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11
The Sports Desk / Re: God help me - the Test Cricket thread
Last post by LP -
Adelaide is usually a batting wicket, they may swap Doggett for Cummins and bring Lyon in for someone like Inglis, Inglis is wasted at 7 anyway and Cummins isn't a spud.

That leaves them Lyon with a chop out from Head for the spin variations.

Of course maybe Starc needs a rest, but to do that you'd have to be willing to load up Cummins.
12
The Sports Desk / Re: God help me - the Test Cricket thread
Last post by LP -
Quote from: DJC – on
I don't mind Bazball - both as a concept and a spectacle - but you do need a plan B.
Yes, they've mistakenly taken the Dougie Walters / Adam Gilchrist "100 in a session" spirit and tried to turn it into the default game tactic. But you just can't ride your luck for that long, especially given that the bowlers are now better prepared than ever before to deal with such tactics.

Also, Test Cricket does not get played on ODI or T20 pitches, so for me the Bazball style should always be selectively applied.
13
The Sports Desk / Re: God help me - the Test Cricket thread
Last post by DJC -
Quote from: ElwoodBlues1 – on
Neser and Doggett, need the specialist spinner and extra pace/bouncer ability on a flatter track which will help England's flat track bully batsman more.
Bazball might be history by the end of the series along with its architects...

Both unlucky, particularly Neser after his five for.

I don't mind Bazball - both as a concept and a spectacle - but you do need a plan B.
14
The Sports Desk / Re: God help me - the Test Cricket thread
Last post by ElwoodBlues1 -
Quote from: DJC – on
Comprehensive win as was always the most likely outcome. 

Excellent bowling from Neser in the Poms' second innings and Steve Smith certainly seemed to have an important engagement that he he was keen to get to ASAP.

Pat Cummins will be back for the Adelaide Test and Lyon will probably pass the drinks tray to someone else.  Which two bowlers will miss out?
Neser and Doggett, need the specialist spinner and extra pace/bouncer ability on a flatter track which will help England's flat track bully batsman more.
Bazball might be history by the end of the series along with its architects...
15
The Sports Desk / Re: God help me - the Test Cricket thread
Last post by DJC -
Comprehensive win as was always the most likely outcome. 

Excellent bowling from Neser in the Poms' second innings and Steve Smith certainly seemed to have an important engagement that he he was keen to get to ASAP.

Pat Cummins will be back for the Adelaide Test and Lyon will probably pass the drinks tray to someone else.  Which two bowlers will miss out?
16
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: List Building - More than one way to skin a cat
Last post by DJC -
It's easy to underestimate the importance of our NGA in building our list. Yes, we have two highly-rated draft picks in Harry Dean and Jack Ison who are yet to play a game , but they're not unknown quantities.

Dean, in particular, has been at Princes Park for years, spent much of his rehab from a broken shoulder there, has had Nic Newman working with him on his video reviews and has been following the club dietician's eating plan for a couple of years,  He knows most of the players well and has taken part in training drills and match sims for years.  Ison hasn't had quite the same exposure, and he doesn't have a club legend father.  He is still known around the club, knows the players and the training drills and has been mentored by Sam Walsh. The fact that neither Dean nor Ison are newbies walking into Princes Park for the first time gives them an advantage over Talor Byrne, and many other youngsters who were taken in this draft.  The club also knew exactly what it was getting when if committed to both lads, and that's another advantage.

They still have to put in the work and hope for good fortune but they're ahead of the field.

Cody Walker is following a similar path to Dean and should have a seamless transition to senior footy - provided the AFL doesn't screw us with its changes to father-son rules.
17
The Sports Desk / Re: Formula 1
Last post by LP -
Quote from: Thryleon – on
I dont get all the fuss.  Sure, Piastris fortunes were somewhat out of his own hands, but he had a bit of an ordinary run that saw him back back to the field. 

Its as much a bottle job as anything else.
Yes, I tend to agree, which is why I was barracking for Max in the end.

But it's stuff like the below image that is the slightly distasteful residue, keeping in mind other drivers were penalised for the same or less, some you may recall were even penalised for this happening after contact while cornering, they hadn't voluntarily driven off the track.

Runoff zones and margins are there for safety, not a shortcut. If Norris hadn't regained that place by driving off the track, Max wins the title! My concern is that Norris has done similar several times and not been penalised, while others have a one strike policy applied!
18
The Sports Desk / Re: Formula 1
Last post by Thryleon -
I dont get all the fuss.  Sure, Piastris fortunes were somewhat out of his own hands, but he had a bit of an ordinary run that saw him back back to the field. 

Its as much a bottle job as anything else.

19
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: List Building - More than one way to skin a cat
Last post by shawny -
Quote from: kruddler – on
Quote from: Lods – on


That's changing the focus again....you've moved away from the age debate to the talent debate

Average age is pretty meaningless when you're talking in averages only a year or two different.
No its going back to the original point.
Our list got weaker.

The opposition to this justify this by saying we got younger as we were too old.
I'm pointing out relative to the opposition, we got older.
The players we recruited, half of them were older than our average age.
That flies in the face of the arguement that we are rebuilding/rejuvinating and getting younger.
THIS was the justification for destroying our prelim list and the reason we are nosediving.

I'm calling BS on the rejuvination of the list as a viable strategy given we've barely moved the age needle, and done so less than most who are not doing the same thing.

All this falls back to the same question which i can't get a straight answer on.

WHY does everyone have so much faith in the current list management team?
The reasons i've had so far are contradictory at worst, and weak at best.

i can’t believe how much your position has changed especially in the last 6 months

You were always one of the very much glass half full over the last decade and now what seems in a very short time have flipped.

do you agree?
20
The Sports Desk / Re: Formula 1
Last post by LP -
Another season over, but fans can't help but be left feeling a bit disenchanted with the result. Whether it's real or not the competitor begging and apparent favouritism leaves most experiencing events as a touch distasteful. We want one on one not one versus a team.

I get that in a team there is an "A" and "B" driver, not always for the reasons people think, sometimes it's capability, sometimes other peripheral issues. But in sport we want the best of the best to perform unhindered, and this season's result seems to fall well short of that.

So I accept the team decisions, what I don't understand is how drivers escape officialdom. Yet it seems every year the driver / team that escapes scrutiny for various infractions ends up the victor. The evidence this season is pretty stark reminder to fans that all is not equal. In the last 4 or 5 races we had the eventual champion escape penalty, not once or twice but on four occasions, while other drivers were penalised 5s, 10s or subsequent even grid places for far lesser infractions. As much as I'd like to think it's a sport, it's hard to dismiss the events. Perhaps I understand the lack of penalty int he final race, because the price paid would be massive, but the genesis of the problem was months old. We can explain away one or perhaps even two escapes as lucky, but when the numbers start to add up the cynicism is earned.

The whole season makes me feel like I've just watched a dodgy Olympic diving session where the Russian or China judges give contestants except compatriots a fail.