Geoff from Bruce Stadium's Roar Profile

Don’t think you are going to knock back Jack at a bargain basement price of 750K when his market value is over $1 mill. You find a spot for him somewhere.

Pressure Points: Wighton could be the last piece in Souths' jigsaw – or the albatross that will hang around their necks

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Up there with the Dogs having “more utilities than a Bunnings car park” and the Roosters’ premiership window being “more like a shutter flapping in a tropical breeze”. Mike has been on fire the past week or so.

Pressure Points: Wighton could be the last piece in Souths' jigsaw – or the albatross that will hang around their necks

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Don’t rate them. Which gives an indication of Souths lack of depth. Very good top 17 but if they get many injuries they could struggle.

Pressure Points: Wighton could be the last piece in Souths' jigsaw – or the albatross that will hang around their necks

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Not sure Jack it big enough for the back row. He ain’t no Koloamatangi in terms of size. But given how tough he is I can’t see why a move there couldn’t work.
Raiders fans often discussed whether we might be better off switching Jack to 13 – when he was stinking it up at 6 in 2023. His error count at 6 was ginormous with numerous kicks out over the touchline and passes that missed their target. If I recall Jack only played at 13 once or twice with Frawley at 6 and I can’t remember him setting the world on fire.
I think centre is his ideal position. Gives him a chance to run. And he will be lethal in defence. Souths back 5 would be formidable with Jack at left centre.
I’d only be playing him at 6 if Cody is injured or unavailable.

Pressure Points: Wighton could be the last piece in Souths' jigsaw – or the albatross that will hang around their necks

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Yeah – all good. Looking forward to a bit of a break around Xmas. Not far off hanging up the boots myself in terms of retirement from work. Maybe push through for another year and assess it then. Bit like Elliot Whitehead. Sounds as though he’s going to settle in Canberra. Likes the laid back lifestyle here – as do I.

Will be really interesting to see how the Dogs go – and my Raiders of course. Think there might be a bit of movement in positions 5 to 12 on the ladder in 2024 given the 3 teams who missed out on the 8 last year. Should be a really competitive season with new coaches at the Dragons and Tigers as well.

Surprised the Dogs haven’t been able to land a few forwards. We are chock a block with them but lacking a couple of quality back rowers. You’d think Gus would be ale to find something. I wonder if blokes like Gus read the Roar. You might be in the market for AFB from the Warriors in 2025 – if you can afford him!

I was impressed with Preston last season. And you did well getting Curran. I was hoping the Raiders would make a play for him. Have a good Xmas.

Pressure Points: If Ricky picked up his first wooden spoon, would his position at the Raiders be at risk?

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How have you been Baz? Excited by the new Bulldogs recruits- particularly all the utilities? Gus Gould is certainly leaving his mark on the tea. Massive turnover. Couldn’t understand why Averillo was let go. He looked like one of your strike weapons. And what is happening with your captain Faitala-Mariner? Seems to be on the nose with Gus. Do you rate him?

Pressure Points: If Ricky picked up his first wooden spoon, would his position at the Raiders be at risk?

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Surely not Kris back to full back. Can’t see him developing there. He’s a centre.

So its between Chevy Stewart and Xavier Savage for full back and between Kaeo Weekes and Ethan Strange for 5/8 for mine.

Pressure Points: If Ricky picked up his first wooden spoon, would his position at the Raiders be at risk?

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You’ve done your homework – all good points. I wasn’t proposing replacing either of them with Stoinis – just pushing him above them in one of the easier games to see how he went. You’ve made a pretty convincing argument for leaving him out of the ODI team.
Mind you I don’t think Green was doing any better at the World Cup. I really dislike the way he lunges forward with a forward defence to just about every ball he faces. He doesn’t seem to have any intent on rotating the strike or playing each ball on its merits. Its almost robotic and something he really needs to work on. Green gets bogged down too easily and then has to take risks to score.
A bit like how Mitch Marsh used to bat.
But Mitch seems to have improved his batting by being less predictable and adjusting his shots to the quality of the bowling.

Enough talent to fill three sides? How Australian cricket team would look if specialists filled each line-up

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Fair enough about his T20 form. Lets face it in the middle to lower order batsmen have little to no time to adjust and Stoinis has come up with some useful cameos of 30 and 40.
Perhaps in ODIs he could have had a crack higher up the order in front of Marnus and Smith in the World Cup to see what he could do when required to build an innings. All a matter of conjecture now given its done and dusted – but there were times when Smith and Marnus were labouring when someone with a higher strike rate could have pushed the scoring along.

Enough talent to fill three sides? How Australian cricket team would look if specialists filled each line-up

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He’s in the T20 team.

Enough talent to fill three sides? How Australian cricket team would look if specialists filled each line-up

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The strike rates of all three opening candidates have been very ordinary in the PM XI’s game. I guess they were all trying to preserve their wickets and build an innings but none are very inspiring choices to replace Warner. I guess Renshaw has his nose in front given he has batted for longer but you just wish we had more options to choose from.
Harris should be bottom of this list given the way he gave away his wicket to a loose shot. And don’t understand why he was so upbeat about his chances of selection in an interview at the end of the day’s

Enough talent to fill three sides? How Australian cricket team would look if specialists filled each line-up

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Neser at 6 in the Test side is just insanity. As is leaving out Hazlewood. You pick your best Test team first and Head and Hazlewood have to be in it.

And I’m just about over Stoinis. How is he getting a game for Australia in any format? He’s still dining out on a score of 146* in an ODI against NZ several years ago. He has a batting average of 30.5 in T20s and 27.0 in ODIs which are both pretty uninspiring. I guess we have to think about when he comes to the crease – probably in the last few overs in both formats – but I can’t remember the last time I saw him put together a substantial innings.

Enough talent to fill three sides? How Australian cricket team would look if specialists filled each line-up

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The Raiders forward pack is one of the strongest in the League and only gets better with the addition of Smithies from the UK. And impressive youngsters like Mariota and Mooney coming through.

The back row is a bit of a concern with really only Hudson Young, Elliot Whitehead and CHN to choose from. This is one area where they need more depth. Particularly if CHN has to call it a day on medical grounds. They wanted David Fifita but he knocked them back – twice!

As we are all aware its the quality of the spine which raises the most uncertainty.

Jamaal Fogarty is a solid 7 – particularly with his kicking game – and they have some depth in the hooker rotation with Woolford, Starling and Levi. They aren’t of the quality of Josh Hodgson at his peak but all bring something to the table. And young Trevilyan may be better than all of them.

Its the full back and 6 positions that are the most intriguing. Many are saying the Raiders chances for 2024 were done with Jack Wighton leaving but I think it could create opportunities. They have a number of players competing for these positions in Strange, Weekes, Stewart and Savage. And while they are inexperienced seeing some new faces in these positions is exciting – and scary at the same time.

For mine Jack checked out mentally mid season in 2023 which showed in his performances. Perhaps he’d already decided he was going. Jack wasn’t even rated in the top 10 Raiders players in Raiders supporters voting for player of the year – which is indicative of how poor his form was.

No doubt Ricky’s fate will rest on how well the youngsters go in 2024. They clawed their way to the near the bottom of the 8 in 2022 and 2023 after being 4th or 5th in 2019 and 2020. If it all goes pear shaped and they finish bottom he should answer for the performance – but there is every chance they will finish near the bottom of the 8 again. Is that sufficient to keep his job? Probably.

Pressure Points: If Ricky picked up his first wooden spoon, would his position at the Raiders be at risk?

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Spot on.

Pressure Points: If Ricky picked up his first wooden spoon, would his position at the Raiders be at risk?

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Not a great advertisement for the quality of the BBL.

Australia fail depth test with second-stringers spun out as India clinch series: 'They got hold of us and didn't let go'

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You wonder who will take Tex’s place once he retires. I guess Fogarty and Thilthorpe will have to step up.

Australia fail depth test with second-stringers spun out as India clinch series: 'They got hold of us and didn't let go'

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Good one.

Made some comments I thought were witty and realised they’d already been said and got rid of them. We must be all on the same wave length.

Watching the WBBL final tonight? Not much coverage of it on here.

Happy with the Crows recruitment? Looks like they picked up an Irish Gaelic footballer. Know anything about him?

Australia fail depth test with second-stringers spun out as India clinch series: 'They got hold of us and didn't let go'

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Australia fail depth test with second-stringers spun out as India clinch series: 'They got hold of us and didn't let go'

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I reckon the fast bowlers are pretty close as well. Bumrah and Shami had outstanding consistent tournaments whereas the Aussie fast bowlers only really came good in the finals.

Comparing Maxwell and Jadeja is difficult. Maxie can be outstansing with the bat but inconsistent and serviceable with the ball. Jadeja can contribute match winning efforts with both ball and bat.

And the Indian top 6 had outstanding tournaments. Making comparisons between a lot of them is difficult.

'India still best 50 overs team in the world': Former star blames 'sandpaper pitch' and toss of the coin for World Cup loss

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It comes down to who is the best team on the day – who prepared the best and who executed the best – and Australia beat India fair and squarely on both counts. Perhaps after 10 straight wins India were a little complacent and turned up expecting to win – just that slight loss of edge can contribute to a loss if the opposition seizes the initiative.

'India still best 50 overs team in the world': Former star blames 'sandpaper pitch' and toss of the coin for World Cup loss

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But the fact the Aussies inserted India made a bit of a statement. They took a punt that by doing so they could win the game. It would have been much easier to just bat first like 99% of people thought they should.

'India still best 50 overs team in the world': Former star blames 'sandpaper pitch' and toss of the coin for World Cup loss

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Not sure who writes the headlines for these articles but the Raiders didn’t let Jack go – they offered him a mill or more to stay and Jack rejected their offer to play at Souths for less money.

We’ll know next year if that decision will benefit the Raiders. But you would think a mill was too much for what Jack has been delivering in the past couple of seasons.

Smart Signings: Ricky's Raiders were right to let Wighton go - but they might not see the benefit for a while

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So India would have stuck Australia in. I don’t think so Sanjay. Wouldn’t have had the stones.

Easy to say this was the right decision in hindsight. Wasn’t looking like it when India scored 70 off the first 9 overs. That wicket of Sharma was the turning point followed by the indecisive batting partnership of Kohli and Rahul. And of course the wonderful bowling and fielding display by the Aussies.

'India still best 50 overs team in the world': Former star blames 'sandpaper pitch' and toss of the coin for World Cup loss

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Great article Ben. I have so much admiration now for Pat Cummins. Like you I was shocked that we had decided to bowl. I was at a concert and looked at the score and saw that we won the toss – and bowled. Surely not. It must have been a shock to the Indians as well you would have thought – and thrown some doubt about the quality of the pitch.
And the great thing was different players stood up at different times through the tournament – Warner, Head, Marsh, Maxwell, Marnus, Zampa, and eventually the triumvirate of fast bowlers – all had fantastic contributions. They weren’t relying on one or star batsmen or bowlers.
We were all in awe of India at the way they had crushed their opponents one by one for 10 successive games. But Australia had been building momentum as well with 8 successive wins. It was like an irresistible wave that peaked and came crashing down on India – and they failed to respond when it mattered most. One of the greatest sporting achievements I have ever seen.

I knew Australia's bunch of 'no-hopers' couldn't win the World Cup, right up until I knew they would

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Jack was never a natural 5/8 for mine. Has a great running and tackling game but has never had the kicking and passing skills of the great halves. Ricky tried his best to turn him into a half but it was never a natural fit.

He will probably flourish at Souths at centre where doesn’t have to worry with the responsibility of carrying the team.

Smart Signings: Ricky's Raiders were right to let Wighton go - but they might not see the benefit for a while

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