grazman

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.

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.

Everyone loves a redemption story. It goes to show how harsh we are as judges of those playing at the highest level who fail to execute to a standard commensurate with our expectations and I for one was definitely a critic of M. Marsh - having thought he'd been given so many opportunities and never managed to nail down his spot. I've always liked his bowling but his batting left me cold as he continually nicked off. His comments in 2019 about being hated by the Aussie fans showed a very human side to that criticism. He appears loved by his team mates and at least from the outside looks to have a very deprecating sense of humour. Very happy for him this morning - what a batting masterclass (and he should be sending Joe Root a very nice bottle of red!). He's made it interesting for team selection now for the next test as a WACA native he certainly looked the most composed playing the short ball (with ridiculous ease it has to be said). It will be a wait and see what comes of Ollie Robinson's back spasm. They've got five bowlers precisely because Stokes doesn't want to bowl with his knee and I assume that will extend beyond this test as well. Robinson looks the least threatening of the bowlers (other than Moeen) so it's no real loss for this match and may actually work for them in having their most threatening bowlers always bowling together, but it may mean an increased work load for Wood in the second dig if our top order can knuckle down. I certainly have no optimism that our tail can wag like it did at Birmingham against the express pace of Wood. 13 wickets down on the first day and no sign that the pitch is going to slow up - it may be a three day test match!

3 times in international cricket, although one was recalled by Dan Vittori as captain. Since he’s retired he’s had a chance to reflect and decide it’s not in the ‘spirit of the game’, but curiously as coach of the English team hasn’t issued any edicts to stop his players doing the same thing (Bairstow, Foakes, and Pope), and is happy to sit on his sanctimonious high horse when an opposition keeper does the same thing.

I have no confidence in Erasmus and that was a shocking decision. How could he possibly not think Starc had full control of the ball before it was grounded? Just awful. Having said all that how good were the two deliveries from Cummins to remove Root and Brook - outstanding fast bowling without having to resort to leg side theory!

It will be tough to leave Boland out of the first Ashes test, as predicted by many his technique as much as his line and length suit English conditions to a tee. They'll try to rotate the bowlers, but the issue is one of them is a spinner (and I don't think the Poms will be generous enough to produce a green top even with Leach sitting out the series) and one of them is the skipper so that leaves Hoff, Boland, Starc and Nesser to fight it out for two spots over six tests. A nice position to be in. Also good that Warner looked the best he has for a while, but lets see how long that lasts once Broad goes around the wicket.

I think you misunderstood, it’s not about whether they were still working at Hawthorn that is relevant, or whether they chose to participate or not in the investigation by the HFC - which is their right. It’s that Hawthorn investigated their past actions and made recommendations based on the findings without ever telling them they were being investigated in the first place or gave them the opportunity to give their side of the story. That’s not a convention or a courtesy, it’s a legal right. This is a clear breach of procedural fairness and natural justice.

Except the AFL have played a straight bat. They gave all three parties the opportunity to respond to the allegations and at the conclusion had no adverse findings to deliver... hard to sue them in that regards. No the real issue is how the HFC have managed this from the outset.

Fundamentally the HFC have a problem. You can't receive an allegation and run an investigation over a number of months and then refer that investigation to a parent body for further action without giving the subjects of the allegation the 'right' to understand that a) they were the subject of the investigation and b) an opportunity to respond to the allegations. That in any language is a denial of natural justice and procedural fairness. It wouldn't surprise me if Clarkson, Fagan and Burt sued the HFC for substantial damages.

Agree Red. I was also a little peeved at the commentary (vomitary) around the JVR incident and yet the Chol incident on Bowey was similar and only replayed once and no references re the tribunal etc.

Effort without talent at the highest level will still result in a slaughter like we saw last night. I've predicted the Swans to fall out of the eight this year based on history (teams that get flogged in GFs rarely come up the following year) and some list deficiencies that are masked to a certain extent playing on their postage stamp home ground. I think the whole 'Bloods' culture like the 'Shinboner' spirit is a little overblown- particularly by the media who love the romanticism of it - it plays well when you have a good list, but it means diddly squat if your game plan doesn't stack up and you are missing key players.

This has to be the most ridiculous cliche in footy history - they might not be an excuse, but they are an explanation. It's asinine to try to say that if we had both Gawn and Lever in we wouldn't have been better. And you do realise that Richmond were more crippled by injuries than Sydney last night?

🤔 time to kick in the AI bots... I assume it's because people use the term in the pejorative sense as a noun rather than as a verb that it's censored.

Can’t see Salem or Fritsch coming back in off limited preparation - they probably both need at least three quarters with Casey first.

Like most games, this one will be won in the midfield.

I think the instruction as it should always be to forwards is if you think you can kick it then take the shot. Of course you always play the percentages and if there is a better option then give it off- but often the open lead down the ground is a sucker play- more often than not it results in a turnover- it’s harder to execute properly than it appears.

I think the rationale for both JJ and JVR was to give them a full run in the twos and get the miles into the legs by play 90% TOG rather than 50-60% TOG in the firsts. JJ is in the frame for round 1, to me it was testing out Laurie to see how ready he might be if he were to get an opportunity this year. I think he's still a fair way off.

My wife made exactly the same thing!

He was off target today for sure, but his kicking action looks pretty good. The one thing he can do that Kozzie, Spargo, ANB (and if he was still at the club Toby Bedford) can't do is cover the distance from +45 metres out quite easily.

Clarrie also had a fractured cheekbone (maybe eye socket) I think as well.

Well it depends on how you rank these things, in my mind I had us up with the Dogs, (English, Bont, Macrae, Libba) as one of the best two midfields, but fans of Brisbane, Geelong, Sydney, Port, Richmond etc would probably disagree their sides weren't up there as well. It's all subjective really, but you can try to move to a less subjective position by using metrics from a wide variety of inputs rather just your own opinion. . For example - I compared each of the finalists from last year with their best 4 centre square starting combinations in terms of total number of games, Brownlow votes, Coaches votes and AFL rankings. Melbourne ranked 4th for total games but 1st for Brownlow votes, 1st for Coaches votes and 1st for AFL rankings compared to the other 7 teams. I haven't done it for the wingers or resting ruckmen etc, but it tells me that it's not just me that thinks our mids are the best in the game, clearly the umpires, coaches and to a certain extent stats validate that as well. FWIW I think you are bang on about Harris Andrews and you can add Payne (who I think will be good eventually) as well. If they couldn't dominate in the air against that Geelong attack then there would have been even more concerns on their back six than there already are.

I feel for Gold Coast supporters, I imagine them watching the Suns and waiting for them to make the finals must be something like being an audience member on the opening night of Samuel Beckett’s play ‘Waiting for Godot’. I think GCS ‘could’ jump into the eight (and I think they might for periods) but ultimately I think they will fall just short which is why I’ve picked them for 9th as the close, but not close enough team for 2023. Firstly the draw. Now the Suns are actually turning into something resembling a decent footy team it looks pretty good on paper They play Brisbane, Carlton, Sydney, St Kilda, Adelaide and North twice. Given where I think those sides will finish I think there’s at minimum 7 wins in there for the Suns and we should know as early as round 6 whether they are on track to make their first finals outing with difficult, but winnable matches at home early against the Swans and Cats as well as North, and trips on the road against the Dons, Saints and Freo in Adelaide for the Gather Round. The biggest issue I think with the Suns is their defence. They coughed up 100 point games to the opposition seven times in 2022 and losing six of those games. Collins, Ballard, Swallow, Lemmens, and Weller back from an ACL are all gritty and dour triers – they’ll throw Long back there to add to that group, but the only really classy ball user they have back there is Lukosius who I’m very undecided on. With more size and competitive juices he’d be playing forward or in the midfield, but he’s playing back for his kicking ability, but last year wasn’t his best only going at 60.8% which was a dramatic drop off. Maybe having Wil Powell back this year (his career kicking % is 73.5 compared to Jack’s 69.2) helps improve that aspect by taking some of the pressure of Jack. The starting midfield is strong for the Suns, but the depth is questionable. Witts is a very capable ruckman who gets a good chop out from Chol who delivers as a genuine forward/ruck option. Miller, Rowell and Anderson are all top shelf and get adequate support from Fiorini, Ellis and Holman. They’ll be hopeful that Sharp can come on to hold down a wing, but the other wing is an issue. You just get the feeling that along with the Bowes contract, the Atkins contract will comeback to haunt them for someone that has struggled to establish themselves in the Suns midfield – which shouldn’t have been an issue for someone signed on a five year contract. People should be realistic on how much influence King will have on his return from an ACL, but it poses an interesting problem for the Suns whether to go taller by keeping the stop-gap Casboult who was very good last season in the same side with Chol and King. They have some reasonable medium options like Sexton, Jeffery, and Stein who was picked up as a rookie from GWS (to replace Corbett) if they decide for a more defensive forward line, but will need more out of their other small forwards now Rankine has left – it’s probably the one area of need where they need to recruit for in the future. Overall I’m bullish about the Suns, but can still see enough holes on the list to leave them just out of the eight. 9thseems about right.

Let's call a spade a spade with the Saints, they’re not a contender even with Ross Lyon returning and make no mistake the Saints list for 2023 is nothing like their list from 2007 or Freo’s list in 2012 when he had pretty much all the pieces he needed to contend for a flag. From 2017-2019 the Saints sold the basis of their future success for football’s equivalent of magic beans. Hannebery, Carlisle, Kent, Butler, Hill, Jones, Ryder (Crouch was a RFA)- you could mount an argument why each of them might have helped them at the point in time they were at, but collectively the end result has left a train wreck. You can salvage the names of Jack Steele and Dougal Howard as being successes from that period (no I’m not buying into the argument that Hill might be eventually), but it’s relative – what it’s cost them in the end was far more than what they thought they were paying… but enough of history. The back six looks solid with Coffield back up and running, Howard, Sinclair, Wilkie and WM are all very capable and Battle, Webster and Highmore provide good support. The issue will be that the ball will be coming in there far too often for them to stem the tide. They have no ruck depth and very little in the way of midfield depth either. The starting midfield of Steele, Crouch and Ross looks pretty pedestrian to me. The Saints fans are big raps for Jade Gresham, but he’s still got a bit of ground to make up if he wants to be compared to the likes of Martin, Petracca and Bontempelli in his ability to influence games (he’s only ever had four games where he’s got 30 touches or more). The problems for the start of the year is that King leaves a massive hole in their ability to score, and considering Lyon’s ‘defence first’ coaching philosophy they will struggle to kick winning scores. They’ll take comfort from the performances of guys like Windhager, Owens, and Phillipou, but it won’t be enough to win games consistently and ‘Ross the Boss’ will need to conjure a rabbit out of a hat to keep them out of the bottom four. For me it was hard to split them and West Coast, but I’ve pencilled them in for 13th.