Wrap - Storm Clouds

1. NRL. Let's give the comp to the Storm already. They have been outstanding again this year. What about Cameron Smith? 350 games and another 100 in him! He has set every longevity record in the game - NRL, Origin and Kangaroos. A true great of the game. Terrible displays by the Titans, Rabbits and Saints. Souths done for the year and the Dogs (although I suspect the Eels might struggle to beat them this week coming). Saints were awful losing unexpectedly to the Knights too. Eels a surprise and Manly soft. Manly are leaking a lot of points of late and have fallen in a heap. Broncos will not enjoy no McCullough for the rest of the season.

Whether the Eels can make the semis is another point. Moses looks slick and sensible. Kenny Edwards has unfortunately become a complete goose. Two or three seasons back Parramatta required ONE win to make the semis three weeks out - and failed. They now require two wins to seal it. Surely...

2. Cricket I. India have annihilated Sri Lanka. Kohli yet another ton. The work of Cheteshwar Pujara is amazing. He has chalked up yet another first innings ton. He has twelve tons from 49 tests at 52.18. His concentration is immense. He meditates at the crease and simply cannot be removed. Sheer talent.

3. Cricket II. The continued blitz of South Africa by England has continued. Jimmy Anderson is outstanding, but South Africa has been found out with the bat in hand. They have crumbled like the Australians do in England. Meanwhile England have the hippy hippy shakes with their top three bats. They simply cannot find a number 3.

4. Super Rugby. Has anyone any idea where this comp is at? Who won the semis? How poorly promoted are the semis. What a schemozzle! For the record the Lions play the crusaders in South Africa. A great reward for the Crusaders after NZ smashed all teams all year!

5. AFL. Hawthorn could do a lot of damage in the finals if they can get there. They have the absolute wood on the Swans. Play on a big field like the MCG and they win. Geelong are looking sharp. Adelaide need to pick things up away from home and were super lucky to draw v Collingwood after the siren. Western Bulldogs could surprise again from lower in the semi final mix.

6. Swimming World Championships. One world championship swimming medal for Emily Sehbohm - and no one else (?). What is going on in that sport?

7. Sport Rort. I get the distinct impression that in Australia, everyone in sport is trying too hard to be greedy in and around sport. (eg. Cricket, NRL, SANZAR....on it goes). At the local level, sports management and high performance hangers on are being funded heavily by parents. It starts at the junior level where rego fees are a joke. Everyone is trying to screw over the parent or the participant and accumulate funding for their opulent specialist coaches and directors of duds. Time for an absolute clear out.

8. How about this for an injury in sport? Baseball pitcher, Robbie Ray (AZ Diamondbacks) copped one this week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Kdm4BcZeJ8

Wrap - Narcissus Norman

1. British Open Golf. Speith is a genius. Down to earth, solid, seemingly a top bloke and a two time golf major winner. Maybe three? Compare him to another two time golf major winner in Greg Norman whose supplies of lakes and mirrors at an age makes him an avid fan of himself. Tremendous physique, but he is sadly and desperately out of touch. Very sad for a bloke who did so much in the game. Humility and judgement seem to have gone south. Extremely hard to like. Who posts a photo of themselves like this? Greg, you are fair dinkum kidding mate.

"Unable to leave the beauty of his reflection, Narcissus lost his will to live. He stared at his reflection until he died. Narcissus is the origin of the term narcissism, a fixation with oneself and one's physical appearance and/or public perception"

2. AFL. Adelaide look like they will smash most comers in 2017.  They have a clear break now. Their swarming defence is outstanding. They absolutely overwhelmed Geelong. Precision, but I worry about them in the wet. Essendon it must be said have really excelled after a bad drugs related year in 2016. GWS have hit the wall. They need to seriously regroup or they will not figure.

The rise of the Swans has been impressive. Kurt Tippett is finished. Earning a motza, but unable to crack it back into the team. Attitude. Great win by Richmond as well. Their terrible tide may be turning.

3. Cricket. This whole charade is a very, very boring joke. $200K for a Shield cricketer? That is a healthy earn for a zero crowd pulling player. The Ashes are probably under genuine threat, but these blokes are not putting their bodies on the line each week. Physicality is not taking a toll on their futures. They are very fortunate to be in an era of immense cricketing wealth. This summer may see the rise of the women's game instead. Fewer whingers, despite the World Cup exit.

4. NRL. How bad are the Bulldogs? Jackson, Morris x2, Klemmer, Hopoate, Reynolds, Mbye...surely they should win more than this. Stranded on 18 points and feeling like Parramatta fans. Des Hasler has stacked on the beef of late. Maybe they are all getting a little too indulged. Time for a clean out. Foran and Aaron Woods to come in? Not sure that will cure it. Watch Kasiano become an absolute powerhouse at Melbourne.

I noticed Cronulla have signed Aaron Gray from Souths. A talent. They may be worried re Dugan, but St George look like they may have made a very good decision. Widdop is possibly the best pivot in the comp at present. Cowboys doing really well without Thurston and Manly...an awful loss.

5. Parramatta keep winning ugly and are the only top eight team with a negative point differential. Good luck to them. They need the hard headed Beau Scott back on the run into the semis. The first bloke I would sign for them would be Simon Mannering from the Warriors. What a week in-week out champion he is in a dud team. Unfortunately, The Eels simply cannot beat a top four team - Storm, Roosters, Broncos or Sharks. It won't happen. The Storm are a mile in front in July...but September is when the sun shines.

6. NRL Referees. A weekly refereeing wrap surely is not too much to ask from the NRL. A published sheet to the papers - or an appearance by Tony Archer on NRL360 or similar. I wonder whether Tony Archer has counted more than five errors by referees in 2017 after their remarkable numbers in 2016? The first bloke sacked needs to be Ashley Clown. This business of

7. Brumbies. As the top ranked Australian team, they sunk to a dismal exit Friday night. A deserved thrashing for Australian rugby. They don't get much right rugby. Even their GPS Sydney heartland are giving the game the flick. Crusaders to win it again for mine.

8. Federer. Legend. Unbelievable finesse and power for a bloke of his age and experience. He must enjoy smashing the younger Tomic/ Kgyrios type brigade.

9. Origin. Blame Dugan and Ferguson? What about just applauding the greatest team since St George in the 1950/60 era. Phenomenal spirit and skill.

Wrap - Mount Midoriyama Globetrotters

1. Origin Washup. Surely Aaron Woods, despite the media attention, has become the most overrated forward in the game. The Bulldogs will be worried. Where did NSW go wrong? As predicted:

i. No second phase ball and no width. Ferguson and Brett Morris only got the ball twice each. Morris has retired in seeming protest.
ii. Horrible kicking game. Only hit the grass once.
iii. Slow defensive line speed as opposed the to rapid fire surging defence from OLD. Lazy forwards who do not want it enough.
iv. Lack of 'bend' in their defence (bar 15 minutes at the start of the second half). QLD landed on stomachs all night and had much quicker play the balls.
v. Nathan Peats is a great defender with a strong pass, but no zip from dummy half is a problem. Too predictable. No creativity.
vi. Lack of halves that have creativity and penetration.
vii. No grind in tough moments by NSW. They prefer the miracle low percentage play. QLD are just simply too good in the grind.
viii. Lack of leadership.

2. Origin Discards - Gone and not to return: Hayne, Morris, Pearce, Woods, Peats. Klemmer was outstanding. Melbourne Storm have an awesome impact every week and in Origin. The Smith defence, the Cronk kick, the Slater yards......on it goes. Tough and resolute under pressure.

As predicted, Munster did the business - no need for DCE and an excellent selection.

3. Stuart Broad. Like him or hate him, Broad (373 Test wickets) has been a dominant force in world cricket for a long time. His combination with Jimmy Anderson (475 Test wickets) has been immense for a long time. They are almost unplayable in England as well on those seaming decks. They are going to absolutely carve us up if there are overcast conditions. South Africa's Vernon Philander would be the world's best bowler if he could stay fit. Awesome on English decks. They are missing Dale Steyn who has a stunning record...a mirror of Richard Hadlee.

Sri Lanka's Rangana Herath is also a Test phenonemon. 382 wickets...in 81 Tests (better than Marshall and Akram). Why he is not playing ODIs for them is beyond me. They just lost to Zimbabwe!

4. Wimbledon - Garbine Muguruza - Roger Federer Double? Federer is simply outstanding. 11 Wimbledon finals! His character, skill and class is spectacular. We have been privileged to see one of the all time greats. Cilic is no pushover. He has aggression and a pacy serve - if he lands it consistently. He is like Stan the man. A "lights out" player - if the coal powered electricity has not been wiped out.

Muguruza smashed Venus Williams it must be said. She hits with power. A good time to load up on Grand Slam titles with Serena having a baby. Neither would have a chance if she was fit and well. Venus looks like the classic older sister who has had so much expectation on her and little chance to live her life. She did wonderfully well, but there is simply not enough power in her game - a career long flaw. Hopefully she can retire soon and enjoy life.

5. AFL. Geelong defeated Hawthorn in a tight one on Saturday (loss by three points), but were impressive. 'Danger' was a strength despite injury. The Hawks have had a some narrow wins beating Melbourne (3 points) and Swans (6 points), but they may be in trouble now for semis. Adelaide looks favourites for some GF representation while GWS-Swans was a cracker! Swans on an absolute march, but cannot afford to drop a game. St Kilda v. disappointing!

6. Mayweather. I get the sneaky suspicion that 'Money' Mayweather may absolutely smash Connor McGregor. As a boxing bout, McGregor will not aim up, but as Horn proved, strange things can happen. I note Mayweather was polite but definite - no money for Horn. I also noticed that McGregor is a showboating, loud mouth who may soon be a rich showboating, loud mouth.

7. Arsenal. Their flying visit to play in front of 80,000 twice, is a handy little pre-season earner for the club. They made Sydney FC look like those hapless mobs that the Harlem Globetrotters used to belt. The Western Sydney Wanderers would want to improve too. Their goal counted, but was comical. Clearly our mid fielders are simply not quick enough or skilful enough to compete on the world stage. Their pace was blinding. Ours...? Well...

8. Rugby. The NZ domination continues. We cannot match them and are simply not as good - like NSW in the Origin. The Waratahs' 41 point loss caps off a dismal year of embarrassment. Surely the coach must go. Hooper's reign as a skipper has also been terrible.

Wrap - Ninja Bullies

1. Bullies. Not sure if it is possible to find a sportsman who WASN'T bullied as a child - yet still succeeded! Most contestants on The Voice would agree. Here's hoping we can move beyond this and read of some men and women in sport who just worked hard and persevered...forging their name through excellence, dedication and passion for success.

2. Ninja Warrior...anyone of the contestants bullied there in the past? Rare that this fine sport would be mentioned in this blog, but there is some outstanding work there. The aim is to get to the top of Mount Midoriama - on Ninja Island. Apparently free midori for life. Brilliant work - "Jack has lots of guts"..."tougher than the Olympics"...some minor exaggerations. Love the replays and the analysis. Gold! Everyday blokes and women...who train 20 hours each day on their six packs...

2. Origin III. How busy is the bloke at Queensland Origin training on the golf buggy. Weaving in an out of broken and busted Queenslanders lying on the deck after yet another bruising training session against the Burleigh Bisons... hauling them off to the waiting media to trumpet how they are underdogs. With Thurston out it was a tough decision as to who should do it this time...winner, winner chicken dinner: Billy Slater.

How can anyone with football brains dispute Cherry-Evans being overlooked for Queensland;s team in Origin III. They needed a five eight - not a half back. Why would he be considered? Really... Trent Barrett should know better. Now, if he was overlooked for halfback, that would be a different story. Game 3 in Brisbane...NSW will struggle for mine yet again. Unless their forwards keep second phase ball coming through sensible offloads, they will be run off the park. While a great defender, Nathan Peats lacks critical speed and spark from dummy half for mine that cannot counter the rapid line speed of the Queensland defence.

3. Cricket. Would a year of no Australian cricket worry too many? I must say the stupidity of both parties is breathtaking. It will give many of the top players time to count their IPL rupees.

How good is Elyse Perry, Meg Lanning and Alyssa Healey and their team? Perry/ Lanning in particular are stars who deserve more money than most male cricketers.

4. Joe Root pulled out a tremendous 190 v South Africa in the first test at Lords. Under pressure and first innings runs. I continue to marvel at the work of Moeen Ali. His batting rarely fails and he takes wickets. He is a pressure player. Outstanding and possibly in the top five most influential Test cricketers worldwide for the last two or three years.

With the power of Stokes and add the brilliance of Broad and Anderson, they will crush us in the Ashes....again!

Quentin de Kock is some sort of talent. He can really dominate an attack. He has the full range of shots. Where are de Villiers and Steyn? Not sure they have retired from Test Cricket just yet.

5. Waratahs. What an appalling team they are in 2017. Down 25-3 against the Jaguarians after 30 minutes. Wallabies galore too. An utter disgrace. They do not defend but have been able to attract an amazing number of fans (maybe 30,000-35,000) who wear blank blue seat outfits. Great fancy dress. 40-27 full time?....That coach Gibson needs to be ended. Chieka has him on his payroll...incredible. Time for him to share his excellence elsewhere. First loss ever at home to the Jaguarians in front of one of the worst ever crowds!

6. Lions v All Blacks. A strong end to an entertaining series. Special talent on show but really hard not to think that it takes the best from multiple rugby nations to DRAW at Eden Park against the All Blacks. What hope does Australia have? Zip. There needs to be a stat held on the referee's whistle in this game - and the number of game changing penalties in the last three minutes of a rugby game. QLD beat the Brumbies in these exact circumstances this weekend too. At least the Lions TMO had the sense to stop the series being decided by a ridiculous call.

7. Swans. A tremendous turn around in a year where the lid has been kept on the highest flyers. Their mids are finally stepping up. Keiran Jack is playing like a man whose contract is up. Parker has been helped by the pace and skill of Rohan and especially Lloyd and Zac Jones. 

GWS have to be hurting. Lots of injuries, but two draws in back to back weeks (Geelong and Hawthorn) continues to teach them a lesson about September footy. Don't think it is over. I thought they had gotten through this with some tight wins in 2017, but the lessons dealt to them by the Western Bulldogs late in the 2016 semi seem to be fading at the wrong end of the season. This year GWS have beaten Western Bulldogs (by 2), Collingwood (by 3), Richmond (by 3) and West Coast (by 8) and lost to Carlton (by 1). These results can turn a season...both ways.

That last bounce v Hawthorn was pretty unbelievable however. Western Bulldogs could be just about finished based on their effort v Adelaide. Poor. Not as bad as Richmond who are heading a familiar way (south) yet again. Geelong still the team to beat I suspect. Adelaide look sharp too. The resurgence of St Kilda, Melbourne and Carlton - and even Essendon - is giving hope to Melburninans.

8. Wimbledon. Hard to imagine Roger Federer won't be there at the end, but with the heat in London, look for those with the booming serve to dominate - and surprise in week two. The whinging of tennis players is something else. Tomic aside...Kygrios aside (they know how to party at least, but how embarrassing - they should be banned by Wimbledon for a year each)...the rest of those bagging the courts and grounds staff for uneven surfaces or quick courts....please. The only voices not bagging them? Djokovic, Murray, Rafa and Roger. Now who will make those men's semis?

Wrap - Round the Horn

1. Manny Pacquiao v Jeff Horn. Pacquiao is a legend. He is an eight division world champion. He has won eleven major world titles and is the first boxer to win the 'lineal title' in five different weight classes. Horn won, but he is no Steven Bradbury. He stood toe to toe with a bloke who has won world titles in EIGHT divisions and got the World WBO Welterweight belt.

Everyone loves seeing the underdog win a world title fight and Jeff Horn showed the world. Probably a little fortunate, but the judges were from the US (2) and Argentina (1). To score it 117-111 shows someone may have been on drugs or the take. A bad look for boxing. As a woman who scored this, the usual sexist bleatings are being raised by cranky commentators and 'experts'. (There are more experts here than around SuperBowl time).

It is truly a mug's game, the fight game. There are some mighty whingers in this boxing gig - the ringside chairs are too flimsy, the ref, the weather, the judges...compliments for the amazing winner anytime soon would be nice too...crickets...chirp...crickets...

The arrogance of Manny on the phone texting at the press conference, turning up late and disrespecting his opponent backfired. He even admitted he did not expect it to be this hard. He was gracious in defeat and amazingly seems incapable of experiencing hurt of any nature. You do have to wonder how much damage is done to their brains, but the fans loved it.

The Suncorp footy ground in front of 51,000 was a great venue in the sunshine. Not as hot as the silly conditions for the Fenech and Azumah bout at Princes Park all those years ago. He is also smart in reaching out to Mayweather (not sure the walking stick gag worked) post match, but the girls loved his line that the best part of his life will be when his first child is born - not this win.

We need more teachers with this tenacity, passion and steel. In fact, more leaders like this in all elements of society too!

2. Biff. Stories of post fight biff at hotels and pubs will be the next angle.

3. NRL - The Sharks looked crisp this weekend. Great first half with 19 completions from 19! They have not looked this good for a long while. Storm still the benchmark. The Knights are awful, but their crowd as so loyal. No chance of getting off the bottom of the table. They lack experience but also lack strength of mind and heart. Panthers terrible for a team who promised so much. They and the Raiders have been the surprise duds of the year. Ricky has huge problems. The team are not playing wide enough and they are suffering.

Getting afternoon footy before the slippery frosts and wretched conditions hit is a good idea at this time of year.

4. Swans moving forward but need to toss the Gold Coast next week. A great comeback in an even comp. Port need to lift. Like both GWS and Geelong...but a shocking miss by the big Hawkins after the siren. Almost kicked it out of bounds on the full...terrible.

Western Bulldogs are limping...Richmond are better than last year, but North are falling off a cliff at present.

5. Lions v All Blacks. A cracking series, despite the ridiculous IRB obsession with bringing hopeless out of touch referees from the northern hemisphere down here to control games. The second half got better in Wellington, but two tries to zip makes the Lions deserved winners. SBW gets a four week ban. Hope these refs get similar. Where is the strength in the southern hemisphere at the table to reject these refs and tell the north where to get off?

6. Cricket Pay Dispute. Is there anything more boring? There is zero sympathy for the players and the administration of cricket has been a joke since we were born. The sight of blokes like Shane Watson and Glenn Maxwell - two of the greatest under achievers and over paid players of Australian cricket in recent times - moving earnestly into high level meetings re more cash is a bad look. So too is Steve O'Keefe. He should be staying at home more often after the year he has had.

I wonder what these stars who rake in the millions from IPL and everywhere else have planned for the future of cricket? Do they actually care less? Some can't even press out an autograph for a kid! Maybe when their kids grow up they will see the neglect...

Is it a case of once you are at the top of the tree, take as many apples as you can carry and the bad ones that fall will suffice for the plebs?

Cricket Australia should never have tried to break the current deal. Wait for it to elapse and then move. Now, blokes like Kevin Roberts (who was a very handy cricketer at state level, but would have earned nothing) will look silly backflipping.

7. Super 15 Rugby. Is it time to abandon the whole concept?

8. Wimbledon. You have to laugh when Nick Kgyrios tells the world (or those that tolerate him) he is a strong chance to win Wimbledon this year and he is not afraid of the Murrays, the Nadals, the Djokovics, the Federers, the Zerevs...(even though there is generally only one of each of these)...Not scared? Memo Nick. They are certainly not scared of you either!

Ash Barty has the hardest draw of the lot, but could surprise.