Whispering_Jack

The reports on Cale Morton's last two games for Casey suggest that he has been successfully played in the middle where he has picked up 30+ possessions in each game and been close to, if not, BOG. Dean Bailey experimented with him all over the shop and, while I don't disagree with this as a general approach for developing players. I have a feeling that in some cases, our boys became unsettled by this and lost confidence. Morton has appeared to play more freely in the VFL and Brad Gotch's approach seems to have worked. Hopefully, this can continue in his transition to the AFL, benefit the club and the player and in the end Cale can get a better contract. I think there might be a few others freed up by this approach and by the statements made by the selectors in regard to the axing of Colin Sylvia and Liam Jurrah. As to whether we can win tomorrow, I can't discount it. After our appalling "bruise-free" display the first time v Carlton, I really didn't give us much of a chance the following week against the Bombers. I suppose I feel the same this week after the loss to the Blues but we've had such a topsy turvy season that anything could happen tomorrow.

Add a few crumbs, everybody's leftovers, the best young players in a weak draft pool and coaches who peaked before or around the turn of the century in a heartland where nobody really cares about the game and you have the makings of the next three wooden spoons right there. The GWS Giants loom as the AFL's next failed club after University, South Melbourne and Fitzroy.

Any moderator who moves this thread today is a bum. I tweeted:

And thanks for forgetting to pass on the tip.

Sounds very much like Mark Jackson (except for the bit about being short). I'm 98% certain that GWS won't offer him a contract.

There is no way on earth that Davey should be played on Saturday night. He's been out since round 9 and it's not as if he was setting the world on fire before that. For his and the team's own good, he needs a couple of weeks at Casey to find his feet. The problem is that Casey has a game next week against Frankston and then follows that up with another bye which is really not suitable for any players due to come back from injury in the next couple of weeks.

My understanding is that the only business they ever do is horsetrading so I reckon there's a good chance they'll deal with your case. And if you ask nicely and contribute some hard currency, they might get you that horse back that you didn't want to sell and is now winning major races interstate. [see the Kabul Convention to Preserve the Health and Safety of Bovine and Equine Species currently supervised jointly by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea 조선민주주의인민공화국 and the Republic of Zimbabwe].

Take your case to the United Nations. I'm sure they'll give you a good hearing.

Yeah, I'll come but only if, on the way in to the ground (after swinging past you know who's place to pay appropriate homage), we have a nice legal discussion on this subject matter. Humberto Leal Garcia is a cause celebre in Mexico today. In 1994, he kidnapped 16-year-old Adria Sauceda, raped her with a large stick, and bludgeoned her to death with a piece of asphalt. Leal's brother has stated that Leal came home with blood on him saying he had killed a girl. Two of the trial witnesses were present when Leal's brother made these statements. The police searched Leal's house. They seized a blouse which contained several blood stains, hair and fibres. This blouse was later identified as belonging to Adria. Other DNA evidence was found on the underwear Leal was wearing that night. That evidence consisted of blood as well as bodily fluid. The DNA test did not preclude Adria's blood type from the evidence tested. Leal was found guilty of the murder and executed overnight after President Obama sought to intervene and prevent the execution. Read about it here - Texas executes death row Mexican national despite US government call for reprieve Even the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has entered the fray by saying the US breached international law by executing Leal. UN human rights, get it? In the past decade, human rights violators have murdered millions of people on the face of this earth and the worst of them have been represented by nations like Sudan, North Korea, Cuba and Libya. Recently, Syria came within a bee's diaphragm of getting on the United Nations Human Rights Commission. If you commit murder and rape in the US you have a better chance of getting help from the UN than if you're a starving Darfurian. And we worry about whether a 20 year old kid is going to leave his home in Berwick and move to Rooty Hill? Fair dinkum! (Hopefully, I'll be in a better mood tomorrow)

Damn ... I was really hoping for a big win to Canada. A result like that would have had the UN Human Rights Council working overtime to condemn the Pakistanis and get the heat off Ghaddafi.

Based on what I saw in Canada v Zimbabwe the other night, they'll struggle to win but 0/16 after 3.5 is a fair enough start. A win to Canada should get all of the cricket world's conspiracy theorists well and truly out of the woodwork.

Zimbabwe v Canada. Now there's a case for a clash strip in cricket!

How many hours have Strauss and Trott spent together at the crease this summer? You would think they've been together long enough not to stuff up a run like they did today.

Ponting out of the final test with a busted finger. And silly me, I thought it might have kept him out of the fourth test.

I think he'll continue in the one day form of the game but his Test Cricket career has to be close to over.

Very good but who is going to see the pitch on day 5 except the curator and 3,000 seagulls?

You can add Langer to the list as well. All were given more than one test on return and, in this case, there's a shortage of alternatives so they'll stick with Hughes at least for Melbourne and probably for Sydney assuming Katich is gone for the duration. BTW: Where do England's cricketers stay when they're on tour in Sth Africa? With their mums.

Hauritz 110 n.o. in the Shield game.

Yes, the series is alive but this could be Australian cricket's one swallow for the summer unless Punter strikes some form with the bat and a spin bowler materialises from the heavens. Cricket is very different to AFL but I do like the analogy between our situation in test cricket and the way Melbourne fell away late in Daniher's reign as coach. The differences were that we could have seen it coming better with the cricket as Warne, McGrath, Hayden, Langer, Gilchrist and Lee were nearing the end. There's no draft in cricket but we're blessed with a fantastic cricket nursery (our Under 19 team that won the World Cup is chock full of talent). The answer now is to persevere with Hughes and Smith and I like Cameron White for his aggressive attitude. Perhaps he might get another test chance after the World Cup notwithstanding that he's a Victorian. Other than that, we still have an enormous battle on our hands to save the Ashes. Even if we can salvage a win or a draw in the Boxing Day test, we need to win the toss and hit a big first innings score in Sydney. If we're going to rely on a bloke who's had a couple of month's first class experience and best figures of 3fer to spin out the Poms and it works, I'll shout "a Beer". Who is he?

According to Twitter, Alex Keath scored 191 not out for Victoria's Under 23 team and could be in the Sheffield Shield team very soon. There are quite a few young cricketers with great potential around the country and one can only hope that they be given the opportunities for promotion that have been denied to similar players around the country in the past few years.

Mitchell Johnson is the Dane Swan of the Aussie cricket team. Great job getting a five fer. On the other hand, Marcus North needs to produce when he comes out to bat tomorrow. If not, he should go out and buy some tickets for the Commonwealth Games events.

Test Match v Grand Final on 2nd October. What will you be watching?

Firstly to Jaded - bad luck and I hope if it is contageous then you should stay away from Melbourne players for a while ! As for the cricket it was absorbing stuff at the end. Great captaincy by Ponting - especially the decision to bat first .

I have and always will regard Ron Barassi Jr. as the # 1 Melbourne player of my lifetime. He personified strength, courage, determination and leadership. He won games for us and with him in the side, we won premierships - lots of them. Forget Essendon (2000), Brisbane (2001-3) and Geelong (2007-), we were the best side in the history of the game, our reign lasted for a decade and RDB was the best of the best. Robbie Flower was the most skillful player to wear the red and blue (I might be ancient but Ivor Warne-Smith was before my time). Slight of build, Robbie was graceful and time stopped when he was near the ball. He was a magnificent mark, would run, bounce and mesmerise the opposition and one of his runs from coast to coast via pockets, flanks and wings to score a goal at Windy Hill one day was the most sublime pieces of action this game has ever produced. It wasn't his fault that we only made the finals once in his entire career but it would have been unbearable going to the footy between 1972 and 1987 but for him. My memories of Laurie Mithen are fading but I can't recall the dynamic centreman ever being beaten. He taught some of my friends who were students at Melbourne High School in the 60s and they used to call him a "bastard". That's how he played his football - like a real bastard and that's why Melbourne was so successful when he played in the middle. Stan Alves played on the opposite wing to Robbie Flower and arrived at Melbourne at the wrong time - 1965, when the Melbourne show was closing down. He was a champion, a beautiful mover and a clever thinking footballer. Sadly, he left to achieve premiership success elsewhere. It always amazed me that Melbourne couldn't do better with Alves and Flower on the wings and Greg Wells in the middle. Shows how bad we were everywhere else on the field in those days. Brian Dixon used to count his kicks in the days before statisticians took over the game. He was quite brilliant and although his kicking style wasn't the greatest, he was remarkably effective and contributed enormously to his team's successful era. Strangely, I have picked three wingmen in my top five. They were always important on the wide, open spaces of the MCG. I couldn't fit in anybody from the modern era but the others would be Jimmy, Garry Lyon, Alan Johnson, Shane Woewodin (I'm assuming I can mention him now), Neita and Brian Wilson for a short period of time. Gerard Healy might have made it had he stuck around long enough instead of making a run for the money and The Ox would probably have rivalled Laurie Mithen for my third spot if not for the tragedy of his knees. Of the current crop of players (and I don't want to put any pressure on prematurely but ...) I reckon our first three picks in the 2007 draft, Morton, Grimes and Maric all have the capacity to go places in this game. It's just a question of whether they have the will and the application to put in the enormous amount of work necessary.

My highlight of this year's cricket season - West Indies' tailenders Fidel Edwards and Daren Powell blocked out the final 36 minutes of the Second Test against England at the Antigua Recreation Ground to force a draw. The Windies lead the series 1-0.