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Joined January 2014
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I love the history & the future sport of my sports. Most of my thoughts are based on what happened before. I've got most of the Jack Dyer books if not all, AFL Cricket and horse racing. I played Australian Rules and for a fair bit of my teenage and adult life and was a very good player at the lowest level. High point being at Coorparoo and trained under Carl Ditterich. (and we got on). I do have regrets that I never played senior QAFL football as an adult due to being a shiftworker and could not train. Highly regarded by my team mates I found out at later birthday parties. Played warehouse cricketer for a few years as an opener and my shot was a push into covers. Terrible in the field and couldn't bowl. Played A grade Tuesday night Tennis and my high point was being beaten by Rugby League great Brian Neibling. I met Leigh Matthews at a book signing last year and when we started talking we held up the queue. I said "Leigh , there's a lot of people behind me now" Cool . Horse Racing is my favourite sport. Love it. I'm a very small punter. Tend to have doubles and trebles so with multiple horses in each leg I'm unlikely to talk through my pocket. Love Group 1 racing yet my favourite jockey is Christian Reith and has been since his apprenticeship. He has 2 Group 1 wins. Don't think the size of the bet indicates anything about knowledge of the sport. I'm a big believer in that you can compare eras. If you were good enough in 1950 you will be good enough win 2020 with the advancements in everything. Jim Cassidy was riding Group1 winners 2 eras ago and Dustin Fletcher was taking grabs 2 eras ago. Phar Lap , Carbine , Makybe Diva & Peter Pan usually are the top four in most assessments of the Melbourne Cup winners. My twitter handle is MJSteel86 and most of my comments on that are more of an off the wall nature. I discovered THE ROAR through twitter and think it's a great asset to sports writing, especially as I've been very critical of trashy newspaper sports articles.
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We had some great racing on Derby Day – and some great wins for punters, with $6.00 plus favourite Ace High winning the big…
Liverpool Football Club have the legendary 'You'll Never Walk Alone', The Boston Red Sox have 'Sweet Caroline' and Port Adelaide have 'Never Tear Us…
Every now and then there's a conversation about the best team of the year, the decade or the century. This piece, however, is not…
When picking a sportsman for a team, performance is the key. A player performs at a level that stands out and eventually he finds…
Why do most umpires start their international career past the age of 40? I am 54 and have had poor eyesight for ten years,…
I'm not the type to raise my voice and make a noise in the TAB when the horses I back are running. If I…
At the grand old age of 28, Rough Habit passed way. He was humanely euthanised after going blind and having severe feet problems. Rough…
The annual Brownlow Medal presentation is not just an award night for the best and fairest player of the season, but a celebration of…
George Moore (119), Roy Higgins (108), Jim Cassidy (102) and Damien Oliver (101) are the four great jockeys to reach the 100 Group 1…
Every year I have a discussion or argument with myself about two of Australia's greatest races. They are the Cox Plate and the Australian…
In 1993 Malcolm Blight offered the full forward spot to 32-year-old Gary Ablett in a move to prolong his career and the rest is…
John Coleman has been honoured again by being inducted into the AFL's 200 CLUB. He played 98 games and coached 91 for Essendon so…
Donald Bradman, the prolific young talent of his era, made his Test debut at number six. So did other prolific young talents like Neil…
Lillee, McGrath Thomson and Lindwall are greats.
Mitch comes into that next category which is headed by Alan Davidson and McDermott
Not a great, but Mitchell Johnson was very, very good
100 different people would come up with 100 different teams.I’d have Mark Taylor as opener and captain for starters, but others may go G Chappell or Border.
WACA Test to be his last: Mitchell Johnson retires from cricket
Mitchell Johnson has been the most exciting Aussie bowler of his era. He will enjoy raking in the big bucks for 4 over spells in Indian cricket and good luck to him.
WACA Test to be his last: Mitchell Johnson retires from cricket
This summer is the summer for picking new players and looking to the future. As a coach ( if the coach has any input) Lehmann would be looking at a way forward and not going back to Marsh or Siddle in the next test.
Shaun Marsh is not the man to replace Khawaja
Smith doesn’r have to do anything to win this test. Play it out for a draw. It about the series not about a result today.
Australia’s 'play to win’ mantra tested by Black Caps in Perth
The Kiwi commentators are hoping for a generous declaration. Australia will bat on until way after lunch and give them a maximum of 50 overs to hit whatever, Smith is much more conservative than Clarke.
Australia vs New Zealand highlights: Second Test - Day 5 cricket live scores, blog
Reseach won the 1988/89 horse of the year ahead of Vo Rogue. A 3 year old filly she won the Flight and Wakeful Stakes, VRC and AJC Oaks and AJC Derby. Sounds impressive and it is, but they all races for 3 year olds. Vo Rogue was beating horses such as Super Impose who never finished ahead of Vo Rogue in any race, and I love Super as much as i love Vo Rogue.
Three Wide No Cover: Awards, awards and raspberries!
Gillon McLachlan has shown t o be quickly reactive to a few happenings which aren’t really big issues. Like Lachie Henderson and now the resting of players. Time for the CEO to act like a CEO and look at issues from all aspects.
AFL boss suggests fixture reform
The other part of this is that those players who replace the rested players will be doing their most to impress the coach and selectors.
Fremantle and North Melbourne were both playing to win because it’s necessary to go into a game with a winning mentality. The fact that they were most likely going to lose is irrelevant. They’d earned their finals berth. But the players brought in would have been seen this as their best opportunity all year to show what they can do.
I rest my case - the flag is more important than the final week
You said it all Michael.
There are eight teams left and eight coaches left. Those coaches are playing for a premiership and how they go about in round 23 due to their circumstances is purely a choice about getting to and winning a grand final. It’s very rare that a team can rest players before round 23 although Geelong was so far ahead in one of their premiership years that were able to do it.
The teams in the top eight are vying for a chance at a premiership. This is not an issue.
On today’s Offsiders ABC resting was compared to tanking.
Tanking is a bottom side losing in order to gain a better draft pick. That’s an issue,.
Resting players for the chance of a premiership. Not an issue.
I rest my case - the flag is more important than the final week
Back in the 60’s when the 2 worst teams in the VFL were North Melbourne and South Melbourne, the legendary Jack Dyer would say in making his election for when these two teams met “Whoever gets the wind in the first quarter will win this match”
That sums up this pathetic test series. Whoever got the wind in the first session won.
Encouraged by the fifth Test? No, it’s the deadest of dead rubbers
Once we get the term “dead rubber” erased from cricket stories the better. I hope Peter Nevill becomes a successful “back stop”.
Dead rubber a test of character: Clarke
This could be a great test. I just hope I don’t read the term “dead rubber’ over the next few days. Nothing makes me want to “throw up”: more than that term,
Ashes highlights: England vs Australia 5th Test - Day 1 scores
Apologies, I was editing and ran out of time to whilst cleaning up some typo’s and tightening up some points.
The elephant in the room: Is Boof to blame?
No. Darren Lehmann is not to blame.
As a coach he has no say in the batting order, that’s for the captain..
In bowling e has no say in who takes the new ball, has no say in or bowling changes and fielding positions.
These are all the responsibilities of the captain.
I don’t know but even greats such as Shane Warne and Ian Chappell have a major issue with the position.
My opinion is that Lehmann is not the problem in this instance it’s the “word “COACH which is the problem
Take 2 great football coaches. Mick Malthouse and Tim Sheens.
They called all the shots.
They would have had a major say in selection. Had skills coaches to support them at training and on game day they were kings. They called all the shots, and the reward was a fair slice of the glory when winning and blame when losing.
When that was taken away from them and they were given the role of director of coaching they quit their clubs.
They were no longer in charge. They would not accept “Director of coaching”
To me , Darren Lehmann is the “Director of Coaching” .
Has he failed at that level with the team he has I’d say not. They’ve lost against good opposition or the away games and won against lesser opposition or the home games.
I’m a great Michael Clarke fan yet feel that he has played injured and I mean injured so that he is not effective enough to bat and concentrate for 3 hours when that is what is required.
I would love to read an article which explains what a coach does, from Bobby Simpson to John Buchanan to Darren Lehmann because I like many others, including many greats, I really don’t know what he does.
The elephant in the room: Is Boof to blame?
Terry. you are 100% right. It’s not about Boof, It’s fictitious. Even though John Buchanan has the greatest “coaching record” in the history of any sport apparently 75% winning rate , Shane Warne says he did nothing for them and Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting said he was a performance analyst.
How to select the Australian coach
I just heard something quite amazing from Bruce McAvaney and that was Richmond and Hawthorn have never met in a final. I’m not doubting him at all.
Hawthorn won premierships in 1971, 76 78 and 82 83
Richmond won premierships in 73 74 and 80
And yet throughout that period they never met in a final.
This was the era of the final 5 which makes it all the more interesting.
[VIDEO] Hawthorn Hawks vs Richmond Tigers highlights: AFL scores, blog
I liked your article Stephen. I know that Kim publicly stated he dreamed of being Australian captain and I think he was hated partly due being open to this, No one deserves opening their cricket bag to find that a team mate has done a crap in it. Or was that old school, tough love.
His not 100 out of 200 against the West Indies in 1981/82 is seen by many as the best century ever hit on Australian soil, so he has that to his credit
How Ian Chappell and Kim Hughes taught me about hate
I find it a strange comment.
Barassi, Nicholls and Walls were not proven coaches when they coached Carlton to their fllags. Parkin was the only one.
What you need is a hungry coach. Over the past ten years , whenever the media spoke to Leon Cameron I I thought no one is hungrier for coaching success than this bloke and now he’s doing good things with GWS.
Dennis Pagan was a proven coach.
Carlton should chase John Worsfold: John Elliott
The Mick Malthouse career parallels THE SIMPSONS
Both started promisingly in the late 80’s
Both peaked in the mid 90’s
Had some highs and lows for ten years before another taste of big success in late 2000’s
Have broken all the records.
They’re still around at prime time but no one’s watching.
Records or no records, Malthouse shouldn't survive another week
Very good article and good luck Liz.
Right now I love competing, and that's enough for me
I’ve written 9 articles for the Roar, they might be good they might be bad, but if there’s any integral hatred in any of them I haven’t noticed. In fact I’d say the opposite.
Why can't we support more than one AFL team?
I think he was better than Lee.
Not a great, but Mitchell Johnson was very, very good