Wrap - Get Good at Moneyball

1. Footy Upsets. Newcastle have shaken Canberra who at times teeter under the weight of Ricky Stuart's furrowed brow. Good for them. Gold Coast beating Storm was something else too. St george hit three losses in a row...Only matched by the AFL where Essendon beat Geelong and Melbourne down Adelaide. Both competitions may in fact be "competitions" this year.

2. Disappointments of the round...St George and Canberra - not to mention the Warriors who had to try hard to lose. Even Parramatta... Their so called tough guys might do well to toughen up their defence...toughen up their attitude and not lose by 50. I still have massive doubts over whether Brad Arthur can get a team 'up' for a game. They had won three in a row and then just give up. Pathetic.

3. MoneyBall. Is the game of NRL going to pot (so to speak)? A club that is prepared to go back to basics and play "Money Ball" (recruiting on percentages and positive player attitudes even if less talented) will be a huge success story in this game. Newcastle might be heading there. When will a club stand up and say it loud and proud..."we have a no dickhead policy...officials, player managers, players...if you fit that category there is no place for you at our club!" Crowds are appalling too....

4. The NRL Scheduling. That early Friday night game is the way of fools. Look at Super 15 Rugby for the disintegration of the code. Monday night was fine - just that coaches don't like the short turn around. Taking games to the bush are great, if they match the dollars clubs get from playing at a near empty ANZ stadium. Has anyone thought of reintroducing a 3.00pm Saturday game? Seemed to work OK. What a shock not having to watch the Broncos on a Friday night. They run the game.

5. Pat Howard. Re-signed for another two years as "High Performance Manager" at Cricket Australia. Clubs in all sports need to strip out the administrative extravagance. Pat's contribution is clearly making a great difference...Greg Chappell will ensure we tread water and lose the Ashes yet again. James Sutherland and Howard are showing signs of being absolutely stupid...fancy trying to get blokes to sign that they will not play IPL. No way. That is a cash cow of the most sacred kind. Ask Shane Watson who has hardly got a wicket or a run to his name for the whole season....yet has $2 mil in the account.

5. Shanghai. A great experiment going to China with Port v Gold Coast. Was John Ribot there to see his "vision"?

6. EPL...hotting up for the axe...Hull City are on the precipice. No sympathy. If you're not good - get good!