NRL Round 20 Update
The National Rugby League is heading into the business end of the season (for a review of the NRL and an update through Round 16 see here).
Remember me?
The League has now played 19 rounds with 7 remaining. All the teams have had their two bye weeks, the annual State of Origin series is over (the universe was kept in balance as Queensland won the last two games after losing the opener, taking their third series in a row and 11 of the last 12 series overall).
From the moment we step on the field of play we can identify our starting point, pathway and destination.
The end of the State of Origin also means club teams welcome back those players who were playing in Origin. Going into Round 20, although none of the 16 teams have been mathematically eliminated, some of them will have to face up to reality. At the bottom of the table, Newcastle, Wests Tigers, and South Sydney are basically done with Canberra, New Zealand, Gold Coast, and Canterbury needing to win most of their remaining games and hope for teams above them to lose. However, the latter four do have the ability to put together a run.
How could a team this fierce be “done”?!?!?!
Two points (one game) outside the top 8 teams which will contest the finals (playoffs), are Penrith with St. George-Illawarra and Parramatta the teams most likely to miss out if the Panthers go on a tear. It is likely the current top 6 teams—Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Manly, Cronulla, and North Queensland will all make the playoffs. It is less clear which will finish in the top 4 – which guarantees a second chance should a team lose early in the finals series.
More than half the Round 20 games have ramifications for teams fighting for playoff places but two of the most important will be Penrith vs. Gold Coast with the Panthers desperately needing a win to stay close to the playoffs while a loss for Gold Coast will basically end their season. Likewise, Canterbury face a tough must win game on the road at the Brisbane Broncos, made tougher as the Broncos need the win to stay in the top 4. The other key matchup is 10th placed Canberra, who also have to win, hosting top of the table Melbourne.
Although no one will be guaranteed a playoff spot after Round 20, it’s likely a few teams will be mathematically eliminated.
By BP
AFL Roundup 7/16-7/17
This weekend in Ozzie Rules the big match featured the top-of-the-ladder Adelaide Crows versus the 7th ranked Melbourne Demons. Adelaide didn’t disappoint (their fans), winning handily – 17 goals, 14 behinds for 116 points versus 10.10.70 for the Demons. Fuck you, Adelaide.
Too little, too late…
2nd place Geelong won against Hawthorn, and although the result is no surprise, the fact that they squeaked out only a 3 point (13.10.88 v. 12.13.85) win against a team that’s been mediocre for almost the entire season was.
3rd place GWS Giants managed to snap their 2 game draw streak. (Draws are usually a rarity in AFL). They did so by losing. A resurgent Sydney Swans (6th place) continued its rise, defeating the Giants for the Swans’ 6th straight win, showing that the bookies predictions for their current year top performance were not the result of hallucinogens. Sydney’s terrible performance starting the year remains unexplained.
4th place Port Adelaide stomped on the N Melbourne Roos, as did 5th place Richmond on the hapless Brisbane Lions.
The West Coast Eagles took St. Kilda’s place as the last (8th) team in the playoff form, crushing Freemantle, while Essendon dealt with the Saints.
For Glib interest, the Western Bulldogs won against the Carlton Blues, although that didn’t move WB up the ladder (or the Blues down), and Collingwood beat Gold Coast, resulting in them swapping 14th and 15th places.
We won!
The current English Bulldog is proof that humans innately love retarded creatures.
The poor bulldog went through the whole “pit-bill” scare about a century and a half ago. Back then they were serious badasses and very athletic dogs – like boxers on steroids. When the Bullmastiff was being developed, they added bulldog blood to make them faster and more agile.
Then prissy English ladies got upset so they bred the dog into uselessness.
I’m familiar. The American bulldog or the common pit bull is closer to an original bulldog than the current english bulldog. They’ve literally bred them to the point of physical retardation.
I like what the breeders are doing with the Olde English Bulldogges. Having owned Mastiffs and Bullmastiffs, they are right up my wheelhouse.
Someday when my dogs are gone (hopefully far in the future although who knows how much time my 13 year old has left), I’d like to get an American Bulldog.
The right amount of derp is inherently amusing. Espeically in a supposedly predatory species.
The Dean Beasts are Staffordshire Bull Terriers, or English Staffordshire Terriers (the two names are for the same dog, as far as I can tell). Pretty much your AmStaff personality and physique in a half-size package.
I had AmStaffs for decades – they ran about 65 – 70 pounds or so for the females, and 90+ pounds for the males (both in their prime). The Dean Beasts are a hair under 50 pounds for the male, and right around 40 or so for the female.
Everything that makes your pit breeds (and I include American Bulldogs, American Pit Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, etc.) so great, in a smaller more managable package.
I do periodically wonder, though – who looked at a bulldog and said “that needs more terrier” and/or who looked at a terrier and said “you know what? that dog needs more bulldog”. B Ut, hey, it worked out.
My biggest pitbull (we think shes half mastiff) is about 110 right now. when she and the other bull fight (which is rare but it happens) we have to stop it immediately or blood flies.
One of my dogs is an AmStaff, and while he doesn’t enjoy things like walking on damp or unkempt lawns, being exposed to humidity above 65% or temperatures outside the 67F -74F range, or having to return the ball to you, he’s the best mouser I’ve ever seen, and that’s counting my cats. They work in tandem; the cats spot and flush the mouse, and the dog jumps in, gives it a quick shake, and boom.
His adopted sister, an 80-pound mutt with pit, possibly shepherd, and some kind of hound, is a notable bird dog. By which I mean she’ll catch mourning doves on the wing. She runs like a cheetah and she has Jack Russell-style fangs. She missed her calling as a courser.
All my pits have loved to chase the ball and grab it, but once it stops struggling they lose interest. Not a one could retrieve worth a crap.
Our male (see avatar) has turned into death on a stick for lizards and snakes. Doesn’t eat them, which surprised me, but I guess whenever it stops struggling he loses interest. He’s built almost exactly like a furry cinder block, but he is blindingly quick and has a vertical leap that you wouldn’t believe. Its like watching a bumblebee – he’s violating the laws of physics, but it works because he doesn’t know any better.
Was a four sport dude in high school, played in university and follow everything from snooker to sumo, yet I have no idea what any of that meant. Guess I’ll just be a Queensland fan and leave it at that.
Here is all about NRL: https://glibertarians.com/2017/06/foreign-footy-rugby-league-with-antipodean-update/
Here is all about AFL: https://glibertarians.com/2017/07/foreign-footy-the-underside-of-the-world-football-edition/
You could just like the photos I added and the alt-text.
I’ll give it a shot. The World Cup was awesome and have gone drinking with some of the rugby guys from the profession league here. IOW, it’s me and not the sport.
For me, it is just fun watching guys clobber each other and run and kick like hell (AFL) or the oft prolonged physical struggle to impose your will (or skill) on the other side (rugby union) and some running and a little tackling (Rugby league).
(checks dictionary)
that would be “soccer, and squash”
fag
You forgot sodomy.
Are we talking Australian Rules Sodomy, or League Sodomy?
Does it matter? Either one is a pale shade of American Sodomy.
I hear that one is in Vogue right now.
I want to watch some sort of highlight reel of this.
Here ya go.
1st vs. 2nd tomorrow.
Yuh. Be surprised if the Cats win. I think it’s the Crows’ year. That said, I find the AFL to be one of the harder sports to bookmake.
Is the AFL on American TV at all these days?
Check here: http://www.afana.com/drupal5/tvsched
Isn’t the real excitement in Australia over how long Turnbull can hold on by his fingernails and whether he’s permanently destroyed the Liberal party?
If were going to emulate anything the Australians do sports-wise, I’d think the State of Origin series would fit the bill–although our college football series probably scratch the same itch.
Anyway, the Australians have a State of Origin series, where, to oversimplify things, the players have to play for their hometown team. If you’re from Sydney, you have to play for that team; if you’re from Brisbane, you have to play for that team.
Imagine if the NFL pros were playing for, say, the states where they went to college, and you get the idea. It would make for some interesting matchups, too. I imagine all the skill players from Florida with no front line. The league’s biggest linemen on the team from Nebraska, without much in the way of skill players, etc., etc.
Think it would have to be regional teams in some cases. Otherwise, Texas and Florida would likely dominate. Those two and California could have a state team, then you could have ones like the Gulf Coast (LA, MS, AL), Southeast (GA, SC, NC, TN), etc.
Imagine if you made it where they played high school football: NJ would be a powerhouse.
I remember getting in a big argument with some Aussies in Tokyo back in ’98. I was in a bar in Akasaka with a bunch of US guys (I met them there) and we begged the bar owner to turn to CNN headline sports to get NFL updates. The Aussies were mad about that and we got into an argument about sports.
I pointed out that they should be on their knees blessing the NFL because if the money wasn’t so good, some physical freak like Jerome Bettis would play Australian Rules Rugby and kill everyone.
I did like watching the rugby matches while there though.
OT: over at TSTSNBN, Welch has
McCain liked to drape himself that way but his actions throughout his entire adult life, have been at best a mixed bag of honor and integrity. Let’s not forget he was one of the Keating Five or trading in the first wife for a newer richer model. He (from his second wife) has personally profited from the state imposed tiered alcohol system. He’s suckled at the public trough as his primary “employment” his whole life. The convenience store owner down the block has done more to advance this country with honor and integrity than McCain has.
Didn’t Welch write The Myth of a Maverick?
Why would he fellate McCain now?
Because he’s dying. Speaking ill of the dead and terminally ill is gauche, but that doesn’t mean you have to go 180 degrees in the other direction and sing fairy tales about how wonderful he is. Just express sorrow at his illness, wishes for a recovery, and leave it at that.
I was disappointed to learn the bastard could hang around for a couple more years.
the rest of the piece pretty much tears mccain apart.
You actually read the articles rather than just the headline? Nerd.
Only because i found his gushing praise at the beginning so implausible. I figured it was going to turn into a ‘Warts and all’ preemptive-obituary type-piece, and i wasn’t wrong.
Ugh. Pick a headline that matches the content FFS.
(shrug) he said, “Flawed”.
I normally am on the side of the people bitching about Reason’s flaws…
…but in the case of Welch, and especially in the case of the topic of “McCain”, i am going to give him lots of leeway,
As i said in the comments there…. as a biographer of McCain, he will get a lot of phone calls/attention in the event that J-mac croaks. And he might as well get his “tough but fair” assessment out there in advance so that when all the news-show hosts start calling, they will have a handy preview of the type of remarks he will make.
A sloppy blowjob is still, you know, a blowjob. Maybe I’m getting spoiled by how frank everyone in the comments/on this site have been and am unaccustomed to the softball criticism that passes as outre thought in mainstream circles.
sloppy , sloopy / potato , patato
its a ‘pre-emptive obituary’. Even if McCain doesn’t croak, he’s pretty much done. Hence the overly-generous appraisal – because no one will have Johnny Mac to kick around much longer.
I’d agree with you if circumstances were different. Besides, i’m pretty sure Matt has a backlog of articles where he’s beaten on McCain’s nuts like a coked-up chimpanzee. If he errs on the side of generosity here, its understandable.
For some reason that reminds me of the article he wrote where he observed that Trump’s mouth looks like an anus. Can’t take that one back!
Because he’s dying, and Reason writers hold the anointed class to a different standard than they hold the plebs. If Welch’s neighbour acted the way McCain does he wouldn’t have a nice thing to say about the guy, but because he’s political class he shows standards of ‘integrity’ and ‘honour’ despite every example providing that he has none of those.
Step 1: Walk out of DC
Step 2: Don’t stop walking until you start seeing people who don’t think like everyone in DC does
Step 3: Reevaluate your previous assessments
I mean, I’m not asking for a ‘ding dong the witch is dead’ Thatcher style Two Minutes of Hate, all I’m asking is that you don’t feed me bullshit about a guy who constantly insulted and screamed at anyone vaguely libertarian in his party and has a constant record of compulsive lying for his own ends as having ‘honour and integrity’. I can get the shitty shallow tongue-baths of McCain from any political magazine, I don’t know why a libertarian one feels the need to even try.
There is a reason we are all here.
*ducks*
Exactly
Dave Barry said the Keating Five were known as the Keating Five, because calling them Prostitutes with Lawyers would be a serious breach of the libel laws.
I have thoroughly disliked McCain since I arrive in Phoenix in 85.
That article is particularly retarded because Welch openly goes into examples to show how McCain’s was ‘flawed’, when in actuality what it does is completely discredit his argument by showing how the man fundamentally lacked honour and integrity.
Jesus tapdancing Christ
Links to Ace of Spades, but the content is pulled from a Twitter thread by some fellow named Thomas Wictor, who’s an author, I gather. Apparently he writes books about flamethrowers, which is fitting, given the fire he started on Twitter.
Anyway, it’s worth reading. The prison reforms Obama, Holder, and Lynch pushed amounted to reclassifying violent offenders as nonviolent in order to reduce incarceration numbers, and there’s a strong whiff of racial bias in their reasoning.
Here’s the genius of the Democrats’ Russia obsession: rather than holding hearings airing out Obama’s dirty laundry, forcing FBI staffers to turn on Holder and Lynch, we have a special probe digging into every orifice of the Russia nontroversy. Rather than pulling apart Obama’s fetid legacy, Republicans are hamstrung and tripping over themselves. Democrats may have lost the election, but it seems like they won anyway.
The question that remains is, how will the public react? Do they recognize this fact, and will they punish the Dems further, or do they side with the “deep state” and reward the Democrats for having captured so many social and political institutions?
How do you punish the dems when the guys you elect to punish them keep bending over and grabbing their ankles in order to capitulate to them?
Offenders? We say “justice-involved individuals” around here, partner.
Fucking Criminals.
Well, I can see someone wasn’t an Obama DOJ staffer.
It makes sense. It also ties in nicely with their push to get an assault weapons ban going. The more shootings the more dead bodies they can stand on.
God but I hate longform essays prechewed into Twitter-sized chunks.
That out of the way, that is truly appalling. And I believe one of the other reasons Obama and Holder were trying to get rid of post-arrest detention was because that’s when INS comes in to deport the illegals.
And I was very depressed to read that the vast majority of the hundred-plus rioters arrested in DC on inauguration day blew off the court dates. I have a strong suspicion that nothing else will happen. If Sessions has such a law and order hard-on, he should sic the federal marshals on them and make sure DC prosecutor knows that the President and Congress want the book thrown at them.
OT – Warmism eligable for religious tax breaks in NY (not under those exact words, but…)
“EnterSolar is a leading developer of these enterprises, which take advantage of numerous state and federal programs to make solar farms worthwhile.
In the Capital Region, EnterSolar has worked with Stewart’s stores to build a dedicated solar farm in Halfmoon that has lowered energy costs.”
Can these people even hear themselves?
No, I don’t think they think it through.
In other sports news: KOOOOOOOCH tied for the lead in the British.
I went on my non-Athena twitter for the first time in awhile to check SDCC coverage, and the amount of prog from one person is just overwhelming. I used to like her; she’s an intelligent woman, married (her husband did at least one tour in Iraq as an National Guard MP, iird), but wow, just straight off the deep end in to the cult. it’s both sad and kind of scary. It also makes me realize that I’m also in a bubble, because I don’t see a lot of the screeching tweets/articles that are getting passed around, working them into a lather. So just be careful, I think, when you assume that “people” or the “average person” or whatever, aren’t buying the bullshit – there are people buying it, even people who should know better but instead have dived head first into it.
anyway, Rugby has some fine looking men in it. You could find a few more pics, i’m just saying…
Twitter itself is a bubble of a different sort.
A lot of people don’t actually pay any attention to it.
Since we were talking about it earlier, a thought popped into my head about McCain: This cancer revelation seems to come at a very interesting time, which would be right around the time that enough steam was gathering to perhaps repeal obamacare. Would McCain use his illness as leverage to prevent Trump from getting what he wants? Did he specifically wait until it was politically advantageous to have this surgery?
Teddy’s death lead to the passage of OCare by reconciliation. I was hoping that John would die, and Ocare would go Poof!
McCain would have to either really hate Trump, or really love OCare, to delay treating brain cancer to score a political win. That’s some cold black spite, right there.
idk about Ocare but I am pretty sure he hates Trump enough to jeopardize his life to fuck him over.
Future California congresswoman
http://hotair.com/archives/2017/07/20/berkeley-antifa-leader-arrested-inciting-riot/
She can take Kamala Harris’s seat after she becomes president. Excuse me for a moment.
*baaaaarrrrrfffffffff*
What FUS is he going to do next?
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/07/20/oj-simpson-parole-hearing-former-football-star-approved-for-october-release.html
Awesome pics & alt-text Swiss!
For those keeping score at home, Brisbane beat Canterbury overnight moving the Broncos, at least temporarily, to 2nd and making it even harder for the Bulldogs to make the Top 8.
What’s a Brisbane? Some sort of Anti-semitic superbeing?
The original: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Thomasbrisbane.jpg/220px-Thomasbrisbane.jpg
There’s also one in CA & another in ND.
And another of my bad puns misses the mark. 🙁
It didn’t really. I read it through half-a-dozen times knowing I wasn’t getting it. But I just did.
Rugbypass.com looks like a great subscription service. Looks like most of us would require access to a VPN in a couple dozen Asian countries in order to pay for it.
*in one of a couple dozen
Late to the party as usual (thanks, work!).
Anyway, even my cable provider has given up on Collingwood. We usually get a good mix of teams each week in 4 or 5 matches – Collingwood has been absent for five or six weeks now. Oh well.
*checks schedule*
No Collingwood in the next two weeks either. Did they fold or something…?