Much of the F1 establishment, at least the bit we see dominated by the Sky race crew (Nearly all of them Brits), are throwing their weight behind Lando Norris after Piastri's second win. Comments like, "this doesn't mean anything for team tactics" or "Lando is still the No.1". For those not following, Lando is a bit of a chosen one in Brit land.
Reality is Piastri has looked a class above from the day he started, back when his arrival clearly signalled the demise of Ricciardo, at least to me.
Piastri is cooler behind the wheel, doesn't break the machine, is technically excellent, smooth as silk, gets the job done with minimal fuss or bluster, does the right thing, behaves predictably, seems relentless, and appears to be marketable. These are not small scalps Piastri is claiming, he is making some old heads look like rookies. It comes with a bit of push back.
I can't wait to see what Jack Doohan is capable of, he is a racer type like his old man.
Doohan is nowhere near as highly rated as Oscar was. Its any wonder Zac Brown fought tooth and nail to lure him across to McLaren. He will be a WC one day.
Can't help feeling that the US is going to degenerate into divided chaos - that's what happens when you let your democratic process be swallowed by a popularity competition largely decided by who has the most money to spin the story.
The despots sitting on the other side of the world must be sitting back laughing - watching it all come undone without them needing to do a single thing......
Both sides of US politics better get their respective acts together, for all our sakes.
I respect that supporters will have a range of opinions, but as a general rule I would never question the hardness of any AFL player. It's neither realistic nor sensible to expect every bloke to play like Mitch Robinson, and if you're going to question someone like Bryce Gibbs, then you should also question someone like Scott Pendlebury. There's room for different types in AFL footy. The salient issue is to be hard to play against, not to be hard per se.
This type of proposition, which broadcasts a kind of "good ol' days" vibe, is similar to laments about players only chasing the paycheck, not bleeding Navy Blue, not playing for the jumper etc. All ill advised and all to be avoided IMO.
Agree Pauly, IMO every footballer is hard and tough given the game they play (ie by default). We need to be "harder" off field IMO, that is more ruthless and not hanging onto nice guys who perennially injured for far too long. Then we all sit and wonder why what appear to be silly selections by the MC occur. Just Imagine if we had players of the footballing calibre of Martin, Marchbank and Cunningham available every week. I would hazard a guess and say that would be worth a couple of extra wins a year (the difference between making the 8 or top 4).
While I may disagree with some decisions Vossy, the MC or Nick Austin may make, I accept that they are informed decisions made by folk who are far more knowledgeable than me but don’t have the benefit of hindsight.
It wouldn’t have mattered which 23 players were selected or who was the sub, the result wouldn’t have changed, particularly if our arousal level wasn’t increased.
Our season was screwed by injuries but that provided opportunities and learnings that will make us stronger next season.
For me there were two or three key injuries that derailed our season overall: - Doc rnd 0 - TDK rnd 19 - Charlie rnd 22 TDK especially was a massive loss given how he was playing and that dashed all hopes of a semi successful finals campaign. The 6 injuries from the Hawthorn game was IMO a 1 in a 100 year event which was also catastrophic.
Go protest overseas ,stop chucking stuff at our cops and their horses and let our Drs/Nurses etc get to work by not blocking the roads, we have no influence on Israel or Russia and never will have, as for Israel's response to Hamas ...what were they expecting a quiet diplomatic protest from the Israel? It was always going to be quick , nasty and with interest attached and given the nature of events I can understand why its been disproportionate.
I was ashamed to call myself Melbournian/Australian yesterday. Protest all you like, just do it peacefully (especially when you are protesting for peace FFS). When you cover your faces, behave like animals and pelt all sorts of things at police, you forfeit the right to protest and should be locked up IMO. Imbeciles.
Hawks if the make the Granny, they get my nod. Sam Micthell has his boys playing with intensity, speed and a refreshing game plan, they're enjoying their footy , exciting to watch , footy fans are getting on board the exuberant footy machine.
I dont know that I could tolerate my Hawthorn mates if they won. One mate in particular who said to me 10 -11 weeks ago (rnd 16 we'd just flogged Geel by 10 goals) and we were sitting in 2nd, they were 13th and he boldly claimed "we will salute before your mob does". I told him he was crazy and he asked why to which I replied, "look at the ladder mate, we are 2nd are you are 13th". Those words will come back to haunt me I'm sure.
Agree. You have to know exactly what a player’s role is in order to make criticism of how well he’s performing it. Skills execution is obvious on the other hand.
For me it was Motlops fumbles that struck a cord with me.
Inside 50's ended up even 56-56 Don't go back and torture yourself again but
An interesting one or two from that 60-0 time would be ... How many times in that period the ball entering our 50 was marked by a Brisbane player. How many times first contact from our inside 50 was a Brisbane player who then saw it out of the 50
Here are my notes from the I50 I counted (by I50 I mean every time the ball cross the 50m line in our fwd half) Q1 I50 Pitto spilled mark Q1 I50 Kemp kick in to Big O who Int marks Q1 I50 Cripps kick in to Big O who Int marks Q1 I50 Acres kicks a grubber, TO straigh back out. First I50 in 8 min Q1 I50 Kennedy kick in, H drops the mark, Williams gathers from Cripps, snaps across the face OOB Q1 I50 Cripps kicks in, gathered and cleared by Bris def Q1 I50 Hewett kicks in, Motlop fumbles, Wiliams to H who is tackled drops ball, Bris clear Q1 I50 Acres kicks in, Andrews intercepts and 50m pen Qtr time 0.0.0 Q2 I50 Gov kicks in, Hewett gathers snaps short intercepted Q2 I50 Acres to H, drops the mark, Kemp gathers Q2 I50 Hewett I50 Walsh, H and Kennedy get in each others way, Kennedy marks gives to H who snaps ootf misses by 20m Q2 I50 Hew I50 kemp gathers snaps acrros the face ootf Q2 I50 Cowan kicks in, 35 for Bris interecpts ( H out pointed) Q2 I50 Acres from a passageof play I50, kicks over the head of Williams and goes OOB.Throw in, Pitto fumbes Bris take it away Q2 I50 Lij I50 from a stoppage, H flies drops the mark, Zorko gathers and clears to Bris player Q2 I50 Acres from a free for a trip I50, punched down to ground, Bris gathers and clears Q2 I50 From a Cent Clear, Doc gathers, kicks I50 looking for Durdin, Z\orko intercepts Q2 I50 Cerra i50 from the stoppage, Fantasia runs on, Zorko clears out Q2 I50 Cripps free kick on the wing, kicks I50, comes straight out again Q2 I50 Williams kicks i50 to 2 Bris defenders, ball spills, Durdin gathers, gives to Cripps for a goal 3m51s to go in the 2nd qtr 1.0.6
Inside 50's ended up even 56-56 Don't go back and torture yourself again but
An interesting one or two from that 60-0 time would be ... How many times in that period the ball entering our 50 was marked by a Brisbane player. How many times first contact from our inside 50 was a Brisbane player who then saw it out of the 50
I made notes on everyone, Ill post tonight after work
So I watched the first half up to our first goal qtr time Bris 19 I50s to Carl 8 Bris 5.5.35 to Carl 0.0.0 at the first Carl goal by Cripps Bris 29 I50s to Carl 20 Bris 9.6.60 to Carl 1.0.6 It was hard to watch but I just wanted to know
but