Ashes Third Test, Headingley

Australia lead the series 1-0 after winning the first Test at Edgbaston and drawing at Lord's.

The Aussies will be without former captain and the best batsman in the world after Steve Smith was ruled out with concussion following a Jofra Archer bouncer that struck him on the neck in his first innings at Lord's.

Marnus Labuschagne is expected to fill Smith's spot like he did at Lord's when he entered the fray as Test cricket's first ever concussion substitute where he scored an admirable 59 runs, helping to steer Australia to a draw on the final day.

It's expected that Peter Siddle will drop out of the side to allow for the return of James Pattinson who was rested for the second Test. Mitchell Starc seems destined to remain on drinks duty.

England meanwhile are expected to name an unchanged 11 although they may tinker with the make up of the batting order. Joe Root has struggled at first drop, while Jason Roy has failed to make the switch from opening in the ODI team to becoming a Test opener. Root is expected to move down to four with Joe Denly jumping into the number three position.

Many are talking about the effect of Jofra Archer's entry into Test cricket. Interestingly, his debut performance lands him as just the 312th best bowler on debut with overall figures of 5/91. He need only look across at his opponents in Pat Cummins (7/117) and Josh Hazlewood (7/142) who had better debut figures.

The Headingley pitch is rumoured to be a slow deck that will crumble and break up towards the end of the match. An interesting decision by the ground staff there given Australia's Nathan Lyon has been collecting wickets for fun and spun the English into knots in the first Test.

As always the toss will be important and Tim Paine will be hoping his luck continues. This will likely be a bat first pitch because no one will be looking to bat last on a decaying deck.

Play starts at 8pm AEST tonight so get your picture-in-picture going or set up a second screen to make sure you don't miss the first ball while watching the Eels belt the Dogs.

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Eel for life replied to Roy tannous's discussion My takeaways from today
"Some very poor defence lead to some piss weak tries. Made Fogarty look like a superstar when he scored and the simple one on one missed tackle from Sean Russel on Garrick was diabolical"
3 minutes ago
LB replied to Eli Stephens's discussion Gutho back in a 14 role ?
"Gutho can offer some good things in terms of leadership on and off the field. He can still play when not required to move. But his speed is gone. Can he play that Walker type role? Yeah but we have Walker. We will have Walker next year too i'd…"
5 minutes ago
LB replied to jamie's discussion Ryles the Super Coach
"I will say, bit funny how they are about not blocking pathways of younger talent, Lorenzo is the it guy. But they also went hard for Galvin. Lorenzo was still here when we went for Galvin, is it they only then went for Lorenzo as the guy after we…"
10 minutes ago
LB replied to jamie's discussion Ryles the Super Coach
"Coryn, you keep saying we let Brown walk but did you want us to match his $1.4 mil? I know the options were stupid but if we signed him for 3 years instead of 10 to start, which is common extension period, we would have same issue anyway. It was…"
15 minutes ago
LB replied to jamie's discussion Ryles the Super Coach
"Yes Ryles said Wisemantal works with backs and comes up with some wacky structures that Brown sometimes says no to."
18 minutes ago
LB replied to Snottie Pimpin's discussion Centres
"Russell gets a start with Perth next year for $650k."
20 minutes ago
Adam Magrath replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R8 v Manly: Back-to-Back Or Back to Reality? (L33—18)
"It has happened several times in the past 2 years - he has a blinder one week (big minutes big output) followed by an absolute bludger the next. His workload needs to be managed this season, it's fairly obvious. I know we have injury issues so it's…"
23 minutes ago
The Captain replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R8 v Manly: Back-to-Back Or Back to Reality? (L33—18)
"In most cases nowadays the short kick is the statistically safer play given repeat sets of defence take gas out of the tank.
The issue is we have no one great at short kicks and no one great at competing for them. It's a roster issue more than a…"
28 minutes ago
The Captain replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R8 v Manly: Back-to-Back Or Back to Reality? (L33—18)
"There's only so much juice left in the tank with Junior. Last week he gave all he had. This week he didn't have much to give.
Forwards age quickly. Juniors decline was very predictable and should have been planned for."
31 minutes ago
Snottie Pimpin replied to Snottie Pimpin's discussion Centres
"100% the other thing with it being a track meet is it's turned into whoever can scramble the best . Defences are spending many periods of the game retreating and it's up to the scramble to stop try's . When was the last time you saw Will scramble…"
34 minutes ago
fake midget pseudoachondroplasia replied to jamie's discussion Ryles the Super Coach
"Didn't he recently extend his contract and get rid of get out clauses. He isnt going anywhere."
44 minutes ago
Darren Munro replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R8 v Manly: Back-to-Back Or Back to Reality? (L33—18)
"It's a boxing terminology. If I remember correctly the nfl coach vince Lombardi use it and got coined with the phrase. "
58 minutes ago
Coryn Hughes replied to jamie's discussion Ryles the Super Coach
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2 hours ago
Coryn Hughes replied to Snottie Pimpin's discussion Centres
"Yep.
Said it all off season the games a track meet now urgent athleticism and power plodders don't do it anymore.You have to have a dynamic element to your game and an ability to change the game.Urgent athletes do that and if you go through our list…"
2 hours ago
Coryn Hughes replied to jamie's discussion Ryles the Super Coach
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Right now injuries with standing we have no answers at 6.Our defense is jekyl & hyde and we…"
2 hours ago
Coryn Hughes replied to jamie's discussion Ryles the Super Coach
"Agree with all of this but if this is the case and your Mitchell Moses do you want to be part of this or win a premiership because as of right now I don't see a team or a club that's anywhere close to that even with the injuries we have.
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