In the Carlton games I have watched Cripps doesn’t appear to me as such a valuable player as recently selected a few years back as the most valuable player in the League. I recall that the Captains of the other teams voted him thus. I am a Dockers supporter and Nat Fyfe also does not seem such an outstanding player as others have suggested. Of course I am just an amateur observer and other experts know better than I do. When Fyfe won his Brownlow medals I’m sure the umpires had a better view of his abilities than people such as me. When Luke Shuey won the Simpson medal in the 2018 Grand Final for the Eagles I didn’t really notice him. I thought I was an observant person but there are probably many who would say that I am not. I think Harry McKay is an excellent player for Carlton and worth his pay packet.

I saw the incident and I think the elbow contact was avoidable so I think he should cop a weeks suspension. If he had knocked out the opposition player then of course he would have certainly received a lot more than one week. Any striking of a player around the head region should be an automatic suspension. Head injuries are serious and have side effects such as inability to sleep and headaches to name a few. Johnathon Brown formerly of the Brisbane Football Club had to retire early due to an abundance of head knocks. I read his biography and from memory he described the side effects of head knocks. I think he received 6 hits to the head before he retired prematurely.

I think there is enough rules already for an umpire to contend with. The 15 metre rule for a kick is the most difficult to judge. I watch many of the weekend games and some short kicks under 15 metres are permitted and sometimes allowable kicks according to the rule are called “not fifteen” by the umpire. If all kicks were permitted, the difficulty of judging if the distance was 15 or not would be eliminated.

My tips are Richmond by 33 over an unreliable Geelong this year. GWS who are getting better as the season goes on. Gold Coast Suns at home who have been surprisingly good lately. North Melbourne to have their first win over a Collingwood team that just can’t seem to get it together this season. Melbourne are a quality side who will bounce back from a weak game against North Melbourne and despite the fact that Sydney surprises us sometimes with their form. Port Adelaide look too good for their brother team Adelaide in this derby. West Coast to win on the road. Western Bulldogs to bounce back and the Lions to savage Fremantle.

I follow the Dockers but I have noticed the excellence of Darling as a tall forward who produces goals when they are needed. I think he has kicked only one point this year from set shots and over 10 goals from memory. I wish he played for the Dockers because we have a shortage of tall forwards who also kick goals. I noticed in the Derby how he easily shook off a tackle through sheer strength coming from his strong tall body.

I can’t understand why two outstanding Collingwood players in Jarryd Stephenson went to North Melbourne and Adam Treloar went to the Dogs. Treloar in recent years had more possessions than any other player in the whole League. Stephenson could always be relied upon to kick a goal when he was near them. So far guns like De Goey have not shown their usual brilliance. Josh Daicos is a very handy goal kicker. Mason Cox is a worthy tall forward who doesn’t miss many opportunities but he hasn’t had many games this year.

Geelong got the benefit of a poor umpiring decision against Brisbane and won the game by a point. It appears in the Sydney game the boot was on the other foot and Geelong it appears received a poor umpiring decision so now at least some form of justice seems to have occurred. It appears to me that there are many occasions when the umpires call “not fifteen” when the ball does seem to have travelled the required distance. There are many other occasions when very short kicks under fifteen are allowed. This rule must be difficult for umpires to judge whether the ball has travelled far enough or not. Perhaps the rule should be scrapped.

When Hawthorn gets their gun forward, Jack Gunston, back I think we will see a different side. On paper Hawthorn look good and only lost by 5 points to Geelong. I must say nevertheless that they have been inconsistent this year with their current lineup. Overall, they haven’t inspired confidence as a winning combination yet. Whenever they play in Tasmania I tip them because they usually win there. Didn’t they recently make an amazing comeback there when they were well behind on the scoreboard?

I am not a Pies supporter but over the many years I’ve watched them play I have admired their great teamwork. They have been excellent at passing the ball to each other in very efficient fashion either by foot or handball. This year, unfortunately, they just can’t seem to win. I don’t think a change of coach is going to make any difference. Perhaps the answer is an addition of more good players. The placing of Moore in the forward line has not been a success. In my opinion he should return to his backline position where he excels. In my tipping competition I picked North Melbourne to have their first win.

I was pleased with myself for tipping the Tigers to win by 15. Even though the Tigers had lost 3 games I felt it was time for the Dogs to have a loss.

My tips are Richmond by 15, Collingwood, GWS, St. Kilda, Port Adelaide, Geelong, Melbourne & finally the Eagles to win their 11th consecutive win. I would like the Dockers to win because I follow them but my confidence in their goal kicking ability is not there yet. They have not kicked a score where there was more goals than points. Their worst day was 11 goals 21 points. Their best day was 12 goals 12 points.

I am a Fremantle supporter and would love to see them win. In my tipping competition I have selected the Eagles to win their 11th consecutive win. Why? I saw them demolish Port Adelaide at Optus as if Port were absent from the ground. All you could see was Eagles players passing the ball to each other in wide open spaces. They will be very keen to wipe last weeks demolition from their memory so they can redeem themselves & get some self belief back again. On paper they look good with the likelihood of Hurn and Kennedy returning. They have very reliable goal kickers in Kennedy, Darling & Allen. The Dockers are yet to kick a score where there is more goals than points. The absence of McGovern and possibly Barrass will assist them though. After watching all of the Dockers games they still don’t fill me with an overflow of confidence. The Eagles do, virtually all over the ground. Last week I truly thought they could overcome a weak Geelong who could only beat North Melbourne by thirty points and the Hawks by five. I was dumbfounded when Adelaide beat them in the first round. They were given the game against Brisbane when a dreadful umpiring decision allowed them to win by one point.

After tipping the Dogs to win by 33, my tips went downhill after that especially when West Coast got slaughtered by the formerly weak Geelong. I’m tipping Richmond to bounce back by 15. Collingwood to get to 2 wins, Geelong, St. Kilda to put in another good performance, Port to overcome Brisbane despite their home ground advantage, GWS to beat the weakening Adelaide who has the home ground advantage that did not help them against Fremantle. Melbourne, Essendon and West Coast. I would like to see Fremantle win because they are my team but I can’t see West Coast putting in another atrocious performance like last week.

I have watched most of the games every weekend. Melbourne & the Bulldogs have impressed me the most. I would like to see Aaron Naughton convert more of his set shots on goals. He takes great vice like marks often at close range but he tends to be wasteful with those opportunities.

Until Geelong annihilated the Eagles they have not been impressive. Richmond is still a dangerous team and could still be a threat for the flag. Jack Riewoldt is having a good year but Tom Lynch is not giving the value that I think he could. Port Adelaide have been doing well except for a poor performance against the Eagles at Optus.

Sydney began the season well with 4 wins but were overcome by a hungry Giants team by 2 points who kicked 4-6 to 1-1 in the final quarter. In round 6 Gold Coast gave them a shock loss. I don’t see Sydney as a threat in the finals. The Lions are doing better but with Lachie Neale sidelined for months their followers division is going to suffer. Their usually potent forward, Charlie Cameron, has not been setting the world on fire this year.

I can’t see Adelaide, Fremantle, Hawthorn, Gold Coast, Collingwood or North Melbourne winning many games when the home & away games are finished. Carlton is another team that has not inspired confidence in me when I do my tipping. I think the Eagles will finish in the eight but not the top four. I believe they can bounce back from the horrors of round 6.

Both St. Kilda and Essendon may steal valuable games away from teams aspiring to get into the final eight but they are not consistent enough to reach the eight themselves.

My prediction at this early stage for the eight in order are Melbourne, Port Adelaide, Western Bulldogs, Geelong, Richmond, West Coast, Sydney Swans and finally the Brisbane Lions.

I am a Dockers supporter and I don’t agree with their coach, Justin Longmuir, that there will soon be a transformation in Nat Fyfe’s fortunes when he is faced with an opportunity to kick goals instead of points. He seems to have a serious mental block when he sees the big sticks looming. I think his ploy of kicking the ball across his body has been successful when he takes set shots. He may have to take a leaf out of former Docker Chris Mayne who became a goal kicking wizard by calming himself, took a deep breath and then took his shot for goals. At one stage his goal kicking stats were 20 goals 3 points. I believe Fyfe might be successful if he imagined he was kicking the ball to a player standing at the centre point of the goal square because he is very capable of kicking the ball accurately to other players around the field. He would have to imagine he was kicking the ball well over the imaginary person’s head. Or perhaps he could speak with a sports psychologist.

I’m glad Adam Simpson, the coach of the West Coast Eagles, was honest about his teams woeful performance against Geelong. Geelong proved at last that they are Premiership contenders. The Eagles proved that they are nowhere near Premiership form. They have been good at home but can’t handle away fixtures. They need to win several away games before they can feel somewhat confident of winning a Premiership. But if they had to face Geelong again in a final I think they would not be able to expunge the dreadful memories of this game against Geelong. When they face the Dockers this week I will still tip them because they are certain to bounce back and beat their derby rivals just as they have for the last 10 consecutive games against Fremantle.

I just edited my document so that it would be broken up into paragraphs for ease of reading. I edited it 3 times because after I sent the edited document it was still in my original large block of writing. I am JesusLover33.

I have followed Ash’s career since she won the Junior Wimbledon title. I think she was 15 at the time and would have competed against U19 players. After that she teamed up with her close friend Casey Delacqua from Western Australia and reached 3 Grand Slam doubles finals including Wimbledon.
After that she decided to have a break from tennis spending some considerable time playing first class cricket and showed success. She is also a class golfer and has a round when she has the time.
I remember when she was seeded 16 in the Women’s Tennis Association and gradually moved up to No.1. Her greatest successes have been winning the French open & pocketing about AU$6 million when she won the road to Shenzhen title in 2019.
She has been No.1 for well over 70 weeks and recently followed up her 2019 Miami victory with another a few months ago against class players. Only a handful of players have won this title consecutively.
By winning the singles event in Stuttgart she matched other legends of the game such as Justine Henin who was the then No.1 player to win in 2007. By winning the doubles as well she matched Lindsay Davenport of America who won both events in 2001.
I took notice of the Porsche model that she won by reading what the car model was and its price is AU$201,000.
When I was watching the semi final at Stuttgart against Elina Svitolina, from memory she was down a set and a break at 5-4. Svitolina was serving for the match. I was praying that God would help her out of the pit she was in. He answered my prayers as she broke back.
She won that set in a close tie-breaker 7-6 (7-5). She was down 4-2 in the tie-break, so Ash added 5 more points to her tally and Elina only 1. Ash finally won the third set against a great fighter who never gives in.
I also stayed up late to watch the other semi final between Simona Halep from Roumania & Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus. I expected Halep to win because she runs for everything. She had been saying that she desperately wanted to win at Stuttgart because she had reached the semis twice in the past.
Sabalenka slaughtered Halep 6-3, 6-2. Halep was seeded 2 and Sabalenka 7. When I was thinking about Halep as a probable opponent for Ash, I felt that she had the ability to beat her. The last time they met in an exhibition match in Australia Simona won.
After watching Sabalenka smash serves down at 188 kmh my fears turned towards this dynamo who could serve about 30 kmh faster than Ash. She proved my fears when she easily won the first set 6-3.
Amazingly, Ash reeled off the next 9 games to win the second set 6-0 and led 3-0 in the deciding set. But Sabalenka drew back to 2-3. Then the score became 4-2 Ash’s way. Soon it was 5-3 and Ash was serving for the Championship.
But in her last few service games she couldn’t get her first serve in. Earlier on in the match her first serve percentage was 92%. I was nervous, very nervous. She had a serve on 40-15 and it went in on the first serve. Sabalenka went down meekly when she netted it.
Then all her frustrations broke loose and she hurled her racquet at the bottom of the net. After quickly retrieving it she smiled at Barty as their racquets met at the net. Sabalenka played nowhere near the way she vanquished Halep.
But Ash played a great game after losing the first set. Ash mixed up the shots she was playing, moving Sabalenka all over the court. Ash seemed for the most part able to cope with the hard hitting Belarusian.
By winning Ash moved to the top of the table of 8 players to contest the Shenzhen tournament rich in prize money.

Nat definitely seems to have a mental block when he is faced with an opportunity to kick through the big sticks. Let’s hope he can overcome it just as former Dockers player Chris Mayne did. As far as I can remember his tally at one point in the season was 20 goals 3 points. He used to calm himself, take a deep breath and then kick for the goals. Unfortunately for Collingwood he seems to have lost that ability to kick goals the way he used to. Nevertheless he has become a good team player when passing to other players.

I am a Fremantle supporter and I get frustrated when they kick more points than goals. Fyfe is an asset around the field getting plenty of useful possessions but this years record of 1 goal 12 points must be very disappointing for him. Sometimes I have noticed that he could have run closer to goals before he lets fly with his attempt. Perhaps, if possible, he should pass the ball to our confident goal kickers such as Schultz or Taberner. Even Sean Darcy our ruckman is becoming reliable in front of the sticks. Unless Rory Lobb is very close and straight in front of the goals he is another you cannot rely on to get the 6 points. Walters is also a very reliable goal kicker.

Because I am in a tipping competition I watch all the matches from Thursday to Sunday. When I consider the strength of teams such as Geelong & Carlton my impression is that they are not obviously strong this season. Some players that do stand out as assets are Guthrie and Dangerfield for Geelong and some of the forward players for Carlton. Josh Bruce’s 10 goal performance for Carlton was excellent and another player named Harry somebody (No. 10 guernsey) is accurate when kicking for goal. I think Casboult is a passenger.

To Bretto regarding Collingwood. One thing I have always admired about the Collingwood team is their ability to maintain possession of the football with accurate passes or handballs to each other. I believe the reason why they are 1 & 5 is because of a lack of fit personnel. The coach can’t control the number of injuries a team is afflicted with. Another reason they are doing poorly this year maybe the fixtures they have copped so far but I can only remember two of them. One was against an in form Eagles outfit away and an unpredictable Essendon who kicked 22 goals in a game I tipped them to lose.

In my tipping competition I picked the Bulldogs to win by 33. With 11 seconds to go I was on the money until usually inaccurate Aaron Naughton had to spoil it for me with a goal after the siren. After this game I picked the Eagles. I couldn’t believe how pathetic they were against a Geelong team who have not impressed this year with a first round loss to Adelaide and a near miss against Hawthorn. The umpire gave them a win over the Lions and they could only beat the probable wooden spooners North Melbourne by a measly 30 points. After that the Gold Coast Suns, Richmond & Collingwood well and truly spoilt my chances of winning. I thought the $1500 fine against Lachie Neale for alerting the unaware umpire to his bleeding forehead both trivial & ridiculous.

Last night I picked the Dogs by 33. Except for a goal after the siren in the last 11 seconds I would have been right. I was hoping Naughton would kick a point like he generally does. I haven’t been impressed with Geelong this year and if West Coast plays according to their better games, I’m going for them. Ruckless Gold Coast should fall to Sydney. The Lions should vanquish their opponents. Richmond are playing like Premiers for 2021 and should overcome an in form Melbourne. Fremantle at home should beat an improving Roos team. Hawthorn in Tasmania should deal successfully with an out of form Adelaide. In a close match I’m going for the Pies against erratic Essendon. Port at home should crush their lesser opponents.

I am a Dockers supporter but I never feel confident about how they are going to perform especially when they are kicking for goals. They are usually very wasteful and a good example of that is their 11 goals 21 points score recently at Optus. Last week against Adelaide they played more efficiently than Adelaide did, so I hope they can carry that good form into this non spectator game on Sunday. Against Adelaide their goal kicking was one of their better performances by scoring 12 goals 12 points.