Does it get any worse than this?

The first 6 out of 7 free kicks of the match went to Richmond and cost us. Right or wrong decisions, the umpiring again was very inconsistent with one umpire paying the softest free kicks (Hilton's free), while the others didn't (Williams). How was Aaron Fiora's one arm throw? Even with three umpires on the ground they missed it.

Go back to one umpire I say.

All the crap about Qld Goal Umpires and yet we have equal number of Vic Goal Umpires making the same crappy mistakes, but field umpires are not reversing the decisions.

Nothing to do but grin and bare it, look forward to Round 21 at the Gabba when we get to replay Round 6 but hopefully with a better outcome.

Disappointed to see the Lions play as individuals for the first two and half quarters, it wasn't till the end (last quarter) that they started to play as a team, when they play as a team - very hard to beat.

And now for the Kangaroos - looking forward!

<<Nothing to do but grin and bare it>>

You BARE it and I'll do the grinning!! LOL

Westy

Rosemary Sorensen writing for The Courier Mail..
"Clearly, when games can go either way because of a dodgy umpiring decision (and an extraordinary out of bounds on the full decision in Round 3 means Carlton coach Denis Pagan knows how true that is), then the brains-trust (don't guffaw) at the AFL should be alert to ways to reduce the possibility. "

Full story..

http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,9458323%255E27197,00.html

No chance for the Pies and the spoon - we have a shell shocked Carlton this week and would have to be a decent chance for the 4 points!!!

Just like the Malthouse and cancer story of a couple of years ago, its fabricated rubbish (and actually not the first time I had heard this rumour - it was about 12 months ago as well!!!)

From Crikey

20. The fanciful Nathan Buckley rumor

Following Friday's fanciful Nathan Buckley rumour, a subscriber has emailed Crikey to point out that the rumour monger clearly missed Nathan Buckley on Foxtel's "White Line Fever" earlier in the week.

TV appearances cannot really be classified as lying as low.

Meanwhile another footy fiend writes:

"Regarding Eddie's Olympic Park stoush with Alan Oxley. Did anyone else pick up on the delicious irony of Eddie accusing the Melbourne and Olympic Park Trust of ambushing him through the media? Not that Eddie uses the media for his own agendas."

CRIKEY: No never! But after their fourth defeat in a row, Eddie must be hoping his stars Nathan Buckley and Chris Tarrant sort out their respective hamstring problems and drag the Magpies back off the bottom the ladder. After all, Lexus isn't going to want to sponsor a pack of losers, no matter how much media exposure Eddie drums up for them.

PS - as for Chris Tarrant, he was on Talking Footy last week as well - he hasn't been lying low either...

Re the out on the full call against Ryan Houlihan in Roos v Carl: it's blatantly unfair to penalise a bloke in that position when he's not even attempting to address the ball, and I've had that opinion since about ten minutes after the rule first came in, but if 'Hot Lips' did clip the ball with his heel he was gone, because that was the rule in the book.

Brendan Fevola and another bloke both had chances in the minute before the Houlihan incident to make it all academic.

As for Rosemary Sorenson's relative - no idea!

In fact, after Don died, John Clarke paid tribute by calling him the Dave Sorenson of cricket.

I said at the start of the year that Hawthorn without Shane Crawford is a bottom four team and now that my original spoon nomination is looking like a top four side I'd say the Hawks have a chance of picking up the spoon...unless the Cows beat them to it!

regards,

REB

The position in the 8 is not out of the question, but slightly unlikely.

A win this week, followed by the return of Buckley, Tarrant and Fraser and with games against St Kilda (missing a few) and Adelaide could see the Pies 4 and 5 after 9 rounds, a situation where winning 7 or 8 out of the remaining 13 would see them qualify for the finals.

I still don't believe Saints are the real deal. The loss of Hayes, Koscitske and Hamill will test their depth this weekend especially...

If by 'Real Deal' you mean 'Grand Finalist' well, you may have a point but if you are meaning 'top 8' or even 'top 4' then you'd have to say that the Saints have arrived. Several of last year's top eight sides look a bit wonky, Adelaide, West Coast, Collingwood even Sydney aren't looking as strong. St Kilda are the leading contender from last year's bottom eight and could be joined by Melbourne, or, dare I say it, Geelong or the Bulldogs?

regards,

REB

I expect they will make the 8, but a GF is probably another year away. I feel this year its Jase's Power vs Lucy's Lions (and plenty of whinging from interstate about a Prelim Final being played in Melb...)

If I was having a bet today that's were my money would be also, but it's only round 7 so there is a heck of a lot of water to go under many bridges. Injuries at the pointy end of the season will have a bearing and I feel that St Kilda can only improve as well. So, who knows? As REB said it could even be Melbourne. Geelong may be a little far fetched though.:-)

This sounds reasonable to me, although I think the Prelims should be played in Home States ie. Adelaide or better still Brisvegas. But happy with the GF being played in Melbourne (for the moment) means I get a trip away each year :)

Good thing you're happy because you'll see the US Masters being played in Moosecrap, Montana, before you see the AFL Grand Final played anywhere except Melbourne. Expect the Sydney Olympic Stadium to lobby heavily for 2006 when the MCG will be at the height of its rebuilding phase before the Comm Games, esp if the Swans are any chance of playing in it, but it won't happen.

I'm completely with you re the prelim finals, though.

Thank God I wont be sitting in the stands alone!!! LOL

If only for personal reasons, I haope that 1 game will ALWAYS be played in Melb that weekend...

regards,

REB

Give it a break.

Collingwood are where they belong and need to endure the pain.

They get a perverse pride from people talking about them.

Just ignore them and they will fade into obscurity.

Or maybe they could be relocated to Perth......