Wrap - Sporting Promotions

1. Australian Women's Cricket World Cup. Shemmozzle in the wet, for Australia to get there, but a huge final and a great spectacle. Katy Perry was pretty awesome when compared to a few others we have seen over the years. Why does the MCG always get this stuff so right? A huge, supportive crowd too.

The Australian women's cricket team really have struck a chord with the Australian public and don't for a moment forget the power of their advertisement - "C'mon Aussie c'mon...c'mon". It rings true with the viewers - still. No Perry in the team, but Mitchell Starc in the crowd (How does that work, but well worth it when your wife, Alyssa Healy, bats so superbly!). Beth Mooney and Meg Lanning are two of the best ever as well. India, as the biggest cricketing country in the world, will be smarting after such a thrashing.

In the end, girl power is rising in world sport as many tire of the brutality of UFC, the diving in soccer, violence and grubbiness (I note an England rugby player grabbing the crotch of a rival overnight...ugh?), drug taking... on it goes.

2. NRL. Finally the season gets under way next week. About time and with a NRL season launch video that needed to showcase more players and tries and ALL clubs - not entertainers, the game divided, protesters and the like. This alienates. There are so many great young players in the game and so many legends. Surely there is a better song than Tina Turner's old one (?). The younger brigade would have no idea. Some will be upset and marginalised that there were no crucifixes in the footage.

The game has changed a lot since the days of footy cards and Scanlen's gum. We are the fading past as supporters and most of us have probably not attended more than a game or two each year live. Anyhow, we are part of a different world of first home buyer's grants, baby bonuses, extra leave provisions from work, record low interest rates... the younger generation have never had it better!

For the future of the game, it must showcase its multicultural nature more as the once 'traditional' league lover is a fading supporter. The Aboriginal players and Pacific Islanders are the bright future of the game, regardless of what anyone else thinks. Their skill and robustness is amazing. State of Origin may need to flex to embrace the world spotlight too before too much longer. The women's game is growing too and is a key part of the strategy of every mainstream sport in Australia now (cricket, rugby, soccer). Footage of one and all athletes excelling in scintillating moments of endeavour would have been best. That gets the crowd going!

Foxsports and Jimmy Barnes got it half right, but there was more dust than footage for mine. How hard is it to get your back catalogue and find great tries. Most of the footage was not even from the SFS (Benjo flick...Thurston field goal, Sattler, etc).

I half expected Billy Idol, the boring judiciary mayhem, stupid refereeing errors to feature as well (Ashley Clown?). Get back to a player focus - of all colours, creeds, persuasions and whether they are Callithumpian as well - who cares! Show tries, big hits, winning plays and acrobatics! Maybe even an immortal or two doing something great!?

3. NRL Improvement. The waste of time in each game needs to be eliminated too. When a try is awarded, it should be time off until the kick off and twenty seconds is then added in every instance to the clock for the conversion kick. The same for scrums and restarts. Peter V'landys will be awesome for the game. His is a strong and ruthless leader, if required.

4. AFL. They love a long half time break - and a super long pre-season. They need to shake this up and start earlier. Stop with the useless trials . How can the NFL be so popular and so intense, rating highly and wowing the whole USA each week with only 16 games. They become complete showdowns of high intensity. The day is closing in when AFL and NRL follow a similar model. Intensity, high powered games that matter each week. Stand alone rep or rest weeks.

Watched the Adam Goodes film the other day. Highly recommended for one and all. Some may be surprised.

5. Cricket. The Australian ODI team v South Africa is still being hampered by Mitchell Marsh in the middle order. The "coach's son" in so many respects, but he simply is too slow and lacking self awareness. I don't know if he owns a shrewd enough cricketing brain. Maxwell is a shoe-in when he gets fit. Bowlers need to offer more with the bat too. Cummins has become very ordinary with the bat (fair enough when he is busy taking wickets), but this limits him in all three forms. He needs to be rested. IPL will set his life up with cash, but does he really need to play a nothing ODI tournament in South Africa?

6. Indian Cricket. Great to see the NZ team turn the cricket world on its head and beat India twice! Unheard of really, but a delight to see. Every great team needs to grapple with adversity. Kohli wavers a little sometimes in this space, but is still a splendid leader of toughness and skill - however unpopular outside of India.

7. Waratahs. They reserve a special line each week for incompetence. Is it so expected now that no one really even cares? They are in all sorts of trouble. Has anyone thought of recruiting the Crusaders coaches? Their culture in their franchise is awesome. This is built, ingrained and lived. It should be on every NRL coach's Christmas visit list....a few might learn how to break dance too. The Chiefs can play and dominate. They may threaten this year too. Crusaders will take some break dancing moves to beat them yet again however.

8. UFC. Another nasty bloke with heaps of tats has belted the life out of another nasty bloke and sought a re-match. Scoop. Footage of swollen foreheads and eyes ripped from sockets does nothing for me. This is not a sport for your daughter either I suspect, yet many partake. When will it be banned as I suspect most men and women don't like its brutality.