Storm have a history of signing up fringe players and making them effective in the team structure when you look at how many forwards have departed over the last 4 years.

If smith leaves then this will free up cap space but 2014 will still be a season the storm can aim to finish in the top 4 with smith still being their, it is a good stance by melbourne on not letting him walk out a season early as it shows it has high aims to be around the pointy end again next season

Origin period always manages to throw a few teams challenges which the size of these can change depending on if you have one player playing regularly or three. There is always a high chance of burnout and teams have been figuring out how to keep there star players performing but what went wrong for melbourne in the finals was starting on the back foot in the first twenty minutes in both finals made it hard to come back against quality teams

Scott

In September I saw coverage and commentators talking about how it was more likely he would be leaving because the chiefs won the super rugby title again, it will be a good way for both of them to continue and I do try to take notice of good reporting

Fred

Yes the game was hard to watch but I’m not saying shaw is responsible for the whole loss but what he did when they game was close in the second quarter didn’t help at all, bucks does not want anyone to think that they are bigger and despite being popular in the group Alan didak is gone which again shows what he is trying to say that it’s for the better of the team.

Water gate

It’s not about everyone being perfect at the club as people do make mistakes but it is about buying in to what he wants to do as he is the coach now, he did give games to players who needed it and to see what depth he has for the future, every other team bar Sydney and Geelong would have a few years to perform at the top before it decreases slightly, at best regardless if Thomas will stay I see the pies finishing just inside the top eight. Of course if the players don’t want to perform for him it does make it harder for him to stay, By the time collingwood play Melbourne Paul roos will have had time to know what his strongest line up is so the demons will likely challenge for more then a quarter like they did this year against colllingwood

It does look like the ball will be pink as it does look easier to see then the gray/green type often seen in the one day matches i am glad tk hear it. I dont think day night tests will be every match but perhaps one or two a season but they could also have a poorer nation like bangladesh host a test in a new country in asia such as dubai to try and attract a new crowd to be interested in cricket.

I did think about 8:30pm being scheduled finish time but i remembered that most times it would go a extra half hour due to slow over rates (which means 8:30pm if 8:00pm was scheduled) but that later finish could work, but the possibility of making up extra time due to rain delay would be fine extending into the night up to a extra hour depending on time lost of course.

I do think all it will take for it to start happening is two nations agreeing to playing in one for the rest to follow, it looks as if the front runners are the aussies and kiwis here (likely at the gabba or adelaide due to the matches being at the start of the test season)

Gr8r

1 pitches should always be up to standard to have play, I know the drop in wickets take time but there can be WA hosting VIC and NSW in October so it gives the MCG and SCG wickets better time as the WACA is the last remaining pitch that is not dropped in

2 yes but they decided for this year to have a one day comp in the first month, hardly appealing to get in red ball form for consideration for the first test

3 it is up to the states how much they want to pay for how long, they could do a four match stint for example, sides would usually have a couple of development players in most times during the season but say QLD had Tim Southee of NZ for matches when Ryan Harris is on Aus duty during the test series. Replacing a quality bowler for another and it gives players experience facing quality players when the Aus players are not playing which is 95% of the time now

4 CA should encourage state sides to pick a proper spinner if they want to find a suitable replacement for Warne, they won’t find another Warne but they will find someone who can bowl decently to challenge Lyon with no offence to Ashton Agar

It’s fine to have a few players in that you want to develop but the same time keep 8-9 of your spots for performing players so it keeps everyone working hard including the older ones

SA were a laughing stock in the shield until Botha came along and yes having Klinger and Hughes did help but they still needed a leader to help

I did have my facts right and im not going over the top, Sydney were the trendsetters of slow congested defensive football, I was not talking about Geelong but well done to them for all there flags they have won

Armstrong has been in and out but still has time, Seaby did his job required until he got injured but when he was playing the Swans were more then happy with his ruck work, both Tippett and Armstrong have time on their side, yes they could not stop them and that’s where the Swans struck gold by getting players to come to them instead of Bradshaw going to Carlton or Tippett to GWS

First I want to say the AFL has given out the increased living bonus because it is more expensive and Sydney and even though people may think they used it all on Tippett but look at the amount of delisting’s and retirements since 2009, they had built room in the salary cap. Of course the AFL would like every team to be competitive to increase the interest in the competition, just look at how Gold Coast and GWS had help to start off with different levels of success so far, the Swans made a change to play a different style of football because it works for them. Also there is no umpiring bias whatsoever that is out of order, think why would the AFL say go easy on a certain team the umpires are umpiring to get given a game for next week just like the players, there is no match fixing and yes geelong has had a successful era winning more flags and staying competitive too

Well the risk was taken and it was seen what was going to happen, I have played football before with a guy wanting to swing at me and I chose to get out of it because I knew if I started anything I would have been sent off from the officials and now I am a umpire myself, but he was the very start of the iceberg because he did the first action THEN Merrin got involved

mds1970

The Melbourne Storm and Sydney Swans cannot make inroads in there respective towns despite being successful and the A league is not on when I suggested my byes so the AFL is not really giving the NRL any favours. Of course the AFL can not do anything about the FIFA world cup being held every four years though.

Mastermind

Players already do feel burnt out into the finals, we witnessed North Melbourne and Collingwood fade out last year in September due to fatigue, the break would make teams more fresh to last longer so overall general play will increase and I think the AFL would rather have as many close matches as possible without teams getting blown away due to fatigue.

no they dont as they know regardless how sydney swans and melbourne storm the nrl and afl will rule roast, as for the bbl however it is a new competition and sydney will still get bumper crowds due to adp and it is a battle over summer that cricket can win thanks to the ashes that the bbl can feed off

they are the first ones to release there schedule by putting games on nearly everyday around the new year period, CA can use the delay in there release to there advantage, teams like perth, adelaide and hobart wont have to worry too much as they have strong support in the bbl but the other ones have competition, there are 6 A-league sides compared to 4 sides in the big bash from sydney and melbourne, the sydney sides have more to worry about then the melbourne ones though

don

They would have to spread it after the last test and have the one day games say 2 weeks after it so there is a time period to play

Tenash

but in competitive markets like sydney especially for the thunder they may get 4000 less people if the sydney wanderers or sydney fc are playing on the same day/night. there would be at least 1000 who probably would go to a game in melbourne if melbourne victory were not clashing, the usually get 15k+ in the a league so it is hard competition for the stars and renegades to get people in sometimes

players should stop carrying on and protesting, no player including the captain should go up and ask why they paid a decision against them, the ref has said what the penalty is for, about having a video ref and two on field they have them there to make it easier for each other, the AFL has three field umpires so they can watch for incidents behind and to let the other field umpires know certain things to watch out for like players roughing each other up. it makes our job a lot easier and calmer if players respected the refs calls and moved on right away with no hassle

the wet conditions were always going to make things a little bit harder, some of the crowd were a bit late coming in so that could be why it was not as loud in the first half

Tenash

thank you for your feedback, im glad to hear that you enjoyed the article, i think it is good to say the competition will get better with a few minor tweaks, thank you once again!

cjones

I have heard about that and they do have some great youth coming though (Isco, De Gea, Carvajal, Montoya, Thiago) but it is about using what they have to make the national side stronger, if Spain continue like they did v Uruguay in the confederations cup then Xabi Alonso may even find it hard to get back in thanks to Fabregas. Some of the youth team will miss out for next years world cup

the AFL got rid of there state of origin years ago and there is always talk of it coming back every time the NRL has it on, the NRL has a advantage of starting their season 3 weeks earlier to allow for this while the AFL has there schedule crammed

I agree it is the biggest comp in Australian sport, the AFL and A-League have nothing on a domestic level, the NRL have one over the AFL every year because of this

Italy will be looking to get revenge, we will possibly see how close Brazil are in the confederations cup and Belgium are building as a dark horse who can be the suprise. I would be most worried about Germany though

Yes i did, they deserved more then a 2-1 win, i would like to see them do well but Argentina and Germany especially will cause problems, add Portugal to that list after last years euro’s. Of course they can win it but there are a few areas that they would like to have settled before the world cup starts

Talia has developed into a great key defender, he will continue to grow, they were able to get that forward line combo working last year because they gave them enough chances by winning the ball more, i dont think Buddy will go to the crows but they will do most of the off season work on free agency due to the draft affects, they have Angus Graham as a good back up if Jacobs needed a rest, another key position player now though would be a great help.

im a umpire myself and its very annoying hearing it at AFL games let alone having to deal with it whenever i umpire

I agree the pressure that they used last year is not there, last year’s game plan was about pressure and the transition from defence into attack. Rutten was dropped to work on things at training and will return round 14 but his role is unsure, Vince is quite inconsistent in general and was dropped earlier in the season, Mackay does not have the pace required to be a game breaker, Thompson is around the ball but is not the type to open a game up, they had Petrenko missing who can help create a spark at times and they have not had as much movement from half back due to still trying to find a suitable replacement to doughty, Brown is still developing in the Crows backline. Sides have worked them out and it was not just the Sydney game they were found out, against North they were challenged heavily and Essendon had them sorted at the start of the season

It has been known for a while that Australia is too old but the problem is the youth has not been at the level required, i would like to see a rebuild and give more of a chance but its not going to happen, which means brazil can turn ugly especially with the pace of neil and ogna, hazard, neymar, walcott and messi would lick their lips at that

Warner just has to look at Michael Clarke, he would not put himself in a position like that now, Everyone makes mistakes and Clarke has been under media pressure before but he learnt and worked hard,Warner is lucky he is not going home, it has been made clear he is on his last warning. There is still time for him to change his actions to give him the best chance of success in staying in the Australian side.