Macca

Yep , and he's 18 . He's got McDermott as his Coach at international level as well , which might help him develop a good outswinger . Early doors but you'd reckon he will get quicker and better with maturity - huge prospect .

Macca 2.5

Really good video Wyl - I often wish I could travel back and see some of our past stars - Ivor Warne-Smith and Percy Beames are 2 that stand out - did you know that Beames was arguably B.O.G in the 39' , 40' and 41' Premiership sides ? Equivalent of 3 Norm Smith medals yet the average footy fan has probably hardly ever heard of him . Barassi was also reported as our best player in at least 2 winning Grand Final teams . Btw I heard a good track from the "Stones" 2005 album "A Bigger Bang" - song's called "Rain Fall Down"

Macca 2.4

Yeah , great show - Steve Buscemi as "Nucky Thompson" is great and has really grown into the role - production values are second to none as well . "Killing Time" is an Aussie crime/drama mini-series worth a look - more underworld stuff set in the last few decades - might have been shown earlier this year but I've just caught up with it .

Macca 2.3

Every week there's surprises hey ! What is it with the Ravens ? Though Seattle do surprise - they beat the Giants in New York a month ago . Houston had another big win at Tampa - This could be their year - their next 3 games will tell a tale - @ Jags , vs Atlanta , @ Cinci San Francisco had a great win as well - it's all about which number seed now - 1 or 2 is my pick . Philadelphia - disappointing - they'll probably beat the Giants next week now . Dallas , Chicago and the Pats are back in business it seems . The Saints also had a big win and should win the NFC South now . Pittsburgh had an important win but the Bengals were good . And that AFC West is anybody's guess - Oakland now ? Who knows or is that Who knew ! Go figure ! 8 and 7 on the tips - Need the Packers to win to stay above 500 !

Macca 2.2

With regards to Ricky Ponting - he's been a truly great player and in some ways should be able to retire on his own terms - they should have a chat to him and maybe arrange a "farewell" Test . Like all great players he doesn't know the meaning of the word "Quit" so this may not be possible . One major issue is that if it's the selection committee that sits down with Punter , this will include Michael Clarke ( If Pup opts out then .......) I don't agree with the Captain being a selector because of issues like these . Btw - getting dropped is not always the end - I will stand corrected on this one but I usually don't stick my neck out before checking the relevent facts - The great Glenn McGrath was dropped 5 times in his 1st 9 tests ! I am not absolutely sure whether he might have been injured once or twice in that time period but I don't remember this being the case . And re Alex Keath - I'd rather the Vics play as many young blokes as is reasonably possible and take our chances on winning the Shield .Of course , they can't all be young blokes but lets face it - the Vics don't produce too many Test players these days .

We won the World cup in 1987 with a lot of that 86/87 team so maybe that was the turning point .Strangely enough we never got to see that triumph live as Ch9 didn't show the 2nd half of the Match - they did show highlights at about 10.30pm that night . The only place we found that it was "on" was the "Whale's" pub in South Melbourne - couldn't get in ! And , I'm with you on those 3 you mentioned - though Hughes is still very young .

And Rhino , how about you post your team as well - the team I posted is a going forward team - Whilst Hussey keeps making runs he has to stay .

Ok - here goes Marsh Watson Khawaja Warner - is next cab off the rank according to the selectors . Clarke Hussey Paine - when fit or Wade if not . Harris Pattinson - was in the Sri Lankin Test squad Cummins Beer / Lyon or "pluck a leggie from somewhere" Experience - Harris , Clarke , Watson , Hussey - Marsh and Paine are 27 I believe so they're hardly youngsters . Out of the team go Ponting , Haddin , Johnson , Siddle , Hughes , Punter deserves a "farewell test" Hughes , Johnson and Siddle can all get back in if form warrants it . The current team has two 36yo's , a 34 yo , a 32yo , and three 30yo's - it's not a young team . To be fair - post your team . A lot of the 86/87 team played in the 89 team - one got thrashed , the other did the thrashing .Check the lineups through cricketarchive.com Edit - The 11 that I picked is a team "Going forward" - A Future 11 - possibly by the end of the Indian Tests .

Yeah good tune isn't it H_T - it's grown on me after 6 or 8 listens - Nothin wrong with a bit of "Pop Rock" ! Frozen planet looks good btw - will have a look .

Who knows and you may be right but ....... I remember that series well and don't remember feeling very confident about the Team going forward - if you remember there was a lot of doom and gloom about . 1989 changed all that and still goes dowm as one of my most enjoyable series . 1989 Team btw was dubbed "One of the worst ever" by the English media ! ( prior to the series of course ) As an aside , why aren't the Vics playing Alex Keath in the Shield Team - gotta give the kid a chance . NSW are constantly ahead of the Vics in this area and it somewhat explains why so many of them play Test cricket .

Yes we've blooded a few but my point was that the current 11 is very similar to the one thrashed by England . It seems they started to bite the bullet then revisited again . Not sure about the "learn from it" bit either . You throw in the 40% bit as if that's how much the side has changed since the Ashes - The current side is only about 20% different and Lyon for Beer is hardly ground breaking - and they've replaced a new player ( Khawaja ) ( who played in the last Ashes Test ) for Marsh . So I'd argue that it's much the same side - almost identical !. Khawaja should never have been dropped and Haddin should have been moved on a fair while ago . Ponting is a tricky one as he is a "Great" As for the Bowlers - only Harris can hold his head up The reality is that we should have been slowly but surely blooding new players way before last years Ashes series . Not a hindsight comment either as I've been saying this for years - youll have to trust me on that one ! Anyway , we're just about on the same page in most area's here . Nuggets

First of all - I liked your post and though I don't agree with all of it , I did like your appraisal of our future talent . You have to blood young players to rebuild - we did this in 86/87 - see my post ( 23 ) in this thread . They didn't all debut in that series but it was a young team . We've got nothing to lose Bob because we're losing now . We've lost the last 2 ashes series , the last 2 series in India ( and we were lucky to win the last series against India here ) as well as losing the last Series against South Africa in Australia - We did beat South Africa over there last time but overall it's not good ( in the last few years ). The aforementioned Test Nations are 1,2,3 in the World as you no doubt will know . Btw - the Aussie side has given us a great run for our money since '89 so we should be able to handle a bit of pain but we need to look to the future . We play India in 6 weeks and I'm not confident at all . And we go to England in 2013 for the Ashes - this current side would get beaten again . I'm not advocating mass changes either - though on current overall form only Clarke , Watson , Harris , Hussey and Marsh can hold their heads up high . Whilst Lyon and Beer are just new to Test cricket . Edit - latest news has Warner being flown to South Africa to replace Marsh . So you'd reckon either Khawaja and/or Warner will play the next Test .( And Cummins ) P.S - Bring back Warnie !

Macca 2.1

The Team that lost this Test to the South Africans is largely the same Team that got towelled up by England Marsh is in for Smith / North and Lyon is in for Beer / Doherty Time for some youth - it's almost like the selectors are too frightened to rebuild . They need to bite the bullet - now .

Thanks MFC - I had no idea - might try it in the morning as there isn't an 8.15 am game on foxtel - fingers crossed it's "all good" Cheers .

Don't doubt that for a second Satan . Neeld has already talked about contested football and the importance of it . A bit of 1 on 2 in any park with a reasonable surface will help players lift in this area .

Macca 2.0

Was thinking about the conference / division thing the other day . Can't ever seeing it happening "cos it's too American" but it might add a bit of interest . We do have a real issue in the last part of the AFL season with "dead" games and teams already preparing for the next season . Having a lottery system for the draft may help keep Teams stay competitive for longer . Though I don't like the idea of a "Final 10" it wouldn't surprise me if the AFL brought it in . As for conferences and divisions you could have a North East , a South West and 2 South East divisions but it will most probably never happen Dappa and I'm not a big fan of it to be in the AFL - though I really like how the Americans do it . . If the AFL change anything it may be to implement the "Final 10" As for College football - it is as you said "hard to keep up with". I tend to just watch the last qtr of some games ( there's 5 of them on Sundays - ESPN and ESPN 2 ) Most of these televised games are "good team" match-ups .Oregon (7) are at Stanford (4) on ESPN at noon Sunday ( our time ) A chance to see Andrew Luck .

The Charger's are making it hard for themselves now hey ? They've got a fairly tough home stretch . Game of the round I reckon is The Giants at San Francisco - huge impact on the Eagles and Dallas . The 49ers can set up the rest of their season with a win . Chicago v Detroit is another beauty . Ditto N.E @ the Jets , Atlanta v The Saints and Houston @ Tampa . Denver @ KC is a huge one for KC now . Another great round of games . I know this will never change because of tradition and the Americans love of College Football but I'd like to see games stretched out from Thursday night football right through to MNF( from the 1st round of the season ) I've only just started watching College but I can see myself getting hooked on it !

That last post of mine should have read Jags @ Indi If Indi lose this week and Miami win then Luck goes to Indi I reckon . After this weekend they've got ( in order ) v Carolina @ New England @ Baltimore v Tennessee v Houston @ Jacksonville

Macca 1.9