FOTA vs F1

In recent weeks, the relationship between the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) and Formula 1 has grown increasingly fractured, until FOTA announced a week or so ago that they would form a breakaway championship next year. The big 3 reasons for this were money (budget caps), politics and freedom (technical). The only recognised teams left in the regular F1 championship for next year are now Williams and Force India. Presumably then, the FOTA championship will take over the niche that F1 has held within 2 years, and F1 will become a feeder category, because lets face it, nobody wants to see any competition that has a powerhouse like Force India a podium chance.

But more interestingly, what technical regulations will the FOTA championship have? Formula 1 has been vastly over regulated for a long time, curtailing engineering improvements to gradual aerodynamic improvements. There has been little innovation or real change since the pointy-up nose cone in the early 1990s. Soon after any team makes a real breakthrough, it is banned by the FIA who want a driver's series. If you want a driver's series, watch touring car racing. Formula 1 (or its FOTA replacement) should be about engineering the fastest possible car. Lets bring back some of the radical design ideas of the past...
The Tyrrell P34 for example, which raced in 1976-77.

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!

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.