Robbie Deans

As has been stated, the worst kept secret in Aust. rugby was finally confirmed with Kiwi Robbie Deans appointed coach of the Wallabies, becoming the first foreign coach to ever take the reigns of the Aust. rugby side.

There has been plenty said about the appointment from, its great to it's a disgrace to have a foreigner let alone a Kiwi as head coach, but for what it's worth here is sportsmouth' opinion;

Get with the times people, rugby is supposed to be a professional sport, so if you do not pick the best available applicant for the job, then you are letting yourself down!! As far as sportsmouth is concerned not signing Deans would be like having the chance to buy $1 for $0.50 and not going for it. He was by far and away the best coach available and yes he did apply for the All Blacks job, as any coach would love to coach there country, but being a professional he saw an opportunity to coach at international level and went for it, good on him and what luck for us!!

To me, this is similar to what is happening in world cricket, with Aust. supplying many coaches to different international sides, why? Because we have a winning culture backed by some of the best facilities to learn how best to implement your thoughts and ideas on the game, we train hard and play hard and we are currrently the best cricketing nation. So if a coach who comes from a very strong winning rugby culture, who has served his apprenticeship under some very good coaches, whilst applying his knowledge to Super rugby and comes from the best team in world rugby, then grab him!

Would all those coaching other teams in world cricket like to coach Aust? You bet. Would Deans still want to one day coach the blacks? I'd put money on it. Are we likely to see more world teams looking to NZ for future coaches? They'd be mad not to!

Just to finish, I hope Deans puts a broom through Aust. rugby, no more getting a start because everyone likes you or respects you, if your the form player then put him in and out with the old, come on Robbie, step on a few toes and shake up all those with leather patches on their elbows!!

AB v Murali

The first test pretty much went to plan as far as the aussies were concerned, although Cricket Aust. may not be as happy, with a very poor attendance across all days.

Obviously the rain didn't help, but i guess the cricket public don't think much of the chances of Sri Lanka even though they're ranked No. 3 of the test playing nations. Hopefully the good folks of Tassie will turn up in numbers.

In some ways I hope this helps C.A and the grounds that hold the fixtures rethink their heavy handed policies regarding crowd control and the consumption of alcohol, the cricket is supposed to be a good day out for all involved and if you were to put the number of people through the gates up against the number that are ejected from the ground for unruly behaviour, I think it would be quite a small percentage, even when the poms are here and known to enjoy a lager at the game. Yes we want it to be attractive to families, but come on banning the mexican wave and selling only lite beer are just ridiculous and all that achieves is making it less enjoyable for all and lets not even start about the puncturing of beach balls by security staff if the balls land on the playing surface, absurd!!!

I know about two seasons ago, I spent the whole first session at the pub knocking back a few cold ones watching on the tv before venturing into the ground, just so i could enjoy a cold full strenght beer!

This post was only supposed to be a short note about the 1st test and a little story told by Ian Healy (former Aust. keeper) about the first time that Murali bowled to the great Allan Border, a renown player of spin bowling, well AB faced up and played inside the first ball and looked back down the pitch at this unusual bowler, this continued for the whole over, Murali bowling AB playing and missing and looking a little bemused. At the end of the over Healy walks down the pitch for a chat with his captain and AB says "I'm really having trouble picking this young leg spinner"! to which Healy replies "that's because I'm pretty sure he's bowling off spin AB"!

till next time

Cricket

Get out your hat, grab some sunscreen and get settled in for another summer of cricket, there is nothing Sportsmouth enjoys more then a day or 5 at a test, watching Aust. put all opponents to the sword (I must admit, it was much more enjoyable when you could get a full strength beer!).

This new season brings us two opponents, who have traditionally struggled out here, being Sri Lanka and India, although at times have certainly put up the odd fight with the most memorable or should I say most boring, when India scored about 700 in the first innings a few seasons back at the SCG Test.

Lets start with the first opponents, Sri Lanka.

If memory serves me correctly have only beaten us once in a test and that was in Sri Lanka and I don't think they'll beat us here, but they do have some genuine test class cricketers, Sangakkara, Murali, Jayawardene and Jayasuriya and throw Chaminda Vaas in as well. But the core of this team still lies with Murali, Jayasuriya andVaas, who are well into their mid to late thirties, sure they may produce the odd moment of brilliance, but only Murali still produces on a regular basis and Aust. play him as well as any team. Jayawardene is a good captain and pretty handy with the bat, while Sangakkara is their best batsmen, but will have to produce probably after long stints in the field with the gloves on, as he's also the first choice keeper, so just imagine having to keep to Murali for 50 overs, then changing pads and having to bat!!

They will keep us honest, but don't think they can win a test here. Murali......okay I still don't agree with his action being legal, nor do i agree with the ICC bending over and changing the interpretation of the bowling laws, buts whats done is done and we just have to accept that he'll take a few wickets and will probably end up being the greatest wicket taker ever, I really do not believe that his record will ever be under threat.

Now, before I go a word on Twenty20 or however they write it, if you want to watch or play 20 overs per side, go down to your local oval and support your local under 12's I'm sure they'd appreciate it and that is where 20 over cricket should stay!

I'll get to India after we despose of Sri Lanka.

The team Sportsmouth would pick for the first test.

Hayden
Jacques
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
Symonds
Gilchrist
Hogg
Lee
Clark
Hilfenhaus

Hogg is bowling well, better then MacGill and MacGill is not fit at the moment and the Gabba is not a spinners pitch (Warne excluded, it was one of his most successful Aust. grounds) so Hogg who bowls with more control and bounce then MacGill should get a start, let MacGill grind a few overs out in shield cricket until India arrive. Hilfenhaus I hear Qld's scream what about Johnson, well he bowls pretty good, but hasn't proved it in the long form of the game, yes he can bowl some unbelievable balls, but they seem to be split with some very erratic stuff of which he may get away with in one day cricket because he has boundary riders to cover, but in a test, just let him go until you get the ball you want, which you know is coming! Hilfenhaus is a genuine swing bowler who would enjoy the conditions at the Gabba on day one and I believe has the ability to become a Terry Alderman type of bowler for us. Even the very best are troubled by good swing bowling, an opening batsmans worst nightmare......take guard on leg, first ball......looks to be angled towards leg, make small adjustment to dispatch of first ball gift.....oh shit, is that swinging towards off.........try and get forward.....no try and go back (first and second slip rub their hands in waiting)......prod, yes prod outside off.........!!!!!

cheers

Rugby & The World Cup Final

It's over for another four years, the springboks outlasted the poms in a snooze fest kickathon, which as far as I'm concerned showed rugby at it's worst, when it was supposed to be the show piece of the sport!!!

Which brings me to something a friend said the other day, "I'm really not liking rugby at the moment, and I'm struggling to remain interested in the games as they are dull and full of kicking"!

I totally agree and would like to see the stellenbosch laws http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellenbosch_Laws given a real chance to free the game up, but it won't really solve the problem. For the main problem lies with the players, as far as sportsmouth is concerned, it looks like they are so scared of losing that they resort to these tactics for if they were to take a chance and mess it up they would not want to be known as the one to have "dropped the world cup"!!

The super rugby and club rugby formats have less pressure on the individual players, where one loss does not end your season until finals time, but by then the players are usually so used to playing their particular style of rugby that they actually play rugby to win. Playing to win and playing not to lose are very different mind sets.

With the sport being professional and the players only having a short time frame to make a living, being dropped from the national side because you took a chance or two and failed, doesn't exactly give you great bargaining power when it comes time for contract renogoiations.

I may be wrong.

Diving Police

Dear Sportsmouth,

I do enjoy the game of football (soccer) and am pleased to see the Australian A-League starting to get to a reasonably competitive level. John Aloisi's return is a great thing for the game here and the influx of Brazilian players makes the game even better to watch. The A-League needs to take one step in my opinion. It's one that FIFA don't have the balls to take at risk of offending the large powers in world football I'm guessing. The step involves the eradication of diving to time waste and procure free kicks and penalties.

It's the single biggest reason I also hate the game. The stakes in football are high. A goal is worth so much as is the game itself these days and players will do whatever they can in order to get a win. You can't blame them. Now of course one can recall the Australia v Italy game at the recent World Cup as an example but it happens in almost every game I watch. I watched bits and pieces of the Women's World Cup and was pleased to see none of it happening at all for some time until I watched Brazil play late in the tournament and the game nose dived for me once again. Quite disgraceful.

So as much as the A-League would like to stay in line with the FIFA rules ans regulations, they should go out on a limb here and introduce the only way of stamping this out of the game: video review. I'm not talking about mid-game video review which sees most traditional football fans jump out of there recliners and scream "sacrilege" (although I wouldn't mind seeing it, but that's another issue), I'm talking about post-game video review. Every game in the A-League is broadcast on Fox Sports and it would not take a lot to review each game and cite players who have taken a dive. If a player is found guilty of diving, a big penalty results. It has to be a big one. Perhaps 4 or 5 games as a base?

It would definitely stop most diving in the league here and would make big headlines in the world of football. Our little league down here doing something that no one else has the courage to do. We may still have a problem of diving in finals which can have a large bearing on the game but perhaps that's when mid-game reviews wouldn't go astray.

Michael

Moto GP

Moto GP is for any motorsport enthusiast, a weekend of bikes, bikes and beer!! The Phillip Island GP takes place a few km's from the town of Cowes, which becomes a hub for the whole event, with many of the stars regulars at the few restaurants that exist in town. As the photo shows, Moto GP star Colin Edwards couldn't wait to be in a photo with sportsmouth and friends at the best pizza joint in town and is a good indication of the relaxed atmosphere that exists around this event and also why the riders love to come to Australia for this round.

As for the results, well Casey Stoner (aussie) continued to dominate with a very popular win in the main category followed by his teammate Loris Capirossi and all time legend Valentino Rossi. The other two Aussies in the event performed well, but were probably dissapointed to not have finished higher at their home GP.

All in all this is an awesome weekend of bikes, bikes and beer and if you're one of those naysayers, who suggest these guys are overpaid for what they do, I suggest that you come and see for yourself, once you see them flying down the main straight at over 300km/h, you may change your mind while thinking to yourself, they couldn't pay me enough to do that!!

And about the only technical knowledge I have is that at anytime, the amount of contact the bike tyre has on the track, is about the same width as your credit card!! At 300km/h I'm sure it feels alot less!!

Big pay checks, yes, bigger balls, you bet!!!!!

A good reason to pick England

This was emailed to me by a friend, please read with all the sarcasm you can muster!!!

Actually I am picking England because:

Jonny Wilkinson is a god.

Mike Catt is one of the greatest players of all time

Brian Ashtons magnificent game plan against Australia was just pure genius – I mean who would have thought that England would play aggressive, forward driven 10 man rugby. I didn’t see it coming. Clive Woodward was knighted for his services to rugby, they will have to marry this guru to one of the Royal Family.

They beat us without the pace and grace of Andy Farrell. Really, when this amazing athlete is fit who will be able stop the English Juggernaut.

I cant stand Bernard Laporte. He looks like the evil German out of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The English management cleverly got Steve Harmisson to give the Wallabies a speech on how to perform in pressure situations in sport.

The fact that the English front row were able to just hold their own against the murderous Australian front row. Phil Vickery must have been having nightmares all week about facing Dunning.

They showed extreme composure and excellent sportsmanship by not falling about in laughter when Stephen Moore attempted to clear the ball from off the wallabies line.

So, time to pack away the Wallabies Jersey and pull out my old white rash vest and get behind the English.

Can someone e-mail we the words to God Save the Queen?

Brent Berrick

Mmm....whoops!

I think they may have been the words uttered by both the New Zealand and Australian coaching staff, after watching their respective teams go down in the quarter finals of the rugby world cup!

The Wallabies, to say they were terrible would be talking them up and I'm not saying that because I'm a one eyed (I really have two eyes!) Aussie, but their game plan seemed to consist of trying to make England believe they were playing against inept school boys and thus lull them into also making school boy errors like we did, then bam, smash 'em!!!

So our scrum got smashed, but we knew it would, but it just had to hold on long enough to get the ball in and out, but Gregan continually took an age to get the ball in, which didn't help. The forwards as a whole were disgraceful, never really competing in any area, all in all terrible. The back line struggled, as any backline will that doesn't have a reasonable forward platform, buth they also were well below par, kicking with no apparent purpose and when they did hit the line and look to offload.....nothing, not one support player!

I believe that the wallabies are the most overcoached team in the world, but in all the wrong areas, i'm sure they could all to a man tell you about an oppositon teams strengths and weaknesses and so forth, but I've yet to see a top tier nation produce so many basic errors with ball in hand and at the breakdown!!!

Try this for the first few sessions next year, catch and pass, catch and pass!!!

As for the All Blacks, as much as their supporters complain about a forward pass that went unnoticed, what also seems to have gone unnoticed is the fact that the so called best team in the world led twice, once by 13 points and again later by 5!! So they couldn't close it out and lost to the French again when it really counts!!

As for the other two matches, I cheered on Fiji and thought just maybe when they had fought back to 20 apiece, but they were done in the end, and Argentina have made their first semi final and a just reward for that first up win against France.

France to beat the Poms and Boks to beat Pumas!

RWC Qtr Finals

It's getting towards the business end of the world cup and after a couple of upsets in the group stage, this has left us with some juicy quarter final match ups.

Aust v England

The first game of the quarters and will be closer then most people think, as the poms still have a reasonable pack of forwards and a front row which could really upset the wallabies, and of course they have Johnny Drop goal (although he's had more different injuries then he's played tests since the last world cup)

Although the wallabies will be missing Stephen Larkham, I believe that the combination of Berrick Barnes and Mat Giteau looks the goods, with Giteau receiving more ball and taking more responsibility, which makes him more dangerous.

Wallabies by 12

France v New Zealand

Meeting earlier then everyone expected, this game could throw the whole cup wide open, if as has happened before the Les Bleus find their game, they could take the All Blacks out of the tournament. The french have made some changes replacing their normal first choice number 10 Federic Michelak, who generally stands with one foot either side of the line between genius and basket case, his replacement is known as a more traditional stand off, who will kick long before thinking of chancing his hand!

Another curious selection is of "The Beast" Chabal being picked to come off the bench, if I was picking this team I would start him to hand some of the physical staff back to Jerry Collins and his merry men.

I would love to see the cheese eating surrender monkeys (these are not my words, thanks Tim) win, but the Blacks should come through.

South Africa v Fiji

Go Fiji!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Argentina v Scotland

The only thing to worry about is if Argentina lose their composure and give away to many penalties, then the Scots will literally kick them out, they beat Italy without scoring a try!!!!!

Grand Final Wash Up

Well that's it for the local footy codes, Geelong absolutely smashed Port, in what must've been one of the most lopsided GF in history.

Melb. Storm then did something similar to Manly in the NRL, so the bookies were right by having Storm short to win by 13+

So next up is the Rugby World Cup quarter finals.

Grand Final Fever!!

Only a few days until the biggest games of the year and it seems that both codes the cream has risen to the top, with the best two teams making it through to the big one.

Geelong v Port Adelaide

Geelong for me, they've been out and out the best team all year and seem to know how to win even when not at the best, and I think that maybe Port played their GF last week in that massive blow out against the Kangaroos!

If your having a punt, I think that Geelong to win by between 1-39 points is paying about $2.10, although if you looking for the upset the same points margin for a Port win is about $3.70

Best on ground: Gary Ablett jnr

Storm v Manly

Again the Storm know how to win when their A game is not on, and they just have to many big game players and game breakers. And here is my tip, if Steve Matai plays in the centres for Manly, watch the Storm run decoy runners at him to bring him up and out of the defensive line, creating a hole for the outside runners.

As for the punt aspect, Storm by 1-12.5 paying $3.10 (the bookies actually have them shorter to win by 13+) and Manly a juicy $4 for the same margin!

I'll be on the Storm!!

Best on ground: Cameron Smith

I mentioned that both Geelong and the Storm know how to win when not on the game, there is this saying at the moment regarding golf. If all the golfers show up and have their A game on, Tiger Woods is the best, but who is the second best??

Tiger is second best even if he has to play his B game, same goes for these two teams me thinks!!!

James Hird

Okay so we all know that James Hird is an AFL legend, and that he's retiring, but this particular article about him is so stupid i thought it must be brought to attention!!!

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/a-champion-with-amazing-grace-bows-out/2007/08/25/1187462588281.html

I just can't wait for the next installment which will illustrate the striking similarities between trying to play Shane Warne and how you solve the Rubics Cube!!!

Finals series

The regular season has been run and won in both NRL and AFL, with two standout sides taking their respective minor premierships, the Melb Storm (NRL) and Geelong (AFL) blitzed there opponents to easily finish in the top spots.

Now although both codes use a top eight finals series, they use different methods;

NRL play out like this, 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6, 4 v 5. This give the top four teams a supposed advantage of hosting a home semi, but what it exposes is the possibility of both teams 3 and 4 being knocked out, as the teams that lose with the lowest ranking are knocked out, so if all the lower ranked teams win their games it can happen, although it never has, but still.......

AFL play out 1 v 4, 2 v 3 winners go through to major semi and losers play the winners of 5 v 8, 6 v 7. Its a fairer style of knock out because all top four are guaranteed two games.

But what really counts is you have to win and that is what it's all about, regardless of the system in place and complaining about it is useless, it's like the team that doesn't make the finals although they've beaten teams higher up but didn't win enough regular season games, to bad!!

For this weekend i believe that Brisbane and Souths will be knocked out of the NRL and I'm suggesting two upsets in the AFL with Hawthorn and Collingwood getting knocked out!!

Time will tell.

Rugby World Cup 2007

The Rugby World Cup is upon us, so it’s time to have a look at the major teams in this tournament, I’ll start by listing them by world ranking and a quick thought on their prospects.

Rank 1: New Zealand – hot favourites, but aren’t they always

2: Australia – not the second best team in the world, but have a habit of over achieving

3: France – who knows, but they can beat anyone when they’re on

4: South Africa – not dangerous enough to beat the All Blacks, but structured enough to beat France

5: Argentina – higher ranked then I’ve seen before

6: Ireland – don’t think so have France and Argentina in their pool

7: England - not even Johnny Drop goal can win this one for them

8: Wales – easy pool, but can’t win the whole thing

9: Italy – the guys who can’t play soccor are in this team

10: Scotland - nope

11: Samoa – if your good you play for the All Blacks

12: Fiji – ditto above

13: Canada – a few expats

14: Tonga – if your good you play for the All Blacks

15: USA – they don’t know why they are here and their entire country doesn’t know they’re here

16:Your local subbies team would probably fit about here and be a chance of a top ten spot if they could keep off the drink!!

17: A country you never thought played rugby

18: A bunch of guys that shouldn’t play rugby

19: These guys don’t have boots

20: This team still use the orange peels from half time as mouth guards (come on we all did once)

So here are the pool breakdowns.

Pool A
ENG
RSA
SAM
USA
TGA

Pool B
AUS
WAL
FJI
CAN
JPN

Pool C
NZL
SCO
ITA
ROM
POR

Pool D
FRA
IRE
ARG
GEO
NAM

New Posts

I've copied all my posts across from my old blog, so they all appear as being done on the same day, but this is not the case.

I really should have listened to Greeny and moved over before I had written to much, I haven't brought them all across, only the ones that are worth a comment

Cheers

Soft Saffies

How soft is South African rugby, we're led to believe that these big hairy back behemoths are rough and ready always providing a stern test of physical combativeness. But what have they done on the tour of Aust. and NZ, left the best 20 players behind and the reason, they've played 5 tests in a row and a combination of injury and fatigue have taken hold of their squad! What a load of absolute rubbish, lets look at what is really going on here, firstly the 3 tests they played before the Tri Nations started were against the English B squad (lets be honest, England don't really have an A squad at the moment!) two tests and one against Samoa (another heavy weight opponent!).

These three tests were nothing better then opposed contact training sessions and really shouldn't have been classified with test status, neither should the first couple of tests played by Aust. and NZ against substandard opponents.The Springboks only had to play two more TESTS (real ones) before they would have the luxury of a two month break before their first RWC match against.....Samoa!

Surely that is more then ample time to recover from fatigue and any minor injury concerns! What I believe happened is as soon as they lost that game to the All Blacks in Durban they pretty much gave up hope of winning the Tri Nations and so thought it best to protect their players from possible injuries, but to quote Frank Drebin from the Naked Gun movies "you take your chance getting up in the morning, crossing the street or sticking your face in a fan"!

In short injuries will and can happen at any time and what the S.A rugby board has done is laughable and should be treated with disdain by the ARU and NZRU, who should be seeking compensation on the grounds that it isn't in the spirit of the contract and should then look to distance themselves from S.A rugby in the future, from super 14 to Tri Nations.
I was hoping that the Wallabies would hand out a thrashing last weekend but it was wishful thinking, hopefully the All Blacks can put 60 points on them this weekend!!

Don't get me wrong I know it's not the players fault, this sits squarely on the S.A rugby board’s shoulders.

Ahh, that feels better, till next time.

AFL Top 8

Here is my guess at the AFL top 8

Geelong 72
WCoast 60
PAdelaide 56
Kangaroos 56
Collingwood 56
Hawthorn 52
Swans 50
St Kilda 46

All these are purely guesses as i'm not a big follower of AFL but it seems to work!

Lote Tuqiri

So here is how I see it, John O'Neill (CEO Aust Rugby) signed Lote Tuqiri before the last World Cup, but his predecessor resigned him before the current World Cup to the biggest single contract of the ARU, supposedly $1million per season!!

Now we here that the ARU are going to make a loss this year of a couple of million, I think that O'Neill will try to have Tuqiri's contract torn up after his next alleged indiscretion, thus saving the ARU about $1m per year!! Tuqiri may not be the only one to go, but he is the highest profile and they'll site his off field problems which is directly linked to league culture and his failure to play up to his potential (linked back to off field behavior).

Lote, can you please do us a favour, when your out on the field pretend your still playing league and play with the instincts that made you the best winger (of both codes) in the world, the rugby coaches have turned you into a metronome of what they want in a winger, but not what they need!!

NRL Top 8

It’s approaching the business end of the football seasons, so I thought it time to give a run down of the most probable top eight finishing positions.
NRL
Melbourne Storm 44 points
Manly 40 points
Eels 32 points
Cowboys 30 points
Warriors 29 points
Bulldogs 26 points
Tigers 26 points
Broncos 24 points

There are obviously plenty of outcomes that could eventuate, but a lot of the teams vying for the last couple of spots either play each other or play a higher ranked team, thus the make up could be completely different.

The first three teams are pretty much set, but after that it does become interesting, the Cowboys have two away against the panthers (can still offer nuisance value) and Knights (capable of an upset) and two at home being the Dragons and the Dogs, no guarantees there. Warriors face the easiest draw, but as you know they can be unpredictable and could lose or win all four, but I think they’ll win at least three, they face Titans (home) Raiders (away) Manly (home) and Penrith (away).

The Bulldogs have a tougher run up against Raiders (home) Broncos (away), that’s the two games they should win and then Storm (home) and Cowboys (away). The Tigers again have a tough one needing to beat the rejuvenated Roosters (home) Sharks (away) Bunnies (home) and Knights (home) only that they have three homes games give them the edge in. The Broncos are the team most desperate, being severely depleted with injuries and having a tough draw, it plausible that they may not win a game and could drop out leaving the Roosters and Bunnies to fight out the last spot, where that draw of last week could return to haunt the Roosters, the Broncos face Storm (away) Dogs (home) Raiders (home) Eels (away).

It really would not surprise me to see the Bunnies and Roosters in contention and maybe one or both slipping into the eight, its been one of those seasons where there never seems to be a certainty every week.

I’ll get to the AFL next.

Nathan Brown Syndrome

So Brad Fittler is the newest coach in the NRL, lets hope for his sake that the Roosters give him the chance to; 1 prove he can coach, 2 build a team to take them forward and 3 grow and mature as a coach.

There is a real similarity here to the Dragons appointment as coach a few years back, a few knowledgeable rugby league heads believed that Nathan Brown would make a good coach and would one day take the reins of an NRL team. The Dragons just couldn’t wait to get their former player in to the top job and he took over with very little senior coaching under his belt, which may come back to haunt him at season end if the Dragons don’t win a few more games. Ideally Brown would have served as an assistant coach for a few years, then been thrown the top job, but what transpired was that he took the job and the team underachieved, here was arguably the most talented team in the competition who really only needed a coach who could provide the final spit and polish to get them a premiership or two, and a more experienced coach most probably would have got them there. Unfortunately they got a young coach, coaching some of his former team mates and backed by a supporter base that are desperate for a return to the golden years (or at least their first GF win since the 70’s).

Fast forward to round 18, 2007 and the knives have well and truly been sharpened, having lost a host of big name players, the ones they’ve got left are injured, meaning Brown has had more debutants then your average deb ball, and you’ll see the red and whites near the bottom of the ladder. Hopefully the powers that be at the Dragons and the supporters can see the error of times past and get over it, I’ve no doubt that Brown is a better coach today and will be better next season and sincerely hope that he is now given the chance to: 1 prove he can coach, 2 build a team to take them forward and 3 grow into one of the best coaches in the NRL. Sound familiar?!

This brings me back to Brad Fittler, the biggest difference here is that the team is already looking to rebuild and move toward next season and beyond, they can’t go much further down! But there are certainly similarities to Nathan Browns appointment, the fact he is a former Roosters player (a very bloody good one), there had been some talk about his possible coaching in the future (pretty important word that one, not today, future), the Roosters tried to hold off his appointment by signing Chris Anderson, but they really wanted Fittler the whole time to be head coach, and he really doesn’t have much of an apprenticeship under his belt! Remember one of the leagues greatest ever players one, Wally Lewis tried his hand at coaching at this level and didn’t succeed, I hope that one of the modern day greats is given the chance to:

1 prove he can coach
2 build a team to take them forward
3 grow and mature as a coach!

I had written this the week leading up to Fittler’s first game as coach, the Roosters subsequently won that first game under their new coach but this is not uncommon for teams to perform like this after mid season changes, lets just hope that they can keep it up!

Ben Cousins, Junkie or Jerk?!

Where do you start with this guy and what are the WEagles and AFL thinking letting him play again this season. Okay, so we know what the WEagles are thinking, oh s^*t we might not win without him and since we pay him so much we better get our money's worth, but the AFL?! If ever there is a professional sporting organisation that rules with the complete lack of authority as this bunch, well I've not been informed of them.

Cousins, decided he didn't want to talk to the cops when apparently behind the wheel after having a couple of sherberts (probably swan light shandy's by the looks of him!), which is an offence by the way (so is drinking swan light!). Then comes the drug saga, which is denied and then refuses all advances of help, but the thing that really stood out is the way he left for his stint in rehab, he left the airport with the airs and graces of one with not a trouble in the world and a smug look on his dial, which I'm sure a line of people a mile long would have lined up to smack off, that's how I felt. But wait, that was nothing compared with his triumphant return, that line of people just grew to all the way back to AFL HQ!

Then only weeks before a probable comeback he’s sighted out and about at some nightclubs, now he wasn’t drinking or doing anything silly but the fact that he put himself out there in the spot light when he really should be trying to lay low and concentrate on a successful return to the playing arena, I think tells us a lot about the type of guy he is, to me it shows he’s learnt nothing from his previous escapades and deserves nothing in return. Again this shows a lack of leadership from both the WEagels and the AFL that he is practically throwing it in there collective faces.

The other codes at least are trying to show strong leadership traits to their players, how must Wendell Sailor feel, he got two years out of sport for one indiscretion, maybe he should play AFL!

It really does seem as if the AFL has some problems with their players in general, and i noticed that the news last night carried another AFL story concerning a former Lions player and what looked like a pretty serious brawl, if the AFL received equal media coverage across NSW and QLD then I think we’d find that the AFL players are making the other codes look good.

I must admit that all this stupidity has made the WEagles the team I now love to hate and I hope the Dockers take over as the dominant team in the west.

Cheers
AD