1. NRL - Victor Radley. A great team mate to have a beer with and play footy with, but at the highest level he is a risk. Ill discipline. It is hard to think of someone recently more ill disciplined... beyond Felise Kafusi. He may be seen as a victim of referees, but he does himself no favours and needs to mature. He has really brought ill discipline to the pack that the Ricketson-Cordner era did not. The younger players need to learn more from the experienced players...good habits. If the Roosters can sneak into the eight, they will still be staggeringly dangerous.
2. NRL. Slashing win by Parramatta over Souths - punctuated by the excellent work of Moses and the outside backs (!). Moses has been in some sort of form in 2023 - and Dylan Brown is aiming up now too.
As unexpected as the Roosters loss to St George. These games always bring out the best in both teams, but with sharper focus on player performance since coach Anthony Griffin pulled the pin, the uplift was welcomed. Zac Lomax has a lot of ability, but he has a fair bit of the goose to iron out in his game too.
The Tigers were immense. 66-18 is some sort of effort, especially after a 20-0 defeat last week. Finally their attack gelled. Has Doueihi been the problem? His lack of pace and passing game is a huge problem. The team have done really well after a terrible start. The Tigers have now beaten the Panthers, Dragons and the Cowboys. They have lost by six points of less FOUR times as well this year. Maybe this better result is not such a surprise.
Let the boring preparation, speculation and innuendo commence around State of Origin. Not sure the event always lives up to the unbelievable hype. The journalists love it however.
3. IPL Finals. That man Kohli belted a neat 100 in the decisive win for Royal Challengers Bangalore this week. The semis (only four teams) are now almost decided: Gujarat Titans (Matthew Wade), Chennai Super Kings (no Aussies), Lucknow Super Giants (Stoinis, Sams) and one further team to be determined. (Mumbai Indians- Rajathstan Royals or Royal Challengers Bangalore).
Let the Test cricket re-commence. The World Test Final championship and The Ashes. The English loss of Archer and Olly Stone (we are yet to see his magnificent speed) and possibly Ollie Robinson are good for Australia, but Broad and Anderson march on together... will it ever end? It seems like they have been around for most of our lives. Anderson made his Test debut in 2003 and Broad in 2007!
The IPL is hardly the best Test cricket preparation and in the world cricket calendar, it is a generous time window really. Warner batted well last IPL too and did poorly in the English Ashes series. He hit another 86 on the weekend (total IPL season runs are 516..the sixth highest for the IPL 2023). Warner is twelve runs behind Kohli.
Is the IPL concept fading...? Before Indian cricket officials look to take over the world, they also need to spread the Indian cricket talent worldwide to harness their 'brands' internationally. Most fans would not know who plays for what franchise.... nor do they care.
4. AFL. Port Power have stamped themselves as a real premiership threat, beating the Dees in a tight one for seven straight wins. A surprise packet. The Western Bulldogs have absolutely turned things around. The Swans? Oh my...almost a loss to North Melbourne. Go quietly lads...side door. How have the West Coast become such a basket case? Thumped badly. GWS meanwhile stumble along - one win/ one loss/ one win...
5. NBA. Both the LA Lakers (0-3) and Boston Celtics (0-2) are under immense pressure in their respective Eastern and Western Conference play. Miami Heat looked particularly sharp and will be hard to beat. The Celtics have squandered big leads in both games. The unfortunately named, Denver Nuggets, surge on too v LA... some major surgery to turn these results around is now needed. The Nuggets have never been in a NBA championship decider.
6. NHL. The power of the Florida Panthers rolls on, up 2-0 v the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final. The Las Vegas Golden Knights lead the Dallas Stars 1-0 in the Western Conference Final. These are intense, physical and supreme athletic events. Amazing that teams from the hotter areas excel so much in a game played on ice!
It reminds me of that Seinfeld skit that no one knows the players and the players have no loyalty to the town or the team...it is just a contest of jersey colours!
7. EPL Relegation. Two of Everton, Leeds and Leicester will join Southampton in the lower tier next season. Incredible how the mighty fall.
8. A-League. The Central Coast Mariners are into the GF - with Melbourne City. An incredible effort from a minnow, even this mariner outfit would not look at. Speaking of 'City', Manchester City are now in the FA Cup final v ManU, the Champions League Final v Inter Milan (soon) and have just been awarded the 2022-2023 EPL Championship, after Arsenal inexplicably had yet another loss. Erling Haaland rattles along and keeps scoring goals.
8. Waratahs. A predictable win v Fiji, but still a gap to the top four. A brighter season 2023 however and semi final bound. Talk of resting players v the Crusaders is a concern. This never works out well. It would be just about now that the Crusaders are tuning up for yet another premiership victory and break dance.
Since 1996 in 25 years of competition, the Crusaders have made 15 finals and won 11 of them! (The Brumbies have made six finals and won two. The Waratahs have made three finals winning just the one in 2014 with that famous long range kick on the siren).
9. US PGA Championship. Possibly the poorest of the four cousins in the majors, but our old mate, Brooks Koepka just seems to keep producing the goods in golf majors. What about his Majors record: out of 35 appearances in the four majors since he started in 2012, he has finished in the top ten THIRTEEN TIMES, the top twenty THREE times and won FOUR Major tournaments. TEN so-so outings on top of that lot, and he has only missed the cut FIVE times. A high strike rate.
A win here takes him to five Majors (equalling Seve, Peter Thomson and Byron Nelson). This would equal the fifteenth best ever in golf.
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