NJC71

All the wind and rain, the Toon in disarray and now no Ned. Not a good day Mark.

No ned puts a different perspective on the team and certainly opens up the possibility of Tully. Robson, Henry, Lindgren, Richie, Steve and Tully would fit and leave 4.14 for the last rider. With Ned it would have left 4.95 but having looked through the GSA's there are very few riders on an average up to that who look realistic and attractive propositions so perhaps they've decided to use the extra points to get Tully and then made a decision to leave out one of the others, although if that was the case we could have just kept Lemo. Still think that would be very harsh on Ned but I will probably be completely wrong. We'll find out tomorrow.

Surprised and disappointed that Ned has been overlooked. He was our most consistent performer, particularly away from home last season and still on a relatively low average. Personally I would have picked him ahead of Henry or Lindgren because of that. Need to see team before commenting but personally hope we don't go with Tully as he is too inconsistent and poor on many of the away tracks.

Very strong top 4. No doubt about that, but looks a potentially weak tail with Graversen in the top 5 and two inexperienced reserves.

Dyer turned us down last season in preference of a move to a bigger track so I doubt he'll end up with us next season. Personally I'm not keen on Tully or Wethers for that matter. I think we have better riders already in our side from last season. Tully is making the right decision in moving from Edinburgh but I think he needs to move to a bigger track if he is going to improve. I would sooner see Ludvig stay as I think he has more potential.

Assuming the Worrall's and Robson return, to put Wethers in we would need to drop either Henry, Lindgren or Ned. No disrespect to Matty but surely you wouldn't pick him ahead of any of those three.

No thanks. Last seasons team was over the limit so at least one rider had to be left out and replaced with a lower averaged rider. I think we'll keep Robbo, Ned, Henry, Ludvig, Richie & Steve and that would leave around 4.5 for the last rider. Jason King would be the obvious choice if fit and willing. Mixed feelings on Lemo. He was a fantastic signing and up until this year has been superb for us. But he has had a poor season. Difficult one, his average is fairly low so do you include him and hope it was a one off or leave him out on the basis that he is nearing 40 now and might be on the way down. Not an easy decision but if Lemo had stayed then one of the others would have to have gone. Of course I could be wrong and maybe there'll be a couple of new riders. We did finish top though so I don't see any reason for significant change.

Good solid side. Howe and Auty are both reliable heat leaders andToft and Jorgensen both look to have big potential to improve and to a lesser extent Birks. Much will depend on the new Aussie though as to how strong they'll be at reserve. And no Richie or Steve. As a Newcastle fan I approve

I don't know why you fear we won't be running. There has never been any suggestion from the Promotion that we wont be at the tapes in March. Every track is struggling, it's the finanical climate but I'm sure they'll survive. Good to see we are also hosting a Test Match next year and again we would hardly commit to that if we had any doubts about running. Interesting to see the Scunthorpe side; and it looks a decent one again. Not surprised that neither Worrall is in it as neither seemed to suggest they would be returning to Scunthorpe. Newcastle also seem to have a very good relationship with Scunny so hopefully both Steve & Richie will be back with us next year.

Rene was fairly poor at Brough last year. I can only remember one heat win and he generally didn't look quick. That seems to happen with a lot of riders though. Andre Compton was always poor at Brough after leaving Newcastle and there have been plenty of riders who have struggled here before signing for us but scored well at Brough as a Diamond (Christian Henry & Steve Worrall of the current side are examples of that). Of course Rene also suffered his serious injury at Brough so that might have had an impact but I have no doubt that he would have been a heavy scorer at Brough again if he was riding here every week. Anyway he won't be so time to move on. I wish Rene all the best at Worky. He remains the most spectacular rider I've ever seen ride for Newcastle.

Can't see either Nick Morris or North at Newcastle somehow. Anyway Claes was riding as well as anyone over the last couple of months of the season so deserves a place for me. We finished top of the league last year so don't see any reason not to keep as many of last years team as possible. If it ain't broke....

A reduction in the points limit sounds good in theory (as a cost cut method) but will bring other problems. Are there enough 3 - 4 point riders around to make it viable? Given that there is currently no north east / scottish based NL track would NL riders be prepared to travel or would it leave Redcar, Newcastle, Berwick, Glasgow & Edinburgh struggling to complete their teams and all competing for a short list of riders (thus pushing up market value of reserves while second-strings and heat leaders can't find team places)? You only have to look at Newcastle's inability to replace the Worrall's this year to see the potential pitfalls. There aren't many Paul Starke's out there.

I hate the tactical rule and it should be scrapped in two legged matches. But it has to be said that Somerset benefited in the semi-final where they used a successful tactical when 10 behind at Brough whereas Newcastle never got the opportunity in the first leg. Would like to see the play-offs changed to top 4 only next year or preferably the league winners crowned champions with a play-off cup competition on the same lines as the promotion/relegation a couple of years back (but for a cup only)

Awesome result for the Diamonds. Started well, got a bit of luck in heat 2 and never really looked back. Should complete the job tomorrow (or Monday) and get our hands on the trophy. Nobody could say we don't deserve it. The lads have done remarkably well to go on and win a trophy (hopefully!) having lost our best rider and a solid scoring reserve who we've had to replace with NL riders. Very solid performance with all 7 riders scoring well. Good to see Lemo come up with the goods when it mattered. Seemed an odd choice for heat 15 but he did the business. Once again though Ned was the match winner. Very underrated rider for me and has been superb in the second half of the season when we really needed it without the Worrall's. 10+2 away from home at a strong side like Ipswich is a tremendous effort.

Lies damn lies and statistics. If you look at the starting averages compared to the (near enough) finishing averages you'll got a completely different story and it will show that Robbo & Lemo are the only riders to see their averages drop and by a fair bit. Would also be very interested to know what the stats are for points gained for and against in heats 13 and 15 compared to say heats 2 and 8. Again I suspect it will tell a very different story.

Certainly don't think we lacked solid scores from second strings and reserves on the road this year. Ned & Henry were very good away from home as were the Worrall's until their injuries. What we lacked was big scores from the heat leaders. With respect Wethers won't give us that and IMO he isn't as good as the second strings we already have.

Why Rye House? Would have thought Richie & Steve both being back at Newcastle is the most likely outcome now that Richie has agreed to ride for Lakeside. Certainly hope that happens.

8 day rule can't apply surely? Don't suppose it matters though if Scunny are riding. 8 day rule can't apply surely? Don't suppose it matters though if Scunny are riding.

Agree it looked gone after heat 12 but for once we held our own in heats 13 and 15, albeit it heat 15 didn't matter. Robbo winning heat 13 was the key. That hasn't happened nearly enough this year but credit to him he did the business tonight. Someone mentioned he was on a new motor tonight. If that's true I wonder how significant that could be. I'll be very interested to see how he rides against Ipswich in terms of 2013. Credit again to Ned. He's been an unsung hero for us this year, particularly in the second half of the season when we really needed it. Of late he's been our best rider more often than not. Would be happy to see him return next year. We have had some luck in this semi. Had Rene ridden last week Worky may well have gone through but given our luck this year we'll take any breaks. Assume MPT will be the guest again in the final. Both teams look very evenly matched to me with no real big hitters and one NL reserve each. Should be a good contest, hope the weather doesn't spoil it.

I don't think all of our riders are struggling for points. Ned is riding really well, the others are still contributing and we still have a potential trump card at reserve. And if the argument is that riders are off form then what about Howarth and Morris who scored 3 from 9 rides yesterday. Aarnio's 6 from 6 was hardly eye catching. We may struggle for heat winners on Saturday but don't right Robbo off. He is normally pretty decent at Worky and if I remember Ludo won heats 13 & 15 down there in the PL match.

Good grief that's a bit negative! We are 18 points ahead and riding against a Workington side already using r/r who now have Bach and Lawson at best carrying injuries and possibly missing altogther. Ok, they'll use guests but that is never ideal. Workington is a track most of our riders normally ride well. Let's not forget we only lost by a couple there in the PL match despite finishing the meeting with 4 riders. It's certainly not over but this is surely ours to lose. Even without Richie & Steve we have been pretty competitive on the road and I would be very disappointed if we go out.

Strange meeting with Workington providing 8 heat winners to the Diamonds 7 but losing by 18 points. Obviously the last minute loss of Rene had a huge impact and although Rene has not scored well at Brough this year it forced Worky into using Adam McKinna which made them very weak in the middle order. That said they could still have kep this close enough if either reserve had been at the races. Howarth in particular had an awful match on a track where he scored so well earlier in the season. He looked completely off the pace tonight leaving Worky effectively a two man team until Aarnio started gating. Those two riders though might just have done enough the keep Worky in it. Howarth will presumably be a different rider on his home track and if Rene is fit the Diamonds still have some work to do as I'm not convinced we'll take many points from Lawson, Bach & Roynon in the return leg. Roynon was superb tonight and great to see after all the injuries. Assume the Diamonds will be keen to use Palm-Toft in the return leg. He was superb tonight, although a bit of luck in heat 8 when he should have been excluded helped. George seems to have a canny habit of picking the perfect guest. That's Doolan, Wethers, Newman, King, Aspegren, Wilkinson & now Toft who have had average to poor matches here for their teams this year and yet performed brilliantly as a guest. I don't know how he does it.

Overcast but dry mate. Shouldn't be any problems.

Surely that rules Richie out of riding for Scunthorpe then. There would be little point in signing for a Friday night PL track as he would get hardly any EL meetings. Obviously there will be plenty of interest in Richie but hopefully the promotion will be able to persuade him to return should they get the opportunity. I would think they'll be keen to take Steve as well.

Got to say WK I can't agree with you that Robbo & Lemo were the key to us finishing top. They may be top points scorers but look at the averages. Lemo started on on a GSA of 9.08 and is currently on 7.27, Robbo on 8.96 and now on 7.86. The others have all added at least half a point to their starting figures, some a fair bit more than that. Ok the others had more scope for improvement but it highlights that the top 2 have had really poor seasons by their high standards. Given the fact that both are with respect in the latter stages of their careers it stands to reason that there must be some doubt over their inclusion in next years team.