TooSerious

For those who take it way too seriously

Some big names played some big games on the weekend, which has given this years count a real shake-up.

Previous winners Jimmy Bartel and Adam Cooney were two stars to pick up 3 votes, as did Matthew Pavlich and Lenny Hayes to keep themselves in contention.

But the biggest news is Luke Hodges best on ground performance leapfrogging him into the lead.  Hodge has been in best on ground in each of Hawthorns 3 wins this season - and would likely be further in front had they won a few more games.

If Hodgey can manage to take home the chocolates in September, he would be the 4th to do so from the famous 2001 draft, joining Judd, Bartel and Ablett.  Whilst hes only managed to pick up 9 votes over the past 2 years, he has polled over 15 on 2 occassions earlier in his career.

All votes over the page:

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Cats v Pies
3. J. Bartel (7)
2. J. Kelly (2)
1. D. Beams (4)
...C. Ling, M. Scarlett, A. Mackie

Roos v Dogs
3. A. Cooney (6)
2. B. Lake (5)
1. M. Boyd (4)
...R. Griffen, R. Hargrave, J. Hill

Swans v Dockers
3. M. Pavlich (6)
2. N. Malceski (4)
1. K. Bradley (1)
...P. Hasleby, D. Mundy, N. Fyfe

Dons v Tigers
3. D. Hille (4) - Guaranteed 3-of-the-week
2. J. Riewoldt (2)
1. L. Jetta (1)
...B. Howlett, J. Watson, J. Winderlich

Demons v Power
3. T. Boak (3)
2. A. Davey (2)
1. B. Green (2)
...N. Jetta, James McDonald, J. Frawley

Crows v Lions
3. R. Douglas (3)
2. A. McGrath (2)
1. N. Van Berlo (2)
...D. Rich, S. Thompson, B. Rutten

Blues v Hawks
3. L. Hodge (13)
2. L. Franklin (2)
1. M. Osborne (1)
...C. Judd, K. Simpson, H. Scotland

Eagles v Saints
3. L. Hayes (9)
2. B. Goddard (6)
1. N. Dal Santo (6)
...A. Selwood, M. Priddis, R. Clarke

[span style="text-decoration: underline">Leaderboard
13 - L. Hodge
12 - G. Ablett
11 - M. Barlow, D. Swan
9 - L. Hayes, C. Judd
7 - A. Sandilands, K. Cornes, J. Bartel, James McDonald
They say that a week is a long time to not use cliches, and for what- the third or fourth week running, Im gunna say it again, maybe mix in another one. A week is a long week in football, which is a funny old game. Who would have thought that after last weeks performance, Hawthorn would be able to knock off the Blues, who in the last three weeks have knocked off both Geelong and the Saints. That said though, the Saints have been in some ugly form of late, although they did put in a pair of great half to knock off the Eagles. speaking of everyone knocking someone down though, Brisbane are looking in some serious trouble. 5 losses in a row, topped off with this weeks loss to the Adelaide Crows. Worrying signs not just for them, but for us Brown owners since surely they have to give him a rest soon after another lackluster performance.

Well, the week started with a clash of the titans with Collingwood taking on Geelong. And as with every other week, started with rumours of Ablett missing. But miss he didnt, and 29 touches plus a goal for 109 points later- along with a 114 from Bartel and Chapman saw the cats run out as 26 point winners. Beams kicked 4 goals for the pies, and was joined at the top of the pies table with such staples as Swan, Didak, Pendlebury and Thomas. Podsiadly made a welcome return scoring 83 points, despite only kicking a single goal. At the other end of the table, Luke Ball managed to turn 27 touches into 58 SuperCoach points. Neon Leon put in another terrible effort falling well below $400k, in fact hes tracking downwards towards $350k- ugly stuff from this former All Australian. I think if he can find his form from that year, the Pies will be that much closer to a Grand Final. Fingers are crossed that that doesnt happen. ;)

Next up saw the Doggies take another step towards the top 4 with a big win over the Roos. Now, I got told last week that its obvious that I hate the Kangers. I just want to put it on the record that I dont hate...
Alright, you asked for it, and you got the first cut.

Chatting on the live scores page is now not just a desire, its a reality.

Now, you will need need to be logged in to use it- So dont go being a dickhead, I am watching.

That said though, Hopefully it works well for game watching and chatting fun. Cmon Ablett, youre my captain. LIFT!

Of course, its the first cut- things will be improved. Particularly the fact that its one chat that goes across all games. :D But I kinda ran out of time. :D So let me know what you think here, well see how it works.
Ok, so while the Simpsons may be responsible for nearly all of my knowledge,they arent great at tipping. Doh! I cant be bothered coming up with something creative this week, so Im just going to do the tips using that small thing in my head. :)

Friday May 21
Collingwood v Geelong Cats at the MCG, 7.40pm G Ablett 155

Saturday May 22
North Melbourne v Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium, 2.10pm
Sydney Swans v Fremantle at the SCG, 2.10pm
Essendon v Richmond at the MCG, 7.45pm
Melbourne v Port Adelaide at TIO Stadium, 7.10pm

Sunday May 23
Adelaide v Brisbane Lions at AAMI Stadium, 12.40pm
Carlton v Hawthorn at Etihad Stadium, 2.10pm
West Coast v St Kilda at Subiaco Oval

No logic this week,Im in a hurry. Sorry spud and other readers, I promise to start concentrating on footy again-after exams are over!
So, it looks like weve got some good ins and big outs.

Podsiady coming in is good news for a lot of coaches, but with Duncan, Higgins, Jaensch, Waite and Murphy going out, I reckon people are going to need them.

On the plus side though, Brown and Hitchcock look like theyll be playing- which is great news!

INS: Kelly, Podsiadly, Campbell, Griffen, Bradshaw, Wonaemirri, Thompson, Clark
OUTS: Duncan, Higgins, Murphy, Broughton, Hooker, Colyer, Hughes, Vince, Jaensch, Waite, Lucas, Gram, Armitage
Extended Bench: Thompson, Davis, Armstrong, Clark

Anyways, all the teams are over the break-

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FRIDAY MAY 21Geelong v Collingwood
MCG @ 7.40pmCollingwood
B: Heath Shaw, Ben Reid, Ben Johnson
HB: Harry O&rsquo;Brien, Nick Maxwell, Sharrod Wellingham
C: Luke Ball, Dane Swan, Alan Toovey
HF: Shane O&rsquo;Bree, Travis Cloke, Alan Didak
F: Dayne Beams, Brent Macaffer, Leon Davis
Foll: Darren Jolly, Scott Pendlebury, Dale Thomas
I/C: Nathan Brown, Chris Dawes, Steele Sidebottom, Cameron Wood
Emg: Tarkyn Lockyer, Josh Fraser, John AnthonyIn: Wellingham
Out: John AnthonyGeelong
B: Josh Hunt, Matthew Scarlett, Andrew Mackie
HB: Corey Enright, Harry Taylor, Darren Milburn

,,C: James Kelly, Cameron Ling, Jimmy Bartel
HF: Steve Johnson, Cameron Mooney, Travis Varcoe
F: Mathew Stokes, Tom Hawkins, Gary Ablett
Foll: Mark Blake, Joel Selwood, Paul Chapman
I/C: Shannon Byrnes, James Podsiadly, David Wojcinski, Tom Lonergan
Emg: Simon Hogan, Mitch Duncan, Taylor HuntIn: Kelly, Podsiadly
Out: Simon Hogan, Mitch DuncanSATURDAY MAY 22North Melbourne v Western Bulldogs
Etihad Stadium @ 2.10pmNorth Melbourne
B: Michael Firrito, Scott Thompson, Brady Rawlings
HB: Nathan Grima, Lachlan Hansen, Daniel Pratt
C: Jack Ziebell, Sam Wright, Ryan Bastinac
HF: Aaron Edwards, Josh Smith, Brent Harvey
F: Daniel Wells, Nathan OKeefe, Lindsay Thomas
Foll: Todd Goldstein, Andrew Swallow, Levi Greenwood
I/C: Scott McMahon, Ben...
Hi all,
Its time for some more Best Buy goodness.
Im sorry I cant be more expressive this week, but Im a bit busy, probably getting my team back in shape!

Advice for the week:
There will almost always be bargains up for grabs. Your particular favourite player might not be available at a cheap price, but because we are looking at the same pool of money, and with the development of precocious rookies, for players to keep their value they generally have to score at 9% increases on the average they currently have. With only 3300 up for grabs each week...and no 9% increase on this even over time...it stands to reason that just as some players go up in value, some must go down.

Now for the regular article items:<!--more-->

FRESH MEAT
This week, its the West Coast Eagle Brad Sheppard who is up in the mix.  With a lovely 87 he showed us all what he is capable of continuing.  Most of us would have had him from the get-go if hed not had those injury rumours.  An early draft pick who is in a rebuilding team, and is going up - likely to be more so than Webberley.  If you are going to make two defensive cow kills then it could pay to go Sheppard-Webberley.

So yeah, Webberley is the other.  He has good reviews and is a straight-up player in the Hardwick manner.  Good games makes him look like he is going to have a solid run but with Richmond giving everyone "a go" security is always a difficult thing to promise.  At 67 in the draft was a bit of a diamond in the rough like Nason.

People have also forgotten about Roberton.  Maybe a good D9 option if he gets a recall.  Johnson is out this week and if fit Roberton will keep the youth revolution happening in the exciting up the guts Dockers.

Forwards have some options too.  Brennan Stack has always interested me as he is a fast footballer in the Dogs style.  Some may baulk at his price in the 190 range, but with Johnson an extended out, could have a place in the team where everyone seems to score...
So, Ive gone with the idea that because my team is off the rails, Im gunna try out this MPP thing to see how useful it proves as the season rolls on. Maybe even get an idea for how its going to work out next year.

To that end, Im going to need to post *exhales* my team. Feel free to level as many "thats crap" comments as you want, but try to be gentle cause I hurt easy and I carry a big ol banhammer.

Team over the break
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Hodge, Goddard, Malceski, Hurn, Enright, Kelly, Waters
Gram, Davis

Albett, Selwood, Barlow, Ball, Scully, Martin
Farmer, Shuey

Naitanui, Hille
Warnock, Lobbe

Pavlich, Grundy, Brown, OKeefe, Higgins, LeCras, Gumbleton
Hitchcock, Rohan

So, the current team has a smattering of M/Ds in the backline with Farmer in the mids.

Davis in the Backline and Grundy up forward.

And finally, Rohan and other F/Ms up forward, with a missing M/F link in the mids. But Goodes is calling.

Sadly, I think Im a couple of cashcows short of making it work. Podsiadly in for Hitchcock would have made a world difference, while Shuey being someone who made money would also have been nice.

So, with 13 trades left- Im thinking that Ive got 6-7 trades to finish the team- then hope that the MPP can cover zeros for a while.

One thing Im going to need to do is to downgrade Gram, in the teams perfect mode, hes redundant.

So, we refactor the team to perfect mode.

Hodge, Goddard, Grundy, Malceski, Hurn, Enright, Kelly
Waters*, Gram (downgrade) *Waters is essential covering for both Mids and Def.

Ablett, Selwood, Barlow, Ball, Martin (upgrade), Scully (Goodes)
Shuey, Farmer

Rucks

Pavlich, Brown, OKeefe, Higgins, Lecras, Hitchcock, Gumbleton
Rohan, Davis

So, as you can see, If Hitchcock was Pods- and Shuey was actually making cash, I would have the downgrade potential to turn Gumbleton in someone better. As it stands now, its going to make it difficult to secure the funds to upgrade Gumby. So Im probably going...
Luke Hodge and Chris Judd have moved up to the leaders pack after both putting in BOG performances on the weekend, moving into 4th and 5th place on 10 and 9 votes respectively.
<div>Swan was the only one of the current leading pack that is likely to poll on the weekend, with his 31 possession, 7 clearance, 1 goal display good enough to see him pick up the 2 votes and join Barlow on 11 votes (and just one behind the reigning brownlow medallist).
<div>
<div>Its hard to see the medal going to anyone outside of this party of 5 - apart from maybe Sandi or Hayes...who coincidentally both picked up votes and continue their push up the table.
<div>
<div>All of this weeks votes over the page:
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Dockers v Pies
3. T. Cloke (3)
2. D. Swan (11)
1. A. Sandilands (7)
....L. Ball, A. Didak, S. Pendlebury

Dogs v Swans
3. B. Lake (3)
2. B. Hall (2)
1. D. Cross (2)
....M. Boyd, J. McVeigh, B. Hudson

Dees v Eagles
3. M. Priddis (6)
2. James McDonald (7)
1. D. Cox (1)
....A. Selwood, M. Rosa, J. Grimes

Lions v Cats
3. S. Johnson (4)
2. J. Selwood (5)
1. P. Chapman (6)
....T. Hawkins, J. Bartel, S. Byrnes

Roos v Crows
3. A. Swallow (6)
2. B. Rawlings (4)
1. D. Wells (6)
....T. Goldstein, B. Harvey, M. Firrito

Tigers v Hawks
3. L. Hodge (10)
2. D. Jackson (2)
1. C. Newman (1)
....S. Mitchell, T. Cotchin, C. Rioli

Power v Blues
3. C. Judd (9)
2. M. Kreuzer (2)
1. K. Simpson (1)
....A. Carrazzo, D. Armfield, K. Cornes

Saints v Bombers
3. L. Hayes (6)
2. N. Dal Santo (5)
1. D. Hille (1)
....H. Hocking, D. Fletcher, J. Watson

[span style="text-decoration: underline">Leaderboard
12. G. Ablett
11. M. Barlow, D. Swan
10. L. Hodge
9. C. Judd
7. A. Sandilands, K. Cornes, James McDonald
<a href="http://iscent.com.au"><img style="float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" src="http://tooserious.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/iScent.com_.au_RGB.jpg" alt="" />[/url]

Alright, so the first round of the <a href="http://www.iscent.com.au">iScent[/url] competition is underway. I still havent coded up the ladder page yet, so youre going to need to have a peek over the break below to see the total ladder for the round.

The winning team for the round was:
namescoreDifference

Aaron Sandilands2-18

Lindsay Gilbee109

Dean Cox322

Gary Ablett1063

Brent Harvey1027

Luke Hodge1-21

Chris Judd1-22

Brendon Goddard1-9



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UserscoreDifference

Fish38191

blizzrd39145

parlabane40161

Jumperpuncher40178

gromanin43988

ScottyP44199

quazy88848232

haysiebbh48204

gnewitt48981

wally fitz49967

Psychobabble49220

stowie50159

snoop50173

ryno52272

Carlos52283

anubis56296

Bucko56246

scogan58245

Jolinar59185

celinef59211

spuddy59251

daveo1560293

Fluffy60939

The Mob Goes Wild61313

fcvodka61293

tp61346

beetee64247

wiggles64336

Holey64240

chris8864275

deasend64315

AK64245

autopilot65253

hawk201065888

GRG65255

Gumby1365290

joshuac66189

liquid66296

Ingall66199

timtimmy67293

mabus67418

mh68168

Superblues68253

walesy68306

nicks68220

pricey1869239

knighty70305

obeebe70288

parasite73324

seanny2573831

remedi73888

adeelite73360

jrolfe74272

limo2374240

Finrod74268

baggers boys76847

Grogfather77242

bama77876

evawes178282

lgarth8078885

steamtrain79380

resch79193

Starky81370

prem82386

Kel82824

bandit82330

matty.hutch82203

mkidd83298

soups83258

Danaz84420

keefy86766

CarlSpackler88379

Pencil Me In..91703

thespine92323

benj92309

nofferr102793

LanceUppercut107463
So, its been a pretty big week in football. I think we learnt a lot this week about how the season is shaping up. Firstly, the Pies are officially a force to be reckoned with. Secondly, even though they lost, so are Fremantle. They put in a strong effort in a losing side, and really, considering the Pies current form, held their own for most of the game (They did let the game away early). Sydney are, sadly, not as strong as their initial form predicted. Melbourne, while still markedly improved on last year, are still young and inconsistant. Geelong are officially as force and Geelong V Collingwood is pencilled in for that last weekend in September. Still, its just May. Cant look too far ahead yet. Hawthorn, with all their big ins were lucky to get a win against the Tigers, but I still think that the hit out did them good and that theyll come out stronger for it next week. Carlton looked the part coming from behind against the Power, and with the Saints falling to the Dons, look to be the team to replace St Kilda in the top4. Though the Doggies are still in the hunt their.

Anyways, it turns out that this week was umpire appreciation week. Looking through the comments in this place though, you wouldnt have guessed it! There was a distinct amount of animocity towards the boys in white. However, while I want to keep the integrity of the comments of this place to the highest calibur, I do understand the feeling of being in the moment, heck- I did the same thing a number of weeks ago. So, were gunna try to come up with a method to ensure that both groups can enjoy themselves here. If youve got a suggestion, feel free to make it in the comments, I would love to hear it.

So. Collingwood v Fremantle. The battle for #1. The ground was set over at Subiaco for a huge clash. And from watching the comments in these parts, passions were fired up. But, Im just gunna talk about the Supercoach. Travis Cloke top scored with a 5 goal haul- netting 159 points. Sandiland...