Sam Konstas: Are you on board with him?

[Gough]

It's also the generation gap appearing again in the same way it did when Clarke was first given the captaincy.

 

[Ralll]

I'm on board with it sure, it's entertaining.
But can his batting hold up to test cricket?
And can he handle the blowback from oppo, fans, media?
Hopefully yes on both fronts but I'm concerned, he's a young kid, might not realise what he's inviting.
He could always tone it down if needed.

 

[SC_Power]

To me there is 3 factors with Konstas.

I dislike the media hype but that is not his fault. You don't know where Copeland ends and Konstas starts. Konstas is literally the only thing that Copeland talks about, he is able to bring any conversation back to Konstas. Then you have rent a Konstas quote in Watson, JB milking it for all it is worth etc and it is all very painful.

As far as his attitude goes I love it. The nice guy shtick under Langer and Paine after sand paper gate was window dressing for people that don't even watch cricket. That has permeated into the majority of the current squad. Playing on the edge is what wearing a baggy green has been all about over the long haul. Good to have some of that bite back finally.

Then it comes to the actual approach with the bat. Jury is going to be out over the long term I feel. He is the nice shiny new toy at the moment but people will turn quickly after a run of outs with ordinary dismissals. See Glenn Maxwell, See Brad Haddin etc.

up for now

Good post.

I came on here to almost say the same thing, but less eloquently.
Media: crap, but he knows he feeds it and that’s where the $$$$ are
Attitude: not my way of doing business but go your hardest, doesn’t matter what I think
Game: as good as expected for a teenager, but the media dries up and the attitude becomes toxic if you don’t have the game. His only FC tons coming on a 50mtr postage stamp will only buy you so many tickets.

 

[PhatBoy]

Good post.

I came on here to almost say the same thing, but less eloquently.
Media: crap, but he knows he feeds it and that’s where the $$$$ are
Attitude: not my way of doing business but go your hardest, doesn’t matter what I think
Game: as good as expected for a teenager, but the media dries up and the attitude becomes toxic if you don’t have the game. His only FC tons coming on a 50mtr postage stamp will only buy you so many tickets.

The name Nick Kyrgios comes to mind if he doesn’t back it up. Lleyton Hewitt on the other hand came along as a bit of a bratty kid and soon enough was proving how good he was and people were prepared to adopt and accept his personality, to use two tennis metaphors

 

[Mateyman]

The name Nick Kyrgios comes to mind if he doesn’t back it up. Lleyton Hewitt on the other hand came along as a bit of a bratty kid and soon enough was proving how good he was and people were prepared to adopt and accept his personality, to use two tennis metaphors

Kyrgios is still pretty well liked now and is our best men's tennis player in about 20 years

 

[Gethelred]

Can we get a "Don't care about the 'tude as long as he makes some runs" option in the poll, please? Because I don't. I genuinely do not give a **** how he acts as long as it's within the rules and he's not hurting anyone.

He can be the biggest prat in the world as long as he averages 45+ with the bat and isn't dropping catches.

 

[PhatBoy]

Kyrgios is still pretty well liked now and is our best men's tennis player in about 20 years

Mate he’s equally disliked. Read the Facebook comments under literally any story about him and try and get a gauge on the split of positive/negative comments. There are undoubtedly fans of his, but geez there’s a lot that aren’t

 

[Teen Wolf]

Other than being a rather aggressive strokemaker, what's so "in-your-face" about his attitude?

Being in the vicinity of Indians throwing tantrums counts as an attitude, does it?

 

[PhatBoy]

Other than being a rather aggressive strokemaker, what's so "in-your-face" about his attitude?

Being in the vicinity of Indians throwing tantrums counts as an attitude, does it?

Whatever your stance on today’s proceedings, most non-strikers even if they did get involved would probably just give a cursory ‘we’re all good mate he just wasn’t ready’ or something like that. They’d probably want to say a whole lot more but they’d probably leave it at that. It Khawaja himself was at the non strikers end I can’t imagine him firstly getting TOO involved in the beginning and then walking towards the bowler as the two remonstrate with one another.


Its cricket remember not half time at the Super Bowl. It doesn’t take much for someone to be considered ‘a bit out of the ordinary’ etc

 

[Mateyman]

Mate he’s equally disliked. Read the Facebook comments under literally any story about him and try and get a gauge on the split of positive/negative comments. There are undoubtedly fans of his, but geez there’s a lot that aren’t

Yeah hes polarising for sure - although I don't know that Facebook comments are a great gauge. I think the positive reaction to him on global tennis commentary show he's winning the public over. But my point was more that saying Kyrgios 'hasn't delivered' is a little harsh when he's been the best Aussie male in the sport for a lot of the time he was playing

 

[PhatBoy]

Yeah hes polarising for sure - although I don't know that Facebook comments are a great gauge. I think the positive reaction to him on global tennis commentary show he's winning the public over. But my point was more that saying Kyrgios 'hasn't delivered' is a little harsh when he's been the best Aussie male in the sport for a lot of the time he was playing

That’s a bit relative, to be fair.

I guess it’s harsh in tennis you can be the 20th best in the world at something, make a slam final at one point and people still don’t necessarily feel like you’re THAT good at it which is probably very tough on an athlete.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Love the talent hate the attitude.

It's like the worst of David and Candace Warner on TV and having to see those 2 and their attitude is bad enough.

The kid is young though so hopefully he will learn as he gets more mature. For his sake let's hope he doesn't have to learn the hard way.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Whatever your stance on today’s proceedings, most non-strikers even if they did get involved would probably just give a cursory ‘we’re all good mate he just wasn’t ready’ or something like that. They’d probably want to say a whole lot more but they’d probably leave it at that. It Khawaja himself was at the non strikers end I can’t imagine him firstly getting TOO involved in the beginning and then walking towards the bowler as the two remonstrate with one another.


Its cricket remember not half time at the Super Bowl. It doesn’t take much for someone to be considered ‘a bit out of the ordinary’ etc

Khawaja got more involved with sooking MCC members in the Long Room than Konstas did with a sooking Bumrah. Nice try but 0 points.

 

[PhatBoy]

Khawaja got more involved with sooking MCC members in the Long Room than Konstas did with a sooking Bumrah. Nice try but 0 points.

Sooking members in the long room were a dime a dozen and literally ‘in his face.’ Bumrah was 15 metres away and engaged with the other batsman and he got involved.

That’s a terrible comparison. Again he’s not committing serial killings he’s just doing things that are slightly out of the ordinary for a young player on their debut and probably would be considered a little odd for most players on debut.

You asked the question. Every news outlet, commentator, and every second fan is wanking on about his so-called attitude and you wanted an example of it. Well there’s one.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Sooking members in the long room were a dime a dozen and literally ‘in his face.’ Bumrah was 15 metres away and engaged with the other batsman and he got involved.

That’s a terrible comparison. Again he’s not committing serial killings he’s just doing things that are slightly out of the ordinary for a young player on their debut and probably would be considered a little odd for most players on debut.

You asked the question. Every news outlet, commentator, and every second fan is wanking on about his so-called attitude and you wanted an example of it. Well there’s one.

Yeah and you confirmed exactly what I suggested. Other than hitting a few sixes, at this point he's famous for being in the vicinity of Indians throwing tantrums.

 

[PhatBoy]

Yeah and you confirmed exactly what I suggested. Other than hitting a few sixes, at this point he's famous for being in the vicinity of Indians throwing tantrums.

Alright mate

 

[dumb]

don't care what he does, insofar as it doesn't get him in trouble. he's quite happy to leave it out there, and he's ok with players having a crack at him without sooking about it ('what happens on the ground stays on the ground').
people within the team setup will rein it in if they think that's necessary. or if they feel he's too disruptive without enough returns to overlook he'll just be left out of the team.

 

[western royboy]

Talent is the most overrated thing in elite level cricket - simply because they all have it

Purely from a Test Batting perspective - he’s far from what you want as a traditional Test Opener. His grip is split which means he’s heavy on the bottom hand which usually means he’s going to be a bit dodgy outside off to the moving ball early. Split Grip means you have the ability to play the trick shots which he does exceptionally well. He has a bug gap between bat and pad which Bumrah has already been through once.

It is a high risk/high reward game. As such consistency is a query a big one.

As many have pointed out most players that start at his age generally have their flaws exposed, go back and work on them then reemerge as a better player. But those days might be gone.

The player I would most liken him to is the late Phil Hughes who made similar runs for fun at junior levels with pretty major technical issue. He was on his third go at it when he unfortunately passed away so sadly we will never know. Steve Waugh also took three goes at it before he transformed from a bloke with the best back foot cover drive (aesthetically speaking) to just a hard nosed run machine.

But we are living in different times now.

 

[Roylion]

He is the nice shiny new toy at the moment but people will turn quickly after a run of outs with ordinary dismissals.

Sections of the media are now turning against him in a new angle on the Sam Konstas story.

In this respect the cricket media is much like the AFL media. One test ago he was the hero that would bring a breath of fresh air into the ageing cricket team with his confidence and swagger. One day into the next Test match, we see a minor incident such as the Konstas / Bumrah clash at the end of the day magnified and dramatised into front page stories and self-righteous opinion pieces to sell papers and generate internet traffic via clickbait. The 'rivalry' itself is played up to generate interest.

Social media adds further to the hyperbole and over-reaction.

 

[Seedsfan]

Literally all he has done is counter attacked and triggered all the Indians because he didn’t just roll over

 

[Kirby]

He’s far too loose and has a lot to learn.

 

[Donuts_]

His style has its use in certain conditions but he gifted his wicket today and exposed our middle order to a newish ball. Needs to learn which approach will benefit the team.

Although it doesn't help that the bloke up the other end (Khawaja) is cooked.

 

[Xtreme]

He's parading around like he's the cricket equivalent of Novak Djokovic

minus the GOAT status

 

[Kapow!!!]

Yet to be convinced. Can't really trust anyone, especially as an opener, with a gap between bat and pad that can be measured in 'acres'.

 

[smasha]

Harry Hindsights race in.