- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Roar Rookie
Joined December 2018
0
Views
0
Published
95
Comments
Published
Comments
People here will be saying things like “good on you Les for showing your passion for your club”.
I think you will find that Les probably isn’t a Collingwood supporter at all.
My Collingwood swansong: A black and white manifesto
Yeah, I knew you’d see it that way about Pogacar. I was bringing it up to explain that situation to people who only watch 1 cycling race a year.
Ben O’Connor: Australia’s next cycling superstar?
I can’t see O’Connor winning the yellow jersey, for reasons I’ll get to later, but it’s possible that he can wear the yellow jersey. 3 of the next 4 stages are flat (ignoring the Ventoux stage), and Pogacar’s team aren’t great on the flat (other than Bjerg). If there’s crosswinds on those stages, AG2R may try to force a split in the peloton and expose UAE-Team Emirates. If that happens, O’Connor may be able to take some time back – 2 minutes is a lot though. It happened to Pogacar last year, maybe it can happen again.
Now why I can’t see him winning the tour – let’s say Pogacar makes it all the way to Paris. He took 2 minutes out of O’Connor in a similar length time trial on stage 5 to what is coming up on stage 20. Also, what he did on stage 8 was scary good. If O’Connor was to somehow get into the yellow jersey, Pogacar will probably just do something similar again. I just can’t see anyone matching it with him in the mountains right now. Also, being this close to the yellow jersey now, O’Connor won’t be able to be in the break again and take back 6 minutes like on stage 9.
Now about the podium places, the ones to watch are Uran, Vingegaard, Carapaz, Mas, Kelderman and maybe Gaudu. He can beat Gaudu in the last time trial, and either match or remain close to Carapaz and Mas there too. Uran and Vingegaard will probably take some time back, but if its more than 2 minutes, O’Connor will probably hold on. Kelderman should be able to time trial better too, but he’s getting worse the longer the tour goes on.
Carapaz and maybe Uran are the ones that will probably claw back some time in the mountains (or Vingegaard, who we haven’t seen much of at this level as a leader), so lets hope Ben can stick with them.
I think he’ll get a podium, I really do. Not sure if it will be 2nd or 3rd, but I think he can do it.
Ben O’Connor: Australia’s next cycling superstar?
This is very underrated as one of the great seasons. 4 teams won races and 7 got podiums. There were some crazy races, such as France and the Nurburgring. Early in that Nurburgring race, Frentzen was on track to go level in the championship with 2 races to go – it was a great season especially given Hill only got 7 points in the same car.
I wonder if Schumacher didn’t have his accident at Silverstone, we may be talking about him as an 8 time world champion, given that Irvine almost won the title in the other Ferrari.
1999 F1 flashback Part 1: Australia and Brazil
Having said that, Schumacher did also get lucky in Canada, but his luck was not to the same degree as Villeneuve.
Flashback: Jacques Villeneuve crowned 1997 world champion after Schumacher error
A lot went right for Villeneuve in this season. Hill’s problems at the Hungarian Grand Prix were well known, which gifted Villeneuve an extra 4 points. But on top of this, Hakkinen had retirements due to engine failure in the lead at Britain and Austria which also helped Villeneuve. Olivier Panis was also on track to win in Argentina before he had car problems – another one of Villeneuve’s wins.
For the second half of the season, Villeneuve was getting upgrades to his car whilst Frentzen wasn’t. If Frentzen had a better first 3 races (where he had 0 points to Villeneuve’s 20), he may have been given more freedom and more faith in the team to challenge for the title. This is a driver that did get pole at Monaco in 1997, and if given equal cars with Villeneuve would’ve been faster than him in the second half of the season. Frentzen also showed that he could do well in cars that weren’t the frontrunner – his 1999 campaign with Jordan should have had him level in the Championship with 2 races to go if his car doesn’t blow up at the Nurburgring. Unfortunately for him, his career petered out after that.
Everyone knows that what Schumacher did was not right at Jerez, but really, it shouldn’t have been close enough in the Championship for this to have happened.
Flashback: Jacques Villeneuve crowned 1997 world champion after Schumacher error
All quotas are to remain with the country that has already qualified. For example, for the 5 Boxing events that Australia had already qualified in, Australia will keep those quotas.
Some sports allow for the country to choose the athletes to fill those quotas. In recent weeks, the Australian Canoeing and Track Cycling athletes (among others) have been selected, and the Australian Olympic Committee have announced that all those athletes that have previously been selected will remain selected for the Games in 2021.
Other sports designate the quota directly to the athlete. Boxing is one of these sports, so the 5 Boxers selected (including Caitlin Parker) will keep their quotas for 2021.
Parker packs a punch as she qualifies for Tokyo
India are the better team, but the gap narrows to almost no difference considering it is in New Zealand. It’s one of the only 2 series in this edition of the World Test Championship where India may have concerns (the other being when India travel to Australia next summer).
New Zealand’s bowling may be the key to the series for them. It’ll need to be better than what they did in Australia. They’ve done well with the ball so far (India 5/122 after 55 overs at the time of writing), but this will need to happen for the entire series.
New Zealand: A tough challenge for India in their quest for the World Test Championship
Harsh on Pakistan, who could provide a good contest. Also, the New Zealand side of the last couple of years might be in the conversation as their best side ever.
We’re not unbeatable at home anyway – you just have to look at the India series last year.
Cricket Australia post Seek ad for competitive opponent
The decade doesn’t finish in 2020, it finished in 2019.
That would be like saying 2000 was the end of the last millenium. No one celebrated 2000 as the last millenium – it was the beginning of the new one.
Geelong is officially the best team of the decade
No worries. I’ve noticed a few times now that people have submitted the right info, only for the editors to incorrectly change it
Number one starts at home
I seriously think that even if Shaun Marsh made a double ton in every Shield game, he can’t be considered for selection. He’s had numerous chances before and averages only 34 in test cricket. Also, whilst we want to win every series, our main focus is to beat England, India and to a lesser extent South Africa. Shaun will be a whole year older again when we host India next, and the next time we go to England and India, he will be near/in his 40s. Its time to plan for those 2 tours in 3-4 years time
Why Australia should look beyond Shaun Marsh
I actually would prefer 8 games in Hobart and 3 in Launceston. Call the team the Hobart (insert nickname here), which opens the door to a Launceston team in the future.
Geelong more than survive off a similar sized area, although they have a reasonable amount of supporters elsewhere in Victoria and Melbourne. I think it was right having a Tasmanian team after Gold Coast and GWS, but it comes before the other places. Also, a 20th team should come in no more than 1 season later, so that we don’t have a bye for a long period of time.
Where should the 20th AFL team be based?
Yep. Lets listen to an Englishman, who doesn’t understand that we can’t expand the season by more months because many of the grounds have cricket pitches on them for 5-6 months of the year.
A Briton's perspective on the problems plaguing AFL
I personally feel Canberra could be Team 20, with possibly a couple of games in Albury and maybe Wagga. The GWS crowds for Canberra games are currently close to their crowds in Sydney. The region also has a level of pre-existing interest in football.
Sunshine Coast and North Queensland (likely Cairns) are the other potential spots, in my view. A Launceston team could also work (as possibly the 21st or 22nd team well down the track), but thats a long way off yet.
Whilst I think Perth (and to a lesser extent Adelaide) have the overall number of football followers to have a 3rd team, I’m not sure who will support it. In Perth for example, you’d already support either West Coast or Fremantle. This is still different to when Fremantle and Port Adelaide came into the competition, as it created a rivalry in each city.
Where should the 20th AFL team be based?
Agreed. Mitch Marsh shouldn’t be in the team. But after his performance in the last Ashes test, he’ll likely be there for the 2 Pakistan tests
McDermott and Faulkner pushing for Australian selection
James P did. Re-read his comment
McDermott and Faulkner pushing for Australian selection
Faulkner in red ball cricket?
As a bowler, he isn’t even close to being in the conversation, with Cummins, Starc, Pattinson, Hazlewood and Richardson all well ahead of him.
And as an all-rounder? Well, he isn’t good enough to bat in the top 7. A first-class average of 32 and just 2 centuries in his career to date isn’t enough to warrant selection in the test side.
McDermott and Faulkner pushing for Australian selection
I think it was the centre clearance after Pendlebury put Collingwood 4 goals up. It could’ve got Geelong back in the game much earlier, but instead Collingwood were able to get the ball out of their defensive 50 again.
From memory, Dangerfield also gave away a few needless free kicks during the match. Also didn’t stick with Adams in his first goal.
Geelong need Patrick Dangerfield's chaos to be contagious
How can Clarkson be nominated for Coach of the Year when his side has gone from top 4 to (likely) outside of the finals?
Also, there is already a MVP award.
What if the AFL awards were like American sport?
They generally have every game outside of the 3pm kick-offs, where there is the 1 game.
Did anyone watch an EPL game live this weekend?
A good read.
Whenever there’s a very good young rider coming through, I keep thinking of Andy Schleck who, by the way, is the same age as Chris Froome and Richie Porte. Such a promising career that went off the rails in 2012 due to injury.
Don’t pile too much pressure on Egan Bernal and the new generation
I agree with most of what you have said, but the Cincinnati and Canadian tournaments won’t alternate as the Canadian tournament already alternates every year between Toronto and Montreal – they switch between mens and womens events each year.
It might be best to relegate the Cincinnati Masters to a 500 event, as the US already has 2 Masters events in Miami and California.
The time has come for a Masters 1000 tournament on grass
We may have had a likely medal hope in the women’s weightlifting, but unfortunately there was qualification issues for Eileen Cikamatana in the first phase of qualifying. She’s very young and one to watch in Paris 2024.
The ten marquee events of the Tokyo Games, and how Aussies might fare