I noticed this wasn't up yet, so I lept in... sorry CRASH.
This game is in Frankston at 2pm at Frankston Oval, Frankston, Sunday Aug 4th.
B Davies Coulson* Joseph
HB O'KeeffeBootsma Posar
C Menzel Lambert A. Gianfagna
HF Thomas F. DaleTemay
F Buckley Casboult Wilson
R Warnock T. Bell Graham
Int Lincoln Marcon McDonald Visser Dirago Meese Mitchell Dorman Bransgrove
Looking forward to shlepping down to 'Franganistan' to watch this one... from the grandstand that looks terrific from outside but is near useless to watch a game from!!!!
No worries, mate. I just merged them. Much easier than it used to be, thank God!
Weather is not looking brilliant, but the game is becoming really important.
Dodgy looking KP 's in the backline...Lourey and Haratuku will be happy to see Bootsma and the unknown Coulson named in those positions.....I'd play Micthell down back and see if he can show something.
50/50 this game..Freo have had a good year and deserve to be favourites IMO. , we also are consistent at being knocked over by the better teams. Kruezer and Judd need to play blinders IMO....Judd needs to turn the tables on Crowley who has been his master and Kruezer needs to negate the Giant and win some footy around the ground ,run the big Freo ruckman into the ground, and make that crook toe of his hurt bad...
No movement through the air no Anderson. Nice of the Poms to doctor the pitch for Swan though. Broad, more overated than Mitchell Johnson and Bresnen ha, James Faulkner would be using his variation and low order grit with the bat by now if that's all he had to pass.
Watson needs a score or Faulkner should get the all rounders gig next test Warner back to open and Faulkner at 6 or 7, Makes the tail a bit long but that's where we're getting the runs from now any way.
BTW Clarke did not have the most runs in the last 48 hours, that honour went to the Qantas flight from South America to Sydney.
Agree about his batting but Watson was uesful with the ball and helped apply pressure from the other end which I thought was crucial, in the past numpties like Johnosn would have gone for runs and let the poms off the hook......Anderson has been drinking his own bathwater and thinks he can do it easy now and didnt look interested once he figured out their was no movement. Only danger a couple out of Cook, Trott, Bell and perhaps Peitersen might make some big scores and then we get some rain......I thought Harris looked injured and Starc after the initial couple of overs where he swung the ball and got some bounce didnt move many afterwards and didnt look menacing.
Lyon bowled well and was unlucky but that seems to be the story of his career IMO and bowlers like him tend to stay unlucky and after Cook settled I thought Lyon started dropping short and was fortunate he didnt go for more runs through the offside.
Dont know whey Siddle didnt bowl earlier.....a far more inventive bowler than the others and his use of the crease was very good. Poms have got way ahead of themselves IMO and we should win this test....
Why did they bother bringing Warner back from South Africa ??
And can Steve Smith ever play a long innings without trying the "hero" shot which ends up bringing about his downfall ??
The Barmy Army got to Warner and they got into his head like they did with Mitchell Johnson and he was rattled as soon as he walked onto the ground. If he doesnt make. runs in the 2nd dig then I think he will be next to useless for the rest of the tour as the Barmy ones dont let up on you.
On a more positive not Clarke has led from the front and its a good opportunity for Haddin and the bowlers to land some blows on the English attack that have been steady rather than menacing..... We are still in a good position and can push for a win....l
We'll all be watching Rowe closely this week. Last week he was very close to being a liability, whilst Casboult from all reports was very good again in the Reserves.
Graham is also unlucky, but I wouldn't be surprised if he is only considered as a replacement for McLean.
Where are McInnes and Waite?
Graham's problem is pace...good ball winner and you need your in and under types but Cachia, Curnow, Mclean, Carrazzo in the one team is in cricket terms very medium paced. I think Graham will be a good senior player but may have to wait his chance...
re: Rowe...fair points, dont know about a liability...he didnt have the ball enough to be a liability and was more of a passenger. However he has been signed for next season and Casboult would be thinking he is now fighting for his spot on the list unless both Hampson and Warnock get traded out.....
Sam Mitchel is slow
Agree he is slow...I;m not saying there isnt a place for Graham and like I said I am a fan but we have too many who are his pace....if Graham comes in then I think you need to lose one of the players I mentioned. If you look at Freo they have some slow movers onball in Barlow, Crowley etc but balance that out with players like Fyfe, Hill, Mundy who have more pace..I just want us to have a balanced midfield group and not all of the one type.
Nice innings from Clarke and a handy knock from Smith to assist him...3 for 300 is a good start and we need to push onto 500 as this is a good batting strip. Real good chance to win this test IMO if our bowlers can fire up and knock England over for 300 or less..
We'll all be watching Rowe closely this week. Last week he was very close to being a liability, whilst Casboult from all reports was very good again in the Reserves.
Graham is also unlucky, but I wouldn't be surprised if he is only considered as a replacement for McLean.
Where are McInnes and Waite?
Graham's problem is pace...good ball winner and you need your in and under types but Cachia, Curnow, Mclean, Carrazzo in the one team is in cricket terms very medium paced. I think Graham will be a good senior player but may have to wait his chance...
re: Rowe...fair points, dont know about a liability...he didnt have the ball enough to be a liability and was more of a passenger. However he has been signed for next season and Casboult would be thinking he is now fighting for his spot on the list unless both Hampson and Warnock get traded out.....
Khawaja...worst decision I have seen, went to the 3rd umpire who gave it out when clearly the ball missed the bat....should have gone to specsavers. Bat hit the pad, clear gap between ball and bat......NOT OUT...how can anyone give that out. We might as well just pack up and go home.....
Frankston vs. Northern Blues Sunday 4th August Frankston Oval at 2:00PM
Frankston B: Jennings J. Irving Dermott HB: Clark Simpson J. Newman* C: Cass Hockey Buchan HF: Alwan Haretuku C. Irving F: Lloyd Lourey Pongracic R: Gabriel Kitchin Potts Int: Bosward Matheson Purcell A. Forato Giobbi Edwards Delahunty Boland Miller
Northern Blues B:Davies Coulson* Joseph HB:O'Keeffe Bootsma Posar C:Menzel Lambert A. Gianfagna HF: Thomas F. Dale Temay F:Buckley Casboult Wilson R:Warnock T. Bell Graham Int: Lincoln Marcon McDonald Visser Dirago Meese Mitchell Dorman Bransgrove
Duigan is missing: he got a 2 week suspension at the VFL tribunal during the week. I didn't see the incident, so I have no idea how justified it was. Maybe RR can shed some light on it?
Our team this weekend is quite small, especially as Bootsma is CHB and Dale is CHF. I don't know who is going to play on Haratuku yet: he beat Watson last time we played a few weeks ago.
Mitchell is named on the bench. I am not sure what that means, but he had only 1 possession last weekend, a handball.
If Haratuku does well again he may put himself into calculations again for a rookie/senior spot.....only problem I have with him is he can look a bit laconic much like our own Watson.... Essendon dont mind drafting Frankston players with Goosey on the payroll and i reckon they are going to have to look to the VFL for some talent when they lose all their early picks...
Aus 0-58....good flat track, Rodgers the aggressor...lets hope we build on the good start and dont fall to reverse swing later in the day. Some luck has to come our way as the Poms are not that good.
I like the idea of the Hendo-Waite attack. Not sure why you wouldn't give it a go.
Just feel like there's a lot of shuffling deck chairs only to find out what we already know.
Waite Hendo Attack would absolutely work...
Different Beasts, with Waite able to leap and Lead up the ground and Henderson One on one or leading out of the goal square.
Roughead/Franklin/Hale Tippet, Pyke, White Pods, Hawkins, Blicas/Simpson/West Hurley, Crameri, Bellchambers/Ryder,
Waite up the ground away from Henderson might work down forward......Waite isnt the brightest footballer playing and not sure if he can follow any gameplans.
Interesting comment from Mick about cuts to the list and one mans trash etc.....could be a few retreds on the way in..
@laj Jim it's well known that MM likes to build the team around a solid defence and I think he would be a bit concerned about us in this area. He's therefore likely looking at options as to how this could be fixed, albeit maybe just for what's left of this year?
He also went Cloke, Dawes and Brown in his forward line that won a flag.
Not sure Waite would be that solid in defence. Often played well as a sweeping type and played well on certain type of key forwards like Riewoldt but got monstered by the likes of Brown. Then there was the dumb turnovers, which cost us goals. We got Watson time to develop him. Still yet to let anyone down in the seniors. You're not going to build a team around a 30yo injury key defender.
Maybe its a question of if Waite can play with another key forward...I dont remember Fev and Waite playing too many blinders together ....I think Waite could do a Nick Reiwoldt and lead player/s up the ground and give Henderson the space to work in. What I dont want to see is both of them at the top of the goalsquare getting in each othesr road and dragging their defender on top of the other player. One needs to sacrifice for the other IMO and I reckon Waite would do better playing up the ground leaving Hendo one out...
If Lyon plays he would want to bowl 1000% better than he did on the weekend.
yes.
I actually don't understand why we don't send Fawad Ahmed over, especially if the pitch is going to spin. Poms would hate to face a good leggie on a truner.
Smaller grounds in England, he does bowl his share of loose stuff as well, didnt read much about him troubling the South Africans either.....be better in Aus to introduce him IMO.
We are a big chance this test IMO....Poms have got cocky and want to play Taylor, Panesar...the latter I dont rate at all and would be happy to see them lose Bresnan out of the team and have the two spinners play. Taylor made runs for Sussex but is a newbie and was dropped several times in the county game so I dont rate him as yet. I reckon Pietersen will/would be due for runs this test esepcially if we bowl the spinners more....so I hope he is out injured.
Gibbs is a midfielder who made his name as a U18 player in that position, I dont want him as half back flanker but I think his best work is done playing on one of the opposition best mids ie Goddard...Gibbs can both defend and attack and has great value going forward both creating and kicking goals.....and he doesnt rest forward enough.
Playing him half back is a waste, and just a bandaid for other half backs who cant use the ball properly out of defense....we have never seen the best of Gibbs because we have never played him consistently where he does his best work.
Waite and Hendo up front would be an opposition coaches nightmare! Two classy, strong marking athletic forwards both with a touch of brilliance in their own special way. Combined with the amigos I can't see us losing a game if we get the ball up forward enough. Perhaps playing both of them up front requires an adjustment in tactics, more of an offensive focus.
Waite, Henderson and Casboult with the amigos becomes a most difficult combination for ant opposition coach. What will help Caboult/Rowe, with Waite back, is there isn't the pressure on them to kick goals, just focus on taking a few marks and a bit of rucking.
I'll be interested to see if that happens if it works....Gunston, Buddy and Roughead works because the latter two are so good, I'm less convinced about Waite, Henderson and Casboult/Rowe working together....I think it will jam up the forward line and leave less room for the amigos to work in.
