World Championship 2009 [provisional discussion]

[rivercard]

I guess it depends on your definition of jorneyman, but i dont think Cope, Walden or swail can in fairness be called journeymen. They are all far better than that.

To me a jouneyman is someone who spends most of their career ranked in the fifties, never getting anywhere near winning a tournament, or even getting to finals, semis, and threatening all the biggest names on their day, as these 3 have done.

Meanwhile, a strong finish by Bingham. Unlucky Alan.

By "those two" I meant McLeod and Gunnell. No way Cope, Swail and Walden can be called journeyman.

BTW Nigel is there, and Holt is very close.

[Odrl]

Instead of a random draw, where the top seed could get the toughest qualifier a better system would be to allow the seeds to pick their opponents. Ronnie being the number 1 seed would get first pick, then Maguire going down to the 16th seed obviously just being left with whoever hasn't been picked. It would be interesting to see who the players themselves perceive as the easiest and toughest draws.

That would be fun to see. But the ironic thing is that the top seed could still get the toughest qualifier. The 16th seed, that's Mark Allen, would probably be left with Williams, and if he lost, O'Sullivan would have to play Williams in the 2nd round. So the 1st round would be easier, but Allen or "random" sounds much better than Allen or Williams in the 2nd round.

[Monique]

Well Ronnie doesn't particularly like "easy" matches. He loves to have a challenge that makes it "interesting". He'd probably pick an attacking player but not necessarily one who is perceived as "easy". Similarly I expect players in general to chose whoever suits their style rather than according to ranking. It would be interesting from a psychological point of view to see who they would choose.

[JiangYu]

Well Ronnie doesn't particularly like "easy" matches. He loves to have a challenge that makes it "interesting". He'd probably pick an attacking player but not necessarily one who is perceived as "easy". Similarly I expect players in general to chose whoever suits their style rather than according to ranking. It would be interesting from a psychological point of view to see who they would choose.

He'd pick either
- Higgins
- Hendry
- Williams
- Fu; or
- Perry

If Carter were to pick, he's choose
- Ronnie as payback. I heard he said he wants another go at him

[Templeton Peck]

That would be fun to see. But the ironic thing is that the top seed could still get the toughest qualifier. The 16th seed, that's Mark Allen, would probably be left with Williams, and if he lost, O'Sullivan would have to play Williams in the 2nd round. So the 1st round would be easier, but Allen or "random" sounds much better than Allen or Williams in the 2nd round.

I didn't think of that - I'm so thick!

[Monique]

He'd pick either
- Higgins
- Hendry
- Williams
- Fu; or
- Perry

If Carter were to pick, he's choose
- Ronnie as payback. I heard he said he wants another go at him

Ronnie wouldn't pick any of those as they aren't qualifiers. Same for Carter. If I had to bet I'd say Ronnie would pick Ricky Walden if he qualifies ... which is probable.

[JiangYu]

Ronnie wouldn't pick any of those as they aren't qualifiers. Same for Carter. If I had to bet I'd say Ronnie would pick Ricky Walden if he qualifies ... which is probable.

Oh, excuse me. I thought we were talking about players in the Top 16. In that case, I agree - possibly Walden or Trump. I know O'Sullivan praises Judd a lot these days. However, Williams is still a qualifer.

[Monique]

True ... Williams is still a qualifier and Ronnie likes to play him. Still my feeling is he would go for one of the young ones.

[Templeton Peck]

He's a snooker player not a paedo Monique!

[Odrl]

How about Michael Holt?

Sure, he would pick an attacking player. But who wants to play a best of 19 on the first day against someone like Trump or Walden... or even Williams.

[Monique]

He's a snooker player not a paedo Monique!

lol templeton ... no surely not. Would probably pick Michaela to play that game

How about Michael Holt?

Sure, he would pick an attacking player. But who wants to play a best of 19 on the first day against someone like Trump or Walden... or even Williams.

Yes maybe Michael indeed.

[RocketRoy1983]

How about Michael Holt?

Sure, he would pick an attacking player. But who wants to play a best of 19 on the first day against someone like Trump or Walden... or even Williams.

I dont think you can say anyone would FANCY playing anyone in this day and age quite right.

[Forman]

heres todays matches

10.00am
Match 6 – Stephen Lee v Judd Trump

Match 7 – Mark Williams v Tom Ford

Match 8 – Anthony Hamilton v Ricky Walden

Match 9 – Dave Harold v Liang Wenbo

Match 10 – Fergal O’Brien v Jamie Burnett

im mainly interested in trump vs lee and harold vs wenbo, i hope both the youngsters can come out on top

[Templeton Peck]

As much as I'd like to see Wenbo back at The Crucible, I'd love to see Harold regain his place in the top 16. What an achievement it would be at 42.

[Forman]

As much as I'd like to see Wenbo back at The Crucible, I'd love to see Harold regain his place in the top 16. What an achievement it would be at 42.

would definitely be a great match to watch, its times like this i cant understand world snooker not streaming qualifying matches live, it wouldnt cost much (didnt global snooker offer to do it for free). I liked the points you made in another post about the missed opportunity of them failing to take full advantage of the internet to sell the game.