Roar Guru
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Welcome back to this weekly column on the National Football League, a cocktail of light-hearted musings, analysis – and of course gambling. Yes, I've…
Welcome to this weekly column on the National Football League, a cocktail of light-hearted musings, analysis - and of course gambling. Let's kick-off. First…
The last ten years as a Brisbane fan have been nothing but pain and suffering. The odd memorable win here and there doesn’t mask…
The Pittsburgh Steelers are obsessed with the Patriots, largely because New England has had the wood over Pittsburgh in recent times, including the AFC…
When the Patriots are down late in the fourth quarter, Tom Brady grabs his helmet, turns to his offensive line, and channels another Goliath…
Woulda, shoulda, coulda. To quote Rowan Atkinson's Blackadder, looking at a draft retrospectively is the most pointless exercise "since ‘Hhw to learn French' was…
The more things change, the more they stay the same, and no team recognises this more than the New England Patriots, who consistently contend…
Only a lunatic would have traded a seat at Hawthorn's dining table for Brisbane's trough last year, but right now Chris Fagan is probably…
It's late on day four of the Oval Test. Mitchell Marsh is in the midst of a bludgeoning rear-guard as Australia recover from a…
Sadly for Brisbane Lions fans, the only 'Hometown Glory' the Gabba has seen in recent years was on Saturday night, when Adele performed in…
Steven Smith has 26 international 100s, an average over 60 and he’s already well on his way to becoming one of Australia’s all-time great…
Wes Welker wrote the book on playing slot receiver in the NFL but now his replacement in New England, Julian Edelman, is producing the…
One hundred and ninety-nine. To NFL fans, particularly from Boston, this number is as synonymous as Sir Donald Bradman's 99.94 batting average is to…
Six years ago, Alex Witherden remembers being a wide-eyed 12-year-old watching Dayne Beams trot around the MCG as Collingwood won the flag. On Saturday…
While the rest of the AFL world was busy scrutinising the academy system, Brisbane quietly went about finding gems in its unofficial pool of…
Phillip Hughes was earmarked from a young age as Australia’s next champion batsman, tipped to follow in the steps of Ricky Ponting and Michael…
In recent years the Brisbane Lions have built a reputation of being comeback kings, but the side's stagnation since 2010 points to a flawed…
With the 2015 tournament wrapped up, the Aussies can begin preparing for their World Cup title defence in England. Michael Clarke has retired from…
Who is going to bowl an underarm delivery for the penultimate ball? Who will put a squash ball in their glove and score a…
And then there were four. The 2015 Cricket World Cup semi-finalists have been decided, so I'm here to breakdown each side's chances. Australia, India,…
Wade was solid in India. His keeping was passable and he did okay with the bat, not great. It’s really a toss of the coin who we go with for the Ashes but Wade as the incumbent probably has first crack
Sorry Nev, Wade has booked his Ashes place
The closest you’ll get to this happening is England at The Oval in ’05 when Collingwood replaced Simon Jones
Dharamsala's pacy pitch set to favour Aussies
Yeah I agree. I read your optimistic Brisbane prediction and wondered who you had below them – I think the Suns are guaranteed to be better than the Lions.
When comparing this year and last, the only real loss will be Prestia – Malceski (form and injury) and O’Meara weren’t factors. You also consider they’ve added Barlow, Hanley, Lyons, Witts, and four top 10 picks, it’s hard to see them not getting better. That’s on top of returning players like Swallow and Ablett.
While I don’t think they’ll play finals I could definitely see them in the top half of the bottom 10
2017 season preview: Gold Coast Suns
Working on his game at First Class level is a start, but Marsh has some glaring technical deficiencies he needs to iron out too. Despite that, I think he has earnt his place in ODI cricket and I’d continue picking him in that team, just not the Test team
How to fix Mitch Marsh in four steps
By the sounds of it the pitch for the next Test is a road, so we probably would’ve sought that fifth bowling option. Now whether that’s Maxwell, Agar or Marsh, who knows – but at some point Marsh was going to lose his spot, he’s simply not up to Test cricket yet.
I tend to agree with you though. If there’s no standout all-round option then play a sixth bat.
How to fix Mitch Marsh in four steps
True, and as mentioned in the article it’s easy for us to slag him about playing in the IPL. But if Marsh is serious about realising his potential I think one or two seasons away from the IPL, so he can work on his technique, is a necessity.
How to fix Mitch Marsh in four steps
Spot on with his bowling, but if Marsh is going to claim a spot in the Test side (at number 6/7) it’s his batting that’s going to get him there. His upside as a bowler alone won’t get him a start.
How to fix Mitch Marsh in four steps
It’s true a new coach can turn things around, but even Paul Roos took time to reverse Melbourne’s fortunes. The Dees are a pretty good comparison to how far back Brisbane are coming from, and I think it’s going to take a while. That said, I don’t think it’s possible to get worse than last year, especially defensively.
On Beams – It’s a shame we never got to see Rockliff, Hanley and Beams play together. I think in total they played eight quarters together over the last two years. He is a fantastic player, there’s no doubt. But he’s going to have to manage the knee for the rest of his career, which may influence his impact.
2017 season preview: Brisbane Lions
Since you’ve classified it as Best 22 – I’d probably roll with
Gardiner Frost Robertson
Mayes Andrews Rich
Bewick D. Beams McCluggage
Bell Schache Christensen
Lester Hipwood Robinson
Martin Rockliff Zorko
Int: Cutler, Taylor, Bastinac, Barrett
You could probably raffle the last interchange spot off between Barrett, Keays, Mathieson and Berry when he’s healthy, but Barrett has been a solid contributor through JLT.
You could also mount a case for McStay in for Lester, but as I said earlier, I think Lester gets preference for his ability to do the 1%ers
For the Brisbane Lions, the only way is up
This has been part of Brisbane’s proposal for a new admin & training facility – a boutique stadium would be perfect in this instance.
I’d love to see how many they’d get at the Gabba, such a shame the men play on the same day
The Lions women are saving AFL in Brisbane
15th is pretty generous, and I say that as a Lions’ fan. It seems like you’re releasing your predictions in alphabetical order so I won’t ask who you have us on top of, but I’ll keep an eye out with interest. I honestly think best case scenario for us is 17 with a typical blend of honourable losses and a much-improved defence.
2017 season preview: Brisbane Lions
Solid analysis of Brisbane, Adrian. As a Lions’ fan I’m personally hoping to see signs from the young talent and to get sound defensive structures in place. The pre-season so far has shown we should be able to stem the opposition’s flow, our problem will likely be not being able to match opposing teams for four quarters.
On your best 22 – the JLT series has shown Bewick is a lock on a wing. He has been super impressive and we finally might see him play consistently well. Another one you’ve overlooked is Lester. Part of the leadership group, Lester is often underrated externally but he will play an important role up front as a bigger body.
Nick Robertson is another I see having a solid year in defence. He has been really good in the JLT as a hard-nosed defender
For the Brisbane Lions, the only way is up
Should’ve clarified – the AFL dropped the ball on the scheduling front. They either;
A) Wrote off or didn’t consider the possibility of Brisbane finishing first
B) Didn’t have faith its product would be as well-received as it has been and thought it could get away with the AFLW grand final being played as a curtain raiser.
The Lions women are saving AFL in Brisbane
Yeah the AFL really dropped the ball on this one. Would hate to see the game moved to Metricon
The Lions women are saving AFL in Brisbane
Many Brisbane fans have had this exact thought over the last five weeks!
The Lions women are saving AFL in Brisbane
You might want to tell the coach –
“It’s probably his best, especially in those conditions,” Lehmann said of the captain’s knock.
“I haven’t seen him so determined.
“He’s always determined, he’s captain of our country and plays really well, obviously, but he knows conditions on that wicket (were tough so) to make a hundred was very special.”
Peerless in Pune: Smith's best knock yet
When there’s a human element in anything there are going to be mistakes. DRS was brought in to eliminate the astoundingly bad decisions. It wasn’t designed to be used in a trigger finger way like the Indians implemented it in Pune. They have no one to blame but themselves for wasting reviews on line-ball decisions instead of howlers.
Peerless in Pune: Smith's best knock yet
“and the form he took in the second half bore no signs of the earlier failures” – this isn’t quite true and the entire narrative surrounding Brady, not just Super Bowl 51, would be different.
The Edelman catch was an awful throw – it could’ve easily been picked off had Alford turned a split second earlier to make the adjustment. Instead, Edelman reacted first.
There was another throw to Hogan which should’ve at least been defended, had the Atlanta DB not tried to go for the glory play and intercept it.
Another example came at the 1-yard line – Bennett ran a fade into the end zone which was nearly picked off by Vic Beasley. If Beasley catches that we’re laughing at the Patriots twice as hard as we did when the Seahawks didn’t give the ball to Lynch.
Overall I think you’re spot on – it wasn’t Brady’s best game but it was his clutchest performance – arguably THE clutchest performance of all time. But he did have his fair share of luck along the way and the second half was by no means perfect.
Flawed but perfect: The Super Bowl was Tom Brady’s masterpiece
Furthermore, in last year’s AFC title game the Pats didn’t have an o-line. On a good day no team could stop Denver’s defence, let alone the Patriots with their second string o-line and TB coping a beating on literally every play. It’s testament to his legacy that they got as close as they did.
Flawed but perfect: The Super Bowl was Tom Brady’s masterpiece
I think Walker is a particularly nice fit when you consider Stef likes to ruck for a high percentage of the game, rather than splitting duties 55-45 or 60-40 with another ruck. The 10-15% of game time Walker rucks gets him into the game but also doesn’t shun Stef.
Additionally, he comes across as a solid leader. It might be painfully cliche but her certainly straightens us up
Cornwill's season previews: Brisbane Lions
Cedric Cox’s selection probably isn’t as silly as it sounds – would be level pegging with McCluggage to debut first given A) he’s a year older with a decent tank and B) we pretty much lack in everything he has – a creative ability to make things happen, good foot skills and the ability to break the lines.
Discrediting our KPF stocks is probably a bit narrow-sighted too, especially calling out Walker and Close as not “AFL standard”. In fact, tall forwards are something we have a surplus of: Close, Freeman, Schache, Walker, McStay and Hipwood with academy prospect Ballenden to come through at the end of the year. Close played well when given a chance last year and is showing signs of a breakout year in 2017 while Walker has shown at Geelong he can produce and personally I thought he was serviceable last year for Brisbane, particularly relieving in the ruck (he was a catalyst in our first win over Gold Coast when Stef Martin was sent flying into orbit).
Cornwill's season previews: Brisbane Lions
Yep, correct. There’s a great documentary called the “Brady 6” – definitely recommend it.
Tom Brady: From 199 to No.1
History says defenses win Super Bowls, so the Patriots should be feeling reasonably good going into this one. That said, if Atlanta win they’ll be in the conversation as one of the best offensive teams of all time.
BTW Jay, keep pumping out the Atlanta stories please… in the last two weeks you’ve pumped up Seattle and Pitt, both went on to lose 😉
Mr Impossible: Julio Jones delivers another masterpiece
I agree with your point on the pitches – the type of cricket that gets rolled out in Australia is tiresome. There’s something captivating about a tricked up pitch that delivers fascinating low-scoring battles. Those types of pitches will never be developed in Australia, mainly because of A) the amount of drop-in pitches and B) the pitches are all prepared with a commercial focus in mind (to maximise revenue). But I think some sort of middle ground would be ideal – a pitch that does a bit early then settles before breaking up late on day 4. It would be a different test from what you’d face in India but at least there would be a better balance between bat and ball
Reflections on a long summer of cricket