Diamond_Jim

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.

this is going to be a long year !!

This is where the ridiculous delayed start of the VFL begins to hurt. MFC seniors have completed round 3 before the first Casey VFL game begins.

Like others this really xxxxxes me off. My distress is more about the absence of T Mac. I had resigned myself to the long absence of Viney some weeks ago. For a few years people have been talking about the need to trade for a decent back up KPP who can play ruck. We are now one injury away from being in that position again. Love him or hate him Watts was not a useless pinch ruckman. The Weid needs another year at Casey to show if he has the goods. Pederson might do it once again but who knows. T Mac last week was a slight toe problem and should be fine for Round 1 or 2. Now its Round 8. At the bye our season will be over if we don't turn at 7-4 or better. Strangely enough I am less concerned about the loss of T Mac as a forward than I am at the loss of our back up ruckman.

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."

Some random thoughts Interesting that this is one year where the interstate teams cannot "bank" two wins against their cross town opponents. In the past it is normal for one of the interstate teams to be up and its cross city rival is down. Looking at them for 2018 the largest disparity is probably between Freo and the Eagles but neither is a definite winner or loser. This year we have Freo in Darwin. It's a must win for the Dees as one can expect that the rest of the teams fighting for the 8 will register home wins against Freo. We have two games against Adelaide including one being our home game in Alice. Split those and we can be top 4. Lose both and it gets harder. 13 wins for the 8 and 16.5 for 4th is my prediction. Strangely as others have mentioned we could turn at the bye at 9-2 and still only end up with 13 wins given our tough schedule in he second half of the year. Saints could be our new North .. we just have to beat them twice. As to the final ladder I have no idea but North for the spoon is probably a good bet unless they can turn Tassie into their fortress and pick up say 4 wins down there. For number 1 my pick is GWS. They were nearly there last year but they had a bad run with injuries. Richmond's game plan like ours can win any game on a given day but it is high maintenance and high risk. Somewhere between 3 and 6 for the Toiges. The Bulldogs are my conundrum team. Sure 2016 was a lucky premiership (oh we could have that luck) but the fact remains that they were easily in the 8 that year.

It was additional members we were speaking of. Have a look at the Essendon increase as an example of what a finals performance can do.

A few forums that I used to contribute to in Asia have closed and then re-appeared on Facebook for the very reason you suggest. As a positive your moderation policy seems to work very well. Originally the argument for facebook was that it was a simple platform akin to a blank page. With their aggressive use of channelling algorithms it is obvious that they are now far more. As an aside I was reading articles recently saying that Facebook is no longer as popular amongst the young. One of the reasons given was that millennials had no desire to share their life with their parents!!

Here's an article on the subject: "The internet groups are considered conduits of information rather than publishers under UK law, meaning they have limited responsibility for what appears on their sites. However, the chairman of the media regulator Ofcom said on Tuesday she believed the likes of Google and Facebook were publishers, raising the prospect that they could eventually face more regulation." https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/11/government-considers-classifying-google-facebook-publishers

Could this report be a fake news item planted by an insidious organisation such as those we are often warned about?

Such joyous news

I think the Bulldogs premiership got them an additional 20% or around 8k members. If we managed that we would move up one rung perhaps and challenge Carlton. Would be interesting to see what flags 2 and 3 do but I would think the improvement is incremental. Would love to see some age group analysis done of the supporter bases as I fear our demographic may be edging towards the Tobin Brothers end of the field. The Blues are obviously a problem for the AFL as they are in danger of being the repeat of Melbourne in the '70's and slipping into irrelevancy. It is so obvious that the Friday night games are all about reversing this trend but of course it comes at the cost of the less powerful clubs such as ourselves.

Ignoring GWS and GCS we are heading for the lowest membership figures in the comp after North and Brisbane. Line ball with Saints and Dogs. Disappointing given the "potential" of this team.

Is this the end of Mourinho at Manchester U after this morning's performance against Sevilla The comments section of the Guardian is on fire: Here's a sample: "Just woeful. The away leg was the worst United performance I have seen in years, this evening’s nonsense struggled to reach the dizzy lows of that debacle. If ever proof were needed that The Joyless Twatknuckle (TM) is in no way a United manager, then the first half of this evening’s farrago. It was anti-football, which is what TJT (TM) is. He is the antithesis of United and he must go." "Don't care whether United win or lose, but that was just bad football. There isn't room in any eleven for Lukaku, Sanchez, Rashford and Lingard, particularly if you then tell your full-backs (both wingers of yore) not to cross the half-way line. A collection of talented players can only be so dysfunctional, but Mourinho's personality is writ large on this team and no good will come of it." https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/mar/13/manchester-united-sevilla-champions-league-match-report

Tax is only paid on profit ie revenue less all expenditures. At the moment it gets in more than it pays out. All those payments out unless they are on capital account are allowable deductions so in simple terms ...no profit = no tax. Sure it runs a small surplus that would be subject to tax but as a percentage of revenue tax would be lucky to be 2% if it were levied. GST on ticket sales if applicable is the big tax hit by the way.

reminds me of channel 7's intros to the GF years ago............. "Beaming to 150 million viewers world wide" Of course few if any of those viewers were actually watching !

source and stats please I am an avid reader of newspapers including those circulating in the UK and SE Asia Have never seen an article on AFL. In fact the only place I have ever seen it in Asia is the sports bars in Kuta which is not exactly "overseas" if you get my drift. BTW ... it does not even get a guernsey on the main pay TV Sports channels in Asia but rather it is low definition on the Australia channel which doesn't exactly rate its socks off and is promoted as a lifestyle channel.

Taxes are paid on profits ..... have a think about your statement

If you're interested, this is the test in layman's term from the ATO site and just to blow your mind the definition of a charity relies substantially upon a law passed in Elizabethan times (that's Queen Liz the First back in the 1600's) : Your sporting organisation will be exempt from income tax, and can self-assess its exemption, if it is not a charity and meets all of the following requirements: it is a not-for-profit society, association or club it is established for the purpose of encouragement of either of the following a game or sport animal racing it meets one of the three following tests physical presence in Australia test DGR test prescribed by law test it complies with all the substantive requirements in its governing rules. This means that your organisation must operate only in a manner consistent with its rules of core importance to its operation, including those related to its object and purpose and those relating to its NFP status. it applies its income and assets solely for the purpose for which it is established.

Agree with sentiment but after losing a nephew to heroin addiction I am not sure I can agree with the analogy. Let's challenge the clubs and the players to using the next increase in TV rights to eliminate sports betting and pokies. I believe the clubs know they have a tiger by the tail in the form of pokies and are desperate to find a way to get off their addiction. Not so sure about the AFL and their new found friends at the betting shops.