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00:00Hello and welcome to Offsiders, I'm Abbey Jelmy.
00:24There's just five sleeps until the first Ashes test and Australia's bowling stocks are looking
00:29very thin. Pat Cummins is still recovering from a back injury and yesterday came the
00:34news that another big quick won't play in Perth.
00:39Australia has been dealt a blow on the eve of the Ashes with Josh Hazelwood ruled out with
00:43a hamstring strain.
00:44South Australian speedster Brendan Doggett is set for a shot debut.
00:48You'd far rather face the Aussies without Cummins and without Hazelwood.
00:52Gone! Straight away Hazelwood finds his man!
00:57That's a massive blow for Australia, I mean you're losing more than 600 test wickets.
01:01Yeah, there's a great chance there for England to get on top early.
01:05We've not even got to the first test and already, you know, that kind of fitness and injuries
01:11is a big story.
01:12So it's almost a last man standing.
01:15It was always likely to be that way given the age profile of Australia's team.
01:20He certainly is gone and I can't believe it's only five sleeps until we do have that first
01:28test in Perth.
01:29There's so much to talk about and so much more going on in the world of sport too.
01:32It's a pleasure to have your company this morning.
01:34It's also a pleasure to have the company of our panel.
01:36I'm joined by Gideon Haig, Peter Lawler and Alexia Pesce.
01:40Now Gideon, I thought this was an innocuous injury.
01:43We were told he was going to be fine and next minute Hazelwood's ruled out.
01:46He thought it was an innocuous injury.
01:48That was his first reaction.
01:50But nothing's innocuous when you get to that age.
01:53And as Mike says, the older you get, the more susceptible you are to injury and the longer
01:58your convalescent times.
01:59So this was always a possibility.
02:01What we have to remember is that Australia has been incredibly lucky with injuries over
02:06the last 10 to 15 years.
02:08This is I think only the second time, no the third time that Australia has been without
02:13Cummins and Hazelwood in a test match since 2014.
02:16You look at England, Archer and Wood have only ever played in one test match together.
02:21We've been very, very fortunate and it's probably, you can't resist gravity indefinitely.
02:29Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it can't last forever.
02:32And on a scale of one to disaster, Pete, where actually is this?
02:35Because we can, the media can be accused of the lead up into an Ashes getting a bit sensationalist
02:38about it, but it's a huge loss.
02:40Wish I could do it with Arthur's Manchester, Mancunian accent.
02:44It's a capital D disaster.
02:46You've lost your captain.
02:48You've lost 600 wickets from the side.
02:51Australia's lost its greatest advantage in this Ashes series and that was the bowling
02:56attack.
02:57You know, all the concern going in has been around the batting.
03:00Don't worry about our bowlers.
03:01They show up every summer, don't they kids?
03:03Yep, yep.
03:04But this is a worry.
03:06It's a right worry.
03:07And Lex, this isn't the conversation we thought.
03:09We thought we'd be talking about the top order, who'd be batting, who'd be opening,
03:12and instead it's all about the bowlers.
03:13But how vulnerable does this make the Aussie side?
03:15If they're not used to having these two stars out, and as you said, they've played together
03:19for so long.
03:20So does this not open them up to so much vulnerability?
03:24Well, these are two vulnerable sides.
03:26I mean England have got a set of similar issues.
03:29You know, Mark Wood is 35 and hasn't played cricket for almost a year.
03:34Joffre Archer has managed to play two Test matches since he first dropped out of Test
03:38Cricket.
03:39Atkinson's coming back off injury.
03:41They don't know who's batting at number three.
03:44It's probably going to be Ollie Pope.
03:45It's a wonderfully fertile environment for speculation, this preamble to the Ashes.
03:51Which side would you rather be then, if they're both vulnerable?
03:53Six of one, half a dozen of the other?
03:55That's a good question.
03:56The gap is certainly narrowed, and I think it's going to make a bit of a difference to
04:00the tone, the way in which England approach this Test match.
04:04You wouldn't necessarily be playing full-blown basseball if Josh Ozerwood was in your attack.
04:08No.
04:09But now, you might think as though you can put a relatively inexperienced Australian
04:13attack under pressure.
04:14Yeah.
04:15It's a really good point.
04:16They are vulnerable to that sort of cycle.
04:18Like, we are replacing 600 wickets with seven wickets between two guys.
04:22Haven't had a lot of top-level experience.
04:24Ness has played two tests.
04:26The basseball will shake your bowlers.
04:31It attempts to shake up your bowlers to put them off their line.
04:34And it's going to be a little bit harder for these guys who've had less experience.
04:37A lot of weight on Mitchell Stark's shoulders.
04:39You speak of less experience.
04:40Brendan Doggett comes into the side.
04:41He's 31.
04:42And for someone who may be casually following cricket in Australia, he's not a name that's
04:46certainly been a household name in recent history.
04:48What can you tell us about him?
04:49He's been a well-performed domestic bowler for the last three or four years.
04:54After losing his way, he was picked by Australia in the Pakistan tour in 2018.
05:00Same tour that Manas Labashain and Travis Head broke through on.
05:04But then sort of disappeared out of calculations.
05:06Got included as an injury substitute in the Australia A versus India A series last season.
05:14Picked up six for 15 on a juicy pitch up the top and had a very good season last year.
05:22It will be, if he does play, and I think it's probably almost certain that he will, Australia
05:27will be playing two Indigenous players in their 11 for the first time ever with him and Scott
05:33Boland.
05:34Brendan has, I think, Warramai heritage on his mother's side.
05:37He's been coached by Ryan Harris as well and there's a lot of strength there and especially
05:41strength in his fitness, seeming he's a triathlete as well.
05:43Yeah, he does triathlons in the off-season.
05:46As you do.
05:47He didn't do one this year because he went to Durham to play.
05:50But Ryan Harris reckons he's cherry ripe.
05:52He's ready to go, this guy.
05:54He can bowl long, hard, fast spells.
05:57It's okay to bowl short, fast spells.
05:59But in that sense, I think he's a like for like for Hazelwood who can put in some long spells.
06:04And Cummins too can both do that.
06:07So hopefully he has that endurance in his body, you know.
06:10He's over 30 now, got a great outswing, got some good speed.
06:14It's going to be great to see someone make a debut.
06:17I mean, it's always fantastic to see.
06:19And we may have two debuts in the Ashes.
06:21It's interesting that they picked Nessa to come in as the substitute, as the fallback fast bowler.
06:26Now, he's 35.
06:28I'm not sure he really takes us anywhere.
06:30He's a known quantity.
06:31This was a great opportunity, I think, to have included Fergus O'Neill,
06:34who's been the best-performed domestic bowler at first class level for the last two years.
06:39And he's 24.
06:40I think he's not fast enough.
06:41But as Steve Smith was saying last week, on the pitches in Australia at the moment,
06:48as he said, which virtually have branches dangling from them,
06:51Fergus O'Neill would be a definite prospect.
06:55Is it an age thing, though?
06:56Because they were sort of reluctant, this series, to bring anyone quite young into the side.
07:02Is it an age thing for him?
07:03At some stage, they're going to have to.
07:05Tell them that.
07:06And this week has underlined that.
07:08Well, the track record tends to be now that you're ripe at 28.
07:12There has been a shift.
07:13Well, Jake Weatherold is also someone who's been brought into the side in the later years.
07:18Yeah.
07:19And you would argue you're playing your best cricket in that period of your life, generally.
07:21You are.
07:22I think different for batters than bowlers.
07:25I think Weatherold has matured as his games come together at the right time.
07:32And I think, as I've said before, on offside, batsmen are tending to mature a little bit later
07:36because of the sheer multiplicity of formats and the demands of all the different skills.
07:41But fast bowlers, you know, don't forget, these are anomalies that we have.
07:47Australian fast bowlers bowling successfully into their mid-30s.
07:51There is always a limit to everything.
07:53Well, I think selectors and Aussie fans alike breathes a collective sigh of relief
07:56as Cameron Green got through two spells of bowling in his shield cricket this week.
08:00He showed his indecent batting form, too.
08:02Have we seen enough of him, though?
08:03I think that's the big question.
08:04Have we seen enough of him with the ball that he is just a lock for that fifth bowling position
08:09in the Aussie line-up?
08:10Yeah, we saw enough of him.
08:11He gets the ball.
08:12He's bowling as fast as he used to bowl after the back operation.
08:15He said that.
08:16He was very pleased.
08:17He's lost no speed.
08:18He gets wickets early.
08:19He's got that great back of a length.
08:21Digs it in.
08:22His bounce is difficult.
08:24I have no concerns about that.
08:26He's bowled, what, 16 overs in the Shield game.
08:28Eight and eight innings.
08:29And he was trying.
08:30He was trying.
08:31He was bending his back.
08:32He wasn't phoning it in.
08:33He was bowling a lot of effort balls.
08:34He looked like he was back to his best.
08:36Yeah, it's out of the way.
08:37Cameron Green's playing this death match.
08:38How much of the order is based around him now?
08:41Well, isn't it?
08:42I mean, I think every time, every all-rounder affects the balance of the side.
08:46That's why they're, you know, they're so valuable.
08:49They allow you to, with that little bit of extra batting and that bit of extra bowling,
08:53you take them out and, of course, everything's a different proposition.
08:57Is it more so around him, though?
08:58Because he's so rare.
08:59Well, hang on.
09:00Green is valuable even when he's not bowling.
09:02He wasn't bowling when they brought him into the side and were forced to move Smith to
09:06number one.
09:07But why were they forced to move Smith to one?
09:09To get Green into the side.
09:10Right.
09:11So how much of the side is based around him?
09:12He's the golden cow of Australian cricket.
09:13He's the migaloo.
09:14The migaloo.
09:15The rare white whale of Western Australia.
09:17The migaloo.
09:18The Western Australia.
09:20Spot the Perth girl.
09:21You got it in.
09:22Well played.
09:23Very, very...
09:24West Australians don't just sledge the English.
09:26No.
09:27And you are actually one out in who you'd have opening legs, because both the gentlemen
09:31have Jake Weatherall, but...
09:32I feared this come up.
09:33I would have gone with Matt Renshaw.
09:34Why?
09:35It's too late now.
09:36I just think that he had the old enough head, the experience, he was batting well,
09:41and there were so much eyes on the Shields this season that he was doing everything he
09:46needed to.
09:47Well, did they do him a disfavour by picking him in the white ball side then?
09:51Instead of giving him two additional rounds of Sheffield Shield cricket in which to prosecute
09:55his advantage.
09:56No, I don't think that wouldn't have been...
09:58No, I don't think so.
09:59He was still doing what he needed to.
10:01And when he didn't get selected, he came out and made, what, 198 or something like that
10:04straight after.
10:05So, I think no matter which situation he was in, sticky or otherwise, he was still batting
10:08where he needed to, and he was doing it well.
10:10No disrespect to him, but I like the fact that the selectors had players in mind based
10:16on the last couple of years where he hasn't performed as well as he could, and they've
10:20stuck with that.
10:21I think Weatherall's a better option there.
10:23You think they will play Weatherall?
10:24You don't want recency bias.
10:26And the other thing, I think, is the style of his batting.
10:29You've got to remember that you're stuck with Usman Khawaja in the corner there, and I
10:33mean, he's not exactly the most dynamic batter you have.
10:37You need a bit of zig and zag with your openers.
10:40Well, if Khawaja doesn't make runs in the first three test matches, we might see Renshaw
10:44before the end of the series.
10:45What do you make of the comment that Usman Khawaja said he wanted to bat with Matt Renshaw?
10:49I thought that was...
10:50Queenslander?
10:51You've got anything about that?
10:52Yeah, I wasn't overly impressed with that comment.
10:54I know it was well-meaning, but I didn't think it was necessary.
10:57I think he forgot that he plays test cricket.
11:00That's the kind of thing state players say about state players.
11:03It's a lack of broader awareness.
11:05It wouldn't have been, in some ways, not a bad thing.
11:07They already have that relationship from playing together for Queensland.
11:10So, would that not have worked in the Aussies' favour?
11:13Because they'd have a good chat on the bus on the way around.
11:15Maybe, yeah.
11:16I'm more concerned with the dynamics out in the middle.
11:18Well, they would have done that together before.
11:20It's the style of play, I think.
11:22I don't think it works.
11:24If you're a noting batter, you should be able to play with any other partner.
11:27And is Bo Webster part of both of your eleven?
11:30I still don't think so.
11:32That's a big inhale.
11:33I still don't think so.
11:35But, I mean, there is now the possibility with Hazelwood falling out that they will try to look for an extra bowler.
11:40But I think if you're looking for your sixth bowler to be a decisive influence in a game,
11:44then you're over-intellectualising your selection.
11:47There is the possibility that Labochane will open in order to allow Webster to play, but it's also...
11:56If we're saying Renshaw's unlucky, then Webster's on another sphere of unlucky.
11:59He couldn't have done more when he's had the opportunities.
12:01He's kind of squeezed out, isn't he?
12:03Yes.
12:04He's not dropped.
12:05It is a bit unfortunate.
12:06But, you know, hey, Migaloo's there.
12:08I don't know.
12:09I'm sorry.
12:10Webster, Migaloo, they're all unlucky sometimes.
12:12That's three Migaloo, four now.
12:14One of the arguments for Webster was that if you're playing a bunch of fast bowlers who are in their mid-30s,
12:19one of them might fall over and you might need the extra bowling.
12:22But if Hazelwood is now out of calculations...
12:24We know they've fallen over.
12:25...and we know that Doggett is fit, then the argument against Webster is actually slightly stronger.
12:29And generally, if you're relying on your sixth bowler, you're losing.
12:33Yeah.
12:34Yeah.
12:35Well, the talking point before all of this and Hazelwood decided to get injured was whether
12:39or not England had given themselves enough time to settle in.
12:41Because they have taken what is a relaxed approach to their preparation here, playing just the
12:46one internal practice match in the lead-up to the first test.
12:49It's prompted many of the greats from both sides to question whether they will be ready
12:54for the bouncier wickets here in Oz. Here's what Ben Stokes had to say.
12:58I don't really know what we're supposed to do, to be honest.
13:02You know, with preparation, it's like we've been preparing for this for a long time.
13:06Yeah, the schedule's pretty jam-packed to be able to sort of prepare, I think, how teams
13:12probably would have done 10, 15, 20, 30 years ago as well.
13:16So I think there's a lot of factors that have changed over the years of cricket.
13:21Now, he didn't say the term in that interview, but it has been quoted whether or not it was
13:25throwaway. He used the term has-beens in referring to some of the comments about cricket, maybe
13:29just not understanding how packed the schedule is.
13:32Well, not understanding how great the players were who were criticising him.
13:35Yes.
13:36I think it was just a slip of the tongue.
13:38And he is right. I mean, you don't quite get the balance right.
13:42No-one forced England to play a white ball series in New Zealand before this series, which
13:48precluded the possibility of them playing some first-class pitches, first-class games coming
13:53in. I think preparation at Lilac Hill in a kind of an intra-club game on very slow, low
14:00wickets is a very inadequate preparation for playing at Optus Stadium.
14:05We can see the footage there. It's not exactly stadium conditions.
14:08Look, a stadium did the same thing in 2019. It played an intra-club match at Southampton.
14:13You know, it was the Hicks 11 versus some other 11.
14:17It was Levin's 11, wasn't it?
14:20On a sub-optimal pitch, on a pitch that you wouldn't have played first-class cricket on.
14:24Part of the reason that you do this is because hosts will not give you good competition when
14:30you arrive. If you're relying on the other team to give your host country a good workout,
14:35you're not going to get it anymore. It doesn't roll like that. They did what they had to do.
14:40Their batter's got a bit of time in the middle. Their bowler's bowled.
14:42Well, I think, Gideon, you've already mentioned that they are an unstable side.
14:45We haven't really been dining out on this because they're too worried about our side
14:49and what the make-up will look like. Have they had enough time to really look at their line-up
14:53on what would be best and how many, I guess, tests are we going to get out of Archer as well?
14:56I think they probably arrived knowing what their line-up was going to be.
15:00Yes.
15:01The questions around their pace attack remain. I mean, the fact that Wood couldn't get through
15:05eight overs without going off with hamstring stiffness does raise a question about his
15:11ability to get through five hard days of cricket. He is potentially a huge trump card,
15:17but he's in his mid-30s. He is susceptible to injury. It would be great to see them bowling together,
15:24but there is a reason why they've only played once together, him and Archer, in their careers.
15:31Mark Wood has played six tests since the last Ashes.
15:35Joffra Archer has played two tests.
15:39I heard Ben Stokes say that he's been on the park for two years.
15:43Well, he hasn't exactly been on the park playing a lot of red ball cricket.
15:46He's been on a park.
15:47May Park, yes. Both of them, there's this sense that England have spent the last four
15:53years trying to get these two on the park to play test match cricket. Now, they don't
15:58have a lot of experience anyway. They're very, very good bowlers when they bowl, but 37 tests
16:03for Wood, 15 for Archer. And then you get to the also-rans. There's not a lot of experience
16:09in that bowling attack, but their key bowler is their captain, isn't he?
16:14He is.
16:15Does that have too much attention on those two, getting them right for this Ashes?
16:18Have England spent too much time doing that?
16:20They're that good that you probably do it.
16:22They are that good.
16:23We'd take the problem, I think. We'd welcome the problem.
16:26And that is the thing that England have lacked over the last few years, is that they've often
16:30had one very good bowler, one good bowler, and the attackers tended to fall away after that.
16:37This time, I think the attackers potentially more even if they remain fit.
16:42We've already touched on the concept of bas-ball and whether we're going to see it, and already
16:46your mind sets back to 2023 and some of the highlights that we remember from that Ashes
16:50line-up. But do you think we're going to see this level of explosive cricket, or do you
16:55think they might tone it down a little?
16:57I think they play their best when they play aggressively.
17:00When they attack.
17:01Yeah.
17:02A guy like Brooks.
17:03Yeah.
17:04There's one way, isn't there?
17:05Yes.
17:06Root's more subtle.
17:07Joe Root's one guy who's tempered the way he plays all the last four years.
17:10Is this the time that we see him get a ton on Australian soil?
17:13That's the next question.
17:14Does it happen?
17:15Well, if he does, it's got an asterisk next to it because Cummins isn't playing and
17:18Hazel is playing 100.
17:19It's not a real 100.
17:20It's not a real 100.
17:21It's not a real 100.
17:22It's not a real 100.
17:23It got us why we were down.
17:25Let him have it.
17:26Don't take it from him early.
17:27Come on.
17:28We'd love to see Joe.
17:29It would be fantastic to see Joe Root get 100.
17:32Great cricketer.
17:33He's just one of the stars of the game.
17:36Great guy.
17:37Had a really tough time when he was captain of England.
17:40But, you know, you said this morning in your piece on Cougar et al, everyone got around
17:45it when Coley got that 100 in Perth last summer.
17:48Yes.
17:49There are some moments that transcend too.
17:50I think we could find something in our heart, couldn't we?
17:52Even though he is English, for him if he made a 100.
17:55I think you're over assuming it.
17:57He did play for prospects for your club.
17:59I remember this conversation.
18:00So he's an honorary.
18:01Honorary, is he?
18:02Honorary.
18:03The south of Free Settler.
18:04And that's the headline that it will be.
18:05The honorary, some part of Australian will pull from him and all of a sudden it's the
18:09greatest 100 he's ever made.
18:11Well the beauty of this is there is so much to speculate about before we've even seen
18:15a ball of this series.
18:16And it has been a series.
18:17It's the ashes.
18:18It's on home soil.
18:19What this means for Cricket Australia financially as well.
18:22We've already heard figures being bounced around of just how many days are already sold
18:26out.
18:27How important is it that the cricket stacks up first and foremost, but for Cricket Australia
18:30financially for this to be a success?
18:32Well I mean financially it's already a success because so many tickets have been sold in advance
18:36and there's 40,000 British fans coming.
18:39There's a, I mean it's amazing isn't it that Cricket Australia was able to report only a
18:45deficit last year after an enormous season involving India.
18:50But the thing is that revenue is rising at Cricket Australia.
18:54Just expenses are growing faster.
18:56There's a lot of mouths to feed.
18:57A lot of money is being disgorged.
18:59It's a very money hungry game.
19:02And this raises further questions about the issue of private investment in Australian cricket.
19:09If they can't make a go…
19:10They've been drip feeding to us this idea of private investment.
19:13They have.
19:14And it's convenient for them that these losses are posted.
19:16I don't mean to be totally cynical.
19:18There are losses there.
19:20The India's loss is because they've broken the one day series off to this year.
19:26So that comes into the next financial cycle.
19:29But I don't know how you can lose money when you've had five tests against India.
19:33One thing to watch with this, they won't necessarily make money if they're refunding
19:37all those day four tickets.
19:39So are we going to get CEO wickets?
19:43Are the pitches that we think will ruffle the English batsmen, perhaps they're going to be
19:48a little more subdued because of the financial concerns.
19:51We're told there are three types of cricket that make money.
19:55There's BBL, there's Ashes and there's India.
19:59But there's a lot of cricket played in Australia.
20:02So this really has to work this summer.
20:04This has to be massive.
20:05It looks like it's going to be.
20:07700,000 tickets sold.
20:083,000 members of the Barmy army coming.
20:11First class, business class is booked out on every flight to Perth this week.
20:15Just about from England.
20:16Not a problem I've found.
20:17I'm not looking at the business then.
20:19Nor am I.
20:20Nor am I.
20:21You've mentioned the Big Bash but we will mention the WBBL because the season is underway.
20:26And 16 year old Kiva Bray took a hat trick in the Sixers' easy win over the Thunder.
20:31But the beauty of this is she didn't know that she took a hat trick left.
20:34So there was this great celebration where she didn't quite know what was happening.
20:37But I mean we have already seen her for a season in this competition.
20:40And it's the beauty of the WBBL.
20:42It's where stars emerge and they genuinely put their names up in lights and she's done just that.
20:47And the commentators didn't know early either.
20:49But I think the fact that she didn't know probably makes it a bit more exciting.
20:51Because you can see after when she does find out how happy she looks.
20:54So that was what confused them.
20:56Erin Burns has taken this fantastic catch at point.
20:58They're all excited about that.
20:59And they've forgotten that she's taken a wicket with the last ball of the previous hour.
21:03Yeah, over.
21:04You don't often get those 1-2 hat tricks.
21:07You often get 2-1's.
21:082-1, yeah.
21:09She's 16.
21:10She's 16.
21:11I know.
21:12It's crazy.
21:13It's fantastic to see.
21:14My mind goes back to Phoebe Litchfield when she debuted.
21:15I think she was only 14-15 or whatever it was.
21:17And you're going, shouldn't you be focusing on school?
21:19It's the beautiful thing about the competition.
21:21And we are excited that it is underway.
21:23But we'll move on to the AFLW now.
21:25And Carlton has shocked Hawthorne to surge into the preliminary finals.
21:28The Blues finished 14th last year.
21:31But an exciting batch of young players has them on the charge.
21:34They booted four goals to zip in the first quarter.
21:36And they just didn't look back, Lurks.
21:38They look like they're playing with so much joy.
21:39And there is that youthful exuberance when you're playing with house money
21:43and you're a young team that no-one expected to get there.
21:45And this is hard to watch.
21:47It's the nothing-to-lose mentality in a way.
21:49And I think it's Sophie and Abby McKay who are leading it.
21:51Abby's the captain now.
21:52And 25th birthday yesterday.
21:5425 disposals for her in one goal.
21:56It's a nice little bowl on the birthday.
21:58But this week they were talking about their preparation
22:01and where it's come from.
22:02And what they've done as a team is turned to dancing.
22:05Instead of sitting on the bus with their headphones in and staying quiet,
22:09they actually spend the week or a day as a team doing a dance.
22:13This week they had someone come in and they did line dancing.
22:15So to prep for this game, there it is.
22:17There it is.
22:18That's the line dancing.
22:19They all got involved.
22:20And it came from Darcy Vessio who was doing dance lessons somewhere.
22:23And they started bringing this in.
22:24And Matthew Buck the coach said, at first I was like, what is going on?
22:28What are we doing?
22:29And then he bought into it.
22:30And you can see it come out.
22:31And we see so many of these characters, like Sophie McKay is a big one,
22:35who brings that on field.
22:37But he actually spoke to the credit, the kind of play issues behind the scenes,
22:41where she's business.
22:42She does a review.
22:43She does the opposition review.
22:44And she's very structured.
22:45And she does a great celebration.
22:46Because let's have a look at Sophie McKay in one of her celebrations.
22:48So last week she pulled the fake hammy.
22:50This week it was a bicep of some variety.
22:52She put her shoulder out, I think, there.
22:54Oh, gone.
22:55No.
22:56No.
22:57Into the shimmy.
22:58I don't know if they learned that in line dancing.
22:59But I do think these are the sort of characters that AFLW needs.
23:02But more the point, just watching the highlights then.
23:04Both the gents, when there was a tackle,
23:05George goes, oh.
23:06Because they're the moments that you want to see in W.
23:09This level of talent that we're seeing coming through the finals
23:12is exciting for what the league can become.
23:14Yeah, it is.
23:15And I think those, we have seen them, especially in the Melbourne game as well.
23:18There was a few moments in that game.
23:20That was more a finals-like game for Hawthorne to lose by as much as they did
23:24and now exit in straight sets.
23:26That's pretty grim, isn't it?
23:27Very grim.
23:28Especially after what happened to them in the previous week.
23:30Correct, yeah.
23:31Three points.
23:32No, but you do speak of the moments.
23:34And you can see the calibre of the AFLW talent, I think, go up this year a lot.
23:39The cross-coat athletes are, they're still there, but they're not as much now.
23:42You're getting genuine footballers and you're seeing it.
23:44And it's becoming a better competition.
23:45You mentioned those finals moments in yesterday's other semi.
23:48Melbourne came from behind to beat Adelaide by 11 points and it wasn't a genuine arm wrestle.
23:52One play late in the game really summed up their desperation.
23:55It was Talia Gillard who ran 50 metres to make the tackle.
23:58And Lex, I know that this really stood out for you because she just didn't give up.
24:02But it was really the moment where she went.
24:04Yeah.
24:05And you can see the other players celebrating behind going, this is it.
24:08We've got them.
24:09Yeah.
24:10And it's in the final minute, as you mentioned.
24:11And you see, I don't know if we have the vision there, but Kate Hoare, the captain, just throws her arms in the air.
24:14And there it is.
24:15There we go.
24:16Look at her.
24:17But it's in the final minute.
24:18They're already going to win.
24:19But the fact that they were so desperate.
24:20That is a finals moment.
24:21A genuine finals moment that was spoke about in the press conference after as well.
24:25Just like her desperation to really stamp their mark on the final series.
24:29I mean, they have to face North Melbourne now.
24:31So hopefully they get many more of those moments because it's not going to be easy from here.
24:35North probably are.
24:36How long since North have lost?
24:37Oh, don't.
24:3825 games.
24:39And as is the AFLW, it's the first time they've played.
24:41North and Melbourne have played since the start of the record breaking run.
24:45So they come up against this team that they haven't seen all season, who's undefeated, who everyone's going, how on earth do we beat them?
24:52But I guess moments like that, the inspirational performance from Kate Hoare, the captain, three goals.
24:57You mentioned Kate Hoare. She was phenomenal.
24:59And I think it is wonderful to see players in the Melbourne Guernsey playing to this level.
25:06Because all of a sudden you naturally think of Daisy Pearce, don't you?
25:09And some of the greats that we've seen.
25:10But they have been phenomenal.
25:11And if they are going to beat North, it's going to take performances like that to do it.
25:15Yeah, she has to replicate it.
25:16I think she can.
25:17I mean, she's shown all year that she can always be that captain, the calm head.
25:20She kicks goals on the run.
25:21She makes it look easy.
25:22She's in the right place at the right time.
25:24But doing that against North is going to need more than just Kate.
25:27They're going to need the whole team.
25:28And so many young players did step up yesterday.
25:31Talia Gillard, who laid that tackle, was one of them.
25:33So they do have it.
25:34It's just not cracking under that pressure of North Melbourne, the reigning premiers, who are just so dominant.
25:39Beyond dominant, really.
25:40I think it's things to lose, which is sort of the way that you think about it.
25:43Which, hopefully with healthy competition, eventually it will even out.
25:46Because we know that North have just, all the good players have decided to go, how do we get a part of this team that keeps winning everything?
25:52Every run comes to an end though.
25:53You know, and this is the nature of knockout sport, isn't it?
25:56We were saying these same things about the Australian women's cricket team, weren't we?
25:59During the World Cup.
26:00It's too soon to bring it up.
26:01Too soon?
26:02OK.
26:03I guess, I mean, someone has to beat them at some point.
26:05So if it happens this final series, it's a good testament to where the competition is at and when they need to be.
26:09I think it's the big four of the women's competition.
26:12But I think it can be, I think it can happen.
26:15I think they have this brand for so long, you just look at teams, you just know they'd be studying from Monday to Friday this week of how on earth do we beat North Melbourne.
26:24It's going to be full attack style.
26:25We'll take a break for dancing.
26:27Obviously.
26:28That's what I was saying.
26:29Well, if you want to talk about line dancing, we've got to talk about wild cards round and knockout footy.
26:34Because the AFL men's competition has announced during the week that they are going to introduce the wild card.
26:39This is the concept for American sports lovers that's been very well tested across the NBA and NFL.
26:44How unusual to come up with an idea from American sport for the AFL.
26:48Wow, that's just...
26:49You're not a fan, Gideon, I take it.
26:51I'm not a fan.
26:52I'm not a fan of them doing it at this time of year.
26:54I'm actually sick of this crap from the AFL.
26:57They used to be seen as terribly savvy, but now it just seems cynical to me.
27:01Just kind of feeding the chooks, dropping these things in to the off-season.
27:05But don't the chooks want to be fed?
27:07I mean, it gets on the front page of the papers.
27:09The papers down here just run AFL for all but one week of the year, I reckon.
27:14And that's when the test is in.
27:16The AFL should get back to its core business of addicting people to gambling and ripping off the taxpayers of Tasmania.
27:21I can't say that.
27:23The AFL does know when the AFL final series is.
27:28They schedule it.
27:29They are fully aware of when the AFL plays finals.
27:31It's like Christmas.
27:32They know it's coming.
27:33So it is disappointing to see them release the wildcard round.
27:36Which, whether you like it or not, is still a big change too.
27:39Do you like it?
27:40There was.
27:41We can criticise the scheduling of when they decided to make the announcement.
27:43But I think, as a rule, AFL fans are going to watch knockout finals.
27:47If you're going to watch anything, you get excited.
27:49Yeah.
27:50We'll hate it until we love it.
27:51Broadcasters are going to love it.
27:52Broadcasters are going to love it.
27:53Broadcasters love it.
27:54Papers are going to love it.
27:55Offsiders are going to love it.
27:56You're going to love it if your team finishes seventh.
27:57A bit of extra finals footy.
27:58I don't mind.
27:59I don't mind a bit of extra finals footy.
28:00We'll get used to it.
28:01Fans always do.
28:02But if my team's finished seventh, I'm thinking, jeez, last year we were straight
28:03in.
28:04We were a lock.
28:05This year, it's another week of nerves and things like that.
28:18Die-hard fans might struggle.
28:19But I think footy fans as a whole, through that time of year, will love it.
28:23Every child player gets a prize now, almost.
28:25We really need to leave it there.
28:27So I won't even give you observations.
28:29I will just say, who do we think is going to be leading come day three next time that
28:33we chat?
28:34Oh, leading come day three.
28:35It might be over.
28:36It might be over.
28:37Yeah.
28:38We'll leave it with that because we have to be over.
28:40So thank you so much for joining us today.
28:41That's all we have time for.
28:43We'll leave you with Steve Smith who will Captain Australia in the first test on Friday.
28:47And let's just hope that he's coin flipping skills a little better than this effort during
28:51the week.
28:52Thanks for your company.
28:54Look at that.
28:55I think he needs practice tossing the coin, doesn't he?
28:57That's what he needs practice at.
28:58That was a shocker.
28:59He's got his mare out of the way.
29:01That didn't get above hip height.
29:02That should have been recalled.
29:03He's almost thrown that into the ground, hasn't he?
29:06Yeah.
29:07I mean, wasn't my finest.
29:08Don't know what happened there.
29:09Out of practice.
29:10Just slipped out.
29:11But yeah, probably should have had a re-toss to be honest.
29:18I'm sure.
29:19I'm not sure.
29:21I'm sure.
29:22That's cool.
29:23I'm not sure.
29:25Inside.
29:26I'm sure you know you could've got here from five minutes.
29:27It's fine.
29:28It's, too, it's a very good time.
29:30It's fine.
29:32I'll be right back.
29:33I'm sure you've got this one.
29:34After this one, you can't see me.
29:35You can see you at the beginning.
29:37I'll be right back.
29:38That's my job.
29:39I try to make sure you enjoy your job.
29:41I see you next week.
29:42You can see you right now.
29:43You can see you right next week.
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