Wrap - Save Dave's Shoey

1. Dave Warner. A supreme batting talent.

However, surely reports are wrong that the biggest trash talking cricketer in some time has not liked the brother of someone he also sledged, sledging him? Warner’s sledging role on that fateful Phil Hughes day is suddenly under the microscope again. So is his reaction in the subsequent inquiry.

Hopefully a story comes out that his Randwick teammates told him to wake up to himself and get back out there. Cricket has a lot to learn. This nonsense is endorsed by umpires who have inspired and empowered a generation of Warner types. They fail to intervene and allow it. Who is going to step up and bin the first first class cricketer under the new rules? Spineless.

Dave Warner’s greatest weapon is his bat - not his mouth. He is 32 and I hope he learns that soon. We all love watching him bat, not talk.


NOTE: LAWS OF THE GAME - https://www.lords.org/mcc/laws-of-cricket/laws/law-42-players-conduct/
42.4.2 If such an offence is committed,
42.4.2.1 The umpire shall call Time, if necessary.
42.4.2.2 Together the umpires shall summon and inform the offending player’s captain that an offence at this Level has occurred.    
42.4.2.3 The umpires shall direct the captain to remove the offending player immediately from the field of play for a period in accordance with the following:
42.4.2.3.1 In a match where the innings are not limited to a number of overs, the player shall be suspended from the field of play for 10 overs.
42.4.2.3.2 In a match where the innings are limited to a number of overs, the player shall be suspended for one fifth of the number of overs allocated to the current innings at its commencement. If, in calculating the length of the suspension, a part-over results, it shall be considered as a whole over.  Furthermore, any balls remaining in the over in progress at the time of suspension shall not count towards the overs for which the player is suspended.
42.4.2.3.3 If the offending player is a fielder, no substitute shall be allowed for him/her. The offending player may return to the field of play after serving the period of suspension and may bowl immediately.
42.4.2.3.4 If a bowler is suspended mid-over, then that over must be completed by a different bowler, who shall not have bowled the previous over nor shall he/she bowl the next over.
42.4.2.3.5 If the offending player is a not out batsman, he/she shall be replaced by another member of his/her team. The offending player may return to bat after having served the suspension only at the fall of a wicket. If no batsman is available to bat during a batsman’s suspension, the innings is completed.  If the offending player does not continue his/her innings for whatever reason, he/she is to be recorded as Retired – not out.
42.4.2.3.6 If the offending player is a dismissed member of the batting side, the period of suspension will not commence until the start of the next innings.  Furthermore, in these circumstances, the offending player may not act as a runner during the innings when he/she was suspended.
42.4.2.3.7 Warn the offending player’s captain that any future Level 1 offence shall result in the award of 5 Penalty runs to the opposing team.
42.4.2.3.8 Any overs remaining to be served from a suspension shall be carried forward to the next and subsequent innings of the match. A part over at the end of the innings shall not count towards the overs for which the player is suspended.
42.4.2.4 As soon as practicable, the umpire shall
- award 5 Penalty runs to the opposing team
- signal the Level 3 penalty to the scorers
- call Play.



2. NRL Coaches. The coaching merry go round simultaneously sells papers and annoys people. Bennett to Souths gets the imagination going. He could be going there at a key phase of their evolution. A GF beckons with a fit Greg Inglis. Not sure about Maguire. Cleary will need some ear muffs from Gus’ blessings and Seibold will move next week. Untenable.


3. The Draw. Does anyone give two fat watusees about the AFL or NRL draw for 2019? Does it matter that much? Good sides just win. Bad sides look at draws and make excuses...pre season!

4. Winx. What a phenomenon. The roar it got at Moonee Valley was awesome. Courageous owners who are not selfish, but have every reason to be. A special experience for sports lovers as its Cox Plate and overall winning/ Group 1 record will never be beaten in our lifetimes!

5. Wallabies. Let’s face it. We are simply not good enough. 100 tests to Kepu...how many wins? We are playing reserve grade really in comparison. We need Jarryd Hayne in the team they tell me.

6. Redsox v LA Dodgers World Series. Redsox 3-1 up and on the brink of victory at LA tomorrow. Enough people are confident they will win that my young bloke is heading to the Game 4 showdown in LA to be part of history!

7. NBA. Pressure on Andrew Gaze to win something... he has won a match as coach, just... The owners will wield the axe soon if he is not careful. He has zero excuses with his 2018 roster. How big are the crowds to these games? A sport on the rise I suspect. And they play in all weather.


8. F1 - Daniel Riccardo. On pole position, which is unfamiliar territory. Now wait for the mechanical disaster...or a shoey!

9. Sydney FC are that far ahead of the rest it is ridiculous. Western Sydney Wanderers appear to have lost their soul, but I enjoyed the sending off of the new coach. A League and VAR...joke.


10. EPL. Helicopter disaster for Leicester's owner and friends. There are a lot of accidents in the pointy end of society...jets, fast cars, sea planes, helicopters. A dangerous business.

Wrap - World's Finest Flagwavers

1. Cricket I. Justin Langer has me worried. When he started his career he was conservative and was dropped. He then became quite an electric opener who dominated world attacks with Hayden. His current philosophy however is to attack at all times when your middle order are head cases. Dumb. Shaun Marsh is surely gone? The human hydra. Ah no...Shaun is an exceptional white ball player we are told and will earn yet another chance...Mitch is a future captain so Langer tells us...ummm...really?


The skipper position is a huge issue. Tim Paine is a good guy, but barely holds his spot as wicketkeeper. Nathan Lyon was anointed by Mike Hussey as the "sprig of wattle" team song custodian and most of us nearly fell over...so it is proven now that he is the next best (only?) captaincy choice. With the keeper, they need to do "an Ian Healy" and go with a young gun for a long time eg. Alex Carey. Build around this.


Langer's career will be limited as head coach with this approach. Fail fast with duds. Get them out and go in a completely different direction. Isn't it uncanny how a first class Australian player selected for the biggest stage averaging 30, gets to Test cricket and yep...pretty well never breaks 30 runs there either. Shock.


Young Will Pucovski in Victoria, Jason Sangha in NSW...Renshaw... even Trent Copeland are better options. Open minds are needed, not state allegiances with failed performers.


2. Cricket II. Are we getting to a point where opposing teams in world cricket determine whether they bat or bowl? Eliminate the toss and the ridiculous sub-continent doctored pitches.  The lack of worldwide curating standards is hurting the sport. It is safe to say a cricket toss is probably the most important toss to win in world sport. The NRL toss is not so critical, unless it is golden point.

3. NRL. Plenty of flags! An awesome Tonga crowd in Auckland, but the Australian's have too much fitness and a comparative absence of errors. Tedesco is a special talent. So quick on his feet. Valentine Holmes is also quite awesome. Cronulla should retire a few dinosaurs and do everything to keep him. He could win you a premiership on his own.

4. US Sports. How amazing is the whole US sport scene...NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL? Incredible game day attendances (except if you support San Diego in anything). Seamless seasons run into seasons and complete immersion by TV and newspapers. Not perfect, but they would run rings around our administrators.


5. RedSox v LA - World Series Baseball. An exceptional contest ahead. Best of seven games...excitement plus (even if the 'world' is represented in the team composition - rather than the opposition!). It is simply the best in the world. ...make no mistake.


6. EPL - ManU. Jose knows no bounds. His attempt to go the biff with a former assistant coach was outstanding theatre, but really... a goose. He gives owners plenty of reasons to be punted.


7. EPL - Others. Remarkably there are three undefeated teams in Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea...and a couple doing really poorly in Newcastle and Huddersfield. They are 20 points behind already. Coaches will be punted very soon no doubt!


8. NRL - Hayne Drain. Everyone is hoping like hell that the Parramatta NRL Internal Report is released soon with recommendations on recruitment practice...no dickheads hopefully. This may see an exit of monumental proportions. Hayne goes first...Taka...Norman...Moses... a clean out. You could cop a wooden spoon each year if they actually looked like improving their culture and investing in their young products.


Quite ironic that the Eels have no stadium to play at in 2019... they may not need a big one like that for a few years anyhow. Richie Benaud Oval at North Parra might just about do.


9. Marc Marquez. Five time 2018 MotoGP World Champion. Awesome.


10. Lewis Hamilton. Yet another pole position. A fifth world title is imminent. More awesome.

Wrap - Who Would Have Thought?

1. NRL International. New Zealand had a great win over the complacent Australians. Usually it is the other way around, but over there it is always a struggle. It looks like some of the New Zealand players are actually caring enough to be bothered these days. An enthralling end to the game, but too laboured and slow by Australia. Jake Trobejivic was outstanding and Valentine Holmes electric. If north Queensland snare him, that will be a great signing for them. Cronulla have everyone they want, but they need young legs. Losing Jessie Ramien is a big loss.


A great effort by coach Maguire who must be on a good wicket there to knock back coaching Manly. Fancy getting Des back to coach. Honestly that club is the closest to folding out of all of them. Shaky financials and rusted on culture.

2. Major League Baseball. The Houston Astros did a number on the Boston Redsox in their first game. Too strong all over the park. Boston need to unleash their bats if they are to bounce back. It will be a struggle for the Redsox whose bullpen has been found wanting at the back end of the season. Plenty more needed there. 

3. The Everest. Redzel ran an amazing race to be a two time winner of the $13 million Everest race. It is a lot of coin for such a short race. However, the field was pretty awesome. The wet deck was a test, but Redzel was amazing. The 50-1 shot winner in the Country equivalent - The Kosciusko - was a great story. The owners looked like they enjoyed a drink. If they didn't then, they do now!


4. Andrew Gaze - NBA Sydney Kings. Hopefully he can turn things around, but really they are stacked to the hilt now with stars and they still can't produce - although Adelaide are pretty awesome. Bogut won't be able to do it on his own. His body is hanging together by a thread I suspect.


5. Cricket. A great effort by Khawaja and Paine to save the Test. Nice to see Paine step up as he has been moderate at best as skipper. This is as close to a win as we might see, so lap it up! Finch went well, but the middle order was awful really. All of them got ducks in one of the two innings- S Marsh, M Marsh (who would have thought?), T. Head and M. Labuschagne. Horrible. However Marnus got some wickets which was at least something. Lyon and Holland OK, but these decks are too flat. Spice them up.


6. Usain Bolt. Good to see him score some goals. What does that say about the standard of our league?


7. Parramatta. In a week where the club completed, but did not publish, its report into the culture at the club (finding lack of leadership and ill discipline the twin evils behind a wooden spoon winning season - who would have thought?), young Jaeman Salmon graduated into the ranks of Parramatta stupidity with his effort in a car crash where we are told: "the 19-year-old’s white Jeep Cherokee hit three parked cars before rolling onto its roof, stopping southbound traffic in Miranda in Sydney’s south". As you do. A normal night out. Yet another goose embodying the lack of leadership and complete ill discipline of anyone who walks in the door of that joint. I am going to run for a position on the Board of that place one day and straighten the joint out.


8. AFL. The trade whispers and draft talk are almost making the code a laughing stock. Trying to become like a US sport and failing miserably. Have an off season and relax.

Wrap - Back In The Pouch

1. NRL Media. How they love a story of 'rags to riches'. Nearly every story post Grand Final is the same in essence. Sounded like the whole Roosters team had been to the Somme at one stage. It is a game and they won with more talent and remarkable courage. Full stop. Nice to see Keary get a start ahead of Munster. Unfortunately, it sounds like Munster has a few demons to settle and control which is terrible for the young bloke. The GF was not good for him.

2. Joey Johns. Is Joey always fully there? He jumps from club to club and then utters the silliest of comments regularly. Calling for Melbourne to shake up their club and warning they will come back to the field, is a nonsense. The club is too smart for Joey. They have succession planning down to an art form.

Brodie Croft, Curtis Scott, Joe Stimson, Christian Welch, Brandon Smith, Jahrome Hughes, Nelson Asofa Solomona... no one had heard of any of these blokes up until 2018 and they have all played a Grand Final. Extraordinary. Sure they will miss brilliance of individuals, but they are in safe hands and at least ten clubs would trade all of their roster for the set up at Melbourne. It is still strong.

3. Greg Inglis. He himself claimed it had nothing to do with earlier mental health issues, but the newspapers tread necessarily lightly in this space. He clearly has taken a heavy hit for his behaviour, losing the captaincy so publicly, but how does this get announced first if communication channels are as they should be? Typical amateurism by the code. He could have been spared the embarrassment.

4. Virat Kohli. Perhaps one of the most disliked characters in world cricket this side of Mumbai, but how talented and prolific? Another ton v the West Indies this week. He has played 72 Tests only and with an average of 54 has scored 24 test tons the same as Greg Chappell already (who was phenomenal in his 87 tests). Border hit 27 Test tons in 156 tests by way of comparison! He is destined to be the greatest of all time at this rate.

5. Australian Cricket. Ian Chappell is right. Tim Paine is seemingly not strong enough to keep Justin Langer at arms length as coach. Paine has not got enough form himself to be really confident in the position. Relying on the Marsh brothers, Khawaja on spinning decks, Travis Head and Aaron Finch who can be up and down in the longer format of the game.... there will be changes if it goes south. Marnus Labuschagne in the Australian team? We all wish him well, but how unfair at this point of his career. It brings back memories of Julian Weiner.

Can you believe the nonsense idea of putting plastic bottles down on the pitch to help the Aussies play spin bowling? Ridiculous. Up there with the plastic chair idea in India. By the way, whatever happened to that method of controlling dog faeces in the local neighbourhood with a few plastic bottles full of water?

6. Manchester United. This once proud club needs an overhaul despite its gritty win v Newcastle. They need some old fashioned steel and flair. I would not be surprised to see Alex Ferguson return for a year to set them right after the misery of Jose Mourinho subsides and passes. No shortage of ex players who enjoyed amazing success at the club, ready for a comment or two...or three on the current disaster.

7. Wallabies. Some sort of second half to secure the win, but the Argies should hang their heads for their appalling defence. Cheika needed to wake a few up at halftime. They have been a rabble for too long. Over paid and lacking hunger for the jersey essentially. They get out of jail, but so much more work on attitude is needed.

8. Conor McGregor - UFC. His bout v Khabib was a cracker, but what a mug's game. It is brutal and stupid at the same time. The post match violence is a complete disgrace. Always amazing how McGregor never seems to get the full brunt of an attack - until this one. For all his showmanship and bravado, he is a master in this space and really amps it up for the crowd. A master entertainer, even if he is a fair bit to take for most. His earlier attack on the Khabib bus was outrageous. These blokes are lawless too. Not wanting to press charges continues to allow the poor behaviour. The Nevada licensing mob are usually pretty brutal themselves in this space.

9. Bathurst 1000 - Hardie Ferodo, Tooheys 1000, AMP 1000, FAI 1000, Bob Jane TMarts 1000 and Supercheap Auto 1000. You always know you've hit rock that tricky dearth in the range of annual Australian sporting events when Jamie Whincup and co start dominating the TV screens. However, good luck to them. The event has become iconic in the calendar and provides an ideal opportunity for all the rev heads to re-live their youth and celebrate in the rain. Holden too good. It is an iconic race of endurance. Lowndes seems to be ageless. He now has 7 wins (v Brock's 9 wins) and has had the most podium finishes of 14 ever!

10. AFL Draft Talk. This is becoming an annual kitbag of complicated nonsense with restricted and unrestricted trades, father and son rules and the like. It helps player prices, but really is a lot of rumour relying on the 'generosity' of clubs to accommodate players they really don't want. Having said that the Tigers recruiting Tom Lynch is a joke. How strong can one club become at the expense of another? The Gold Coast could well be the first AFL club to wind up as a failure.

11. Formula One. The efforts of Lewis Hamilton continue to amaze. Not quite in the Schumacher class just yet, but getting close. Four World Driver's Championships to Schumacher's seven...closing in on five in 2018 to equal Fangio in second spot. Awesome. Best we have seen since Eddie Cheever, Keke Rosberg, Jackie Stewart, Andrea de Cesaris, Rubens Barcichello, Jenson Button, Gerhard Berger, Martin Brundle or Nelson Piquet.

Wrap - Crowing and Coasting

1. NRL Grand Final. 21-6. It is hard to imagine a game of league when the Storm have made more mistakes with their hands. They were under pressure and got a terrible case of dropsy. Attacking defence won the day for the Roosters. However, the penalty rate from the Roosters provided the Storm with every opportunity. Munster has had a shocker. Two sin bins in one Grand Final is some sort of record! He needs to gather more composure under pressure as a young player. Kicking blokes in the head is never a good look. The effort of Cooper Cronk at a new club in the state he was in was pretty amazing. A broken scapula. Ouch!

The dynamic first half by the Roosters was scintillating! Never like to see a team shooting field goals with 20 minutes left. There’s a defensive mindset that can backfire.


Trent Robinson has done really well. Two Grand Final wins is rare for an NRL coach. Played one game for the Eels in 2002 and his renewed connection with Jason Taylor there has been brave, when no one wanted to know about Taylor at all.

2. Roosters now have 14 titles ever (since 2000, 3 titles, 4 runners up, 5 minor premierships). A remarkable effort and that is success. The Storm stay behind Parramatta (4) on 3 titles. The back to back winning of premierships is a tough gig! (How successful have the Storm been (3 premierships, 2 stripped, 3 minor premierships). 

3. AFL Grand Final. An amazing game from West Coast with the skinniest of leads in the end. Great comeback as an out of town playing group. Hopefully they won't self destruct like the Ben Cousins group all those years ago. Collingwood will continue to strengthen and Maguire’s support of Nathan Buckley when under fire for years has been amazing. Loyalty repaid.


4. Cricket. D’Arcy Short’s 23 sixes in his 250 in ODI was phenomenal. Outstanding talent, but Hurstville Oval!?

5. Ryder Cup Golf. Always a cracking competition. Huge crowds and sensational standards. The European team simply looked too good from the start, but the US had the names! The European home course is hard to crack for the US! Time to change the ‘in the hole’ call. Old and passé... put it in the ‘oi, oi, oi’ basket!

6. NFL. From New England way, the Patriots were under immense pressure in their 16 game season, with an unexpected 1-2 season start. Coach Bill Belichick, famous for his ‘do your job’ mantra for his team, absorbed this pressure and they bounced back 38-7 v the Miami Dolphins. An old salt!

7. MLB. The Boston Redsox also sitting at their most wins ever in a season (108). This is a 66% winning percentage, The best since 1912. Their run into the play offs has been really patchy however. Their policy of resting blokes is not helping. Their risk is playing against the Yankees in the second game of the playoffs without rhythm. Time will tell. Their bull pen is skinnier than most teams, but their hitting is exceptional.

8. ManU. Big troubles now and Jose will need to go very soon. Something needs to give!
9. Wallabies. Last for a reason. Awful. Cheika seems a bit clueless still. His time is ticking.