Missing:
Williams, Kennedy, Walsh, Durdin x 2, Martin, Marchbank, Weitering, Pittonett, Owies, Murkov.

AFL squad: 2. Lachie Cowan, 3. Jesse Motlop, 4. Ollie Hollands, 5. Adam Cerra, 8. Lachie Fogarty, 9. Patrick Cripps, 10. Harry McKay, 11. Mitch McGovern, 12. Tom De Koning, 13. Blake Acres, 14. Orazio Fantasia, 15. Sam Docherty, 16. Jack Carroll, 17. Brodie Kemp, 20. Elijah Hollands, 24. Nic Newman, 28. David Cuningham, 29. George Hewett, 30. Charlie Curnow, 31. Harry Lemmey, 33. Lewis Young, 37. Jordan Boyd, 39. Alex Cincotta, 42. Adam Saad, 43. Ashton Moir, 46. Matthew Cottrell

Tim Clarke's pre-season report card: https://www.carltonfc.com.au/news/149239...idfielders

Even with Walsh proppy, we have more quality midfielders than we can possibly fit in, even if we play a couple as forwards.

If Walsh is good to go, I'd start opening round with Cripps, Walsh and Cerra in the centre square, Acres and O Hollands on the wings, Docherty at half forward, and Hewett and Kennedy on the bench, the latter as a forward/midfielder (Cottrell is starting as a forward).

Round 3 will be interesting when Elijah Hollands is available, probably for a forward/midfield role.  Then there's Binns and Jack Carroll pushing for selection.  Cuningham is also hoping to spend more time in the midfield.

It was interesting to read that Carroll spent the summer in Perth with Crippa.  That's got to have a positive impact on his footy, fitness and attitude.

Sammy Hamill has done a review of some of our defenders and, you wouldn't believe it, they're flying through the pre-season 

https://www.carltonfc.com.au/news/148743...-defenders

Unfortunately, Sammy hasn't provided reports on Kemp, Williams, Young, tall Durdin, Marchbank and Cincotta.  I'm also keen to see whether Jaxson Binns is earmarked for a role in defence this season.

There's big shoes to fill with Weitering out in terms of his unbeatability in one on one contests, his ability to choose the right option when distributing the ball or rebounding from defence, and his generalship of the team in the back half.  I don't think any one player can do all of that and our defence will have to step up across the board.

If I was picking the team for "opening round", I would go with:

B:    Newman    Young      Williams
HB:  Saad            Kemp      McGovern
I/C:  Cincotta

I think the MC will go with:

B:    Newman    Marchbank      Williams
HB:  Saad            McGovern        Cincotta
I/C:  Boyd

When I did Kruddler's best 22, my forward line was:

HF: Martin    McKay    Owies
F:    Motlop  Curnow    Silvagni

with Cottrell on the bench as the seventh forward and Docherty moving between wing and half forward.

Obviously, with Jack's tragic injury, there's an opening for another forward, but did I get the structure and personnel right?

We're going to go with two rucks and De Koning is going to spend time forward both to spell Charlie and Harry and to play as a third tall.  Do we need a like for like replacement for Silvagni or can we cover the third tall role with a combination of De Koning and medium forwards like Martin?

My post-Silvagni ACL forward line is:

HF: Martin    McKay    Cottrell
F:    Motlop  Curnow    Owies

with Docherty and De Koning as part time forwards and other midfielders resting forward from time to time.  I'm not entirely sure who to have on the bench as the seventh forward but I'll go with Cuningham.

 

I was listening to the news on the radio this morning and heard a story that former Australian swimmer James Magnussen is returning to swimming in the ‘Enhanced games’

https://www.news.com.au/sport/olympics/a...4aec2996c6

Basically, it is an anything goes competition.
Drugs, Supersuits….whatever aid you can get.
Big prizemoney for breaking world bests.
I checked the date.
It’s not April 1st.
My first reaction was WTF. Stupid idiots.

But then I had a think about it.
Was Lance Armstrong the only cyclist using performance enhancers?  Of course, he wasn’t and many of those who finished close behind him were probably similarly doped up. Yet his name is ‘shame’ and others not so much.
I had a look at a ‘shame’ file of track and field athletes who were denied records because of doping infringements. The thing that struck me was that list contained a number of athletes who still hold ‘legitimate’ world records. So, they were caught on some occasions, got away with it on others.
Marita Koch (400 metres) Jarmila Kratochvilova ( 800 metres) hold records that date back to the 1980’s. Both athletes were part of Eastern European regimes where doping was well documented. Florence Griffith Joyner set records that women are still not within ‘cooee’ of achieving.
Some of the men’s throwing records also date back over 40 years
So the whole world record thing in many sports is a farce and not worth a pinch of salt.

The reality is the only true measure of ultimate human ‘achievement’ that can be taken as reliable is, very sadly , the records set by the druggies.

Does any have any experience converting VHS tapes to Digital format on a Mac? If so can you recommend a good Mac compatible USB capture card to use.
Cheers
G2C

I don’t think we have a dedicated EV thread so here goes:

Robert Pepper is an automotive journalist who is more of an acquaintance than a mate (I have met him through a 4WD club and we are FB friends).  He doesn’t play favourites and conducts his own research to test manufacturers’ claims.  The following is his take on the recent Dakar rally:

Quote: An EV has won Dakar!  No it didn't, it's not an EV!

So which is it?  An electric vehicle, or a petrol vehicle? The opposing camps are each claiming the vehicle as their own.

The answer is both and neither. It's a hybrid. Similar in fact to Nissan's X-Trail e-Power.

So the Audi RS Q e-tron is indeed pure electric drive. It has an electric motor on the front axle, and another on the rear.  The "centre differential" is software, virtual.  This is just like Rivians, AWD Teslas including Cybertruck and the other AWD EVs.  There is no gearbox, single-speed.  Watch my EV AWD powertrains video for more on all of this.

The Audi RS Q e-tron also has a battery which weighs around 370kg and has a capacity of around 52kWh, which is pretty small for even a roadcar EV.  Total weight is 2100kg without drivers.

Now as you can imagine a 52kWh battery isn't going to get a 2100kg sand racer on 37" tyres very far. Which is why there is also a 2.0L, four-cyclinder turbo petrol engine which acts as a generator, or energy convertor - it generates electricity which either powers the motors at the axle, or charges the battery. The battery can also be recharged via re-gen when the vehicle slows.  And that's exactly what the X-Trail e-Power uses. Older hybrids used the ICE motors to directly drive the powertrain as well as the electric motors.

So is the Audi RS Q e-tron an EV?  Yes, and also, no.  Yes as it has electric motors which drive the car, and that is the technical definition of an EV, which doesn't preclude how those motors have their power supplied - from a generator driven by petrol, hydrogen, or just a big battery, or even solar. A "hydrogen car" is also an EV as it uses electricity to power its engine, just that electricity is generated by a hydrogen powerplant.  The definition of an EV doesn't mean it has to have a battery.

But in popular parlance, most people think of an EV as what is actually a BEV, or Battery Electric Vehicle which has no ICE (petrol/diesel) engine at all, and the Audi RS Q e-tron is not a BEV as whilst it has a battery, it also has a petrol engine.

Hopefully that clears it up.  You can go back to shouting at each other now which should make everyone feel better.

I have only just realised that Erone Fitzpatrick ruptured her ACL in our last game against St Kilda.

I suspect that means she’ll miss next season and that’s quite a blow for Erone and our chances ?

Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

2023 BBC Test team of the year:

1. Usman Khawaja (Australia, 93%)

2. Dimuth Karunaratne (Sri Lanka, 55%)

3. Joe Root (England, 82%)

4. Kane Williamson (New Zealand, 58%)

5. Virat Kohli (India, 54%)

6. Ben Stokes (England, 55%)

7. Jonny Bairstow (England, 49%)

8. Ravindra Jadeja (India, 51%)

9. Pat Cummins (Australia, 74%)

10. Stuart Broad (England, 81%)

11. Mitchell Starc (Australia, 75%)

Those who narrowly missed out: Harry Brook (England, 48%), Travis Head (Australia, 46%), Ravichandran Ashwin (India, 47%), Nathan Lyon (Australia, 70%)

The percentages represent the number of people voting for each player.  How that results in Jadeja with 51% getting in ahead of Lyon with 70% and more wickets for the year is not clear ?

And then there’s the wicketkeeper ?

I guess it shows that the BBC and its audience aren’t great judges of cricketers.

Interesting Hun post from Craddock, listing his Top Ten Fast bowlers of all time;

Crash's best quicks of all time

1 Malcolm Marshall (West Indies 81 Tests. 376 wickets at 20.94)
2 Wasim Akram (Pakistan. 104 Tests. 414 wickets at 23.62)
3 Dennis Lillee (Australia 70 Tests. 355 wickets at 23.92)
4 Glenn McGrath (Australia. 124 Tests. 563 wickets at 21.64)
5 Curtly Ambrose (West Indies. 98 Tests. 405 wickets at 20.99)
6 Dale Steyn (South Africa. 93 Tests. 439 wickets at 22.95)
7 Richard Hadlee (New Zealand. 86 Tests. 431 wickets at 22.29)
8 Waqar Younis (Pakistan. 87 Tests. 373 wickets at 23.56)
9 Imran Khan (Pakistan. 88 Tests. 362 wickets at 22.81)
10 Fred Trueman (England. 67 Tests. 307 wickets at 21.57)

I realise these lists are generational and personal, you can really only judge those you have seen, but I think there are a couple of potential omissions. Andy Roberts, Bob Willis, Kapil Dev, Joel Garner, James Anderson to name a few, on the above list I would probably have Hadlee and Khan higher in the list.

Fred Trueman I wouldn't rate above Willis, and having talked to some past test players many would rate John Snow ahead of them all but to be a great you also need longevity I suppose. But the title says best, and best is subjective.

Can't see how Marshall gets in ahead of Roberts or Garner, to me Roberts is the clear leader.

Khan in my eyes was better than Akram and Younis, maybe he gets a kicking for being a politician.

Kapil Dev is mighty unlucky not to be on the list, especially given he spent a career bowling on pitches that were doctored for spinners.

I'd probably have Roberts and Lillee the Top 2 slots in any order, the rest is a coin toss.