The Wrap - Ange Mania

1. NRL. It must be said that the Roosters are certainly one of the favourites for the competition, despite ridiculous suggestions pre-season that a spoon was imminent. They have been a bit up and down, but their younger players are better than most other clubs by a long stretch. A production line of strength and unity and they beat a strong Cronulla who have been shining. They were without a few stars too.

The Bulldogs have not played as many top liners and folded badly to the Dolphins. The Parramatta effort v Manly was one of their best and toughest defensive outings in recent memory. The shocking defensive lapses of earlier in the season are fewer. To win without Moses is a rarity. The Panthers are in a world of pain. Messy without Origin stars. Canberra are a tough team to beat in 2025. A great win by them v the Warriors who finally lose a tight one.

Mercifully, the Galvin saga is about to end. Everyone is looking for more from him and can't be convinced yet that he is some God of the NRL. No pace, no size, moderate kicking game... smart passer of the football and good thinker.

Daniel Tupou is also climbing the ranks of the greatest NRL try scorers with a double this weekend. He is only a season away from being in the top four or five of all time. Amazing humility and quiet strength.

2. Ange - Tottenham. We have ridden this closely, but what a win in Spain v ManU 1-0. Europa League champions brings great wealth and exposure worldwide for the club. He will probably part ways with the club, but he was speaking about a "third season", so maybe not! A superb effort that will pave the way for other Australian coaches in time. This is all despite finishing 17th or so in the EPL!

The brilliant final EPL round which has all games start at the same time kicks off in the EPL tonight. No surprises this year...Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton are all gone already. Some chances to make the Champions League hover for a raft of top teams. Liverpool (champions), Arsenal and Man City look to be locked in...some others have tough games to get there, including the very successful Notts Forest.

3. Sunderland Till I Die - The Championship. The Netflix series (very interesting viewing!) came to life this weekend when Sunderland played Sheffield United in the Championship Final for the right to join Leeds and Burnley in being promoted into the EPL. It is often called the most lucrative game in world soccer because of the incredible EPL sponsorship and TV riches that await the winner. A great 2-1 win! This will form an excellent series if the producers were smart enough to capture it all! Jobe Bellingham is the star player.

Perhaps a Netflix series with Ange may have been a more lucrative and rewarding investment.

Both Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory play each other in the A League final. A dunny seat awaits the winner! 

4. AFL. Collingwood and Brisbane look too strong this year. Freo did well against Port in the rain in Perth (rain there?). Geelong have so much talent (not sure Bailey Smith reduces pressure on the team) and the Gold Coast have a couple of games in hand but are at the top of the table too. This is rare gold. Swans v Melbourne (both on 16 points going in...) presented as a critical game for both teams. The Swans simply lack class and height forward. They are a mess under Cox sadly.

5. Oscar Piastri - F1. Oscar is such a humble talent. A messy practice round at Monaco, but still lands up there third in qualifying! Good luck passing anyone on that street circuit. A win for Verstappen is imminent. 

6. NBA. The Western and Eastern Conference finals are well underway. The Oklahoma City Thunder lead the Minnesota Timberwolves 2-1 (who produced a great home victory earlier today) in the west and the Indiana Pacers lead the New York Knicks 2-0 in the east. A miserable end looms for the impressive Knicks. They are on the road now and well behind with it all to do.

7. Cricket. IPL Finals await but Justin Langer who coaches the Gujarat Titans, may need to move on with a mid table finish. They are brutal on success. Impressive showings this week by Mitch Marsh (fourth highest run scorer) who hit a ton, Pat Cummins (ninth highest wicket taker now on 16 wickets, Hazelwood fourth highest on 18 wickets) and Josh Inglis/ Marcus Stoinis with the bat.

Shubman Gill has been announced as the new Indian Test cricket captain. Interesting. He was overlooked for last year's Boxing Day Test you may recall. You will also remember how he charged Nathan Lyon and nicked it to Steve Smith amidst a flurry of sledging moments before lunch in Sydney. Composure and temperament?

8. NHL. In the western conference final, the Dallas Stars (not lots of ice in Texas!) are locked 1-1 with the Edmonton Oilers. In the east the Florida Panthers (no snow in Florida!) lead the Carolina Hurricanes 2-0. You will recall last season that the Oilers played the Panthers in the final and the Florida team won 4-3 in a tight finals series! Florida are on the cusp of a third straight Stanley Cup appearance (1-1 to date).

9. Tennis. Novak joins Federer and Connors as having won 100 ATP titles now. An incredible record. French Open kicks off this week. Sinner will be in the spotlight after his lettuce leaf punishment for yet another crazy excuse-laden drug bust...toothpaste, mum's pill, too much sex, kissing girls in niteclubs, bad meat, cream from a masseuse? Please...

The Wrap - Moses and the Europa Sea

1. NRL. Mitchell Moses has made a huge impact on the Parramatta team since returning from injury, but five eight for NSW? Not so sure. Luai has a proven connection with Cleary, but the leadership of the team will be tested with both Cleary and Moses. Like the Latrell-Crichton centre pairing with Lomax and To'o. Haas and Barnett...with the best bench in the business: Hudson Young, Connor Watson and Spencer Leniu. Queensland is always tough to toss. Munster, DCE, Grant... and Lindsay Collins is back and always excels in the origin arena.

A fabulous win by the Sharks v Melbourne. The talent of the Storm is incredible, but their inconsistency will be troubling the meticulous Craig Bellamy. An outstanding run continues by the NZ Warriors. Winning tight games defines your season. The Wahs have won 5 games by four points or less (out of 10 games) so far. That makes a huge difference and they sit second on the table!

Alex Johnston (197) now 15 tries away from Ken Irvine's (212) try scoring record. Daniel Tupou is a smoky on 167...one ahead of ET.

2. AFL. The Swans. They love wet weather and a smaller SCG to work on. Hard to toss in those conditions as they play their 'small ball' game. The GWS Giants were abysmal. The Western Bulldogs were back to their best and even Freo had a win. How inconsistent are Essendon? Collingwood just keep finding ways to win.

Great win by Melbourne over Brisbane and the West Coast and North Melbourne even won something. Check for manure under the rocking horse.

3. Italian F1 GP - Imola. Piastri is again storming fast in the lead up. The skill and artistry of these drivers is something else. Such a technical and courageous sport. Norris is slipping a little, but Verstappen is always close by and lurking! Alpine's new driver has also received a one grid position penalty in his first race after Jack Doohan's six point-less races. What a mess that is.

4. IPL and PSL. Both tournaments are back on for those who are game! Thankfully some brains have worked out that close to bombings is bad for the game. Not returning may cost you at the next IPL auction. 

Virat Kohli retires from Test cricket leaving a giant hole in the Indian Test Cricket team now that Rohit Sharma has also left. An incredible Test career, soured of late, but at his peak (esp. when winning in Australia) he was the next Javed Miandad who Australians hated because he served it back to us and he was bloody hard to dismiss. His T20 and ODI form is something else. He could play for ten more years yet!

5. NBA. The New York Knicks have knocked off their arch rivals, the Boston Celtics in Game 6, winning their series 4-2 and thrashing them by 38 points (their greatest ever play off winning margin)! Not helped by the injury to Jason Tatum, but even still the Celtics were totally outclassed. This is the Knicks' first Eastern Conference Final in 25 years. They play the Indiana Pacers. 

In the Western Conference Final, the Minnesota Timberwolves play the Denver Nuggets/ Oklahoma Thunder. The championship is drawing to a peak. It is a big show in the US. The 'big name' teams have been upended - Celtics, Warriors, Cavaliers...will the Nuggets join this sorry list?

6. NHL. The Carolina Hurricanes are surging. So too are the Edmonton Oilers. Both are through with the Dallas Stars to play the Oilers in the Western Conference final and the Florida Panthers/ Toronto Maple Leafs (Leaves?) to play the Hurricanes in the East,

7. FA Cup. Crystal Palace v Man City. A surging 1-0 win for Crystal Palace. Incredible effort against all odds and against one of the super heavyweight teams in Man City.

Ange heads to the Europa Cup final this Friday v ManU. A win will position him grandly to exit Spurs and pick up a new gig elsewhere in Europe. His EPL form is woeful however. Some weeks ago we predicted he would barely win another point there...so far it holds true.

8. Super Rugby. The Waratahs have been pruned and have been sprayed with RoundUp! A terribly disappointing season after a promising start. What a franchise the Brumbies have proven to be? They crush the Reds and climb to top of the table with the Reds in fourth. 

9. PGA Golf. Talk about a surging turn around. Names like Vegas, Pavon, Fox and Homa evaporated after the sun came out on Saturday at Quail Hollow, North Carolina - a beautiful place of the world to visit. The two time Major winners in Scheffler (2 x Masters), de Chambeau (2 x US Opens) and Rahm (1 x Masters and 1 x US Open) came to play and know what it takes to win a Major, although none have won a USA PGA. An intriguing Sunday ahead! It is Scheffler's to lose.

The Wrap - Doohan It Tough

1. Tottenham - Europa League. Ange is fighting on, making the final of the Europa League later in the month. He has proven a few folk wrong and is really bristling now that Tottenham have achieved an honour that few imagined they could. Ange will be written off again, but he is resilient and really gets the players behind him. It would be some sort of fairytale for them to beat ManU and qualify for the Champions League too! It could well be enough for him to be retained.

2. NRL. How a referee and bunker miss the offside from Drinkwater's boot in the Penrith v Cowboys game is stunning. Penrith have really leaked points this year. They also seem to leak water on the ball at each kick off! 30-30 is a bit staggering having led by 12 points twice in the game! 

The Warriors keep winning (Tigers, Broncos by two, St George by one point and North Queensland by four points!) and the Dragons keep losing narrow contests (they have lost three by one point v Souths, Eels, Warriors). As a six point turnaround, they would be coming third if they won all three!

The Wests Tigers were thumped and their hype bubble was predictably popped once they played tougher opponents. 64-0 is a whacking at this stage of the season. The wallpaper in the joint is fraying. So bad. Benji is an interesting character. Last smiled when Ray Price did.

Ryan 'Paps' Papenhuyzen is the master of the early try. 36 points in a single game is some sort of effort. Surely he is the NSW State of Origin fullback - a test for the selectors. Laurie Daley can be a worry as coach who is too connected in the media.

Manly on the slide, especially since DCE has signalled his intentions. Seibold gets a little too used to apologising and excuse making for mine every mid-season.

3. F1. Young Jack Doohan was unceremoniously sacked from his F1 team, Alpine Racing, this week. A cruel end! No points and a first lap DNF in Miami last week. Contrasted with a fourth F1 win to Piastri this season (now 6 wins/ 52 starts).

4. A-League. Western Sydney Wanderers and Adelaide City have been dumped on their heads with Western United v Melbourne City and Auckland v Melbourne Victory moving ahead in a home and away series each. It is a sudden end to a never ending season for those two sides!

5. Super Rugby. Brumbies (second) and Reds (fourth) head the Waratahs (eighth) and Western Force (ninth)! The crumbling season of the Tahs continues after much early hope. Good signs ahead with the performances and consistency of our top two teams.

6. IPL. Called off due to a war over the Kashmir area... again. IPL and PSL players were sent scurrying amidst Trump cease fires. How anyone in the IPL thought scheduling a game close to Kashmir was a good idea defies all logic. Incredibly silly and dangerous with our international stars scurrying for the airports!

7. AFL. Swans were awful v Essendon. Incredible how their list is so exposed after a number of injuries. The Sunday games were tight. The Giants are finally back winning (bad by Geelong who should beat everyone!) and the West Coast nearly knocking over Richmond - and North Melbourne nearly pipping the reigning premiers, Brisbane. A 71-71 draw in AFL is a tight contest in anyone's book. 

8. NBL - Conference Semi Finals. The Celtics have been stunned by the New York Knicks but bounced back to a 1-2 situation yesterday. The Conference semi finals (best of seven for maximum revenue!) are tight in the East and West Conferences with the four fancied teams all trailing at this point. Indiana Pacers are 2-1 up over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the East. In the West, the Denver Nuggets are 2-1 up over the fancied Oklahoma Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves are leading the Golden State Warriors 2-1. Moving week!

9. NHL - Stanley Cup Conference Semi Finals. A few familiar faces hovering...Las Vegas Knights, Edmonton Oilers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers. All tight too here with Carolina Hurricanes looking the newer surprise packet.

The Wrap - Finding the Magic

1. NRL - Magic Round is a big test for the curators and the 150,000 fans. The re-laying of turf ahead of the women's State of Origin (how talented are they?) looked late, but it held up nicely. The Queensland teams struggled and the Panthers announced to one and all that they were far from dead. A bye gets them right in the thick of things on 8 points. Other teams will be fearful.

There is no better team to watch than the Melbourne Storm. Their first twenty minutes in every game is electric. So good. Papenhuyzen is a try scorer every week. Hard not to admire Canberra and the way they aim up each week. 100%, even for their flaws, but talk about extracting every ounce of talent from the roster. Ricky has reinvented himself nicely and seems less cranky.

2. Gold Coast Titans and Brisbane Broncos. This team and franchise continues to be a massive problem. Des Hasler looks worn out and lacks spark. So does his team, despite the talent and pace they have. They seem to be unable to match teams with fitness and in the arm wrestle needed.

The Broncos have been so inconsistent this season. One week premiers, the next week ho hum. There is a cultural piece in that camp that lingers, bringing great disappointment. They need to address it and shake it off - and quickly. It is hard not to escape it with Kevin Walters in the commentary box.

3. AFL. Sydney bounce back. A great record v the Giants who are on the slippery slide of three straight losses, despite all of their talent. They have been really disappointing in recent weeks. The Geelong v Collingwood game was a cracker, but it is the Western Bulldogs (without the temperamental Bailey Smith) who are surging, despite the odds with three wins on the trot. Hawthorn, Brisbane and Collingwood look best at this early stage.

4. Cricket. South African quick, Rabada tests positive to some sort of "recreational" drug. Bad timing with the Test World Championship around the corner, but honestly... too much coin and too little direction.

5. IPL. Starting to drag a bit now into its final week or two, but Tim David and Mitchell Marsh have proven our dominant match winning batsmen in season 2025. The demise of Maxwell (injured) and poor form of Fraser-McGurk, Stoinis and even Travis Head it must be said, continues. There are really very few Australians playing there now. We are simply not good enough on their pitches. Hazelwood (top wicket taker) and Starc (top 10 wicket takers) have been awesome it must be said. 

We have more coaches than players involved these days. Lots who have seen little to no action: Ellis, Bartlett, Zampa, Hardie and Inglis. Spencer Johnson has been pretty loose too.

It underlines how brilliant David Warner was in the IPL for many, many years, being the third highest IPL run scorer ever - and having won the award for the most runs in an IPL season THREE times!

How about the 14 year old Indian opening batsman, Vaibhav Suryavanshi? Incredible. Let's hope the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registry Office is not the same one being used in Junior Rugby League circles for many years.

6. F1 - Piastri. A disappointing effort (and circumstances) in the lead up to today's big Miami feature race. The sprint race was intriguing, but that track is massively limited and in a highly unspectacular venue. The wet weather barely helped. Right next to a freeway... you would have thought they had nicer streets and views to showcase.

7. A-League. An interesting top six concept where teams 3-6 play off when teams 1-2 get the first round 'bye' and await their semi final opponents. Not sure this rewards the best performers, but it is a swift end to the season!

8. Tottenham. It is possible that Tottenham don't get any more EPL points in the remaining handful of rounds. Incredible to contemplate, but they have been a misery, injuries or no injuries. Their UEFA Europa League journey is a little brighter with the return bout in Norway v Bode/ Glimt this Friday. Up 3-1 going in, they are in the box seat. If successful, the ever bubbling might of ManU, who have also had a miserable year, await in a final that Tottenham have not seen for many years.

It has been since the early 1970s (1971-72) and 1980s (1983-84) that Tottenham achieved anything on the highest European stage.

9. Waratahs. Hammered by the Brumbies... and an all too familiar outcome. They have really dived in the past month and look destined for yet another lowly year. They seem to lack resolve and purpose - and consistency is non-existent.

10. NBL Finals. The longest final series in history... Celtics, Cavaliers and Pistons seem strongest in the Eastern Conference, but the Thunder and the Timberwolves will be there and thereabouts too. An horrific exit yet again this week for the big ticket LA Lakers.

The Wrap - Over Officiated and Overblown

1. NRL. What has happened to the great game of rugby league? Anything slightly high or loose is penalised (this weekend) and sin bins result. The retrospective sin bin five minutes after it was meant to happen is so frustrating. Think Rugby Union. We had this crazy overreacting at one point last year too. Too many appeals, protests, complaints, reviews…stoppages galore. Players who thrust the arms out sideways or fake injury should be binned too. The shape of the game has been changed. … for the worse. 18 players sinbinned in one weekend? Please…

Over governed, over officiated and a complete over reaction. Penalties, fines and judiciary intervention is a better result for the fans.

2. AFL. The Swans were terrible after leading at half time. Giving up 11 straight goals is horrific. They are certainly a bottom five team on that performance. Gold Coast could finally be the real deal. Carlton looked solid v Geelong. Carlton have won three in a row and Collingwood look too strong for most. The West Coast continue their quest for the spoon, getting hammered by Hawthorn. Brisbane still the faves.

3. EPL. Liverpool will be crowned champions tonight by dusting off the excuse laden Tottenham. Too strong and business like every week. Consistency. Great effort by Crystal Palace to make the FA Cup Final.

4. A League. The final weeks are nearly upon us. Auckland FC are certainly favourites, but the Wanderers are a smokey.

5. Super Rugby. Brumbies a loss but in the top four with the Reds. Chiefs and Crusaders, especially, looking far too strong. 

6. IPL. Hazelwood has moved up to the top of the highest wicket takers list - equal first on 16 wickets. Amazing health recovery for the IPL and not the ICC Champions Trophy. Maxwell and Fraser-McGurk have been dropped and banished too. A simple lack of currency...runs!

7. NBA Playoffs. Lakers and Celtics with work to do. Oklahoma Thunder already through! Not missing Josh Giddey, although he had a cracking season for the Bulls! 

8. F1 GP Victory. Piastri was in fine form winning in Bahrain last week. There are plenty more to come yet... The Australian drivers in F1 with the most ever wins? 14 (Brabham - won three F1 championships in 1959, 1960 and 1966), 12 (Jones - won one F1 championship in 1980), 9 (Webber), 8 (Ricciardo) and Piastri on 5 wins so far.

The Wrap - Galvanised

1. Lachlan Galvin. Unlike the opinions of many, and despite the hype, is he that good a player yet? He has a proactive and tough manager that is clear, but there are many journalists trying hard to critique the player and his world to settle a few scores. He is skinny, creative, but looks like the Jason Taylor type half...no speed, but smarts. He has potential, but has not achieved much yet. However, surely, like everyone, he is completely entitled to seek a better deal. The instant division in the Wests Tigers camp tells you that there is still a bit of wallpaper in the joint. Deep wounds and a lack of unity have plagued that place for years. Benji has managed himself well in the media, but needs to smile more. It seems a really tense and terse set up. The question needing answering is why would he want to leave? This is a hard reality for the club.

An "NRL halves academy" would be an excellent business to establish. The monies for great halfbacks and five eights is outrageous at present. 

Struggling to work out how an organisation like the NRL can't register player contracts to play in their comp by telling them there will be a graduation combine/ draft...and an annual trade window. No legal fights, just if you join our competition, these are the rules! Otherwise play in the UK Super League or in your own competition.

2. NRL Draw. We have been banging on about this for many years - unlike Seibold who has only started. Silly turn arounds... ridiculous double ups against teams twice in the first six rounds...byes... honestly. I think we could get two experienced NRL-loving teachers who do far more complex high school timetables to sort this out really quickly. Some clubs may also need to hear "NO" in response to their peculiar wishes. The current draw is truly ridiculous.

It won't save the Knights. They are looking awful. Dylan Brown may get an early release yet.

3. NRL - Bulldogs. What an awesome team (now). A complete rebuild and now a winning formula. Their defensive prowess is awesome. Ciraldo has brought his Panthers defence blueprint alive again. Two back to back weeks of no points conceded. They have players on edge and ready each week with pressure behind them...and juniors galore coming through. They are also breaking records with their re-energised fan base. Nearly 70,000 on Good Friday v Souths was a tremendous effort. No fitting that into Belmore. A huge success story, with much more to come. They seem to have a big salary cap, but Gus is a clever man.

4. The Masters. An amazing tournament as always. Rory too good, but a semi implosion in the last stages of the final round almost brought him undone. Justin Rose did well to push back into it all. Such a majestic tournament to win. Rory is truly one of the greatest now! 5 Major wins - and only one of six players to win all Majors. In our time, we really have only ever enjoyed Woods, Faldo and Mickelson...with a touch of Trevino and the late Niklaus years, including his 1986 masters win.

5. AFL. Carlton come roaring back albeit with back to back wins against some lowly opponents. Essendon started really poorly v West Coast but got there in the end too. West Coast need to lift. They have been bad for years, despite draft priorities.

Port looked in complete control v the Swans. The Swans finesse far too much and still lack forwards. Not sure what is happening with Chadd Warner at present, but they need him on the ball. 

The return of Bontempelli for the Bulldogs has transformed them. ST Kilda, like Essendon, go quiet at key times. SO frustrating for their fans.

Are AFL coaches phones, the only ones left in the world with the old cord?

6. Europa League - Tottenham. For only the second time in the Premier League era, they have reached the semi finals of a European competition. Ange Postocoglou is alive and kicking. Bodo/ Glimt from Norway stand in front of a finals appearance - and surely should be beaten. ManU are also in the semi finals too. Ange would be well served to string a few EPL wins together too. A win in Europe would give him a pass to continue in 2025-2026. It would be an extraordinary achievement really.

7. Eels - Discipline. Thankfully Joe Ofahenguae is on his way to the Leigh Leopards. Ironically a leopard doesn't change its spots as Parramatta have learned. A big body, but pulling players pants down on live TV just does not cut it. He should have been ended six weeks ago. Shaun Lane is also on extended leave... that leaves Matterson and Cartwright as the remaining players to be rolled over. They need a full rebuild with a couple of hard heads and quicker feet. Interesting to hear Ryles tell everyone he is after Galvin... after the dubious 1 November deadline, of course.

8. A League. The Wanderers still have scored the most goals this season. This helps in semi finals - if you get there. They are fourth placed now. Sydney FC also have goals galore...but both leak a few too. A couple of rounds to come yet.

9. Waratahs. Last week they beat the top team. This week they lose to the bottom team. Almost choked to hear that there was an ARU policy to rest players ahead of the Lions tour. Really? The Waratahs have no capacity to rest anyone! Misery once again.

When was the last time you went to a Waratah's game?

10. NBL Play Offs... down to the final 16 teams (8 from each conference). Love the concept of the 'Play Ins' to determine the final two spots (7 and 8) in the play offs. Something for the NRL. The NBA never miss the chance to squeeze the orange and extract more cash.

11. Saudi Arabian GP. Oscar Piastri is going to need to get his skates on later tonight. A tough track to muscle through and get the jump on others... he is in great form however.

The Wrap - 66 Clickety Click

1. NRL. The NRL is getting national indeed. The Perth Bears fiasco is tiring, but two games there on the weekend was not such a bad thing on the weekend. The Sharks and Cowboys actually thought it was great. Hard, fast day time NRL play is exceptional viewing.

What are Parramatta doing in Darwin? The worst investment for everyone there... another 50 point whacking. How can they be so bad? We saw the cultural problems at the start of the year and it has not improved. Poor attitudes. Also two serious foot injuries (Mose and Lomax). How does that happen?

How awesome are the Melbourne Storm? Never any excuses. Jarome Hughes in strife with his shoulder, but Melbourne playing at home in sunlight is dangerous. They have so many points in them! The Warriors only win at night.

The Panthers are really struggling...interesting new times for them. The Knights? They will be close to the spoon with Parramatta. Dreadful errors.

2. Rory. A pair of 66s! Absolutely owned the third round at 12 under, two shots ahead. Bryson is looming. Don't discount Sheffler. Rory's 79 back in 2011 at the same tournament (not to mention the US Open capitulation to Bryson) gives him a little "Greg Norman" quality here. Rose crumbles yet again when in the lead.

Rory will either join the elite (winning each of the four golf majors like Woods, Nicklaus, Sarazen, Hogan and Player) - or become famous for all the wrong reasons. Hopefully he can rise and put any doubts behind him. He's certainly speaking positively, for what that is worth.

He has an impressive record (twice as many majors as The Shark):

PGA Championship	Won: 2012, 2014
U.S. Open	Won: 2011
The Open Championship	Won: 2014

3. AFL. Carlton off the mark beating the absolutely terrible West Coast team, but Melbourne are in big trouble. Clayton Oliver is suddenly really poor. An incredible decline. Brisbane keep surging sitting on top of the table. Gold Coast and Hawthorn are also having a cracking start. A consistent and winning Gold Coast team of anything is a novelty!

4. Oscar Piastri. A pole position against the odds in Bahrain was a cracking effort. These drivers are special talents. Jack Doohan not doing too bad too. A late start tonight.

5. James McDonald. Surging ahead to the Damien Oliver Australian Group 1 win record of 125. His work on Saturday with the record breaking, best horse in Australia, Via Sistina - and Fangirl - showed his class. He wins a lot! If in doubt, follow JMac.

6. IPL. Travis Head gets a bit chirpy sometimes, even if it is Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis! He finally did the business to help get his Sunrisers Hyderabad team over the line. Stoinis' hitting has been on this season...as has Tim David and Mitchell Marsh is the third highest run scorer. This helps the bank balance longer term. Starc and Hazelwood lead the wickets taken, although there was 30 runs taken off one Starc over the weekend.

Extraordinarily, against all else we have seen, Marsh took family IPL leave for his daughter and missed the most recent game.

7. Super Rugby. A cracking win by the Waratahs v the Chiefs. Joseph Aukoso-Suaalii played a super game and the 100 metre team try was super impressive. Brumbies, Reds and Tahs all top of the table territory now. Hard to remember a year when our Australian franchises have been this successful. 

8. EPL. Since 1992 when it started, there are only a few clubs who have never been relegated: ManU, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool, Everton and Chelsea. Everton have cheated relegation for many successive years (beating Nottingham overnight 1-0) and Man City have been relegated twice! Conversely, Liverpool could be handed the trophy now. 

9. Gout Gout. A superstar well and truly in the making! Hopefully he manages the pressures and expectations well. How strong is the last 50m of his 200m? He has made Australian athletics popular more recently!

The Wrap - Master Blasters

1. NRL - Parramatta. One week St George beat the Storm, the next they lose to the likely 2025 wooden spooners. Zac Lomax has been exceptional. Tough and determined. The Parramatta fans have a little faith rebuilt, but they need a lot more yet. Liking the young hooker, Ryley Smith. Used to be a sensational junior cricketer too. Parramatta and the Dolphins have now broken their ducks. John Quayle and Arko will be proud of the salary cap with all teams on some points.

Latrell Mitchell is an absolute gun (when he is on). Yet he gets a lot less money than Dylan Brown, but is a genuine match winner! Dylan is going to remain a solid performer, but he is not a leader. His off field behaviours tell us that. Ironically, his defence is better than his attack. Rare for a five eight. 

The Panthers are being bagged, but they will be back. Always fascinating to see a coach's reaction in times of stress and trouble. Ivan Cleary is a classy guy. It is also amazing how the salary cap can level out all teams. What they have achieved is extraordinary. 

The Hess hit on Cleary was late and kickers need to be protected. This is an annoying feature of the game - that and fullbacks getting smashed when taking an uncontested high ball. In the contest is fine, but uncontested cheap shot merchants trying to wipe them out milliseconds after taking the catch. Poor form. Poor administration of the game.

The Storm and Manly are both 2025 semi finalists... even allowing for the near fifty points conceded. Their intensity was so much better than games we see most times across the season. Melbourne injury free will be so much faster and stronger than the rest. Give them the JJ Giltinan Shield now!

2. AFL. How about blokes taking guns to the MCG for the Carlton v Collingwood clash? Expecting a fiery clash, all guns blazing... Outrageous. The Giants keep surging and the Swans are back in touch after two opening losses. North Melbourne have shown glimpses, but they are a cranky side who need to focus on football. Melbourne are in strife and West Coast...new coach, same result.

3. Super Rugby. The Reds lose to the table topping Chiefs and the Waratahs lose to the Moana 45-28 on Saturday...what has happened to the Waratahs? The wheels are loosening and about to fall off. Consistency is the only true measure of high performance. Defence is terrible. The Moana beat the Crusaders last week and have a suite of former All Blacks in charge. They have improved out of sight it must be said.

4. IPL - Mitchell Marsh. Mitch Marsh has hit three half centuries in the IPL for the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). Starc is second on the wicket takers list with 9 wickets. Both are doing really well. Marsh is just a batsman now which he probably has been for many years. Fraser-McGurk and Maxwell are vying for the most ducks in an IPL season record. Young Fraser-McGurk looks like he needs a break and a mental reset. A lot of money earned and commensurate expectation on this bloke. This can crush the spirit of an aspiring star.

5. Tottenham - EPL. A 1-0 loss by Tottenham to Chelsea mid week and now possibly Southampton tonight. They have a shocking record with our Monday morning games. They are on the ropes and it is completely embarrassing. They are coming 14th... terrible. There is no excuse now and Ange is becoming bitter and antagonised very easily. They need a late season surge or could even face relegation!

6. Japanese F1. Oscar Piastri started on third position on the grid and continues his exceptional year, ending third. He will be kicking himself for that finish in the wet at Melbourne in the opening GP. It may be very costly eventually. Max Verstappen is still an amazing competitor and one of the best ever. Norris leads overall (second place today) after three GPs. A tight tussle early doors in the season, but Verstappen is a legend... he has 64 F1 wins, only behind Schumacher (91) and Lewis Hamilton (105). Incredible numbers travelling at that speed with so much skill and poise.

7. Matildas. Their new coach will arrive the same day the LIV and the USPGA peace plan is delivered. Quite ridiculous if you want stability and results.

8. A League. Western Sydney Wanderers... 7 undefeated games in a row (a few recent draws of course), but positioned fourth on a log jammed table. Any team dropping their guard late in the season stands to tumble quickly down the table. Ask Adelaide United.

9. The Masters at Augusta National. On later this week and a huge viewing event as always. Scottie Scheffler is the man with two Masters (no other majors!) championships under his wing. Ludvig Aberg may do well...Jon Rahm always impresses and possibly Min Woo! 

10. Tim Tszyu. An easy win and so it should have been against a lowly ranked opponent. He can be a little tiring in his pre bout antics. Yet to captivate the viewing public like a Jeff Fenech or even Jeff Horn.

The Wrap - Mascot Mania

1. Mascot Dangers. Not since 1995 when the great 'Stanley the Steeler' (Illawarra Steelers) got sent off for his role in sideline biff with Balmain players have the mascots worldwide seen a week like it. First Reggie Rabbit (South Sydney Rabbitohs) had had a gutful of fans and goes the shirt fronting...now the Manchester City mascot is speaking out after some gentle byplay saw the mascot concussed. Dangerous work!

2. Sheffield Shield. Ryan Harris has done a top job as coach of South Australia. Greg Chappell, Jason Gillespie, Tim Neilsen...none of them could make a dent. On the back of Brendan Doggett taking 11 wickets in a Shield final - the most EVER by a bowler, a Jake Lehmann/ Jason Sangha/ Alex Carey tons and some excellent fielding, their first victory in 29 years. They are a bit of an odds and sods team, but they have triumphed before a record crowd. Unheard of numbers in the last decade plus!

Great to see the return to the old days with the crowd running onto the field and stealing stumps as well!

Jason Sangha, former U/19 Australian captain and ex-NSW was the eventual hero with 126no. Third ton of the year! Shield Final tons count more significantly on the resume, that is for sure... especially when completing a record run chase like they did. A few ex NSW players in their ranks - Ben Manenti, Nathan McAndrew, Jason Sangha. Harry Conway and Liam Scott.

Moises Henriques has finally pulled the pin on his Shield career. Second only to Mo Matthews in games played for NSW, but a lean average to be fair - 13 tons and 6830 runs at 34.84 AND 127 wickets at 30.75. A great ambassador and leader, but probably good at both, not great at one discipline. A solid career regardless, playing for Australia and playing IPL. He won't have troubles finding a bank manager.

3. IPL. Mitchell Marsh has started the tournament with a bang. A couple of half centuries to he and Head. Interesting that he too is fit and well...like Hazelwood (5 wickets), Cummins (3 wickets) and co. We should have more IPLs to keep our players fit. Not a family reason or personal reason in sight either. "Starc is taking wickets (3 wickets) and Head is clearing pickets". Cummins is hitting sixes and getting wickets. Maxwell is still getting ducks as well. He has more wickets than runs at present.

4. NRL. The Cowboys bounce back v the sloppy Raiders and St George win the completely unexpected in beating Melbourne. A sensational victory masterminded by Shane Flanagan who has done it before, famously for the Sharks in the 2016 Grand Final. The Sharks were disappointing at home. Stephen Crichton is some sort of player. Awesome strength and leadership. They are the real deal those undefeated Berries.

How bad is the bunker getting? That missed try by Moses Leota was so bad...so bad. The NRL are pathetic trying to cover it up. Ashley Klein has a terrible record too. He is our equivalent of Joel Wilson, who was recently sacked as an international ICC umpire.

There are three teams who have never registered a win in a NRL season: University (1935); South Sydney (1946) and Eastern Suburbs (1966). Parramatta (2025) are a strong chance to join them. Who can they beat? 

5. AFL. Carlton are in a lot of bother. So are Melbourne, who look terrible. Sliding down and losing early never helps a season of any team. Early days, but Hawthorn and GWS are looking really good. The Freo buying spree does not look to have worked. So much more ahead. Adelaide looking brighter too.

6. Oscar Piastri. THREE F1 wins now after last week's China GP victory. He is still behind Daniel Ricciardo (8), Mark Webber (9) and Alan Jones (12) and their GP win totals. Piastri looks good to get a few more yet in season 2025. Japan next week.

7. Super Rugby. The Waratahs were whacked again v Hurricanes. Sadly, this is the sort of result (57-12 loss) that the fans have become used to seeing. This was an incredibly disappointing result. A shock loss by the Crusaders too. The Australian teams are currently right up there with the Reds leading the whole show! Great job.

8. Ange. Photos are apparently emerging of Ange's replacement at Tottenham - that or old photos resurfacing! It never takes long in the EPL. There are a lot more coaches and teams that want success than cups to win! Simple.

Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forrest are into the FA Cup Semi Finals. For Notts it is 34 years since they have enjoyed such success. What a year they have had!

9. Socceroos. Games v Japan (already qualified) and Saudi Arabia await in June at home. Can we make it? Tony Popovic has done really well since taking the helm. He can coach and does it humbly.

10. Min Woo Lee. Texas Children's Houston Open PGA Leader by four shots heading into the final round. Interesting that a bloke called Scottie Scheffler is hovering. Hopefully Min Woo can hold on, but he has imploded before at The Players Championship. Maybe things will be different this time after than crushing experience. Big crowds!

The Wrap - Ready to Cash In

1. Parramatta and Essendon. Two similar, but different clubs. Both with huge fan bases, but both with massive challenges in the face of underperformance and early season smashings. It might help if Dylan Brown ran the ball and did something. I would be very nervous if I was a Newcastle supporter. A ridiculous sum of money for him, but good luck to him and his family.

The Gold Coast Titans seem to be perennial underperformers as well...  even with a plethora of new signings. Their win over the Knights was horrific for Adam O'Brien. Not one to lose. The greatest trap for visiting teams is its holiday destination. Des has cut a very under stated figure on the Gold Coast. They were quietly impressive. Very patient.

The Parramatta misery continues, albeit a little more mild. Jason Ryles has much to learn...he's in the media again telling anyone that they are a "young side" (1, 5 and 7 only this week) and yet he got rid of experience when he arrived - and bought them! He has Lomax, Russell, Penisini, Brown, Lane, Paulo, Hopgood, Matterson, Addo Carr, Lussick, Ofahengaue - very experienced first graders who are not producing. No Moses hurts them, but he bought two half backs this year too (Hawkins and Volkman). Stop the excuses and coach a team of discipline and mental toughness. You have simply not prepared them well enough with the right attitude. The coach sets the standards. Addo-Carr at least wants to win!

Is Rueben Garrick is one of the best goal kickers the game has seen - 78% is up there with Daryl Harrigan and Hazem El Masri. Adam Reynolds now has the second most goalkicks ever (still 200 goals below Cameron Smith), but Garrick rarely misses. How prolific is Ethan Bullemor as a try scorer (ex-Broncos)?

2. AFL. The loss by Geelong to St Kilda, is vintage Geelong. They have every top player in town (or think they have) and then they fall over too often. The Swans? They scrap and scrounge, but will do it tough in 2025. A great win v Freo away in WA. Chad Warner was outstanding. He needs Dylan Brown money!

3. Socceroos World Cup Qualification. Heading to China this week, Tony Popovic is resurrecting the chances of automatic qualification. What a journey that is! Losses early n the campaign have not helped, but we hardly play the super powers of world football.

4. IPL. Started over the weekend with its millions and zillions on offer. Our stars will cash in again, but Hazelwood on $2 million+ is hard to believe. He did get 2/22 in his return. Amazing how our fast bowlers are all fit and ready, not a family issue in sight, for the IPL ($$), but not the ICC Champions League! Kohli again won the first match off his bat with yet another 50.

5. EPL. Ange is on life support. He keeps losing, gets cranky with media, fans and himself and then occasionally wins. Too inconsistent and lots of excuses. It's been a while since the fans sang the Robbie Williams tribute song, "I'm Loving Ange Instead". Sadly, it might be time to move on - or be moved. A Europa League win would be staggering.

6. Sheffield Shield Final. South Australia v Queensland starts on Wednesday. An intriguing end to the season with Khawaja accused of feigning injury by his own QLD cricket administration. Not a good look by Joe Dawes who clearly was after some relevance post playing career. He was also on Peter Dutton's staff some years back...interesting. Starts Wednesday (big crowd not expected!) at some back water oval in South Australia. Love how you change the format for a final and go for five days... why?

7. A League. A break this week for the international week, but the season has two months to go yet! 

8. NBL Champions. The Illawarra Hawks v Melbourne United. A 2-2 deadlock in the best of five finals series was broken by Illawarra 114-104 despite injuries, controversies and a drive to win successive games was achieved finally. Quite a riveting final series and a big plus for the game. Our NBL franchises are selling for $50 million which is staggering. The Celtics have just been bought for $6-7 Billion!

9. Super Rugby. Awesome form by the Waratahs in beating the Brumbies. Their season is fast becoming quite the turnaround. A huge transformation. Could this be part of the rebuild of the code in Australia? Reds doing very well too.

10. Oscar Piastri. Pole position in China. His error in Melbourne would still be stinging. A super drive in much better conditions. He did it in fine style.

11. Six Nations Rugby. An uncanny finish to a try-laden season... France, England and Ireland all had four wins, but France win it! Over one hundred tries scored in total and a record by France. England looked good too. The British and Irish Lions tour looms as a ripper.

The Wrap - Boo Hoo

1. Parramatta NRL. No team has brought more headlines upon itself than this mob. A complete disappointment of a club. Crowds are dwindling too. Dylan Brown gets the best deal since Jason Taumalola. Good luck to him and Newcastle because they will need it. Dylan is a good player, but no leader. He will not transform a club. He struggles when the chips are down and is a little limited and predictable in attack these days. Boo him, but applaud his manager!

You can't blame him leaving the joint. Jason Ryles is under immense pressure. Never confident seeing Nathan Brown next to him. Where's Trent Barrett when you need him? Nearly 100 points conceded in two games. So bad. Tigers, not so bad. Penisini was abysmal in his defensive reads today. Won't be long before he moves on from Parramatta as well. 

Ryles comes out in the press saying he was a "ratbag" before the season starts and tolerating his prize recruit having his pants pulled down by a fellow player on live TV - and the other fool of a recruit yelling abuse from the sideline at an opponent. He seems to lack discipline and refuses to exercise it. I can't recall Wayne Bennett or Craig Bellamy having any such issues.

Their team again still lacks pace and has a really poor attitude. They are spoon bound. I noticed how they fold in the heat too (like Darwin last year). I wonder how hard they actually train in the summer?

The Raiders look tough. The Roosters had their best win in years - and the Panthers are leaking like a political party at present.

2. F1. McLaren again. The arrival of the big wet in Melbourne is no shock and Piastri could not manage it. The curse continues. Lando Norris too good. Young Doohan no good either. You would think it was the only wet track in the world the way they went on about it. Great to see the crowd storm the track post race, but classic Melbourne weather destroying the spectacle.

3. AFL. The Swans are in strife. Teams that lose close games have long and disappointing seasons. They have heart, especially against two leading teams, but no forwards. Brighter results for so many others. Hawthorn are looking strong. Liked the GWS win v Melbourne.

4. Europa League. Ange is into the quarter finals with Tottenham in a stirring mid week win last week. He needs EPL points now however and has no excuses with key players back from injury. Time to play and win!

5. NBL. The Illawarra Hawks and Melbourne United are locked at 1-1 and playing tonight for the edge in their best of five final series. Very tight.

6. A League. Auckland are still powering at the top of the league, but it is the Western Sydney Wanderers taking the headlines with their undefeated six game surge.

7. Waratahs. Sad story that is a familiar movie, losing against the Reds in a disappointing loss. They simply need to win all their Australian games to make semi finals.

8. Gout Gout. Running sub 20 seconds as the fastest world 200m time this year, but being so young, he has a really bright future. Now drugs are a little less prevalent in sport, we may start seeing some even more honest results. Raelene Boyle was born in the wrong era.

The Wrap - Consistency Matters

1. Champions Trophy Cricket. India are a crack, consistent ODI team regardless of where they play their games. They will beat a gallant New Zealand and would beat any ODI team in any country anytime basically. Kohli has such a great ODO record in 302 games with 51 tons and averaging 58.11 - the best ever. The great Tendulkar hit 49 ODI tons and averaged 44.83.

Michael Bevan was our best bat, averaging 53.58 in 232 games. Viv Richards averaged 47 in 187 games (11 tons).

It is interesting looking at other ODI records: Dave Warner - (22 tons) 161 games at 45.30; Dean Jones - 164 games at 44.61; Michael Clarke 245 games at 44.58; Jacques Kallis 328 games at 44.36; Steve Smith 170 games at 43.28 and Ricky Ponting (30 tons) 375 games at 42.03. The great Adam Voges only played 31 games and averaged 45.73, better than all of these. 

2. NRL. Only Round 1 but not sure if we saw any team that will trouble the usual top tier of teams this weekend. Parramatta and the Roosters gave up 50 points, often the mark of whether you will play semi final football. Parramatta were diabolical in the first half.

• Definite Top 8 teams: Panthers, Sharks, Broncos, Bulldogs, Melbourne, Manly.
• The "inbetweeners": Raiders, Knights, Dragons, Souths, North Queensland.

We definitely saw teams that will struggle to make the eight: Parramatta, Roosters, Warriors, Tigers, Dolphins, Gold Coast (even with the first round bye). 

3. AFL. Unfortunately, the Swans look like a very average team this year. They lack size and Amarty is not the answer fitness wise. Hawthorn will be tough to beat generally. What a schemozzle of an opening round for the AFL. Cyclone Alfred messed things up, but Plan B?

4. Super Rugby. Rarefied air to see the New Zealand teams languishing (at least at this stage of the season). Waratahs stringing a few wins together is unusual! Coach McKellar sounds tough with three wins in a row! The failure of the Melbourne Rebels is helping all franchises. Does such sporting failure sit easily in Melbourne?

5. EPL. Put the glasses down... Liverpool will run away with it and win. If they don't there will need to be a Royal Commission. So far in front of Arsenal - and then the surprise packets: Nottingham are in third place now. What a year they have had!

6. NBL. Melbourne United are serving it up to the minor premiers, the Illawarra Hawks, winning Game 1 from a long way back. Impressive resolve. They may be hard to toss now.

7. A League. The longest season in history. Auckland look to have a sizeable enough break to finish in first place now. Plenty of chasers. The Melbourne teams always seem to aim up...as do the Sydney teams now that the Wanderers are storming home.

8. Six Nations Rugby. Great to see France topple the dominant Irish team and head straight to the top of the standings there. Italy and Wales continue their almost annual struggles of late.

9. PGA - Arnold Palmer Invitational. Jason Day in contention. He started his career as one of the most consistent players but still has wins in his kit bag.

The Wrap - Embarrassment Ball

1. Las Vegas NRL. What a stunning spectacle! The standard of NRL has never been higher for an opening round. The Raiders looked sharp and defensively strong, winning 30-8. The skinnier field allowed for stronger defensive patterns to work. The Warriors have fallen for the Parramatta trick...too many slow backs. They will really struggle this year, especially with no Fonua-Blake too. Surely there are quicker kids in New Zealand than that!

The Jillaroos. A waltz. Almost 100-0! That might sum up England at the moment in a number of sports. Nice to see Jessica Sergis in the Australian team. The former coach, Brad Donald, became a joke leaving Sergis, the Dally M Player of the NRLW, out of his squad. Never like seeing game playing and nonsense from coaches. Be honest and communicate, but save your nonsense. It kills trust, builds a fear in players of not speaking up and leads to lack of accountability and poor results. The Roosters will dominate the NRLW again this season. They have all the stars.

The Panthers. Their culture and connection in their club is awesome. Their intensity was great. The trust is huge of each other and they have a pipeline of coaches and players who know that 'community pride' drives them. A super win, with a lot of troops down, but the Sharks were definitely a notch better than last year. They could step up further in 2025, but they may need a new fullback soon however. They really targeted him. 

2. Champions Trophy ODI Cricket. No one knows what it is, but everyone wants to beat India to win it. India again dictate world cricket, telling everyone that they do not travel into Pakistan. Instead they stay at their 10 star hotel in Dubai and again have NO excuses. New Zealand have to travel around the world and have done well. Australia have hardly played a game with the surprisingly poor wet weather. South Africa have the firepower, just not sure if they have the bowling.

Meanwhile England have disgraced themselves. Baz Ball? How's that going for you? Pathetic really, losing all three games, including to Afghanistan. This is in keeping with their recent ODI form. Heads need to roll. Jamie Smith at number three was a disaster and their bowling was ordinary. Jofra Archer did OK, but they were all too expensive. Most of their best players are playing in T20 leagues around the world!

3. Super Rugby. The Reds have knocked over the mightily impressive 2025 Force team 28-24. So impressive have that been that we make errors in the scoreline - disbelief! The Tahs made it two from two beating the Drua. The Brumbies look a little looser than usual, leaking points and dropping another game. They're averaging giving up 40 points. Most unusual.

4. FA Cup. This comp rambles on and on. It gives a few lesser lights some gate takings they would never see, but it can become a stretch.

In EPL season 2024-2025, Liverpool's Mohammed Saleh (25 goals, 27 assists) is the man of the moment this season. Erling Haarland has 20 goals in second place. A quiet season by his standards, but Man City are unleashing now.

5. South Australian Cricket. A big win in the domestic ODI comp v Victoria. They have struggled in all forms for a long time. New coach, Ryan Harris, is making his mark where Jason Gillespie could not. Young Liam Scott, a boy from ryde-Hunters Hill, has stamped his class, winning the Player of the Tournament. Bravo!

6. NBL. Melbourne United and the Perth Wildcats are 1-1 in the best of three games with a finals spot on the line. The Illawarra Hawks v the South East Melbourne Magic are 1-1 as well and both winners of the third games will make it into the final. The final is best of five. Talk about milking the golden cow! Sout hEast Melbourne Magic started the year with five straight losses too.

7. A-League. The Western Sydney Wanderers are charging, having completed 19 matches, now with the most goals scored in the comp. They are eyeing a top tier finish now after beating Perth Glory 2-1 - after really struggling early on in the season. Suddenly they are coming fourth! A tight go at the top this season, but a point or two away from second spot.

Meanwhile the Young Socceroos win the U/20 Asian Cup. A good sign for the future as we try and recreate the national team, its profile and anyone's affection for them.

8. Swans. Disaster. Errol Gulden has broken his ankle in a pre-season hit out (do we need trials?). Their season is in some early ruins already. He does so much work. An intriguing start now ahead for new coach Cox.

The Wrap - Craven Mild Cup Champions

1. Broncos Grand Final Bound. Congratulations to the Brisbane Broncos who have won the WD and HO Wills $100,000 for somehow winning something that no one understands. This will be a crucial part of the Broncos rebuild and will now indicate that the club is on the right track with the players training the house down and really embracing the new Coach Maguire world, turning up for each other under a new leadership group. This will be a critical signpost come September (no doubt)!

The countdown to the Vegas start is exciting. That day is looming as being as big as Grand Final Day. Not one to miss!

The normal range of worrying injuries in the pre-season. I wonder if, as a modern coach in the game, you could avoid playing any trials with decent top flight players? Do the great players need meaningless trials?

On the back of the Joe Ofahengaue nonsense 'pantsing' last week, Addo Carr confirmed his lack of discipline this week, sledging Adam Doueihi as he lined up a conversion. He is a known goose. Both of these incidents tell me that Parramatta and Jason Ryles has a lot of discipline to instil yet. He needs to nail this down or this team will get the spoon and lose its best players. More work on team culture and leadership is needed. Early rookie coach error.

2. Champions Trophy - Josh Inglis. Delightful to see a Yorkshire born player nail England. An incredible victory really chasing down 350! Breaking all sorts of records, this was awesome. Alex Carey is also firming his excellence as a top flight player. Three catches in the field while Inglis took the gloves was pretty impressive too. A star athlete (ex GWS Giants too).

We are weak on bowling stocks unfortunately, but they have stuck to the task. Steve Smith has an amazing captaincy record, yet he failed with the bat. Head is due for a score too.

Sadly the brilliant innings of the pocket rocket - Ben Duckett (165 off 143 balls) - was not worthy of the MOTM. Not often that happens with such an amazing innings.

Does anyone know what the Champions Trophy actually is? 

3. Owen The Saints... The Tasmania opener, Mitch Owen, is some sort of batsman in the short form of the games. The IPL will be noticing he hit 149 off 69 balls today v South Australia, proving the final of the BBL was no fluke. Amazing free hitting.

4. AFL. The fans are ready for the AFL brilliance to resurface in season 2025. Lots of trials and chat about the year ahead...bring on the games!

5. Ange - Tottenham. Three successive EPL wins sees the wolves move on to another door...perhaps Ruud van Nistelrooy, the coach of Leicester City, who has six straight scoreless home losses. They are relegation bound now.

A bad loss by Arsenal to West Ham 1-0. West Ham, like Everton, will not be relegated. They are proud clubs who fight hard and never waver.

6. Super Rugby. Reds and Western Farce on fire this weekend. We are nearly in record territory for Australian domestic rugby wins at present. Sadly the comp is almost invisible with their broadcast deal.

7. A League. Auckland and Adelaide are leading the way, but the Western Sydney Wanderers are surging back against all odds. Coach, Allan Stajcic is finally hitting the right notes.

The Wrap - A Myriad of Mess

1. ODI Cricket v Sri Lanka. A 2-0 series loss, but who really cares? The Sri Lankans were too good on their decks with bat and ball. In fact, where were some of these players in the recent Test series?

Sam Konstas hits an ODI ton domestically at the same time we crumble on the turning Sri Lankan decks. Like Matthew Short however, we may be good in Australian conditions, but the patience and skill needed on the sub-continent is a special quality. Maxwell continues to disappoint... so talented but so inconsistent. Our 'B Team' was either arrogance or opportunity, but it simply did not fire. 

Jake Fraser-McGurk is a current liability, too often lacking patience and poise. Reckless. Trying to be Dave Warner (without the cunning). He makes a lot of money for a bloke who gets out for less than 10 a lot. Champions League cricket is reserved for champions so he needs form and fast in the IPL. His aspiration is to be an international T20 player only, but he needs to learn how to play proper cricket shots at the right time. Cooper Connolly also needs to keep to the basics. He has had a rocky international start. 

Without our best fast bowlers, our bowling stocks were far too thin. The lack of genuine pace made things easy for Sri Lanka. Happily, no one was reported for throwing. Not a problem when you are winning.

2. ICC - Matthew Kuhnemann. What a joke. The ICC are a mess. Imagine if this was an Indian bowler? You get wickets and the accusations fly. I think we all know if someone is a full on thrower. There are signs that this is revenge for Murali (Boxing Day 1995 revenge for the ghosts of Darrel Hair), but a protractor from the old Kent set will be needed to work out the arm angles. If he throws, he does not do it very effectively. He bowls better than that. 

Where is Todd Greenberg? He has been very silent here and needs to step up. he seems to have forgotten that players lives are tainted and impacted by this. In fact, Murali rarely gets a mention or accolades for his incredible bowling feats. 

3. NRL Trials. Melbourne have no chance, Souths haven't got a hope and Parra or the Sharks will win the comp. Adam O'Brien (who has made the semis three of the past four seasons) is to be sacked? Stop. That's right they are preseason trials.

• The Indigenous v All Stars game. The risk of injuries must petrify every NRL coach. A physical game and a lot of feeling in it! It always sets a cracking pace to the season arrival. (How we miss the NRL!).
• Francis Molo's effort to escape his contract at St George (who is the 'other' club behind this?) is also being described by Shane Flanagan as "a mess".
• Joe Ofahenguae is a dill. He dacks Zac Zomax mid interview live on Fox Sports. Parramatta need to cut him free. He is a liability. Ill-disciplined on the field and off it. He is a fool. What's next Joe? A flick on the butt with a wet towel, a crow peck, a nipple cripple, a horse bite on the leg...please. Parramatta need to iron this rubbish out. Gutho turned up to a press conference last year in his speedos. Unprofessional. A bad sign for Ryles. He needs to rule with an iron fist!
• How about the first Super league game of the year? The Leigh Leopards, coached by Adrian Lam beat the Wigan Warriors 1-0! A late field goal. An extraordinary result in this era of rugby league.

4. Super Rugby - Waratahs. A rare win so early in the season and a good win v Highlanders. Joseph Aukuso-Suaalii gets the headlines, but they need to stay consistent and win close games. That is how you make finals. After the spoon last year and a 2014 title a distant memory, any Super Rugby positivity is a delight. A great start.

5. Jannik Sinner (by name and deed). Is there a greater mess than WADA? A three month drug ban at a time where world number one, Jannik Sinner misses nothing much - and no prize money removed or titles eg. The recent Australian Open. Like getting a school detention in the school holidays. The French Open starts on 19 May. How convenient...just over three months away! Perfect preparation. Honestly.

The integrity of tennis has always been pretty strong, but this is not a good look for your number one player. What came of the Tomic match fixing allegations? All a bit quiet now too. A mess. Especially when world number one, Iga Swaitek has also admitted drug taking!

Yet lower ranked players would get hammered for any violation! (Bol got four years, Shayna Jack got two years, Bronson Xerri got four years!). So inconsistent. Kygrios may have said something sensible.

We've had contaminated meat, bad toothpaste, too much sex, kissing girls in niteclubs, mum's tablet, coaches tablet, oral sex with pregnant wives and girlfriends, infusions gone wrong, bad medical teams, fake urine samples, ghosts (NY Jets), cross contamination of waste products on shorts... now a masseuse using ban products on a player's open wound....on it goes.

6. Sydney Kings. They crumbled and shrunk into oblivion v Adelaide in the finals. A poor end and Brian Goorjian the coach will need to recruit better international personnel. The player cocaine bust in the week of the finals was so disruptive. Maybe more sensible, wholesome recruiting will be required in future.

7. Super Bowl. Jordan Mailata and the Philadelphia Eagles are celebrating long and loud. A cracking win v the Kansas City Chiefs. Jordan can also sing... the complete package!

8. LIV Golf - The Grange. Golf on fire and an Adelaide crowd channelling the Phoenix Open! Not sure the team names are front and centre in fans minds - more the individual players. Simply put, the fans want to see the best players. There should be a peace plan very soon from Mr Trump (tick tock)! That and Ukraine. A complete mess.

9. Sam Kerr. What a shock. Not guilty after an absolute circus and waste of time. She should have been fined and suspended and everyone moves on. The policeman may need a new career or role in case his feelings get tested again. The courts must be a slow, choked place in that country.

10. Tottenham. It could all end for Ange this week. ManU tonight will not be easy, but he has tenacity. The Europa League is his last hope...crushed in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup! Even North Korea has banned Spurs games now because Son is their South Korean skipper - not because of their win-loss record!

The Wrap - Head Honchos and Chiefs

1. Australia v Sri Lanka - Test Cricket. Steve Smith (36 test tons, equalling Joe Root and Rahul Dravid) is a gun. He averages in the high 50s, up there with Sangakarra (and Adam Voges!). So prolific and when he is skipper he bats even better! His record as a skipper is pretty awesome with a moderate team for much of it. He has a better winning percentage (in 40 test matches) than Mark Taylor and Michael Clarke, not quite as strong as Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting however. better than Greg Chappell and Ian Chappell who usually rates himself more highly than the statisticians.

Lyon has 550 test wickets and Steve Smith has 10,271 test runs and the most catches ever for an Australian fieldsman, cracking 200 catches, ten behind the all time record of Rahul Dravid (210). 

Are Nathan Lyon and Paul Kelly related? He is so patient and persistent. The deception in flight is such a strength. The Sri Lankans are too often not patient enough at the crease.

Kuhnemann has done super well. He can't get a wicket in Australia, but on the sub-continent he is awesome. Funny how Jayasuriya for Sri Lanka bowls so slowly. It is the key as to why Murali and Herath got so many wickets. These conditions teach slower bowlers many new tricks. Travis Head was near unplayable late on Day 3. 16 wickets for Kuhnemann. Player of the Series? (Smith won it which was fair enough).

Carey has really stepped it up in this Test and was MOTM. A 150+ score and some super keeping. He looks like he believes he belongs now.

Beau Webster is such a professional cricketer. English County Cricket need to sign him up. Super safe hands, a decent bowler and a safe, sensible batsman. The full package and a talent we have been calling to play here for a few seasons now.

Full steam ahead for South Africa and the World Test Championship in June. Looking forward to the next Amazon Prime Test Cricket series.

How about WA, all out for next to nothing. Once again the pitches served up in Australian domestic cricket are quite ordinary. How do teams getting rolled for 120 and 70 help the national cause? McAndrew got U/11 figures... 7/11. Also, memo: don't bowl short at Victorian, Harry Dixon. He can play.

2. Travis Head. A deserved winner of the AB Medal - and Annabel Sutherland a winner too. The women need to play more teams internationally now. Surely the game has matured.

Head has turned so many games for Australia with the bat and the ball in this last short while. Did he put his fingers in ice before accepting the award? He does throw his wicket away too often however.

3. Joel Wilson. He may possibly be the worst umpire ever. So many of his decisions are overturned on review. One in three are wrong. Not good enough. He actually generates reviews because the players all think he is a lottery...and he is.

4. Sam Kerr. Is this as big a fiasco as it sounds? The British legal system must be ridiculously slow and expensive. She was drunk, stupid and offensive, but a court case? Is there a compensation claim coming here as well by the police victim? Honestly, fine her, censure her, apologise and do some educative programs and move on. Spencer Leniu would have been doing jail time for the Vegas matter if it happened in England. It all seems very British.

5. Ange. He has won a few hearts through persistence in the face of many injuries, sits mid EPL table in 14th place (dreadful) and got whacked in the Caraboa Cup semi final 4-0 by Liverpool mid-week. He needs to keep winning and has signed a few in the January Transfer window, including Martin 'Chariots' Offiah's son.

6. SuperBowl Sunday. The Philadelphia Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs have a stellar record, winning 2020, 2023, 2024. Three Super Bowl titles/ one loss in the past five seasons. This will be quite the dynasty with a win here in 2025.

7. The Phoenix Open. A wild tournament - The People's Open - sees Min Woo surging in the second and third round to T12. The 16th hole is so exciting for golf. Great to see.

8. NRL. Is a player who seeks to explore their value on the open market trouble - and do they actually reduce their value in a quest to eek out more shekels? Greedy player managers and self-centred players... honestly. 

This is the same Dylan Brown caught in an embarrassing situation in a public toilet and a fellow seen misbehaving when out at off season events, even if the media is blind to it. Ryles has not offered a cent more. Nor should he. Is this the quality of a premiership winning player? Compare this to a Cooper Cronk for example.

Great to have the greatest game back on our TV screens however meaningless the trial NRL games are! All Stars game upcoming.

9. UFC. Nil. Brutal.

10. Tennis. Alex de Minaur into the final of the Rotterdam Open v Carlos Alcarez. Now World No. 6!

The Wrap - Brown Bowl of Ashes

1. Sri Lanka. They are certainly not at the top of their game for a country who have produced some super star cricketers (Aravinda de Silva, Murali, Herath, Chaminda Vaas, Ranatunga...). In fact, Sanath Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana changed cricket with their outstanding aggressive work in the first few overs of ODI cricket. 

Angelo Mathews has retired six times and is struggling. The ill discipline of their batting (three or four stumpings) was incredible. Carey now has more dismissals than Paine and five more stumpings than Rod Marsh! Old straight breaking Ashley Mallet didn't do much for his stats there. Lots of old windy woofs and too many bowled.

Conversely, what a joy for Australia to bat against their four pronged attack (uniquely, three Sri Lankan bowlers were headed for 200 runs conceded each, when a declaration mercifully ended the plundering). This is the sort of bowling Root and Williamson have dined out on for a long time, so it was fitting for Smith to reach 10,000 runs+ and score his 35th Test ton (Ponting has 41). 

Khawaja hitting 200+ positions him well for an Ashes farewell in Sydney. Paul Kelly will be warming up his vocal chords for his song. Khawaja now has 16 test tons, one more than Doug Walters (15), one behind Gilchrist (17) now and three behind Taylor (19) and Hussey (19). He is fast becoming one of our modern greats.

The great Matthew Kuhnemann was a revelation. A great selection really of a guy who broke his thumb a few weeks back and who has traded states to get more bowling. Exceptional performance really with 9 wickets. Lyon (546) marches onto now only 17 wickets behind Glenn McGrath (563), but having bowled 800 more overs than the exceptional McGrath at 30.25 average per wicket (McGrath got them at 21.64 per wicket).

2. Australian Women Ashes. Interesting format but what a team. Mooney and Sutherland hit tons. Alana King gets a bagful of wickets with her wonderful leg spinners. Their fielding is first class. Compared to the hopeless English fielding, it was a major difference. Such a dominant display.

England are traditionally pretty strong, so they will have a review and of course, will need to build a centre of Excellence...a guarantee that failure will hand around longer, but a top excuse for under performing clubs.

3. Dylan Brown. If a club is willing to pay over a million for Brown, then good luck to them. Parramatta have to let him go - and fast. He is derailing their season already. Interesting to see Sean McElduff go as well in senior management. Made a strong initial difference after inheriting a mess, but these player clauses in contracts...honestly. Who thought that was a great idea? Moses is taking the high ground wanting Brown to stay, but is not rescinding his own clauses in his $1 million+ contract per year. Incredible.

Hopefully Ryles enjoys success and can dictate who stays and cut the cancer in the playing roster free. He has made some solid early steps, but needs halves who are not all about themselves. Moses and Brown are both highly talented selfish players. The club captaincy will not keep Moses there. Parramatta need some quality quick young halves on long term deals.

4. Tottenham. A huge week ahead. Automatically into the last 16 of the UEFA Europa League (in fourth place!) which is a great achievement. They also head to Liverpool for the second leg of the Carabao Cup later this week. A win here pits them against either Newcastle or Arsenal. This would be an incredible result for the injury stricken Spurs team. Not a lot of inclusions from the January transfer window either.

The EPL? Well every time we mention it they lose.

5. Rugby. The Waratahs are about to set sail again. Hopefully a bigger crowd than the usual. Maybe some wins will cure that! Wales absolutely smashed in the Six Nations too.

6. NBA Transfer. Luka Doncic to join the LA Lakers... That franchise never misses out on high quality. Playing with Le Bron James too. Incredible. Patty Mills picks up his seventh (!) NBA club too. Timeless.

7. Super Bowl. As predicted, Kansas City Chiefs v Philadelphia Eagles ("I love...love...love...yes I do"!). Mahomes and KC have a formidable record. Hard to see them losing to be honest. They won 11 games by seven points or fewer this year. They know how to win tight games. Awesome! A week of media and high jinks before the game now.

8. Tassie. Have won the next AFL franchise, have two Australian cricket captains (Ponting and Paine) and two Australian wicketkeepers (Woolley and Paine), the Jackjumpers have won the NBL finals and now...the Hobart Hurricanes smashed the Thunder to win their first BBL championship on the back of Mitch Owen hitting a sparkling 100. He was outstanding. Big crowd and big innings. Riches await him.

The Wrap - Bali Money

1. Cricket Australia. The complete absence of any form or derivative of cricket on Australia Day is a remarkable stuff up in the long history of stuff ups from CA. Hopefully the scheduling disasters, financial crap show and other nonsense will be addressed by Todd Greenberg, the new man in town. Fingers crossed. The European Cricket may be the only option!

2. AO Tennis. More injuries and questions have arisen over whether men should play three set matches to spare their bodies. Like the women’s draw. Madison Keys and Sinner were too good. Sinner now has three titles…both men’s finalists have sketchy integrity questions, but both made it and have some tremendous memories. Sinner looks like a younger leaner Djokovic, but needs to work on the personality. An awesome striker of the ball. Huge motor.

3. Novak Djokovic. An awesome record of 10 Australian Opens and 24 singles titles. Time may be up. Getting a bit cranky now… including media, his ‘poisoning’ and then injuries. A champion, but time may be up. Getting to the semi finals again is an extraordinary feat. 

4. Tottenham. Big month ahead. Their Sunday/ Monday night fixtures often end in misery - as it has overnight v Leicester City, 1-2. Ange is running out of excuses. This is an horrific loss. They have the second most goals in the season, but a dreadful defensive record. The January Transfer window needs to be open and profitable. Surely relegation is not an option! 

 Nottingham Forrest coming fourth but got dusted by Bournemouth 5-0. 

5. Australian Women’s Cricket. Completely dominant v England in their ODI-T20-Test v England for the Ashes. Their fielding and catching is brilliant! They have such a great pipeline of younger talent as well. It has been an impressive showing in this series.

6. Browned Off About Dylan Brown. Dylan Brown must be good at playing Monopoly - or an expert in the Bali rupee as a currency. His player manager is kidding. $1.2 million per season? Impossibly optimistic. Certainly not in the Nathan Cleary or Kaylen Ponga zone. Jason Ryles remains silent. Interesting. 

7. NFL. Bills v Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game and the Eagles v Commanders in the NFC game. Kansas City Chiefs v Eagles again for the Super Bowl? 

Kansas City have three wins in the past five years. 4 titles. The Eagles have one win all time (v Patriots). The business end of the season!

8. India v England T20. India have a completely new and different team and are 2-0 up. Crushing. Many decent English T20 players are with other world wide franchises!

Thunder v Hurricanes tonight will be tight, but the Hobart team are lining up for their first title and will be favourites.

9. Best NRL Club Coaches in Our Era. Are these the most successful (winning %, premierships) at each of the NRL clubs since 1980?

• Storm - Craig Bellamy
• Canberra - Tim Sheens
• Sharks - Shane Flanagan
• St George - Wayne Bennett
• Parramatta - Jack Gibson
• Manly - Bob Fulton
• Penrith - Ivan Cleary
• Brisbane - Wayne Bennett
• Newcastle - Malcolm Reilly
• Souths - Michael Maguire
• North Sydney - Peter Louis
• Canterbury - Warren Ryan
• Gold Coast - John Cartwright
• Warriors - Daniel Anderson
• Roosters - Trent Robinson
• North Queensland- Paul Green
• Wests Magpies - Roy Masters
• Wests Tigers - Tim Sheens. 

10. Neale Daniher. Awesome effort and fight by the former Essendon AFL Bomber against Motor Neurone Disease to become Australian of the Year. Incredible strength and resilience - and $100M+ raised!

The Wrap - Brats and Battlers

1. Our Most Disappointing Athlete Ever?. Talk about media exposure and drama. Injuries, coaches, social media posts, controversies, the lot. Honestly, what about some tennis from Nick Kygrios? He can play. Bundled out in the first round and then an absolute fiasco with his injured partner in the doubles. Then he threatens never to return which I am sure we will all cope with if it happens. Such a shame for one so talented. He is a Round 1-2-3 man in the Australian Open. His AO record is pretty ordinary for one so loud:

Compare this to Alex de Minaur. More class and character. Plenty of grit, steel and determination. A likeable Australian tennis champion. Kane Cornes, the ex AFL player, never holds back, but this was his assessment of Kygrios:

“I just feel we talk about this guy too much, I understand why, but he’s absolutely dominated the headlines in the last two-to-three weeks in the lead-up to the Australian Open. That’s not unusual, that happens, and we’re not going to hear the last of him. And despite him being our most disappointing Australian athlete ever, he will still have a role to play because people are interested in him.”

Who have been some of our most disappointing athletes across all sports was then raised. Supremely talented but never dominated as they should have...Shane Watson, Ben Simmons, Bernard Tomic, Jarryd Hayne, Brett Papworth, Raygun...

2. Tennis - Health. Tennis used to be a sport for the battler. Now it is the preserve of rich kids who at their worse, become spoilt brats. Take Danielle Collins. Retreating to privilege and elevating herself above others in a moment of vulnerability. Then smashed in the next round when a victory would have earned much respect. Now she can have her promised holiday. Sadly there will probably be a medical issue at the end of it with a mental health social media announcement in the next year or so and a sympathy story. The behaviour and choices of tennis players needs careful management. Mental health, physical health...a dangerous sport. They are a temperamental bunch. Djokovic sets the standard.

3. The Tennis Injury Excuse. With so much money involved in the game, it is rare a player simply says that the opponent was better than them and they lost fair and square. More and more bail out before the scheduled end, disrupting all and dudding the fans in the stadium. Has anyone ever bailed out when they were leading? Rather, there are medical timeouts, medical breaks, courtside treatments and medical excuses galore. The doctors and physios are busier than the SES.

4. BBL. The revolving door of T20 players is spinning madly on the eve of finals. No loyalty and no one cares. The player caravan moves on for more cash - and to our Test commitments in Sri Lanka (scheduling?). Who cares about franchise direction and loyalty? The Hobart Hurricanes are looking for a BBL series victory (first ever) but they need to play the Sixers who are surely the favourites again. What a high quality franchise they have been. 

For the Sydney Thunder to make the finals without Daniel Sams, is a minor miracle but the great Dave Warner still has it! The second top run scorer for the BBL season (346 runs) and a lot of it on that goat track at I Dream of Jeannie Stadium. He has such a stunning record in T20 worldwide. Cooper Connolly pipped him impressively for the yellow cap (351 runs).

Glenn Maxwell has been superb for the Stars who make the semis and could do anything from an 0-5 start. Big David from the Hurricanes is also said to be on the move for next season. Ah, loyalty...his team hasn't even played their semi final! So disruptive. The Sixers will crush them.

5. Womens Ashes Team Success. What a great team. Completely dominant. Reminds us of the male team of Ponting, McGrath, Warne, Waughs x 2, Hayden, Hussey, Gilchrist... A plethora of stars in Healy, Litchfield, Perry, Sutherland, Mooney, Gardner, McGrath et al. So talented.

6. Daniel Sanders - Dakar Rally. An awesome win! The second Aussie to win it since 2019. That is a super gruelling contest of skill, luck and hazards!

7. Dylan Brown. Brown is highly talented, but another of those who feels the grass is greener elsewhere. The player manager is a blessing and a curse. Interestingly, Jason Ryles has not made a song and dance about it at all. Pathetic initial contract negotiations and clauses firstly and now a player who has under performed looking elsewhere and not delivering for the club that backed him. Good luck to him but another underperforming sports star on a conveyor belt of such individuals.

8. EPL - Ange Postocoglou. The hearse has pulled up now. He needs EPL wins and fast. It starts with Everton then Leicester City next week. Patience with mid table superstar clubs is short. 

Conversely, Erling Haaland has just signed a 10 year deal for $26M a year... lucrative for the very best of players to stay at Man City for life.

9. NFL. The Kansas City Chiefs power on to another AFC championship game. The Super Bowl winner surely comes out of that side of the draw - Chiefs, Bills or Ravens. The Eagles in the NFC progress to the big decider...surely!

The Wrap - Nick Off

1. Australian Test Team to Sri Lanka. Some good signs that the selectors need new blood (and old). Smith's record as skipper is mightily impressive. Hoping for a more balanced approach from Konstas who can bat sensibly and powerfully and a team where the spin of Lyon leads us to victory. 

Kuhnemann is fortunate he switched to Tassie in the Shield this season and it has drawn benefits (beating Swepson to the airport). Webster is there to balance the team with his composure and Abbott looks a chance of debuting too. 

The great Sri Lankan, Rangana Herath and his left arm orthodox spin gives Cooper Connolly half a chance too. Connolly looks to be a special talent with bat, ball and in the field.

Is it time 'Australia A' played in the BBL as well? Our Australia A team back in 1994-95 was an enthralling team that played in the ODI series as you may recall. Many players then went on to dominate in Australian cricket for the next ten years (Ponting, Hayden, Langer, Lehmann, Merv Hughes). It laid a perfect platform:

2. BBL Warhorses. This past week has seen the great bats step up. Warner is now the leading run scorer with yet another 80+ score carrying his bat for the Thunder. Steve Smith set a mighty standard for the Sixers with 121no and Glenn Maxwell has lifted and has steered the Melbourne Stars to their current ladder position in the top four (at least for now). Amazing eye and hitting power. They have surged back into contention but need a top finish too.

The competition is forming up well for the only two teams who have never won it - the Hobart Hurricanes and the Melbourne Stars. Both are two of the leading teams. The Thunder seem to be imploding with two bad losses in the past week.

3. Australian Open Tennis. Nick Kygrios is hard work. Plenty to say, plenty to add in press conferences where he impersonates NBA players, but as Andy Roddick pointed out he has his own dark demons and worrying police record, so it may be a stretch to have Nick lecturing all the other players on the tour. If only he played, shut up and showed us all what he really has. Clinging to memories of victories over Nadal, Federer and Djokovic in satellite tour games wears a bit thin. One Grand Slam final (walkover v Nadal and a loss to Djokovic), it would be great to celebrate his skill and physical domination, without the mouth.

Did you know Djokovic beat Federer in every Grand Slam final they played bar one?

As always, lots of hype for the local Australian players and great Round 1, 2 or 3 exits await. de Minaur has a chance to shine. Making a semi would be an over achievement there.

Sabalenka looks too good for the women's singles title... even after the first round.

4. Tottenham. Scintillating win v Liverpool in the Carabao Cup this past week 1-0. Ange can beat the big guns and does so regularly. It is the minnows he struggles with and so tonight v Tamworth in the FA Cup will have the critics baying for blood if they do not win and win well.

5. NFL. The Ravens deliver and the Bills look good things as well. The Lions are the faves at this point.

6. A League. The Central Coast Mariners and Western Sydney Wanderers have been the disappointments in 2024-2025. Mid table and losing tight games...the same old story. They both need to start to surge now... or perish.

7. NBL. The South East Melbourne Phoenix have recovered from their disastrous table low start to the season and sit mid table now. The Kings need to tighten up now at 14-10. They can produce better than this!