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4/29/2009

Too Many Games, Not Enough Openers, Still Too Much Hauritz

Australia are playing cricket at the moment. Just thought I'd tell you, becuase noone seems to know or care. They are in Abu Dhabi playing Pakistan in a series of 50 over games. How many pointless ODIs are being played these days? Is anyone outside (or even inside, given the (SA)IPL is on) cricket mad India actually watching these games? In more relevant (and still not blogged about becuase I've been blogging about DT) cricket, we still don't know who the best test side in the world is after Australia beat South Africa 2-1, flipping the scoreline in Australia. There were then 2 T20s and 5 ODIs (after 2 and 5 in Australia). Why do we need this many ODI games? Everyone knows that the only ODI matches that count for anything are the World Cup (and theres far too many games there too). For the record, SA won most of the ODI games and Australia still didn't play Phil Hughes in any of them. This scheduling has gone too far. 

The Aussies have played 708 Tests in 133 years, and 705 ODIs in 39 years. You could drop back the number of ODIs and stop the players bitching about playing too much cricket so easily. 

Now, at the moment the ODI side has any of Haddin, Clarke, Hopes and Watson opening. I'nm disregarding Marsh, becuase he seems to usually be playing, atleast when he isn't injured. None of these players are proper openers. So, clearly Australia must have no-one qualified for the job. Lets look at the candidates:

Phil Hughes:
Averaged 69 in the 3 tests he has played against SA, struck at 58 (Haydos struck at 60, so Hughesy isn't too slow for it). Why oh why is he not in the ODI side?

Matthew Hayden:
Forcefully retired from the test side, now averages 59 at 152 in 8 games in the IPL. In the past 2 years (takes in the last 16 ODIs he played) he averaged 42 and struck at 83. Some players are forced to only play in one form of the game (ie Bracken), why not give Haydos a chance again?

Or you could throw the Huss (Mike) up there where he used to play, and play him into some form. Except that he's being rested, because he has played too many ODIs lately...

How the hell is Hauritz averaging 29 and going for 4.8 an over in ODIs? Well, 14 of his 22(63%) wickets have come caught by a fielder (ie slogging and got caught on the boundary), and 2(9%) stumped (ie slogging and missed). In comparison, that sheik of tweak Michael Clarke has 51 wickets (yes, he has played more games, thats why I'm putting %s)  and 23 caught fielder (45%) with 3 stumped (6%). When it comes to a game that matters (hopefully not the Ashes), Hauritz will stink up the place worse than Bryce McGain's first day. 

In unrelated matters, Stephen Hill has done enough to get taken off the Shit List. 

4/23/2009

Another Bargain Down With Injury

Bargain No. 2 for this year's Dream Team has gone down with injury, following Andrew Raines (who is back in the VFL this week). Hayden Skipworth, selected by 89,991 Dream Teamers (basically everyone except this guy) has done a hammy and will be out until atleast round 8. He has only gone up 54K so far, and your rookies haven't gone up enough to turn him into a premium yet. So hang on, and play Walker (if you have him) or Brown on the field. 

Now, about everybody's favourite Captain (except Calvin of DTTalk.com who recommended not to put him as C and got flamed down by irate commentors), Gablett! He knocked up 46 touches last week and 3 goals, but only netted himself 155 DT points. Thats some Daniel "No Marks" Kerr style "underpointing" (I know its not a word, but I reckon it should be). He was laughably "tagged" by a combination of Robert Shirley and Michael Doughty who both go onto The Rushed Behind Shit List for their efforts. 

Facts About Players Selected In Dream Team:
Shane Valenti of Melbourne is the least selected player in all of DT, with only 352 people selecting him. 
Surprisingly, Brent Moloney of Melbourne has only been selected by 672 people, despite him being actually playing and fairly good. 
Nick Fosdike, who retired before the season started has been selected by 2663 morons. 
However, thats nothing compared with the 4576 people who have Pat Garner (Bris) who was on the Rookie list to start with and did his 3rd ACL in the preseason. A special mention to the people who traded him in last week (his change in selections was +22 last week)
Of course, the gold in stupidity must go to the 7843 people who have Matt Egan, despite him probably never playing again and definately being out for the whole season. 

So it clearly takes a special kind of skill to finish in the bottom 1000 of Dream Team. Why not try it next year?

4/16/2009

All Hodge's Base Are Belong To Malware!

I recently upgraded to the 21st century (not dialup) and somewhere during the process of getting a decent firewall, antivirus and anti-spyware combination, picked up some nasty malware. How does this affect my Dream Team? I hear you say. Well, if your computer is screwed, you can't get on the net to update your team or make trades. So shutup and let me continue my story... This particular program failed to show up in antiviral scans using both McAfee and AVG, and anti spyware scans with 3 different programs. So I had to get my hands dirty inside regedit and find the source (with a bit of help from your good friend the internet). Why am I telling you this? Becuase if you can't read my blog, theres no point in me writing it. So, for my sake, make sure you have the latest version of (Not internet explorer) your browser, and good quality firewalls (not windows firewall) , antiviral software and antispyware programs. Sermon ends.

Last week was a bumper week for Dream Team scoring, with my decision to keep the Blockmeister and Raines vindicated by a post-2100 score thanks to Chapman and Gablett (now that Nathan's retired, the G isn't really necessary) However, Hodge has still failed to click into gear (maybe he is infected too) , providing a microcosm of Hawthorn's overall performance. They do have some players out, but I think their performance is more that they simply weren't that good to begin with. The Cats were the best side for all of last year, except the one week that mattered (and when they lost to Collingwood).

That picture is copyright Me, 2009 :-) Hawthorn's cheer squad certainly know how to make a banner that breaks well.

4/09/2009

Raines Limited to Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix

Its decision time on sideways dream team trades. Especially for those of you with either Rushed Behind bargain pick Andrew Raines, premium Nathan Bock or rookie Liam Anthony(grr...). Or heaps of other players such as removing Stephen Hill (averaged 69.3 points in 3 pre-season games and 25.5 in 2 games in the real stuff, you are going onto the shit list!) or getting Dan Rich or Mitch Robinson into your midfield. For my team, I'm taking a risk and using my trades in a more cash-productive way, keeping Raines and Bock as reserves and playing Suban and Petrenko on the field. Robinson and Zaharakis come onto the reserves for the not-playing Anthony (grrr.....) and Cook. Injury Update lists Raines as Rd 5 and Bock as Rd 4 although anything could happen with Bock. Despite this, Raines still managed to disrupt the Formula 1 race in Malaysia over the weekend, forcing an early halt to the race after he apparantly "bucketed down on the track". Dream Teamers should thank their lucky stars that he didn't get hit while he was on the track, because getting hit by a Formula 1 car is a long term injury. Still, while he was around, the racing was better. Hopefully, until he is ready to get back into the Richmond side, Raines can affect more Formula 1 races. I almost forgot what overtaking was until last week.

Many of you won't have the luxury of 2 playing backs though, (and I might not either, both Petrenko and Suban are on extended Benches this week, but both played last week) so here are some options for Raines (if you have Bock and really want to sideways trade a premium this early, you can pick your own):

Shannon Hurn (197,400):
Provided a stack of DT points last week, in a performance which should remind coaches what he can do. Has averaged 70 over the 2 games. Plays a 1/4 back role in the defence, pushing into the midfield and is a preferred ball user (meaning more kicks and cheap sideways handball recieves) for the Coasters.

Jarryn Geary (192,100):
Has averaged 65, playing mainly in the midfield or defence. I still like the look of him, if only his teammates did too. Main downside is limited TOG and he is a midget, so there shouldn't be too many marks.

If you don't like the look of either of those, you could take your pick of rookies Rance (86,600), Cheney (86,600) or Petrenko (86,600) . Broughton will play his first game for Freo (named in a back pocket) and is 75,300 for those of you who need a bit more money for another trade.

Edit: Nick Gill is named at CHF for the Crows. Gilly! Gilly! Gilly! The best player who can't kick (except maybe Richo) is back in the side!

4/02/2009

My Dream Team and Abbreviated Match Reports for 3 AFL games and the Melbourne GP

You may have noticed (those of you who are paying attention and have, give yourselves a gold star) that I haven't blogged since my brief rookie DT round-up. I've been away in Melbourne for The Biggest Weekend of Sport Ever By A South Aussie (a registered trademark of the Rushed Behind corporatrox). Before we get into that, I said last time I would post my Dream Team for you guys. After some last minute tinckering (finding an internet cafe in Melbourne for the 160 minutes of madness, you need to get your priorities right :-)), it is as follows (ordered by first round score, becuase thats easier for me):
Backs:
"Better Than Fisher" Goddard (398,400)
Houlihan (244,900)
C.Cornes (379,500)
"Bockmeister" Bock (372,900)
Hodge (428,800)
Raines (188,100)
"Gears of War" Geary (192,100)
Reserve:
"Petrenkalenko" Petrenko (86,600)
Suban (86,600)
Mids:
"DT God" Ablett (495,700)
Dalziell (420,300)
Judd (378,600)
Otten (126,500)
Hasleby (257,800)
Kerr (339,200)
Reserve:
"Goddamn, Why Is He Injured?" Anthony (86,600)
Cook (86,600)
Rucks:
"McIntosser" McIntosh (296,600)
Cox (473,200)
Reserve:
Spencer (75,300)
Browne (75,300)
Forwards:
Skipworth (196,600)
"Lecture" Chapman (410,600)
Higgins (211,900)
"Cost Me A Prize" Pavlich (440,000)
T.Cloke (334,000)
"Cousin of" J.Riewoldt (257,800)
"Crack Smoker" Krakouer (189,300)
Reserve:
Walker (86,600)
Brown (86,600)

I saw 3 games live on the weekend, plus the F1GP in Melbourne. So I'll just give you some things I noticed.

Hawthorn vs Geelong
How did Hawthorn even get close? Geelong seemed a much better side for almost the whole game, but like in the GF last year, they just couldn't kick straight. Harry Taylor is officially on the Rushed Behind "Shit List" (I'll display this along the sidebar somewhere soon with links to the posts where they joined the list). He displayed a defensive ineptitude when opposed to either Roughhead or Franklin that has only been outdone by Stephen Gilham when he was on the Port list playing for North Adelaide (also a founding member of the "Shit List"). In the end, Geelong just managed to hold Hawthorn in an excellent quality game that showed why these sides will be competing for the flag on the LSIS.

Collingwood vs Adelaide
Another quality game, highlighted by the performance of "Bernard" Vince. Adelaide's young players performed exceptionally, showing that both Otten and Petrenko should be handy cash cows (or even keepers if they continue to improve). Otten plays like a Bock clone as a rebounding defender and Petrenko plays a rebounding half back or goal sneak. The umpiring was fine, despite what Collingwhine were bitching about. I reckon the supporters at the ground took it better than the president, probably becuase the average Pies fan has never read the rules (or anything more substantial than the TV guide). Both sides should be in contention for top 8 spots at worst.

St. Kilda vs Sydney
This game showed total dominance to one side at a time. Sydney were far better early, but failed to even score for long periods later. Zac Dawson was notable for not being shit. Jarryn Geary needs to buy some new deodorent because his team mates seem to want the ball anywhere but where he is. Riewoldt was almost unsighted, burning those DT coaches who chose him ahead of Pavlich as their most premium forward.

Melbourne F1 Grand Prix
Almost no passing occured (as is normally the case in F1) and yet it was an exciting race, with the new boys on the block, Brawn GP going 1-2 after 2nd and 3rd placed Vettel and Kubica collided, allowing Barrichello to take 2nd to his team mate Button. The twilight concept worked okay, although some fans would have struggled to see the action later in the day. The Who were excellent at the after race concert, proving that although their lyrics "I hope I die before I get old" may need to be re-written, they can still rock out.

The Rushed Behind is now lobbying to buy the naming rights for the newly re-named Etihad Stadium for next year, because almost every other corporatrox has endorsed the ex-Telstra Dome. I don't think this is quite as long as the Stat-tastic Aussie Cricket team was, but its still too long to put my thoughts on the Australia-South Africa test series into. I'll save that for the next post, at a relevent time during the ODI series.

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