grazman

8 hours ago, Deelectable said:

He did kick 51 goals in an interrupted second season and averaged a creditable 3 goals per game in a poor team hampered by achilles and other issues.

 IIRC Kelvin also gave some of his salary back to the club because he felty guilty about not being able to perform consistently 

16 minutes ago, Redleg said:

Billings is listed as 185 cms.

Previously used as a wingman.  Hunter is listed at 183 and Lingers at 182 - Billings might be more than depth if he can find some form. 

1 hour ago, adonski said:

If yze grabs Harmes, it'll show you how much he rates Goody's coaching 

Alternatively, it might say something about how he rates Richmond's list. 

51 minutes ago, Emerald said:

In a split second decision like this the conscious mind doesn't have time to respond so the unconscious mind reacts by however it has been programmed or conditioned, in Maynard's case it was a shoulder to the head. Case closed.

Except that he made a conscious decision to run full tilt at an opposition player and should have reasonably foreseen he would make forceful contact with that player as a result.  The end result is the shoulder connected with the head.

He got it wrong - plain and simple. 

On 9/6/2023 at 9:51 AM, Jibroni said:

This proposal was mentioned on SEN, but I would be surprised if the Swans would use Pick 11 for Grundy:

Demons plan to get pick 1:

1st move trade Grundy , pick 24 and 34 to the swans for pick 11, 30 and 41, leaves the demons with 5, 11, 15, 30 and 41.

2nd trade, trade 15, 30 and 41 to Gold coast for their pick 4, then trade picks 4 and 5 to the eagles for pick 1.

So Grundy and 4 draft picks (4, 5, 24 & 34) for the #1 pick?   I can't see that happening.  The scenario is also contingent  on Grundy nominating the Swans and from all accounts it looks like he will nominate Port. 

4 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

 

I assume being a Collingwood player it was a bottle of yellowtail?

Initially I thought it was a football action, but in retrospect you have to consider that Maynard runs flat out a player in an attempt to smother the ball, but then turns his body to collect him in a classic shirt-front action.  

Given his actions a) is it reasonably foreseeable that Maynard would make forceful contact with Gus and b) did he have a duty of care to avoid that?  Yes, definitely on the first question and the second is what the tribunal must decide.   

Given the history of the player, the history of his extended family and the issues surrounding contact sports in general I'd be staggered if the AFL didn't use this as an opportunity to signal that they are taking the issue of concussion seriously.

People can say it is "unfair" and inconsistent, (not prime considerations generally for tribunal rulings) but the AFL constantly 'stage manage' tribunal decisions (sorry to disappoint anyone that thinks the tribunal is independent in its decision-making), just this time it isn't about ensuring players can win Brownlow's or play in GFs, but ensuring that the general footy public understand that it is doing something about an issue it is currently facing litigation actions in. 

13 hours ago, binman said:

Their most popular player, tex, gets suspended for racist comments about an Aboriginal player and then there is the whole camp nightmare and a loved figure like Eddie betts leaving the club because it the cl7b is not cultural safe.

Well it will be interesting watch to see if Tex has learnt anything.   Will he give Shane the same farewell from the Croms as he gave Rick Lever?

I looked at Shane Valenti and immediately picked Woey... had no idea they looked so similar.

4 minutes ago, Redleg said:

You don’t see why the AFL would be concerned about giving North, 3 number 1 picks in a row and adding to that, an inflated compo pick for an ordinary footballer in McKay, which would rob the worst performing team of the year, of the player it would take with pick 2, which it currently holds.

Well the rest of the AFL competition do and I don’t think I can assist anymore with helping you understand that.

I agree, but it looks likely to happen,  - it wouldn't surprise me though if North were prepared to trade the compo pick.   How badly do we or the Hawks want Duursma?

21 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

On the bright side off to a Banksy exhibition shortly.

Love Banksy as you can probably tell 😄

1 hour ago, Macca said:

I'm excited about the world test championship too looking ahead ...

Is it a given the WTC is in England?  I really don't like the idea of England playing at home for the WTC and influencing the sort of pitch that they would prefer to play on - better all round if it's played at a neutral venue for all sides concerned.

Looking forward to the World Cup, it's the only limited over cricket I could be bothered watching.

11 hours ago, Macca said:

Match has got right away from us in that session ... bowling was poor right from the get-go

Disappointing as the bowlers need to be ready to go - there are no warm-up deliveries at this level but as well as that, the bowling lacked penetration

Yep and Punter as a former Australian captain was livid with the field placings and inability to bowl to a plan.

I think the leadership has been spooked by the English approach.  There's an inflexibility in their thinking to adjust their approach.  I think they handed the initiative to the Poms and it's a bit sickening to see that.  It's test cricket you have to be aggressive and try to seize the initiative, not just shrug your shoulders and scratch your head. 

After the first innings why open the bowling with Starc again when the ball isn't swinging? 

Why bowl the very same first ball of the innings to Crawley that you did in the first test to let him smash you through covers? If he'd told us exactly where he wanted you to pitch the ball to him we couldn't have accommodated him any better. 

We appear to be slow learners. 

I can understand that delivery in Australia with a brand new Kookaburra when it only swings in the first 10 overs, but the Duke ball in England hasn't swung at all until after the first hour of play.

I would have given him a bouncer and see if he's brave enough to try to hook the first ball of the innings - at least do something different, something they may not be expecting.  

Anyway there's no devils in the pitch that I could see, but let's see how brave our batsmen are. 

2 hours ago, Macca said:

Probably need to restrict them to under 300 but if the pitch starts playing up, chasing anything above 250 could be problematical

Sure, but doubtful that Mooen Ali will bowl and if the weather improves enough (could do both day 3 & 4) under blue sky their quicks aren't as threatening - if it keeps going to script we should be batting again before the pitch has had a chance to deteriorate too much (there's some advantage to batting with overhead cloud cover).

11 hours ago, Macca said:

We do not need another version of white-ball cricket played on flat decks

100% agree Macca,  I was being facetious - I should have put moral winner in inverted commas 😉

The game is now evenly poised similar to the first two tests - in those games the bazball tactics have cost England victory.   Day 3 will be fascinating to see if England press the pedal to the metal in a bid to get poll position or spear into the barrier.  Hopefully the English weather is as kind to us as it was to the home side on Day 2.

The other important point is that our bowlers weren't required to bowl more than about 14 overs each  in the first innings (although Starc looks a bit banged up).  Because England score their runs (and lose their wickets) so quickly - even after five and half tests in seven weeks the quicks should be relatively fresh for one last push in the second dig; which may not have been the case if they were bowling 30+ overs an innings. 

1 hour ago, dl4e said:

We are in for a chance in this test. Lets see if the batsmen an put up a decent figure.

I think they will.  They will want to post a good score to show that we deserved to retain the Ashes even if Bazball was the moral winner... snap!

29 minutes ago, John Demonic said:

Any opinions on how the rumoured Ben McKay compo might change things re moving up order for their pick, or North going for Reid ?

North getting pick 2 and 3 might be the "priority pick" the AFL throws their way so they don't have to deal with the actual PP process. And I wouldn't begrudge it, given we got Brayshaw from the Frawley compo.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/draft/afl-draft-2023-harley-reid-will-west-coast-eagles-trade-no1-pick-gold-coast-suns-jed-walter-ethan-read-north-melborne-priority-pick-ryley-sanders/news-story/8de2da2c372325224c5f722fecf374b5

North Melbourne, as flagged by interim coach Brett Ratten, is also in the process of applying for a priority draft pick this year, given they’ve won just 11 of their past 78 games. The Roos last year received one future second and one future third-round pick – which they had to trade – as part of an assistance package. Ultimately, they used those picks to acquire Griffin Logue and Darcy Tucker from Fremantle.

But the more likely outcome, according to draft sources spoken to by foxfooty.com.au, is the AFL will allow North to pre-list star Tasmanian midfield prospect Rylely Sanders who the Kangaroos are hoping will be added to their Next Generation Academy after he recently received his certificate of Aboriginality. Sanders ranked eighth in foxfooty.com.au’s draft power rankingsreleased earlier this week and is widely considered a prospect worthy of a top-10 selection.

I can't see North getting a PP if they can pre-list Sanders (which I think will happen) and given the compromises with the GC NGA prospects,  I think the secret herbs and spices compensation pick for losing McKay might be more like end of first round rather than directly after their first pick.   

I wouldn't be looking to previous AFL decisions as a precedent - AFL HQ have never been consistent in how they decide these things. 

Rain is our friend this time.  Even if we resume the ball will get wet in the outfield which will make it hard for all bowlers, but particularly the spinners.  They had to change the ball at least once yesterday.  The weather forecast for today in Manchester is no better than yesterday.

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

So Pick #3 is back on the Menu.

jinxed it! 😄

11 minutes ago, darkhorse72 said:

The payout figure on his contract to do it this year is about $3m and that comes out of the softsap, if they did that, think of how many support staff they'll lose. 

and with taxes for going over the soft cap, the figure is closer to $7m.

10 hours ago, Macca said:

We've made it far too easy for them

Agree, and if the captaincy is the most important job in Australia, it's also a fairly lonely place to be if things aren't working - especially considering the number of ex-captains giving their opinions in commentary.  

If there's anything more than 4 hours play left in this test then we're cooked.  If we hang on for a draw though hopefully that releases a few of our players that seem to be getting weighed down by the burden of expectation to bring home the urn.

I think there's a fair bit of revisionism going on in the media re the Murphy non-selection.   Some very dubious arguments to suggest that Moen 'deceived' Manus with some wicket turn on day 1.  It was a terrible shot by a mentally tired player that he would never get out to in normal circumstances.  It hardly turned at right angles.

Green and Marsh put on 65 runs and Murphy is as text book a number 11 as you can get.  England would have been batting by the end of day 1  if we'd only played the one all-rounder and I doubt Murphy would have done much better than Head (who is a very decent part-timer)  on day 2.  

17 hours ago, dl4e said:

Not good. I would drop warner and bring green in with Head to open batting. I still feel you need a spinner and Murphy is not bad.

Looks like they've made the call on Murphy.  Green comes in with Hazlewood.   It will be our longest batting line up for a while and the pitch and forecast* for Manchester seems to favour the seamers anyway.    We just need to bat time and ensure we don't lose 20 wickets to retain the ashes. 

* 40% chance of rain today and overcast all test match by the look of it.    95% chance of rain on Saturday and 86% Sunday.  

I’ve seen enough of Warner’s two dismissals in the last test to know his demons against Broad mean we’ll effectively be ‘1 for’ in every innings.

The Poms need to take 40 more Australian wickets to retake the Ashes, we just need to make sure they don’t.  
 

I’d drop Warner and Murphy for Harris and Green.  Between Marsh, Green, Head and Manus they can get through 20 -30 overs an innings (the Poms haven’t batted longer ghan three sessions anyway).  I can’t see the value in playing Murphy, they’ll look to take him downtown on something close to T20 decks anyway.