Wasn't that back when Sandilands was suffering turf toe, even so I think at best he broke even?
Maybe you mean another year, but I think Sandilands has been close to BOG in 4 of our last six encounters! So perhaps a break even is a win!
No it was 2011, I went went over for the game, Robbie played very well more than matched it with Lurch. In fact, I gave Robbie the points and thought he was instrumental in our win that day.
Warnock smacked everyone in 2011. Had a good year.
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.
If he wasn't asked to Ruck such a large portion of the game, it wouldn't be an issue. Warnock and Kreuzer rotating in the ruck and Casboult and Henderson up forward? Lacks a rotation, but you can always activate a midfielder as a sub if it becomes an issue.
Me thinks Big Nockers will come in to take on the Bohemoth.
Can't see either Rowe or Casboult having any impact against Sandilands & Clarke. And it would be nice to go into a game with a full array of key position players.
I like the idea, but it would be a change from how the team has been selected in recent weeks.
Freo have an ordinary record of winning clearances when Sandilands plays. Opposition clubs just simply rove to him. We may as well do the same. No point bringing in Warnock for the sake of a few tapouts. Go for blokes that can take a few marks
Rowe out, Casboult in, is a must. Rowe, unless he is on his own, can't take a mark, and even when on his own there is no guarantee. He also lacks in the area of a second effort. There is no second effort from Rowe at all. Casboult can mark and has no hesitation in crashing a pack when going for a mark. He is also a much better ruckman. Two things are holding him back.
His kicking for goal is atrocious, and he lacks fitness to run out a full game. If you have a look at his performances when he's played, he's virtually disappeared out of a game after half time. It's an are that demands he work on or his days at Senior level are numbered. But for the rest of the season, he is a far better bet than Sam.
Casboults kicking is CLEARLY worse than Rowes.
Fitness levels are on a par.
Their rucking is on a par.
Casboults marking is slightly better as is his pack crashing.
Rowes game against the Saints is better then anything Casboult has done this year.
FYI Rowe has kicked 8 goals in 7 games. Casboutl has kicked 4 goals in 7 games.
Rowe also has more kicks, marks and disposals.
To say one is much better than the other is showing clear bias.
Casboult's game against Essendon was probably at least as good as anything Rowe's produced too this year. Only technical thing I disagree with.
Nice win, shocking kicking and too many passengers yet again.
Rowe - I wonder if he didn't have to deal with cancer last season if he'd still be getting this soft excuse for being an ordinary player. He was bigger, older and stronger than his opponents and was spoiled or put off most of the time. Rowe is slow, and not aggressive at the contest, I've never seen him chase down an opponent like Casboult has. Many say Levi is a shocking kick for goal but at least he gets shots on goal, he will split a pack open when going for a mark and when one on one I'd back him in to mark 75% of the contests in the air. Rowe is a back up nothing more, Levi is young and has some AFL skills, play him now.
Carrazzo - You can look on paper or you can watch the game, stats don't say how often he fumbled of was beaten at the contest by younger, weaker opponents. There was a time last season when you saw him go into a contest and had confidence that if he didn't win it then it out be a ball up. Now Carrazzo circa 2013 is back to his worst slow with his decision making and often beaten at the contest and it didn't stand out any more than this game against inferior players that he should have schooled he looked slow and second rate.
Murphy - A paper cut out of what he was two years ago, always looking for the easy possession and no whee near as damaging by foot. Did making him the captain and winning the MVP put MM ahead of where he really is?
Kreuzer - Man love starting to build again. Was dominant around the ground in the ruck with little help just wish he'd get in the play more around the ground and lift his stats to around 15-20 possies per game and 8-10 marks. That's the next step.
Gibbs - did he play? I know he did but was just cruising around not effecting the game at all.
The smalls - all did well in patches, all went missing in patches.
Curnow - I have been a big fan all season and couldn't understand why people were asking for his head. Fantastic job on Ablett. One image sticks out to me, he helped in a play which allowed Ablett to get 5-8 meters in front, rather than give up the chase Ed put his head down and took off, which put doubt into Halls mind if he should handball to Ablett and instead he kicked the goal, but I'd rather have Hall kicking for goal than Ablett.
Cachia - Man love here again. The only player I saw lay multiple blocks to get other mids free and I don't thinks it was a coincidence that when he came on we started to get better value from clearances.
Henderson - Man love again. I'm sure he's a forward get's to the right spots, when behind he uses his body rather than arms to get space. I can't wait to see Henderson, Waite and Casboult forward line. All three have different skills that would compliment the others.
Metricon Stadium - No games should be played there during the day ever again. It was terrible to watch and the lack of cameras were also evident. Sent the C grade commentary team and about half the number of cameras than we get elsewhere.
Excellent summary except for a small part in the Rowe sum up. I don't find cancer a soft excuse hence needs another year after this one to tell us more. Agree though he's not going to be a great player, hence just a one year extension, but hoping either he or Casboult can be handy in the mould of Leigh Brown when Waite comes back. Might help both either not having to be the key forward. That'd back Waite and Henderson up very nicely not to mention Kreuzer.
Kicked away in the last to make it a big win. GC are still developing, and will be a little "one step forward one step back" for a while. 40 scoring shots to 22 is pretty food going though.
Well done lads.
Considering we had about 6 or 7 non contributors that's not a bad result. Waite in for Rowe.
Only one that comes in for Rowe is Casboult otherwise we have no relief ruckman. Waite will come in for someone else.
If we bat Agar at 6, we could drop Watson for Warner. Both wankers but I am sick of Watson.
I would play Ahmed, not Lyon.
I would also drop Siddle, and pick Harris, Starc and Bird.
Warner will come in for Hughes or Smith. Watson will stay in for his bowling. Besides, he's our leading runs scorer of the top 6 in the two Tests so far...all of 109 runs...lol.
Bird must be played...... bizarre that he wasn't for this Test.
Watson must be dropped - can't get rewarding the carpola he produces...... fly in another 19 YO IF THAT'S ALL WE'VE GOT....
Does Rogers get another go after that deplorable effort?
Way too many NSW guys in the team too. Smith? Meh?
Hughes - double meh.......Shaun Marsh is 6 times the player Hughes could ever be......
Voges? D. Hussey?
Mike Hussey saw the writing in the wall i reckon.
Is Clarke as Captain the problem?!!
Unfortunately Watson is our leading run scorer amongst the top 6 right now and he bowls too. That's not saying anything though as he's averaging 27 for the series. Not necessarily disagreeing but our choices are that bad. At least he half looks like it out there...until he gets his front pad out too far, plays across the line and is LBW. Needs to fix that big time.
Rogers. I think if he gets a score will be on his way.
As I said in the other thread, get Klinger out of County cricket and Doolan over from South Africa and bat then 3 and 4. Blokes that will put their heads down. Get Fawad and Cummins over from South Africa too, the latter replacing Pattinson. Bat Warner at 6 and hope (being the operative word) he can change a game like Gilchrist sometimes.
Again, as I said on the other thread, we miss Hussey like you wouldn't believe. We're realising now how much he covered the @rse of the batting line up. Often he and Clarke turned 3/40 into 500 with strong resistance from the tail. Now it gets to 6 and just collapses until a 10th wicket stand bails us out.
Gilchrist was a specialist bat with gloves. Wade is a gloveman (an inconsistent one) with a bat.
Gilly was always a keeper, hence his shift from NSW to WA so he could play as one. He was an exceptional circumstance admittedly. Anyway, not so relevant here.
Sadly in Wade's case so is he an exceptional circumstance but for a different reason. 3nd highest average in the side (forgot about Warner) amongst a pile of sh1t, inconsistent batsmen. We only have so many bats on tour so our choices are bare. Not normal circumstances but if we're only going to pick from the current tourists there's no alot of choice.
I'd be going outside the 18 on tour personally so we don't have to pick a keeper as a specialist bat. May as well look to the home Ashes series.
We miss Hussey like you wouldn't believe. With him there he and Clarke, with strong resistance from the tail, often turned 3/40 into 500 and could've won us the SA series with a bit of luck. Without Hussey there's just no resistance after poor starts.
Calls to play Wade as a specialist bat are insane. Has zero idea of playing spin. Zero.
Correct....it never works playing the reserve keeper as a batsman only and is a move reserved for desperate teams only.....akin to playing ruckman as a FF.
I remember Wicketkeeper Richie Robinson from Victoria who was a great shield batter and was picked to play some tests as a specialist batsman with Rod Marsh I think it was as the keeper.....Robinson failed and its a dumb move. Only AB Devilliers has proven a success and he was/is a part time keeper who played second fiddle to Boucher but was never seen as a frontline keeper and you are talking about a freak multitalented sportsman anyway.
I guess the only other I can think of his Kumar Sangakarra who gave away keeping to be a specialist batter but his batting is in the elite category unlike Wades...
Add McCallum from NZ in there too.
We're in the unusual position of having our reserve Keeper having the 2nd best average in the side so these are not normal circumstances. Not the preferred circumstance but what do you do.
Reckon I could've played Gilchrist as a specialist batsman no problems if we had to.
Calls to play Wade as a specialist bat are insane. Has zero idea of playing spin. Zero.
Why not. Has a batting average higher than anyone else in the team other than Clarke, which, is really an indictment on our batting. As least he has a bit of backbone and capable of maybe making a 100. More than anyone can about anyone else other than Clarke.
There's plenty of others that have zero idea of playing spin either.
My personal opinion, pluck Klinger out of country cricket and bat him 3 and bring Doolan over from the A tour and bat him 4.
Right now I'd play Doolan, who had a good game in an extremely low scoring match in Zimbabwe, pluck Klinger out of County cricket as he looks like he can at least bat the long form of the game. He'd have to be better than Hughes, Khawaja, Cowan and Smith. Put Warner at 6, where he is capable of taking a game apart if he gets going. A punt but could change a game within a session if he got going. I'd play Fawad. Bird obviously in for Pattinson but I'd bring Cummins back over from SA, who had a great game there, as a replacement bowler with a view of giving him a Test with this series done and dusted. Get our blokes ready for the return series where the winner holds the Ashes for 3 years, not a bit over 4 months.
Some of our mids aren't 100%. Wonder if we need to bring others in to freshen it up? Will Waite be fit? Make a strong forward line with Henderson and Rowe.
like to see Graham and Menzel get a run but haven't decided my ins and outs yet.
The problem is, just like the 80's, development suffered on the back of a superb national team.
Plus, they gave Michael Clarke the captaincy 5 years ago and since then he's been waiting to get it from Punter officially, who was a crap skipper himself.
Clarke is the worst thing to happen to Oz cricket ever.
Clarke is a **** pure and simple and I don't mean a **** when he needs to be, like Alan Border, I mean just a **** every **** day of the week.
screw him, Watson and Haddin (all ****s) off and start again.
You're kidding about Clarke. He's made you look silly quite a few times so I suggest you quit that one while your behind. Especially as he's averaging 52.
As I said, try some blokes from the A Team currently touring SA.
