Opinion 2014

[FreoGirl]

We may go alright. Don't chuck your tickets out just yet.

The WACA can work in mysterious ways, and sadly this might be the last Ashes there!

 

[apuchar]

The WACA can work in mysterious ways, and sadly this might be the last Ashes there!

Can't really imagine Perth with a drop in pitch or watching cricket in a stadium instead of a cricket ground but hey.. can't be much fun sitting on the benches in the stands or in 40 degree heat in the outer.

 

[muckypup]

Yeah but the Australian cricket team sucks now. My left nut has more talent than David Warner in a test match.

I saw his 100 in a session at the WACA vs the Saffas. Was great. No good against a swinging nut though. (not yours)

 

[yoong]

griffin comes back in, and hopefully Sandi, Clark stays healthy, we could consider putting sandi in full forward permanently!

Forward line issues solved (not forgetting we still have Kepler!)

Mora hopefully is going to get some run and hit form mid season.

Priority have to be to keep our list injury free and we'll be a strong contender for top of the table.

 

[muckypup]

Can't really imagine Perth with a drop in pitch or watching cricket in a stadium instead of a cricket ground but hey.. can't be much fun sitting on the benches in the stands or in 40 degree heat in the outer.

They need to crank the redevelopment sooner rather than later. I cant believe that with all the complaints the eastern side STILL doesnt have any type of shade. The decision regarding 2014/15 is more to do with the World Cup and India being shit scared of playing on a bouncy track and they hold considerable purse strings. Capacity is no issue there. 20k for a cricket ground is fine and the facilities are 'o-k-aeee' without being great. I cant wait to go this year. I go to pretty much every day of the test each year. PLus you got the Scorchers with some excellent young talent. Should be a top summer of cricket.

 

[Nothing]

They need to crank the redevelopment sooner rather than later. I cant believe that with all the complaints the eastern side STILL doesnt have any type of shade. The decision regarding 2014/15 is more to do with the World Cup and India being shit scared of playing on a bouncy track and they hold considerable purse strings. Capacity is no issue there. 20k for a cricket ground is fine and the facilities are 'o-k-aeee' without being great. I cant wait to go this year. I go to pretty much every day of the test each year. PLus you got the Scorchers with some excellent young talent. Should be a top summer of cricket.

With no other team coming WACA is now the 5th best venue in Australia (MCG, SCG and Gabba no brainers, with Adelaide spending millions to redevelop), so in a 4 test series we were always going to be the one to miss out. With the decline in the number of tests being played I think it will happen more often in the future.

 

[muckypup]

With no other team coming WACA is now the 5th best venue in Australia (MCG, SCG and Gabba no brainers, with Adelaide spending millions to redevelop), so in a 4 test series we were always going to be the one to miss out. With the decline in the number of tests being played I think it will happen more often in the future.

Will there really be a decline in test matches though? Where do you get that information from? The only reason this is a short season is because of the World Cup which is being played in Aus. I seriously cant see a decine in tests and a new stadium wouldnt make playing in Perth any more attractive whatever James Cocknuckle says.

 

[FrancisX]

The squad will have a host of players available you'd hope by 2014.

I am not convinced Morabito will be the difference in 2014, maybe the year after- he is a very good prospect. In reality he has only played one season of A grade footy, and as good a season he had, he was just learning the game. He hasn't effectively played any footy not even WAFL the next three seasons. So it is not just a case of building match fitness, but gaining confidence, adjusting to the speed of the game and learning the right running patterns when the ball is not in his area. This will take time.

I suppose we will need to see how the squad looks after trading and drafting periods. The premiership window should be open next season at least. After next season, with the ages of McPharlan, Pavilich and Sandilands it becomes more complex.

The concern for me is the draw - the AFL's solution is dumb and short sighted in my worthless opinion. It is a reactionary response which I believe still allows them to carry on with manipulating the draw which suits them. But it is what it is and I take it the club will take it that way with the same attitude they applied to the Kardinya Park event. I would hope people recongnise, even if the draw was 'easy' last season the team did exceptionally well juggling injuries and suspensions to key players throughout the season. I honestly don't know how hopping on a plane almost every week, when you factor in to and fro is an easy draw. So Freo should be around the mark barring injuries.

I think injuries has become a bigger factor over the past several years, you look at the teams who have won premierships and most of those team had a more manageable run with injuries. I believe it is significantly harder for an IS team to handle a run with injuries especially the teams in Perth. So unfortunately a lot will be determined on this factor.

If I am not mistaken the Peel will become a partner club to Freo as of next season, which is similar to what most Vic teams have. Do we expect this to have any bearing on continuity for the younger crop of players, or will this have minimal effect or take a few seasons to kick in before Freo bear any fruit of it?

 

[Nothing]

Will there really be a decline in test matches though? Where do you get that information from? The only reason this is a short season is because of the World Cup which is being played in Aus. I seriously cant see a decine in tests and a new stadium wouldnt make playing in Perth any more attractive whatever James Cocknuckle says.

There already has been a decline in matches and that will continue whilst the money supports that shorter forms (there used to be 5 or 6 test series regularly, now we play 2 or 3 tests (not withstanding the Ashes). Playing in a new stadium will only change where Perth falls in the pecking order. MCG and SCG will always have a test per summer. Gabba, Adelaide and Perth the next tier (in that order), with Tassie and the rest of the venues a very distance third tier.
If teams that are playing 3-5 tests reduce that further AND the other nations remain at 2 tests then it will be the likes of Perth that will miss having an annual test. We used to played 5 tests against WI, that's down to 3 now. We played 2 tests against NZ last time. Our overseas series are now almost exclusively 3 tests with the lesser nations down to 2. WACA cricket is dead as an international test venue, IMO.

 

[apuchar]

Yeah we missed out on a test next year because of facilities. It was a shot over the bow by cricket Australia.

 

[muckypup]

There already has been a decline in matches and that will continue whilst the money supports that shorter forms (there used to be 5 or 6 test series regularly, now we play 2 or 3 tests (not withstanding the Ashes). Playing in a new stadium will only change where Perth falls in the pecking order. MCG and SCG will always have a test per summer. Gabba, Adelaide and Perth the next tier (in that order), with Tassie and the rest of the venues a very distance third tier.
If teams that are playing 3-5 tests reduce that further AND the other nations remain at 2 tests then it will be the likes of Perth that will miss having an annual test. We used to played 5 tests against WI, that's down to 3 now. We played 2 tests against NZ last time. Our overseas series are now almost exclusively 3 tests with the lesser nations down to 2. WACA cricket is dead as an international test venue, IMO.

We have been having 6 test matches in Australia for a while now (2 * 3 match series with different teams). I can not ever recall a single 6 match series but could stand corrected. At 5 tests the WACA is aways included even in your model. The last 6 match series I could find in Australia was Ashes 78/79. I am a big proponent for fewer test matches with bigger, more important series but cant see it happening anytime soon. And it is all about facilities. Fix up the bloody ground. The members facilities are okay but the rest of the ground needs serious work. They started with this half arsed 'family feel' which would be good as long as you like your family like I like my chicken ... barbequed.

 

[Nothing]

We have been having 6 test matches in Australia for a while now (2 * 3 match series with different teams). I can not ever recall a single 6 match series but could stand corrected. At 5 tests the WACA is aways included even in your model. The last 6 match series I could find in Australia was Ashes 78/79. I am a big proponent for fewer test matches with bigger, more important series but cant see it happening anytime soon. And it is all about facilities. Fix up the bloody ground. The members facilities are okay but the rest of the ground needs serious work. They started with this half arsed 'family feel' which would be good as long as you like your family like I like my chicken ... barbequed.

I was thinking back to the 80s and 90s in relation to the 5 and 6 test matches, if it's longer than that I can invoke senility as the cause. Upon further research, it appears the 6 tests series in the Ashes were primarily away series after 78/9.

The solution is to fix the ground or move to the new stadium. IMO, I think that when the new stadium is built they will reduce it into a boutique ground aiming for 8-10,000 people so that they can have all the state games there, kind of like NSW do with North Sydney oval.

 

[caterina]

I believe it's lovely over on the cricket board, they're much politer than some of the cranky old buggers here looking for Freo news

 

[Nothing]

I believe it's lovely over on the cricket board, they're much politer than some of the cranky old buggers here looking for Freo news

The thread is titled 2014, we are talking about a missed test in 2014 for the WACA. One could argue that we are strictly staying on topic.

 

[muckypup]

I believe it's lovely over on the cricket board, they're much politer than some of the cranky old buggers here looking for Freo news

Here is the Freo news. 1) We lost

 

[caterina]

The thread is titled 2014, we are talking about a missed test in 2014 for the WACA. One could argue that we are strictly staying on topic.

The OP was about how Freo would go in 2014 I thought, but far be it for me to discourage generic discussions about the year 2014, I love em. Who do you fancy in the world cup soccer, Brazil would have to be hard to beat at home don't you think?

 

[caterina]

Here is the Freo news. 1) We lost

Are you giving up on us for 2014 already?

 

[muckypup]

Are you giving up on us for 2014 already?

Nah, but even though I am around here I genuinely dont want to think too much about it until later on. And yes Brazil are a shoe in. Bookmark it.

 

[FreoGirl]

The thread is titled 2014, we are talking about a missed test in 2014 for the WACA. One could argue that we are strictly staying on topic.

we have to occupy our minds between now and 2014

what do we do once all the trading has finished?

 

[Righteo]

griffin comes back in, and hopefully Sandi, Clark stays healthy, we could consider putting sandi in full forward permanently!

Forward line issues solved (not forgetting we still have Kepler!)

Mora hopefully is going to get some run and hit form mid season.

Priority have to be to keep our list injury free and we'll be a strong contender for top of the table.

This is something I haven't seen discussed much here with Clarke's good form in the latter half of the season.

Sandi has value drifting forward but I can't seem him as a permanent forward, just as I can't see that possibility with either Zac or Griff. The problem is that they're all natural ruckmen and very good ones at that but I'm not sure we have room for all 3 in our team.

I still rate Griff as a better ruckman than Clarke (although how he recovers from his injury remains to be seen clearly) but with his age and athletic prowess Zac needs games to further his development.

It's going to be tough to manage them next year. I hope that if he isn't getting games Griffin still sticks around because he'd know he'll get his chance in a couple years when Sandi retires anyway.

 

[Kunna17]

This is something I haven't seen discussed much here with Clarke's good form in the latter half of the season.

Sandi has value drifting forward but I can't seem him as a permanent forward, just as I can't see that possibility with either Zac or Griff. The problem is that they're all natural ruckmen and very good ones at that but I'm not sure we have room for all 3 in our team.

I still rate Griff as a better ruckman than Clarke (although how he recovers from his injury remains to be seen clearly) but with his age and athletic prowess Zac needs games to further his development.

It's going to be tough to manage them next year. I hope that if he isn't getting games Griffin still sticks around because he'd know he'll get his chance in a couple years when Sandi retires anyway.

whoever misses out will get games still as Sandi will be managed. Think it will actually be a rotation without any real preference until finals start, also the '8 Point games' will be played with Sandi + WHoever Ross prefers

 

[couldhavebeen]

If we are planning to do will in 2014 we need to play more games at the MCG , BUT only 4 teams in Melbourne have their home games at the MCG and they are Richmond , Melbourne ,Collingwood and Carlton so if we are to play more games on the sacred ground we need to play them all twice and we won't get 2 games against Melbourne IMO so we can only hope for the rest .

Hawthorne play Tassie and Etihad , Geelong play Simmons and Etihad , so we can only expect 4 games a year at the MCG unless the AFL can see more fans \bums on seats due to Grand Final rematch with the Hawks but don't count on it .

Hawthorne only played the MCG 4 times this year other than Finals .

We would be better off if at the new training facility at Cockburn with its 2 ovals having 1 the same dimensions as the MCG and the other the same as Etihad or Subiaco.

A lot of first time visitors to the MCG where surprised the ground is in fact ROUND not OVAL well it is a Cricket ground . You can imagine what the players felt running out there for the first time

 

[FreoGirl]

I've been staring at the tv longing for the footy to come back on

 

[greatgatsby]

I've been staring at the tv longing for the footy to come back on

I have replays of the Geelong & Sydney games on my IQ. But I'm showing DISCIPLINE in not resorting to them yet (long summer, especially when we're going to smashed in the Ashes).

 

[Ripper]

Lets be honest. People are stupid. Basically only some experts and people on here saw us finishing top 4. Top 4 was the benchmark for our club and for me personally, given what we showed last year. Everyone thinks we had a soft draw, that's how we made the grand final, but tell me, is beating geelong in geelong a soft win? Don't listen to those people, they don't have a clue. I see us finishing top 4 again, with a good run of injuries, top 2.

We only had a soft draw because we beat WC & Adelaide twice, Carlton away and basically killed their chances at top 8.

The GF was one that "got away". If Macpharlap had a even a couple of weeks more game time , We would most likely have won it, He needs to be better "managed" through next season.

As for the big (211) fellow , there is no logical reason why He cannot play until he is 35-36 like Paul Salmon and Scotty Wynd as long as he is "managed" correctly. He was in career best form during this finals season despite being a bit underdone.

Going forward it is all good.