The Wrap - Making an Ash of It

1. Manly Mess. What a schemozzle the once great Manly club oversaw this week. How on the cusp of the finals the club and all associated with it can allow that to happen is beyond many. They are now on the edge of not playing finals and firmly in the media spotlight worldwide.

Once upon a time Manly did not have a direct link with Blacktown Workers. They do now and have a direct line to some of the best Pacific Islander talent in western Sydney. A strange partnership, but highly effective. Do they have a Pasifka community leader and liaison person? Equally, is this pride round (like AFL), because it seems like it was supposed to be 'Women In League' Round. Has someone got their calendar wrong or are there too many rounds - superheros, magic rounds, bye rounds...? 

Fittler's comments about greedy clubs and greedy jersey sales is valid too. The NRL and clubs seem so determined to have so many event weekends and money grabs (betting company sponsors, alcohol... they'd still have cigarettes there probably if this were allowed).

The bottom line is include all and don't vilify or victimise others through poor communication, poor planning and poor judgement. Set an example, include and respect. Simple for all of us.

2. Alex Johnston. Another game, another try. Into the top ten ever now...and still 27 years old. One of the greatest wingers ever.

3. Strange NRL Events. Many odd things this weekend: Cleary sent off with a really dangerous tackle (five weeks was deserved, let's be frank) and the Eels crush them again; a Tom Burgess' last minute silly coat hanger and subsequent loss (silly work and Latrell's field goal kicks need practice with 0/3) and the Tigers win in Brisbane with Luke Brooks finally moved aside with injury to give others a chance. Jocket rocket. The predictability was removed... and a win resulted. That hip drop on Hastings was dreadful, however unintentional. 

One great thing about the new six again rule is the reduction in wrestling at the ruck. A cleaner, faster game is with us now.

What about this Jeremiah Nanai? A supreme talent. The Cowboys are sitting outright second now, but should not have the points from last week's Ashley Klein fiasco. The Bulldogs are surging at the right time. So too are the Raiders.

At risk? Justin Holbrook and Adam O'Brien. Both look like they have lost the dressing room. Ill discipline (vaping last week by Proctor) is a sure sign. So too is the woeful Newcastle defence. Klemmer, Frizzell, the Saufiti brothers, Bradman Best, Ponga all have talent, but nothing looks smooth. This experiment with Anthony Milford and Jake Clifford has been a costly dud. Tex Hoy is on the move when they could have trusted him more. Newcastle locals are far from happy.

4. Melbourne Storm. The NRL are kidding...No draft and trade windows like Bunnings. Why 1 August? So you can pressure and push players from non-semi final bound clubs into a powerhouse? The Storm seemed to be trying to recruit everyone... and guess what? The Sydney clubs largely have had enough. 

Here's a great idea... let's send our players to another club to help it win a comp when our year is washed up? Outrageous. It should be banned. The solution is called recruitment and 'growing local product'. Get ready like clubs before you have had to. The Roosters last year had a plethora of retirements, injuries, illnesses, etc, but I didn't once see them wanting to offer players a chance to win a comp with them. Not good for jersey integrity or sales either.

5. Ash Hash. A one one week ban for Ashley Klein? Should have been referred straight to the judiciary for bringing the game into massive disrepute. He will no doubt be back next week weaving his magic again. Back to NSW Cup for a reality check and ego control first perhaps?

6. Commonwealth Games. Are they fading? We love them because we win everything, but well done to the athletes who train so hard. Not sure how TV ratings sit here, but these games have become an experimental trial for greater things. Emma McKeon is such an outstanding talent. Fit! 10 Commonwealth Games gold medals - up there with O'Neill, Jones and Thorpe. Incredible and possibly the GOAT.

7.  AFL. The Western Bulldogs have come surging back in the past two weeks, but not enough to beat Geelong who are holding strong at present. Their usual wilting efforts have not arrived. Hoping for their sakes that it does not appear in September. The timing of the mid season re-load is incredibly important for clubs as they prime up pre-season, taper and now re-load. The Swans have done it, Brisbane are doing it and so have Melbourne... the last month or so of the comp sees it needing to step up now - or miss out.

The Swans crushed GWS who appear to have packed up and are sulking. They need a culture sweep there for mine. St Kilda bounced back and Melbourne are so good to watch when running the ball. Collingwood and Carlton are excitement machines this year. Gold Coast, St Kilda and Richmond are hanging in there. Richmond's defeat of Brisbane was exceptional. Richmond have led in the final quarter of  something like 17 of their 19 games in 2022...yet sit mid table, two points outside the eight.

8. Cricket. Some interest and intrigue around the new BBL Draft this year. Hopefully they show the NRL how to make money out of it - and generate fan interest. If Warner does not play in it, it will again be seen as second rate. The TV rights owners have every right to blow up over the depth and quality...and the refusal to include Steve Smith (typical cricket politics) last year. 

Surely an unregistered player can't see you stripped of a comp?

9. Ash Barty - Married. Talk about someone with her priorities right. Courageous. Legend of Australian sport.

The Wrap - Clown Town

1. Ashley Klein. Ashley has certainly had a year out this year. He inexplicably leaped into the Origin frame as referee when two or three others were better (eg. Atkins). Now as video referee he loves to have influence over the game and defy commonsense to make a 'get square' call...too often. The final moments of the Tigers v Cowboys were farcical. He should be dropped for the remainder of the 2022 season. Awful call. Embarrassing to be honest.

2. Storm. You must admire Bellamy's honesty. He doesn't think the Storm can turn it around and they have four losses in a row - rare!

3. Brad Arthur. Well, well, well...his management team have sounded out the Bulldogs from media reports. It could well be time to move on. Fittler or Slater/ Cameron Smith are the two options.

4. Alex Johnston. What a try scoring machine he is... He only needs 55 more from his current number (157) to take over Ken Irvine and he is not 30 years old yet. That would be three seasons or so max. He could well be the best ever. Eight tries this season and he leaps Terry Lamb into sixth spot (164).

5. AFL. Melbourne are in need of some serious surgery. They have lost some unforgivable ones lately. The Western Bulldogs though are on the surge! Geelong showed a bit of unexpected strength, but Carlton continue to be amazing...and Collingwood! The Freo-Richmond draw was sensational!

Lots of tight games this weekend just gone, making tense and enthralling action the norm.

5. World Athletics Championships (Omaha). Top work by our women's javelin star Kelsey-Lee Barber (66.91) and the women's high jump winner: Elanor Patterson (2.02). Young Bol ran seventh in the men's 800m final, which is an absolutely elite class.

6. Commonwealth Games (Birmingham). We love these games, because we clean up! It is a nice warm up event for Paris Olympics 2024. Get ready for the media hype. I see Keiran Perkins is there... he has been in a useful paddock. One of the legends.

7. Ronaldo. He wants out from ManU but the suitors are not coming knocking! Interesting dilemma when age catches up with talent and ego.

9. Concussions. At some stage all codes - Rugby League, Rugby Union and AFL are going to face the courts and massive pay outs. Some players - Luke Keary, Kaylen Ponga to name two - could well walk away after making big money. It is a sad and disturbing future ahead for many who have experienced this.

10. Cameron Smith. Love him or LIV him, he did really well to win the British Open. Some sort of achievement after the disappointment of The Masters for him.

The Wrap - "Weekus Horribilis" - Come Here And Say It!

1. Weekus Horribilis. A horrific week for Australian sport. Kgyrios loses. Sri Lanka dominate us in the cricket (winning the ODI series and equalling another illogical two Test series...), a loss the the Wallabies and Cameron Smith on top after two rounds before shaking a little in the third round and giving other blokes the jump. Rory rarely needs such an invitation.

2. Australian Cricket. Woeful on turning decks yet again and a worrying start really to the reign of coach Ronnie McDonald. When a team collapses like that, there are big worries. Not a cross word, a top bloke and he lets the players do as they please... yet the results are abysmal really against a team struggling in all three forms. He is on notice. Our batting is wobbly too. Travis Head and Cameron LBW Green need to get to the nets... and Warner needs to start moving his feet again.

3. Australian Rugby. A steady effort and reasonable moments. A big SCG crowd with high hopes. Too many errors. Too many stoppages and the team's attack continues to be ordinary. So easy to defend against as they just spin it wide with no variation. Hard to believe that their attack has not been better coached. Again the pedantic international referee interferes with the game. No doubt that he'll be promoted by the useless rugby administrators. Not sure I would have climbed on top of the Bill O'Reilly Stand to watch it. 

Eddie Jones looked a little cranky post match too. A traitor? Does that really get him fired up? He just won the series! Hard to believe you have that reaction as then say "Come here and say it...". 

It is an old playground challenge. Up there with "you and whose army?"... "you're not the boss of me..."..."arse wipe"..."shit for brains..."

4. Irish Rugby. The Irish have shown us how it is done. How long has it been since Australia ever did that to the All Blacks? An amazing win. Entertaining too!

5. Cameron Smith. A few hippie hippie shakes, but the winds have never really blown up and we've been spared the foggy cold weather either. Smith's putter was hot early on, but Rory McIlroy is amazing. Hopefully Smith can make a charge later tonight our time. Adam Scott, Minjee and Herbert are doing well.

6. British Open. The media are really antsie about being called on their hype re the LIV golfers. Westwood and Mickelson on the attack. The tide is turning suddenly. Greg Norman has gone to ground and the players are getting on with the lucrative business. 

The decision to omit Norman from the 150th dinner was ridiculous. They had players there, some wearing hats supporting the LIV tour... and banned Norman. Maybe it was the dress code. Blue shorts could not be worn.

Rory is poised to take his majors tally to 5 wins with Seve, Byron Nelson (he was a classic) and Australia's Peter Thomson, passing Ernie Els. A few more wins puts him up with the greatest ever.

7. Ryan Papenhuyzen. Extremely unlucky with injuries and out again for some time now. Sad, but true.

8. State of Origin. Clearly a few NSW players will not be back ever again... Daniel Tupou, Talakai, Angus Crichton, Stephen Crichton, Damien Cook... How you could let Latrell tell you who to select and who not to and omit Jack Wighton the MOTM from Game One. The Campbell Regan-Gillard nonsense also plagued the preparation.

The poor decision-making by so many of the Penrith players when under pressure would not have been lost on the NRL coaches around the grounds. Pressure Cleary's kick and he goes off his game... Luai, To'o and Crichton made some woeful errors. Talakai too. Interesting. Payne Haas was a huge loss.

On the other hand Queensland were amazing. Cherry-Evans was the best player on the ground again. Such intensity and focus from their team. Billy Slater should be signed up as a NRL coach.

Speaking of which, Tim Sheens as the Tigers coach? Please... Benji? Does he have a Level 2 Coaching Certificate?

9. Nick Kygrios. Not much hoopla and soundly beaten. A career high and talent to burn. A retirement would not surprise.

The Wrap - Staying in Good Nick

1. Rugby is like Nick Kyrgios. You want to believe it will get better. You pin your hopes on history and that this little slice of history might just be different. This game, this ref/umpire, this moment...You see talent and potential, but you often leave disappointed. Frustrated about the officiating, the playing talent... and then it doesn't matter at all. No one really cares in the bigger scheme of things.

2. Wallabies. I wonder whether we have evolved our style enough as a team over the years? The team seems to lack character and profile, yet there are some tough hombres there. The attack though is weak. Michael Hooper worries me...not for his talent, but for his future. He is battered, yet an amazing leader.

Top win by Ireland over the All Blacks and for the Wales victory in South Africa too.

3. Mitchell Moses. He dominated the Tigers on Saturday night and he is a great goal kicker. One of the best ever perhaps. He has a million try assists, but his leadership seems to be the kryptonite - especially in tough games and tough moments. He is getting a little too old now if he can't master this. I wonder whether he speaks to the Cooper Cronks of the world?

He has so much ability and his defence has improved a lot. The Tigers are even more frustrating, but the ability of Parramatta to give a team an easy lead and then clock off later and allow cheap points, is striking. There is a toughness and mentality deficiency and I fear Dylan Brown is not being allowed to express himself either. I saw Jake Arthur on the bench again on Saturday night... for how long?

4. Tigers. It is hard to see what the Adam Doueihi hype is about. He is no saviour. Too slow. Wayne Bennett moved him on and he has a lot to say about where he will play and where he will not at the Tigers. Too much talking. Brooks is up to it too. They need to clean out a lot of those guys and move differently. Can it get any worse? They have gone worse since the departure of Michael Maguire. 

Maybe they could stick to the traditions of the failed join venture and wear more Magpies colours occasionally. All the ideas folk may like a 'Back to Lidcombe' day? The bike track is still in good nick.

5. Anthony Milford. Hard to believe there are two clubs wanting Milford's signature. He is a lucky man for someone so talented, but so inconsistent.

The Broncos look sharp and so many young players. However, you really can't work out how a club like the Warriors can dictate where a player like Reece Walsh goes. How much of a stitch up is that? The absence of a transfer market is a joke. The absence of a rookie draft too. And the absence of an 'All Australian' team too. The Broncos are getting a sombrero with the salary cap too.

6. State of Origin. The disruption to weekly games is holding the game back. Is the reward of one State of Origin game enough? Sunday Origin games are much better for everyone. Good to see Chad Robinson there in the NSW team after all the critics (!) thought he was a dud signing. The COVID omissions have leveled it all up with Munster out. 

Campbell-Gillard must have done something bad in camp...dirty room, too much buffet...I suspect the Gould influence from Penrith with Fittler has played a part and not the Penrith players. It either represents a terrible misjudgment in selecting him for Game One or a snubbing the worst we have seen since Aaron Raper did not get on the field all those years ago when Tommy forgot about him.

Is there scope for a mid week comp...even if it is NSW Cup with ten top 30 players in it from each side as well? The Leichhardt Oval tradition from yesteryear was a mighty tradition. 

7. AFL. The work of the Fremantle Dockers gets better and better. The Western Bulldogs with injuries were woeful and could well be finished for the finals... although that has been said before and they have made a late run for glory. Bontempelli's form is dismal at present. Collingwood almost fell over v North, but the Gold Coast win v Richmond was superb. Maybe the Gold Coast has turned a corner. Port power on too. Hawthorn look strong and Carlton too.

8. Wimbledon. Rafa Nadal is an amazing athlete. He knows that if he plays and beats Krygios, he will not be able to compete against Djokovic and would make the whole tournament look bad by withdrawing then. Instead he bails out early due to the abdominal strain. Selfless. 

Djokovic will nail Krygios in straight sets taking his record to 21 Grand Slam titles (behind Nadal's 22 titles). The interesting thing here is there are no ATP world ranking points in this tournament without the Russian players. Unlucky Nick.

Great win by Purcell and Ebden in the men's doubles. Amazing how these experts don't even attempt to play singles any more. Lots of steel to come back from two sets to zip down!

Superb win by Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan's as their first ever women's singles winner.

9. Cricket v Sri Lanka. Marnus needs to master the concentration build big tons. He has an emerging trend recently... low scoring tons. A good problem. Australia will be hoping that the winning record his tons bring, continues with his latest ton (104) v Sri Lanka. He now reaches seven tons (same as Ponsford and Woodful) and is one short of Yallop and Redpath. 

Australian bowling is again being found out under pressure. We really struggle to get a break through at times. A good nick is hard to find.

85	Pakistan	The Gabba, Brisbane	21 November 2019	Australia won
2	162	Pakistan	Adelaide Oval	29 November 2019	Australia won
3	143	New Zealand	Perth Stadium,	12 December 2019	Australia won
4	215	New Zealand	Sydney Cricket Ground	3 January 2020	Australia won
5	108	India	The Gabba, Brisbane	15 January 2021	Australia lost
6	103	England	Adelaide Oval	16 December 2021	Australia won

The Wrap - Kubler Can

1. NRL. Melbourne Storm are starting to shake. Roosters too. Is it just me, or why do the Roosters play semi finalists every week and other clubs get soft draws? Staggering. (Penrith, Parramatta, Cowboys, Storm, Manly...). I guess they can't win everything forever. 

Parramatta keep up their 52% win-loss ratio. One week brilliant...one week terrible. Not so sure Brad Arthur has answers. They simply cannot win in wet weather as they have no speed in their play. Their recruitment is terrible. No surprise to see Alex Johnston, who has speed, blitz them. Brad Arthur could be in a bit of trouble. Almost ten years in charge...not a lot to show, but an Auckland Nines trophy in 2016 is cherished. Shame about that Amco/Tooths/National Panasonic midweek cup disappearing.

2. AFL. The Swans have hit rock bottom. They are a 'win one week, lose the next' team as well. Callam Mills was very quiet and the disruption to usual rhythms and positions is hurting them. Liking what we are seeing from Melbourne, Geelong, Collingwood, St Kilda, and Carlton. The Victorian teams are dominating the top eight.

Plenty of sensible ball movement from them is killing teams. Not sure if Freo are the dark horse. Brisbane have the hippy hippy shakes. The Western Bulldogs take on the Swans this week... a crunch game for both. The Western Bulldogs can still win the flag.

I noticed the AFL have announced Robbie Williams for the Grand Final entertainment. The NRL should be announcing Dexy's Midnight Runners any day now.

3. Jason Kubler. An Australian tennis player into the round of 16 (with Alex de Minaur it must be said) who used to be the world number one junior. No one has heard about him... six knee surgeries later and he is on fire at the age of 29! He could stun a few more yet, but what an amazing story of a guy who could have been anything, but is still making a dent on the big stage. Hopefully more great stories abound here. A few Australian quarter finalists would be a little unique!

4. Nick Kygrios. An amazing talent, but he can certainly attract some controversy. His behaviour is poor and churlish a lot of the time. We would like to think he is misunderstood, but he seems to get the media ruffled and angst-ridden - and his opponents. Lots of accusations of extreme bias against him at Wimbledon...outside courts, racism, bad BBC commentators and poor behaviour. Stefanos Tsitsipas was hitting balls deliberately at Kygrios which is sort of staggering. He has talent, but appears to be a perennial bridesmaid or flower holder of Grand Slams, not ever disciplined enough to win one. The Poo had a better record. 

The most staggering thing of all though is none other than John McEnroe, who has been criticising him for his disrespect and behaviour! John, you were the worst and created a generation of brats... until Federer and Nadal restored sanity. 

Meanwhile Nadal and Djokovic march on. No one notices them much until yet another semi final or final!

5. Wallabies. A real statement against a genuine opponent in England. Did their best to throw it away at the end, but it has been a while since we have savoured a sweeter victory. Make no mistake, NZ are still unstoppable. How good are the Crusaders? That team are one of the most dominant teams in world sport... six Super Rugby comps in a row since 2017. Incredible.

6. Test Cricket - Australia v Sri Lanka. Travis Head on fire turning the ball a mile. No wonder Murali got so many wickets... it sort of makes Nathan Lyon a more special case with so many unfriendly Australian wickets for spinners these days. Usman was solid, but typical poor running between the wickets. Greene, who is the new Shane Watson for LBW, can play too. 

In taking 9 wickets Lyon (436) passes Kapil Dev (434) and sits in the top ten test wicket takers of all time, three wickets behind Dale Steyn (439) and six behind Ravi Ashwin (442) who comes in and out of the Indian test team with Ravi Jadeja so talented. Courtney Walsh at 519 test wickets gets Lyon into the top 5 ever to have played the game. An awesome achievement even if they are taken at 31 runs a piece.

7. Test Cricket - England v India. Pant brained them after yet another masterclass by Jimmy Anderson (5/60). Anderson is now on 656 wickets, still behind Shane Warne on 708, but third most ever. England are in trouble and their bubble has burst against tighter bowling from India. Bumrah is an awesome bowler. The dismal form of Kohli continues. He has not scored a ton for a long while.

8. Latrell Mitchell. Interesting words re State of Origin availability. It would be hard to drop players for him, but I can see Crichton being dropped for him. Anyhow, lots more media to come here. Yet another 1-1 series going into the final game decider.