Macca

Well all that might do is make the ball swing even further ... technically, roughing up one side of the ball in a deliberate manner is illegal. To do both sides needs more than just rubbing the shine off as that shine can be retrieved with some elbow grease! Of course, I'm not suggesting that the umpires did an illegal act, more so doing what can be done illegally Bottle tops (Wasim), Zippers (Du Plessis) Dirt (Atherton) and Sandpaper (Warner/Bancroft) have all been caught using illegal methods roughing up one side of the ball So in effect, if that's what the umpires did, then they are showing their naivity to how a bowling team can gain an advantage Way back, the Indian spinners used to just rub the ball in the dirt near the popping crease (until that method was banned) A 40 over bowl has got to that stage through natural methods over a session and a half including being hit hard with a bat up to 240 times ... I'm not sure that sort of wear & tear can be reproduced in a short space of time. Effectively, the hardness gets knocked out of cricket ball over time Khawaja has been quoted as saying that the ball was no older than 8 overs old ... and he'd know. These blokes play cricket nearly every day in some sort of capacity

His opportunism includes seeing a spot in the forward line up for grabs ... and he's seized the moment It can happen in good teams such as ours ... a stellar defence and a terrific midfield so the coach asks for someone to put up their hand in the forward line So up steps Melk (and Petty) ... and Petracca. And then JVR jumps in with 4 goals as an add-on It's all coming together

And how about that Jake Melksham! What a turnaround in form that many here probably couldn't see (including myself) He's a dangerous commodity in that forward pocket/flank and opposition coaches would be damn concerned about his opportunism and silky skills Him on one side of the forward line and Fritsch (on his return) on the other side is what I'd like to see in operation There's no way Jake makes way for Bayley ... they both play as part of a medium sized forward line (along with Petracca) as well as the talls and smalls chiming in Beat that, Collingwood!

As someone else said here ... Grundy has provided great value in the sense that we've now got a fit & firing Gawn at the right time of the year Max looks totally rejuvinated and that couldn't have happened without a Grundy type to often take the burden And we can manage Gawn & Grundy ongoing for the next 4 weeks and then September So it's the sum of all the parts not the micro image that only the media want to see

I'm wondering if we are setting up Grundy to come in sooner or later as a type of utility Good to see Smith get a full game as he can play a variety of roles forward or back or as a type of link I reckon Grundy could play a similar role (but not the same role) as well as a bit of rucking

All players make errors, DJ

Because he had a good game

Harmes played quite well last week 19 possessions 4 clearances & 4 tackles So rightfully rewarded by the MC

When it was obvious that Jackson was off we made the play for Grundy So we can either hold Grundy to his contract (my preferred view) or we trade him out and get ourselves another ruckman (which is a must because if we don't bring in another ruckman, it will be Gawn on his own with maybe 1 or 2 years of prime production left) So unless we can get hold of another decent ruckman as back up to Gawn, I'd say we will simply declare Grundy as a required player and hold him to his contract It's not as if Grundy is being offered an $8Million contact elsewhere like Jackson was. That's not happening and other clubs will almost certainly want him cheap. So why sell him cheap? That's not good for business He's a keeper, all things considered and as others have said, he's got a good chance of being in the team in September anyway (but not right now)

Beat this one! We have never won a Friday evening encounter against any opposition whilst I've been drunk to the eyeballs! It has never happened and needs to be rectified quick smart

Any team, anywhere, anytime

The Poms were given a near new ball to replace a worn 40 over ball. The worst decision I've ever seen by officials. Both umpires should be admonished for their sheer incompetance The replacement ball given to the Poms was a monumental blunder

Well the first part of the equation has been accomplished, we got through to lunch unscathed All things considered, a very good result Interesting that Wood hasn't bowled yet as he is apparently being held back until the ball reverse swings. Might have been worth 2 or 3 overs before lunch regardless

As someone else mentioned here, good forwards relish body contact and JVR looks to have that quality at a young age At 22 - 25, lookout!!

So have we cured our forward line woes in one game? Looks like it to me especially with Fritsch to come back to add to the 4 or 5 standout contributors today And so accurate as well! The Tigers were under seige and when they did rebound, they couldn't get past their 50 metre arc with any sort of system Our 3 or 4 lines of defence kicked in from half way through the 3rd quarter and they (Richmond) had no answers And now we've got the good problem of not necessarily being able to fit Grundy in ... let the media get into a tiss about that as we go quietly about our business

Yes the rest of the white ball cricket is non memorable ... however, as much as it won't happen, I'd like to see the World Cup 50 over matches played on more bowler friendly wickets About 250 - 280 per innings makes for a better match Otherwise it's just bat vs bat ... Less is better And I agree that the WTC needs to be shared around in the future (after the June 2025 WTC) But let's hope that England never makes the final ... to do so for the next WTC they are probably going to have to beat India or Australia in a test series And their only series against either team before the next World Test Championship is @ India next Jan/Feb 2024 for 5 Tests (bazball against Jedeja, Ashwin & Azar Patel? Good luck on the dustbowls England) For us to nail down a spot would probably require a test series win against India in Australia in 2024/25 (5 Tests) The next World Test Championship is set down for June 2025 (Lords) ... India tour England in 2025 but 'after' the WTC At a guess, if India beat England and we beat India in the aforementioned test series', I can see a scenario where both Australia & India make the final again (as long as both teams take care of business against all the other test nations - which is more likely than unlikely) n.b. The next Ashes series is to be held in Australia in 2025/26

Yes, a monumental task chasing down this sort of total. Not confident but hopeful And I agree that we've been spooked by their batting approach. Our bowling plans accordingly have been poor and the field placements highly questionable We're going to need a big hundred from one of our batsmen and at least 3 other decent contributions of 50+ (or another big 100) And as you said, the pitch is playing well but the task is about concentration & temperament as we've got 2 days to get the runs But from an overall point of view, at the start of the series if you'd offered me the Ashes with a 2-2 result I would have taken it in a heartbeat Winning the Ashes to me is like beating India in a test series (home or away) or perhaps even winning the ODI world cup* (in a traditional sense) Not quite as good as winning a footy GF but if we'd won 4 or 5 flags since '64, all the aforementioned wins and the GF would have the same value (in my view) I'm a test cricket fanatic!! I'm excited about the world test championship too looking ahead ... another huge achievement whenever we can win that match But for now, we need to at least make a game of it tonight. We do not want to fall short by a big margin *The ODI World Cup is on this year being hosted by India ... begins October 5th

Match has got right away from us in that session ... bowling was poor right from the get-go Disappointing as the bowlers need to be ready to go - there are no warm-up deliveries at this level but as well as that, the bowling lacked penetration

The pitch might be a bit up and down by days 4 & 5 as well than suiting the spinners. So as you said, it's only Root that we have to be concerned about and not Moeen But in that scenario all their quicks come right into it with variable bounce being a factor (if it happens) Winning the toss and bowling first can always bring trepidation if you have to chase 250+ in the 4th innings To me being level after the first innings means the team batting second needs to be about 60 or 80 ahead But that's just my opinion @grazman

Yeah I picked up on what you think of bazball but there are any number of people who seem to like it (for now) But those who relish the battle between bat & ball are already questioning it's worth T20 cricket is already effecting 50 over cricket (not that that bothers me) so what chance has 5 days of a batathon got? It's the classic be careful what you wish for' Having said all that we dagged around way too much in the first session last night and we should have at least been pushing for singles But we managed to post a decent score so it's game on but advantage England as we do have to bat last Probably need to restrict them to under 300 but if the pitch starts playing up, chasing anything above 250 could be problematical

Good Bazball suits those with attention deficit disorder Can't stand it and it won't last (unless people want to watch another version of white-ball type cricket on flat decks with the bowlers being used as cannon fodder) Leave me out of that garbage #PrepareGreenTopsWithHeapsOfBounce

I see bazball as a threat to traditional test cricket. And I don't like it anyway We do not need another version of white-ball cricket played on flat decks In the end, people will get bored with all the runs (with very little in it for the bowlers) So are we going to see test cricket as a battle between bat and bat with the bowlers acting as cannon fodder as it is in white-ball cricket? Leave me out of that rubbish The tracks in England have all been roads and we've seen very little seam movement and not much spin The Poms seem to have an obsession with runs, runs and more runs. There's even another version of t20 in England called the '100' ... 16.4 over cricket. Why? India are the same with their obsession with more runs except their test match tracks are very difficult to bat on being spin friendly I'd like to see all our wickets in Australia revert back to the way they once were ... seam & bounce in Perth & Brisbane. Spin friendly in Adelaide and seam & spin in Sydney. As for Melbourne ... prepare a green-top with bounce Let's see how your bazball goes in those conditions! Make it harder for the batsmen, not easier. A top level batsman can still score a century in bowler friendly conditions

Now there's a great team ... not so strong in the forward line but the forward line's collective best was reasonably good to quite good (when comparing to great forward lines that we've seen across all the teams) You've had to leave some good players out too ... Sparrow, Jordon, Bowey, Hunt, Grundy, Hunter etc etc but the exercise illustrates the point that we've built from the backline & midfield with the current outfit But if one of JVR or Jefferson turns up trumps and we recruit a top quality KPF this off-season, we're going to be in contention for quite some time Replacing May down the track is the question ... but there's nothing stopping us getting a May type in the same way we acquired May himself (was it pick 5?)

Again, a very good team but premiership worthy? Can't see it and history tells us that we never really were a serious challenger for the flag So the Reverend did about as well as anyone could have given the lack of A & B+ talent The backline just wasn't anywhere near strong enough but as individuals, they ranged from solid to reasonably good to quite good Compare that backline to our current backline ... poles apart Midfield compared to our current 7 rotated midfielders falls short too. But the Daniher led midfield wasn't too shabby I'd have the forward line though .... easily better than our current set-up Put that forward line into our current team and I'm not sure we'd lose many games at all Talent is the key but before you have that talent you need a great recruiting team ... and that's what we have now So the future under Goodwin looks rosy. I like that we may be going after another possible future star in Harley Reid ... it tells the football world that we are not going to sit back. We aim to get better

Thanks Werridee, you've done well That's quite a good team and because we have fond memories of all the players you've listed, it's hard to do critical analysis All the players when playing at their best, were all very good But where we fell down was when we were up against other teams of similar ilk (you win some, you lose some) and then when up against teams who at their best, were superior For instance, in '87, Carlton was a tremendous team as were the Hawks In '88 we managed to get past teams around our mark but the Hawks were waiting for us in the GF Cats & Hawks were both really good in '89 and it all came together for the Pies in 1990 Hawks again (and the Eagles) were better teams in '91 So we were a very good team but not quite good enough But extremely well coached So ... if we insert May, Lever, Petracca, Oliver and Kozzie into that team, the team suddenly can take on all comers Who goes out, Werridee? haha