Labour Day Holiday Boredom!

But not bored enough to get back to work. I've almost finished writing my conference paper - I only have to tweak a few figures and then the nervous wait for acceptance will begin. The strange thing is that since I've decided that I will start my PhD sooner rather than later due to how much work has been driving me nuts, I've started to enjoy work again. Go figure that one out. Perhaps the happiness is due to the relief that I'm not "stuck" there. Of course, I'll be earning less when I go back to uni so my buy-an-apartment-and-move-out plan has completely failed.

One of the reasons that really "helped" me decide that I didn't want to stay at work was their piss-poor excuse for why I was not allowed to teach at uni this semester. Initially I just accepted it - really, what can a newbie really do? But when I found out another graduate can teach (he told me) at the same uni as I had plans to, but I can't - well, it really upset me.

So until I go back to uni I will have to be content with coaching. :) I have decided that since I had offered to be flexible with my hours when I said I wanted to teach microbiology, that I will be completely inflexible now with training nights. i.e. I will leave at 5pm, or perhaps earlier. Of course I'd get in at some ridiculously early time to squeeze in my hours and any physical activity I choose to partake in (my knee rarely hurts these days - except when running downhill). Add that I don't particularly see myself at the company by the time the year ends, and it's even more of a reason to be a bit more ballsy with my hours/demands.

These long days will cause me to be irritable, but hopefully I'll enjoy the coaching enough to balance the irritability. Of course coaching has its frustrating moments, so it will be interesting to see how I cope! The club had a bit of a trial-session a few weekends ago with the U14 to U16 girls. It's amazing that such a gulf exists between the age-groups. I'm sure the U14s would have been all over the U16s if we played them against each other.

The weird part was that once you moved a decent U14 to the U16 group, suddenly they became a different player. And not in a good way. Might have something to do with confidence, but all their skills just disappeared. It may also have something to do with trust - that the U14 with the U16s at any given time didn't know the other girls and hence stopped looking up, so their passes went awry. Doesn't explain the loss of touch - might have been nervousness/lack of confidence after all.

With the club looking at squad-based training rather than team-based, it will be interesting to see how it works out for the players and for the club. The club's made it clear why they decided to do it, but they also acknowledge that it's foreign territory for them. They are also willing to return to team-based training if they can see it's not working. I'm intrigued to see how it all works out.

The A-League season is now over, and I don't think I made an swooning posts, so Fabian Barbiero deserves a mention. He seems to have a lovely attitude combined with those cute looks and decent footballing ability. If only Vukovic would have that attitude, perhaps I could publicly swoon over him again (I've decided that Vuko can be an a-hole; there's confidence and then there's arrogance. Don't ask me why I feel that way, he just annoys me somewhat. Despite how hot he is.)

How to get more girls to go to the football.

A while ago I was discussing pet dogs with Au (a girl at work). With Facebook blocked at work, I couldn't find any photos of my pup on Photobucket. Yesterday morning I remembered that I did have a photo... so I emailed the link to her.


=========================
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 10:20 AM
To: Au
Subject:



I did have a photo of my puppy on photobucket!



http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m312/cestaz/73558713.jpg
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 10:32 AM
To: Au
Subject: FW:



Actually, try this one:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m312/cestaz/P1000430.jpg

------------------------------------
From: Au
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 10:51 AM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE:



Hahaha… what’s his name?


------------------------------------
From: Au
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 10:53 AM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE:



Gnaw so cute!!

But the other email/pic combination made me LOL! hahaha


------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 10:56 AM
To: Au
Subject: RE:



HER name is P####. Google it to find out where the name was inspired from – it’s a bit of a laugh… well, to me anyway.



That being said, P#### suits her and I couldn’t imagine her to have any other name.








P.S. Yeah, trust me to f@%k it up with a footballer, and a goalkeeper no less! He’s quite hot though . LOL.
------------------------------------
From: Au
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 11:06 AM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE:



“open area on the outskirts of a town “??? I’m not sure this reference is right, cos I had presumed it would be football related!



And yes he is quite hot!
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 11:08 AM
To: Au
Subject: RE:



It’s pretty much the open prairie area in central Argentina. LOL



I’m imagining someone going, “Here’s my cat. I called it Werribee.” LOL



Yes, VERY hot. Olyroos goalkeeper too – I’m looking forward to the Beijing Olympics. ;) He’s a lot of fun to watch from a goalkeeping point of view. That’s how my semi-obsession with the young boy started anyway…
------------------------------------
From: Au
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 11:17 AM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE:



“Here’s my cat. I called it Werribee.” …. When you put it like that!! Or, here’s my cat, I called it poo farm – since that’s what Werribee is referred to as.



I’d even watch it for that!! Just how young is this boy?? (coming from the person who has been to four 21st birthdays in the past 2 weeks…)
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 11:21 AM
To: Au
Subject: RE:



Hmm… I’m surprised I don’t know this off the top of my head… about 10 years ago I would’ve been able to tell you his star sign and what-not.



He’s 22, and a month older than my brother… and older than those people who have recently turned 21.



Hurrah! He’s not illegal!



And he’s an Aries. LOL
------------------------------------
From: Au
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 1:23 PM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE:



Well that fact that he is legal is the main thing… really though, 22 isn’t that young. How old are you anyway?



Hmm so is Aries compatible with your star sign? haha
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 1:30 PM
To: Au
Subject: RE:



23 – but I’ll be 24 before he turns 23. :’( LOL



Oooh… “hot air” when I tried a compatibility test online.



your time together will fan the flames of the Arian fire and elevate your relationship to one of passion

…oooh…



This combination can sometimes be very wacky

wOOt!



You might be able to prod Aries’ interest in self-improvement and become a teacher to them

Oooh… wonder what I can teach him, ey? ;)


The best group of Aries for you is the group born between 31 March and 10 April.

Damn, he’s a 22nd Mar.



I am clearly procrastinating.
------------------------------------
From: Au
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 1:33 PM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE:



Yes, but you are doing it really well!



Pfft, that’s not much age difference at all… sound very compatible too!



Actually, I found out an interesting fact about my family the other day. Of all the relos that are married, the women are older in pretty much all of the relationships… I’m destined to be with a younger man! haha
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 1:40 PM
To: Au
Subject: RE:




Oh, and you really have to see this kid in the flesh. Drool-worthy.

I was watching him warm up (I like to observe how each of them warm up you see) and I started talking about his physical finer points and now have a friend completely hooked on his stature.
=========================

Later discussions revealed that Au has a friend who wanted to take her to a Victory game. Now she wants to make sure it's against the Mariners. Hopefully Vukovic won't be on national duty or suspended when the time comes...

For the record, I did know Vuko was of legal age, but it's one of my favourite things to say when the time comes.

And Wayne, I directed her to your blog for reasons that should be clear.

Swooning recap.

Well, with Melbourne Victory's season effectively over, why not move onto swooning? I don't think I've written a post dedicated to swooning for a long time now, and perhaps a recap is overdue.

Last season's personal swoon Spase Dilevski left the A-League in search of playing in a better league. So far he's only participated in three matches over in Romania, playing with FC Universitatea Craiova. Perhaps things haven't turned out the way he expected. He also has bad hair. This was not something I expected.


And a need for sunglasses. Still quite swoony, though I'd love to see how his through-balls and passes with both feet are faring given his lack of game time.

Meanwhile, Danny Vukovic and Greg Owens (who were both deemed winners of the Best Looking Bloke Award due to my inability to decide on ONE method of analysing the vote data) now play in the same team. Unless I come up with yet another way of doing this only one of them will make the final poll. Or none if John Hutchinson or Alex Wilkinson come through the team stages instead. Oh, how I envy those who live in Gosford and can watch the Mariners on a regular basis!

With the departure of Marcus Wedau, Tom Willis and Dilevski Queensland is no longer as the swooniest team in the A-League. Clearly that mantle has been passed onto Central Coast.

As for new swoon-worthy players from this season, well, I suppose I'll deal with that later.

About yesterday's opposition

Before kick-off I was standing at South End watching Vukovic warm up. A few weeks ago I was concerned about his goal kicks and distribution when it came to long balls. During his time away with the Olyroos, things didn’t seem to have improved, so I was getting quite concerned. But he was looking good during his warm up, with both kicks from the group and from his hands consistently getting to Redmayne. During the match there was one shocker, about midway through the second half, but a nice improvement on how he had been going lately.

While at South End, I think I convinced another (female) Melbourne fan of Vukovic’s swoon-worthiness… I’m trying to get opposition votes for him early should I decide to do the Best Looking Bloke Award again for the A-League! I do think that the Mariners have the best team, but that’s just my completely biased opinion, heavily weighted by one player.

Back to the football, McKinna’s done a great job for a team of players that may not have the individual technical brilliance that some individuals in other teams may have, but they’ve got a lot of heart. I don’t think there’s one player out there for the Mariners that McKinna would have to sub off because he wasn’t trying or didn’t feel like playing. The main reason why I think the Mariners have gotten off to such a great start, is that the team is largely unchanged from season 2, or even season 1! They’re quite a stable club, unlike current bottom team Sydney…

P.S. Looks like Central Coast have taken up the position that Queensland Roar had for me last year...

The tough ask

With Vukovic away on Olyroos duty, Matthew Trott had some awfully large shoes to fill. I'll admit that for the first hour of the match I wasn't particularly impressed with Trott; after all, I do hold Vukovic on a bit of a pedestal.

But then Trott made a wonderful save. Things were looking up for him in my books. A beautiful stretch out to the left to stop the header from Reinaldo and he parried even further to the left - away from the Queensland Roar strikeforce. I thought the lack of Wilkinson and Heffernan would have had a more destabilising effect on the defence. But with Vidmar fit and Brown in the line-up (whose amazing form at the end of the season had been forgotten about by me until I saw his name in the line-up) Central Coast were solid. The best part about Trott's save of Reinaldo's header, was that if he had not made it he had a defender backing him up. It was really nice to see after last week's sleepiness from Adelaide.

Later in the match, perhaps about 10 minutes to go there was another gorgeous save - low and to the left again went Trott. Well timed, and very secure. There were other saves during the match, but it's the saves that involve timing and really good form that I love to see.

I was converted, still think the world of Vukovic, but Trott's a great understudy. Now all I need is for Vukovic to do a dummy of the sort Trott did in injury time. He forced the Queenslander to commit to the ball by looking like he's going to kick the ball far, only to not do anything at all. Looked even better in the slow motion replay. It really showed his mind was ticking, good to see the boy has a fully functional brain. Whether he meant it to waste time or not is another matter (taking a goal kick eats up a bit more time, and I'm always on the hunt for new methods), but it showed great presence of mind. So good to see in such a young player.

Oh so exciting!

Have I written about how happy I am for the A-League to be back yet?!?

So, the first match... Sydney vs. Central Coast
A rare Bolton error allows Gumprecht to intercept the ball, pass it off to Petrovski who does a fairly decent job of ensuring the ball gets to the far post and in for a goal. Anyone who's read my blogs realises that I'm far more interested in defences and particularly goalkeeping. With Vukovic in goals for the Mariners I really wasn't going to pay too much attention to the Sydney defence (which looked shakier than I expected!)

I'm a bit worried about Vukovic's goalkicks. Towards the end of the first half the ones from the right side of the goalbox kept veering off to the right and out of play. Then in the second half they weren't getting any distance! And then there was that moment when he came right of the box and my heart was in my mouth. I think everyone knows the moment when he came to the edge of the box for the initial save and then came right out for the second save - which he completely missed.

But he was otherwise awesome, especially when Juninho made that run in the first half down to the goalline and Vukovic kept covering - nice and low, stayed on his feet and didn't commit himself until he lost his balalnce. Juninho cut the ball back, can't remember who shot (Zadkovic?) and Vukovic was back on his line where he needed to be. I think he was a little annoyed that he lost his balance against Juninho, but I commend his effort in not committing and staying on this feet - top piece of work there.

Boogard and Wilkinson both had solid games, was very happy with them. However, my Dad pointed out that McKinna was a bit amateur regarding Jedinak marking Juninho for the whole of the match. Perhaps something for a post later down the track!

Let's move onto the refereeing. First, Talay should've been carded sooner - he was fouling all over the shop. Second, Heffernan's body check against Milligan needs to be dealt with. It's worse in the replay as you can see Heffernan keeping an eye on Milligan, waiting for the run towards him!

And while we're on referees... Queensland vs. Adelaide. What a dirty match! The thing that annoyed me most about this match was Tiatto stomping on Djite. IN FRONT OF THE ASSISTANT! And well, he's blind and perhaps deaf, he wants be a ref, but had to settle for waving a flag about. It was happening during last season too - assistants so caught up in determining if a player is offside or if the ball is out that they miss the things that occur right under their noses. It's really quite disgusting to see players get away with things such as that right in front of officials. Disgusting from the point of view of how inept our referees are!

Keeping things short - onto Wellington vs. Melbourne. I have not been very nice to Mr Theoklitos in the past (see labels Goalkeepers and Melbourne Rant), but I was willing to turn over a new leaf. This obviously will not happen - I completely blame the second Wellington goal on him (and what a turn around were Wellington in the last 15 minutes!).

I'll try to start positively - Muscat's penalty taking skills are well known, so I'll talk about the second goal. Awesome run by Keenan down the left flank. Has two Wellington players coming at him, slots the ball between them to play a one-two with a team-mate (I'll have to rewatch the match to remember). So that's two opposition players dealt with. Upon receiving the ball, we ducks and weaves past 2 and a bit players, falling down at that 3rd player and passing the ball off to Super Dan who ensure that it's a goal by slotting it past Moss. A total of 6 Wellington players dealt with between Keenan, the 'wall' player and Allsopp. Lovely sight that was. Beautiful finish too, but a wonderful run down the left flank. Unfortunately, aside from that gorgeous run I thought Keenan wasn't all that extraordinary...

Broxham was one of my top players from the match. Stocky and short, his low centre of gravity is going to make him a difficult player to stop when running at you. :)

I'm not too fussed about the first Wellington goal, a bit unlucky from the Melbourne player who headed the ball back to where Daniel was, and once that happened there was nothing that could really be done.

But the second goal... First Theoklitos comes out to the edge of the box for some reason. Broxham had his eye on the high ball, puts it under control and seemed to have the intention of playing it back to the keeper. By the time, Theoklitos was right next to Broxham, so there was no keeper to pass to! It means that Broxham had to do something quickly and played it out to the sideline. The resulting throw-in goes down the sideline and is knocked back into the goalbox. When the play is far away - say, outside the box, then the keeper has the time to be off his line. But as the play moves closer, the keeper ought to be on his line. I think there was more than enough time for Theoklitos to get back into his proper position. But he's so used to NOT being on his line... AARRRGGGHHH!!!! He ended up being about 2m off his line when the ball reached its target of Smeltz. Headed over the massive gap between the goal and the keeper - thank you very much!

Other things occurred too (Allsopp's handball comes to mind), but I have a pet hate of keepers not sitting on their line. The ironic part is that I used to do this all the time... shhh!

A-League Season Three Preview

It's been a long off-season, but the third season of the A-League is finally kicking off this evening! I'm very excited, and I'm sure I'm not the only fired-up football fan.

During the off-season, I started my coaching career, and I have three matches to go, but don't be suprised if you never hear about that until the A-League's off-season is upon us again!

Some of you may be aware that I tend to sit at halfway during my Melbourne Victory matches so that I can get a really good view of the match. As I have half-baked plans to go on some away trips this year I've decided that I had better get into the MV fan culture and get to know some of my fellow supporters. My ventures started with the pre-season friendlies against Victorian Premier League teams Oakleigh and South Melbourne. They continued with the pre-season tournament, joining the 'South End' for a bit of the Geelong match against Newcastle and back at our true home ground at Olympic Park for the Wellington and Sydney matches.

While I had a lot of fun singing with that lot I will be returning to my prawn sandwich area at half-way when the season starts proper. In short, if you've never spent an entire 90 minute period singing, go do it at some point. You may lose your voice, but it's fun and you can go home with a smile on your face no matter how poorly your team play.

So, now for the preview. I've noted quite a lot of previews popping up all over the place, so this will be what I am looking forward to this season, perhaps with a bit of swooning banter thrown in.

Sydney - I have to admit that I just stare at their defensive line-up these days. Bolton's an awesome goalkeeper - not just as a shot stopper, but he really seems to create a settled defense. Add Popovic and Rudan, and that's a solid central defensive unit. Milligan should continue to improve and I was also a bit impressed with Fyfe during the Asia Cup, hopefully he can keep doing whatever he's doing. Swoon-worthy players: outdated swoon, but John Filan's on the bench tonight!

Central Coast - Looking forward to Vukovic's development as a player and his combination with Wilko. Should be interesting to see how Heffernan's return affects things. I am still concerned with McKinna's insistance on using Mrja... too injury prone in my opinion, and hence a 'wasted' player. Hopefully, I can be proved wrong! Swoon-worthy players: Last year's best-looking player and runner-up are now on the same team! So Central Coast should be a delight to watch from a non-football point of view. Greg Owens, Danny Vukovic and a late favourite last year for me in Wilko...

Queensland - No Spase! What am I going to do without those occasional wonderful through-balls? Well, at least I won't get annoyed at his occasional losses in temper and stupidity... Happy to see that Grossman has been signed up, and hopefully the Matty and Mass show will get back on the road. With a large fan base, I'm hoping that Queensland make a top 4 finish. Swoon-worthy players: Although the Roar have lost Spase, Wedau and Willis, Reddy's still about. And I know a certain someone loves McKay, and that Murdocca has a bit of a female following.

Adelaide - COSTANZO!!!! My favourite player to watch last season - so much poise and an amazing ability to read the game. Although I'd hate to think that a team relies on one player, I find that if Costanzo has a bad day, so does Adelaide. Looking forward to the Burns and Djite partnership flourishing and I'm hoping that Sarkies adds a bit of heart to his game - frustrated me too often last season. Swoon-worthy players: None really do it for me...

Wellington - Mark Paston olé! One of my favourite players last season, often raised to hero-like status at home due to his goalkeeping often keeing the now dead Knights in the game. After not playing much of last season I'm hoping Ferrante gets some game time and due acknowledgement. One of my favourite players from season one, there was simply no room for him at Melbourne. Swoon-worthy players: Steven Old! [grrr... no photo yet] Might be on the bench a bit, but if given a run will be in the defense. I suspect Herbert might give him more of a run than Van Egmond did.

Melbourne - Patafta. This kid has been a wonder every time that he's stepped onto the park. A little creative dynamo that may be what we need to fill the hole vacated by Fred. Caceres has also been impressive in pre-season - he seems to have added a bit of grit to his game. He just needs to use his right peg a bit more, and he can use it, he did so in Geelong during the first half! I was so delighted that I went home with a smile on my face, even though me lost through some AWFUL defending (mumble, mumble, Ljubo, mumble, mumble). Looking forward to Muscat and Brebs putting Ljubo in his place. I don't like Ljubo - can you tell? Keenan also impressed my early against the VPL teams, but only occasionally shined during the pre-season competition. Swoon-worthy players: Danny Allsopp, Adrian Caceres, Kaz Patafta, Mitchell Langerak, Grant Brebner, Kevin Muscat (hahaha!)

Perth - Velaphi. He was awesome last year for Queensland while they had their goalkeeping crisis (*glaring at Reddy*). Should also be interesting to see how Nick Rizzo goes - injury stalled his career over in England and was consequently left in the wilderness - should be a happy return to football action for him. Hayden Foxe seems to be injured... again... see minor Nick Mrdja rant in Central Coast section. Swoon-worthy players: Hmmm... another tough area... oooh!!! Petkovic?

Newcastle - A beautiful team to watch under Van Egmond. Kennedy's injured at the moment, but hopefully he'll get some game time throughout the season - might be difficult with Covic about. But that kid just needs some confidence. I'm also hoping Joel Griffiths can control his temper. Swoon-worthy players: I'll get back to you later in the season.

My thoughts for round 1? You'll have to visit Football Down Under and Beyond!

Note: I have a class to run off to - will link Qld profiles later, perhaps this afternoon.

Aahhh parents...

...enough said.

Meanwhile, I'm seriously considering striking Danny Vukovic from my swoon list. I cannot think of what on earth he was thinking... at all... can't think of any excuse for him! And nice to see Mr Yellow Card doing his thing for the national team - while he was captain. Leijer's a great player IMO, but his tendency to collect yellows and make rash tackles is letting him down. It's not something he needs in his game.

Short post, I know...

The "best looking bloke in the A-League" has been found/calculated/whatever!

Well, I’ve finally figured out who’s the “Best Looking Bloke in the A-League” in the A-League… well, kinda...

These are some of the problems that I found along the way:

1. Not so serious nominations. This lead to the installment of Steve Eagleton as the Newcastle representative.
2. Lack of participation. This meant that some teams unfairly voted against their player in the end if their participation in the poll was high but the polls of other forums (where their players were) was not so high.
3. Multiple voting. i.e. Not being able to vote for your player at your forum but voting for your player at another forum.
4. Stuffing up the Perth poll. I didn’t put Che Bunce as an option, but did put Colosimo. Guess who got the most votes there.
   

Dealing with these problems wasn’t easy. I decided that problem #3 was completely out of my control, and I figured that if one forum/team did it, then the others would too. In the end, it’s kinda fair…

Problem #2 was fairly evident. As you can see in the spreadsheet below, Melbourne and Sydney forums had the most active participation. And so were giving lots of votes to other teams without really receiving any for theirs (fair enough too, considering the Sydney and Melbourne reps!) The Newcastle forum involved posts urging the boycott of the poll as Eagleton was not an option to them, as I tried to remove any ‘home’ team bias. This works well in a raw data form, because they didn’t end up giving many votes to Eag’s competition.So while I had said on each forum:

I'll cumulate all votes once the polls finish. One vote on one forum = one vote on another forum.

I’ve changed my mind. Muahahahaha! No, it’s only fair. I had an idea that I mentioned in each forum initially, and have modified it. The original idea:

I did consider a percentage modified count, where I'd consider crowd numbers at matches, but as this isn't reflected in the forum participiation I've decided against it.

So I’ve designed a percentage modified count where I’ve considered poll participation numbers!

If you look at the first Excel sheet, above, column J shows the raw number of votes and K, the percentage of votes for each player. Rows 12 and 13 show the number of votes from each forum in a total number and percentage formats. Column M is the product of the percentage vote of each player multiplied by the participation percentage for his ‘home’ forum.

i.e. Greg Owens from Adelaide’s adjustment score is the product of 15.5 (the percentage of votes he got from all forums) and 15.5 (the percentage of votes Adelaide forumites put in compared to all forums.)

This means that Che Bunce automatically came last as I didn’t put a poll up in the New Zealand forum as they weren't all that receptive in the first place. As a result, this also helped out problem #4, because it didn’t matter how many votes Perth may have given him. Making this 'adjusted score' also somewhat rectifies a bit of problem #2 - a vote on another forum increases that forum's participation percentage and consequently the adjusted score for that forum's 'home' player.

However, Colosimo still had votes at Perth. Lucky for me, the Perth participation was so low that he came 2nd-last regardless of if I did or didn’t count his votes from the Perth forum (compare Excel sheets 1, above, and 2, below.) In fact, the adjusted rankings didn’t change at all for any players!


So there are actually two winners for the "best looking bloke award!" One based on raw data, as promised on each of the forums. The other based on the method outlined above. The charts below show the results. A and B include the votes given to Colosimo by the Perth forum, C and D do not. The A and C are the raw data, the B and D shows data from the adjusted score method.


So our winners are...

Danny Vukovic and Greg Owens!

Our "raw data" winner: Danny Vukovic (what's not to like about a goalkeeper?)
A good player, always switched on, seems to have quite a bit of character.

Oh, and is kinda cute too.

I'll make it known that I voted for him on the MV forum as a bit of a oh I can't decide but the Central Coast have got good taste as they only voted for Wedau and Owens why not give my vote to Danny as he's quite cute kind of vote.

And on when CC nominations were up I selected Alex Wilkinson over Danny. Sorry, couldn't resist putting this picture up - I only just found it! Good defender too - and definitely the cutest A-League captain.







Our "adjusted score" winner: Greg Owens (has a bit of a rash temper when he's playing, but if we're just looking I suppose it doesn't matter that he scored against us. Not that it matters any more.)

You can see that he's not a bad looking sample of an A-League player here on the left...









But Greg, covering up your face isn't going to help us!

And it's really quite difficult to look away when he's got that grin...

Note: all pictures linked to their appropriate homes on the A-League club sites.

P.S. Allsopp looked REALLY good at Fed Square today, but no, the Tards had to pick Vinnie Lia... and where'd he come in the raw data? LAST! Buahahahahahaha! Can't say too much really, he ended up beating Spase in the adjusted score, but I think that has more to do with the high participation rate of MV. Maybe I should have adjusted the participation rate with crowd numbers, so that smaller clubs 'get a chance.'...

The finalists for the "best looking bloke in the A-League, in Australia, in the world, whatever"

Here are the finalists!Row 1: Adelaide's Greg Owens, Central Coast's Danny Vukovic, Melbourne's Vince Lia, New Zealand's Che Bunce*
Row 2: Newcastle's Steve Eagleton, Perth's Simon Colosimo*, Queensland's Marcus Wedau, Sydney's Ruben Zadkovich.
[Images from each team's A-League website].

I'll post more later, I have some shopping to do right now.
Oh, and Spase Dilevski will be in there too - by default. For the record, Massimo Murdocca got 3 points more than Spase, who actually got none. Which, if you listened to the QR podcasts, is quite amusing.

I'll explain the voting for finalists soon, and I've decided to do a cumulative poll. i.e. One vote on one forum = one vote on another forum. I did consider a percentage modified count, where I'd consider crowd numbers at matches, but as this isn't reflected in the forum participiation I've decided against it.

*Bunce and Colosimo were nominated on other forums, as I couldn't/didn't put polls up on their forums. More on the selection process for these two later.

Voting for the "best looking bloke in the A-League, in Australia, in the world, whatever" has begun

Although I should point out that it's become a player-specific award... and that I couldn't put a poll up at Perth, and I'm probably not going to put one up over at Kiwiland.

I'm giving each forum about a week to respond. Then I'll arrange for a 'national'-type of vote, where the home player is not in the list of choices as that would create a bias. If you haven't voted yet, vote now! Once the final 8 (plus Spase, I've decided to keep him in there as a true default) have been decided, I'll post photos up with a bit of a rant and maybe some quotes from fans about how good-looking they are.

Adelaide: Poll is located here. Choose from Burns, Cornthwaite, Dodd, Geraldi, Rech and Walsh. Currently Burns in equal 1st, which is amusing given he wasn't nominated on the Adelaide forum in the first place.

Sydney: These guys have come around a bit since the nominations were requested. I've now put up a poll, and then they wonder why Petrovski (surely they weren't serious), Fyfe or Dave (Carney or Zdrillic, I still don't know, but I suppose they mean the former) aren't there! Arrrggh! I can't be bothered fixing it up and it's partially their fault anyway. Oh, and their nominees were Bolton, Brockie, Corica, Milligan, Theissen (and his full head of hair), Topor-Stanley and Zadkovich.

Perth: Currently having a party because I said they were more amusing than Sydney while both forums were at the stage of making a mockery of the thread. I wasn't actually able to put a poll up at Perth, but they definitely have the most amusing thread. I have informed them that Colosimo will likely be their rep, which hasn't been taken too well. Muahahahaha.

Melbourne: This was such a list, that I couldn't fit them all into the 10 places that the forum site limited me to. The choices are Allsopp, Brebner, Broxham, Caceres, Leijer, Lia, Muscat, Theoklitos, Vargas, and the combined choice of Alessandro/Ferrante/Fred/Sarkies.

Queensland: What a wonderful forum to use! Unlike the others where I needed to create a new thread to post the poll, I could add it to the original one at Queensland. Also, I pretty much had unlimited places in the poll so I could give each of the nominees their own spot in the poll. Queensland are also the best-looking team, with their whopping 13 nominees. And they are Buess, Gibson, Griffin, Grossman, McCloughan, McKay, Murdocca, Ognenovski, Reddy, Vidosic, Wedau, Willis and default nominee Dilevski. Early days yet, but Spase is yet to post a vote. Even I'm very strongly tempted to vote against him and go for Mr Bad Luck...

Central Coast: I had been warned by Wayne not to put Gumprecht up as he had a 'head that only a mother could love.' Nevertheless I put him up as someone I know does like him. He very quickly got a vote... The other nominees are Brown, Hutchinson, McMaster, Mrdja, Petrie, Vukovic and Wilkinson.

Newcastle: I almost didn't put a poll in because of the strength that Eagleton had in the nomination thread. But I did put a poll in. Nevertheless, four votes in and it's four votes for different players. Aside from Eagleton, we have Carle, Griffiths, Kennedy, Necevski, North, Okon, Old and Rodriguez.

New Zealand: the only forum not to get a poll. I'm already on -1 karma at their forum, which doesn't bother me in the slightest. I've let them know who their nominees are, and they may come around. I doubt it though.

My wishlist, the Goalkeeping Gods, and some definitions

Where to start?

If we recall my post last week, I was hoping for a few things to happen in Round 19. Although Queensland and the Kiwis both won, there was no draw between Newcastle and the Mariners, and Perth managed to get a point.

Since I think van Egmond's done a great job as Newcastle coach, and would like to see him there next year, my wish-list will now includes Newcastle coming into the top 4. I've figured that regardless of the result against Melbourne, if New Zealand win their last two matches, Adelaide continue to lose, and Newcastle and Queensland win their non-Melbourne matches, then I get everything I want:

• Kiwis don't come last,
  
• Adelaide out of the top 4,
  
• Queensland and Newcastle in top 4, and
• Sydney might end up 3rd.

This means the Mariners miss out, sorry Wayne... even if Danny had smothered the ball (not that I solely blame the 'keeper, but I tend to watch 'keepers more than anyone else) I couldn't fit you into my top 4. Maybe if you beat the Knights, but I don't want them to come last...

As I said, I tend to watch 'keepers...

Both Paston and Covic had great matches this weekend. Nice to see Covic either settle in to the A-League, or simply have a good game. His first match was awful and his second only marginally better, so some crucial great saves were definitely good signs. I was feeling sorry for Ben Kennedy during the first two matches, but Covic's display against the Mariners probably showed why he's Newcastle's man between the sticks.

Paston was consistently good as per usual. However, with New Zealand having to hold on to the match, I think he could have employed some timewasting techniques. It was good to see Ricki Herbert employed some good subsitutions, Gao and Hickey taking their time on the floor, Bazeley getting distracted organising the team before AND after retrieving the ball before taking the throw-in, Milligan and Ceccoli taking the ball with them for a little bit once the ref confirmed a Kiwi throw - huh? Silly, silly Sydney players. Losing and wasting time on behalf of the opposition - how curteous! Back to Paston - everytime he saved the ball and went to ground, he should have stayed there for a bit before getting up and taking up his six seconds of holding the ball. Sure, Sydney would've beaten Paston had the two post-hitting shots not hit the post, or hit the post and gone in. But I'm a firm believer of goalkeeping faith. If it hits the post and it doesn't go in, it's not meant to be. If it happens again, the Goalkeeping Gods are making a mockery of you.

I've already made my Vukovic comments on Wayne's Fisherman's Friend blog.

Now let's move onto my favourite team with my least favourite goalkeepers - Melbourne. Theo's been given a break for the moment, so Galekovic is in between the sticks for the moment. Galekovic needs to soften* his hands. Too often, a shot comes his way and he parries it. Far too often. Sure, sometimes shots are hot, and it's best to parry rather than attempt to catch and the ball slips through. But please don't tell me every single Perth shot was hot! Just like last week, Galekovic can't do much with the high balls, often missing or mis-punching them. Perhaps he's too heavy? However, I was amazed he managed to catch a high one in the end, and a waist height one too. Must've been the Goalkeeping Gods making a mockery of me...

Tommich didn't have a bad game, he conceded two goals where he didn't have a chance. First, Brebner's shot was just-off-spot-on**. So fair enough Tommich didn't get to it. And once Sarkies got to the rebound Tommich had no chance. Second goal was well placed by Sarkies into the gap in the wall that I think Robinson was creating (the only thing he did all day - if it was Robinson). The way I see walls in front of goals is, you arrange the wall to cover the half of the goal where the front post is, and the 'keeper covers the back half, with the opportunity to move forward and cover what he can of the other half if necessary. Sarkies' shot went through the wall and to the front post. Hence, I can't blame Tommich can I?

I watched the Queensland match after I knew the result, which meant I couldn't sustain my concentration - no matter how hard I tried! So Reddy and Beltrame won't be commented on this week. Good to see that Beltrame looks to have replaced Bajic - he was awesome for Adelaide last season and in my opinion a far superior custodian than Bajic.

Paston was far busier than Bolton during his match - and I was quite actively cheering the Kiwis. Although Bolton was the 'keeper who conceded, I can't see how he could've helped stop the goal. It was from point blank, and well placed. Most players would've had difficulty is keeping the ball down and, unlike Bunce, would've skied the ball.

*Soften:

• Just cushion the ball! When you make contact with the ball drop your hands back a little at the wrist. Practice by throwing a ball into a small elasticised net so it comes back at you hard.

**Just-off-spot-on: Perhaps I should explain 'spot-on' first!

• When shooting to goal, one should aim for the far post. This is because the goalkeeper should be covering the near post. If the 'keeper is stupid and has not covered the near post, by all means, shoot there. Otherwise aim for the far post, and do this at training nights. Anyone can place a ball into an empty net, but the task isn't as easy when there's a capable goalkeeper. When you aim for the far post, the ball should hit the inside of the post. If it goes in because you have placed the ball perfectly and truly inside the post. If it comes back in play, it's because you've hit the point where the post is still 'inside' the goal in one axis/plane, but not the other.

So, Brebner hit the far post - which is 'spot-on', but the ball came back into play, so it was 'just-off'. That's how I would term it anyway.

Will I still follow Queensland?

On Sunday night, I began to write: "I am going to eat my words. Just like last season really... should I have expected any different from Queensland? They seem to self-destruct... one week they're playing good football and the next... unmentionable."


Anyway, I ended up saving this as a draft, went off to dinner, then to bed, and now I can't remember where I was headed... especially since now things have changed at the Roar.

I kinda have Queensland as my second team this year (last year, my second team was the Kiwis, but this year they have bored me). Don't really know why Qld became my second team, but it's probably becuase they have both Reddy and Willis. Sure, I think Vukovic is a brilliant keeper considering his age and experience, and Paston had made quite a good impression against Qld. But in case you haven't read previous posts, if I had a crush on any player, it'd be Willis. But Reddy's a better keeper (and he also pulled his socks up last year, but Willis is now doing this too) and not bad looking, and so they're kinda even. I also love to laugh at Gibson, as he seems to be permanently stuck in the one facial expression. As if he was playing a brass instrument. But he hasn't been playing - so I haven't had much of an opportunity to chuckle.

Anyway, back to Queensland. I also liked Bleiberg. He has a lot of character, and is quite refreshing compared to other figures in the A-League. And in case you've been living under a rock, he has resigned. (I yelled out, "No!" in the lab this morning when I read it on the website of The Age. No-one else really understood why I was a little upset... a mixture of losing Bleiberg and possibly gaining Farina. I don't like Farina for what he did to the national team. Or what I think he did.) But I suppose, with all the talk of Farina, I would rather resign than be sacked in the future under worse circumstances. And so, I have forgiven Beliberg. Almost. If Farina is hired... I may need a few weeks to forgive Miron.

And now comes the tricky part... will swooning over Reddy and Willis be enough to semi-follow the Roar (after Melbourne of course!) even if Farina ends up as coach?