Players you hated when playing but grew to like in retirement

Well?

Has to be Glenn Mcgrath and Ricky Ponting for me. Both absolute c*nts on the field of play, but in retirement have shown themselves to be honest people with no egos.

Beefy - because I learnt he thumped Ian Chappell

Seconded.

Henry wrote:Well?

Has to be Glenn Mcgrath and Ricky Ponting for me. Both absolute c*nts on the field of play, but in retirement have shown themselves to be honest people with no egos.

as you get to know them better your nationalistic prejudices have dropped away

Yeah, he was a great bloke when playing. I just couldn't see it.

Was that just after his dying wife had been slagged off by Sarwan? Aye, he was bound to be at his best.

Meh, he set himself up perfectly for Sarwan's excellent response. Perhaps he should have thought twice about sledging on the field when in such a vulnerable position personally.

How he even got onto the field when that was going on in his private life remains a mystery to me. Encouraged strongly all the way by Jane, I would guess.

Definitely, And her death was by no means all but guaranteed at that stage. He's done some great work with the Jane Mcgrath foundation since he retired.

Honestly, I'm surprised at the huge difference in his personality on and off the field. With most players you at least get a sense of what they are like off the field by the way they behave on the field, but with Mcgrath it's like chalk and cheese.

Henry wrote:Definitely, And her death was by no means all but guaranteed at that stage.

I think that's a bit naive. "A bit of a cancer infection in the bone" is just spin. She was a brave lass who knew her fate; she just didn't know the duration of the fight.

While he must have been going through extremely hard times then, McGrath was never a gent on the field. He was always, AFAIK, a twit; off it he is completely different.

quite possible that his wife's condition, her eventual death and the taking on of complete responsibility for his family changed mcgrath as a person

but doesn't change the fact that on the field he was a complete ***hole

Yeah, afraid McGrath was nothing but contemptuous when on the field of play. Typical lardos.

Have to agree here. McGrath was a tosser on the field.

Jardine?

I think lardos was just suggesting that there may have been reasons for his quntishness on that occassion rather than suggesting there wasn't a base level of quantifiable quntification pervading his on-field career.

Larwood more like. Most Aussies accepted that he was a vulnerable player who was merely following Jadine's orders.

Jardine was considered a c*nt before, during, and after his cricket career.

taipan wrote:Jardine?

How old are you?

G.Wood wrote:

taipan wrote:Jardine?

How old are you?

Sorry should have mentioned I was asking horrie.

G.Wood wrote:I think lardos was just suggesting that there may have been reasons for his quntishness on that occassion rather than suggesting there wasn't a base level of quantifiable quntification pervading his on-field career.

Nay:

lardbucket wrote:

Henry wrote:Well?

Has to be Glenn Mcgrath and Ricky Ponting for me. Both absolute c*nts on the field of play, but in retirement have shown themselves to be honest people with no egos.

as you get to know them better your nationalistic prejudices have dropped away

As can be displayed above - it's not that Pidge'n'Ponning were qunts, just that Trev was being prejudiced.

When, in fact, they were qunts.

I think that statement had more to do with what he thinks of trev than what he thinks of pidg'n'pont

Let's hope so - you've got to be able to identify a qunt, regardless of the good old badge they're wearing on their chest. Case in point: JimmyBroadSwannFinn.

you're just displaying your hardness

Broad is the only one in that lot who's a bit qunty and even then he is more schoolgirly tw@ttish than outright wizard's sleeve

Jimmy and Finn mouth to the batsmen, again and again. Even when they've been tonked. Qunts.

Maybe harsher on Swann, but I don't like moaners who chew their own players out time and again, especially when he's fallible.

taipan wrote:

G.Wood wrote:

taipan wrote:Jardine?

How old are you?

Sorry should have mentioned I was asking horrie.

I thought you were trying to entice Merlo back