Wrap - Ruexit

1. Rugby. It is surely like the bad relative, who we want to love, but simply cannot because it's too ugly. I think I have the problem: arrogant referees who blow penalties because they can - and more significantly, the 'advantage rule' that rolls on for ten minutes and then comes back. The art of kicking penalty goals is simply marvellous and the resetting of scrums is a delight to behold. Greg Martin surely needs a brain x-ray.

Fancy scheduling a game like this at Allan Jones Oval. It still had vacant seats! Homebush would have gotten at least another 20,000. England too good. We have gone backwards. Maybe they need to invest in more players from the Penrith area? Did you see Manly in First, Second, Third and Fourth grades beat Penrith 288-0 on the weekend! You could start there.

But that would require a few tweed jackets being taken off and a few less martinis. Buckleys. By my estimation, the English team won about $2.50 each for their 3-0 series win at current rates.

2. St Kilda had a tremendous win v Geelong, who are both in the mix for the finals. A big turn around by St Kilda. GWS power on and are by far the quickest team in the show. A close game of AFL is something else really. Hawthorn back on top of the comp. What a team of champions they are. They will be waiting to ambush GWS next time they meet!

3. The NRL Penalty Goal. It has become trendy to kick a penalty goal early...God knows why. It has also become trendy to award penalties early on. (I must say that the ex footballer Henry Perenara - who is looking bigger and stronger than many of the players - is one of our best. How does he miss an Origin gig? He was superb in the Sharks v Warriors and has the most respect of the players). A penalty is rarely the difference in the end. Is this a sign that NRL coaches are becoming like Laurie Daley? Captain conservative. Those who attack are rarely denied.

4. An Origin team of the future (next week). We can't do much better than this:

1. James Tedesco
2. Blake Ferguson
3. Josh Dugan
4. Jack Bird
5. Josh Mansour/ Tom Trobejovic.
6. Matt Moylan
7. James Maloney/ Nathan Cleary (Reynolds is done)
8. Aaron Woods
9. Michael Ennis (if we had the Cowboys hooker Josh Granville, we would win!)
10. Paul Gallen (c)
11. Josh Jackson
12. Tyson Frizzell
13. Andrew Fifita
14. David Klemmer
15. James Tamou
16. Bryce Cartwright
17. Wade Graham

 5. Sam Kassiano. He is awesome when fit. How many tries must he have scored as a junior player? Fair dinkum, he must have been huge and intimidating since the age of 10 (or earlier)! 

 

Sharks 11 wins in a row is super impressive. Great forwards and no silly penalties. The penalty is the thing these days. If you give them away, you lose. Memo Dylan Walker (joke selection - still). 

6. Devastated to hear that the great Nick (Off) Kgyrios has a bad draw for Wimbledon. Does anyone care? Low markers get bad draws - not new. When will he have a fight over white clothes at Wimbledon? This will be his next stunt. Anthony Mundine is officially more popular than this bloke.

7. Euro 2016. When Hungary, Poland, (Croatia), (Switzerland), Iceland, Wales, (Northern Ireland) and Ireland (half of the remaining teams with last night's losers bracketed) start winning soccer games, the world is truly in disarray. England's team are the perennial underachievers. No surprise if they exit v Iceland ICEXIT!. They need to attack too. Spain v Italy in the Round of 16  will clean out one big wig.

8. Copa America. Argentina v Chile. Surely the Argies are unbeatable here with Messi. Won't be long before we are in that with the 'Footballroos' in the southern hemisphere. Or is this as ridiculous as the Super 15 (remember that competition?) inclusion of Argentina in our rugby comp?

Wrap - International Picks

1. Sadly, Jarryd Hayne has become the new 'Man' Mundine. He is the new Matt Rogers or Sonny Bill...or lest I say it, Jana Pittman (Boob job tick, doctor degree tick, knee injury tick, winter Olympics bobsled tick, marriabe - divorce-marriage tick...and on it goes). Hayne has become a media circus. His Sevens Rugby venture with F1J1 fills out the picture. A young man who does not know where he is at...talented...but all over the shop basically.

2. Roosters. They have been terrible this season. Injuries, suspensions, lost players...yeah yeah, everyone goes through that...but they have lacked commitment and heart. The Warriors always pick up in the ridiculous Origin period (as they should), but will be pegged back once Origin passes.

3. On Origin, thank goodness they picked Jack Bird. We might score some tries. Look for Jennings to be next sacked and Maloney. Put Moylan to five eight and Tedesco at fullback. Dugan and Bird in the centres then we are talking. Forwards will be solid - so are the Queenslanders.

Must start with Greg Bird and Fifita to get us on a roll. Aaron Woods needs to lift. So does Klemmer.

I still believe that each side should have TWO optional picks of international players who once picked can only be used by that state. eg Burgess and Radradara...that would bring in the crowds! Time to evolve. Otherwise Semi may have a tantrum and go home.

4. Wallabies. It has been a while since we have had such a vanilla team. No superstars and no results. They lack a real hard nosed approach and look to have slipped badly since the World Cup. We never get used to England beating us at anything.

5. ODI Series in South Africa. it is dragging on like the M2 widening works. Boring and uneventful. Does anyone really or genuinely care? No.

6. Enjoying the tough Euro conditions and tussles with rival countries - and the soccer. Seems like you don't mess with the Russian fans. They don't like to be aggravated. Love that word HOOLIGAN. A cracker. Ronaldo's penalty miss was something else. Human after all.

7. Jason Day. A brilliant third round at the US Open. Firming as a possible winner after looking lost and done for all money.

8. Riccardo. has anyone told his pit crew he is racing this weekend? What a pack of absolute duds.

9. Hoping the Cleveland Cavaliers can knock over the win. The Golden State only lost a handful and have lost more in the last month than all season!

Wrap - Talent Scout

1. Club Rugby. The great rugby visionaries through their beer goggles and cash at Rugby headquarters (on the north side of course) have again betrayed the game. Look at Sydney University v Penrith on the weekend from first grade to fourth grade: 88-5, 111-12, 123-0, 82-0. Grand totals: 404 to 17. A really great weekend out at the game for all and sundry. Top shelf. They are clearly looking to get Penrith to fold.

Any wonder why no one watches Super Rugby anymore and why the Wallabies are getting lapped? England are far too dominant. In fact the Welsh and All Blacks would have knocked the Wallabies over too. Can't see England losing. Not sure if you caught Eddie Jones in the post match, but he said that Australia have "the best coach in the world". Very gracious from a bloke not used to that.

2. Dave Warner. He is in sparkling form. In fact, he is just behind Kohli and de Villiers as the best in the world. And he has been doing it for some time. Never made a rep team until he was older. Never got the featherbed decks of GPS or grade. Just raw talent and guts. Smashes the ball. See it and hit it.

What is doing with de Villiers? He speaks as Test captain and played in the ODI games. I thought he retired? Short retirement.

3. NSW Origin. Surely Bryce Cartwright comes into the team. We have too many forwards who are all the same. The great warhorse Corey Parker leads the way...offload and you win. NSW never do this. Cartwright has the goods. Add in James Tedesco if you want points and Tom Trobejovic (tall and good under the high ball) and we are starting to look decent. I can't see Mansour lasting. I like Moylan at five eight. Maloney is a short term fix. Cartwright also kicks goals (in a past life). Talk of Joey Luilieauauoeo from Canberra playing Origin...please! Add Semi Rarangirangoo first.

 

4. Manly. They have become terrible. Trent Barrett was the hope of the side and he has delivered FIVE losses in a row. Jamie Lyon is set to retire too. They are in a hole. They need to get rid of Brett Stewart too. A clean out. How can you be 24-4 up and the other mob win 31-24? Young Cleary looks like Ivan. Moylan composed under the pump as ever. If you work at Erskine Park High School you get that. 

5. When will we see a 30 metre penalty for the throwing of the ball away after a penalty by NRL players? This will quicken up the game and add discipline! I am a big fan of the super quick tap. No whining about decisions...keep playing.

6. GWS speed and skill on the ball is awesome. The Swans looked right off and lacked speed. They are certainly rotating some good new blokes however the bloke with the caterpillar mo needs kicking lessons, missing three straight in front! GWS could be on the cusp of great things sooner than would have been predicted - despite what Melbourne think. Gold Coast show you how it could have ended!

 

 

Wrap - The Greatest

1. Mohammed Ali. The greatest. (Forget Ali, Ryan Morgan scored a try for Melbourne on Saturday night!). Sadly for us, we did not catch the early days of Ali, not the prime of his powers. He was awesome, skilful and funny. I like the following: "I make medicine sick"; "I've seen George Foreman shadow boxing - and the shadow won"...plenty of quotes bouncing around, but he was the master.

2. State of Origin. Origin needs to be reinvented. The brand is fading (despite all the TV ratings, crowd, etc). Fundamentally, a dour 6-4 scoreline again in favour of QLD. A fan pick or two of international players would be an awesome non-mandatory option.

Did you know that since 2010, there have been 9 Origin games decided by five or less points and despite how it might sound, Queensland have won 5 of them and NSW 4. The last 6-4 result was the late Hodkinson try night in 2014.

3. Ange Postocoglou. Is he one of the most sour, poker faced coaches we have ever had? He is successful so no one cares...yet. It could end very quickly for him if we start losing. The linesman's decision to deny Cahill a goal on the line is still confusing. It crossed the line and curved back? Surely with a defender on the goal line he is onside.

4. Leicester. It didn't take long...Jamie Vardy on the cusp of a big paycheck at Arsenal or another huge club and Leicester are about to lose their No. 1 strike weapon. A cruel and disloyal game the soccer one.

5. ALLEGED NRL Match Fixing. The game needs a real clean out. There will need to be a tightening up in years ahead of whether a man in serious trouble with the law has the right to ever play the game. Sounds far fetched, but who ever thought we would have a biffless Origin and no shoulder charges with no punching in the game? This is the only way to weed out the idiots and cleanse the game. Brutal, but a common and recurring theme.

I noticed that young Pritchard has added to the Parramatta list from last week...interfering with ambulance staff at a drug overdose. What sort of life do these blokes lead? Young Foran is really getting the media blowtorch now. He may never be back.

6. Jarryd Hayne. The Fiji Sevens coach, Ben Ryan, has produced one of the best quotes of all time: "we don’t pick by face, we pick by form". Gotta love it! A shame some other teams in different codes don't adhere to this ethic!

7. D-DAY - 6 June. Novak Djokovic has the chance tonight to make history tonight at the French Open. He has never won it. He will become one of the very few (like Agassi) to have won all majors. He has a dominant hold over Andy Murray. It will be a terrible upset if Murray wins. However the effort of Serena was something else. She has stumbled twice now in succession as she tracks down Steffi Graf's record of 22 titles. Serena has won 21 titles - and lost 6 finals now (2 Wim, 1 Aus, 1 French, 2 US). This new name - Muguruza - is a star of the future.

8. The Riccardo pit stop was something else last week. Incompetence. Where the hell were they? Ridiculous.

9. Did anyone hear Wayne Bennet's response to Thaiday's silly virgin comments after State of Origin..."I told him people will be coming all over him if he said that". Back Page material.