The Football (all sorts) Thread

[Bartrim]

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...referrer=email

Poor bastard. lol.

[i_amtrunks]

And so Stewart and Cooper are out, Hunt and Boyd come in.

Are we really that low for centres that Boyd had to be called?
Should be interesting to see what will happen with the case against these two, if the QLD Police hold off charges till after the World Cup or not.

[Bartrim]

No surprise that Hunt replaces Stewart but Boyd? Come on selectors pick an actual centre. Chris Lawrence deserves a call up!!!!!

[jacksplatt11]

Strange choices I agree, especially as it looks like they're ignoring the sexual assualt case, I know innocent until proven guilty, but what would happen if they were charged with something while the WC is on?

Anywho, Hunt for Stewart is a given, but Boyd for Hodges, strange I agree. I suppose they could move Folau to the centres and Boyd could go on the wing, but I would much rather leave Folau on the wing and bring in a true centre. I would've loved to have seen Robbie Farah come in, I know he's not a centres player but I believe he can bring much more to the squad than Boyd.

These few losses won't remove Aus from being favourite, but you can't help but feel that the other countries will believe they have a greater chance now, albiet probably slightly.

[GoktimusPrime]

http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/...750137394.html <-- sweet

[STL]

http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/...750137394.html <-- sweet

Yeah that was pretty cool. I dunno, I seem to care about soccer only at the national level. I think its a good sport that kind of unites the country in a way that cricket never will.

[dirge]

I'm over League.

Storm & Easts get away with a _lot_ (I'm not just referring to grapple, but that's part of it), due to the politics of the game. How is is that Perth get axed because of the money they're losing (during the Superleague war), yet Melbourne lose that same amount year in and year out? There's an agenda there which disgusts me. St George always fail to inspire but get their players in rep teams anyway. Purely because they're St George. If their players were really that good, St George would actually be deep into the finals every year. Honest clubs who develop juniors (Penrith, Canberra, Tigers) get no favours because it's not politically convenient. At least the Bulldogs with the SBW saga are finally starting to learn to stop defending their players no matter what.

How the ***** are Paul Gallen & Willy Mason picked for the national team? One's a morally bankrupt thug and the other is a manchild who embarrasses the sport on a regular basis. There are plenty of forwards which can do the job, without promoting the message to youngsters that players can carry on like brats without consequences.

I like the sport but detest the way it's being run. It's risking irrelevance anyway, as long as it's wasting all it's effort developing TV markets it'll never win over instead of actually supporting the sport in its heartland. Not that the Central Coast Mariners & South Coast United are complaining!

The AFL doesn't fear League, and it doesn't have to. It fears football, and rightly so. The RLWC is a joke, and no matter how many goals Qatar might ship, the Socceroos provide something that neither AFL or League can possibly hope to offer. The Socceroos _qualifying_ for the World Cup Finals is a bigger deal that then Kangaroos winning the RLWC - they're the only ones in the race, whereas the Socceroos face actual competition.

AFL will always be secure in Victoria, but it's aware that the Socceroos (and, in time, the A-League) is capable of overwhelming it outside of the city on the Yarra. The NRL continues to live in the bubble of TV markets while its junior numbers hemorrhage (mostly to football).

I'm an A-League season ticket holder, and I have to say I find the games far more satisfying than watching Storm niggle their opponents into submission, St George's "stars" play to their actual potential or Easts' mercenaries all give up when their soulless clubs falls behind (Luke Ricketson & Craig Fitzgibbon aside).