Macca

We could wait until about a 3rd of the way through the season before making an objective appraisal. We'll have a bit more of an idea after the round 8 clash against the Tigers. A lot is going to depend on Clark, Dawes and our midfield. The team we sent to the Gold Coast was a fair way short of full strength. If you look at the positives of all the practice matches, we ran North close, had one bad quarter against the Saints, beat Port and we had tiring legs against a fresh Richmond outfit. Our Key forwards along with our midfield will be the key to our year. Dawes needs to produce but Dawes may need a fit and firing Clark in the team in order to excel. Sellar is another who probably needs to stand up. Key forwards win you games. As for our midfield, there are a number of our players who have the potential to be good or very good players. A better scenario would see Jones battling 3 or 4 others as our best midfielder. Viney, Grimes, Trengove, Sylvia, Toumpas, Magner, Blease, Jetta and Tapscott should all have a goal of being more effective than Jones. A few of our other new players or lesser lights should have this same ambition.

United 15 clear as City are beaten Looks to be all over now in the title race, although Champions League spots are still up for grabs ... Table Couple of London Derby's tonight with Spurs at home to Fulham (2am) and West Ham taking on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge (3am)

Fair enough. He's a very aggressive player and he batted like he'd done it a hundred times before. I reckon we're going to see more of this same type of player in the future. You'd normally expect a 27 year old with 6000 first class runs behind him to be a bit more circumspect in his 1st Test appearance. It seems that we're seeing more and more new players inclined to play their shots - right from the word go. Might be a different story when Dhawan has to face up to Steyn and co. in South Africa later in the year. He might still bat just as aggressively. That is one of the toughest tour's in World cricket. And the Proteas are flying.

The bit I've highlighted is our major point of difference 'dl' . I've never had a problem with Clarke apart from a few years ago when he went through a bit of a form slump. I have no real issue with him and you might have - that's why we disagree. You may well be right, by the way. Mine is just an opinion. It is however, ok to agree to disagree. We're not privy to the inner sanctum so we can only really make judgements by what we see on the field. I read Clarke's piece in the paper the other day and was impressed. If other, factual information to the contrary comes to hand (with regards to Clarke) then I'm happy to change my mind. I still believe that the suspensions to the 4 players was too heavy handed. From what we can gather, that was more of a coach/player issue. Clarke may have been put into an uncompromising position on that issue, for all we know.

This innings has been quite something ... he has played good proper cricket shots all around the wicket. Fantastic debut !! 173 n.o off 146 balls. And he has already made a bit of name for himself in the IPL. Another example of how the super short version can help the longer version. There will be more like Dhawan. We have already seen 392 runs today with more than half an hour to play.

Well, it was inevitable that the NFL might bring this rule in. It's difficult to imagine the impact such a rule change will bring. There is no doubt the League is peering into the future with regards to concussions, litigation and other related issues ... ... NFL may prevent runners from lowering their heads into tacklers

Well done to Michell Starc. Still a great knock from a number 9. Unlucky not to get a ton but Starc has shown great determination and commitment and we ended up with quite a few bonus runs as a result. Played some nice shots. He's given his Country a real chance. Let's hope he bowls well. Smith looked a lot better as well. He has tightened up his technique. 92 is an excellent return, all things considered. He is possibly only in the team because of the suspensions. Well done to him for grabbing his opportunity. Good footwork and you can see that he has worked really hard on his game. Still looks a good batting track and we're going to have to bowl well to keep them in check. At the beginning of the match we'd probably have taken 408 as a 1st innings total.

Put it this way dl, if I was representing my Country at Test level, I would want to do the very best that I could possibly do. Couldn't give a rats toss bag about the backroom stuff - zero interest. At this level you need to just get on with it. I've seen many a player lose focus at suburban sport level. But I've seen many who never lose focus. People of character will always shine through. Those looking for excuses should be disregarded. You and I saw a fair bit of the Demons in the 70's. Even though we were a poor team, we could nearly always rely on Alves, Wells, Flower and Hardeman to play well and put in. Those 4 never gave it in, at least not in my eyes. Laurie Fowler was another who gave his all. I expect the same from all our Test representatives. It's the Country's best XI. It's an enormous honour just to play one game. We should at least expect absolute commitment - every time. This also extends to prep work but I'm specifically talking about the match situation in this instance. A professional sportsperson at this level should have the ability to block out all distractions all of the time. If he or she doesn't have this quality then they're not cut out for big time sport. I just hate excuses and always will do. Reasons make more sense to me. Our Test team needs to unearth some stars. We're clearly not a great team and those who think that this particular team can reach no.1 status in the World need to reassess their appraisal.

NSW look like winning their match to go to 29pts (thus eliminating SA from the Shield final). If there is an outright result in the WA/QLD game then the winner would progress to the final. It's almost certain that neither team can make the final if there isn't an outright result. WA look like securing 1st innings points so they have progress to 28pts (so far) Tasmania need to win outright to make the final so we can expect a sporting declaration. The Vics probably need to win outright to make the final (and host it), so we might see some fireworks on the last day. "It's all happening" Shield Table before the last round Scores in the last round (look to the right when opening this page for 'domestic scores') Edit : Just starting the 3rd day in the 3rd Test in Mohali. It's 9.00am local time - a cup of tea and some toast and then you're out there! Raining in Tassie - must be frustrating for both teams.

Well it's all said and done dl, these blokes are playing for their Country and are professional sportsmen. Regardless of whether our players are happy, sad or whatever, they've got a job to do. The bloke who is holding the bat or bowling the ball has a responsibility to himself to perform well for the Team. Same goes for fielding and catching. A captain or a coach can't make you play better once the heat is on. Prep work is vital of course but they'd be doing plenty of that. To me cricket is in a lot of ways a game of technique - like baseball, golf and tennis. Our blokes are simply lacking in that area. They're 'ok' or 'alright' but this is Test cricket. To be a great team you need great players. Role players can fit into a great team. I know it sounds harsh, but I was dissatisfied that Warner or Cowan didn't go on and make a big hundred. We may well have been 5/320 at stumps instead of 7/273. At this level you are expected to go on and make a hundred once you're well set and past 60. The blokes who failed don't get off the hook either, but there are usually one or two 'failures' even when a team posts a big score. The best players go on with it. It's interesting that the last time we had major issues with our batting (on an ongoing basis) was the mid to late 1980's. Our line-up in those days included quite a few young players in Marsh, Boon, Jones and Steve Waugh alongside the captain (Border). Taylor joined up with this crew later on, and then we turned it all around in 1989 with a 4-0 drubbing of England. We also won the World cup in '87 with a lot of these players. (looking back, that World Cup win could be viewed as a precurser) Ponting, Mark Waugh and quite a few other young batsmen kept being added and the end result was that we were no.1 in the world from 1994 to 2008/09. This is aside from the bowling, of course (which went along a similar path) Who amongst Warner, Cowan, Khawaja, Smith, Maxwell, Hughes, Watson and Henriques are going to take us back to the top (alongside Clarke). Or are there other young players who are yet to emerge who will help take us back to the top. Doolan? Maddinson? Burns? Keath? People may make complaints about the Sheffield Shield in that the competition isn't producing young star batsmen but I believe that will happen with time. The Shield is still a tried and true method and even though it can't pull a crowd, the Shield competition is still very competitive and will continue to be the life blood of our Test team.

Good start but then we struggling again. Going from 0/139 to a stumps score of 7/273 is just not good enough. We've won the toss 3 times now but it hasn't helped us. It doesn't seem that any of our batsmen can consistently get set on these tracks. We don't play spin well at all (apart from Clarke) Some of our batsmen look good for a while and then get caught at the crease. One of Cowan or Warner should have gone on and made a big one. Smith has looked ok on his return and has batted with good intent and has hit the ball well. If the tail can hang around with him he might get a decent score. The way they've talked about this track, we've missed out. At least 400+ could have been expected. It will be interesting to see how we bowl on this wicket.

Test cricket won't die. Not in the near future anyway. Who knows 30 or 40 years down the track? T20 may enhance Test cricket much like one-day cricket has (re scoring rates). Young blokes with talent today are going to bat with more and more intent to score quickly. It stands to reason with the riches on offer in t20. What if we regularly started seeing teams score 350 - 400 a day in Test cricket? With wickets falling at regular intervals? That's a good days entertainment ... Test cricket is still very popular here and in England. South Africa being strong helps the cause but it's India that might hold the key. If they can return to being a strong nation worldwide then that's got to help. The BCCI have got to make it attractive for the public to go to the games. Doesn't help when they often only sell 5 day ticket packages. The crowds in India used to be huge. It could be that in the future we might end up playing South Africa, India and England in Test cricket over a 3 year cycle instead of a 4 year cycle. In most people's eyes the Ashes is the 'biggie' and it is a big money spinner. As it is, we're playing England home and away over a 6 month period this time around and we're back there again in mid 2015. I do share your concern a little bit, but what can you do to stop t20? The public love it, the players like playing in it and they get handsomely paid. And the TV networks pay big money for the rights (ESPN paid 900 hundred million dollars for the rights to the IPL for 10 years - that's a lot of money) Ch9 look like getting on board with the Big Bash. Edit : You've got to wonder about the disciplines, the coaching and how the players generally prepare for games in the IPL and the other Leagues. It may or may not be that professional. If it isn't that 'professional' then there may lie the problem. Clarke and Arthur may want things done a certain way and that way may clash with the other team's professionalism in the other forms of the game.(specifically the t20 team's in the various League's)

Well we've got 3 forms of the game and the one that is by far the most lucrative overall is t20. And t20 can offer far more opportunities to make top dollar. There is big big money to be made in the IPL, Big Bash, English, South African, West Indies, New Zealand and even the Bangladesh Leagues. I heard Brad Hodge say a couple of years ago that he was playing in 6 x t20 Leagues. He would no doubt be getting quite well remunerated in all or most of these League's. There's even a League in New York. People can complain about t20 but it's only going to get more popular in my opinion. I can't see it's progression being curtailed. Many may not 'like' it but it probably won't make a scrap of difference. Already the West Indies Board are struggling to find dates to play Test cricket. A lot of their players are in demand for all the t20 Leagues. It doesn't help that they get paid a pittance to represent the Islands at Test level. I don't profess to know what the solution is but it's rather difficult to contain something that is becoming widely popular the world over. I much prefer to watch Test cricket but I do find t20 to be quite 'entertaining'. However, my overall view is more an observation on what is actually happening. You've now got a version of the sport that is packaged up into a far more 'convenient' 3 hour time span. With loads of action. It's no surprise to me that it's wildly popular. As I said, I have no idea how the relevant authorities and boards are going to manage it all. One thing I do know - money talks. Michael Clarke in the last few days made mention of the IPL as if it might be an intrusion or a distraction and I don't doubt him for a minute. However, Clarke himself could be playing in the IPL this season for a figure of $400,000 (for 6 weeks work) Ponting is playing for the same amount - $400,000. M Hussey, Johnson, Watson, Henriques are all signed up on nice deals. Maxwell is getting a cool million - wow !! Nice work if you can get it Or as Rickie Lee Jones once sang - "Easy Money" ! ps ... The IPL starts in 3 weeks. Other Test players who are involved are Warner, Hughes, Haddin, Harris, Marsh, Smith, Pattinson and Hilfenhaus. Along with Clarke, Maxwell, Watson, Henriques and Johnson, that makes up a fair slice of our available Test players. Normally these players could be expected to 'freshen up' before the Ashes campaign. Not so with the changing face of cricket.

Couple of big moves involving the 49ers, Vikings, Seahawks and the Ravens ... ... NFL notebook: Boldin, Harvin are sent on new routes

Seems the English are having a good laugh at our expense ... no wonder we want to beat them so much (although they've had a bit of success against us of late!) .... Poms gloat as Australian cricket team becomes a 'global laughing stock'

After a bit of time sifting through all the 'available' facts, the punishment does seem a little heavy handed. The penalties could have been kept in house and the punishment itself could have been of a more appropriate nature. Fines, early morning 10k runs, extra training sessions and the offenders could have been made to stand up in front of the group with a please explain. And we don't have to hear about it either - there's no need. To miss a Test match is not like missing a game of footy. It's more like missing 3-4 matches of footy (as a penalty). And there is no guarantee any of them would get automatically picked in the following Test. This is not to excuse the behavior of course, but the punishment seems a bit draconian - unless the issues and behaviors within the team are really bad. None of us have seen any evidence of really bad behavior. We have heard that there have been 'other' indiscretions - none of these being of a 'serious' nature according to Pat Howard (the C.A high performance manager). It seems the indiscretions are more of an accumulative nature. The fact is that we're being badly beaten in India. And that comes down to quite a number of factors, none the least being the 'actual' available talent in home/foreign conditions. India have us well covered. We are just not that good and have only one established world class player - Clarke. As for Micky Arthur, he has a very good record as a coach and maybe the players just haven't adapted to him like they should have. Just one thing though - Arthur did come out and say that Nathan Lyon was lacking 'confidence' after the 1st Test. Not sure he should have been making these comments in public for a few reasons. Again, that sort of thing should be kept in house. As it was, Lyon himself said that he wasn't lacking confidence at all. Anyway, they've made their decisions and we just have to get on with it. We can now expect all homework to be completed and handed in on time

Expecting a fair bit of fall out over all this. Quite a few ex players have weighed in

There is an accompanying interview with Michael Clarke in the following story. It does appear that there is a fair bit more involved to this story than what we first heard. Shane Watson is coming home as his wife is about to give birth. Fair enough. Australian Test captain Michael Clarke says high standards of team have not been maintained as four players dropped

Good point TGP ... I should have put the word 'possible' in my post ! Although if we count Warner and Clarke, we could have 6 'possible' spinners in the team !

There may have been other transgressions that we haven't heard about. Although Khawaja and Pattinson are fairly new to the system. I suppose protocol is protocol and if that's the way they do things now, fair enough. (especially if the players know what the consequences are) As I started reading the story, I half expected to read about a boozy night out with some team rules broken or such like. Anyway, the team will be a bit of a hotchpotch one. If Hughes doesn't play then we will go into the game with 4 spinners. As it is, at least 3 spinners have to play (I think) It might end up making the team more competitive (albeit by default) I guess Pattinson might have been rested anyway (for this Test). The other 3 players would have been favoured to play (Johnson the least likely)

You're probably on the money again, WJ. Uncanny! Who knows what they'll do now in all honesty. The selectors are impossible to read.

Yeah, Chappelli can be a bit of a 'Back in my day' sort of commentator and writer. I remember once hearing that Keith Miller went into the Australian rooms and said something like "Don't worry about what I've written about you in tomorrow's paper, it's all for show". I've paraphrased it a bit, but that was the jist of it. By the way, would have loved to have seen Miller play. He must have been some sort of player ... Anyway, it's certainly a 'different' way of being dropped. And they used to say that it was harder to get out of the side than into it ! It could mean that Lyon, Maxwell, Smith and Doherty all play? 4 spinners! Hughes was going to be dropped but that may change. Strange days indeed ...

Big news on the eve of the 3rd Test .... on the surface of it, it does seem like a somewhat 'over the top' decision, but I guess that's the way of the modern sporting landscape ... Australian cricketers Shane Watson, Usman Khawaja, James Pattinson and Mitchell Johnson axed from third Test in Mohali

The sport has always been about contested footy. One of the prime reasons we were a terrible team in the Bailey years was because we were deficient at 'hard ball gets', clearances and contested footy. Meanwhile, down at the Cattery, they were the best in those key areas .... except, many didn't really notice. We all saw the finished product from Geelong and the fantastic ball movement but they were the premier team with regards to contested possessions, hard ball gets and clearances. The stats back it up and besides, it was easy to see. A few coaches have tried to copy the Geelong model but their teams often left out the one key ingredient. Winning first use of the ball.

Ha ha ! It's frustrating trying to figure out where the Ref comes from ... Anyways, welcome to the 'NHL Short Season' thread, JJ (As opposed to the 'NHL' thread !) Multiple Hockey threads, whooda - thunkit! Get yourself a team and get on board! Sometimes the sport is better known as 'Violence on Ice' (for good reason!)