Wrap - Christmas Frenzy

1. Steve Smith. Can anyone explain why he did a press conference last week? A sympathy gatherer... a part of his redemption? Honestly...he needs to take a tip from Shane Flanagan. When banned, suck it up and keep an eye on the calendar. Don't complicate things unnecessarily. I noticed he cracked a ton for Sutherland to steer them to victory in First Grade this weekend. That is better talk.

Please tell me Mitchell Marsh is not going to be selected in the Boxing Day Test. He has no form, no runs, no wickets. Why would he be selected? Give it up. Is Handscomb being picked as a fieldsman? He certainly has the best hands since Mark Waugh. He needs to move his feet at the crease like he does in the field and back himself in.

2. Shane Flanagan. He has learned cruelly that no one is bigger than the game. Fifty emails to the club when you are banned is not smart. Where are the brains in rugby league? The club will survive but they need the right people there fronting the show. Why do clubs in trouble have bad administration (Bulldogs, Tigers, Sharks, Eels)? They can't win a thing with poor decisions from the top. These then transfer into the player recruitment and on field team decisions.

Forget the cash (is this a driver for the NRL Integrity Commission - self funded?). When will clubs be docked points for misdemeanours? This is the only way to really hit them hard. However consistency in this area is all over the place.

3. EPL Liverpool. Going into Christmas as the leading EPL team is an excellent sign. A tight race in 2018-2019, so it should be interesting. Great win by Crystal Palace over Man City and Leicester over Chelsea over this weekend. These results help Liverpool big time. Arsenal have that flavour of perennial runners up/ third place earners.

4. WBBL. The women's BBL is really taking off. How good is Elise Perry? A champion person and player. It's actually enjoyable to watch.

5. BBL. Can we accelerate some of the youth in Australian cricket? Great to see Jason Sangha doing well on his first outing. Bring back Australia A as well! Australia A on the bigger public stage was when we last dominated. More players have to know what it takes.

6. Jose Mourinho. High maintenance and too much goose in him has brought his demise. Punted by ManU at long last and hopefully they appoint a former legend eg. Ryan Giggs or Paul Scholes. Real Madrid might pick him up. Amazing how with him gone, ManU pile on 5 goals! The millstone has been removed!

7. A League. Is the whole show going stale? Are there enough top quality operators on the fields? Star power is lacking. Ball control is getting worse.

8. Anthony Mundine. Seeking a rematch with Jeff Horn. As if! He is a money machine, but he never knows when to quit. It is a sad and lonely figure the boxer knocked down early seeking a re-match. Move on.

9. Cash In. Keep an eye on a horse Brooklyn Hustle in the coming season. Stunning pace.

10. NBL. Still amazed at how popular basketball is in Australia. The NBL is really well attended with plenty of intensity. Lots of locals and a smattering of imports. Perfect blend and a great pathway for your aspiring club ball players. Big avenue of US colleges with a healthy appetite for quality as well. Even the Kings are going well!

Wrap - NRL Crisis

1. The NRL is in free fall. The stupidity of players to put themselves into poor positions where contention, allegation and sordid accusation follows is incredible.


These fellows are taught, advised, counselled, etc and still it happens. The anger and spite that then follows at the expense of women is hurting the game. The 50% of the population thing may be hard to understand (?).


What reasonable mum thinks rugby league is a great idea for their child? I am doing the rounds mentally with my mates and cannot think of one of their children who play(ed) the game! It will remain a residual tribal sport where very few families engage with it, support it or attend it. Watching it from home remains the best bet...it's the furthest distance from the murky world that they have created.


For all their faults, enter AFL and football/ soccer.


2. Nathan Lyon continues to excel. Bowling tweakers and turners that don't really do that much off the deck. He is a master tactician and remains positive and aggressive as a bowler with flight, drift and spin. He has now got more wickets that Murali against India. He is zooming in on DK Lillee's 356 now with 331 Test wickets.


3. Virat Kohli. No ton in the first Test but one in Perth. He is a superstar. He has the ability to bat for long times. 25 Test tons... he will be the benchmark when he retires in all forms of the game. Amazing... no matter what sort of person you may like/ not like.


4. Peter Handscomb needs to go (however what a pair of hands he has!) and I am still not convinced re Shaun Marsh. As soon as the pressure is tuned up, he vanishes! Khawaja needs to bat big if we are to win it. It would be nice to see Tim Paine put a ton up in Tests too. He has not hit a ton for years. Not good enough for a modern day keeper.


5. Horse racing. I saw two really good runs on the weekend - Tip Top and Sky Boy. Both worth a spot in your blackbook!


6. A-League Expansion. Western Melbourne and Macarthur South-West Sydney are added while many other have not been added. Fair enough. They have had a few teams come and go already. The pressure will be on any new club. Unproven experience.


7. BBL. It is around the corner again and the excitement will rise above so many other programs. We will all enjoy the nightly excitement!


8. Premier League. On they surge, Man City. What a machine of a club they are. No nonsense...just titles.

Wrap - A World of Stark Pain

1. Test Cricket. The whole joint is a schemozzle. You have a Channel 7 TV 'presence' that makes people think they are watching the bowls. They even missed the toss. It lacks everything. Foxtel is better. Then you have no crowds as no one knows their Head from their Hands(comb). A world of Stark Pain. No Warner or Smith who have received two of the most ridiculous penalties in world sport since Jim Comans was around.


The only bloke getting runs is that wonderful medium pacer and bat called Matthew Wade. He is our best batsman in the country at present - not the Australian captain, Tim Paine, who has must have found Willie Wonka's Golden Ticket. Fair dinkum he looks ordinary. Top bloke by all reports, however. Michael Clarke's assessment of Australian cricket is not too far wrong.


It should therefore come as no surprise that if we have batsmen who cannot average 30 in Shield cricket that they would swing it around and average over 30 in Test cricket! Not many can get over 30 at present.


The perennial failure with the stick, Shaun Marsh, has hit back and gotten to 31no. A ton that wins us the Test match would anchor him in our team of tolerance. At the age of 35-36, he may be done if he can't aim up. Head is going OK, but I can't see consistency in his game. Finch was laughable. Handscomb not much better. Khawaja still can't play spin and Marcus Harris needs to remember that 20 is a failure in Test cricket... but seemingly not in Shield cricket.


The GOAT - Nathan Lyon hit 8 wickets for the Test which is good going. He is ahead of Bob Willis and on his way to DK Lillee's record of 355. He will have taken about 25 more Tests to get to it when it arrives.


Starc seems to switch off quickly. Far too nice at times yet a lethal bowler when he is on. We needed more from him.


2. A League. Sydney FC got their tails whacked in Wellington in the A league on the weekend. Nothing to see here other than an acknowledgement that Graham Arnold is missed and is one of the best coaches in Australia.


3. Wallabies. I am sensing that Cheika is about to be punted despite the rumblings that there is no one else... surely he cannot continue.


4. EPL. An amazing effort by Chelsea in the EPL to narrow off Man City for a win. Liverpool are on fire this year and the coach Jurgen Klopp has them firing. Seems like a really sensible bloke. Meanwhile Mourinho escapes the noose for another week. ManU actually looked pretty switched on this week.


5. NRL. What a forgettable week of domestic violence by league players. When will the code ban blokes for long periods of time with this nonsense. Dylan Walker's on field behaviour at times has made this sadly seem part of his unpredictable, erratic character. Hopefully a few smarter league players (eg. Cooper Cronk) realise that there are many many women in the world (about half the population) who they need to respect ... otherwise there will not be little boys playing this game.
Ever again Dylan. Do you get it Dylan?


The game has really lost its sheen in recent years as the lid is lifted on this and other nonsense.


6. Women's Sport. This is tending to rescue the Australian sporting landscape repeatedly... cricket now soccer on the horizon. We can only hope.

Wrap - Shaun, Sean, Shorn...

1. Cricket Test Series v India. The biggest points of interest in this series will be to see if Kohli can hit a ton in every test, which is on the cards. Also, whether Tim Paine is playing his last Test series - and whether we can all put up with the anticipated twin failures of the Marsh brothers. How long? 2/3 Tests? Surely we need someone to step up. Lyon (318) needs 8 more wickets to beat Bob Willis (325) and 13 more wickets to beat Allan Donald (330). Ravi Ashwin needs 20 more wickets to beat our own DK Lillee (70 tests). Ashwin has played 64 tests only. Amazing how curators can help your career.


2. Shaun Johnson. What a tremendous signing by Cronulla. A goalkicking half who scores tries continuously. What were the Warriors thinking? Did Parramatta pick up the phone?


3. BBL League. There appears to be more interest in the BBL than this upcoming Test series. The game has changed and is shifting to a new space. New fans. This is fast becoming the new face of Australian cricket. Very few young fans are interested in tests. I like the look of the Thunder - Joe Root, Jos Butler... A shame there is no Warner.


4. Mundine. Totally outclassed and outgunned. Has made himself very wealthy however. Hopefully he can be sensible with the money and not like a zillion other boxers before him. I think Anthony set his sights on being like ALI, but had no charm and charisma. He actually held the super-middleweight title twice between 2003 and 2008, as well as the IBO middleweight title from 2009 to 2010, and the WBA interim super-welterweight title from 2011 to 2012. Jeff Horn is in a different class.


5. Bennett - Seibold. What a gaggle of clowns. Both over rated and seemingly think themselves bigger than everyone else. Lots of games being played and complete silliness over the last few weeks. Memo Broncos: sacking someone by text message or email never looks good.


6. Cameron Smith. What a famous Australian sporting name! How good was his play to comeback and win the Australian PGA golf after he seemed to have lost his way. Mental toughness to win the Joe Kirkwood Cup back to back. He has joined the likes of the world famous bluer - Robert Allenby - in achieving this feat. Top 30 in the world of golf. Pretty amazing for a young Australian guy.


7. Corey Norman. I noticed that while underperforming, the worst of the overpaid players at Parramatta - Corey Norman and Mitchell Moses - are being shopped around, but they are not stupid. They are staying to be paid in full and to convey their continued brand of excellence on the club. Both should be in the Wentworthville team as the club looks to other options. How can you now welcome them back into the team? They are cancerous to the necessary culture. Hopefully no new signings who are cocaine sniffing, M4 biffers who consort with criminals and abuse women.


8. ManU. Anchored on 22 points after 14 games (6 wins, 4 draws, 4 losses), they are 16 behind Man City who are almost away and uncatchable! Surely Jose is on the slippery slope out of the joint! Fulham look like relegation material already... some significant Christmas cheer and pudding will be required.

Wrap - Pressure Points

1. Wallabies. A sign a team is in strife is when there are blokes stood down. The coach has lost the dressing room - and the carpark. How two experienced players thought it a good idea to bring people back to their room is beyond me. Relatives or not, dumb.

On the field, the second half capitulation has been an extraordinary feature of their recent demise. Errors and ill discipline abound. The worst ever Wallabies? Where are the changes at different levels? Raelene Castle is beginning to get a common reputation across codes for under performance.

2. Women’s T20 World Cup. Awesome achievement from these girls who are by far the best Australian team in world sport at present. Their names are becoming more familiar than Australian men’s cricket names. Their talent may just be better as well!


3. Australia v India in T20 Cricket. Not sure how we got a 1-0 lead, but with a second game washout, it will be nice not to lose a series for once. A drawn series is as close to a win as we will ever see.


4. Crowds. Isn't it appalling that the roar of the crowd followed Indian cricketers and their achievements in the T20 from the SCG? The Australian cricketers barely raised an eyebrow from the crowd. Are we that over our cricketers? Is it the "NRL or Wallaby Effect" where spoilt, over indulged players are not interested in the fans. Rather just themselves. In return, the fans can't give a tinker's cuss about the players.


4. NRL. Jarryd Hayne. Surely even he could not be that dumb, inappropriate...and offensive. Gunshots at a Kings Cross niteclub, dodgy folk who they hang around, inappropriate matters of all kind, accusations and allegations. Social media has taken care of another naive and out of touch person.


5. A League. Adelaide on fire. Melbourne City continue to disappoint. The standard is improving all the while. Sydney FC have been rolled by a Honda.


6. ManU are showing more patience than a child waiting for the Council Christmas visits with santa in the back of the truck. Coach must go ASAP, before Champions League hopes are dashed.


7. Newcastle Super Cars. A sensational looking track and plenty of thrills and spills. Scott McLaughlin the winner after a long season! Plenty of loyal supporters to the cause here.


8. Tennis. How about young Zverev in the tennis. Knocked over the big guns like Djokovic to win this week.

Wrap - All Over It Ringerdingding

1. Cricket. The Australian cricket team is clearly looking for a new opener. Alex Doolan seems set to get the job, but a miracle happened today at Manaka Oval in Canberra when both NSW openers - Daniel Hughes and Nick Larkin - both scored tons. Even the famous Moises got a ton this game. An outbreak of runs is new territory in Australian cricket. Yet Renshaw was a dud again. Labuschagne struggled and Mitchell Marsh too. Of course Shaun Marsh hit 70no and looks destined to stay in the team. Young Lehmann promises much and gets nothing. The star bowler of the country is Victoria's Chris Tremain. The trouble he faces is Starc-Cummins-Hazelwood-Lyons, but also that he gets too many wickets to be considered. We are more into promise these days.


2. Wallabies. A solid victory v the Italians. However no time for handstands...England awaits. The Irish beating the All Blacks was an outstanding achievement. It is remarkable that people celebrate the impossibility of such a feat as much as the feat itself.


3. Australian Open Golf. Great work by this Ancer. Four sub 70 rounds in the wind is some sort of achievement. Great strength and concentration.


4. Indian Cricket. They have arrived this week and it may not be an exaggeration to consider Kholi getting a ton in each test this time. Last time he missed out. These days that is real rare. Rockinghorse rare. A bit like a parent who is prepared to watch cricket every Saturday morning.


5. NRL. Good to see some change up at the Broncos. Josh Maguire is not that old to be letting go. No loyalty in this gig. I am seeing some strength heading to the North QLD Cowboys. Holmes as well apparently. What price Kevin Walters as their next coach?


Can anyone quite believe that Parramatta have a tight salary cap? Where is their money? Honestly, this ruling by Greenberg that back ended contracts are out is a fair ruling. Pay today's dollars and today's rates and stop the player manager influence in the game. Greed has become the game's greatest enemy.


6. Socceroos. A lucky 1-1 result v Korea and they were happy. Hard to see it as that great. These international friendly weekends get in the way of the best soccer worldwide - club level. And for what gain?


7. Usain Bolt. I noticed the Jamaican rugby league team are off to the World Cup of Rugby League. Will Usain play on the wing for them?


8. ATP Tennis Finals. Alexander Zverev will play Novak Djokovic for the title. Djokovic is a machine. He has won the last two Grand Slams and not looking like losing. He may beat Roger Federer's Grand Slam record one day in this rare run of form.
9. Horse Racing. The horse tip last week got up again...Ringerdingding!

Wrap - New Blood

1. Cricket. Great to see some youth step up in the Sheffield Shield/ Pura Milk Cup (Sangha and Edwards), but the standard is terrible as Ponting has said. Do they still have an Australian  Cricket Academy? The most exciting cricketer is Pope the SA leggie and what happens? He has to go to the Sydney Sixers to get a BBL gig! Too many old worn out voices and no modern thinking.


Are we trying to learn from India - or too proud? Where is Nick Bolleterri when you need him? IMG? There appears to be more interest in Sutherland v Randwick in the cricket than in the national team. Finally Pat Cummins is back. He has had more time off than Eric Grothe senior, Brett Papworth... Have we seen a tear away quick in recent living memory? No.


Sad to see Pat Howard sacked as High Performance Manager of Australian Cricket. How will we keep the standards up now?


The ODI looks like a crushing loss is in order early. Lynn and Short are very disappointing at International level...no runs!




2. Tennis. Young Alex de Minaur is doing really well on the ATP circuit. He has just been voted ATP World Tour New Comer Of The Year. Great accolage for a young man on the up. Who was Kygrios? What about Nadal...the fairest and Federer was voted the fan favourite for the sixteenth successive year.


3. F1. Lewis Hamilton is world champion once again and now they want to tinker with the season again and try and get 25 races in. Too many. Corporate sporting greed knows no bounds.


4. Wallabies v Wales. We always promise a lot. I really feel for Michael Hooper. He tries so hard every week and looks like he has run into a bus. Yet they lose repeatedly. An outside back or two of quality for the Wallabies would be a nice change.


Would Tim Mannah or Michael Cheika have the worst win/loss record in world sport?


5. NRL Coaching Merry Go Round. Des will be too cranky. Maguire too intense. Bennet too old and Seibold too inexperienced. Cleary has a shocking record as a coach really ,so he could be the worst of the lot. Not sure that being coached by your dad is the best thing in life...think Jelena Dokic, Mary Pierce, Tony Mundine... break the umbilical cord please and stand on your own.


Trent Barrett could just about have ended his coaching career in Australia with his antics. He has not been smart. But Jason Taylor still gets work (and premierships) so there may be hope yet!


6. AFL and League. Just about now the Integrity Commissioner starts sharpening the pencil and filing all contracts in alphabetical order with some red tabs on the known fools out there. I noticed that Parramatta are slowly getting the message...Jennings, Mahu, Hayne all about to exit. If dopey Brad Arthur brings in more ex-criminals and drug accused, he needs to be marched over to the Parramatta Weir and thrown in head first. Clean up the place and publish the report for transparency to the members of the joint.


7. A-League. The excitement of former years seems to be dulled with each successive year. No big names and an average standard. Possession is yielded and surrendered far too easily. Who is improving the standard of the game? How? Big crowds should adorn the game in Australia. Thankfully Graham Arnold has the national team. Gee we are missing Ange Postacoglou.

8. Horse racing. Hopefully The Wrap's Melbourne Cup tip last Sunday of Cross Counter was seized upon. It paid handsomely. Re-read it. Great run from the back of the field.


Really liked the run of Trap For Fools leading from start to finish in the LS Mackinnon Stakes on Saturday. Paid $26.00 for the win. Sweet rewards! Keep an eye on Belflyer as well. A Cracking horse from the bush who won the recent Kosiuscko. It had a great win on the Sunshine Coast on Saturday, paying $4-$5. Redzel ran a disappointing fifth in the VRC Sprint. Two to watch: Top Prospect and Order of Command. Roughie: Snitch. Black book the lot of them. Jaameh and Ringerdingding too!


This big lump of a horse - Sexy Eyes - is a strong thing too. Another thing called Brax nailed them on the Sunshine Coast too.