Diamond_Jim

Pre bye I was looking forward to this game as an opportunity to emphatically prove that the pre-bye form of the team was an aberration. Please forgive my stupidity.

the revenge of the green top no doubt what instructions went out re the pitch but this sucks I think we will need a 400 lead lot of cricket in this game with the sun shining brightly

and all out for 67 now I'm scared what do Oz need to score in the second innings

yep very strange Was a nice high scoring game for a while and now...nothing

Great first hour for the Aussies. Would be nice to have England 5 for at lunch. PS and now 4 for .. yeahhhhh Must say Labuschagne reminds me of this golden oldie....

underwhelmed but perhaps he'll be decent in the caretaker role post bye next year. Yep MFCSS is my mantra Seriously though what benefit does a sacked coach bring to a dysfunctional playing group. He comes with no authority or credibility. It has echoes of Mc Cartney which didn't end well. Mind you he was pretty good at outcoaching Goodwin on so many occasions. Just shows really how shallow the professional pool is.

This round is big in the South Australian context. Could see the demise of one if not two coaches.

I'd prefer Scott of the NM variety... say what you will but he maximised the output from a less than star studded playing group. Suspect he's hanging out for Freo or maybe even one of the SA jobs

hope so not a great start but it could have been worse...Warner not looking comfortable

So much for that weather forecast of 26 each day. England win the toss and put us in. Big first session if and when it starts

not unusual in business for a first year CEO to do some significant write down of assets so as to start from a lower base. Business 101 The drop in revenue from those last three MCG games would also be significant as we have discussed

yep....bring on the 17 round fixture

Macca ... there is a variable distribution system and there is no doubt we benefit from it more than say West Coast or Essendon. Here's an excellent analysis: Teams who receive the most structural support unsurprisingly includes the expansion teams GWS and Gold Coast, as well as the four small-market Victorian teams in St Kilda, the Bulldogs, North Melbourne and Melbourne. The good news is that we are the best of the bottom four Melbourne clubs. http://www.hpnfooty.com/?p=31622

we have way too many injury prone players on our list. You can carry one project injury player maybe two but not the four or five we have. Would not surprise me if we were having serious discussions with AVB. Joel Smith is the other interesting one along with KK. I expect J Smith gets a guernsey because with the departure of Tim S and Kielty our forward tall back up situation is desperate. (Trading aside.)

Just checked the Headingley weather forecast. 26 degrees each day and no rain. I suspect it will be a green wicket for day 1at most and then dry out with spin and variable bounce on day 5. Interesting decision as to whether to bat or bowl if we win the toss. An interesting piece of trivia.. Only two of the last five Ashes series in England have featured Leeds Tests; on both occasions the team that won at Headingley lost the series – England in 2001 and Australia in 2009. https://www.cricket365.com/pitch-report/pitch-report-2019-ashes-series-headingley-leeds/

add to that the lack of competition for most spots in the side and you have a recipe for mediocrity

All a ruckman has to do is halve the contest and prevent a perfectly accurate hit out to advantage. Then it comes down to round the ground play. Some would say round the ground play comes first. The tall who is good below his knees is probably the hardest player to find. Most are like giraffes. From the little I have seen of Bradtke he is of the giraffe family for example but hopefully he develops. Max plays well but the fact that we cannot seem to leverage his dominance is one of the most frustrating aspects of our gameplan (mind you there are a lot of frustrations these days.)

No one killed bambi. It was Bambi's mother who was killed Have been saying the bolded bit for months

The first two finals in 87 were incredible and then of course the third at Waverley is probably the most memorable for the vast majority of MFC fans.

but I thought we were on the Buckley/Hardwick train and ?this is just a learning year

It is being reported that the Freo CEO has also been sacked https://au.yahoo.com/sports/ross-lyon-sacked-fremantle-dockers-steve-rosich-021220243.html According to reports, Fremantle chief executive Steve Rosich has also been terminated with the team missing the finals for the fourth consecutive season. The club will hold a press conference at 3pm AEST.

Has been an excellent deal for the club.Many have criticised him at times but the real criticism rests in the fact that in years 2 and 3 no player pushed him out of the side. Thanks Jordan

add in Georgia but I agree good choices you suggest. Pakistan and Turkey are my new frontiers for the coming year. And my two top destinations for travellers.... Moscow and Lake Toba (world's largest volcanic lake on the island of Sumatra...think Bali without the masses of tourists.)

Another solid year by Casey. It's an entertaining competition. On Preuss,he needs some heavy analysis by experts to determine what changes are needed. For total dominance at this level to turn into irrelevance at AFL level there has to be something more. Sure he may not be a star but he should be capable of being a reasonable cog. Thanks KC and to all the caterers at the various VFL grounds for their diverse offerings from Burra Burgers to Egg and Bacon rolls and not forgetting the Frankston sausage sizzle. Footy at it's simplest

Drunkn your support for your brother and your contribution to this board have been second to none. You should be proud of Dec as I am sure you and your family are. Best of luck to Dec and yourself in the future and I am sure you will always be welcome on the board at anytime.