All posts by sportzfan

Friday musing – Melbourne Heart, the Ashes, Jarrod Lyle…….

Chris Barwin HillsI was watching the Melbourne Heart on SBS2 last Friday night and looking at the crowd, there was more noise coming from the West Sydney Wanderers crowd than the Heart supporters.  It occurred to me that the Wanderers have established a profile because they are linked to an area of Sydney, whereas the Melbourne Heart supporters are probably made up of soccer fans who do not follow the Melbourne Victory.  The Heart really needs a profile that people can relate to, otherwise I can see them disappearing before too much longer.  This is compounded by their inability to win games.  They really deserved a draw against the Wanderers, but didn’t have the class to capitalise on their opportunities.  It doesn’t help that Harry Kewell can’t get on the park.  Whoever owns the rights to the Heart should consider relocating to Geelong or establishing a base in an area of Melbourne which has a strong soccer culture.

I was also interested to see that George Bailey and Mitchell Johnson have been named for the 1st Test starting next week in Brisbane.  I think naming George Bailey has some risk based on his performances in India where batting records were established with big run chases, so clearly the pitches were batting friendly strips.  His 1st class average is below 40, but then again so is that of Alex Doolan who was the other batsman in contention.  My guess is that the selectors opted for Bailey because he can assume the captaincy should Michael Clarke’s back let him down again.  I think if Cameron White can turn a few of his 50s into 100s then he could come back into contention as well.

Turning to Mitchell Johnson, we all know that at his best he is a redoubtable cricketer and a fine
fast-bowler, but at his worst he is a liability.  He has probably got another chance because of the injuries to the young incumbents and while I remain sceptical, I certainly hope he strikes form and punches a few holes in the England batting order.

Great to see Jarrod Lyle make a good comeback yesterday and let us hope he makes the cut for the Australian Masters.

Have a good weekend all!

Friday musing – International Rules, Captain’s Pick, Derby Day…

Chris Barwin HillsMy first thought this week was with the International Rules series recently completed in Ireland. Initially I thought it was a good idea to have an indigenous team representing Australia because when Kevin Sheedy loaded up the team with indigenous players previously they had performed very well. A lot of the indigenous players are very quick and very skilful and matched the Irish in this regard. Where they are not so good is their defensive game and while I didn’t see either game, by the scores, we clearly were not good defensively. It was also telling that the second game was a worse result than the first, whereas it is usually the other way around as once the players are more used to the round ball, the result improves. I think this latest series spells the end for the concept.

Talking of concepts the AFLs proposed “captains pick” game was knocked on the head very quickly and probably understandably so. However, I have raised the issue of representative football before and I do think the game needs it. I think most people would like to see the best against the best as we see in the Rugby League State of Origin series or the various sporting World Cups. The AFL doesn’t have anything since the game went truly national. Concepts need to be explored and maybe it is East (Victoria, Tassie, NSW & Qld) versus West(WA, SA & NT) and then it becomes a scheduling issue. I do not have the answers, but the AFL definitely needs something as the players were the driving force this time behind a representative game.

Derby Day this weekend which is probably the best days racing in Australia. There has often been calls to reduce the distance of the Derby, but the Derby is an older race than the Melbourne Cup and while it doesn’t always get the best fields I would not mess with history. My tip this week is Savvy Nature.

Mordiboy looks at the Melbourne FC drafting in 2011

melbfcAs a one eyed Melbourne FC supporter, I have been looking at reasons the Melbourne Football Club finds itself in the position that it is at present. An area that Melbourne has rated a fail at over the seasons is in the selection of their draft picks.

One has to look no further than the AFL draft of 2011:

1. Mitch Clark for draft pick 12 – has played a total of 15 games (concession – bad run with injuries)

2. Rory Taggert at draft pick 36 – no games and now delisted

3. Josh Tynan at draft pick 52 – two games and now delisted

4. James Sellar at draft pick 54 – 23 games and now delisted

5. Jai Sheehan at rookie pick 6 – no games and now delisted

6. Tom Couch at rookie pick 24 – three games and now delisted

7. James Magner at rookie pick 42 – 19 games and now delisted

8. Leigh Williams at rookie pick 59 – no games and now delisted.

Eight players selected and only ONE still on the list. That is not even a fail mark!

If one also looks at the 2009 draft we had pick 11 and used that on Jordan Gysberts – he was traded to North Melbourne last year after playing 19 games and has now been delisted by that Club. In the 2010 draft with pick 12 we selected Lucas Cook who played no games for the red and blue and was delisted.

I rest my case!