I don't think that helps one bit. They just needed to change the procedure of how it's used. Don't assume no spot means no edge and if the technology proves inconclusive don't take a challenge away.

I think ideally you make all bats have some sort of coating that helps show edges up. They say the tape they use dulls the effect, no doubt there's something you can put there to increase the effect.

The team is mostly political. Grace is no way in the best 6 bats of all time. I love also how people say "on uncovered pitches" as if that automatically makes it a billion times harder to bat on. If it doesn't rain then it's a moot point, but rain on uncovered pitches can actually make it easier to bat. If I'm not out on a wearing day 4 pitch, I'm praying for rain to make it like a day 1 pitch again. Have a read of the last timeless test and see the effect rain had on that deck.

Gilchrist is a massive mistake. Would not be many more blokes who won games for their country than him. Cops a bit for not being a great keeper, but I think that's largely a myth. All keepers miss chances. Nobody watched Gilly keeping to Warnie and wished for Healy back.

Marshall clearly a better bowler than Hadlee IMHO. If you're wanting an allrounder in that slot though, Imran Khan's bowling is not far behind (and almost identical to Hadlee) but batting near 40. These are Imran's stats from the last 10 years of his career.

M 51 R 2477 HS 136 Ave 51.60 100s 5 W 204 BBI 8/60 Ave 19.90

Hate to flog a dead horse but as I have always said this guy is not good enough for AFL and never has been !
Terrific SANFL player though.

Kicked around 2 goals a game in 2012. For a small forward that's far more than a pass. Given he also battled injury in his AFC time it's not hard to imagine he could well have made a successful career if given a chance at a younger age.

if only that sought of loyalty was a bit more common in state league footy, would love to see someone from norwood do the same thing when drafted to crows or power sanfl teams.


Centrals Josh Glenn this year still deciding whether to enter draft.

Doesnt want to move interstate has no interest playing for a local club./

If he doesn't want to play for the 2 teams here and the 16 teams interstate I could go out and a limb and tell the lad maybe the AFL isn't for him?
Not the sharpest tool in the shed I take it?

That comment suggests the only person not terribly sharp is the author. Plenty of people work in a job they don't like, or for an employer they don't like, or in a place they don't like. Is it not hard to see the ability to set himself up for a long time holds some temptation while being able to stay local and enjoy his footy more might hold another temptation? If a decision with such obvious merits on both sides is too difficult to comprehend for an observer, I suggest looking inward before casting aspersions on others.

It is not complete opposite...

Different circumstances for one, in that Hams was still on an AFL list and hadn't been delisted like Callinan...

If I were in Nutta's shoes, I would have made the same decision as he did...

One turns down money and opportunity to play for their local club and the other turns down their local club for money and opportunity and yet somehow this is not the total opposite? Sorry Phil, but the same decision met with the opposite decision. I've no issue with either. They make their decision based on what matters to them and nobody else.

Another day lost. I actually love the fact we've got Rogers, Clarke, Warner, Smith and a few others knocking on the door scoring runs and playing cricket while the poms sit around playing Canasta. Maybe we can just keep shipping them around to wherever is forecast to rain so they can't even have a decent net session.

Ok. So here are my keys for the third day.

1. Bat out the day. Keeping the POMs in the field all day will help for the whole series. Johnson, Siddle and in particular Harris will love sitting in the rooms kicking up their heels watching Anderson, Broad and Tremlett toil away. Fit as these blokes might be, early workloads make a difference across the series.

2. Ton up. Someone has to. Haddin deserved to in the first, but getting the job done make a huge difference to both sides. Warner or Clarke getting to the magical triple figure mark (or dare we get greedy and >1?) will add runs to our totals throughout the series.

3. Rogers needs to survive the early onslaught. Warner has his runs already, Rogers needs to prove his mettle by surviving. 20 overs and I give him a pass, but nothing could help Australia if Rogers was unbeaten at tea.

4. See of the first spell of Anderson, Broad and Tremlett. Bowlers hate coming off without a wicket. Don't underestimate the difference it made with Harris getting a wicket in his first spell. They've fired their best, with the ball at its best and got nothing. Spell #2 is so much worse with 0 in the wickets column for everyone.

5. Don't let Swann get into the series. 1/80, 2/100, no worries. But if Swann gets 5/60 or something it'll hurt us going forward. We did a great job in the first dig, but we need to make sure we keep him reacting and feeling like a stock bowler, not a strike bowler.

The docklands issues were more related to a lack of natural light. Besides, who grows grass better than South Aussies?

Anderson not capable of anything in Australia, too slow for Australian conditions and doesnt do enough with the Kookaburra.

?

Leading wicket takers in 2010-11 Ashes series:

JM Anderson (Eng) 24 @ 26.04
CT Tremlett (Eng) 17 @ 23.35
MG Johnson (Aus) 15 @ 36.93

The moment Australia underestimate Anderson is the moment he tears them a new one!

Career average in Australia of 37.70 and Vs Australia overall 36.39. Average bowler who is also a bit of a w@nker.

Just think. Without T20 would Warner be playing tests? Or Steve Smith? Without ODI cricket would Johnson have been recalled? I reckon Nathan Lyon may well still be sitting on his tractor too.

Time to get off the high horse with limited overs cricket and realise it's paying a lot of the bills. It keeps kids interested in playing cricket and gets people to actually watch domestic cricket. I am 100% a test fan first and foremost but I'm not too proud to enjoy other forms of cricket and realise the importance to the game overall.

Overall a great day for Australia. Putting on 10 runs would have been our hopes after last night. To get 30 was great. Haddin having one of the great series in history IMHO. Plenty scored more runs, but he's done it in tough situations and not had the chance to really go on and plunder. The one failure he did have was when we were looking to pile on runs in a huge hurry. Also has hardly missed a trick behind the stumps. There was even criticism of his review advice to Clarke for a while, but few errors made there this entire series.

Johnson again masterful. 51 blokes in the history of cricket have taken more wickets in a series. That includes a lot in 6 tests and he has 1 test left. As the commentators have said, he's earned wickets for the other blokes too, takes catches, hits runs, causes run outs. Shame he got his bowling sorted at 32 and not 25 or we'd be looking at a monster of a record.

Thought the poms made every mistake they could after the first 20 overs. Cook went into his shell, Root and Carberry put no pressure on the bowlers and meekly surrendered their wickets. Bell got a good one and dealt with it poorly while the rest found ways to get out. Pietersen went into his shell after Bairstow fell then tried to explode by falling into the most obvious trap in test cricket! Was there anyone else watching not expecting the ball tossed right up to get a down the ground whoosh? I'd have preferred a reverse pull to be honest. Even that last 8 overs. I know batsmen hate batting for just 8 overs but even in that time you can be positive and get something out of it. Those 30 runs at either end of the day could easily be the difference. Instead of needing 260 tomorrow, it's 200.

And well done Nathan Lyon. Far better when the batsmen are looking to hit runs off him, but did a masterful job cleaning up the tail.

If you don't think there are a lot of guys these days electing to play non league footy who are good enough then you know nothing. The issue isn't so much with the name SANFL blokes, although there are a few in that boat (Heath Lawrie a notable one). Blokes who have gone far enough for you to hear of them turned down bigger money many years earlier. The issue is the 17-20 year olds who aren't in line for AFL selection. The blokes who used to do a year or two playing reserves getting better before beginning a league career. Straight out of under 18s footy they are being thrown numbers like $800 a game. To train less. And get pissed after the games. With their mates.

Fair enough

If Cook was in blistering form we may have seen him do that but remember the bloke at the other end had hit more runs than him this series and got out less time to Johnson than Cook.

Slightly off topic but whenever I played and in particular captained a side I would never want a night watchmen as I always felt it was my responsibility as a opener to do just that and was therefore the best equipped to deal with it.

Seemed a tad strange England have gone to all this trouble to bat Bell at 3 and now his going to bat at 4 anyway

Got to take the run when it's on offer with a specialist batsman at the other end. No question.

I'm not a fan of night watchmen, mostly because I think it just burns a wicket that might be more handy late in the innings if someone's going well. I understand the logic though, but Anderson was the wrong bloke. Was as likely to get out first ball and force Bell to bat or break a rib as survive the day. If you're going to do it, send out Borthwick. He bats 3 for his county and is a far better chance of putting together an innings than Anderson, who will probably block for a bit before getting skittled for not many. Now the lad will bat 9 and if he does get going, had Broad and Rankin behind him. Broad has been rattled with the bat and Rankin (who couldn't bat to start with) may or may not be fully fit.

Big Phil finally announced as Knicks President. Hopefully he can take a broom through the organisation now
He finally came home.
Yep, not before time

Great for the NBA in general. Phil is too good to not have involved in basketball somewhere and New York has been too weak for too long for a major franchise. I just hope that those around the organisation allow him to bring changes and not try to resist too hard.

I'm not involved in this league at all but...

Who really gives a shit about the politics. Footy was created for players to play.
Play on...

Without administrators what sort of competition do you suppose there would be for the players? Grant seemed to me at least to do an excellent job and his loss will be felt, even if most are too ignorant to understand why.

The problem is that clubs are terrified of taking risks.

How often do you see a club trade a top-class established player for two first round picks to build for the future?
Something that really gets the footy world talking.

To get something good, you've got to be prepared to give something good.

You can't give up fool's gold and expect to come away with diamonds.

This is one area I expect recruiters to really improve over the next 10-15 years. For a long time it's been the loyalty factor but as everyone comes to grips with the reality of the modern game we'll see some established popular names traded amicably in the name of improving the situation for all involved. What good did it do Richmond having Richardson in his last 5 years? Yet they could have sent him to a side crying out for a key forward and gained some youth that would hold them in good stead now. Win/Win/Win. You only have to look at the Jarman/Salmon/Wellman trade to see it's happened before.

I've defended the worth of Betts this year, but there is one downside and for mine it conflicts with one of Sanderson's recent comments, regarding the Crows collectively becoming a more defensively oriented team.

Betts statistically is very strong offensively. His numbers for goals scored and assists stack up. However on several occasions I watched them this year, when the Crows were trying to press in the midfield or half-forward Betts was the weak link, because he was already heading toward the open space in front of his goal BEFORE they had caused the turnover (and which they didn't but may well have, had Eddie contributed to it).

I'm not sure you'll be able to get both qualities out of him, but if you want a strong defensive ethos it has to run through the team to a man imho.

Will be interesting to see how Sanderson plays it.

I understand what you are saying JK, Im not sure what the stats say as far as Eddies pressure acts and defensive tackles etc, but id probably rather his offensive output otherwise we may as well play petrenko :oops: if you know what I mean. I think his offensive positives far outweigh his defensive negatives.

I used to get so frustrated with Chris Knights for exactly what you have said though :lol:

I think when the ball is in his area his pressure acts are first class, especially his second and third efforts when the ball is in dispute, but I don't think he works hard enough when the other team breaks. You rarely see him in the half back flank following his man down etc. definitely something he can work on, but overall betts has been a win for the crows imo

1 bloke in the top 20 goalkickers averages more tackles a game than Betts. Maybe you don't see him chasing his man too far down field, but that can very easily be due to instruction. If dangerous forwards always followed defenders then all defenders would do is trot down to half forward knowing their bloke will be massively out of position. There's a time to chase but there's a time to stay dangerous and trust your team mates to do their job so you can do yours.

dedja wrote:arrogance from a South supporter ... I like it!

By gum it's been a while.

I actually like both teams, couldn't care less about COLA. Sydney didn't make the rules, they just play by them. All clubs have benefited from the roll of the dice on something at various times, some just make the most of it when it come their way.

They were hardly the reason the Swans lost. If anything having two such powerful forwards gave the Swans hope longer than most other sides. They got hammered in the midfield and that was the game right there. Perhaps you can argue that the money spent on one would have been better invested in a strong midfielder but I don't think there was anyone saying the Swans had a weakness there leading into the game. Sometimes you just have a bad game and sometimes that game just happens to be a grand final.

Now, whether in 7 years time Franklin is a distant memory and they have to pay him a massive chunk of the cap is the long term subplot. But who knows? I remember the same thing being said about Lynch when he signed with Brisbane. In the end he not only saw out the contract but the last 3 years of that deal brought flags.

Bruggemann staying at Alberton confirmed...

http://www.sanfl.com.au/news/sanfl_news/2756/
What bullshit did they spin to him this time? Maybe they sent S.Summerton around to his house to have a chat....

No SANFL club wanted him prior to 2014 (or obviously not enough to get him to sign), why should he leave?

So he can be picked on merit and not based on what AFL listed players are available?

Very unfortunate and hopefully the lad gets through this. I guess everyone knows the risks with a ball that hard travelling as fast as it does but it gets easy to forget until something serious happens. I think it's a great move to abandon the game. They can always think of scheduling again later on but I doubt many players are in the right frame of mind.

I'm never comfortable with the naming of people in the media when there's been no guilty verdict. Whether he's done this or not, whether it's proven or unproven he'll suffer a penalty regardless now.

That's the thing you're going to expect from Warner. You're either going to get a quick fire 100+ or a short lived 0 - 40. I know they have Rogers (all depends how long he lasts) there to be the one who goes about his business. But if Warner keeps achieving low scores, how long will CA keep affording to have a player like him in the side?

Just a thought. Not saying that he will just a hypothetical.

Wow, this post is staggeringly bad. For one, he's scoring bucketloads of runs. This series he's averaging 53, no way can you say he's out of form! Particularly when you consider he copped on on the thumb in Brisbane and then another this test on the arm that clearly hampered him. Secondly he usually does get out playing defensive shots. It's not like he can't pick the balls to put away or that he can hit. He just hits bad balls, respects good ones. To those who din't understand the game (like you) it can seem like a lottery but it's certainly not. Thirdly the quicker you score, the greater chance of winning a game you have. When players scored at 2 runs an over it seemed like every game was drawn or very nearly. These days draws seem exciting because they're so rare and often require something unusual to happen. There are a bunch of other reasons it's better, but I guess I'm no chance of you understanding them. Take it from Bill Lawry or Ian Chappell then. Those guys are often critical of guys who don't score quickly and praise batsmen who do purely because it's a better method.

Ashes Team

Rogers
Warner
Burns
Smith
Clarke
Watson
Haddin
Johnson
Harris
Lyon
Hazlewood/Pattinson/Cummins - depending on who's fit

Post Ashes Team

Warner
?
Burns
Smith
Clarke
M Marsh
Ludeman/Carters/Wade
Johnson
Cummins
Pattinson
Lyon

12th Hazlewood

Retired: Haddin, Rogers and Harris

Not sure Harris is quite that close to the end. I get the feeling he'll go out kicking and screaming like Mark Waugh. Cowan the obvious bloke to come in as opener. I also think if you've got Watson in the side he should bat 3. If he isn't doing enough to hold #3 he doesn't have a place in the team IMHO. I particularly don't see the selectors doing a simple swap with Burns. If Burns remains then I think it's 5 or 6. Reckon Hazlewood stays ahead of Cummins and Pattinson. When Harris goes it might be very, very hard to leave Jackson Bird out.

Always down to the same thing with so many sides. They pick bowlers for their batting and batsmen for their bowling. Bopara's made an entire international career from England's all rounder obsession.

Woakes does though have a very good first class bowling record, so perhaps they think that ability will eventually translate but right now, Jordan seems the better one day bowling option.

New Zealand are in the rung below SA and AUS in my book, along with Sri Lanka. Reckon India and England are below them and then Pakistan and WI the ones likely to be most under threat from the minnows. The biggest point of difference between Aus, SA and the others is they both can put an 11 on the field where everyone is a dangerous player with a few reliable stars. NZ and SL have some really good players but the 8th-11th picked blokes aren't much chop. India and England thinner again and Pakistan/WI are going to rely on blokes from left field having breakout tournaments to compete.

Be pretty happy making 80s every time, but he's spent most of his career not getting as many runs as he should. Not that much more work in a 120 compared to an 80 for these blokes but the difference to the outcome of the match is huge. He's not quite at the point where his chance for national duties is in the past but he's getting pretty close to being written off. He may well look back at his career and say it was simply not enough runs on the good days that stood between him and a solid test career.

Spot on. Especially the last sentence. Is in career best form, and has been for a couple of seasons now, but lack of huge scores to demand a baggy green and boost that average has given selectors an out to choose someone else. There is probably a few batsman around the country in the same boat in his generation.

Definitely lacking the blokes up the pointy end of the averages but overall it's still a super tough comp. We don't tend to tolerate blokes who average under 40 for long and 50 is still seen as a benchmark. Compare that to England and blokes can have a long career and be seen as highly successful and average low 30s. I reckon having only 6 first class sides has proven a massive benefit to Australian cricket over a long time. End result is a bit of navel gazing over blokes knocking the leather around at 42 instead of 52. Lol.

Was mentioned on ABC the other day that the next World Cup is being cut to 10 teams but goes for 47 days, talk about overkill

That's correct. Travesty in my book. I love having the minnows around. So much colour added to a tournament when sides rock up knowing they (probably) won't progress so they just enjoy the games and chances to get beaten by the best in the world. Do we not enjoy the Soccer world cup experience despite knowing our chances of winning are on par with picking up a supermodel at the local? Then there's the games between the minnows that both have circled as the chance to win a game. I just don't think 10 teams will be that interesting. I also don't think it's a true world cup without all nations in the world having a chance. Technically any side can qualify but it just feels like they're trying to ensure the minnows don't progress while keeping that faintest of hopes alive.

You won't run out De Villiers and Miller in the same innings very often. SA are definitely too reliant on De Villiers and Amla when it comes to batting but for me the worrying sign (if you are a SA fan of course) is how venomless their bowling looks. Including, dare we say, Steyn. Philander hurt himself but looks pedestrian and Morkel looks like he's trying not to go for more than 60 of 10 through the middle overs which is about what you want from a part timer or all rounder. Duminy's batting is just sub par. I know he came out a few years ago and blitzed us but looking back that seems like temporary form and not permanent class. Parnell is not a #7.

I think SA would look better with another striker at #6 and perhaps swap Miller and Du Plessis. De Kock and Miller give them a chance for a strong start, Amla, De Villiers and Du Plessis the others in the top 5 give them fall backs if those two fail. Not sure who could come in for Duminy but surely someone would be better. Botha is a clever player and in one day cricket his intelligence and all round ability make him hard to leave out. I doubt they can (and certain they won't) call him up but they should look at it. Thought Abbott looked good recently against us and better than Morkel for sure. Too late you imagine to ring in such wholesale changes, but I'd be more worried about that SA lineup than this one.

Still not sold on India. SA's pace bowling is inexplicably down so batting against a combination of Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood, Johnson and Faulkner will be a totally different world for Dhawan, Kohli and Rahane. Still don't rate the Indian quicks either.

Shane Warne doing his best to keep Australian cricket about him. Looks like he'll go down in history as a great player, sh!t bloke. Just wish he'd at least try to make it look like he was just trying to help.

I'm still surprised the biggest front-runner in NBA history would take on a shambles of a team like the Knicks. That piece of crap James Dolan must have thrown a ton of cash at him.

If Phil Jackson stays true to form he'll walk away at the end of the season if the Knicks don't get the #1 pick. Then come straight back the next year if they do get the #1 pick lol
Phil has always said one day he would come home to the Knicks.
I admire him for doing so in our current state and I believe he has even underestimated the job ahead. I hope he is in for the long haul but reckon Dolan will piss him off that much that he will be gone sooner than later

If he does transform the Knicks into anything at all resembling a contender it will be easily the most impressive off-court feat he's ever been a part of. Far more difficult than sitting back and watching Jordan add championships to his resume.

I think all Knicks fans should send Dolan an e-mail congratulating him on the fine job he's done, he responds very well to that!

You guys do know he didn't take over the bulls when they were winning championships? He was also an assistant for a couple of years there. At the time, Jordan was ridiculed for not being able to win the big games. Jackson put together so much of that dynasty. When Jordan left, they STILL made the conference semis. He also didn't take over the Lakers in the middle of their championship run. That was another he was a big part of creating. Perhaps he didn't take over lottery calibre teams but he also didn't just "Sit back" and watch.

I only recall the Crows saying they expected similar numbers to the crowd numbers at the time. Certainly I've seen nothing to suggest a significant drop in crowd averages. Seems to me that with an extra game a week we're just getting more people through the gates. What I do know is I've seen people going to SANFL games who haven't ever or not for a long time purely because the Crows game in.

Ambrose just seemed so lethal all the time. Hardly remember him not being threatening and always seemed a struggle to score when he was bowling. Aside from edges.

However, Jones was 100% right to ask him to take the bands off. We all remember it as backfiring but I reckon Curtly had us covered that night anyway. Maybe he went up a few clicks but at least Deano had the chance to see the ball properly. I actually gained more respect for him that night. Too often we let the Windies push us around and we battled away. One of the first times I remember someone standing up to them.

Harris won't need that much lead in cricket. His class and experience will see him through. Just a question of his body holding up.

Frightening to think that as good as Johnson is at his best Starc should be better and more consistent. Bowls with better height at the crease and seems to bowl faster with less effort while he seems the ball around more naturally than Johnson. Starc has the weapons to be our greatest quick ever. Just how much he cashes in remains to be seen.

I quite like Worsfold coming in. They couldn't go outside the current group for a head coach and Camporeale seems the right type. I like how he sticks to his guns when he thinks he's right. Couldn't help but laugh at McDermott's suggestion that Riccuito takes over. If he thinks you can go from the media straight into coaching with no other experience doing it then it would explain his own coaching performances.

Essendon will win against Melbourne. Dees played at Darwin last week and never back up well from these games.

regards,

REB
Doubt it, cue is firmly in the rack. Think you will see a heap of kids playing in the remainder of the season. Josh Schache Cup awaits

It's a harsh and unjust world. As a reward for being one of the best and brightest football talents in the country you get to go to Essendon.

Poor kid.

Of course he isn't. Arnfield was well known for it too.

Let's get one thing straight first up. Adam Goodes is a victim of workplace bullying because he's trying to do something about systemic racism in our community. Booing him for that, is supporting racism. That is the story in a nutshell.

This is his job. It's not something he can walk away from lightly because he only did it for fun anyway. Sure he gets paid handsomely but it's a career that might at best last 20 years. After that, if he's one of the lucky ones he might get a job as a coach or media personality. But even with the saturation of media and coaching staff there aren't enough jobs for all the blokes who retire. He might not be good enough or even interested. He'll retire from the game before he's 40 with a smashed body, few qualifications to do anything else and stuff all experience in any other vocation. That's with 35 or so years left of his working life to go. $500k sounds like a great wage and it is. But he probably won't be earning that in 10 years. In fact he might be earning the equivalent of 15% of that for the rest of his life. However, regardless of whether he earns a lot or not, there is NO justification for someone to put up with that abuse in their workforce.

I'm flabbergasted at the nonsense excuses people are putting forth for the booing. The free kicks he apparently gets. 11 for the year I read today I think. None for high contact. NONE. If this was about frees, he'd be one of 150 blokes getting it. He's the only one. Then there's the fact he got Australian of the year. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think he selected himself. Or even nominated himself. Or even made the faguest suggestion he should be considered. He was judged by others on the basis of his actions to be the most deserving. Some Hawthorn supporters are upset that Shane Crawford didn't get it. I can't imagine Shane himself cares in the slightest and the fact it's seen as a slight is in fact insulting to Shane's contributions to charities over the years. Shane Crawford did some amazing things for others. Let's not cheapen those actions by somehow making him the excuse for denegrating another person.

Finally, there's the moment Goodes pointed out the girl for her racist remark. Adam Goodes responded. He didn't start it. She said something and was called into line. He did not know who she was, how old she was or her family situation.

So long as this happens, it's actually embarrassing to be an Australian. To participate, support or even to excuse this is not in keeping with the very values we seem to subscribe to. Freedom, fairness and equality are the things we uphold above all others in this country. We have paedophiles who live in the community in anonymity but actors and sportsmen have media camped on their streets. We have CEOs on $10m who would be recognised by .01% of the population but politicians on 5% that who can't go for a walk without being accosted. And we have someone who stood up for himself being vilified while those with outdated and uneducated opinions are cheered for exercising "free speech".

Grow up.

Was a very hard and tough early with both sides putting on some good pressure, although neither side could hold their heads high regarding skill and clean ball handling. Thought Norwood had the early ascendency but couldn't find a way to hurt us on the scoreboard. In the first 5 minutes Stephenson looked all at sea against Newton but somehow we held out.

Second quarter I felt like the dogs lifted their intensity further. Paul Thomas laid a series of tough tackles that stopped an opponent dead in his tracks and that seemed to lift his young team mates. This began to really push Norwood onto the backfoot while either our mids got some better hands aronud the contest or Norwood started to drop off in their intensity. Probably a bit of both really. But at half time a narrow lead felt like we were starting to wrest some control over the contest.

Third quarter was excellent. Felt like for the first time in the whole game we got some good clean ball through the middle. The run started to kick in and our small forward line looked lively. Norwood really got starved of good chances through pressure and tackling and a few times it looked like we'd pull out to a strong lead. Still, at the final break Norwood weren't put away.

The last was just a clinic. Norwood looked diabolical. Even when under no pressure they coughed it up. With free team mates to link up to they stopped. And they suddenly had virtually no endeavour in their defense. Up to then, you'd be forgiven for saying Norwood just lacked class but when the season is on the line, to fail the effort test is embarassing. That's not how a side that's won 3 in a row should end their run.

Well done to Norwood for the last 3 years. Winning any flag isn't something to be taken lightly and 3 in a row is a rare accomplishment. I think given the dominance of 2 clubs since 2000 it's easy to forget that. But serious questions need to be asked of Warren. The plan was poor. They seemed to try a game plan they simply weren't capable of carrying out while against a dogs side always likely to be small up forward they went with a rather tall defense and oddly, conceded a lot of balls over the back. The decision to seemingly let the dogs best midfielder rack up 37 touches took its toll. Schiller must have thought it was christmas the number of times nobody picked him up at the stoppages. A few older heads will leave Norwood and it seems a full rebuild is imminent.

Thought generally the umpiring was good, but there were a couple of baffling decisions. I get the idea of letting it go and for the most part the umps erred on that side. But some really obvious frees were waved on. We have rules in the game for a reason, feel free to enforce them the whole game.

And finally, whether Thommo goes on or not remains to be seen. I'd love to see him notch 300 games, which is 2 more years. Reckon he has the ability but it must be taxing to play the way he does. But the more it seems to be a feeder comp for kids, the less we're going to see stalwarts. If he doesn't get to 300, not sure how many years it'll before the next one. But good to see he's still putting some shocking shots for goal in. Of his league goals, I swear most were passes.

I don't mean blokes who necessarily will retire from footy but when you're winning blokes stick around. Now that the era seems over I think it's going to get far more tempting for blokes to step away. Might not happen, but it's a natural thing. Which then usually triggers a need to rebuild. Doesn't mean all 21 will need to move on, but how many blokes from Sunday will be a part of the next Norwood premiership threat? If it's 15 then you're not too badly placed. If it's more like 10 then that's half a side to recruit, develop and get to fit together under a workable game plan. And while on game plan, maybe it was exactly the same plan used from 2012-14. I don't think it was quite the same but regardless, what Norwood were trying to do doesn't work for the blokes that were out there. I'd have thought it fairly important to make sure that whatever game plan you have, the blokes on the field are capable of carrying it out. I know some aspects of Centrals game plan didn't alter at all from 2000 to 2010 but it was constantly evolving to suit the blokes we had. Maybe Warren was trying to stick to what Bassett started for as long as it worked but I think he erred. Either way, I still say questions need to be asked. Doesn't mean a new coach, just means figuring out how to improve to get back to the top.

Amazing that anyone could suggest Camporeale had been anything but outstanding. IMHO he won't win it but his name should be raised in coach of the year awards. Certainly he's hands down the coach of the second half of the year. To get a group of players as shot to bits as the Crows were emotionally not only up to being competitive just a couple of weeks later but into a semi looking potent is to my knowledge, unparalleled at a professional level in this country.

Gee Thommo has had a great year. After the last couple of years I wasn't sure he'd be able to get through this one but he turned that idea around. Still a sneaky chance of 300 games. Been a while since we had someone clock up 300 with one club. Not many more deserving to do it IMHO and maybe the last for a long time to come.

I don't have a problem in the world with someone making the best decisions for themselves, especially with employment. With footy people turn into a bunch of whinging hypocrites. They'll jump to a new job for a few thousand more but hate footballers doing the same for much more money. Perhaps the timing and communication was poor, but sometimes you don't get to handle everything perfectly.

Doesn't mean it's not a bitter blow. Club captain, legend of the club with a swag of medals to his name and coming off a really good season is a big blow to the on field side. We were just rebuilding and links to the premiership sides were alread waning. Just another guy gone for the young blokes to learn how it's done. Also cuts short my silly hopes of watching an SANFL player register 300 for the one club. Been a long time and hard to see the next one.

Regardless, I wish Thommo all the best. But the club will move forward.

If, however, this means somehow that he is allowed to play against us my next post on the issue will be a bit less level headed.

He's in the side so all we can hope is that the selectors have been right all along and it all just clicks. I have my doubts but I'd rather be wrong and have the side winning.

I love their commentary.................................length ball, length ball, length ball.

What a bunch of ballbags.

and every dismissal is a false shot :roll:

The best ones are the bowled dismissals. Bowled, false shot to covers. Fielded by Ludeman.

Not going to lose this from here. I'm feeling good about this side at the moment.

Just another way of big noting himself. Kind of like putting a reserved sign on a future "I was first" claim. But I guess some people have so little that validation from anonymous people on a forum is an achievement.

That requires a reconstruction.

Gone for the season, probably the end of his career, pretty pissed off over this, this big bash is a farce, SA lose one of their top batsman and you can imagine other sides will lose players for the shield comp during the comp and no compensation
You have the right to be angry , everyone does but seriously this could of happened at ANY TIME during the cricket season. Don't blame Twenty 20 cricket for Callum Furguson tearing his ACL, that's ridiculous. He chose to go and play for the Renegades and put himself at the risk of getting injured as much as any other time he steps onto a cricket field for whoever he represents.

What crap. He doesn't have the right to be angry at all. The guy was making a living doing something that a lot of people enjoy. Whether it's test cricket or domestic T20 it's entertainment and ultimately what's more "important" is what people will pay more for. Nobody has a right to be angry. Not the public, not the SACA, not the renegades, not his family and not Ferguson himself. You've only got a right to be angry if someone has done something wrong. This is just bad luck. You can be upset, disappointed and a bunch of other things, but anyone who is angry needs to get back to reality.

Roy is in his 10th consecutive final season.

How quickly those who seem to deride the short forms of the game want to change the long form too. Setting the game up under any circumstances, trying to slog the game away, these are not test ideals. All that was ever going to happen has happened.

Marsh in at 3 was a good plan. Goes in with 100 on the board, no pressure on runs or a result. Just bat. Once again puts up the effort of a number 8, not a number 6. He just simply cannot hold that spot for much longer. In fact, I think this is it. NZ will demand a batsman at 6, not a tail starting there. Perhaps if Nevill was batting well enough to hold that spot Marsh could bat 7, but there's no keeper in the country good enough to allow that luxury. For me, Marsh is competing with the bowlers for a spot.