titan_uranus

NFC North is so hard to read. Detroit should have sewn it up over the last few weeks; the Tampa Bay loss was huge. If Rodgers is back this week, the Packers, only 0.5 behind Detroit, are a chance. I don't rate the Patriots; they can't keep coming back from deficits all the time, especially without Gronkowski. Mind you, I also worry about Denver in the playoffs, they concede way too much even to the lesser sides. So I'm not sure how the AFC is going to go down. I took a fair bit out of us beating Seattle. Obviously we'll have to beat them in Seattle to progress in the playoffs, but now we have a bit of belief that we can in fact do that. Our defence really stood up when it needed to, and we found some ways through on offence. Confidence booster more than anything (also an enormously handy win).

It's a very awkward position for them. They've made Sammy captain, they don't seem to have a suitable replacement, so they can't change that, which means they can't drop him. He's not good enough to bat in the top 6, nor is he a very good bowler, so he shouldn't be playing I don't think.

Wow, interesting to look back on those. I have Cheteshwar Pujara, who's had a great year, plus Ian Bell (enough said) and Shivnarene Chanderpaul, who's also been OK. I got Brad Haddin at bargain-basement prices, for clear rewards, as well. Boult and Herath have been OK this year. However, I also had Dean Brownlie, Steve Finn and Mohammad Hafeez, who have all fallen out of favour with their respective sides. Jackson Bird looked promising in England but would be fifth or sixth in line now. So just so-so from me.

Should be no change for us. Every year going into Perth someone out there says 'let's go with four pacemen' but our current trio plus Lyon are doing a great job of bowling as a unit, and Perth's pitch suits Lyon's bowling anyway. As for them, they need a true batsman at 6, so I'd be replacing Stokes with Bairstow or Ballance. They'll have to drop a spinner, and it will probably be Panesar, with Bresnan coming into that spot. Surely England's bigger issue is their batting, not their bowling? If I were England I'd be far more worried about getting runs out of Cook, Carberry, Pietersen, Prior and whoever bats at 6 (Stokes, Ballance or Bairstow). I'd also be worried about their inability to play long innings and their struggles with pace and bouncers. Their bowlers, though, should still be thereabouts given our batting. It really only takes one batting collapse from us to shake the series up, and we're a side with Rogers, Watson, Smith and Bailey in the top 6, none of whom are in any particular form at the moment.

Wow. First over of the day and Broad pulls straight to deep square leg. Edit: We'll take it.

Clarke is as good a tactical captain as there is in the world right now. Far, far better than Cook. This was no different in the winter, when the team was playing pathetically. He's our best batsman too, as his form shows. Making up some conspiracy theory about his back injury is a sign that you really don't have an argument to defend here. Oh, and how about Haddin's fantastic catch yesterday to get Root out? Great keeping, to go with his great batting too (batting which has put us in winning positions in both Tests). I don't think they want to go with four quicks. That would mean Anderson, Broad, Bresnan (surely) and one other, but the other would be Tremlett, Finn or Rankin, all of whom are out of form and struggling in Australian conditions (and each of whom lengthens the tail compared to Swann). If they keep Stokes at 6 (I don't think they can afford to, but they might be inclined to persist with him), they'll have their fourth seamer anyway.

Crazy, crazy cricket. We still have our work ahead of us taking the remaining 8 wickets, but with 5 sessions to go, there should be enough time. Taking a 2-0 lead is huge, and probably not something anyone expected. We'll need some more of Johnson's firebolts, as clearly England can't play that pace well. England will have to look at dropping Prior and/or Swann for Perth. Panesar outbowled Swann in this Test, so there might be a change-up there. They'll also have to bring Bresnan in, as well as getting another batsman in the side instead of Stokes, who isn't good enough.

Dropped catches and a wicket off a no-ball. Small things can change a series; those kinds of things going against England may just help us. Also, Clarke - what a captain.

And now Bailey too. Four out of five batsmen to get himself in then get himself out. Each should have made more runs than they did, and we're now tracking for a sub-par first innings total on this wicket.

This issue about the verbal agreement as to no payment is quite interesting. If the AFL wants to seriously pursue it, then it's going to have some interesting legal hurdles to overcome. If they really care about it, then to not have put it in the agreement is some pretty sloppy work (again) from the AFL. I'm not in any way suggesting the magnitude of Melbourne's conduct is the same as Essendon's. What I am suggesting is that the process was similar. Part of that process involved Melbourne negotiating with the AFL to reach an outcome, just like Essendon did. Whether you agree with either of the two outcomes, the process was the same.

Yep, you're right about what I originally said, so fair call there. Negotiation does not always end with arbitration, nor does arbitration always come after negotiation. That's just how it usually happens.

This has nothing to do with plausible deniability, nor is this a case of the players simply hiding behind the fault of their employers. The Code demands athletes know what is in their bodies, but there is not 100% rigidity in its application. It is one thing to talk about theoretical ideals, it is another to have those play out in the real world. There are defences available under the Code, and I fully expect those to be argued and used by the Essendon players to their benefit if they are penalised. And I have absolutely no problems with that.

You do realise that we negotiated the penalties we received for our tanking investigation, don't you? You're wrong on this. I left it alone because it's moot in the circumstances, but arbitration is separate to negotiation and is often a contractually agreed-upon form of dispute resolution. In other words, if the parties can't come to their own conclusion themselves (i.e. through negotiation), instead of a court they agree go to arbitration. Arbitration is also not necessarily in public, but regardless, it is not the same as negotiation and generally takes place if negotiation breaks down. Negotiation between private parties should be, and usually is, conducted in private.

Right, got it. Still, doesn't really change the situation here. The article and the subsequent kerfuffle is a beat up and nothing more.

What's your point? What became transparent? What have they been caught out doing? Negotiating an outcome is business.

No, it doesn't. It points to negotiation, which by its nature is confidential. Correct. Except when those players have gone to their doctor, coach, sports scientist, and other club officials and asked, and been told it's safe, and have asked for assurances (in the form of waivers) from the club that the WADA Code has been complied with.

Interesting team selection from England. They've given a cap to Ben Stokes, who bowls a bit of pace, which suggests they're bringing Panesar in for Tremlett (instead of Bresnan, which I expected). That leaves them with only Anderson and Broad for the pace bowling, and Stokes to come on and, I expect, be treated in a similar manner to how we dealt with Woakes at The Oval.

If you're talking on the field, then yes, he is worse than Nicholson. I'm not saying Nicholson is a good player. But Campbell Brown hasn't played decent AFL football for 6 years. If you're talking overall (bringing into consideration the fact he has committed multiple dog acts), then he is a million times worse. Brown is a pathetic, low-life scumbag who doesn't deserve the time of day this thread is giving him. There is a difference between courage/toughness and thuggery. That aside, comparing Brown to Brereton, Matthews and Lloyd is just unbelievable. Those three are stars of the game. Brown is a washed up hack.

Source for the fact that he's been sacked? Brown is past it. And that's assuming he was ever 'it'. He's a moron, a thug, and not a good footballer in the slightest. He adds nothing to a club's culture, instead detracting from it. We could genuinely not bring to the club a worse person.

On a related note, why does CA put the Perth test right after the Adelaide test? Surely we learnt from last year and the week off should be between Adelaide and Perth instead of between Brisbane and Adelaide.

I reckon if we're going to rest the fast bowlers, rest them in Perth where the replacements will do fine because of the pitch. If we rest them in Adelaide, we significantly increase our chances of losing. Faulkner and Siddle with the new ball are toothless compared to Harris and Johnson, and the last thing we can afford to do is let them bat themselves into form at Adelaide. I'd rather play a good game in Adelaide, hopefully win it, and then rest in Perth if absolutely necessary. Lyon's bowling very well, so give him good spells in Adelaide, rotating the pace bowlers and using Watson and Smith (even Warner and/or Clarke too if possible) to keep the pressure off. We need to keep the pressure on. The longer it takes them to square the ledger in the series, the more likely they are to keep making mistakes and playing poor cricket.

Marcus North scored another tonne too, he now has three from four Shield games. Cameron White is also unbeaten overnight on 110, adding to his three 50s in the Shield, plus his five 50s in six innings in the Ryobi Cup. For once, there is form in our domestic batting.

We should be wearing our home jumper against St Kilda, I'm with you there. What I was saying was that a red jumper would clash more with St Kilda's red, and since the AFL thinks we clash with St Kilda, red can't work. We've never worn a white jumper in a home game against Essendon. Grey is clearly light when compared to black

Is that much different to our current jumper?

To you, maybe. To the AFL, not at all.