Brad Hodge quits first-class cricket

[Caesar]

You can keeping asking Cricket Australia why you weren't/aren't selectored.

Sure you can, just don't expect to get ahead by pissing people off. Like I said, Test cricket's a rough game, and some people inevitably cop unfair decisions. One of the current selectors probably has more claim to that complaint than anyone, including Hodge - he never even got a cap.

Oh Chris Rogers is a bad bloke, so what? Clarke is a spanker, Watson is a pretty boy golden child that is as selfish as they come, Ponting chased a trans around the Cross, Warne was a drug cheat and took bribes, the list goes on.

Say what you want about them (and I don't think much of them either), but they make a pretty damn cohesive team. It's pretty clear that if you don't fit into the tight-knit dynamic of the side then you aren't going to get selected. That was apparently Rogers' problem and if the rumours are true it was probably half Hodges' problem as well.

 

[Caesar]

Can't believe the tools on here giving it to Brad Hodge. Oh sorry let me rephrase that NSW tools on here giving it to him.

Seems to me the broad consensus on here regardless of state is (a) great cricketer, (b) shit bloke, (c) legitimately hard done by for Test selecton, and (d) selfish ****er for ditching his teammates midseason.

 

[Ant_]

Classy cricketer, classless individual.

Ahh and Ricky Ponting is such angel. Don't remember Hodge getting a black eye in a pub.

 

[Ill Chicken]

Sure you can, just don't expect to get ahead by pissing people off. Like I said, Test cricket's a rough game, and some people inevitably cop unfair decisions. One of the current selectors probably has more claim to that complaint than anyone, including Hodge - he never even got a cap.


Say what you want about them (and I don't think much of them either), but they make a pretty damn cohesive team. It's pretty clear that if you don't fit into the tight-knit dynamic of the side then you aren't going to get selected. That was apparently Rogers' problem and if the rumours are true it was probably half Hodges' problem as well.

I understand that, but the least the selectors can do is say we're not selecting you regardless of any performances you put in. Make it known the reason why or don't, but come out and say this player will not be considered for Australian selection, otherwise you're just leading the guy on.

 

[krisholio14]

FWIW, Brad Hodge lives not far from me and I often see him at the local footy taking his kids for a walk. Always says hello and signs autographs for people.

Has never seemed like the complete tosser everyone makes him out to be when i've come across him.

 

[didak04]

Ahh and Ricky Ponting is such angel. Don't remember Hodge getting a black eye in a pub.

Hodge has spent the majority of the last few seasons bitching and moaning about his non-selection where others would have simply kept going about their business.

And now he has retired from first class cricket mid season, leaving his team in the lurch for totally selfish reasons.

Can you imagine someone like Ponting or Hussey acting the way he has? I sure as hell can't.

It takes more than talent to get a spot in the national side. It is a team game after all.

 

[Ant_]

We're talking "classless individuals" here, and there was a good reason punter got that black eye.

 

[CrazyQ]

Ha. I love this. "Oh! what a sook!", how the **** is he a sook? the selectors didn't like him and they favoured others ahead of him (Clarke). I would be pretty pissed off knowing I should be in the team but never played more than 5 tests.

Great career and should have played 100 tests.

 

[Caesar]

I understand that, but the least the selectors can do is say we're not selecting you regardless of any performances you put in. Make it known the reason why or don't, but come out and say this player will not be considered for Australian selection, otherwise you're just leading the guy on.

Well, we're completely speculating here but I'd be surprised if he was ever actually blackballed. It's probably more a case of whenever a spot was up for grabs, he might have been the most in-form batsman but there were viable alternatives who fitted the team dynamic better.

If it was the mid-'80s he probably would have been in the side regardless of what kind of personality he had, but it's not like there's been any shortage of middle-order batsmen in Australia over the last decade. Little things can make or break Test careers when it's that competitive - ask Michael Bevan.

 

[CrazyQ]

Correct. Hence why he received few chances at the top level.

What about Warne? Lehmann? Ponting? Waugh.M?

Hypocrites.

 

[Cousin Jed]

FWIW Robert Craddock suggested that Hodge was actually reasonably popular with members of the Australian team.

 

[Caesar]

FWIW, Brad Hodge lives not far from me and I often see him at the local footy taking his kids for a walk. Always says hello and signs autographs for people.

Has never seemed like the complete tosser everyone makes him out to be when i've come across him.

This is probably a good point worth repeating. We're all speculating here really - it's not like anyone in the know has come out publically and said he's a massive tool. I'll be interested to read what a few players have to say about him when they've retired and released autobiographies.

His media whinging, justified or not, certainly hasn't done him any favours though. And leaving his team midseason doesn't send a good message. Maybe he just doesn't image-manage as well as other players, who knows.

 

[didak04]

Ha. I love this. "Oh! what a sook!", how the **** is he a sook? the selectors didn't like him and they favoured others ahead of him (Clarke). I would be pretty pissed off knowing I should be in the team but never played more than 5 tests.

Great career and should have played 100 tests.

He is a sook.

It took players like Mike Hussey, Marcus North and Martin Love years to get a chance in the Test side and none of those blokes conducted themselves the way Brad Hodge has.

IF the selectors don't like him he has absolutely nobody to blame but himself.

 

[Caesar]

FWIW Robert Craddock suggested that Hodge was actually reasonably popular with members of the Australian team.

I'm surprised there hasn't been more vocal support for him in the past when he's been dropped / under selection consideration then. When you look at how much Ponting et al talk up a spud like Lee, you'd think Hodge would get some love.

 

[demon48]

Sad to see Hodge go. Deserved to play more test cricket. My son met him as he was going into his car after a one-dayer against South Australia. Stopped and signed my son's book and had a chat with him. Don't know where this reputation of being a tosser comes from, was quite a nice bloke. In fact, the entire Victorian squad was quite nice.

In my opinion, if Simon Katich was Victorian and Brad Hodge from NSW, Brad would have got recalled to replace Justin Langer. Can't believe he got dropped for Damien Martyn, then got put in the queue behind Andrew Symonds.

 

[Heisenberg_]

The people bagging him out on this thread are an absolute joke.
I now remember why I rarely post on this board anymore because most of you have NFI

 

[didak04]

The people bagging him out on this thread are an absolute joke.
I now remember why I rarely post on this board anymore because most of you have NFI

Questioning his conduct off the field as opposed to his ability on it is perfectly reasonable.

His outbursts over his omission from the side were uncalled for and didn't do him any favours.

Not really an outlandish statement to make.

 

[demon48]

Perhaps Hodgey should have shut his mouth and moved to New South Wales.

 

[Ill Chicken]

Questioning his conduct off the field as opposed to his ability on it is perfectly reasonable.

His outbursts over his omission from the side were uncalled for and didn't do him any favours.

Not really an outlandish statement to make.

His outbursts?

He hasn't said anything bad. He hardly says anything at all really. This is a professional sport and its still run like a boys club.

 

[King Elvis]

Ahh and Ricky Ponting is such angel. Don't remember Hodge getting a black eye in a pub.

He was a kid who'd been labelled the next Bradman since he was about 12 - getting that punch in the face, and having to deal with the fallout, was probably the best thing that could have happened.

 

[didak04]

His outbursts?

He hasn't said anything bad. He hardly says anything at all really. This is a professional sport and its still run like a boys club.

The point is he shouldn't have said anything at all.

Plenty of others are able to take setbacks graciously without blurting crap to the media, why not Hodge?

 

[King Elvis]

Oh. I just remember - I met Taity out a few times in Adelaide, one time I asked him whether Hodge was a complete ******** or not; he said he wasn't and was a pretty decent bloke. Somebody else there with him said he was a bit dopey, but a good bloke.

 

[Ill Chicken]

The point is he shouldn't have said anything at all.

Plenty of others are able to take setbacks graciously without blurting crap to the media, why not Hodge?

What did he say that was so outrageous?

 

[Ill Chicken]

Oh. I just remember - I met Taity out a few times in Adelaide, one time I asked him whether Hodge was a complete ******** or not; he said he wasn't and was a pretty decent bloke. Somebody else there with him said he was a bit dopey, but a good bloke.

What's his opinion on DC?

 

[Caesar]

In my opinion, if Simon Katich was Victorian and Brad Hodge from NSW, Brad would have got recalled to replace Justin Langer.

I don't really think so. Katich was in superhuman form at the time, playing the best cricket of his career. He'd just broken the Sheffield Shield run record for a season averaging 90+ a game. His timing was as perfect as anybody's could ever be - Hodge was just supremely unlucky that a bona fide opening came up at the end of that season.

Can't believe he got dropped for Damien Martyn, then got put in the queue behind Andrew Symonds.

This is the real injustice. I don't care that Martyn was a regular team member, IMO Hodge should have been given more time rather than dumped so unceremoniously as his form clearly didn't deserve it.

The fact that he was put behind Symonds (as was Katich and a number of other good batsmen) was an absolute disgrace. I was always of the opinion that picking Symonds in the Test team ahead of better batsmen because he had some bowling ability was the wrong move.