Lolol ...

That's a possibility. He may have converted to Parra in his final days. It was from his own final posts that he said he's a Parra fan when he left though. There were a lot of people nagging him to just leave because he'd made himself so unpopular, in fact Steve was probably driving the bus to the rally...
That's a long while ago now. I remember another one leaving, "Alan", bagged out the club for not winning enough & he wanted to take his kids to see a winning team, so he went off to the Wests Tigers...
There's been a few annoying Parra fans start posting at times along the way too. The last one was a while ago now & that guy was hell bent on comparing achievements etc & trying to prove how wonderful Parra was in comparison. A massive losing streak from Parra & he soon vanished. Wooden spooners lately, he wont be back. Brilliant...

Smack...never met him...never wanted to meet him but yes I found him annoying..that is putting it mildly..he was kind of Marki times 100 but despite that I generally like Marki but I generally disliked Smack. One bloke I didn't like and he was around for a short time only;evidence would suggest he was being held at her majestys, pleasure was Cartman. If you can't remember him you are lucky.

Oh no.....Cartman....
I did my best to forget him, paid hypnotists and all and there you go undoing all the hard work and mentioning him again....

Now I need another 8 years to forget him again.

Here's one for ya.....Rooster Cockburn

I'm not sure about that? I'm sure I read once on one of the old sites Ian C and a few others have met him at Dogs games. Think his name is George?

Rings a bell.....

That was Quasimodo

That does sound familiar.
It's starting to seem like he might've been one of those fans that spat the dummy & left for another club, either that or he dumped a load of BS on his way out (hoping it would annoy).
It takes things back a long way, 6 months here, 5 years at punters, 2 years when those other guys had a temporary page up. I don't recall smack posting on any of those pages, so it's probably a minimum of 8 years since he left & he was around for a fairly long time, hence all the names he used.
Marki is right, Smack was vary analytical, more so than normal. It was like he relentlessly took it to obsessive levels. People like that can get difficult to reason with, they can reach a very cynical stand on everything.

Yeah.... I do remember the Parra fan thing and leaving the BDP announcement too. It was after, quite a while after, that he either introduced himself, or maybe was outed by someone else to IanC (pretty sure he related the story) and a few others at a  Dogs game, think it was Belmore.

Short fat bloke from memory..... or is that just how I always pictured him.....?

Not that there's anything wrong with short fat blokes for any out there - live and let live and all that

what a way 2 start 2019 my 1st post of the year & some grok called jack Blythe from zero tackle journo wanna be has written his 2019 NRL predictions
the roosters back to back  ,BUT he goes on & says sorry 2 all the bulldogs fans but he writes & goes on we will get the spoon due 2 no back line depth 
likely team that i think will take on in round 1 
napa
j m king   
sue  
c n haria
r f mariner 
jackson  (c)
foran
lewis
smith
hopa
criten   i recon he will play in the centres as he is a centre 
holland/montoya
meany
res
toleman
faloalo
elliett
martin/offahicky
i cant see this being a wooden spoon team , we can surprise some teams i having faith 





l

First notable death announced 2019..may have actually been end of 2018..RAy Sawyer...the Dr Hook of Dr Hook...started out as a rockabilly in Alabama and whilst Dennis Locorriere was their main lead vocalist he did do the lead on "Cover of the Rolling Stone"...

With the next cricket test already starting tomorrow, the shorter breaks between tests these days really feels too soon for another test. I get tired just watching it & feel like I need more of a break in between tests, so the players must be seriously getting tired in countless ways themselves, not to mention carrying a few injuries & strains, that's without actually using any follow-on. If they did enforce one, the extra time fielding without a sit down in the stands in that ridiculous heat would send fatigue over the edge & they'd need a much longer break than these short turnarounds. I reckon it'd put half the team out of the next test if they enforced a follow-on in such hot conditions.

Ahh, yes smack.... the bloke that tried to be funny, tried to be antagonistic, and tried to be intelligent. He didn't succeed in any of those roles, so then tried to be clever and reverse his username to kcams............ failed there also!!!

Thats the spirit BigT!!!... I to the germoulists and 'yeah the boys'!!!!...

Pat Howard would probably have made half of them stand down for Sydney...

Queue Marki asserting it was the run rate boredom induced fatigue as opposed to tiredness...

It helps having reserves that know which side of the bat is the front & some spare players that can send down a few deliveries that aren't akin to lawn bowls...

As for the behaviour of the captain on the final day of the test, it was completely uncalled for & it sent the progress of the sport in this country back decades. In this past year of turbulence, I expected much more from him than stooping so low. It was worse than 20 yellow sticky tape incidents rolled into one. Whilst being interviewed he could've said anything, even resorting to 'no comment' but no, he had to say yeah nah...

Where I am, 4 more days of 40 degrees to go, then at least 3 around 30 degrees. Looking forward to those 30's, I hadn't bought beer since April...

The way most of them bat they'd be better using the back of the bat... Might force em to concentrate a bit harder and not play so many get out shots with the frequency they do...

Thanks Dman.
You saved me typing that post!

True, they may as well use the back of the bat. It's frustrating to see it happening, one cheap wicket after another. They've all been bad in the top order. You think to yourself, that's one to let go to the keeper & they go & hit it straight to a fielder...

The bowlers haven't been too bad but could improve, especially with the new ball. It's hard to watch when they keep using it to bowl wide hoping the Indians will have a swing at it, but they're more focussed & wiser than the Aussie batsmen & tend to let those ones go. I thought Pat Cummins did well making the Indians play at it by bowling some good varied length on the stumps mixed with some short pitched bowling. The other bowlers got a bit too erratic at times, either bowling wide or trying too many Yorkers, it's not really using the swing of the new ball very well.

I hope they at least check out the SCG pitch before assuming it's only good for spinners based on myths, old wives tales & tradition. How it's prepared, the weather lately & whatever else could end up with a result less suitable for spinners. It's like assuming the WACA is only good for pace, but there's been some great spinners pitches over there, not that the WACA is used anymore, just an example to emphasise the point.   

Not only deciding which ball to leave, also shot selection in the ones they need to hit... Just seems to me like most of em can't consistently play straight and/or through the line of the ball, or push the ball into a gap for one...
Back to basics kids... first twenty runs between mid on and mid off... If u hit the ball along the ground you can't get out caught...run hard between wickets...

Gotta say Buparas been brilliant, and I'd find his action distracting if facing him , but geez he generates some pace...

Cummo has been exceptional the entire series, and unlucky not to have another half dozen wickets... Has really 'bent his back'...

And before Steve gets into me about the marki  boredom post- cue...

Our catching in melb probably indicates where ere at as a whole...

Shame that Cummins dropped one as he has otherwise been outstanding.

IMO fix the big problems first and the biggest problem is decision making while batting.

Even against SA the batting was struggling before the ball tampering incident.

Public expectations need to be in sync with the players abilities.

My expectation is players battle hard, make sound decisions and don't give their wicket away cheaply.

I'm fairly happy with the bowling and fielding, even with the odd bad day.

Paine is doing a reasonable job as captain, the bowlers and captain are not always executing good plans against batsmen. I think that they have some plans but the bowlers can't get it in the right spot or the pitch is too flat.

But fix the batting first and take it from there.

India are a good side, but they don't look unbeatable, just better organised, more professional and more diciplined.

The problem re the batting is even more simply stated ...they are trying to get a silk purse but all that is on offer is a sow's ear. I don't really access Sheffield Shield Scores much anymore but consistency there should be a pre-requisite...too many one day game players in the team

The other plus is we seem to have unearthed a few young batsmen with potential, even if that is only in 20/20.

We need to step the young guys up to shield, then get them some experience in county cricket.

A few Australia A tours playing 4-5 day cricket are also essential, and get them some good coaching and mentoring.

What the young guys have in their favor is that so far they are not afraid of failure, they are backing their ability which is easy in 20/20. Step them up to the next challenge ASAP, so they get an idea of what is required.

That is why I always believe that things can turn around quickly in sport, 2-3 talented young players can make a big difference. All of a sudden everyone is playing their right role and the team has confidence and momentum.

In contrast we currently have players stretching to fill a role that is beyond their abilities. When they fail it puts pressure on the rest of the side and saps confidence.

We don't want to wreck the young players by thowing them into tests too early, but otherwise fast track them.

I agree, we are lacking proven test batting talent.

Players seem to be starting out in 20/20 and making a name for themselves.

What I think we might be missing is a organised process to turn them into test players.

Head is a perfect example, a talented young player and I rate him. But he has been shown up in terms of techique and decision making in test cricket. In his case I would persist, but ideally he should learn some of it before test seleftion. 

I heard them talking about this on Fox and one of the the heads made comment that the Aussie batsman know how to defend and know how to play their shots but that's how they play. And he really hit on something I think.

Dot, dot, 4, dot, dot, 4.

All they're looking for is the ball to defend or the boundary ball, they've lost the art of just working their runs around the field. They're not even looking to work their runs around the field.

KoK was on the panel and he made mention of how Mike Hussey built an entire Test career around 1's and 2's. 

With few exceptions, our current lot just haven't the feel for Test Cricket.

I point to Pujara's 1st inns of the last Test. An early wicket and a dead pitch and Pujara just sets himself to be there at stumps - simple Test theory. There's not an Aussie batsman who thinks that far ahead.

This is what we need.

If we can't get our players getting what they should be getting out of Sheffield Shield. Tour the best and brightest anywhere they can get 4 day cricket. Australia A, B, C & D tours are a good idea. Sponsoring them into domestic comps around the world is another (and mine).

Spend some of the BBL money on the long game.

Watching bbl pre game and theyre talking about how stoinis should be on the brink of a test recall based on his T20 form...
Hmmmm....

I really don't get the Aus selectors, they bring in two players that instill no more, and possibly less, confidence than the ones they replaced.

I see what they're thinking, but it's flawed. They're banking on a spinners wicket and India playing an extra spinner. Which is fine except maybe they should also be thinking about who's gonna see off the Indian quicks before the spinners get their hands on the ball, if they're needed at all by that time. Maybe they should send out Cummins and Lyons to blunt the new ball.

Bold prediction, but I bet everyone reading this thinks - not a bad bet, where can I get on:

P Handscome. LBW. Bowled Bumrah.