titan_uranus

Bail should, and most probably will, play. Outside of that I'm not expecting more than one change. Maybe Morton for Cheney. But stability is important and we did win last week.

Apparently McDonald is close to playing: http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/98257/default.aspx

Disagree. A couple of good disposals doens't outweigh dropped marks and a lack of physical presence. Same old same old from PJ.

We're now 4/100, after bowling Pakistan out for 148, after they bowled us out for 253. We were 2/97 but Gul got Clarke and Hussey in consecutive balls. Watson took 5 wickets. Ponting made a duck in what will likely be his last innings at Lord's, so he never made it to 50 at that ground. Provided we get something from North, Paine, Smith and Johnson, as well as Katich who's 49 not out, we should be able to get the lead up around 350 which should be too much for Pakistan.

Bahahaha! The sun is American. Now I've heard it all.

Having watched the replay yesterday I noticed a few things: 1) Our red looks pink on TV, especially when compared to Essendon's red. 2) PJ was even worse that I first thought he was. So was Cheney. 3) Rivers and Garland were better than I first thought, despite Rivers' early jitters by foot.

9/229 at stumps on Day 1 at Lord's. An OK total given the tough batting conditions, but we were at one stage 2/171 with Katich and Clarke batting well. But Asif got Clarke off the last ball before tea and we lost 6/58 in the third session, North making another duck, Paine 7, Smith 1 and Johnson 3. Johnson's batting has fallen apart since the tour of South Africa last year. Hussey's still there, and we saw in Sydney that even with a tailender he can forge out a decent innings so if Bollinger hangs around we could push past 250. Either way it's not a great total but Pakistan's batting line-up is fragile at best and we have Hilfenhaus back who should thrive in these conditions. An interesting stat I saw in the cricinfo commentary is that, in a combined 11 Tests, Ponting, Tendulkar and Lara have a highest score of 54 at Lord's.

http://www.gameanalyser.afl.com.au/ Full match is there.

But that wouldn't be maximising crowds, would it? Which in turn would be reducing revenue. The AFL is still a business, and it gets money from attendances as well as broadcast rights. Seven and Ten want their matches to be between big clubs, not small ones. That's why there's so much of Essendon, Carlton, Collingwood, Geelong, St Kilda and Hawthorn on Friday nights, Saturday 2.10 and Saturday night matches. Once we're playing better football, pushing for finals and generally becoming more of a powerhouse the AFL will schedule us in better games (I've heard a rumour that early next year there will be a Collingwood-Melbourne Friday night game, for example, as a reward for the two close games we had this year).

No, we do not request Sunday games. In fact we request Saturday games. Sunday games are traditionally lower-drawing games compared to Saturday games, and kids sometimes have football on Sundays. However, we finished 16th last year, so we don't have a lot of power when we ask the AFL for fixturing requests. The AFL has to schedule Sunday games to someone. Next year hopefully the AFL will acknowledge our better form this year and reflect it in more Friday night games and less Sunday games.

Wrong. If the umpire is satisfied that the player has had prior opportunity, then the player has to dispose of the ball immediately upon being tackled. Lonergan did not do that. He stood up in the tackle, was spun around (usually the sign an umpire uses to determine whether a player has disposed of the ball 'immediately' or not), and the umpire blew his whistle as he handpasseed. The decision was correct. The issue is that if the player was Judd, Rioli or Ablett (i.e. a higher-name player) the decision may not have been paid and the player would have been allowed a longer period of time to release the ball.

Seems like Jarrad Grant will never get it. Redden wasn't exactly great on the weekend.

Wonaeamirri has something that Bennell, Maric and Jetta don't (or haven't shown yet): Goal nous. Wonna is the second best set shot on the list (behind Green) and is a much more natural crumbing forward than Bennell or Maric are. All that is restricting him at the moment is his fitness. Give him a pre-season and then comment. Whilst I agree with you about stevetheman, it's a bit rich for you to be commenting on bias and defnding a player given your affection and resilience towards Johnson.

There is such a minute chance of us winning this game it's hardly worth mentioning. Fremantle is still a top 4 team, regardless of your perception of their list, their coach or their form. They are at home, and they know the importance of winning this game as they have the Dogs the week after which might knock them out of the top 4. We haven't won at Subiaco since Round 11, 2004 when we beat Fremantle by 31 (we kicked 6 goals to nothing in the last quarter).

Bate? For Maric? No. No thanks, I think I will discount Maric and Bell. Maric is doing nothing at Casey at all. No reason at all to be promoted. Same goes for Bell, but with Bell he's had numerous chances at AFL level and has never looked good enough.

Didn't notice this on the day. Deserved a suspension, so glad he got 1 week.

Yeh I remember that passage of play. Wasn't Pears (he wasn't playing) but whoever it was, Cheney tackled him, the ball spilled free, and Cheney stopped, presumably expecting a free kick. He didn't chase hard enough once he realised no free kick was forthcoming either.

Yes he did. Best game I've seen him play.

Not convinced that he is a tagger or even a midfielder. Don't like seeing him swapped around from week to week. That said he did well yesterday in the first half.

I know a school in Melbourne whose principal in the early 2000s used to arrive 2 hours early, with a hunter he'd paid himself, to shoot the pigeons that were roosting in the school's yard. By the time school started the carcasses had been disposed of. The MCC ought to start shooting. Practice for the Olympics maybe.

In: Bail Out: PJ/Cheney Bail should have played yesterday, deserves his spot, and must be called up to help us cover the Subiaco turf. Whether it's PJ or Cheney will come down to how the FD rates Jamar's fitness and ability to compete with Sandilands all day. If they don't think he can then they will keep PJ to allow Jamar to rest during the game, and Cheney will be cut. Otherwise I suspect PJ will be dropped to allow us to keep Cheney's run. Shouldn't make more than 1 change. Reward winning teams. Those suggesting MacDonald should be dropped have pre-conceived notions and are not rewarding good form. MacDonald was good yesterday. And those suggesting McKenzie should be dropped have NFI. Sorry.

Fully understand the days given to each game. No problems there. Seems like they've gone with a 2.10 and a 4.40 match to ensure that the games don't overlap, and given that Richmond's form has been scintillating over the last 5 weeks no wonder they got the better timeslot.

His kicking is not good enough. Let's not forget he was playing on Jay Neagle. Nothing to write home about there.

Anything wrong with what I said?

At the moment Bell and Miller seem the two certainties. PJ should be, but we don't have a lot of ruck depth, and with Meesen going, Spencer still very raw, and Martin falling out of favour we might find PJ on the list next year. I really do think McNamara has the ability to make it but we may never see it, and I'm worried he will be top of the delisting pile. Cheney would be another who is in danger. Bail should be more than safe. I think Dunn and Bartram have done enough to keep their spots on the list but I'm not conviced that either of them are anything but stop-gaps.