Diamond_Jim

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.

Liked the Womens 10,000 last night but the sub text was Bruce hyping everything up and Sebastian Coe calming him down...classic Example Bruce ... very important where you are positioned etc etc Sebastian... being on the inside or outside is about one extra stride every 100 metres... just go where you are comfortable

The interesting thing about many of those bombs on the weekend were that they were to around the 40-45 metre mark in front of the players. I get the bomb behind the forwards and let them run onto them but dropping it in front of them just begs the opposition to rebound. Would be interested to hear from the tacticians whether the bombs were simply short or whether this is the strategy.

at the match I made the comment that Pedersen was impressing me more than Weid. Pro Dee queried me as an apologist for Pedersen or similar. Your point DS is what I was trying to say... while the Weid was getting the goals it was not necessarily by imposing himself upon the other players. It was a good game but Coburg lacked big body tall players. I noticed two Coburg players on Weid while he was in the forward line. They were both at least a head shorter than him. Good game but like the Frankston practice game the week before it was a mismatch. (Remember that Frankston beat Coburg in a practice game.) Must admit from my position behind the goals I cannot really comment on his round the ground ruck work but the sheer weight of numbers in the talls available to Casey certainly assisted that dominance. The next three games are Werribee, Richmond and Geelong (followed by another ill timed bye before they play the Hawks.) Not suggesting we wait the full five weeks but one or two more would be advisable perhaps.

haven't been called a dude before ... but thank you .... perhaps there is hope for me yet

You have to love the Guardian articles ... they often read like those fantastic cricket summaries of the late Peter Roebuck. Where else would you find the following paragraph : Karl Newell, a kinesiologist at Penn State, said: “Consciousness gets in the way. If a pianist starts worrying where his fingers go while he’s playing, it will change the performance.” You suspect the opposite is true with Salem and his hamstring. If he can start playing without concerns about having to grab for it, we may soon see him realise his potential.

wonder if they have a club like the Primary club in cricket. Suspended in your first game for a new club... must be some sort of record

Despite the name "Avalon airport Oval" which depicts visions of windswept plains and a near abandoned airfield I see the oval is actually in Werribee backing onto the river. Moreover it is next to Bungie's Hole (not sure what that is). A night game though so I may give it a miss... but one never knows... some local knowledge on the expected culinary delights might tempt me !

His second quarter which was played right in front of me was superb. In the last quarter (down my end again) he was very useful. His body shape was so different to the rest of the guys as I mentioned during the match. A solid man among the relative adolescent sticks. Too good for VFL as you say OD but maybe not there for AFL. A bit like JKH I am afraid. The other dilemna is that with him in the side Casey have too many talls which could in the longer term stunt the growth of the next generation skill wise. Remember the days of Sauntner and Newton ... not suggesting it would be that bad but you need to think about what you are trying to achieve with the reserves team. It may not just be the thrill of winning. In respect of the Weid if and when he is selected for AFL the seniors could face the same problem when Tom Mc returns.

when do the incidents from Saturday's game get announced.? I thought it was 24 hours or similar with the one person MRP

Before you push for the inclusion of another tall in the forward line you have to consider the game plan. If we are channeling Richmond which we seem to be you limit yourself to one tall in the form of Riewodlt who if you think about is the proto type for how we are playing Hogan. At least we have Gawn which gives us dominance by comparison to the Richmond set up where they play a competent but not starring ruck. Personally I'm not sure. If the VFL players were starring against hard opposition then the case becomes stronger for those guys but they aren't there yet. On the other hand are our scrambling forwards worthy of our reliance. On Saturday they showed their worth so I expect they may get another go this weekend. Melksham showed last year that he is an efficient forward. Brayshaw for ANB .. I am comfortable to leave that to the selectors but I would be thrilled to see Gus kill it on the big stage.

Money ball has been used at Casey for at least a season or two and I assume it is also used at the MFC. Have no idea f what it means but I suspect it is simply taking the risk if you have the opportunity to solidly improve the overall progress of the ball in our favour. As you say... take the smart option having regard to risk and reward

Geelong will head home and have its usual victories down at Ocean Grove North which will see thm challenge for the 8. Yep .. we should have beaten them at the MCG sans Dangerfield

6 goals in 5 mins to the eagles ...impressive

go weagles

8 goals to one..........

Well... the battle took place on the outer car park as distinct from the main arena but the Weid did win. This being said Pedersen was not disgraced in that his half forward play was very strong. Looks like we will have a rematch on the plains of Avalon next week. On a more serious note the Casey forward line is over manned with talls which contrasts strongly with the senior side. Makes meaningful comparisons difficult.

Port ... the only undefeated team after 3 weeks (and of course we know they only fell in against the Bears). Could this be mathematical chaos theory once again this season?

Big result for us season wise if we can put a few games between us and the Bombers. West Coast doing well against Geelong brings them into that 5-10 bracket for the pointy end also. A win against Geelong would have been useful as will at least 3 out of the next 4 for us.

nah only the power teams get away with that !

news to me ... but please elaborate on another tangent the Nrth Melbourne cheer squad chant of "Let's go Kangas" is so little Lleyton it is painful. (BTW Lleyton earned my respect thoroughly by the time he finished his career but that chant was so nuff.)

when he was down my end he took a few good defensive marks. Hard to see much at the other end Most of Coburg's forward forays were on the rebound and lacking construction

Yes ... did not notice him that much but that may have just have been me. He was in the forward line for a little while but TBH with Weid, Pedersen and Filipovic we may have the luxury of two many talls at present in our VFL team.

yep and did some good stuff seems to have a bit of nip in him. Hunt did not set the world alight from my observation. Had a few chances to run and carry and went the chip kick ... would like to just see him run anyway... even if caught today we would have still won by a lot.

I don't think they were bogged... rather the truck went down the back of the mound on the wing