Friday musing – Essendon FC, James Hird, Father/Son rule……

Chris Barwin HillsThere have been a few Essendon issues popping up this week and I thought I would provide the perspective of a footy fan:

1) Should Dustin Fletcher play on? The question came up after a poor game against the Bulldogs and being left out of the team that beat Port Adelaide. I think he should play on next year, his form generally this year has been good, his game against Collingwood the previous week could not be faulted and I think you will find at the end of the year, in the previous game against the Bulldogs he will probably be in the umpire’s votes. If he plays on next year he will get to 400 games which is a significant milestone and even worth putting him on the list as a mature age rookie to try and get him over the line next year.

2) Should James Hird return to the coaches box once his suspension has been served? I think he should be able to return to the club, but he should stay away from the coaches box until the club has completed the 2014 campaign. Leave the match day coaching to Bomber and his assistants, but get involved behind closed doors as he will need to be across the list as soon as the season has been completed to prepare for the draft etc.

There has also been discussions about the Father/Son rule and the northern states academies. With regard to the Father/Son rule I think it should remain as it is as it is a great part of our game that a player has the option to play for his father’s ex-team in certain circumstances. I actually think there should be a brother/brother rule, particularly with regard to twins. I thought it was harsh when the Selwood twins ended up in Brisbane and Perth respectively, not only for them, but their parents as well. Then Joel ends up at Geelong! There is also the Brown twins, where Nathan ended up at Collingwood and Mitchell at West Coast, again harsh for them and their parents. Who do you barrack for?

With the northern states academies, I think if they have put the time and energy into preparing the players and that was the basis on which the academies were set up, then I don’t think there should be an issue. Having said that, perhaps the academies should be run by both clubs in that state, ie. Sydney and GWS and whichever team has first choice in the draft has the right of first refusal for that player.

Anyhow we have an interesting season panning out with five or six clubs vying for three or four spots in the final eight which should maintain the interest for those positions right until the end of the season.

Have a great weekend!

Gelding’s ‘hotties’ for 26 July 2014

Mar 6 2011 010The Gelding’s attention returns to his home track of Caulfield tomorrow and after some modest success last week, he is keen and eager to improve on that form this outing.

As always the bets are on an each way and all up basis.

Caulfield

Race 2 Horse 2 – Pyrrolic
Race 3 Horse 1 – Self Sense
Race 4 Horse 2 – Kristy Lee (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 5 Horse 5 – Lord Of the Sky (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 7 Horse 1 – Word of Month

Good luck and good punting!

The Gelding

Friday musing – World Cup, Tour de France………

Chris Barwin HillsWell the biggest sporting event in the world, the World Cup has now concluded and I got it wrong with Argentina and Messi failing to ignite. Germany deserved to win in my opinion and the goal from Gotze was an absolute ripper.

We then move towards one of the more low key events being the Commonwealth Games. To me the Commonwealth Games can be equated to the old AFL pre-season competition. It is relevant, but not the main game.

With the impending retirement of Lenny Hayes, the question becomes who will now be a lot of people’s favourite player from an opposition team. Well I have always admired Hayes for the same reasons I admire Jimmy Bartel. They are both extremely skilful players who do not seek out the accolades for themselves and do not try and help the umpires umpire the game. My nomination therefore is Bartel, but I probably had him as my favourite player from another team anyway.

The final comment for the week would be the potential for Richie Porte to “do a Bradbury”. With all the retirements due to injury it would appear that Porte has a very good chance of taking out the Tour de France if he can get over Vincenzo Nibali. For someone who was supposed to be the second man to Chris Froome he has been given the chance and I will be keeping my fingers crossed for him.

Have a great weekend!

Gelding’s red hotties for tomorrow at Flemington

Feb 6 2011 005The Gelding’s attention remains at Flemington this Saturday and after a mediocre outing last week is looking to atone with some value picks for punters.

Of interest is Beluga Caviar running in race 1…..Hayes is bringing it to town for its first run and was purchased for $1.2 million. It is out of Redoute’s Choice and is related to the great Black Caviar through the mare Scandinavia. It is a good each way bet!

As always the bets are on an each way and all up basis.

Flemington

Race 2 Horse 1 – Jessy Belle (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 5 Horse 6 – Shenzhou Steeds
Race 6 Horse 10 – Hai Lil
Race 7 Horse 3 – Zamorar
Race 8 Horse 11 – Aeratus (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)

Good luck and good punting!

The Gelding

Gelding’s red hotties for 12 July 2014

MarkThe Gelding’s attention turns to Flemington this week and after a week to blow the cobwebs off, he is sure there are some ‘winter warmers’ here for punters.

Apologies to the ladies at the Tennis club for the last selection……no comparison intended!!

As usual the bets are on an each way and all up basis.

Flemington

Race 2 Horse 3 – Kona
Race 3 Horse 4 – Sacred Flyer
Race 4 Horse 6 – Vain Queen (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 6 Horse 4 – Akavoroun
Race 7 Horse 13 – Miss Promiscuity (also for the ladies at the tennis club)

Good luck and good punting!

The Gelding

Friday musing – World Cup, Brazil, Germany, Argentina & more….

Chris Barwin HillsWell the World Cup is coming to a conclusion and my predictions for the quarter finals got the result wrong with the Brazil versus Chile game, but I am betting that Brazil are now thinking they should have lost that game and not faced the humiliation of being trounced 7-1 by Germany. My son’s U12 team lost 5-0 on Sunday and I thought their defence was poor! Well Brazil took it to a new low. I saw the first two goals and went to brush my teeth and missed the next two! An amazing result. Were the Germans that good or the Brazilians that bad? I favour the latter, the goals they conceded were from very poor defence more that inspired play from the Germans. Germany executed very well, but if you take the first goal, how could the Brazilians allow Mueller to sit in the box unattended with no one between him and the goals? The Brazilians are still trying to answer that question.

Now we move onto the final and while Germany will probably start favourite on the back of the rout of Brazil, I think the Argentinians will win with some inspired brilliance from Messi.

As a Bomber supporter I was rapt with the win over Port Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval last Saturday night, but I was very disappointed that Brendon Goddard was cited by the Match Review Panel and then agreed to take the week on the sidelines. Yes, it was a cheap shot to bump Kane Cornes well off the ball, but he didn’t hit him high and Cornes continued to play the game. Pt Adelaide got the free kick and that is where it should have ended. How many times in games is there bumping, pushing and shoving off the ball with players going to ground trying to milk a free kick? Every game you go to, there is some of this byplay. Will this be set as a precedent? I doubt it, but this decision has certainly robbed the Sunday afternoon fixture against Collingwood of some interest. Goddard has been in great form since Jobe Watson went down and he has shown some real leadership. I can only think he is carrying an injury and thought the week off would do him good, otherwise why would he and the club not challenge the decision?

Speaking of Kane Cornes have you ever noticed that his christian name and surname are both agricultural crops?

Have a great weekend!

The Gelding returns with his hot picks for 5 July 2014

42The Gelding returns with his mind very much on his home track of Caulfield and hoping that the winter rain stays away until Sunday to allow the horses to run to their ability without being bogged down.

Bet of the day is Lord of the Sky in race 6.

As always the bets are on an each way and all up basis.

Caulfield

Race 2 Horse 5 – Whistle Baby (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 5 Horse 5 – Pillar of Creation
Race 6 Horse 8 – Lord of the Sky (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 7 Horse 1 – Octavia
Race 8 Horse 4 – Fulgur

Good luck and good punting!

The Gelding

Friday musing – World Cup, Wimbledon, Kyrgios & more…..

Chris Barwin HillsWell the World Cup continues to dominate the world sporting landscape with the quarter finals coming up this weekend. It is interesting to note that former winners in Germany, Brazil, Argentina and France comprise four of the eight places available and the Dutch are three time finalists, so there is a familiarity about the remaining participants. The real interest may come from those outside the usual suspects with Colombia given a real chance of knocking off the hosts, Costa Rica not without a chance against the Netherlands and Belgium were considered a good outsiders chance coming into the tournament. My tips for the quarter finals are Colombia, Germany, Netherlands and Argentina.

Turning to Wimbledon, I have said in the past that I am not a great fan of watching tennis, but I had to watch the abbreviated replay of Nick Kyrgios knocking off Rafael Nadal. I must say it was pretty exciting to see a young Aussie do that on the world stage and it was a bit of a shame that the scheduling meant he had to front up the next day to play again. After taking the first set he tired and fell away, but it would appear we finally have a junior star translating to the adult stage. It reminded me of Mark Philippoussis knocking off Pete Sampras at the Australian Open, but then losing the next round match. Philippoussis went on to produce some pretty good tennis, but probably did not go as far as his talent suggested he should.

I was bemused during the week to hear Eddie Maguire call for compensation for Collingwood due to the poor drawing fixture against Carlton last Sunday night. He has often trumpeted that Collingwood fans would turn up any time any place to see their team play, but in the space of three weeks they have had two poor drawing matches. The other game against the Bulldogs at Etihad stadium three weeks ago failed to get 28,000 spectators and that was an afternoon fixture under cover! Given Collingwood gets a lot of scheduling favours due to their supporter base, I do not think Eddie would have gleaned much sympathy from any of the other clubs.

Have a great weekend!

Friday musing – World Cup, Suarez, AFL & more

Chris Barwin HillsWell the biggest sporting event in the world continues to throw up great games, great drama and now teeth grating! Well we all like a little Italian, being one of the world’s great cuisines, but Luis Suarez clearly likes his Italian fresh. What is it that makes him want to bite opponents? In a sporting sense the only comparisons I can remember are Peter Filandia biting an opponent in the nether regions and My Brown Jug biting Manikato when he realised he was going to get beaten by the champ one day at Sandown. The Suarez suspension has now been handed down and in some ways given he is a repeat offender, is quite lenient.

Continuing the World Cup theme it is interesting to note that England, Spain and Italy who represent three of the four biggest leagues in the world have all been eliminated. Is this just bad luck or is it a symptom of the leagues not promoting local talent in deference to established players from other countries? I would certainly think that is the case with the EPL, but I am not familiar enough with the Italian and Spanish leagues to know if the same problem exists. Germany has made it through and my feeling is that the Bundesliga retains a high German content, but again that is speculation not based on facts. English cricket suffered a similar fate to the EPL and County Cricket reduced the number of overseas players eligible for each team to improve their national team. Is it time for the EPL to place a restriction on the number of eligible overseas players?

I was a little disappointed with the Aussies last game against Spain. It probably went to script and the Socceroos without Cahill and Bresciano were undermanned, but a 1-0 or a 2-0 result would have been a little more satisfying given the performances earlier in the tournament.

The Bombers face the Cats tonight and the Cats are coming off their fourth loss of the season from their fourth interstate trip. Not only have they been beaten interstate, they have been comfortably beaten. That being said, they have not lost a game in Victoria and as a result I will be going against my team and picking the Cats, but barracking hard for the Bombers.

On the never ending supplements saga, it was interesting to hear Tim Watson make a comment on Talking Footy on Monday night. Given his position he has been very circumspect with his comments regarding the whole affair. In a obvious support for his son he finally made a comment about the use of AOD9604 and the lack of retraction or apology from the accusers, which was obviously directed at the time to Jobe.

I was interested to see Daniel Giansiracusa get 2 weeks for his late bump on Polec over the weekend and I ask the question, what was the difference between that bump and Adam Goodes bump on Joel Selwood? Not much, the ball had just left the area, he jumped in the air and hit him high and dazed him. I am not saying that Giansiracusa should have got off, but why wasn’t Goodes charged?

I omitted to make a comment last week about the State of Origin game. What a contrast with the first game which was one of the best rugby league games I have seen. Last Wednesday’s game was probably one of the most boring I have ever watched. The only constant was Queensland’s handling errors which again cost them the game.

Speaking of boring games, what about the Tigers and the Swans last Friday night! I think that is the stye of game that Mick Malthouse was referring to when he commented on the state of the game yesterday. That was the modern game at its worst and contrast that with the Bombers and Crows on Saturday night which was one of the best games I have watched all year.

Have a great weekend!

Gelding’s red hot tips for 21 June 2014

Mar 13 2011 021The Gelding is back after an extended break in the paddock and has been freshened up for a run toward the Spring Carnival.

During his spell, he has taken some considerable time to look through the form so he feels he is cherry ripe to do well in his comeback.

As always the bets are on an each way and all up basis.

Moonee Valley

Race 1 horse 1 – Symphonix (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 7 horse 1 – Le Bonsir (also for the ladies at the tennis club)

Randwick

Race 5 horse 4 – Tonopah
Race 6 horse 6 – Rugged Cross

Good luck and good punting!

The Gelding