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Joined March 2020
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I care too much about the teams I support to actually watch them play. It's easy to watch with no investment but if Carlton, Sydney Thunder or Arizona Cardinals are on it's too stressful...! Fond of sporting history - there's a lot of that already so I struggle to keep up with new history every year.
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Now that we have 21 teams based on surnames, it’s time to look at a few selection changes based on feedback and additional research as well as compare each team to come out with an overall best letter.
The composite team has some of the greatest big men of all time, as well as some current players still going strong.
The W team has a prolific midfield, a talented forward line and a mercurial backline.
The V team might not have the depth of others, but there is enough quality to trouble some of the best sides.
With a forward line as potent as the one boasted by the T team, there would be plenty of shootouts.
The S team is surprisingly light for scoring options, but with a midfield as good as this, there will be plenty of opportunity.
The R team could have been a true family affair, with the likes of Rocca, Riewoldt, Rankin and Richards all having claims to multiple members of the family in the team.
The P team is one that has a fine balance of class, flash and toughness, with several milestone holders among their number.
The ‘O’ team doesn’t have much out-and-out star power, but can boast plenty of consistency across the board.
The N team is short on depth, but high on quality, with one team’s era heavily featured.
The M team has well over 1000 players eligible to be selected in the squad, so to have reached this 25 is no mean feat indeed.
We move now to the L team, with firepower enough up front to outscore almost anyone.
Up next is the K team, with three generations of one family all finding a spot in the squad.
We move to the J team, and one of the most dynamic forward lines of any squad thus far.
Time now for the H team, which combines class and toughness on every line.
We move now to the G team, which has a much more modern influence than we have seen so far.
We move on to the F team, with such a bevy of fantastic key position players that fitting them all in was a challenge in and of itself.
The E team doesn’t have quite the explosiveness or legends we have seen so far, but there are still plenty of revered names in the squad.
After a controversial selection for the C team, we come to the D outfit.
The C team contains some of the most famous names in Australian football history and a few members of a modern golden era, as well as one of the players who has a legitimate claim to be the greatest ever.
I remember reading that he changed his voicemail message during the series to something like “Leave a message as I’m out – probably LBW Alderman” *beep*
A joyful XI of players who made me fall in love with cricket
As much as President Leo Sayers would make me feel like dancing, it’s actually Luke.
Much prefer Voss to Lyon or Clarkson, he’s in that sweet spot of having been in the hot seat but enough time honing his skills to develop in a good way. Makes me feel a bit more optimistic for next year and onwards.
Voss locked in as Carlton coach
You mean like Richmond circa 2010? Things are cyclical – Carlton won 5-6 round 1 matches in a row before the MaltBolTeague years.
Of course I have no faith in this cycle turning any time soon… 🙁
'Carlton has no idea': The Blues' 2021 season review
These cricket history articles are an absolute treat – it’s hard to keep up with them all!
The Brisbane 1950-51 test is remarkable not only for the declarations, but in England’s second innings, Arthur McIntyre was run out… off the last ball of the day… attempting an all run four!
Very much looking forward to parts two and three here.
Ashes archives, Part 1: Ten things that will never ever happen again
It’s a great read, I managed to pick it up in a used bookstore some years ago. There is a description of a MacDonald over where he took 3 wickets that is among the finest passages I can recall.
Ashes anniversaries: Armstrong’s Australians
Thanks Daniel, and congratulations on a great 4 years. Greatly appreciated the feedback you gave last year while I was writing – I’ve kept it in mind ever since.
Best of luck for the future.
The Roar bids farewell to Managing Editor, Daniel Jeffrey
Yeah he was a stretch. Still better than Everitt and Giles though.
Carlton are this century's saddest football club and it's not even close
This was before the bidding era, so 39.
We traded 32 for Everitt and 39. Look at these names picked in that time: George Hewett, Toby Nankervis, Alex Pearce, Tom Cutler. Ouch.
Carlton are this century's saddest football club and it's not even close
Hardly the most egregious error I’ve ever seen in an AFL article but Cameron Giles was pick 39 in 2013 so not quite in the top 35.
I feel like the club has just become predictable. A game against a higher credentialled opponent that is vulnerable for a multitude of reasons? Time for an ‘honourable’ loss. Blowtorch is getting just that little bit too hot? Let’s actually play to potential for a week.
We play at our own level against better teams and let teams in worse positions than us bring us down to their level. Rising to the occasion is apparently only for bread at Carlton.
Carlton are this century's saddest football club and it's not even close
That was Essendon in 1993 that won a flag by cap cheating but go off
Is footy's forgotten free agent the key to unlocking Carlton's skipper?
I think Archie Jackson would also be in with a shout for <10 Tests, albeit for extremely sad reasons. Was looked at as a better prospect than one D.G. Bradman in the late 1920s.
The likes of Sam Trimble and Ian Brayshaw could have had a run in the baggy green at one point too, but Siddons/Hussey are easily the top two there.
England's best-ever one-Test players
Carlton (I would very much like to not play on a Thursday and have some level of enthusiasm for the weekend but that’s life)
Brisbane (I feel like Geelong are still finding their wheels)
Sydney (HGA and return of Franklin will be big)
Port (Duh)
St Kilda (I reckon the belief from Rd 1 will carry them this week)
GC (It’s not Round 6 yet)
Richmond (Duh)
Dogs (Tough one, more who I want than who I think)
Fremantle (Ditto)
The Roar's AFL expert tips and predictions: Round 2
Poor Norman Yardley, being supplanted by old mate Bruce. Wouldn’t have really called him a great of English cricket either, but a good presence in those early post WWII series.
I like the analysis here. Doing it for the likes of Tendulkar vs Ponting would shed some extra light on their careers as well. I wonder what the bowling equivalent would be – averages between 20-40 for semi premium and over 40 for premium? Worth consideration.
Test batting averages: What’s in a number?
I vaguely remember someone stopping a match to measure Ponsford’s bat because it seemed too wide. Could very easily be thinking of someone else but it’s the sort of thing that could happen.
The Australian cricket Immortals
That’ll do it for sure. IIRC he only played all matches in a series twice out of 8 that he featured in as well. Those two 1934 innings with Bradman and his Shield voraciousness really amplify his reputation.
The Australian cricket Immortals
Wall had a lovely flowing action from what I saw in archival footage but really was ok at best.
The Australian cricket Immortals
I’m enjoying the discussion more as a point of fact because we both rate Woodfull in different ways rather than any great disagreement. In both of his first two Ashes series in England (1926/1930) he averaged over 50 – it was only Bodyline and his final series in 1934 that he dropped appreciably, having averaged 53.5 to that point.
Ponsford and Kippax feasting on non-Test standard bowlers and being very good to excellent in Tests is a different matter. Maybe Kippax’s animosity with Bradman or being overlooked for 1926 affected his career somewhat? Hard to say. Looking at Ponsford’s stats, he was much more up and down in tests with 4 series averaging under 25 (including South Africa 1931/2 and 4 series averaging over 45).
That sometimes the Australian Test Team opened the bowling with Stan McCabe and Bill O’Reilly is an indictment on the pace bowling of the era. Besides Wall and McCormick who was there in 1930s?
County sides having greater depth than Shield sides is a very fair point, and potentially repeating itself almost 100 years later. But that’s a whole new topic.
The Australian cricket Immortals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1927%E2%80%9328_Sheffield_Shield_season
“The method used to decide the championship was a new points system and matches were limited to five days.[1][2]”
Citing Wisden 2004 in there.
http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1920S/1927-28/AUS_LOCAL/SS/QLD_VIC_SS_03-07FEB1928.html
4 day match, result Drawn and QLD getting first innings points. Might have been because of weather as I’m looking at other matches that same season and they’re all showing as 5 dayers, such as Bradman’s debut:
http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1920S/1927-28/AUS_LOCAL/SS/SOA_NSW_SS_16-21DEC1927.html
Tests got limited after the Durban epic, and I think there was a Test in 1929-30 where England and the Windies lasted 9 days (Sandham 325) before England needed the next boat.
The Australian cricket Immortals
All true, but that average of 65 is still significantly higher than the majority of his peers outside Ponsford and Bradman. I believe it was only Tests that were timeless in that era, Shield matches were still 4-5 days. Even so, an average of 46 in Tests and twice captaining sides that regained the Ashes in England is hardly anything to sneeze at.
Not to mention he would have been knighted had he accepted the honour – given that you could make the argument that he should be second to Bradman of players in the era where Australians could still be dubbed as Sir.
The Australian cricket Immortals
Should be in South Africa’s immortals so we kept the 2005 Ashes grumble grumble… 🙂
The Australian cricket Immortals
I reckon AB would have to be in with a shout as well, leading Australian cricket from its nadir to very nearly top of the tree but for an errant glove in Adelaide.
Similarly the mention of Ponsford below needs Woodfull as a counterbalance – again for leadership but look at his FC record. Averaging 65, incredible.
Going old school you’ve got George Giffen, probably Australia’s greatest all rounder before Miller. Scored 271 and took 16 wickets in a Shield match one time.
Australia has been fortunate to have such fantastic players all through history. Just thinking who England’s 5 immortals would be. Grace and Hobbs definitely, Barnes and Botham likely, then probably Hammond. Cook, Trueman, Anderson if and when he retires would be next in line I think.
The Australian cricket Immortals
So come back to us in 2040 when the Carlton/Collingwood rivalry has run for 20+ years.
Bit hard for them to have a longer rivalry than 4 years when the competition as a whole has only been around for that long.
Was the Showdown a rivalry in 1999?
2021 AFL Women's season: Round 1 preview
You think the century plus of rivalry between Carlton and Collingwood prior to the AFLW beginning doesn’t have anything to do with it?
Perhaps we should revoke the Showdown Medals awarded to Ricciuto, Stevens, Francou x 3, Schofield, Johncock and Burgoyne being as how they were the first 4 years worth of medals awarded…
2021 AFL Women's season: Round 1 preview
“Round 21, 2013 was the last time that Carlton beat Richmond.”
Pretty confident there was a game a few weeks later that Carlton also won 🙂
Which records will tumble in the season opener between Richmond and Carlton?
Great, now let’s hear from the 700 or so other players who have been vaccinated and presumably would like as many people as possible to be protected.
Same as the 40 cops (out of 20000) who quit in protest against mandates getting airtime and not the 19960 who agreed with it.
‘Ethically wrong’: AFL star not keen on mandatory jabs