Roar Rookie
Joined January 2019
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If I wrote this at the start of the season, I’d get shot down as “Mad!” and told “Impossible!” However, one of the biggest…
Australia’s best hope will be to swallow their pride and fight Bazball with Bazball. They ain’t going to draw in a fit if the weather holds, and wont win at 3ish per over, so may as well go Bazball and see how the Pommie bowlers cope. And they’ve definitely got the batters to do it. Better to be bowled out for 300 off 60 overs than 300 off 90
Aussies Bazballed again as Root, Bairstow and Crawley power England towards series-levelling win
The media bagged Stokes for not batting longer in the First Test, now Tim is saying he should’ve declared early in the Fourth Test. Stokes can’t win!
What makes people think Australia would have batted worse if Stokes declared early? Because that’s what it would have taken to eek a victory.
Aussies were 5/214 when the rain intervened. Let’s say Stokes declared at lunch with the lead at 189. Poms would have got an extra 13 or 14 overs at the Aussies.
Australia were batting for draw and looking reasonably solid too. So, would not have likely been bowled out. But if they were, they’d only have a few overs to chase – but would Australia been allowed to bowl their quicks?
The English spinners bowled the last 12 overs. So, Cummins would have brought himself and Starc on, the umpires would have said, “Gotta bowl spinners if you want to keep bowling today” and Cummins woulda said “No dice, we’ll try again tomorrow” and the umpires would have called bad light to end day four 12 overs earlier than it did.
Basically, there wasn’t enough time no matter when Stokes declared.
I suspect they put on as many runs as they could to try to break the Aussies’ spirit to make it easier to bowl them out. Chasing 275 to stay in the game is more demoralising than 189, or less.
'Stokes put his mate over the Ashes': The Pommy and the Aussie chat late declarations, retained urns and more
I see this exact system I proposed three years ago is now being considered by the AFL!!!
Nice to know someone at the AFL reads The Roar!
Tho they do claim to have been thinking about it since 2015. ????
Seventeen-five? The way to securing a better 22-round fixture
If Warner gets dropped for either of the next two Tests, does that count as another dismissal by Broad? 😁
But seriously, if Warner wants to retire in the summer, time for him to do a tactical hammy
Stuart Broad's match referee dad in hot water with ICC over savage Warner social media post
The Pommie selectors have their own pig-headedness to deal with too that has proved very costly.
Does anyone else think Bairstow should be Man of the Series? I mean… if it goes to the person who most influences the outcome… 😂
Turning a blind eye to Warner’s woes proving costly for Aussies - as McDonald sticks his head in sand yet again
“The selectors could consider playing both Marsh and Green in the middle order and reinstate Travis Head to opener, a role he filled admirably in India.”
This is exactly what they should do. Play the players with form. Harris is an unknown right now, and having two world class all-rounders is an opportunity not to be ignored.
Be interesting to see what selectors do tho if Poms somehow win this and the next one, and we’re off to The Oval 2-2 and Warner still with no big score in the Fourth Test.
If Aussies win here though, then the selectors won’t feel any need to drop Warner no matter what, since the Ashes will be won. And then they’ll give him the home Tests he needs to retire at the SCG.
It must really p*ss off guys like Ian Healy and Brad Hodge who were shown no such favours.
Turning a blind eye to Warner’s woes proving costly for Aussies - as McDonald sticks his head in sand yet again
Big fan of Bazball but…
If you’re gonna play the game, boy
You gotta learn to play it right
You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away and know when to run
Poms stopped playing Bazball and just went nutsball.
This shouldn’t be the death of Bazball, they’ve just got to learn from this and refine it.
One thing they do need to do is drop the off field arrogance!
Bazball, or Brainlessball? England implode in 15 overs of 'pure stupidity' to gift Aussies golden chance at 2-0 lead
“Most of all, that will require two teams who… are at the moment when battle is joined, utterly desperate to win and terrified of the alternative.”
On that I disagree. England were most certainly not “terrified” of losing, and I didn’t think Australia were either.
My impression were both teams were not afraid to lose, but yes, both desperate to win.
On Bazball, I am a big fan. My only concern is idiots in administration will see it as a way to justify 4 day Tests, forcing every Test to follow the same script, so Tests just become 4 day T20s.
Why Bazball will never save Test cricket - and England didn't 'win' no matter what they claim
The one thing you’ve overlooked though is it’s getting harder for interstate teams to win premierships at the MCG.
Most of the data to support your argument is 17 to 33 years old.
Since 2007, only 2 interstate teams have won flags at the MCG from 10 attempts.
And they were margins of only 10 points and 5 points. Whereas the losses have included 119, 63, 46, 48, 89 and 81.
In the previous 17 grand finals 1990 – 2006), interstate teams won 10 of 16 (1991 was played at Waverley)
So, it’s clearly become harder for interstate teams in the last decade and a half to to come to the MCG and win the flag.
Does hosting the grand final at the MCG really provide an advantage for Victorian teams?
Slag Bazball all you like, but I’m an Aussie, I’m a fan, and I hope it succeeds.
Also, before slagging it, you might want to remember that McCullum’s motivation for this approach to cricket, where you play for the love of it, and to entertain, where you don’t treat winning or losing like life and death, was the death of Phil Hughes. Bazball honours the memory of Hughes by saying there’s more important things in life than winning a game of cricket.
It seems to me a lot of Australians tho take Bazball very personally, like it’s a personal insult to them and every thing they believe about how Test cricket should be played, and look for every opportunity to slag it off.
Hopefully it’s here to stay.
'It might not survive': Bazball is a cult and Poms should be embarrassed about claiming they're Test cricket's saviours
“…Christian Salem accepted a $3000 penalty for striking…”
What the absolute eff? This is a story too that’s being missed. Striking another player – a deliberate act, an unfair act, a non-football act – gets a fine, but an accident executing a football act gets a suspension.
A player can win the Brownlow after being fined for an unfair act, but another player who gets suspended for a week for an accident is ineligible.
What the hell is the point of having a best and fairest?
AFL News: Sicily verdict sparks outcry- 'this is the modern game' as Hawks and Tigers appeal bans, Magpies duo staying
“…here is a strong chance if Sheed pushed his kick wide and the Magpies held on to win by one point, Buckley would still be coaching…”
Or not. He took that same team to 17th two years ago. So more likely this article would be about Buckley. Tho’ for sure he’d take it if it meant he had the flag.
TOM MORRIS: Adam Simpson is exhausted and the Eagles are a rabble. It's time for an amicable split
Interesting article. Nice work.
One little picky thing, but Pies were not first on the ladder after 3 rounds, and Saints were not second. Saints were first by 0.8%. Can I say “Rookie mistake”? 😂
The breakout players for each club through the first three rounds
Cats are not looking up to full match fitness yet. Faded against Collingwood. Couldn’t finish the job against the Blues after getting the margin down to 10 points at the 3 min mark of the 4th quarter. Wouldn’t be concerned yet if I was a Cats fan
Footy Fix: The Blues took 21 Cats to the cleaners. The 22nd nearly won it for them anyway
Flyball 😊
Footy Fix: The Pies aren't just great - they're exactly what footy has needed for a decade
Brave call. A quick google found plenty of articles writing Geelong off last year, including on The Roar.
Why Brisbane is one of the biggest losers of the 2022 Trade Period
It’s fun googling reviews of the Cats’ 2021 season. Just commenting so you can enjoy too. (It is a shame Cats lost Clark, but he prob wouldn’t have cracked the flag 22 this year anyway, unfortunately)
Geelong Cats season 2021 review: Old heads fail to prevail again
One step back, two steps forward 😊
Geelong Cats season 2021 review: Old heads fail to prevail again
I understand the technical reasons why Gold Coast packaged pick 7… but it does seem extreme. Given Bowes had been of interest to the Cats for a while, did they need such a tantalising sweetener? And Bowes was always going to choose the Cats. The rest was theatre to make it look genuine.
Call me a conspiracy theorist but… makes you almost wonder if Suns had some long stand favour they owed the Cats… ????
AFL Trade Period power rankings: The team that cleaned up... and the one that just got nuked, AGAIN
If I don’t generalise a bit, i’ll write some long boring detailed essay that no one will want to read! 😂
Trade BOMBSHELL: Roos' No.1 pick seeking return home
What’s being ignored is it was untenable for Thorburn to take a high profile position at an organisation that actively promotes gay pride, whilst chairman of a church that openly preaches against homosexuality.
There is no way whatsoever that that church could have kept him as chairman if he continued with the Essendon CEO role.
Surely, any member of that church would be very uncomfortable with it.
If they tried to argue it was a personal matter, and not up to them to speak out, judge or interfere, then that would be very hypocritical to their stance on abortion and homosexuality as they are not granting those people the same freedom of being a personal matter.
So, it is disingenuous for Thorburn or Dutton or Guy or anyone to say his “‘personal Christian faith is not tolerated or permitted in the public square” when his church should have given him the same ultimatum to choose.
McLachlan defends Bombers' call on 'first-class person' Andrew Thorburn as politicians fume
Yep, gotta be more protections for clubs. The weaker clubs end up just becoming academies for the bigger clubs.
Trade BOMBSHELL: Roos' No.1 pick seeking return home
…after Marley ???????? You don’t even have to finish the sentence “The movie that made me bawl was…” and people interject “Marley & Me”!!!
And agree, they were comforting each other. He felt acutely responsible for her husband and his best mate’s death. She wasn’t holding him responsible, so he was taking it twice as hard as her. Thus it could look more like she’s comforting him.
Five Top Gun quotes that perfectly explain the AFL finals
If you compare averages for goal kickers between the ’70s-’90s, and the 2000s-’20s, and then extrapolate… Buddy could have kicked 1600 or 1700 goals in the earlier era. Mind blowing.
AFL News: Bye, bye Buddy - legend's career call, Zorko accuses rival of 'grab the groin and squeeze' tactics