Diamond_Jim

When Bruce would call the athletics at the Olympics his commentary was second to none. His use of statistics and superlatives were justified and of course it was only once every 4 years. TV commentators treat us as mugs. We all know that some games are just a yawn fest and to have the faux enthusiasm rammed down our throats is monotonous. Not sure why the radio commentators are more ready to call a game boring etc but the TV people insist on talking up the most pedestrian of games. I would happily subscribe to Foxtel if I had choices of commentary that say included minimalist commentary, crowd noise only and occasional analysts as choices. Do they still do push red for Eddy games?

as the capacity for TIO Stadium is only 14,000 I would hope it is a sell out

are you saying we lose to Collingwood ...

That run home for the Saints looks diabolical .... Essendon still need to win four of their last five to get to 12 games so I think they are still in trouble

Will be interesting to see if the Swans supporters make the trip out to the west for the Giants v Swans game. The usual Giants crowd of 10,000 or less would be a big disappointment for the AFL

St Kilda v Essendon at Docklands tonight A loss by Essendon will almost end their finals chances (they would need to win 5 straight to be on 12 games at season end). A win by St Kilda will see them firmly entrenched in the eight on 10 wins. Go Bombers (this week only please)

"Since 2004, the AFL has been inviting previous medallists to present the medal, starting with Wayne Harmes, who had not had the opportunity to present the Norm Smith Medal. Working through them in year order, James is the next eligible medallist," he said. In recent years Adelaide Crows star Andrew McLeod, who won the medal in 1997-98, presented the medal to Hawthorn's Cyril Rioli in 2015. Last year, 1999 winner Shannon Grant handed it to Western Bulldogs runner Jason Johannisen. The AFL has not yet been notified if Hird will take up the opportunity." http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-07-13/afl-invites-james-hird-back-for-grand-final-role

would have preferred Stretch .... offers so much more upside than JKH No VFL game is another problem for Stretch if he wants to get back in

$20 per member would give us the same financial result without the risk of the downside

Actually what is interesting here is Adelaide's view on the match. I assume they are a willing participant and are being paid by the NT government to show up. Slightly surprising as they are a very wealthy club and don't need the angst of playing in tropical conditions in a tight year. On a radio interview Peter Gordon said he would want $1M for the Dogs to participate in China (over and above expenses) so that is the value he put on the home game. The other question is what crowd would we have got in Melbourne and how much would we have made.

As I have posted many times the Darwin saga is terrible from so many angles. If we must include the NT let's do two games in Alice Springs where the winter conditions are suitable for football at an AFL standard.

I think you are spot on Old dee. Plapp's assessment of Kennedy leaves no one in doubt about his selection chances for this week ...nil JKH probably increased his slim chance of selection by being the emergency and not playing

Yep it's a bye for Casey. It was probably planned by the club to allow the Casey AFL members to participate in clinics etc which I suspect is part of the deal to get the thirty pieces of silver the NT government pay us. #DitchDarwin

if we win 12 games the odds are there will be five teams on 12 games with us and percentage may or may not put us in. We really need 13 wins to ensure a position in the eight

To make top 4 we have to win 15/16 games which means we probably need to win 6/7 of our remaining 7 games. To make it with less would require Port, Richmond and Saints to all have a lesser run and then there is Sydney .. one game behind us with a better percentage. I just cannot see it happening

Just did some playing with the ladder predictor. (Great fun) Applied relatively unemotional logic and I found it hard to see us finish above 5th. GWS could easily slip below Geelong was an interesting outcome. The big games for us are those against the Saints and Port. I assumed losses against the Giants and Adelaide. Lose to the Saints and we are seventh. Lose to Port as well and we are in a log jam with 4 other teams on 12 wins for the last two spots in the eight. Joy o Joy but I have Richmond at ninth on percentage Boy this season is close

For those pushing for Kennedy over Kent I would be interested in why. To some extent I could understand JKH but in reality they are three players at the same level. If anything Kent is ranked a little higher based on some of his performances last year. Kent is now feeling the pace of senior football and should get another game. If JKH or Kennedy were demonstrably better or offered something else I could understand but they are all thereabouts. Interesting that many of those pushing for Kent to be dropped are not saying the same about Smith who on any score did very little. Trenners is no longer an option I am afraid.

I always feel that this thread is where the "big boys" come to play in the sense that it is favoured by many astute followers of the game. When I go to the game ... other than the mistakes and the forward marks I am lucky to notice three or four other players to the extent that I can comment on them. Well done Joe Boy and keep em coming PS I think almost everyone got a "well done" from Joe Boy against the Dogs or was that West Coast .. so he is human after all PPS Long may Tyson reign !!!

that could be a real plan ... he would need to increase the tank and improve his ground ball game but I don't mind the thinking. If only then the Weed could become the big marking forward with Tom "swinging" and Watts at half forward we could have a premiership winning set up.

MFCSS tells me this is not going to end well. Amazing the culture we have today. If I was the supporter I would be apologising quietly through the club and in turn Oliver would apologise. Both parties would move on ...lesson learnt To allow contact through the media is madness not to mention bringing my employer into it. Some employers I know would sack you for mentioning it in a non-employment context.

Good win and much needed but it was disappointing that twice in the second half we had leads of around 10 points and let them back in to the extent that they took the lead. I'll take it but we will need to move to another level to be any chance over the next few weeks. The good thing is that so many players had an average game but yesterday we just could not get that fast moving game going that delivers the 6 goal plus quarters. Accept we had players out but we still need to take a step up over the next few weeks. On Kent .. he had two clear goaling opportunities which had he taken perhaps we would be speaking differently. At least he was in the right spot as others have said. Changing him for JKH or Kennedy is not a step up.

Casey have a bye this week coming so not much use to us for playing some of those who may need a run. If Watts does not play what do some think of the Weed in place of Pederson. My thinking is that he could be an X factor in a game that whatever one says will be hard to win. He has also shown at Casey that he can go into the ruck which may serve to get him into the game. Something which he was unable to do at AFL level in the last few games of his recent stint.

Unfortunately you could be right also Hammies don't do well with 3-4 hour flights so they may not risk him. Pity because we need everyone we got to face down Adelaide

think you could be right .... there is obviously something Goody sees in Smith that we have yet to find. Noticed him in a one on one marking comp where his job was to spoil and it wasn't pretty

Will be good to see Gawn hit form again. His match today was not anywhere near his usual high standard. He took a pack mark in the third quarter which reminded me of his good days. Our midfield seemed to get on top in the second quarter at least at centre clearances but we had difficulty finding forward targets. Looking forward to the replay so I can understand some of those umpiring decisions in the last quarter. Starnge to say the least.