Nasher

Moving again?

I don't quite follow why you've got it in for Hilfenhaus but can't understand why Siddle is in the gun. I think your judgement has been clouded by one handy innings and a Victorian bias. In my eyes, both Siddle and Hilfenhaus are pie chuckers (at the moment, anyway) and both will get raped and pillaged by the pommy bats. It doesn't really matter which one you pick. Either way, it is all a bit ho-hum. Bollinger, Siddle, Hilfy, Johnson - who cares, can't see any combination of those blokes taking 20 wickets, especially when coupled with Harris and the obscure Beer.

Petterd? Hmm. He still only has 35 games to his name - and he's still not 100% settled as a player yet. Much the same as Grimes actually. I think you need to be an exceptional leader to end up in the leadership group with such little AFL match experience. Grimes may be but I don't think Petterd is. I'd not be surprised or disappointed to see Sylvia in though.

That sounds like it might be worth keeping an eye on. Cripes, I'm dreading this next Ashes Test. Reminds me of the feeling of seeing Geelong coming up on the draw circa 2008; where not watching doesn't feel right, so all you can do is brace yourself because you know it's going to hurt. Urgh.

Next to the elephant with "Chess" written on it. To be honest I think anyone who wants to pull themselves over which ball sport offers the most tactically is really just carrying on for the heck of it. Ultimately they all just come down to who's the fastest, strongest, most skilled and mentally switched on at the time. The tactics, while a very interesting part of most sports, are really just about squeezing out an extra 1% of performance. It does annoy the bejesus out of me when ignorant soccer fans tell me there is no skill in Australian rules football though.

Yes, this is technically possible. But unless you've set the bar ridiculously low, it's not going to happen that way. If we expect to improve on last year (and I'm sure we all agree that we expect that), then that's not going to result in zero wins, though it could conceivably result in less wins if we have all the bad luck in the world. At this point in our development, wins aren't the goal - they're just a by-product of the goal (i.e. there's a heavy correlation between our goals and wins, but that doesn't mean they are the same thing). That's why I don't agree with a set number of wins (or "finals") as being a sufficient measure of success.

In that order, ideally.

CEO Watzisname.

and the reaction, and the subsequent reaction...

Deestroy All, you reading this? It happened almost to script!

Another reading whoopsie. Coffee shortage at work today or something?

Not really that surprising though. How'd we go in the Brownlow last year? These things are bloody hard to win. I feel that even if we do have an exceptionally good year we're unlikely to do that well in the Brownlow count anyway. Scully aside - and not at this early stage in his career - I don't think we've got anyone on our list who could line up enough genuinely great games to score the requisite number of votes to win it. The likes of Sylvia and Davey in excellent form will lurk around the 12-15 vote mark IMO, which obviously won't cut the mustard.

Think you had a "reading the whole post" failure there E.

Raised my eyebrows too; bloody risky selection. Don't even know if the guy can play or not yet. It'd be the same thing as selecting Jeremy Howe as your Melbourne player.

Agree 100% - there's no perfect Captain choice this time around. It would seem there's a truckload of leadership potential in the young players with Scully, Trengove, Watts and obviously Grimes being highly rated for their leadership as juniors.

Yeah, there was a Dean Jones written article in The Age yesterday about the same era, saying the same thing.

Tom Scully is a similar footballer to Chris Johnson and Brock McLean? I've now officially heard everything. This one will be hard to top. Unlike those other two (for whom I stifled a giggle as they marched on their way to Visy Park), I'd cry into my weeties every day for a year if Tom Scully walked out. Fortunately for myself and my own sanity, I have 100% confidence this will not happen.

There's only been one or two numpties who have done that. The rest of the posters actually understood the purpose of the thread.

It's a thread that makes complete sense coming from someone who always defends players.

It's an interesting question. I'd think the only genuine contenders at this ridiculously early stage would be Nicholson and Campbell, as these two are the only ones whose writeups scream "ready for senior action now" to me. Newton an outside chance of Campbell's body is not up to scratch. It will greatly add to my interest in the pre-season - plenty of water to pass under the bridge yet before this is settled. The answer could also be nobody, of course.

I've said this before, if I think Davey as captain, I think of arguing with the umpire and giving away crucial 50s and gimme goals. He did this more than once this year. Imagine that in a tight preliminary final? There's no doubt he's amongst our top few players and I'm a huge fan of the way he apparently conducts himself on the field. And I've no doubt he's got a great relationship with the young players and other leaders alike. I just feel his on-field temperament is too wayward for a captain. He's too easily ruffled and it costs the team at times. I love the player and the man Aaron Davey has become, but it's Brad Green for me.

AoB's post made me rethink my position too. If you take it for a given that these Ashes are gone, then he's absolutely spot on: cut our losses and start formulating a side ready to get the bloody things back next time. With a moment of quiet reflection, I agree that that's what's in order. I don't think our current side is in any condition to salvage these ones. The Poms batsmen and Anderson are just too red hot and this is the worst Australian Test side I've ever seen (too young to remember the early-mid 80s). I'm not normally a fan of flying the white flag (and I can hear WYL turning in his UFO as he hurtles towards this thread), but I think one has to recognise when one is in a completely hopeless situation and act accordingly. I guess the sticking point is whether or not you believe these Ashes are already lost or not.

It's not a concern for me because I have no idea of the quality of the information. Doesn't strike me as being particularly high though. And people have a tendency to see what they want to see, or turn up with pre-conceived notions about a player's behaviour, then just write that rather than really observing anything. There are very few people who I would take the word of in the absence of seeing things with my own eyes. If I believed everything everyone on Demonland said, I'd have died of MFCSS years ago.

Indeed, it'd be nice to go a whole thread without rpfc and E25 flirting and playing footsies under the table.

Speaking of Chappelli and Greig: I watched a game of cricket from 1984 (I was born in late '83) on Fox a few days ago, and the first thing I observed that the commentary team was Chappell, Greig, Lawry and Benaud. Commenting on the Cricket is clearly not a gig one relinquishes readily. I've spent my whole life listening to the same commentary team. Anyway, not much to do with this Test, but it is the general cricket thread!