The Wrap - Hippopotamus Ears

1. Australian Open Tennis. The Aryna Sabalenka train wreck continues sadly. A four time Grand Slam winner (2 x US and 2 x Australian, with four finals losses too) was not able to stay composed to win when 3-0 up, losing two years in a row, despite winning Brisbane and looking quite invincible. Elena Rybakina was awesome taking the first set in the tournament from Sabalenka and ambushing her for her second Grand Slam win. A melt down really.  

Djokovic (as unlikeable as he is to many) has made an extraordinary leap in 2026 at the AO. At 39 years of age, he makes his 38th Grand Slam Final. So he has won 24 and lost 13 - one to be determined! Incredible. Novak has also never lost an Australian Open final.

Alcaraz stands on the precipice of greatness with the chance to be the youngest ever to win all four Grand Slams - a "Career Grand Slam" and an elite club...all at the age of 22! A sensational talent. He has six Grand Slam wins (the same as Becker and Edberg). Newcombe, McEnroe and Willander have all won 7 Grand Slams, so Alcaraz could join these superstars too.

Sadly, the worst effort of the Australian Open was by our top female player - Maya Joint. A US local really who plays for Australia, bundled out in the first round for the second straight year. As Kerry Packer once said "don't get bitter - get better!". Nick Kyrgios lost this award in a split decision.

2. Australian T20 Cricket. A catastrophic T20 performance v Pakistan in the lead up to the T20 World Cup. No surprises there after this season's BBL... Matt Short, Mitch Owen, Glenn 'Tennis Court-Golf Cart' Maxwell, Josh Phillipe and Cooper Connolly (who seems to get more ducks than most now...four T20 innings and two ducks in the middle order!) were woeful with the bat this BBL season. Then they are selected in the Australian team! 

Sadly, Cameron Green is also very average on slow decks. The $6 million dollar man who didn't play in the BBL (not that the Scorchers needed him to win) and then struggles on the sub continent where is meant to dominate (and has at times in T20). Memo to Cameron: 30 off 30 balls as number three is not good enough. Usman Tariq, the Pakistan bowler who dismissed Green overnight has perhaps the worst action any of us would have seen in world cricket ever - it is truly dreadful. Xavier Bartlett is about the only one who can hold his head up so far.

Compounding this catastrophe is that Pat Cummins was ruled out of the World Cup T20 side and Ben Dwarshuis was selected instead. It will surprise many that Dwarshuis is the second highest wicket taker in the BBL of all time! The clanger was the selection of Matt Renshaw over Steve Smith. Honestly. Tim David's fitness is not quite right yet, so Smith is still on the radar.

3. Super Bowl 60 (LX). The New England Patriots were superb in beating the (QB-less) Broncos to win the divisional championship v the much more fancied Seattle Seahawks. Playing the Super Bowl in the relative warmth of California, the NEPs are led by Drake Maye but will need to be sharp next Monday 9 Feb. The Seattle defence is strong, but Maye has surprised everyone in the 2025-2026 season. 

The coaching has been superb too from Mike Vrabel, the former Super Bowl winner with the Patriots in 2002, 2004 and 2005. Vrabel played there and is in his first year of coaching the NEP team and was a gun defensive player in his day. Stevenson the running back is immense as is the speed of Diggs, the wide receiver post ACL surgery this season. 

What about this for a story?

Sam Darnold, the Seahawks' QB was the third pick in the 2018 draft to the hapless New York Jets where he was limited (after three seasons 4-12, 7-9, 2-14). After being traded to the Carolina Panthers (5-12, before losing the starting spot), he was sent to the San Francisco 49ers for a year and went to the bench as their back up guy and didn't really play. After that he went to the Minesota Vikings and went 14-3 in a great year yet they did not win the division (Detroit Lions went 15-2 to beat them). He was then sent to Seattle and is now in a Super Bowl.

US sport is a tough nut to crack. The toughest survive and achieve, while the rest come home.

4. EPL. Arsenal and Liverpool snapped back to life. West Ham were downed 3-2 by Chelsea. Arsenal stay 7 points clear of Man City who have a game in hand. Sunderland have hit the wall and Everton keep seeking out points and look like they will again escape any thought of relegation - yet again!

5. UFC - Alex Volkanovski. The Australian powerhouse was too good for Lopes. He is a phenomenon. So tough and uncompromising. One of the best ever.

6. A League. Sacking the Western Sydney Wanderers coach did not work out so well, going down 4-1 to Sydney FC. The WSW are fast becoming an ongoing A League misery story.

7. Sydney Sixers. Coaching can be tough. The Sixers have won the BBL so often (3) or lost in finals (5), yet they part ways with coach Greg Shipperd after many years. His NSW Sheffield Shield work has been too inconsistent and with a team of spoiled new players who don't play straight (eg. Sam Konstas), they struggle. Shipperd has not been able to change this and needed to be more brutal. Retire older players of no value and don't persist with belligerent young players who have hippopotamus ears, when elephant ears are required.

8. NBL. The Sydney Kings have started and continue an incredible winning streak (W7) landing in second spot and surging forward. Brian Goorjian is doing an incredible job once again. A proven winner in his seventies as a passionate and committed coach - and a good man.

The Wrap - Scorching Form

1. BBL. The almost annual Sixers v Scorchers T20 final is on again. In 15 seasons, they have played each other FIVE times in BBL finals and head to head, the Scorchers have 3 wins and the Sixers have won 2 times. In total, the Scorchers have won the BBL FIVE times. The Sixers have won the BBL THREE times. Incredible rivalry by both teams. 

Getting Smith and Starc back for the Sixers was a huge plus. They have been a different team since.

It is hard to believe that Steve Smith is not in our top players for that T20 World Cup (India-Sri Lanka shared venues). 

2. Australian Open Tennis. Alex de Minaur has made the Round of 16 for five straight years. Incredible, but it seems as though his game has not gone forward too far from sixteenth to top six in the world. If AdM wins, he runs into Alcarez in the final 8 and will be upended. 

He will not catch Sabalenka who is firming as the women's winner once again. Remarkably few upsets so far. 

3. EPL. West Ham are surging back, almost reaching Notts Forest and almost climbing out of the drop zone. It has been some sort of recovery, but much more to do yet. Burnley and Wolves are gone. Arsenal are still comfortably ahead, but a couple of draws or a loss could change things rapidly. Tottenham continue to struggle... the coach is on the slippery dip as they languish in 15th spot in the EPL.

4. NFL. The Patriots v Broncos clash is going to yield a surprise AFC packet Super Bowl representative on 9 Feb. The Pats have been sensational and defied the odds at every turn. Their new QB, Drake Maye has absolutely transformed the team and the competition really. He is on the precipice of greatness in his first year! MVP? From North Carolina and a 2024 draft pick come good! Meanwhile, the Broncos have lost their QB to injury. Interesting times ahead.

The Seattle Seahawks are poised to strike. The Rams will not have the firepower, but the week off could impact their rhythm. Doubtful. The Seahawks should dominate.

5. Zac Lomax. The saga continues. Melbourne Storm need a blast too. Offering $200K for Lomax is a bad deal for any club who had an Origin player who wants to join an opponent. Zac needs to be treated very harshly here. He has done it twice now and thinks he can jump in and out of contracts. He needs to learn a strong lesson in life. No tears from the Dragons supporters either.

6. Winter Olympics. We will all become experts very soon in 12 days time. Great footage and skill ahead. Talk of 'our best ever winter Olympics team' gives us all the head shakes. Scottie James is owned suddenly until he speaks with a twang and reveals his rich USA ties. We claim them every four years and give them little exposure or recognition in between. The Olympic spirit is teetering in modern times.

7. PGA - The American Express. How about this young talent, Blades Brown? Almost shot 59 in the second round, lipping out. Equal second placed is the great Scottie Scheffler hovering and could strike hard and early! Intriguing event played over three different courses in California.

8. Nick Kyrgios. As soon as things start stalling in the media, Nick gets a run typically about nothing. He says he has nothing to prove. Not sure what he has done, but he has made a lot of money.

The Wrap - Tszyulander

1. BBL - T20. Have we have reached a point in cricket where the young punk is a liability? Two in question - Sam Konstas and Jake Fraser-McGurk - are becoming expensive, both being dropped at different times. They are extravagant and excessive and rarely read the tea leaves inside the key game moments. Think Harry Brook - or Cameron Green too. 

Conversely, Steve Smith (awesome ton this week after only playing Test cricket - and not good enough to make the T20 National team) and Dave Warner (two BBL tons - 130 and 110no - and the highest tournament run scorer - on 433 runs at an average of 86.60. He hit most fifties (2) and the most fours (38), second most sixes (20). Awesome.

The Scorchers hit some great heights in the BBL annually. The Sixers too, but they will be under pressure from the Heat tonight. The records of both franchises is awesome. The Melbourne Stars are the only franchise who have never won the BBL. The crowds will fill the MCG if they can make a final. Maxwell might do us all a favour and hit double figures. He has been in horrific form this season.

2. Australian Open Tennis. Lots of hype and hoopla when the men's final will be the same as always... Sinner v Alcaraz - perhaps with the in form Medvedev putting some pressure on. Sabalanka will be hard to beat in the women's draw.

Don't we love tennis players whinging about prize money annually? They (all) already get far too much for their efforts. Huge crowds gets them excited.

Jelena Dokic is looking and sounding so much better too which is great! Such a talented player and commentator.

3. Pakistan Cricket. Hurt feelings and no team work seems to be the lot of this underperforming somewhat chaotic cricketing nation. Noticed a local team rolled for 37, while chasing 40 to win...classic Pakistani cricket. 

Babar Azam was annoyed but Steve Smith was on fire and you have to yield to this surely. Instead, the silent treatment and the childish reaction underlines why Babar has not hit the heights he should have in world cricket. There are a number of other underperforming, but Haris Rauf has been excellent as usual.

4. Boxing. It's a Tszyu. Incredible scenes when Zerafa couldn't see and was blinded by the light. He has been a controversial boxing figure for a long while with delay, avoidance and technical excuses. Quite a useful boxer, but really? A bad look for a sport that has more black eyes out of the ring than inside it.

The Nelson (NAS) fight v Latimore was a comedy show...and George Burgess challenging him post fight was theatrical, but ridiculous too. The tried and tested boxing experts must be horrified.

5. NFL. Denver broke the Bills 33-30 eventually, but the Seattle Seahawks absolutely crushed the San Francisco 49ers 41-6. A massive and compelling win. 

The New England Patriots have their work cut out v the Texans tomorrow whose defence this season has been rock solid. The cold conditions up north could shock the warm blooded southerners! The winner plays Denver for the AFC Championship game and a ticket to the Super Bowl. The Broncos will be without their injured quarterback...ouch!

In the NFC, the winner of the Bears v Rams then play the Seattle Seahawks for a place in the NFC Championship game. Hard to see either of them troubling the Seahawks. Still four franchises that have never MADE a Super Bowl: the Browns, Lions, Texans and Jaguars. While others have made the Super Bowl but have not won it! Cardinals, Chargers, Panthers, Titans, Falcons, Bengals, Vikings - and the Buffalo Bills.

6. EPL. West Ham had a cracking win against Tottenham 2-1, who are on the slide. Their crowd was shouting the familiar refrain about coach Thomas Frank - "you are getting sacked in the morning". How they miss Ange!

West Ham now move to 17 points with Notts Forest on 22 points. They held Arsenal 1-1 so nudge ahead. Hopefully they fall in a heap soon. Arsenal are well ahead in the race to the end as Man City had a shock loss to ManU.

Noticed Sam Kerr netted twice for Chelsea in the UK as well. She is a star...could smile more, but a star nonetheless.

7. Via Sistina. Retired. What an awesome horse. The Cox Plate win was the most incredible run in recent memory. Some significant breeding barn dollars ahead.

8. Winter Olympics. Such a northern hemisphere event...we are working out the birth certificates and visas of all talented ex-pats, so we can claim a few medals! Starts in early Feb, when the NRL pre season trial s start too (mercifully!).

The Wrap - Sm(ashes) and Cr(ashes)

1. Ashes Cricket. A resounding 4-1 smashing. The Poms really struggle in Australia. Starc was awarded Man of the Series and deservedly so (has also hit a hole in one at Long Reef since too!). He got Australia out of a jam regularly, with ball (and bat), but it was Travis Head who won three tests on the back of his unorthodox batting and now 12 Test tons. He passed Simpson/ Katich/ Hassett (10 Test tons), Dean Jones and Marnus (11) and is now on 12 Test tons equal with Arthur Morris. If he can drop the clown act and mature even more, he could become a 20 Test ton legend.

Khawaja ends his career on 16 test tons, one short of Gilly (17) and has played very strongly over a long while, resurgent at the back end of his career like many more players.

Steve Smith - 37 tons at 56.05 - has an awesome Test record, however very unorthodox at times. Seeing him bowled by Jacks is extremely rare. A framed photo for the all time Jacks family memorabilia stand.

One for the Poms to have a beer or two around... if they can be trusted on the drink!

• Boland: 19 tests - 82 wickets at 18.59. Superb.
• Neser: 5 tests - 22 wickets at 18.91. Excellent.
• Starc: 105 tests - 433 wickets at 26.52. Outstanding.

Mitchell Starc in his 105 Tests has now taken 433 Test wickets (one behind Kapil Dev's 434 wickets in 131 tests at 29.64 and six behind Dale Steyn's 439 wickets in 93 tests at 22.95). He will become one of the best ten most successful Test bowlers of all time if he passes Steyn. Incredible impact at sustained speeds of over 142kph.

2. The SCG Test. A tight finish but five days for a Test was unique. The SCG Test rarely disappoints. Some memorable highlights:

• 1984 - The retirements of DK Lillee, Rod Marsh, GS Chappell.
• 1992-1993 - The sensational Brian Lara 277 innings.
• 1994 - Fanie de Villiers wins the impossible with the Damien Martyn silly drive
• 2003 - The Steve Waugh 100 off Richard Dawson on the last ball of the day.
• 2007 - The retirements of McGrath, Langer, Warne.
• 2008 - The Michael Clarke spinning the team to victory (Ishant Sharma and the gloves that would not fit - OJ Simpson style).
• 2009 - Johnson bowling the injured Graeme Smith to win the test.
• 2012 - Michael Clarke 329no (and Hussey 150no) v India.
• 2017 - Dave Warner hits a hundred in the first session v Pakistan.
• 2018 - Twin tons to Shaun (156) and Mitchell Marsh (101).
• 2020 - Marnus hits 215 v NZ and Lyon takes 10 wickets.
• 2022 - Usman Khawaja hits a ton in both innings v England (137 and 101no).
• 2025 - Boland gets 10 wickets v India as MOTM.
• 2025 and 2026 - Beau Webster's heroics in 2025 (57, 39no, 1 wicket and two catches) and 2026 (71no and 3/64). We won both Tests.

3. Australian Open Tennis. For the third straight year, Nick Kyrgios has withdrawn from the singles. This year though he did not seem as though he was actually 'in' and withdrew all the same. I suspect the AO were not so inclined to give him a wild card and with that, he bailed. Maybe not, but he needs to keep it a little more low profile than riding camels into stadia and claiming like he did in the 'battle of the sexes' if he is not right to play. It is all about Nick who has had many injury troubles, but also longer, more ingrained attitudinal problems. Good luck to him and nice to see him admit the attitudinal errors of his ways of the past more recently.

4. EPL. West Ham seem anchored to the bottom of the table now after 21 rounds. They will struggle to get many more points (14 at present) and seem to be staring relegation in the face. Burnley (13 points) and Wolves (7 points) already seem gone too. Notts Forest sit on 21 points and are closest.

Magnificent to see Nottingham Forest crash out of the FA Cup on the weekend to the Hollywood stars at Wrexham. A team of over indulged brats with an owner who can't tell the difference. Sean Dyche, the new manager/ coach, is starting to appreciate the lack of fight and selfishness of the players sitting in that dressing room. Maybe the owner might sack a few players once the team is relegated.

Interesting that Tottenham also got kicked out of the FA Cup and are also coming 14th in the EPL. Maybe time for some playing staff to move on there too perhaps. Or just the manager/ coach?

How about Crystal Palace, the carry over FA Cup champs, losing to sixth division, Macclesfield? An upset for the ages.

5. NRL - Zac Lomax. There is zero sympathy for him from anyone so it seems. He is an amazingly self centred player who struggles to commit to anything. Talented yes, but hard for team mates to believe he is standing with them.

6. BBL #15. On it rolls with the older players still dominating. Some mighty entertainment and Dave Warner is the second highest run scorer of the tournament, with Sam Harper the surprise leader. Peter Siddle is the second highest wicket taker too! Khawaja, Smith... while Konstas retreats to the bench with Fraser-McGurk not too far away!

The Sydney Thunder have already notched up FIVE wooden spoons ...a sixth is imminent. Maybe recruit some bowlers who get wickets and who are not Daniel Sams?

7. NFL. In the NFC playoffs, the Chicago Bears crushed the Green Bay Packers in a scintillating comeback (the biggest in franchise history from 3-21) to win in the final seconds 31-27... their first play off win in 15 years! The fierce rivalry against the 'Cheeseheads' saw many Bears fans wearing cheese graters on their heads at their home base of Soldiers Field. Love the NFL fan intensity where every inch and every second counts. Great times!

The Rams also knocked over the Carolina Panthers 34-31. Pounded!

Plenty more to come tomorrow.

8. NRL. Tyran Wishart to the Perth Bears. Finally a great long term signing! Perhaps Parramatta may have been better served here than with a one year deal for the talented Jonah Pezet? The Bears will need talent to be competitive.

The Wrap - Ashes Animals

1. Ashes - Final SCG Test. A solid 384 is under par from England on that deck, despite the work of the great Joe Root (160). Two tons in the series and a statement made by a man who now has 41 Test tons - the same as Ricky Ponting. Harry Brook is a great talent - and Jamie Smith, but brain explosions really inhibit these blokes. Youth and they need to learn fast, but could both dominate world cricket. 

The explosive batting work from Travis Head was a joy in the Australian first innings to date (91 no), as he continues to dominate in first innings of games. He is 8/11 tons in Tests in the first innings of a game (two second innings tons so far in this Ashes series). This is an incredible strike rate when first innings runs are typically much harder to achieve. Head has an eye like a dead fish and hits the ball extremely hard. here's hoping for another ton tomorrow.

Head could pip Mitchell Starc as player of the series. 

Starc and Carey have been great (Carey has taken 26 catches/ 1 stumping in this Ashes series to date). Starc has knocked over the left handers of England (Duckett, Stokes) eight times! Michael Neser has proven to be a worthy addition to the team. He has taken 14 wickets at 17 in five innings. Impressive. Then he gets runs in Melbourne and comes out as a worthy night watchman. 

Steve Smith and Pat Cummins need a good look at their negative tactics of putting a ring of fieldsmen on the fence and bowling short to the tailender. Pitch it up and profit.

Is it fair to say Boland bowls better for Australia than he ever does for Victoria? (80 wickets in 19 matches at 18.48. It doesn't get any better than this!).

2. Animal XI. Poor Ben Duckett has played better pre-game soccer in the warm ups than on the cricket field. Poor hands, poor batting (gets bowled far too much). However, that has not deterred the selectors:

• Ben Duck(ett)
• Michael Slater
• Shubman Gill
• Martin Crowe
• Aaron Finch
• Robin Smith
• Jack Russell (wk)
• Graeme Swann
• Nathan Lyon
• Mike Trout
• Rodney Hogg.
• 12th: Brendan Dog (gett)/ Jackson Bird.
• Umpire: Dickie Bird.

3. EPL. West Ham look set for relegation. Sad, but true. Losing to the near winless Wolves is not a good step forward. 

4. Tennis. Alex de Minaur is closing in on World No. 5. A top effort, but no one gets past Sinner and Alcarez. They may as well give them the trophy now.

5. NFL. The finals are now determined. Broncos (AFC) and Seahawks (NFC) take the Conference titles. Getting through to the play off match ups are:

NFC:
1. Seahawks
2. Bears vs. 7. Packers
3. Eagles vs. 6. 49ers
4. Panthers vs. 5. Rams

AFC:
1. Broncos
2. Patriots vs. 7. Chargers
3. Jaguars vs. 6. Bills
4. Steelers vs. 5. Texans