Wrap - A Tale of Two Barretts

1. NRL. The crazy end of season form of a few top clubs continues to perplex the fans. Souths had the minor premiership in their sights and have gone to the dogs when it mattered. Then so did the Roosters, while the St George team has just capitulated. Saints look horrible. The Panthers have also just thrown it all away. It will be interesting to see if the Warriors can surprise a few in their first semi final appearance for a while. Somehow the Storm and Sharks just seem to be the most stable in big games. The Roosters have been shocking the last two weeks. The comp is anyone's guess.


2. Spoon-a clock. One thing needing no guessing is the wooden spoon winner. Their 14th such honour - is going to the Parramatta Club, replacing the triple crown winners and ending an era of supreme domination of the Henny Penny Newcastle Knights 2015-2017. Parramatta have now easily secured more spoons than the North Sydney Bears (9) and the Newtown Jets (8). Only Manly remain spoonless.


On Manly, I must say that Trent Barrett is beginning to look quite silly with some of the comments he is coming out with now. His inability to manage his players and win is the issue. Inexperienced and promoted before his time really. That club is on a knife edge. If the Penn family walk away, where will they be?


3. Wallabies. I thought the under fire Michael Cheika managed himself quite well in the press conference after yet another loss. He remained strong and clear but managed his agitation well. The bottom line is that we simply cannot compete with the All Blacks. Our Queensland rugby juggernaut is spluttering and with it our national team brings very little. Beauden Barrett is easily the best oval shaped footballer in the world. He is an awesome competitor and a machine in attack. A complete superstar.


4. BBL Cricket. I noticed the Thunder have signed both Joe Root and Jos Butler. Handy additions. I would also be signing JP Duminy or AB Devilliers. Those two are unbelievable. Andre Russell is another bloke the franchises should be queueing up to secure. A hat trick and a ton in his last game.


5. Virat Kohli. India look like they are hunting down England in their Test Series. Down 1-2 with two tests to play... and Kohli is by far the best in the world. It could be very interesting.


5. AFL. The Hawks may have what it takes to knock over Richmond in the first qualifying final. They are awesome for a team which was written off. They are so resilient and absorb pressure better than most. GWS seem to be falling apart when it matters and Sydney will take them on at home which makes it more difficult yet again for them. The Melbourne Demons are confident, but Geelong could spring a big surprise for mine. They have the best in the business in their squad and they will be itching to dominate in the finals. West Coast and Collingwood... it will depend on venue.


6. EPL. I am liking the look of the Bournemouth operation at present in the EPL soccer. The year looks a lot closer already which is a great thing. Even Manchester City are dropping points to Wolves! Plenty happening and such tremendous atmosphere at all games.

Wrap - Bledisloe Bleeding

1. Wallabies. It’s not often you go to the Wallabies v All Blacks at Stadium Australia and come away with a win. In fact since games were played there, the record is better than many venues, but not great....17 games played there. 7 wins and a draw only...mainly in the Eales/ Gregan era. Up 6-5 at half time then a complete capitulation. Found out badly on our left edge - especially when Folau exited. The laziness of the forwards is staggering. hard to ignore that when Queensland rugby is weak, our whole show is weak.





2. The Spoon. The Eels have just about sealed the wooden spoon for 2018 (after the Dogs won v the pathetic Warriors) and what a mighty effort it has been. Another appalling waste of money and with a spectacular new stadium, the thought of it being half empty is firming. They lack discipline in all facets of the game. Maybe this may attract someone who knows the game and can direct the club into the future...but not through the Saturday paper advertisement. Perhaps they have to get a bit corporate and be more sophisticated in their approach...more modern and more contemporary... maybe use the internet?


The only thing missing in this advertisement is the lacquer administration skill set for the fine collection of teak, pine, oak, ash, blackbutt, maple and mahogany wooden spoons.

The Sharks are warming up. The Storm too. Rabbits have squandered the minor premiership, but the Roosters were disappointing. How they ever lose with their roster is beyond me.


The Panthers, Warriors and are wasteful. They will need to lift.

3. Swans. What a mighty effort in recent weeks: Collingwood, Melbourne and GWS all knocked over against the odds. 15 semi finals in 16 years us awesome. I think Ricky Stuart has two in twelve years.

The big test is Hawthorn next week at home. No team wins tougher than them. Melbourne into the finals for the first time in 12 years is striking. Richmond is streets ahead of all of them.





4. Adil Rashid. Not often in Test cricket does a player not get a bat, not get a bowl, not take a catch and contribute nothing across four days. But so it was in the second test between India and England. Jimmy Anderson’s match figures 9/49. Much better than Adil. Adil, thanks for coming!




It was Chris Woakes who killed them with the bat and then with the ball in the second test. He has doubled up again in the third test which is on now to take more wickets. Handy player.





5. Tiger Woods. Tiger’s surge home in the USPGA was awesome. Spirits in the crowd were lively. This Brooks Koepka is something else. Composure and poise! More majors (3) than the nudist now and all in two years. A brilliant player from down Florida way.





6. Winx. A brilliant effort. Surging down the Randwick straight at supreme speed. What a record. Special to watch live. We may never see the likes of this again. Certainly not in our life times.




7. Usain Bolt. A joke or not, he can run but he can't play. The Mariners will have Manfred Moore there very soon.

Wrap - My Word Is Stronger Than OAK

1. Jimmy Anderson. In England and especially at Lords, Jimmy Anderson wreaks havoc. His swing bowling is easily the best in the world and he can rip through an attack like India with ease. He is almost unplayable after rain. Night Test cricket would make him also unplayable. 550+ Test wickets says he is a legend of the game. India's top order are on notice...nervous and unable to make a difference on foreign soil.



2. US PGA Golf. Brooks Koepka and Gary Woodland are on fire at what appears to be an interesting PGA course. Adam Scott is also well placed. Such days in majors are rare in a professional golfer's life. You have to rise up and seize the chance.



3. AFL - Hawthorn. This footy club has spirit and tenacity. Amazing strength and will to win. There are never any easy victories against this mob. Geelong are disappointing under pressure and all that with a roster that screams premiership. No one beats Richmond this year on what we have seen so far.



A gutsy win by the Swans and all of that away from home at the MCG where they are typically barbecued! GWS on a mission and on a roll now. They have more speed that most other teams and it could just make the key difference.



4. Memo Anthony Griffin and Phil Gould. There is no use crying over spilt (OAK) milk. Reminds me of the Jerry Maguire movie..."my word is stronger than OAK"


See Gus and Anthony Griffin in their negotiation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1exKGizfJ0s




5. Clearyesque. This dad and son combo is fascinating. Obviously Ivan will walk away after his Tigers contract is up. He hasn't been a real successful coach when it is all said and done. He's won 137/288 (148 losses and three draws), a tick over 50%. Not good enough really. Would you want him?



6. NRL. The Roosters look good things this year. They'll have Sonny Bill next year to replace Blake Ferguson as well. Angus Crichton will be a star there too. Storm will need to lift now that Slater is fading out. It will be intriguing to see how long Cameron Smith continues, but he never gets injured. He is made of steel. The Storm are looking like becoming like everyone else again. A few losses back to back and they have to play Parramatta next week. That should fix it.

Souths and the Roosters will challenge the Storm this year. The others don't seem to have it. Penrith are loose. Saints are falling hard. Sharks may have some bite left, but are way too inconsistent.


7. EPL. Back underway with the shortest off season in world history. These guys are machines. Entertainment machines...and fit! The usual suspects are in line to win it, but the minnows still love it and those small English grounds make for outstanding atmosphere.


8. Bledisloe... can we come within 20 points of the All Blacks?

Wrap - Monumental Wins

1. AFL. Buddy Franklin was outstanding for the Swans scoring six goals and hitting the post with three more. His hands were excellent under pressure too. A big win for the Swans who were under a lot of pressure. may not get there in the end however with a tough road home (Demons, GWS, Hawks). They simply cannot score points! Is Nathan Buckley a double of that bloke who rapped and caused mayhem from the last series of Married At First Sight (Dean)?

 

How close was the AFL this weekend? Five games determined by three points or less. Hawthorn win tough by a few points over Essendon as do Richmond over Geelong and North Melbourne by three points over Brisbane. Adelaide by three over Port. Close games showing fight and steel under pressure. No wonder AFL crowds and ratings are through the roof.

 

2. NRL. Souths beating Melbourne was an upset despite being on the same points. Anthony Seibold has worked a miracle so far with the Rabbits, but I can't see them winning the comp. The Eels win against the Gold Coast was a match of the most woeful. The Gold Coast are appalling. Parramatta have thrown away games all year. The wooden spoon race is one of the most interesting in the comp at present. Wins to Manly and the Dogs too. St George have also hit a bad patch which is an annual event. Widdop and Hunt need to step up. Cannot believe how terrible the Sharks were. Valentine Holmes was awful when it mattered.

 

3. Super Rugby. Crusaders won their ninth Super Rugby title and the coach Scott Robertson’s dancing celebration post game was again outstanding. He needs to keep up the lessons as they will no doubt continue to win it. What a dominant force.

 

4. Surfing. Stephanie Gilmore zooming in on seven world surfing titles. A staggering success rate.

 

5. Hockey - Hockeyroos. Penalty shoot outs in hockey are ridiculous. Keepers running out from the goal one on one with a player running in. Silliness.

 

6. F1. Daniel Riccardo to Renault from Red Bull. He needs more tall podium finishes. Surprising move, cash talks and he obviously needed a change. Red Bull's loss. Perhaps a more marketable European star (Maxy Verstappen) was chosen over an Australian star with a 'shooey' or two?

 

7. Cricket. Virat Kohli. Scored 200/ 436 of the team’s match total runs. The highest percentage ever for India in a single Test match. A truly great performer but needs some mates. India’s batting away from home is poor. Ben Stokes brained them. He will kill Australia if he can stay on the park. And he bats. A phenomenal test played with great intensity. Edgbaston is a fortress for England. It is 17 years since England lost a Test there to an Asian side. England’s 1000th Test ends in victory.

Wrap - Ding Deng The Witch Is Dead

1. Tour de France. The Welshman Geraint Thomas to win the Tour de France. For a change it would be nice to know there are no drugs involved. Outside of world athletics, possibly the least trusted sport in the world.

2. Golf. Francesco Molinari’s win in the British Open golf last week was unexpected, but broke the traditional USA player frenzy on the home stretch. The surprises continually arise in British Open golf. A great tournament.

3. Super Rugby. Waratahs v Lions. Fought hard, but a lack of tough defence. Poor work around the chip and chase by lazy forwards at a key moment. Outgunned. Not a bad draw to get to the semi finals! Crusaders have won 14 in a row and will win the GF easily. Folau is a huge human...talented!
I must say that the game is alive and well in South Africa and New Zealand.

4. NRL. Storm on fire. How good are they? The Roosters are the only team that can beat them. Munster, Scott, the new halfback...they have so much talent. Tigers massively disappointing and Canberra simply do not tackle. Eels and Manly...pathetic defence. How inevitable that the Eels were run down! The Warriors are appalling too. So much talent and so poor at times. Lost 28-0 in the second half. Saints have hit the wall again too. Their defence which was so good is starting to fade. Widdop needs to stand up.

5. AFL. The Crows...terrible decline from 2017. The Swans have hit the wall and may not win again this year after dropping games to the Suns and Dons. Hopeless lack of concentration and an absence of speed. GWS have hit their straps and with injury returnees, they could surprise further. Geelong are a smokey. However it is Richmond to the end....a powerhouse at present. A great reward for the club that persisted with their coach, Hardwick and have profited from their investments in key players. 100,000 to a club game? The NRL would never in a million years see that.

6. F1. Is Lewis Hamilton the greatest ever? He is fast getting there and a win in Hungary will stretch his lead over Vettel. The wet conditions in qualifying sort the sheep from the billy goats.

7. Australian Athletics. How about the Kenyan/ Sudanese refugee Joseph Deng who beat the 800 metre Australian record from 1968? Quick by our standards and more to come! 1min 44.21. A 50 year record is something special, but our Sudanese athletes are starting to impress... Allir, Magak Daw, Maker in the NBL...

8. Women's Soccer. Our women’s soccer team the Matilda’s are awesome. They have crushed Brazil yet again 3-1. Play USA tonight which will be interesting.


9. India v England Test Cricket. The Poms will be hoping for some overcast weather this week to dismiss the top six before the sun starts shining. India's bowling will come under pressure I suspect, but so too will Broad and Anderson. They tend to excel at home however.

 

Wrap - Fibs and Bad Lies

1. Cricket. Great batting from the Pakistani opener, Fakhar Zaman. He now has an amazing record (on the back of playing Australia and Zimbabwe in ODIs) as the quickest ODI player EVER to 1,000 runs. The great IVA Richards took four more innings than him. Just quietly, Zimbabwe were lucky Viv did not play them! 

Keshav Maharaj picked up 9/129 for the South Africans v Sri Lanka in their second test, but they are staring down a big loss again - and a lame series loss if they can't bat well. Amla looks to be the key. Recent South African team innings scores of 126, 73, 124 don’t win many Test matches and South Africa have been found out. Not good news for any of them seeking an IPL contract either. Can't play on low slow turners? ... don't go to India.

2. Waratahs. A mighty win for the much maligned team. No idea how they make the semis of that competition based on the season they have had. Sounds dodgy, but a trip to South Africa to play will test them. The poor home crowd sums up their season. The public have given up. A win would be intriguing. The comp will be restructured yet again if this occurs. 

3. Crowd Sizes. It is always interesting when sports commentators and journalists whine about crowd sizes. Their air conditioned, free food and drink gets to their heads sometimes. The Tigers-Rabbits crowd was excellent for a cold Saturday night however.

4. British Open Golf. Speith and Tiger... Speith may be too far ahead. It will be interesting on the home stretch. The British Open and the US Masters always seem to be the most engaging of the golf majors. The US PGA and US Open just seem to come and go... like ODIs!

Tiger showed some vintage touch in his third round 66. How brown is the course at Carnoustie? Looks like Royal Rouse in its summer heyday. Bad lies on holes where drives are easily hitting 400 yards... (rare gold) and rolling ridiculously far.

5. AFL. Geelong v Demons saw a thrilling end. A great game and good to see Melbourne start to prosper after years of problems. How the Swans lose to the Gold Coast Suns is beyond everyone. What a costly loss in the longer scheme of things. Ordinary and odd to me. The stewards need to have a close look at that one.

The AFL refs are an interesting beast. Zero accountability and lopsided free kick counts never seem to be picked up by media. The Swans have a few of these. GWS are on the charge now. They have too many good players not to make an impression. Great win in Adelaide v Port.

6. NRL. A rare weekend when Saints hit near to the top of the ladder and the Eels, Newcastle and Tigers win. The Tigers win over the 300 gamer, John Sutton, from Souths, was most surprising. Robbie Farah needs to retire soon before he has no memory of any games at all. He is getting bashed up badly at present. Sam Burgess sails close to the wind and is a risk. Jim Comans would have loved Sam.

I cannot believe how many tackles Jonathan Thurston is missing each week. His shoulders must be gone. How good are the Storm? On top of the comp with a heap of blokes out, new combinations, etc. The Bellamy, Smith and Slater combo may be the best there has ever been.

Ricky Stuart is right. The Cronulla v Canberra debacle of the bunker and refs are a blight on the game. Over governed and too much obsession. How does the NFL get it so right? I suspect Stuart's points about rugby league losing fans after a blitz on penalties and the weekly focus on certain rules over others, are absolutely right. They breed an absolute contempt of the system.


Back in the day, the one ref and two touchies did not get it so wrong...even the in-goal ref wasn't so bad... even if we had the odd seven tackle furore and angry decision that was completely wrong. The crowd loved to boo!

7. Basketball. The aptly names "FIB - A" are a joke... telling more lies than the actual footage revealed. The behaviour of the Phillipino basketball team, coaches and crowd was a complete disgrace. Then they do the old 'blame the visiting team' thing to protect themselves. A joke. Who would have thought they have the next FIBA World Cup of Basketball there in the coming years... would never have picked it.

Wrap - Testing Times

1. Test Cricket Wickets. The wicket takers are in the news at present. How good is this Rabada from South Africa? Quickest ever to 150 Test wickets. The legend of Sri Lanka, Rangana Herath, is 40 years of age and has hit 418 Test wickets. He is an unlikely star with a record better than most Test bowlers. South Africa all out for 126 and 73! Awful.

MS Dohni is looking like the grey ghost these days. He can still keep up to the stumps like no other man however. He is the finisher!

Great to see Fakhar win the Man of the Series for Pakistan v Australia. He is from a long line of Fakhars.

2. Canberra. How cold is it playing in Canberra in anything at this time of year? It is officially the coldest place on earth. North Queensland are not well placed travelling there for NRL. You don’t need ice when there is an injury, just stand over there.

3. NRL. Cameron Smith’s playing record of games in the NRL will never be beaten. Regardless of whose wife does not like him, he is superb. Fit and resilient. Has barely shown an injury in fifteen years! How strong do Souths look? Nine in a row is impressive.

How Slater got that Man of the Series award for Origin was staggering. Why does Laurie Daley make so many poor calls - or get surrounded by poor calls? Think of his Origin selection policies last year... this one now... He complicates the uncomplicated. A woeful hometown decision. Who puts two Queenslanders on the panel? Bias is an awful flaw.

4. Wimbledon. Nadal and Djokovic staged a belting semi final at Wimbledon. The comeback from Djokovic has been incredible. His record in Grand Slams is incredible too. The fitness of he and Serena (who had a baby ten months ago) is amazing. These are some of the greatest athletes ever.

Kevin Anderson has no chance. Djokovic has 12 Grand Slams and won three in 2011 and three in 2015. He will have 13 by tomorrow for mine. He has a rich and successful pedigree. His victory v Nadal was simply outstanding. Nadal has faced some exceptional players when losing in Grand Slams. John Isner is a sleeper with a huge serve for future tournaments. He could surprise at the US Open.

What about Channel 7 and showing Alice in Wonderland rather than Nadal v Djokovic...? Hopeless inflexible programming from a network who should never be trusted. Their involvement in cricket is a worry. Their Olympics efforts have been woeful too.

5. Soccer World Cup. Croatia v France. Not the glamour countries, but who cares? The tournament has been very strong. Belgium take third spot, but England were not disgraced. They should have got the better of Croatia but couldn't do the job. Qatar getting the next one. Corruption is always hard to justify... especially if you are FIFA.

6. Waratahs. A 21-3 deficit after twenty minutes. How bad are they some weeks? A terrible start. Binning blokes for giving ‘cynical’ penalties away is yet another curious referee stance/ decision in that code.

7. AFL upsets. Brisbane have picked up in recent weeks...a victory v Hawthorn when all seemed lost is impressive. Great win by GWS v Richmond. GWS tried very hard to lose under pressure once again. They get nervous! Richmond are a mile in front on a good day.

The Swans bounced back with a great win v North Melbourne. Buddy's 900th goal was pretty special. He may just beat quite a few yet and get over 1000. Worth every cent.