1. Finals Time. Judiciaries, arrogant referees, whinging players, hyperbaric chambers and the International Court of Sport Arbitration. Which ones will we need? Melbourne in both codes have warmed as favorites and loom as winners of both codes!
2. AFL. Two blow outs in both preliminary games. Port a bad loss in front of their home crowd and Geelong just lose the impossible and are the perennial losers. How often do they fall in a heap in big games? Gary Rohan seems to be the master of them, yet he won a game after the siren earlier this year. They seem to lack steel at key moments and there are some old legs there. Tuohy, Duncan, Dangerfield, Selwood, Guthrie... great players, but they lack speed as a team and on the ground they are weaker. Max Gawn killed them with five unexpected goals. 19 disposals for the big horse.
For Melbourne, Oliver was dominant and warming up for his Brownlow. Steven May's injury is a concern, but at least he has a two week recovery time now. Viney and Petracca were awesome. Salem too.
The Port Adelaide v Western Bulldogs game. A cracking start by the Bulldogs and they broke free. Daniel, Dale, Liberatore, Smith...all tremendous. Adam Treloar bounced back in style too. Port were so disappointing. They simply ran out of ideas. Luke Beveridge is a huge success story as coach. He recruits speed, talls and mobility low to the ground and gets the blend right. Bontempelli showed no signs of injury and was a star yet again.
Melbourne v Western Bulldogs should be a great Grand Final in two weeks in a unique and somewhat crazy year. The extra week will give recovery time for key injuries, but will frustrate the fans.
Not many sports have a whole week off to celebrate a game's prime award (the Brownlow, named after a great administrator and player from down Geelong way) on its own -19 September. GF on the following week, clashing with the NRL again.
3. Melbourne Storm. A cracking team of dominance. They are not losing the Grand Final this year. They lose Brandon Smith in a head clash and no one even notices. Not a step missed. How good is Christian Welsh? He is the soul of the club. So consistent and a smart bloke too. They are so together and play so well for each other. Tommy Turbo lost five cylinders in a very quiet and ordinary game really. Another week away from yet another Grand Final for Melbourne. They have not missed Cronk, Smith and Slater. Incredible.
4. NRL. What was worse, the Ikavalu drop for the Roosters when up by six points on his own goal line? Or was it the Lumelume fumble for Melbourne that gifted the try to Saab? Terrible, but that's finals footy. Unbelievable things happen. The Titans v Roosters was tight.
Sam Walker not playing a minute until the last ten was a mistake (unless injured). He made a match saving try, but only after his earlier miss. However, the Roosters have changed the winning formula which was silly by Robinson. Lam is not that flash. Morris is at a different level to the others. A star under pressure, even if retiring. A cracking game and finish. Patrick Herbert was re-signed recently, but he just needed to pass the ball...
Can we ban the penalty goal? A blight on the game. Souths' defence was more enthusiastic than most weeks. Wayne Bennett is a gun and he lined up Cleary in the post match interview. He always seem to lift his teams when it matters. Origin..club... a winner. A champion team. The boot of Reynolds will be highly valuable for Brisbane.
Surprising to see Souths panicking at the end of the game. Cody Walker was the worst offender - dribble kicks to no one, penalty given away at a key time. Composure and poise are critical at this time of the year. Walker needs to focus on this. Arrow played his best game for the club too.
The Eels were fair only. Why you would bench Matterson and play the peroxided forward escapes me. Matterson would be filthy. That is a straight change. Paulo has nothing to worry about, but Niokore does. Interesting to see Moses run the ball. The Knights were as shocked as the fans. The Eels lost their shape and attack as the game went on. They looked tired and troubled - not a pass or off load in sight. Waqa Blake played better than most other weeks, but still needs a good cut out pass for the ball to reach a winger. He never passes. Haze Dunster is far too small and not that quick. Hardly a team that had rested its stars the week prior. They may have saved Brad Arthur's career however. The Panthers will be rested and trouble free.
Manly v Roosters. Panthers v Eels. Storm and Rabbits have the week off. Storm play the the winner of Panthers v Eels. Souths play the winner of Manly/ Roosters.
Souths have a significant advantage all of a sudden.
5. NRL Ill Discipline. Amazing how a few of those players not keeping the reputation of the game clean have been cut this past week or so - Elliott, Dugan, Packer, Joey Leilua, Curtis Scott for starters. Sponsors don't like them and the game and clubs worry. A player type of the past.
6. India v England Test Cricket. No final Test due to COVID and India win the series 2-1. Incredible. We would have had the same if the series was not locked up into the final SCG Test last summer. Convenient with the IPL about to restart? Can you believe the whinging from the Poms about vaccinations and coming into Australia. Stay away, Australians are out on their cricket team. It stinks to high heaven.
7. NFL 2021. Tampa Bay Buccs and Dallas Cowboys. Tom Brady is the biggest show in town - with Gronkowski and the controversial Antonio Brown. They have a 2021-2022 Superbowl winners tag hovering over their heads again. Superb start to the season.
8. US Open Tennis. Some sort of player this Djokovic character. A sensational effort v Zverev in the semi final and another win seems inevitable for the most Grand Slams ever. We are watching greatness here. He is not losing this final either.
In the women's draw, Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez were the first teenage finalists at the US Open since Hingis v Serena Williams in 1999! England had not won a major tennis Grand Slam event since the 1970s - but have one now! 18 years old and wonderfully talented - even allowing for the Wimbledon pressure moment. For a qualifier to win the lot is awesome. Think Boris Becker in the mid 1980s, but he was unseeded, not a qualifier!
9. EPL. Ronaldo two more goals, as if he has never been away. This bloke could just about be the best we've ever seen. Pele, Maradona, Messi...the lot. Both goals were a little soft, but he is always there! He has lifted the ManU crowd to great heights already. Some of the Ferguson spark has returned!
10. Wallabies v Springbox. Is Quayde Cooper the Shaun Marsh of Australian rugby? Every time I see Michael Hooper getting beaten up as skipper, I am sympathetic. There are some players there who were not the financiers, lawyers and accountants of yesteryear. A lot seem not to have the footy smarts that once existed in rugby.
11. Justin Langer. How long does this charade continue? Poor old Justin is a dead man walking... Steve Waugh or Rick Ponting just would not allow the self centred player nonsense. Every era is slacker and different to the previous, who they judge harsher than their own.
12. Adam Scott. Two off the pace in the BMW Championship, but barely a star in sight. Now or never.
13. Riccardo. How long between F1 wins? Not confident of it being broken any time soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment