Sydney could be a dead rubber if we go down 3-0 which is not impossible. This game of all out attack and then stop and wait 30 metres out from goal just does not strike me as a sound game plan in these play off games. The Kruse knockers at least will be silent. Time for Juric to shine if we are to go anywhere. I know it is a long way off but what is the time zone for the World Cup in Russia. Would be fantastic if we could have a 4pm game local Melbourne time (record and watch ) followed by a 7pm game. In these days of mass internet coverage it is hard to avoid results if the games are played overnight our time.

So after much analysis I have narrowed it down to the following three: 6: Red Cardinal 9: Max Dynamite 21: Thomas Hobson with of course Tiberian as the emotional bet

As usual a bit of a lottery. My usual process is to eliminate all horses who have never placed over the distance and then take it from there. The Cup is becoming a little bit of an anachronism in modern day racing and has become even harder to relate to as more and more horses do not run in the lead up races. Anyway I shall study the form and give my tip in an hour or so. The cool weather should favour the Europeans but as most of the horses are foreign bred who knows. The Japanese contingent do not seem to be here this year which is a pity. Good Luck

How can one go past Tiberian .... every punter's dream: http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/11/02/tiberian-the-worlds-most-unlikely-melbourne-cup-horse-came-from-caesar-the-teaser-pony_a_23265188/ "But Tiberius Caesar found a calling as a teaser. He teased diligently and he teased well. They even had a nickname for him at the Haras du Logis stud. They called him "Caesar the Teaser". And eventually, the staff took pity on him. At the end of the breeding season, Caesar The Teaser was allowed to mate with the mare Toamasina. The result was Tiberian -- who has won six of his 17 races and will be ridden by top French jockey Olivier Peslier in the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday." Must say I enjoy listening to Kevin Bartlett and Doctor Turf on SEN for these big race days. Great background while pottering in the garden. The TV coverage (other than the races themselves) leaves me increasingly bored.

Cannot forget that 1987 prelim final incident. Tuck and Dipper lined him up and sandwiched him deliberately from both sides with strong simultaneous shoulder bumps. Legal bastardry but it has always colored my memory of Tuck.

Both GWS and Adelaide played the flanks and gave Richmond the corridor. The traditional forward delivery to the pocket seems to be the easiest to zone against as it allows the ball to be taken out of bounds as well as rebounded. Of course the empty forward line also slows delivery which does not help the traditional forward. Will be interesting to see if the traditional teams change their game plan to counter the scrum or as I call it helter skelter. Would love to see a permanent forward about 70 metres out from goal trialled.

There was a great movie called the Wrong Box. It is about a group of parents in 19th century England who each contribute 0ne thousand ponds to a fund (the tontine) which is to be paid to the last of the children to die. Of course by that time it is worth a literal fortune. Perhaps we could all contribute to such a fund thus giving the survivor a chance to attend our next GF. With my MFCSS firmly on perhaps we should enter any newborns as they might stand a chance !!

Thanks M9 In 2015 the Bulldogs charged $110 as the add on that got you the GFG. After the 2016 GF this category maxed out. My friend who is a Doggies supporter thinks there are 12K in the Bulldogs Social Club (the GFG category) though this seems high to me . If he is correct at $200 per member for the 2018 season that is a cool $2.4M extra

Does anyone know how many clubs have closed GFG categories (ie there is a waiting list). As posted earlier Footscray is a closed list and I suspect many of the other bigger clubs are closed as well. I see a new/increasing revenue spinner here as they up the price and people have to pay up or lose out to those on the waiting list. Cannot stand auto renewals of anything. AFL membership moved to that last year. At least I got an email saying they were going to renew next week unless I opted out.

do the clubs publish how many of these they have sold? If for example I was a Collingwood supporter (god help me) does it mean that of the 20k or whatever number is available to club members that it is likely that say 15k have already been allocated via the GFG scheme?

The grand final guarantee is a bit of a con given the number of times it actually pays out for the MFC. At the reported price of $220 odd that would mean an unadjusted cost of $5k per GF appearance based upon our historical performance. I assume one also has to pay the actual $150 odd for the ticket itself. At an extra $50- $100 one can think of it as a simple donation but it is now becoming serious money. Would be interested to hear what other clubs charge for their GF lottery.

as did round 22 in 2016. I did not expect finals in 2016 but the way we gave up against Carlton left a sour taste in then mouth of many supporters. To see it repeated in even worse form in 2017 was heart breaking.

The hype begins... http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-10-29/vfl-star-attracting-interest-from-a-dozen-clubs "The same kid with the raking left boot now has a dozen AFL clubs clamouring for his services. West Coast, which has five picks in the top 40 of the NAB AFL Draft, is arguably the keenest." Mid to late second round is my guess........ mmmm Watts for Fritsch anyone? Can't see it myself given how desperate we are for outside mids.

Gotta love the Guardian critics ... a fantastic line: "The updated Snatch is not so much a diamond in the rough as a turd in the punchbowl, contaminating all who touch it." https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/oct/28/snatch-gangster-tale-old-pony-guy-ritchie

Interesting Macca those two English races are not on the classics list ... the English Classic (King George VI) is 2400 metres so I assume she likes it a little shorter. Surprised that she is missing the Dubai Cup at US$10M which is 2000 metres. Oh to have such choices !

Thanks for the link Maca. I see the Laurel is no longer run being overtaken by the Breeders Cup. Interesting to see what is the next race Winx is set for assuming she wins today.

So what is considered the best WFA race in the world these days for the classic mile and a half. Is it the Arc de Triomphe, the Laurel international or the Dubai race (forget the name) or the Cox Plate. Cannot really see the Cox plate ever being at the top because of the flight times to Australia and our quarantine rules. Seems that Winx is on a hiding to nothing today. The field is weak according to the pundits. Hope she wins. Cheers

29 is mid second round ... this would be a high draft pick for Fritsch. I think he is more likely to go late second round or first half of the third. To use 29 will be a hard decision as it is apparent that we need once again to start looking at topping up our mid fielders given our midfield age profile and the lack of obvious starter talent at Casey. Not sure that he will bulk up much more. Undoubted contested marking skills. If we had not drafted Lever you could argue that he may develop into an intercept player capable of playing back and forward. Watched him play about five times this year. Cannot recall much in the way of outstanding ground skills but I may well have missed that attribute in the scrum that is often VFL football. Hard choice for the recruitment team.

I can see a whole off season challenge here ... picking teams with players whose surname begins with the same letter followed by a virtual play off. Wonder how the Z's would perform and has there ever been an X'er?

That is my concern as well. Next years first rounder could be used to trade for another player or go into the draft. Now we will have to rely upon picking up an unrestricted free agent (hard with salary cap restraints), trade a decent player (we don;t exactly have a surplus) or do nothing. Of course the pessimist in me says we will have a few first rounders next year when our full forward heads home !

and what coin do we have to trade with next year as Lewis Jones etc etc come to the end of their playing careers. Not as though we have a wealth of players we can offer up for trades

Way overs and when combined with the high salary it is much too high for a medium level performer. (By medium I mean this is the price that one pays for an elite performer and he is not that.) Oh well let's hope he delivers .... MFC does not have a great history with high priced trades

Interesting comment by the US coach: "I would love to see one of these hotshot teams from Europe come here and play in our CONCACAF qualifying and really get a taste of this and see what that's about," Arena said. "This is very challenging, it's like survival of the fittest. They could do one of those TV shows on this. Who will survive in the end, that's basically what this is."

The return leg is in Sydney .. why I don't know More importantly there are reports that Ange will resign in November .. win or lose https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/socceroos/stunned-reaction-to-socceroos-coachs-plan-to-quit/news-story/6840e7416865f28294488a53e364a13e Just saw that Chile failed to qualify ... wow