1. Australian Cricket Cheats. Waking up on Sunday to the news that we tried to cheat through using a piece of yellow tape with small hard rocks on it to rub against the ball - and that a whole leadership group - presuming Smith, Warner, Lehmann, Saker - were behind it was staggering. What gets into their brains? What a dumb arse plan with walkie talkies. They should have tied a piece of string to two empty cans and listened down the line. Rank amateurs.
Now the fall out. All the regular Twitter wisdom - Pietersen, Vaughan, Hussein, Steyn, Rodney Hogg, AB, Clarke...on it goes. Tim Paine as skipper...please. What about Nathan Lyon (or is he part of the dopey plan?), Khawaja (or is his spot on the line for Handscomb?). Bancroft will be barred and with him will be Smith.
Our whining, whinging and pathetic behaviour on these overseas trips has gotten worse with Lehmann. Langer to take the coaching reins...or Ponting?
2. Australian Batsmen Problems. Our batting woes also continue. We simply do not have enough excellent batting options in domestic cricket – or in the national team for sustained Test success. The Marsh brothers are going back to their bad ways. Khawaja may not tour England with his lumbering, lazy dismissals. Steve Smith has been tested on those quicker, less predictable decks in South Africa and is no Bradman all of a sudden.
When Matthew Wade is one of your best domestic batsmen (108 in this weekend's Shield Final v QLD), you are in trouble. There does not seem to be any new young guns coming through...that spells an entrenched problem for the future. Is the modern young cricketer a different breed not prepared to do the hard yards?
3. Nathan Lyon. He continues to disappoint on this tour of South Africa, while Cummins leaps ahead. Lyon got runs finally, but wickets are scarce outside of numbers 10 and 11. He needs to stand up or we will be struggling to win anything.
4. NRL Refereeing. This nitpicking start to 2018 is boring and dumb. Raking the ball back with the foot in the play the ball is excellent, preventing ‘touch football’ tempo; so too the sin binning of repeat infringers in their own red zone; but the penalty blown by Ashley Klein (Clown), in Tigers v Broncos, was awful. It was typical Klein grandstanding and attention seeking refereeing. He seems to bring this nonsense out when refereeing the Broncos in particular. Always trying to be in the limelight of the game. He needs to back down and let the players showcase their skill – not him.
How many penalty goals are being kicked? How few tries are being scored in some games too? This is why rugby union is on the nose as a viewing sport. Greenberg is not very smart unfortunately. However, missing conversions these days is more costly than ever before.
5. NRL. Manly. Crushed Parramatta last week and this week nothing. Souths looked sharper. Warriors look smarter and tougher. Like the Raiders the Eels are rooted - to the bottom of the table. Panthers have a bad early attitude and Cleary’s loss spells danger! Sharks and Tigers look like they cannot score points. Loved the Dragons work against the woeful Titans. Roosters starting to click.
6. AFL. Collingwood look ordinary again. Surely the coach, Nathan Buckley, is on borrowed time. Geelong look strong. The Demons may finally have some steel. Carlton no good again either. The Western Bulldogs were horrible and the Giants again dominated...but will lose in the semis again no doubt!
7. A-League. Interesting to see Paul Okon leave the Central Coast Mariners. Will not be missed. Played his favourites, ignored others and lost the dressing room. A few fresh faces arrived from the reserves on Saturday night and what do you know... 1-2 v the likely premiers, Sydney FC, after being 1-1 for a long time.
8. Winx. Brilliant as usual. What a horse! A world record number of Group 1 winners. Meanwhile Chautauqua, who has won more money than Black Caviar, refuses to move out of the starting gates at any barrier trials - in Sydney, Melbourne or anywhere else. Stubborn!
9. Socceroos. Losing 4-1 to Norway who are not in the World Cup is terrible. A straight sets exit from the World Cup lies ahead for us on this count.
10. Super 15 Rugby. The Rebels win again and it must be said...our quality of rugby across three teams is definitely stronger without the Western Force.
11. Formula 1. Lewis Hamilton could just about be the best ever, despite his shock loss to Vettel. On 62 wins, he trails Schumacher on 91 wins.
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