The Wrap - The Great White Goldfish Dead In The Water

1. Greg Norman. The Great White Goldfish. Greg continues to make his post golf life one drama after another. Does he know Jana? His headlining of the Saudi Cash Golf Tour was flawed. technically a player might play wherever, but in going head to head with the PGA, presumably without doing it well behind closed doors, Greg now looks a little lonely. Helped a little and then ruined by Phil Michelson, who struggles for peer cred at the best of times. There was no shortage of boots in the guts for lumbering Phil from journalists, ex players and other golf types who saw him looking lame.

Between nude shoots, gym photos, odd beach photos, big corporate announcements and a return to Australia, Greg is starting to see that when - as happens in a number of sports where it is all about the individual - you can quickly become arrogant, self centred and not connected to others with sincerity and grace, life can be tough. A great golfer, but not such a great stretch in retirement. This could be an awful rusty nail in his reputation, especially in the US.

The US big business who trade and interact with the Saudis of course have become a bit quiet as the players have fallen into line. The PGA is now in a dangerous position. They have flexed their muscles and won... players are petrified and sadly may be down to their last billion each very soon. Weep, sob...

2. Ukraine v Russia. Arrogance and trouble, death and destruction. Russia have deservedly lost their F1 GP and should be isolated and frozen out of every world sport, including every Olympics upcoming (no lame derivative country names either for drug cheats). It will be interesting to see if their tennis players for example are even admitted into tournaments. Sad, but true. The world cannot tolerate this. I noticed the long time owner of Chelsea FC, Roman Abramovich has retreated as his good mate Putin plays games. Putin was another one for the strange half nude photo on horses and the like. Maybe Greg Norman can resolve that conflict on the world stage for us all instead?

3. Premiership - Parramatta. Call it off. The February Premiers are Parramatta. 36-0 v the Panthers. Sadly they are no chance now that Haze Dumpster is out for the season. St George look a little more lively early too...

4. Kevin Walters. He is my tip to be the first NRL coach sacked, especially now that the "Brad Arthur Curse" has arrived. Chris Anderson played his son Ben, Brad is playing Jacob and now Kevvie is playing Billy. Other players respect Nathan-Ivan Cleary and Martin-John Lang, but if they are fringe and getting the nod, it can destabilise big time. Kevin used to smile and enjoy life. He looks petrified - even in the trials. I am worried for his health. He once owned a sense of humour.

5. Alex Zverev. This bloke is a real problem for world tennis. Fined and banned for hitting the umpire's chair in mexico. He faces DV allegations and he is a great talent under cooked. Like the new generation of tennis players... loud mouths, big on social media, but little grace and honour for the game. He has not beaten a top ten player at a Grand Slam. Time is ticking.

Meanwhile, Nadal wins the tournament for a 3-0 tournament victory strike rate for 2022. Undefeated!

6. Paul Gallen. Can there be a Sunday paper without another new opponent for Paul Gallen to fight? Honestly, tiresome news. Paul was a great footballer and successful in the ring...but retire please and spare us the hype. Memo to self: SBW will not fight you.

7. MLB Lockout. The owners v players. Gotta love this sort of stoush. The fans are ripped off as always, but the conditions and pay for those players outside the top 40 is truly appalling. Multi-million dollar contracts are rare and for the absolute elite.

8. EPL. Manchester City are stopping for no one, not even a blip last week. Lucky late penalty v Everton, who are rushing to the relegation dustbin sadly.

9. Pakistan Cricket Tour. Why is it when you think of Pakistan, an image of the glinting rat cunning of Salim Malik comes to mind? I am certain they have better icons than the disgraced former captain. Their impressive batting will be hard to handle. Their pace bowling surprises too. Our batsmen are about to find out what it takes on the world stage to be the best.

The Wrap - Centres of Un-Excellence

1. NRL Trials. Interested to see some footage over the weekend on Fox sports. It has been quite a while since any of us have seen trials televised. Such has been the miserable cricket season.

Enjoyed seeing Latrell's brother Shaquai carve it! I am troubled re the life of Kevin Walters as a coach. He is so intense, so wanting improvement. Many are seeing similar player attitudes to 2021.

The Tigers continue to disappoint. Hopefully Michael Maguire will have more than five weeks. If no success, predicting Benji Marshall will step in as an interim step and then takeover. I think the Tigers may have the Roosters this week and Melbourne Week 1 of the comp. Tough start. They have players out injured and new ones arrived but it seemed a familiar tune was playing. James Tamou is then in the press speaking like they do not know or have not confirmed the skipper for the new 2022 season.  It sounds like a complete schemozzle.

2. T20. Can someone ask Aaron Finch to concentrate on scoring runs and keeping his position in the team viable. It may allow him to forget about selecting coaches for a future which it increasingly appears may not include him. Josh Inglis has been strong. Ben McDermott had a golden chance squandered. Stoinis is so talented and Wade is a terrier in that middle order. A winner.

3. Parramatta. The option to stay being taken up by Dylan Brown is huge for the Eels. This kid could be one of the greatest players since Kenny in the blue and gold #6. If they could just shuffle Moses out of the way, they would be right. Apparently they also renewed the contracts of Rodwell, Greig, Ogden and Makatoa. Clearly a comp is just around the corner.

4. Indian Cricket. Talk about an embarrassment of riches. Rohit Sharma is next Test captain following Kohli's sidestep. Not sure Rohit has the Test stability required. A genius and a talent, but composure in Test cricket? I would have thought Rahane was the man who did such a great job in Australia last summer.

5. Sheffield Shield. Hardly a batsman in sight in this next layer of Australian cricket. Nic Maddinson? Peter Handscomb? Jason Sangha? We have problems ahead in the batting stakes if there is no change here.

6. EPL. Liverpool slip to 6 points behind Man City with a game in hand and have been handed an unlikely lifeline. The relegation is hotting up: Norwich and Burnley (17 points each) have Watford (18) and Newcastle-Everton (22) and Leeds (23) nearby. A few intriguing battles ahead as games played evens up. An Everton relegation would rock the EPL world to the core!

7. Western Sydney Wanderers. They punt their coach (required) but they don't seem to be making a jot of difference anywhere. They have so many centres of excellence it is ridiculous, but little true excellence on the pitch ...for some years now. Hopefully they don't get the spoon this year.

8. Nature Strip. Poor start, but such a champion. Home Affairs superb of course in winning, but what about William Pike arriving in Sydney town? Lots of super jockeys there at present. Anamoe was strong in the last 100m which is a sign of an excellent horse. More cash and glory ahead there.

The Wrap - Waste Management (of talent, potential and tournaments)

1. The IPL Cricket Auction. Riveting viewing when Indian people with too much money bid ridiculous amounts for cricketers when half their country is starving. Half their luck, with lots of Aussies being made very wealthy people through this (Marsh, Richardson, Warner, Hazelwood). Is this as a massive contradiction in values for a country like this?

One hint of justice was that Aaron Finch was not picked up by anyone in the IPL auction. He should be shown the door as Australia's T20 captain too, despite beating the might of Sri Lanka.

2. NRL Indigenous v Maori Rep Teams. Great to see the spirit, friendship and teamwork. Lots of skills, but a lot of First Grade coaches must have felt sick seeing this before the season kicks off. So much at stake for teams with injuries now. It can derail a post season before the actual season has commenced.

3. Phoenix (Waste Management) Golf Open. Better golf than the tournament name. Koepka and Schauffele are two familiar names at the top of the leader board. Love that 16th hole and the atmosphere. Surely that is the future of golf, even if an occasional shower of beer bottles and cans occurs when a hole in one results.

4. NSW Waratahs. A successful pre-season may herald a little more skill and resistance in 2022. They could hardly get any worse.

5. Ben Simmons. Traded to the Brooklyn Nets finally after a long sulk, but he has a lot to prove now. Is he as self centred as he continually looks, or will he be a team man? He has oodles of talent, but needs to get over himself first. The talents of Josh Giddey continue to sizzle. He is in Le Bron territory with the numbers he continues to put up as a first year talent at age 19. Incredible really. 

6. Superbowl Rams v Bengals. Don't overthink it! It is all in check - Rams to win (but back the Bengals!). Such a big event and so entertaining. The day that stops the USA nation!

7. Winter Olympics. Great courage demonstrated, but how serious do we get here? Most of the Australian team live abroad and barring another Bradbury (which we loved and still do), the lessons and learning will run deep in time.

8. Socceroos. Graham Arnold faces an incredible task to qualify for the World Cup. The campaign could all be near enough to over at the end of next week. Hopefully not and we can shine again in one of the toughest tournaments on earth! Guuuus Hiddinck should be re-instated as manager early this week!

The Wrap - Langer Coathanger

1. Langer Fiasco. The recent plan by ex-players (Ponting, Johnson, Waugh, Gilchrist et al) and mates to retain Langer has now come unstuck. Shane Warne has been very quiet which is unusual.

Tough granted recent records, but the longer form results have not been glamourous (think India series loss at home last summer). Undone by precious players who objected to his harder line, but undone by some joke players too, including Aaron Finch who struggles to hit the ball off the square for the Melbourne Renegades most weeks. Pat Cummins also deserves to come under fire, but there must have been some deep angst. Most troubling is the inept bowties and "buzz words" from Cricket Australia. Six month contracts... who does that? 

However, a strategically endorsed parting gift of the Hall of Fame to soften the fall. That award must have surely been the death knell... the pacifier, or so they thought.

Worst of all are those who may come next. Andrew McDonald famously struggled to keep his helmet on when debuting in Tests for Australia. However he has been around the Australian team for many years, so it should come as no surprise that he will slot in nicely.

2. NFL - Superbowl LVI. Tried hard to pick losers again, but we get to Rams v Bengals. Almost a perfect finals records of picking the loser. Surely the Rams win this. (Put money on the Bengals!).

3. 50 Year Old Surfer. An old dude called Kelly Slater who turns 50 next week won Pipeline on the weekend. Incredible....even if his career is almost done. You have to laugh at the fact he is an anti-vaxxer when the surfing tournament worldwide is renown for its funny weed and fizzy drinks.

4. Ange Postocoglou - Celtic. The Celtic Hoops nailed Rangers to go top of the comp. Incredible result with a fair few games to follow, but they are in the box seat now for the Scottish Premier League silverware.

5. Melbourne Storm. Suddenly, like every other club, their players are turning to cash... the Bromwich brothers and Kafusi all heading north to the Redcliffe Dolphins. No doubt Bellamy has ready made replacements for them. Interested to see another Arthur selected in the Parramatta Harold Matthews team on the weekend. Amazing the luck that family has at the selection table. I wonder if Moses falls mid season, whether we'll get a year of Jake Arthur running the show. Surely not at his level of inexperience.

6. Michael Hooper. A stunning fourth John Eales medal. An incredible servant and leader of Australian rugby.

7. Elise Perry. She absolutely storms back into form in the Womens ODI series v England this weekend. 3/12 and 40 with the bat. The best ever women's cricketer.

8. Rafael Nadal. The most ever Grand Slam tennis victories for a male player. A superb accomplishment from a real fighter and brilliant tactician on the circuit since 2005. Tremendous work ethic and a delight to watch across our life times. 13 French Opens will take some catching.