Wrap - Another Spoon

1. The Lions. Absolutely smashed us. Our line defence one-on-one was inferior. Our tactics near non-existent. Genia played okay, but his kickoff confusion and his being sacked by the coach tells us he struggled as well. Beale and Tomane were appalling in defence.

Where have the booming boots in Australian rugby gone? The Roger Gould's, David Campese's, Steve Larkham's...used to belt the ball downfield. Not now.

The ref. It's been a long time since the French were so helpful to the British! These obscure appointments by the control freaks at the IRB are beyond belief. Surely a southern hemisphere ref was a logical option. We need more steel at a board level about these matters. We need to play hard ball at the negotiation table and serve it up to them...even if we don't look pleasant. We yielded to the British here.

A scrum nowadays has become less about the ball - and ALL ABOUT finding a penalty. There is a disgraceful smorgasboard of choice there. Sadly, playing for the penalty has taken over playing the ball.

How long is the most continuous piece of uninterrupted action in rugby? Probably three to five minutes before a scrum, a line out, an injury, a replacement...on it goes. It is a stop start affair rivalling NFL. Not being on prime time TV and without a Super 15 sponsor tells the story.

Australians would love to fall in love with Rugby Union and Soccer - but simply cannot. Their officials and rules are quite simply, un-Australian. Match officials with too much influence annoy us like nothing else in sport. The only thing missing was the stretcher and Lazarus-like reappearances.

2. Parramatta. Firstly can anyone believe they have spent all of their salary cap and then some? Reni is on $300K and Willie Tonga is on nearly $400K..laughable for the return. Tonga has not played for 14 rounds. He must have had an amputation.

It will come as no surprise that Parramatta even got the spoon for their salary cap excesses! A meagre $5K.

3. As mentioned, Khawaja and Steve Smith are specials to play in the first test. Amazing to see the transformation after the whiteboards, the high performance speak and the rotation policy are removed. Blokes actually look like they want to play. Lehmann represents everything England fear in their cricketing opponents. I'd be more confident with Lehmann batting six for us.

My team: Watson, Rogers, Khawaja, Clarke, Hughes, Smith/ Warner/ Lehmann (!), Haddin, Starc, Pattinson, Bird, Lyon/ Siddle (will they do what they did in India and not go with a spinner?).

Heard a whisper that a player revolt put it to CA that it was either Clarke or Micky Arthur....guess who won?

4. Something tells me that QLD are going to ambush NSW in the last Origin game. A 20 man squad but I notice that Merritt is not there. He will go down as a one game wonder. No Souths players even though they are wining the comp. Surely Mitchell Pearce is on his last legs. He has a bigger losing record than Julia Gillard.

Steve Price the Saints coach, could well be sacked this week. Gotta hand it to Ivan Cleary and Matthew Elliott. How about the turn arounds in their fortunes?

Why did we head to Mackay, Darwin and Perth in the one weekend? The saunas must have been very popular this week leading in...

5. Andrew Johns. For an IMMORTAL, he surely is very human. Have you ever known anyone to be so connected to the idiot element of town than this bloke? He's there when David Williams carries on...he's next to Singo and Gai (gee she must be missing his horses by now...not), he's at training sessions for this mob and that, on Channel 9...on 2MMM on Monday nights...he mixes in interesting circles and lots of them! Who is the next rugby league player before the courts this week? Step right up, step right up...

6. Staggered to see Sabine Lisicki collapse in tears mid match. She beat Stosur and Serena and a host of others...Now that is a bad preparation. Jana Novotna was the last one I recall, but Wimbledon certainly brings out the tears in players.

Surprised to see Barty and Dellacqua in the women's doubles final. Barty seems to be treading the second rate boards of world doubles. When you don't want to work so hard (half as hard), play doubles...she is too young to be making this decision just yet...unfortunately, a typical Australian women's tennis player career path.

8. AFL. The Geelong Curse over Hawthorn is a great part of AFL these days. A vow never to lose again is still alive! Legend has it that after their 2008 GF loss, the Geelong players made a private pact, to never again lose to Hawthorn. Jeff Kennett's critical comments about Geelong have become Kennett's curse! Not a more deserving recipient. Everytime he opens his mouth it seems to be deliberately controversial.

9. Will James O'Connor finally get the picture? Punted from Western Force, now punted from the Melbourne Rebels. His 'brand' is fast becoming "Homebrand" or "No Frills".

10. Just so you know stupidity abounds worldwide in sport, the San Francisco Giants started a massive baseball game v LA Dodgers and can you believe batted in an order different to their stated lineup. Automatic out is the rule. Unprecedented in MLB Baseball...common at Northmead Reserve perhaps...but not in the big show!