1. NRL. Two coaches gone in a week (Brown and Maguire), added to Trent Barrett's early exit at the Bulldogs. We are certainly becoming like the EPL now! You have to admire those who have been in the top positions for a long time (Bennett, Bellamy, Hasler, Arthur, Stuart, Cleary. It is not everyone's cup of tea. Justin Holbrook (Titans) and Adam O'Brien (Knights) are not far away from the exit door either.
The Warriors, Knights and Tigers are all terrible and getting worse. The Naden tackle is one of the worst we've seen for a while. Terrible ill discipline, but right at home in the Tigers set up. They need a shredding of such players to improve.
It may need to be said however, that not every team can win the comp each year either.
Roosters look reasonable but keep losing. They are in a bit of strife, but also seem to play top teams every week. The draw is a woeful advantage or disadvantage, depending which team you are.
2. State of Origin - Game 1. Interesting to see how bad Cleary's kicking game was last Wednesday night. We have called for it for a long time, but the NFL protection of their kickers (legs attacked, etc) is surely a step forward in the game as is a rule to protect the player who is actually catching the ball. This is not good enough. Nor was Cleary.
NSW were a tad unlucky. Disallowed tries and a dodgy forward pass for the Cobbo/ Gagai try, but Ashley Klein knows that if he punishes Queensland too much he does not get another gig. How did he get the game by the way? Gerard Sutton or young Grant Atkins are clearly the best referees in the comp. Klein loses control and respect in nearly every game and loves a 'square up' penalty or two to keep his nose dry.
Gagai comes to life in Origin, frustrating Knights fans, but Cotter and Carrigan were superb. Munster could not do a thing wrong and was everywhere. NSW were outplayed. Junior Paulo needed to fall over when held in that scrum as well. The bunker loves to overrule tries.
NSW changes? Matterson needs to be sacked and should not have been there. NSW need speed as well. Tupou out - Fox in. Crichton needs to start too (Staggs out?) as he is not a bench player at all. Sims is not the answer either. Their defence was mild. A jumbled mess where they changed the winning formula unnecessarily (Fox and Jake Turbo). Mitchell and Tommy Turbo were a huge loss, but there was no Ponga last year either. He is a gun.
3. AFL - Bailey Smith from the Western Bulldogs is a superb talent, but arrogance needs to be ironed out. Mystery bags of substances, head butting opponents... he needs to chill - and get a haircut. Cleaning up his act on a few levels might help. He needs to get out of the front passenger seat of the Bon Jovi Maccas advertisements too.
4. NBA Finals. 2-2 and going down to the wire with Golden State v the Boston Celtics. Intriguing how a best of seven series can see saw so much with home and away fixtures adding to this tension too.
5. Australia v Sri Lanka. The T20 series has been run and won 2-1 by Australia. Wade did well again and Warner. Finch not disgraced which was a shock based on his miserable IPL form. The last T20 loss was terrible. Sri Lanka needed 59 off 3 overs and got it!
6. England v NZ Test Series. England dropped five catches on Day 1 which killed them. Again, Daryl Mitchell was the star for NZ (190) and their keeper batsmen still keep producing (106). A country that small keeps producing keeper batsmen who do the business in test cricket (Brendan McCullum - 12 tons, Adam Parore - 2 tons and Tom Blundell - 3 tons). Of course James Anderson took 3/62 off 27 overs. Superb. A first innings by NZ of over 500 runs will test England's batting.
7. The Greg Norman LIV Golf Series. The dirty money behind this has been a controversy and Greg Norman's idiotic outbursts too. But many do not know that 'LIV' stands for the roman numerals of '54'...as in 54 holes with a shotgun start (simultaneous starts around the different holes to make for faster play that unfolds simultaneously). With 17 top flight PGA golfers signed up, money clearly talks. The players have been banned from the PGA Tour tournaments but may yet play in the four majors which are not controlled by the PGA. Interesting times for the establishment. Not sure of why golf tournaments like this attract Saudi money... it is not televised in the US at all.
7. F1 - Australians. Behind the great Sir Jack Brabham, Alan Jones sit Mark Webber whose record eclipses Daniel Riccardo. Daniel is clearly the best looking and most popular in the media, but his record is moderate only. His hype and attention is the best ever. Can he improve on his 11 F1 Driver's Championship points this season (11th place)? The leader is Max Verstappen on 125 points! Off the pace.
8. The Socceroos play Peru on Tuesday 14 June at 4.00am at the famous Al Rayyan Stadium in Doha, Qatar. Win and make the World Cup. Lose and provide some sad photos for history!
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