The Wrap - Comeback Kings

1. NRL Injuries. Injuries can throw your semi-final surge into turmoil. Jerome Luai out. Jerome Hughes, Kaylan Ponga and Reece Walsh? Joey Manu out. Then the hot heads...Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Latrell Mitchell and Jordan Rapana. These fellows can cost you at key moments. A tough business this coaching gig.

Ryan Papenhuyzen returning was a great moment as well. He is a rich talent and a Hills District lad who attended Oakhill College.

The Broncos are not invincible and so it seems Penrith are not either. A good win for the Broncos over Canberra. Ricky is a bad loser... swearing at cameramen and carrying on like a goose yet again in a press conference. This does nothing for your team.

How about Parramatta?  They will miss out on the eight by one or two points. Just about sums up the club and team...just not good enough! Never make a habit of losing close games.

The Knights keep marching on. Ponga is in Hayne Plane' type form! Adam O'Brien has done a cracking job after looking gone earlier in the season. Best comeback of the year. Coach Webster at the Warriors has been brilliant and is probably the coach of the year. Kevin Walters has been much better too...another comeback!

While Canberra are boring to watch and lack speed, they have only made the top eight four times in 10 years since 2013. They could be bounced out with their poor for and against yet. 

Two of Raiders, Roosters, Cowboys and Rabbits will be dropped out of the semi-finals. If the Roosters lose, they finish behind Parramatta (30 points guaranteed) on for and against!

2. AFL. Geelong have been an extreme disappointment. The Bulldogs were horrible early before finding form and steel on the weekend. No one more horrible than the Gold Coast Suns though who lost to North Melbourne.

A win by GWS v Carlton pushes the Western Bulldogs out of the eight.

Collingwood are still the best team going around. Brisbane struggle to be totally consistent and Melbourne are up and down. Swans played with sensational intensity v Melbourne but did their usual...fell over in the last quarter to Melbourne who are in a semi-final state of mind. Bailey Fritsch was outstanding. Collingwood v Melbourne will be a scintillating game...as will Brisbane v Port Adelaide!

There will be no comeback for Buddy Franklin. A retiring champion!

3. EPL. Tottenham 2 v Bournemouth 0. A bright start by Ange Postocoglou to find two wins out of two games. Little Luton Town are getting smacked weekly. They will get the spoon and disappear if they are not careful. It is only Round 3 too.

4. Basketball. The FIBA World Cup has gotten its timing correct and will become Australia's next team to support. A big win v Finland. Germany next. Then Japan. They will want to win their pool games to avoid a nasty match up too early.

5. Rugby Wallabies. Interesting to see the New Zealand All Blacks lose a lead up game to South Africa. The Australian team are young and inexperienced. They will need to lift v France at 1.45am Monday morning. Eddie Jones is looking at 0-5. Can Eddie launch a comeback of his own?

6. Spanish World Cup Winners - Womens World Cup. Awesome standard and awesome support. Lots of inspiration for a lot of young Australian players.

7. PGA Golf. Viktor Hovland wins the BMW Championship last week and is leading the Tour Championship by six shots. Another back to back winner looms! Tiger Woods has announced he is making a PGA comeback too!

The Wrap - REO Bandwagon and a Mathematical Chance in Hell

1. Matildas Bandwagon. We were all on it, admit it. Great to see the team excel and what an injection for the womens' game in Australia. They looked like they were on tired legs. Can anyone explain why we play once a week and you get to the finals and they play two games in a week? Most peculiar mama! Sam Kerr's goal against England was superb and she was unlucky not to double it close to the goalmouth soon after. The errors that even out the womens' game proved to be fatal as well.

England v Spain. Not many people care for the final result, but England do with a drought at World Cups stretching back to 1966.

2. NRL. Well there it was... semi-final football out the window for both the Parramatta and Manly sides. At least Manly have fought well these past weeks. Parramatta have given up. No pace and no mongrel. The lack of desire in that team is astounding. Coach Arthur needs to make some big changes... or he will be changed. Trent Barrett on the coaching staff has taken them to the space he knows well - no semi finals.

You have to laugh when a team has a "mathematical" chance of making the semi-finals. Usually a team that does not deserve to be involved in semi-final football.

Conversely, Cronulla have knuckled down and so have the Storm. Newcastle have also risen in recent weeks. Seven wins in a row! They can certainly draw a crowd when they are winning!

They deserve a position in the eight while the Bunnies have fallen in a complete heap! Their spare bye will be a great help. No one is near Penrith however... not even the Broncos. Cleary is rotating rested players too. They are toying with the opposition and will absolutely smash Parramatta this Thursday night.

Canberra have to be the most boring team in the top eight. Effective, but boring. Their biggest win this year has been by 12 points.

The spoon is safely with the Wests Tigers now. Their for/ against is woeful.

3. AFL. A Swans miracle in Adelaide, but with a bit of goal umpire help. How they have tried to lose games in the fourth quarter...! I suspect their pre-season torture sessions need to be greater. They run out of steam right when you can't afford to do so. They are again into the semi-finals after some great wins in recent weeks. Surely the Western Bulldogs needed to smash West Coast. They were panicking all day. Terrible. Geelong punted as well as Richmond who farewelled two champions in Reiwoldt and Cotchin.

The eight is pretty much finalised, but not the order. GWS and Western Bulldogs results will finalise it next week. Essendon have a remote mathematical chance if they win by 1,000 points.

Spoon to North Melbourne now too! West Coast showed plenty of ticker.

4. EPL. Tottenham beat ManU 2-0 which is a strong statement from Ange Postocoglou. A draw and a win against quality opposition is outstanding.

5. PGA Golf. How good is Lucas 'Neville' Glover going at the moment? Wins the Wyndham ($1.3 million) and then the St Jude ($3.6 million) in successive weeks. Tied 15th in the current BMW Championship. A big month with the bank manager! He was only the third player aged in his 40s to win back to back on the PGA Tour in the last 25 years. The other two?  Kenny Perry (2003) and Vijay Singh (three times...the last of which was 2008).

6. Marlon Samuels. Guilty of cricket corruption. Not a great tag on any sportsperson.

7. Wests Tigers. Coaches turning over like the Bosnjaks depot at Northmead. Benji is next. They need an overhaul and some smarts in play too. Luke Brooks won't miss this lot. Jake Arthur will be doing well to play ahead of Brooks and Cherry-Evans at Manly. 

8. Basketball (FIBA) World Cup. Starts this week on 25 August 2023 in the Philippines/ Indonesia/ Japan...an intriguing combination. The Boomers have plenty of talent. It will be interesting to see if they can replicate the success of our women in netball, football and cricket in their respective world cup journeys.

The Wrap - Mad Monday Lay By

1. Matildas. An amazing result to be World Cup semi finalists! It will probably not happen again in mens' or womens' soccer in our life times again! Womens soccer is very entertaining. Better than the men's really in many ways. More attack and while a few more errors, lots of skill and great opportunities late in the first half to Fowler and to Vine in the 105th minute. Sam Kerr has style, uses her body to manoeuvre incredibly and the defenders for Australia and their aerial work is first rate. Tall timber.

Penalty shoot outs are not great...but they are exciting nonetheless. Sam Kerr needed to take the second one to be up and stay in front. This could have cost us. The keeper, Mackenzie Arnold's shot was very bad in the circumstances. Pivotal off the bar...but she did save some incredible shots too. Nerves of steel. A great result. Cortnee Vine - remember the name!

Great to be able to play England again. All keepers have been instructed to stay behind the white line and not underarm the ball to anyone. There is a precedent!

2. NRL. Parramatta were absolutely smashed by the Broncos. Simply not good enough - or tough enough. They are without strike power and there is no one dangerous in their backline who can score points. No 'X Factor' either. The exact same with their womens team too! Parra need to get straight to the fancy dress shop for their Mad Monday nonsense costumes. Moses is also injured. Game over.

The Sharks have bounced back and Souths (with a bye in hand) have a decent win and position now too.

How good is Ivan Cleary? Cleverly resting players, strategising and ready to win three premierships in a row. Not sure he always gets the praise he deserves.

Lights out for Titans, Dolphins now. Manly too. Parramatta as well. Newcastle hanging in there and looking tough. Coach O'Brien has done really well after the mid season stutters. The Roosters look like getting there!

Heard a funny line from Peter 'Zorba' Peters about Warren McDonnell (ex-Wests Tigers) who is joining Manly as a recruitment officer. "He'll be able to show a club with no wooden spoons ever, his collection".

Alex Johnston hits 187 NRL tries after yet another double and 21 tries for the season. He only has Billy Slater (190) and Ken Irvine (212) ahead of him now. Injury permitting and a couple of semi-finals and he will beat it next year. 25 tries off! Prolific most seasons and over one hundred tries in four seasons. Incredible.

3. AFL. The Swans have won five in a row and are surging now. It looks like semi-finals are not far away. Collingwood have the minor premiership sealed now... Darcy Moore's injury will be a worry for them. Nick Daicos will be missed a lot too.

Brisbane are safe, but Carlton are the big improvers. Incredible transformation.

West Coast are anchored at the foot of the table until the end for a well-deserved wooden spoon.

4. EPL. Ange Postocoglou gets underway with Tottenham v Brentford tonight. The world's shortest off-season is the EPL!  Harry Kane may be lost to the club, but at $168 million, that is some war chest for the club to utilise on other star players! Ange's style will come under scrutiny...a bit like Ted Lasso.

5. Cricket. Great to see Aaron Hardie, Spencer Johnson, Tim Ward, Campbell Kellaway, Sangha, et al in the Australian administration's sights. Interesting to see Australia's second greatest test batsman, Adam Voges, as our Australia A coach. Time for a rebuild.

6. Wallabies. A clean out here is also necessary, but can the game actually promote its players? Hooper and Cooper probably needed to go. I feel for Hooper as he has been a warhorse and injured...calf injury of course (old player's disease). 

Not so sure Skelton is a skipper. Left overseas to be his own man worries many. Eddie Jones loves to be controversial, but this team looks developmental and hardly capable of beating the All Blacks, Springboks, the Poms, the Welsh, Irish or many others really.

Forwards: Angus Bell, Pone Fa'amausili, Zane Nonggorr, Blake Schoupp, James Slipper, Taniela Tupou, Matt Faessler, David Porecki, Jordan Uelese, Richie Arnold, Nick Frost, Matt Philip, Will Skelton (capt), Langi Gleeson, Tom Hooper, Rob Leota, Fraser McReight,  Josh Kemeny, Rob Valetini.

Backs: Issak Fines-Leleiwasa, Tate McDermott (vc), Nic White, Carter Gordon, Lalakai Foketi, Samu Kerevi, Izaia Perese, Jordan Petaia, Max Jorgensen, Andrew Kellaway, Marika Koroibete, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Suliasi Vunivalu, Ben Donaldson.

The Wrap - Come Here and Say It!

1. The Wallabies. Hope...17-3 up at half time and ahead for 64 minutes... only to collapse in a heap. The All Blacks are too good for us - always. Poor old Eddie Jones is now 0-4. "Come here and say it!". Maybe there are signs of improvement, but can anyone recite the team 1-15? The public are trying...we're trying...

2. NRL. Newcastle keep charging back up the table. A fantastic record for Adam O'Brien likely to make the semis three times in the last four years. Not many coaches can say that. Yet there have been rumblings to replace him. They need to get him to public speaking classes and media training that is for sure. He needs to get more professional in that regard... but I guess look at Wayne Bennett and his nonsense.

The Broncos have just about got the minor premiership (one bye in hand), but will come under salary cap pressure more and more. Souths are in a bit of strife for a roster as good as theirs is. Parramatta win...just, but have Storm, Roosters and Panthers to play. They will miss out on semi-finals on current form.

3. Fox Fall Asleep. If Anthony Griffin was as boring as an NRL coach as he is a commentator, no wonder St George players did not respond to him. He needs to add spark to this golden opportunity or ratings will plummet. Shane Flanagan is the next step up the rung of the boredom ladder on TV. Knows his league of course, but not wowing the TV fans. St George can pick them alright.

4. AFL. On the cusp of the 2023 minor premiership, Collingwood fall in a heap against Hawthorn. The Western Bulldogs have sealed the deal now for semi-finals. Interesting how some sides fall apart and others muscle up in tough times. Port Adelaide did not do much better crashing to their fifth straight loss, this time to Geelong.

GWS v Swans. The Swans are alive and kicking, but only just. They sure know how to squander a fourth quarter lead, but held on against a gallant, but lack lustre GWS. In recent games they have beaten Western Bulldogs and Essendon by two points and a draw with Geelong. They were beaten by GWS and Port Adelaide in last minute results earlier this year. They did smash West Coast too.

They play the Gold Coast (home), Adelaide (away) and Melbourne Home) in the run to the semis.

5. Buddy Franklin. A superb player and retired now as forecast last week. A legend player with crowd pulling power plus!

6. Matildas. Great win v Canada 4-0. The demise of Brazil, Germany and Italy has been interesting to watch as the world of football gets evened out in the womens game. This lifts spirits all round as the world order is re-visited without the huge money dictating this. Some impressive play and big crowds! An entertaining brand of football.

7. Calves...Sam Kerr, Buddy Franklin, Nathan Lyon...seniors injuries killing the sports!

8. Netball. Australian girls netball has been an awesome force for many, many years. Into the World Cup final again. 11 World Cup wins in 60 years with four second places only. An awesome record.

Put this against the Australian womens cricket, the Matildas and the swimmers (O'Callaghan, Titmus, the McKeons, the Campbells...) and we have some elite female players. Not forgetting Ash Barty too and our top 10 world golfer - Minjee Lee.

9. The Ashes. 2-2 is probably fair, but how Australia squandered a great start in that final innings chase. Whinging about a five year old ball that swung like it had electrical tape on it, is justified but worthless. The form of Cameron Green (Marsh failed when we needed him most....), Alex Carey and Scott Boland needs to come under the microscope. Carey was incredibly disappointing. He seems a decent fellow, but he has too much ego and needs to start scoring runs. The binoculars scene with Todd Murphy was one tiny glimpse into his character. There are a lot of keepers who average 25 and keep well. He has no mortgage on the spot. Green has talent, but needs to lose weight and get sharper on his feet. Boland was ordinary, sadly. Has Morris actually played cricket in the past 12 months?

Josh Inglis may need to come in for Carey. Will Pucovski needs to get his work right too. Aarron Hardie, Jason Sangha, young Johnson from QLD/SA...a few options emerge. 

Did you know Khawaja's run scoring (496) was the best Australian opener's haul since Matt Elliot (556) in 1997? The combined teams run rate (3.93) was the best ever in an Ashes series. (England scored at 4.74 - highest ever and better than the 2021 Aussie team (4.26).

Our bowlers leaked more runs than ever before. Crawley killed us...who would have thought? Crawley now holds the record strike rate (88.72) for a longer Ashes series. The tactics still stink a week later. Maidens bowled for Australia (34) v 171 for England! Nathan Lyon was missed!