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Other than James, Gerald Healy and Mike Sheahan will continue on the show. I’m saying this is a fantastic turn of events, and I’m dying to see how he goes. James Hird is an untried commentator, and I’ll be waiting to see if he will be prepared to tell Gerald and Mike how it is like, or be on the players’ side. We all know that “On the Couch” is one of the best programs and the last thing we need is a mundane commentator, albeit one of the greatest player in the sport ever. I am a big fan of James, but Glen Archer struggled to make his transition on “Footy Classified”

In any case, I’m for the inclusion of James. I’m saying it’s time to put someone that is in tune with the modern game, and know exactly what is going on. True enough, he might be on the payers’ side, but I’m quite sick of hearing the other two rattle about what I can clearly see is happening.

Well, I’m still gunning for James, and I’ll say he’ll add to the show and nothing’s going to beat sitting on my couch in my singlet and a cold beer and watch James talk about footy.

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One thing going on for the club that has supporters cheering is that Fevola has avoided the off seasons surgeries that has bugged him for the past few years. Other players that are nursing their injuries include new acquisition Robert Warnock with shoulder surgery, Nick Stevens with hand surgery and Steven’s neck injury.

With these stars in the club not at 100%, it may be hard for Chris’s prediction to come true, especially since recovery typically takes time, and with the players told they would be punished with exclusion if they came back unfit, it may spell trouble if these star players cannot recover in time for the next season.

I myself look forward to seeing Chris Judd going at 100% again, although I missed him playing for the Eagles. Judd was and has always been an entertaining player, but as always, moving into a new club can be difficult, but from the looks of it, the new captain seemingly has the support of fellow team mates. It is a shame though, as Judd is playing for an overrated side that might find the pressure and the competition of the new season a little too hard to handle. Finals might be quite a stretch, but we shall see!

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Past Three Head-to-Head
Adelaide 36ers 113-104 Cairns Taipans, Round 21 2008.
Cairns Taipans 105-111 Adelaide 36ers, Round 19 2008.
Adelaide 36ers 98-89 Cairns Taipans, Round 21 2007.

Season Series
First match

Current Standings
36ers 4-5 (seventh), Taipans 5-5 (sixth)

Adelaide has gotten its season back on track with back-to-back wins over the Sydney Spirit and the New Zealand Breakers.

A win tonight will see the 36ers take Cairns’ place in the top six - so there is plenty at stake for both sides.

After an impressive start to the season the Taipans have fallen in a heap - they have lost their past three to slump to sixth place on the NBL ladder.

Cairns is still without guard Stephen Black, who is sidelined with a chronic back injury, so the onus will be on the likes of Martin Cattalini and Darnell Mee to fire while Ian Crosswhite will need to have a big game against in-form Adelaide big men Adam Ballinger and Luke Schenscher.

Ballinger and Schenscher were instrumental in Adelaide’s wins over Sydney and the Breakers and the Taipans will need to find a way of shutting down guard Aaron Bruce so that Schenscher and Ballinger are denied open looks.

The last three clashes between these two sides have been won by the home side - expect the trend to continue on Saturday night with the 36ers boasting the likes of import Mark Tyndale, Ballinger and Schenscher who are all capable of scoring 20-plus points.

With a place in the top six up for grabs you would expect this contest to be close and hard-fought, so my money is on an Adelaide win by 1-10, offering $2.85.

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Past Three Head-to-Head
Sydney Spirit 102-112 Melbourne Tigers, Round 1 2008.
Only met once

Season Series
Tigers 1-0

Current Standings
Spirit 4-7 (ninth), Tigers 6-3 (third)

The Sydney Spirit has lost their past two to drop to ninth on the NBL ladder and desperately need a win to get their season back on track.

But the Spirit face a tough task on Friday night with Melbourne starting to click into gear after an indifferent start to the season.

Sam Mackinnon was back to his damaging best against the Gold Coast Blaze in round seven with 23 points, seven rebounds and ten assists in a performance that earned him the Player of the Week award.

Chris Anstey and Ebi Ere were also influential in the win over the Blaze, chiming in with 25 and 24 points respectively.

The Tigers have won their past two and Melbourne’s star trio are high on confidence and will be hard to stop.

In some good news for Rob Beveridge’s men, veteran Jason Smith will make his debut for the club.

Smith will provide guards Damian Martin and Derrick Low with some valuable rest in the latter stages of each quarter but his impact on the contest will be minimal given that he has missed the past eight months with a shoulder injury.

The Spirit were unlucky to lose to ladder leaders the South Dragons last Saturday.

They led by six points two minutes into the final term before Nathan Herbert came to life, dropping 13 of his 19 points in the last six minutes to inspire his side to a memorable victory.

That has been the story of the Spirit’s season thus far - they have pushed sides but their lack of a genuine gamebreaker has proven to be costly.

Expect the same to happen on Friday night with the Tigers simply boasting too many stars for the Spirit to try and shut down let alone match.

The Spirit will battle hard before the Tigers take control and cruises to their third straight win.

This punter is putting his money on a Melbourne win by 11+ points, offering $2.00.

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Past Three Head-to-Head
New Zealand Breakers 118-80 Adelaide 36ers, Round 3 2008.
Adelaide 36ers 87-70 New Zealand Breakers, Round 7 2007.
New Zealand Breakers 116-109 Adelaide 36ers, Round 5 2007.

Season Series
Breakers 1-0

Current Standings
Breakers 7-2 (second), 36ers 3-5 (eighth)

New Zealamd thrashed the Adelaide 36ers by 38 points the last time these two sides met in round three and will enter this clash with plenty of confidence given that they have lost just the one game at the North Shore Events Centre so far this season

Kirk Penney was the chief destroyer in the round three win with 34 points and the 36ers will need to find a way to contain the New Zealand guard if they are going win away from home.

Adelaide has struggled on the road so far in 2008 - all three of their wins have come at home.

The 36ers appear to have the edge inside with big men Adam Ballinger and Luke Schenscher currently in stellar form.

Ballinger knocked down 24 points to inspire his side to a convincing 32-point win over the Sydney Spirit in round seven while Schenscher backed up his 33-point performance against the Perth Wildcats with 19 points.

The aforementioned duo will need to fire again and crash the boards if Scott Ninnis’ men are going to register their first win away from home this season.

If they fail to fire then the 36ers could be in for a long night with the Breakers holding a decisive edge in the backcourt with Penney and CJ Bruton in impressive form while Adelaide is likely to be without veteran guard Brett Maher who has missed the past two matches with calf tightness.

The last three clashes between these two sides have been won by the home side and expect the trend to continue on Thursday night with the 36ers seemingly having no obvious options to contain Penney and Bruton.

The 36ers will be desperate to atone for their disappointing performance against the Breakers earlier in the season so you would think another blowout is highly unlikely.

With this in mind, a New Zealand win by 1-10 offering $2.85 represents good value.

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Whether you’re a fan of the bright lights and thrills of casino style gambling or enjoy the odd flutter on horses and sporting events, Lasseters.com has it all.

Lasseters online casino offers you the same classic games any you will find in any casino around the world.

They offer classic cards games such as Blackjack, Pontoon and Poker as well as Baccarat and exciting new games like Snapjax, Red Dog.

If cards aren’t your thing you can try the slot machines, video poker or even give the old roulette wheel a spin.

Betting ranges from .01 Euros to 200 Euros however they do offer multi currency betting.

If you like a bit more action with your punting, Lasseters also provides online betting on a wide variety of sports.

The current American season sees betting open on NFL and Major League Baseball as well as Basketball, Boxing and Golf.

All year round punters can have a slice of the Tennis action at www.lasseters.com.au while Cricket (in particular Australia’s Tour of India) is the flavour of the month.

If sports aren’t your thing but you still enjoy a punt as much as the next person, they also offer great options on entertainment.

Australian Idol and Dancing with the Stars have been very popular with the punters this year on account of great odds and unexpected twists.

The U.S. Presidential race is heating up as wild card Sarah Palin continues to have a profound influence on the popularity Presidential hopeful John McCain.

Victoria’s busiest month in the racing calendar is upon us with the Thousand Guineas, The Caulfield Cup, Victoria Derby, Crowne Oaks and Melbourne cup all featuring in the next four weeks of racing.

Iasbet.com offers punters a wide variety of sports to punt on if horse racing isn’t your thing.

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They also claim to offer ‘better odds than the bookies’ and have set up an early bird prices feature in which punters willing to bet early receive better odds for their faith.

UEFA Champions league football is a highlight at iasbet.com but for football fans in general, they offer the opportunity to gamble on over 500 soccer matches every week,

Australia’s tour of India is also providing punters with some great options and if the first test is anything to go on it should be a very closely fought series.

The Indian’s have been talking up their cricketing prowess in the weeks leading up to the Test Series and the war of words looks set to continue.

Iasbet.com also offers punters the chance to win multi bet jackpots.

By combining a number of bets on a range of different sports and events, punters are able to increase their winnings to share in a cash jackpot if they pick all winners.

Finally, they offer a fantastic promo that allows one lucky person to become take $100,000 to the track and be Australia’s richest punter for the day.

Austria’s Bernard Kohl, who received the Polka Dot jersey for king of the mountains and finished third on the podium in the overall classification, returned a positive test to the drug EPO Cera.

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Kohl now stands disgraced along side Riccardo Ricco, Leonardo Piepoli and Stefan Schumacher who were all thrown out of this year’s Tour de France.

The latest scandal follows last year’s revelation in which the eventual Tour winner, Floyd Landis, was stripped of his title and banned from cycling.

Many believe that the damage done by drug cheats in the sport of cycling is irreversible.

In the build up to this year’s Tour, organizers insured spectators and competitors alike that this would be a clean Tour, with new measurement taken to ensure that no attempts at doping would go undetected.

However just days into the race, three cyclists tested positive to doping and although Kohl road the entire tour and was tested between July 3rd and 15th, results of those tests were not revealed until this weekend.

Kohl’s team is furious with the Belgium rider who only came to prominence in this year’s Tour, vowing to immediately cancel his contract if the results are proven to be accurate.

These latest results have implications for seven time Tour winner Lance Armstrong who only just this year announced his return to cycling amid allegations he may have used illegal performance enhancing drugs over the course of his career.

Armstrong, who is making his return to the sport to raise awareness of cancer, scoffed at the allegations, vowing to return to his former glory and take out an eighth Tour de France.

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Earlier this year coach of the Sydney City Roosters, Brad Fitler, declared that his players would not be drinking for a period of the season leading up to the finals.

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Fitler, who has been known in the past to enjoy the odd drop after a good win, knows all too well the detrimental effects alcohol consumption can have not only on the individuals, but the team as a whole.

Brisbane is clearly a not-so-glowing example of this.

All betting on games involving Brisbane was suspended following allegations that three Brisbane players were involved in the sexual assault of a young woman at a Brisbane inner city nightclub.

Pending further investigation the three Broncos will answer to allegations that the indecently assaulted a woman in the toilets of a club following a night of heavy drinking that also allegedly involved drug use.

On the same night, Broncos Captain Darryn Lockyer is said to have crash tackled the bars owner while heavily intoxicated.

Broncos official stated that it is not a total ban, rather a means to control an emerging drinking culture within the clubs ranks.

Players will not be allowed to drink between Sunday and Friday and will be expected to turn up to heavy Sunday morning training sessions.

Failure to comply with this new code of conduct will result the offending player losing their spot in the first grade squad.

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O’Grady powered through the first stage to establish a clear break on the field only to be hit by a strong headwind that virtually halted his progress instantly.

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Few thought he could bounce back after expending so much energy yesterday but the Australian and CSC Saxo Bank rider attacked twice in the final stages to win by six seconds.

O’Grady paved the way for team mate Matthew Goss to take the preface and first stages but found himself in a position to attack inside the last kilometere and his impeccable timing paid dividends.

Bicycle Superstore’s Will Routley couldn’t go with O’grady over the final kilometer and was mown down by the peleton right on the line to finish third behind Japanese rider Kazuhiro Mori.

The win now hand CSC Saxo Bank a commanding lead in the overall teams classification with three wins from three starts.

O’Grady has leapfrogged overnight leader Goss to sit at the top of the individual classification while Goss has been relegated to ninth overall.

Stage three sees rider’s tackle the Warrigul – Marysville which takes in some spectacular countryside as well as a grueling climb through Mountain Lake.

The race finishes on Saturday with a lap race of Lygon St. in Carlton.

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