Qwerty30

When Hogan gets involved we look a much better side.

Can't fault the effort after the horrible start. We've matched them since then.

Freo have put the cue in the rack in the middle of the 2nd qtr. Finals are due and they don't want injuries.

It's embarrassing it took 10 goals to zip before we did anything.

We look good playing junk time football.

A six! Good shot sir.

Score now 56 for 1.

Geez we're missing Siddle

50 up!

Score 50 for 1 and Freo batting.

Clearly a good batting strip.

Summary:

1st QTR in the last four weeks

6 goals to 1

5 goals to 1

8 goals to 1

7 goals to 2

Yet again game over at qtr time.

We have been killed yet again by the spare man in defence.

Great coaching Roosy. Good to see them coming out and breathing fire.

Adios I'm out of here. Think I'll wash the car.

You are generous. We have only kicked 3 goals during that period. None today. And we don't look like kicking one.

I am not sure why you are gloating. I picked you up on the double standard of say Clarke should never been Captain and is not a leader but wanting to retaining him on as Captain.

Buchanan does not rate Clarke as a Captain but he has not hypocritically argued that he would have kept Clarke on for 12 months to mentor Smith. At least Buchanan could not be that stupid.

No problem with Clark the player & batsmen & tactician, none at all.... but he should never have been the Australian test captain. as Warne's showing, he shouldn't have been as well.

poor choice of leader.

10 days ago when other more astute posters were suggesting an early end for Clarke you suggested that he be kept on for 12 months for Smith's succession plan. A bizarre and ridiculous suggestion given you suggest he should never have been Test captain and is a poor choice of a leader.

I further note that 18 months ago against Sth Africa when Clarke was playing a heroic innings you will still deriding his character.

You're entitled to your opinions on Clarke but on what you've shown here there is little thoughtful or coherent substance to them.

And FTR Warne never captained Australia.

One for the Ignore list.

Good post Angry. Not sure the Clarke dissent deserved a basic serving of the obvious.

I would have added World Cup Captain.

Not sure why you have Siddle ahead of Starc. Ponting said that Siddle believed that if he was ever going to play Test Cricket again it was at Trent Bridge.

For mine Siddle is finished and selectors dont back him. He is no way an adequate replacement or even partial cover for loss of Harris.

Starc is our No 1 strike bowler and this series has proven it. He can certainly improve and I believe will. And I think we need to look beyond Johnson too in the next 6/12 months. He has looked flat for most of this series and has hardly put any fear in the Poms at Trent Bridge.

And I would not be throwing out Hazlewood after one poor series. He was v good up to the Ashes. He has had a lesson here but will come back.

At this stage Ahmed was not close to an Ashes Test but I would not be ruling him out. As a spinner he is still in his prime. The batting farce prevent a real assessment of where Lyon is at.

Motlop a goal kicking mid???

He has staked his claim up forward but rarely a mid.

If we are in the market for a real mid then Motlop isn't it IMO

Given that he's played all but one game he really should have done better. He's miles behind Jack Grimes who has played much less football and is so unfairly treated on this site. The Collingwood supporters I know are thrilled with the swap with Varcoe.

Let's face it, Lumumba has offer little if anything to the side and frankly I'm surprised he's kept his spot. Come on Heritier, lift!

Spot on.

Appalling cricket, yet again....

Warner, Smith, Johnson and Lyon are the only players IMO who are a definitive part of the immediate future of Test cricket.

I'd have Starc there because at 25 he will get better. And after last night he showed he can perform under adversity. Might help if he bats up the order too.

Agree, our bowling stocks are well served, but it's always easier to bring in bowlers taking wickets than batsmen making runs. There are enough good quicks and spinning options on the sideline to offer support, but the batting...

I just can't believe we are getting pantsed by an English attack that includes, Ali, Finn and Wood (These guys would have been smashed all over the park by any Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh or even Ricky Ponting led sides). Our batting has been deplorable.

Interesting comments from Ed Cowan this morning who stated that Cricket Australia had ordered that flat pitches were to be prepared for Sheffield Shield. This allows players with technical deficiencies to look better than they are, but means that we get exposed on pitches where the ball actually starts to do a bit. Been like this for the last ten years. Once Clarke goes there's only two locks in the top six for mine.

Not surprised to hear that at all. Voges hits 1400 runs in the Shield last summer and looks all at sea against the moving ball. He clearly isn't the only one.

I think at the end of this series Clarke will be swiftly followed by Voges, S Marsh. Watson and Haddin already done. Only Warner and Smith are locks for mine. The ACB should working is butt off to convince Bucky Rogers to play for another 6-12 months to at least balance out the inexperience within the middle order being re built. For a starter I would drop S Marsh and pick M Marsh for the final test and start the rebuild process.

Great spirited bowling by Starc under adversity. While the batting has largely been a fail, Australia has sadly missed the skill, guile, experience of Ryan Harris.

Robbie debuted in Swann's 8 goal Geelong game. Recall headline on sports pages how two "graceful names" like Swan and Flower tore the Cats a good one.

Nice get and spot on too.

David Cordner used to get hands on plenty of marks but couldnt hold them. Would make Dawes look like super glue hands

Cordner was fantastic in the U19s but this did not translate to the Seniors. Like many others, he seemed to have great potential in the early days but did not develop. Not sure the reasons but he was playing with an unsuccessful team when delivery to forwards was poor. Initially a big forward he did not have the mobility or football smarts to construct a game from nothing. He was not very mobile when the ball hit the ground. Despite his size he was not a physical player who could mix it with the tough defenders. He was a confidence player who never got enough of the ball. He seemed to be on the outer with Barassi and I suspect his qualities did not impress the great man who was never going to give him an easy game. I remember he had a BOG one day at centre half back against the Saints at Moorabbin. Alas his transfer to the Swans was unsuccessful and he was worse than he had been at Deeland.

A great white blueblood hope that was a fail...sadly.

Definitely not physical and ducked his head when going for a mark and opposition teams picked it and worked him over. RDB also picked it and lost faith in him

Agree.

He would be a sensation today as he was big, fast and had the biggest kick on the run I can recall. His first kick in the AFL, was a goal from the wing at Waverley, on a wet ground. I thought God had come to Melbourne.

Today's footy would suit him down to the ground. He was an outside receiver, who could run and carry and boot long goals. Steven Stretch would be even better than he was, in today's game as well.

Had everyone sucked as the great white hope given the attributes you mentioned.

But provided to be an overhyped and costly bust because he got so little of the ball. He was indeed and outside receiver whose game would have struggled even more in the modern AFL world. He was a sensational kick of the ball but did not get enough of it.

A case of the longer it is since he played the better he was as a player.

I actually wish we were able to make 186.

Been calling all week that Siddle should have played here.

.

Can he bat?

I am waiting for someone to post that this would not have happen if Shane Watson was given a fair go and still there.

Aust bowlers can't make them play. Not good.

England 47 behind on the 1st innings at lunch on the 1st day with 10 wickets in hand.

Top score X(avier) Tras with 14. 11LBs and 3NBs

Should we ask the ICC for a priority pick at the end of series?

I think half the point of this thread is that AJ was a hugely wasted talent . . .

Disagree. His body ( chronic back problems) destroyed the gem.

If anything during his short career, he certainly made the most of his time at MFC and did it crowd pulling showmanship that is sadly lacking in the AFL.

His playing career at MFC lasted a little over 3 years for 47 games as a forward kicking 201 goals 159 points. Absolutely phenomenal average of 7 scoring shots per game.

I struggling to think of a player with as short a career and had a similar or greater impact.

With all the hoopla and excitement on Hogan in his first 15 games (and he is good to watch).... he has kicked 32.14.

Jako in the same number of games had kicked 78.61......What a one man show.

Just so many highlights in such a short space of time.

Great video from the Essendon game. FTR it was Fletchers 6th game and boy did he get a lesson from the maestro.

His feat of kicking 11.8 (he should have kicked 16 plus) made a boring game interesting.

With Farmer and Schwartz the most exciting players I have seen in the red & blue.

Jakos last game at MFC against Hawthorn he kicked 8.1. Then developed chronic back problems.

Appeared at the Bulldogs for less than a year but was a shell of his former self.

You would drive 100 miles to see a showman and character like that.

Long live the memories.

I'd trade Tom McDonald.

I wouldn't. He is the least of our worries.

Jetta is having a horror game.. They need to keep the ball from him. He just kills us every time.

Jetta is just dead slow. It was holding the ball.

When we handball we do so to a player under the hammer.

When we kick we kick high to 1 on 2/3 contest or we send forward on the bounce.

Just dumb.

We are an established team of extremely dumb footballers who lack the skills at AFL level.

I should not be surprised. Incredibly lame effort.