Swans back on track, Lions crippled

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SYDNEY coach John Longmire says the Swans are on track to give Hawthorn a run for their money in this Friday's blockbuster at ANZ Stadium after thrashing Brisbane by 79 points tonight.

Longmire said both Lance Franklin and Kurt Tippett were a chance of taking on the Hawks after missing the convincing disposal of the Lions at the Gabba.

If they get through training this week, they will join a side that is starting to hum with three straight wins after a sluggish start to their 2014 campaign.

Tippett trained strongly today while Franklin's availability is less certain after his knee injury failed to come up for this weekend.

"We've certainly started to play a bit better over four quarters a bit more consistently and that's been the pleasing thing over the past three weeks,'' he said.

Brisbane Lions v Sydney Swans at the Gabba. Shaw gets chaired off after playing his 200th. pic Mark Calleja Source: News Corp Australia

"We come up against one of the sternest tests in the competition next week and we'll see how we go against that.

"Not sure yet (about Franklin). He wasn't able to do anything at all on Thursday so we'll see how he goes next week. Hopefully he will be.

"Tippett trained today and did the whole session and pulled up really well. We are hoping those two guys come into contention for next week.''

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Longmire said the Lions were competitive early but was happy with how his side got on top and kept their foot on the throat of the last-placed Brisbane.

"I just thought that we kept running and kept working,'' he said.

"Whether it was our tackles or our contested ball work, we kept persisting through the course of the game. The longer we were doing that, we were able to have 33 shots on goals and kept the opposition to six goals.''

He was happy with Adam Goodes' first full game back from a knee injury.

"He looked really good. He was on fire the first couple of minutes. We'd actually forgotten what he was like, moving like that,'' he said.

Jed Adcock tackles Kieren Jack. Picture; Mark Calleja Source: News Corp Australia

"Just good to get some decent game time into him.''

Meanwhile, Lions coach Justin Leppitsch was philosophical post-match saying the club was being forced to play young kids before they were ready given the club's injury toll.

"I want Tom Cutler to play his 20-40 reserves games, I want Robbo (Nick Robertson to do it as well, I want Aishy (James Aish) to have the odd stint in there as well to get lots of ball in hand but we can't, we can't do it,'' he said.

"It's a bit unfair on them a little bit. You want them to build their careers.

"To be perfectly honest, they are not our worst players … they've got some things within their game they've got to improve but there's still plenty of players who have been around for four or five years out there that didn't perform at the level they should have.''

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Leppitsch said Jonathan Brown was omitted because he pulled up sore from last week's trip to New Zealand.

"We've got to look after our 30-pluses as much we look after our 18-year-olds,'' he said.

"A few weeks ago we put him out when we shouldn't have and it wasn't helpful for him or the team so we just have to keep making the right calls on that.''

He said conceding multiple goals in time-on was killing Brisbane.

"Players get fatigued and tired. Anything that results in a contest with lots of bodies and the later it goes in quarters, you combine those two things together that's when younger teams tend to struggle,'' he said.

"We can't stop the clock. I'd love to call a time-out … we just have to show a bit of leadership and get better and tough it out.''

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Aussie Miller on pole in Jerez

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AUSTRALIAN Jack Miller claimed pole position for Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez with a commanding performance on Saturday.

The Moto3 world championship leader finished over half a second ahead of Italy's Niccolo Antonelli and Spaniard Alex Rins in a time of 1min 46.173 sec to claim just his third career pole.

Having won in Doha and Austin in the opening two races of the season, Miller, riding a KTM, was third in Argentina as Romano Fenati moved into second place in the overall standings.

However he will be confident of extending his 17-point lead as Fenati qualified down in 10th and Efren Vazquez, currently third in the title race, will start on the third row of the grid in seventh.

Jack Miller claims pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez. Source: AFP

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

SuperCoach: Studs and Duds

Magpie Tom Langdon gives Blues recruit Dale Thomas a hard time. Picture: Getty Source: Quinn Rooney / Getty Images

COLLINGWOOD 104 d CARLTON 70

Magpies studs: You would have been stoked if you had Tom Langdon (128) on the field. The young defender had 23 disposals and took eight marks in his best game for the club yet. The usual suspects in Dayne Beams (125) and Scott Pendlebury (102), while small men Jamie Elliott (122) and Jarryd Blair (115) were excellent.

Magpies duds: Brent Macaffer (22) didn't have his best game on Marc Murphy, while Jessie White failed to kick a goal (38).

Blues studs: Kade Simpson (109) recovered froma slow start to crack the ton and Andrew Walker (109) didn't stop running all night. Robbie Warnock (99) can hold his head high after a gutsy performance in the ruck.

Blues duds: Where do you start? Jeff Garlett (28) had very little impact on the game, while Kane Lucas (32) was subbed out of the game. Lachie Henderson (41) barely had any opportunities.

Hawk Josh Gibson reaches for the football. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: News Corp Australia

HAWTHORN 175 d ST KILDA 30

Hawks studs: Hot Supercoach form all over the ground. Josh Gibson (142), Shaun Burgoyne (128) Luke Hodge (113), Matt Suckling (108) and Grant Birchall (106) starred down back. Up forward, Luke Breust (139), Jarryd Roughead (137), Cyril Rioli (117) and the unlikely Ryan Schoenmakers (104) had a day out up forward.

Hawks duds: Sam Mitchell (nine) sent a scare through almost the entire SuperCoach community when he was subbed out at quarter time. Brian Lake (44) left the ground during the third term with a calf injury.

Saints studs: Leigh Montagna (144) was brave with 39 disposals, while Farren Ray (105) was the only other Saint to reach triple figures.

Saints duds: Lots. For the second straight week, Nick Riewoldt (31) let many SuperCoach coaches down, while Adam Schneider (18) and Shane Savage (31) had no impact.

PORT ADELAIDE 132 d GWS GIANTS 97

Power studs: Popular pick Jared Polec (141) had his best game in a Port jumper, while Robbie Gray (121) had the ball on a string. Jay Schulz (108) starred with six goals, while Paul Stewart (107) starred in his return match.

Power duds: If you had Jarman Impey (12) on your field, bad luck! Dom Cassisi (28) only gathered nine disposals and Justin Westhoff (40) was held goal-less.

Giants studs: Callan Ward (145) was superb, leading from the front a whopping 40 touches and 11 marks. Devon Smith (101) was the only other Giant to crack the ton.

Giants duds: Jeremy Cameron (49) was forced back at one stage to get himself into the game. Jed Lamb (28) and Jono O'Rourke (30) were the Giants' subs.

Jay Kennedy-Harris in full flight against Adelaide. Picture: Simon Cross Source: News Corp Australia

MELBOURNE 70 d ADELAIDE 67

Demons studs: Mark Jamar (135) took one mark for the match and it was a beauty in the goal square to sink Adelaide. Chris Dawes (123) played with venom kicking three goals while Jay Kennedy-Harris and Dom Tyson starred for 112 points apiece.

Demons duds: Alexis Georgiou (23) was crunched early and never recovered before being subbed out. James Frawley (24) was hardly sighted while Christian Salem (25) provided a spark in the first quarter — replacing Georgiou under the concussion rule.

Crows studs: Brodie Smith (138) racked up 30 disposals including six rebound 50s. Sam Jacobs (132) found his best form, while Patrick Dangerfield's (120) last quarter goal gave his score a boost.

Crows duds: Eddie Betts (28) had a stinker kicking just two behinds in the three-point loss to Melbourne. Matthew Jaensch (38) was sidelined early with a rib complaint, while Matthew Wright (49) was no where near the football.

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Famous trio spark Bombers win

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YOU would like to know how often over the years a Daniher has a produced a moment of inspiration to spark Essendon into action.

Or a Watson has kicked the matchwinning goal. Or a Fletcher has held the team together with his composure in the back half.

This eight-point win was another to add to the ledger. Unlike most, though, it was not one punctuated by free-flowing moments of brilliance.

Daniher's moment was not a towering mark or a booming goal. Rather, with the Dons desperately needing to find some momentum early in the third quarter, after a flat and listless opening half, it was the young full-forward who lit the fuse.

Michael Hurley takes a mark in the fourth quarter over Western Bulldogs' Stewart Crameri Picture: George Salpigtidis Source: News Corp Australia

With the Bombers trailing by 13 points he came charging through the centre square like a young colt released from the paddock. Gathering the ball cleanly he swept a long handball back into the corridor, where Jobe Watson accepted it without breaking stride and delivered a long pass into the path of Jason Winderlich. The ensuing goal proved the moment when the Bombers wrested momentum from the Dogs, and began to engulf them like the inevitable incoming tide.

Brent Stanton celebrates his goal in the third quarter. Picture : George Salpigtidis Source: News Corp Australia

The tenacious Dogs hung in grimly until the end, but it was a goal from Jobe Watson that eventually took the game away from them. Watson, who was superbly contained and overshadowed by Tom Liberatore, found himself resting in the forward line midway through the final term when a long kick was headed Daniher's way. While Dale Morris and Luke Dalhaus flew to spoil, Watson worked his way to the front, gathered the crumb and set off on a bouncing run into an open goal, essentially icing the game.

Paul Chapman marks over Jake Stringer. Pic: Michael Klein. Source: News Corp Australia

Fletcher, four days short of his 39th birthday, was part of the reason the Dons were even in the contest at half time. Time and again he read the play and took intercepting mark to repel Bulldogs attacks. His cool distribution was vital, as others around him chose poor options that got the ball into opposition hands. Were it not for the likes of Fletcher and fellow defenders Michael Hibberd, Dyson Heppell and Cale Hooker the Dons might have been in awful shape at the long break.

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The remarkable part is that 11 minutes into the match Essendon had three unanswered goals on the scoreboard. It was dominating the contested ball and slicing open the game with quick play-on disposal through the centre corridor.

But, damningly, for the remainder of the opening half the Bombers managed just four behinds.

The Bulldogs tightened up, cut out Essendon's overlap running and clawed their way back into the contest by forcing the Bombers to cough up the ball.

Liam Picken up close and personal with Essendon's Brent Stanton Picture: George Salpigtidis Source: News Corp Australia

The Dogs' first three goals were the direct result of turnovers: one caused at centre-half-back, the next shoving Brendon Goddard into an out-of-bounds on the full in the back pocket and the third intercepting a Courtenay Dempsey pass.

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The Bombers had players down on form everywhere in the opening half. In a rare off day, Watson was struggling to have an impact, Goddard looked rusty, while Winderlich and Brent Stanton could not shake the attention of Easton Wood and Liam Picken respectively.

Jake Carlisle, who opened the match at centre-half-forward on unexpected opponent in Jake Stringer, was working hard enough but still looked down on confidence.

Brendon Goddard made a timely return from injury. Picture: Michael Klein. Source: News Corp Australia

However it was the senior players who lifted when the match was won in the third quarter: Watson, Paul Chapman, Heppell and Stanton all kicked vital goals when the surge was on.

The Bulldogs' grunt credentials have never been in question, but it was the silky play of their pups that helped them look at times capable of running away with this match. Unfortunately two perennial problems, a lack of class in the key posts and a costly lapse — where they conceded six of the eight goals in the third quarter — again cost them victory.

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Size makes Williams a giant target

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SO YOU ask Tony Williams if his frame is to blame?

Questioning if, maybe, Brad Fittler was right earlier this week when he suggested the City Origin star's life as the most discussed, debated and dissected rugby league forward is all because of his size.

"Ah, not sure about that,'' Williams grins.

"It's not like I'm the biggest player in the NRL ... but I do seem to cop the criticism."

But why?

For when you speak with Fittler — a fella who knows something about footballing greatness — he insists T-Rex is an "outstanding" player in form.

Tony Williams looks to offload during NSW City training. Source: News Corp Australia

Same deal Canterbury coach Des Hasler.

And as for fellow Bulldog Josh Jackson ... well, he says when the backrower is on "there's no more damaging forward in the game".

Indeed, according to Fox Sports Statistics, 25-year-old Williams is enjoying a solid, if not spectacular, start to the year with premiership leaders Canterbury.

While his numbers remain down on that 2012 breakout year with the Manly Sea Eagles — where he made 96 tackle breaks, averaged 121m and scored 31 tries — the hulking Bulldog is still doing enough to have Blues coach Laurie Daley interested.

"And I don't think I've been playing crap footy,'' Williams tells The Daily Telegraph.

"I think, after the year I had with Manly, there have been some fairly high expectations placed on me.

"And while I haven't been playing as good as I did two years ago, I don't think I've been as bad as some are making out either.

"I mean, yeah, last year was a low. I got dropped from Origin, dropped from the Australian side — that was hard to take.

"But there were things involved too".

Tony Williams makes a run during NSW City training. Source: News Corp Australia

Like what?

"I think the stuff that was going on around Ben Barba affected me,'' he says, referring to the fullback whose personal and contract dramas were well publicised.

"I'm not blaming anyone else for my form. But to come into a new club and find there are a few dramas going on, it was a surprise to me.

"Obviously we've got no worries at Canterbury now and I think that's showing on the field. There is a lot of love there.

"Plus, I think every player who has a real big year goes through this. The fans see what you do and expect it every week."

And therein lies the problem.

For even the briefest glimpse of Williams' playing numbers reveal a roller-coaster form line.

Yet speaking on the Monday evening the City side was announced, Fittler heaped praise on a forward he says is unfairly targeted because of his size.

Asked about the Fittler rap, Williams continues: "Coming from someone like Freddy, a legend, it's an incredible compliment.

"And that is always what I try to focus on. Over the past year I've had some fairly harsh things said to me, but the critics, they aren't the ones putting the food on my table.

"So when the people who do, when the coach or my teammates say I'm doing no good, that's when I'll start to worry."

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Why sports stars mix with drugs

Ex-swimming star Geoff Huegill has made a public apology after being allegedly caught with cocaine.

DURING his suspension after testing positive to cocaine in 2006, disgraced rugby star Wendell Sailor would hear news reports of other athletes taking drugs, and wait for the inevitable.

"Every time, on the radio or TV, the reporter would be talking about someone failing a drug test and somewhere, somehow they'd have to get in 'Johns, Cousins ... ' and I'd just wait for the third one ... 'and Sailor'."

As the media frenzy surrounding the cases of rugby league pin-up Andrew Johns, AFL great Ben Cousins and dual international Sailor showed, the public is fascinated by stories of sports stars brought crashing to Earth by their own human frailty. The bigger the name, the better.

If Sailor had been listening to the news this week he would have heard reports of swimmer Geoff Huegill's arrest for alleged cocaine possession as well as the death of tragic rugby league figure Ryan Tandy.

A-LIST PARTIES: 'Everyone does cocaine', PR exec says

IN TROUBLE: Geoff Huegill and wife Sara charged with cocaine possession

Lost forever ... the late Ryan Tandy who recently died on the NSW Central Coast. Source: News Limited

Tandy, of course, was no on-field star in the league of Johns, Cousins or Sailor, and he never earned the public admiration of Huegill. His profile came from notoriety rather than accomplishment. The journeyman front rower, who died of a suspected overdose last week aged 32, was best known for the match fixing scandal that earned him a life ban from the NRL in 2012.

SHOCKING: Ryan Tandy found dead at parents home

RYAN TANDY: A life in the headlines after life ban from NRL

His infamy was at the opposite of the scale to the adulation that Huegill enjoyed after his remarkable reinvention in 2010. With his life spiralling out of control and his weight ballooning to 138 kilos thanks to a diet of booze and pizza, the 2000 Olympian was told he wouldn't see 40 if he didn't rein in his excesses. That Huegill managed to get back into training and lose 40 kilos was laudable. That he won Australia's only individual swimming gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games was astonishing.

Apology made ... Geoff Huegill makes a statement outside his Sydney home over the charges made of his and wife, Sara's alleged possession of cocaine at Randwick Racecourse. Picture: Bradley Hunter Source: News Corp Australia

Huegill's achievement and the healthy lifestyle message that he marketed set him up for life. Then came the news this week that he and his wife Sara had been charged with possession of cocaine following a day at Randwick races.

While the charges have yet to be heard by a court, as Huegill's former business partner Keith Saggers so rightly said, the question remains how forgiving the Australian public will be over the allegations. Much of Huegill's income came from motivational speaking; basically recounting his gut to gold life story for $10,000 a pop. But who will pay to hear a fairytale if it doesn't have a happy ending?

The other problem for Huegill is that he is a swimmer, not a footballer, tennis player or cricketer.

After Wendell Sailor's two-year ban ended he returned to the NRL with St George-Illawarra and is now as popular and well paid as ever as a media personality and product endorser.

Andrew Johns, who was arrested in possession of an ecstasy tablet in London after his playing days were over and subsequently admitted to using hard drugs his entire career, is a TV commentator, coach and recent inductee into the game's highest echelon, The Immortals.

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Australian goalkeeper Mark Bosnich, who admitted to a $5000 a week cocaine habit after being sacked by English club Chelsea, is now a respected commentator with Fox Sports.

Once caught with marijuana ... cricketer Stephen Fleming. Source: News Limited

Confessed former drug taker ... tennis player Andre Agassi. Source: Supplied

Tennis great Andre Agassi remains in-demand with sponsors and advertisers despite describing use of crystal meth in his best-selling biography, and New Zealand cricketer Stephen Fleming, sent home in disgrace after being caught smoking marijuana on a national team tour of South Africa in 1995, went on to become his country's most successful captain.

Australian swimming, on the other hand, is a sport which attracts its most widespread attention for just one fortnight every two years, during Commonwealth and Olympic competition. It has also suffered a credibility crisis over the past two years after the poor performance of the Australian team at London 2012 amid reports of team members running amok after taking banned prescription drug Stilnox. The recent treatment of former team captain Grant Hackett for Stilnox addiction has added to the public's disenchantment with the sport.

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Stilnox addict ... former swimmer Grant Hackett spent time in a Rehabilitation Centre in the US. Picture: David Clark Source: News Corp Australia

The message for swimmers accused of using drugs, it would seem, is make sure you still have some good performances ahead of you, as US superstar Michael Phelps proved in 2009. Phelps, who won eight medals at the Beijing Olympics the previous year, was dropped by sponsor Kellogg's after being pictured smoking dope at a college party. At the London Olympics he won another four gold and two silver medals for a record career total of 22. Even without Kellogg's on board he has earned a reported $55 million through endorsements and has just announced his intention to swim at the Rio Games in two years.

These are just the big names.

There are plenty of athletes caught using non-performance enhancing drugs who don't make the headlines because they aren't well-known enough, or in the case of the AFL, they are protected by the system. Under its three-strike rule, the AFL doesn't disclose the names of offenders unless they test positive three times — a situation reached only once, with Hawthorn's Travis Tuck who overdosed on GHB in 2010. Until recently the AFL website boasted, "The use of illicit drugs is not seen as a problem in the Australian Football League at present."

Former Minister for Sport George Brandis disagreed. "To put it bluntly, the AFL does have a problem and we would hope that peer group pressure from other sporting organisations would get them to do the right thing."

Caught with marijuana once ... Michael Phelps, who has made a comeback to swimming recently. Picture: Christian Petersen Source: Getty Images

Whether the AFL changing its three-strike policy would have any effect on the numbers of players using illicit drugs is doubtful. Plenty of other sports are quick to "name and shame" and that hasn't stopped its athletes risking bans, fines and public humiliation. So why do they do it?

Some, like Johns and Tuck put it down to psychological issues, others, like Martina Hingis who retired from tennis after testing positive to cocaine at Wimbledon in 2007, maintain their innocence.

Sailor was probably the most frank of all athletes accused of taking drugs. He, and many like him, take drugs simply because they can. For someone who gained a level of celebrity and all the trappings that came with it at an early age — the sponsored sports car, women, free drinks at nightclubs around the world and more money in a year than his parents saw in a lifetime, it wasn't a huge step.

Frank and honest ... Wendell Sailor got into trouble with drugs once. Picture: Peter Wallis Source: News Limited

"I guess it was just part of the high life," he said, "Time and money." And availability. Wherever big name athletes can be found, the hangers-on and leeches are never far away. Sailor tells the story of attending a wedding on the Gold Coast with his wife Tara in 2007 during his much publicised suspension.

"We went out to a club afterwards and even though I'd been on every TV channel and in every paper saying that I'd made a mistake and I was never going down that track again, as soon as I walked in the door all these blokes I'd never seen before in my life were coming up and saying, 'Hey Dell you getting on it tonight? You need anything?'."

So just how big a problem are so called "recreational drugs" in Australian sport? Former Brisbane Lions coach Leigh Matthews believes the percentage of footballers using drugs is less than that among people of the same age in general society. It is an opinion supported by a 2011 study undertaken at Deakin University.

The survey of almost 1700 elite athletes from 18 national bodies found that while 33 per cent of those questioned said they had been offered illicit drugs, only eight per cent had used drugs such as ecstasy, cocaine, cannabis, methamphetamine, GHB or ketamine.

At the time of Andrew Johns' 2007 admission one Sydney newspaper quoted an unnamed rugby league player as saying up to 95 per cent of NRL players used non-performance enhancing drugs, a figure disputed by Sailor.

"That's over the top," he said. "I'd say it's more like 25 per cent, and you only have to go out to see how bad it is in the community. People talk about drugs in football but they're missing the big picture."

Leigh Matthews agrees, and says no amount of testing athletes will solve the problem. "Society hasn't been able to fix it," he said. "So why should sport be able to?"

Changed his life ... Andrew Johns has returned to public life after his drug confession. Picture: Ashley Feder Source: Getty Images

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kent: Absurd to paint me as a racist

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THERE used to be a time when we didn't know who was a racist. Now we don't know what is a racist.

According to social media, it seems if you don't want to watch a football game it now makes you a racist.

It started Tuesday when the great Manly winger Jorge Taufua posted this:

Poor Jorge, who can never be accused of overthinking, was comparing me to Donald Sterling. That is the LA Clippers owner banned for life on Wednesday for, among other sins, ordering his girlfriend to delete her Facebook photos with black athletes and telling her she cannot hang around them.

STERLING EXPECTED TO FIGHT NBA BAN

What surprised me was just six weeks ago poor Jorge stood next to me in a radio box doing an interview and didn't let on a word, and I now realise how lucky I was.

Clearly he was nervous and his mouth a little dry, which I assume was the only thing that stopped him from spitting on me like he did to a policeman last year, when he was later given a four-month suspended jail sentence.

So Jorge and his supporters labelled me a racist, totally demeaning the term in the process, and many are demanding an apology.

Well you're not going to get it.

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I never said anything as abhorrent as Sterling's comments.

Here, for the sake of context, is what I said on Fox Sports News in its entirety:

"I tell you, the NRL needs to go away and look at their scheduling again, because what did we do?

TWITTER BLOWS UP AT KENT COMMENTS

"We had a poor start to the year with poor crowds. We finally get going with a terrific Easter weekend that rolled straight into a great Anzac weekend. Then what do we do?

"We put a halt on things for rep weekend.

Jorge Taufua took offence at Paul Kent's dismissal of the Samoa v Fiji game. Source: Getty Images

"I couldn't care two hoots about Samoa and Fiji. Who wants to really sit down and watch that game?"

Now, clearly underestimating the stupidity of some, I then attempted to clear this the following night on NRL360:

"I think we need the Test football, I think we need rep football. My criticism of it is that we halt the NRL competition, just as we're starting to gain some momentum in the competition, to put this on.

"I was asked about the Fiji-Samoa Test, and I don't really care for this game. There's been a backlash, people have said I'm racist because I don't like Samoa and Fiji, which is complete rubbish.

"My point is this. I don't want to have to stop watching NRL and be told I have to watch this game — this Fiji-Samoa Test.

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"Of the 34 players who will run around, on Saturday evening, 11 of them — just one third of them — played NRL last week.

"All the rest are either playing NSW Cup or got pulled out of even lower than that. It's not a high quality football game.

10 REASONS TO WATCH FIJI V SAMOA

"All the criticism that rained on the NRL after round one when the crowds were where they were and the TV ratings were where they were, and everyone was saying what's wrong with rugby league.

"We come into the Easter weekend and get 40,000 and 50,000 crowds, we then roll that into Anzac Day where we again get crowds up in the 40,000s.

"Just as we get momentum, we're going to say, 'Oh, we're going to pull it off now.'

Semi Radradra and Lote Tuqiri will both star for Fiji. Source: News Corp Australia

"I think there is a place for Samoa-Fiji but not as a stand-alone, main event game.

"It's a nice prelim game — put it on before we play Australia-New Zealand."

There are no racist words there. Just a lack of interest for a game between two developing nations.

What would their reaction be if the criticism was about Ireland versus United Arab Emirates in next year's cricket World Cup? How many of you, so proud to watch Samoa-Fiji tonight, don't want to watch that game?

Does your lack of interest make you racist?

Firstly, somebody get this man spellcheck.

Secondly, if Channel Nine suspended an Ashes Test, like its NRL competition now, to broadcast a one-dayer between World Cup teams Afghanistan and Scotland, would we be asking where's our cricket?

Not everyone on Twitter is a dope.

Finally some common sense.

Which was only short-lived ...

Counting down to Friday night's match between the women's All Stars and Indigenous women's All Stars, hardly anyone spoke about it.

Misogynists?

Hey Deckhead, almost got it right.

Nothing like a homophobic slur to justify your anger towards (alleged) racism.

Digby, the former Wallaby and occasional nightclub pugilist, must think I'm another nightclub patron.

If this was about growing and promoting international football, why isn't it played in Fiji or Samoa instead of western Sydney?

Or is it really about claiming the western Sydney market while servicing broadcast rights, where it fails on the second count.

Sacked for words that were never said?

Unless it goes in their scrapbook.

Well said, Bek. You stay defiant.

The sadness here is that real racism, true racism, exists around the world and in my view these attempts to link my comments to the fight against that racism trivialise that fight.

It diminishes their voices of those fighting that fight, making them get lost amid the white noise of absurd comments.

So there is no apology. There never will be, because there was no sin.

I actually like this. While plagiarised from Billy Birmingham, who greets me always with "You Paul Kent", it takes on new meaning when you apply the Kiwi accent.

Whoa! Can I say Kiwi?

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CHILL PILLS

Gillon McLachlan, has already made a smooth impression to the AFL's top job, suggesting his tenure compared to his predecessors will be much like the ocean. Always changing, always the same.

ANGRY PILLS

While coaches don't take rep round seriously, with as many as 27 players, ahem, "unavailable" this weekend, the NRL will suffer a backlash over whether the public should take it seriously.

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A GOOD WEEK FOR

IT took the rebirth of Michael Clarke to spark the rebirth of Australian cricket, and Clarke was duly rewarded this week when the Aussies were elevated to the world's No. 1 Test nation. Regarded as a leader since his first step onto the Test arena, the Aussies finally made good only when Clarke became the leader he was predicted to be, and not what he thought he had to be. The difference, was all the difference.

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A ROUGH WEEK FOR

THE most telling quotes of the week belong to injured Tiger Simon Dwyer, who put the love and halos surrounding the NRL and Rugby League Players' Association's concern for Alex McKinnon in perspective when he said: "I've never been contacted by anyone at the NRL," and then added, on the absent RLPA: "I'm not even sure what they do." Dwyer was permanently injured playing the game, and deserves support, too.

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DON'T MISS

MICHAEL Cheika gloves up for the Waratahs match against Wellington Hurricanes on Saturday night (Fox Sports 2, 7.20pm), just days after copping a suspended sentence for abusing a cameraman. Cheika's tough-guy persona has finally put some steel into the Waratahs, and he has promised he won't change his ways. Good thing, too. And as long as he doesn't change his fullback, Israel Folau, everything will continue to be all right.

Shinji Ono has had a huge impact during the Wanderers first two seasons. Source: News Corp Australia

JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION: SHINJI ONO

Western Sydney Wanderers' Player of the Year plays in Sunday's A-League grand final (Fox Sports 2, 4pm).

PK: You were named the club's Player of the Year this week, but it won't be complete without the title, right?

SO: Definitely not. Last year we made the Grand Final but did not win. This year we have made it again and I will do everything I can for the team to win. I am proud that my team voted me for Player of the Year. I think we are more than a team, we are a family.

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PK: You and Alessandro Del Piero leave at the same time, is that leaving the A League light on for superstars?

SO: I think so, maybe. ADP is a different level. He is a superstar but I think the league is very good with many good players and getting better every year. I believe the players have something special. If the A-League keeps getting good players then it will continue to get bigger and bigger.

PK: Is it true you're leaving just as you started to feel comfortable with the language?

SO: Please repeat the question … No, I still feel very uncomfortable with the language. But I will keep learning so when I visit next I will be improving.

PK: Best Japanese restaurant in Sydney?

SO: There are some good Japanese restaurants in the city and in the Rocks. My favourite one is in Surry Hills called Yachiyo.

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PK: What have you enjoyed most about living in Australia?

SO: The many friends I have made here.

PK: Which is the better game, NRL or AFL?

SO: Both equal, football is best.

PK: Is there any part of Australia you are taking home with you?

SO: I wish I could take the weather with me.

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kiwis took it to Roos and we all cared

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IT'S almost un-Australian.

Akin to burnt snags, warm beer and wearing Crocs and only Speedos on Bondi Beach.

But man-up and admit it.

For a moment on Friday night, an absorbing 53-minutes to be precise, it felt bloody good to see the Kiwis taking it to the Kangaroos.

New Zealand's Jesse Bromwich scores a try. Source: News Limited

Why was that? Was it, because suddenly we cared about Test football?

Remember, this was the meaningless clash which all week, that nobody cared too much about.

Those same nobodies, including everyone except New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney, didn't give such a collection of untried, starry-eyed Kiwis, a chance.

Not to win the match, but a chance to score a try.

The World champions, the Kangaroos, were supposed to win by the length of the Royal Randwick straight.

Australia's Greg Bird scores a try. Source: News Limited

But even with the threat of the Harbour city being barred from hosting any further Test matches, the only question being asked all week was why bother turning up to witness a one-sided carve-up?

But it never happened.

In fact, New Zealand easily covered the 20-plus point start the TAB were offering right up until 8pm.

And that's a good thing.

The result, the decent crowd, even the fact that rugby league returned to one referee, delivered a huge relief for a code which has suffered a flurry of body shots, it seems, ever since the 2014 NRL season began.

New Zealand's Kevin Proctor in action. Source: News Limited

Anything less than a contest on Friday night, would have left NRL chief executive Dave Smith booking an appointment with a witch doctor this morning.

What with average attendances to begin the year, followed by the devastating injury to Alex McKinnon, the boycott of last night's Test by Kiwi Sonny Bill Williams and the sad end to Ryan Tandy's life, last night gave the game something to finally smile about.

The Kiwis should be happy too.

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They were outstanding in their commitment.

The performance of prop Sam Moa, fearless and dominating, would have even left his Roosters teammate and overlooked Kiwi, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, cheering.

Certainly, New Zealand were nothing without Shaun Johnson's first-half kicking game. Riding behind his clever and clinically directed kicks, the Kiwis stunned the Kangaroos early.

New Zealand celebrate a try. Source: News Limited

It was great to watch.

Kearney had told anyone that wanted to listen that the Kiwis would play with pride in their jumper.

In the end, it was with the same respect for their own green and gold jumper that lifted the Kangaroos towards their victory.

"We certainly knew it was going to be a tough game,'' Australian captain Cameron Smith said.

"I was glad to see we had a fairly healthy crowd here to see the match. I don't think any side let anyone down with the way we played.

New Zealand's Kevin Proctor in action. Source: News Limited

"It might have been a little bit scrappy, but that's Test match footy.

"It was tough, grinding through patches of the game. But at no stage did we think it was going to be a walkover.''

Tim Sheens' men weren't at their best.

That might be disrespectful to the courage and effort of their raw rivals, which featured six rookies and a dummy-half in Ben Henry, who had never played in that position before, but they did enough.

New Zealand's Martin Taupau is tackled by Australia's Cameron Smith and Paul Gallen. Source: News Limited

Or perhaps, the Kangaroos slow start, trailing 18-12 at halftime, was a by-product of Australia's spine, including Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith, bringing their struggling club form with the Melbourne Storm, into the Test arena.

Either way, it only added to the contest.

A contest, which supported by a vocal group of just over 25,000 fans, showed that perhaps, just maybe, Sydney does care about Test football.

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Prepare yourselves for Super 20

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THE wackiest spin-off to rugby's quantum leap to Super 18 in 2016 is that further expansion is now more certain than ever with potential franchises possible on the west coast of the US, in Europe or Asia.

The new-look format of four conferences, with its enlarged eight-team finals series, looks more like "Super 20 minus 2" than Super 18.

It is a super-structure with pieces missing until they are filled for 2022 and beyond as Super 20.

The five-team Australian and New Zealand conferences have a symmetry.

The two unbalanced South African-centric conferences of four teams do not but you can bet, for 2022, there will be two extra teams with dreams and big bankrolls joining the party.

If it is all a bit dizzying to take in, it is. Super Rugby is going global.

Argentina's entry to Super 18 has been rubber-stamped by Thursday's big news while rugby powerbrokers in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and even Europe could all be in the tender process to be the 18th and last team for 2016.

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There has been some serious horsetrading between countries and with broadcasters.

The Reds will play only six local derbys a year rather than the current eight but will be compensated by playing every Kiwi team each season rather than missing out on the crowd-pulling Crusaders (2013) and Chiefs (2014) because of the current draw's quirks.

Australian Rugby Union boss Bill Pulver is claiming as a big win that the Australian and New Zealand conferences will feed five of the eight teams into the finals series because the South Africans clearly wanted it capped at four.

The South Africans will still host two quarter-finals so there will be an annual lamb to the slaughter ritual of a less-fancied Australasian team flying there to battle all the odds.

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"Sadly, the least represented country in the finals since Super Rugby began has been Australia so to have three wildcards from the Australasian group into the finals is a real positive when you think of how lucrative hosting a finals game can be," Pulver added.

The regular rugby fan doesn't need to over-analyse what cross-over games mean.

There will still be 15 opponents to a robust regular season but losing a home game ever second year is a $200,000-plus hole for a team like the Reds.

A big positive is that Pulver has involved Australia's three commercial TV networks in the format discussions and is bullish that some part of Super Rugby will be on free-to-air screens in 2016.

"I'm confident there will be more Super Rugby seen on free-to-air," Pulver said.

That will be one of the code's biggest wins to take the on-field fireworks to people who have just not been able to watch Super Rugby before.

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

D-Mac learning to run his own race

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CROWS development coach Alan Stewart is famous for throwing curly questions at young footballers in pre-draft meetings.

In late 2006 he wanted to test the mettle of an Oakleigh Chargers midfielder Adelaide was considering for its third round pick.

David Mackay was coming off a 28-disposal game in the Chargers' TAC Cup Grand Final win but Stewart turned the tables and drilled the then 18 year old on an earlier final where his impact hadn't been as great.

Mackay responded by saying he was a confidence player and it had been down that day. Stewart pounced.

"Alan Stewart would say if you have ability and you work as hard as you can there shouldn't be any need to have confidence all the time." Mackay said.

"When things aren't going the way you want them to (you have to move) past that and not let it affect your performance."

It was an important lesson for Mackay and one that he drew on last year after being dropped from Adelaide's line up for the first time.

Crows wingman David Mackay gets a kick away against St Kilda. Picture: Quinn Rooney.

Once considered one of the Crows' brightest prospects, a lack of form and confidence saw the 25 year old sent back to the SANFL. It hit Mackay hard.

"For all of us who play it's the biggest thing in your life at the time. You have to stay positive but it's not easy," he said.

"I wasn't getting my hands on the ball enough and I wasn't running as well as I could and having the impact on games I needed to be having."

Mackay watched vision of his games at the end of the season and realised he wasn't covering the ground as well as he had in the past.

He ramped up his workrate at training - reaching "a better level than I ever have before" - and focused on playing to his strengths.

Then in late November, senior Crows assistant Dean Bailey was diagnosed with cancer, a tragedy which had a profound effect on Mackay.

David Mackay celebrates a goal against St Kilda. Picture: George Salpigtidis.

"I worked really closely with Bails. In a way it highlighted what was important in life and even though it's a big business and such an important thing what we do, it's still just footy," Mackay said.

"I guess it put things in perspective for me. Made me think I need to enjoy what I'm doing and make the most of it.

"We're very lucky to be able to do what we do. You don't want to get to the end of your footy career and say the whole thing was a battle."

Mackay has honoured Bailey's passing with an electric start to the 2014 season.

He's averaging career bests in disposals (20.3), inside 50s (3.8) and score assists (1.5) and has re-assumed his position as one of the best ball users in the AFL.

Of the competition's top 100 ballwinners, only Jobe Watson has a better retention rate than Mackay.

"One of things I pride myself on is being able to use it well when I do get it," Mackay said.

"As a team it's probably something we haven't done that well this year and it cost us early on.

"It's really hard to play against teams that can control the ball and make you defend for long periods."

Mackay is also embarking on the dashing runs from half back that are a feature of his game when he's playing well.

His average running bounces have jumped from 0.9 to 3 per game and his teammates up field are reaping the benefit.

"That was my biggest focus going into the preseason this year was to get back running again," he said.

"So far it's been a marked improvement from last year. It needs to be a strength of my game and I'm trying to make it that again.

"We're only early in the season but I certainly feel like I'm playing much better footy than I was last year."

THE GREAT RETAINERS

AFL's best retention rates

Jobe Watson (Essendon) - 82.4%

David Mackay (Adelaide) - 82%

Cale Hooker (Essendon) - 82%

Robert Murphy (Bulldogs) - 81.5%

Joel Selwood (Geelong) - 81%

And the worst ...

David Mundy (Fremantle) - 51.8%

Bernie Vince (Melbourne) - 58.6%

Michael Rischitelli (Gold Coast) - 59.1%

Danyle Pearce (Fremantle) - 60.7%

David Swallow (Gold Coast) - 60.9%

David Mackay with girlfriend Sarah Endersbee. Source: News Limited

LIFE BALANCE PUTS D-MAC IN A GOOD PLACE

DAVID Mackay is hoping the Crows can play deep into September this season but there's another important date the following month he's also eyeing off.

The 25 year old is getting married to fiancee Sarah in October.

"The planning is all underway," Mackay said.

"I'm looking forward to that."

Mackay lives with Sarah in a house he bought at Grange a few years ago.

"We love living down here, particularly during the warmer months, with the beach so close," he said.

You sense Mackay is in a really good place in his life after a 2013 season which tested him in ways he hadn't been tested before.

Growing up in Melbourne as the son of a father and mother who worked in biochemistry and pathology at the Austin Hospital, Mackay excelled at most things he turned his hand to.

He was a house captain at Trinity Grammar, won the TAC Cup Grand Final with Oakleigh Chargers and realised his dream of playing AFL when he was selected by the Crows with pick 48 in the 2006 draft.

So losing his place in Adelaide's line-up midway through last season was a learning experience for the dashing half back - one that has left him better prepared to face life's challenges.

"There's always going to be ups and downs but when you get the down periods you just have to move on from them quickly, learn from them and not be so caught up in them and keep moving forwards and look for the positives," Mackay said.

"That's something I've tried to do."

Contracted at Adelaide for another two seasons, Mackay has shown his loyalty to the Crows the past two years.

First he knocked back a four year, $2 million offer from Melbourne to sign a new deal with Adelaide and then last year refused to be included in any potential deal to lure Jared Polec to West Lakes.

"I love being part of this group. It's a great group," Mackay said.

He's hoping his commitment will be rewarded with team success in the near future.

Adelaide has recovered from an 0-3 start to enter tomorrow's game against the Demons with a chance to move to 4-3.

"We're starting to get stronger," Mackay said.

"We're getting a few players back fit and our game style is starting to click over a bit.

"We know when we play our best footy it does measure up."

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Fitzgibbons motivated to avenge loss

Australia's Sally Fitzgibbons during her semi final loss against Carissa Moore. Source: Colleen Petch / News Corp Australia

A CONTROVERSIAL loss at Bells Beach has stoked Sally Fitzgibbons competitive fire ahead of her bid to end the domination of world champions Carissa Moore and Steph Gilmore in the next round of the ASP World Tour in Brazil.

Fitzgibbons, who flies to Brazil for the fourth round of the ASP World Tour today, admitted she is still hurting from her close semi-final loss to Moore at the Rip Curl Pro last week.

Australia's Sally Fitzgibbons during her semi final loss against Carissa Moore. Source: News Corp Australia

After the close-call Moore then went on to defeat Australian Tyler Wright for her second World Tour crown of the year.

"To be so close. It does really hurt,'' she said.

"The result was sub-par from what I was looking for.''

Bells has been a happy hunting ground for Fitzgibbons in the past, providing the stage for her maiden World Tour win and a second title a year later in 2012.

"I have to move on and take the momentum that was building into Brazil,'' Fitzgibbons said.

"I am feeling close and close to a win.''

Australia's Sally Fitzgibbons during her semi final loss against Carissa Moore. Source: News Corp Australia

The battle for the 2014 world title is shaping up as the closest in recent years with Moore and seven-time champion Gilmore locked in the No.1 position prior the Hawaiians win at Bells.

Gilmore's victory in the season opener has her now in second place in the world title race with Wright third and Fitzgibbons a close fourth.

But in Fitzgibbons favour now is she is a two-time winner in Brazil and also a runner-up at the event due to kick off next week.

"I've got a good track record hear and that gives me confidence,'' she said.

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Simon Dwyer is league’s secret shame

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EVEN if someone did ring, Simon Dwyer couldn't lift the phone with his right hand.

Put simply, it's shot. Useless. Disabled ever since that afternoon two years ago when, attempting a tackle at Campbelltown Stadium, this promising Wests Tiger ripped five nerves straight off his spinal column.

So what has been done since?

Remembering that before rugby league disabled him — before his hand swelled, shoulder routinely slipped out of joint and the pain medication gave him seizures — this young forward was among the brightest prospects in the game.

Simon Dwyer watches from the sidelines at NSW City training. Source: News Corp Australia

Not only on the cusp of NSW Origin selection, but owning a thwack which, ironing out no less than Roosters enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, was hailed on these very pages as 'Hit of the Century'.

So in the two years since the Greatest Game of All ruined him, who from the NRL has called?

"I've never been contacted by anyone at the NRL,'' Dwyer shrugs.

MCKINNON RE-SIGNS WITH KNIGHTS

Players Association, then?

"Ah, I'm not even sure what they do,'' he concedes. "Seem a waste of time. I don't even know if I have a manager anymore. I saw him at a game recently and he said 'Hi', but that was it.

"It's a little disappointing to think, if I were in any other job, insurance would cover this injury. But being a footballer ... yeah, I'm on my own."

Simon Dwyer is rugby league's secret shame.

That isn't him talking either — it's us.

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For while he was once among the most feared defenders in footy, this affable 25-year-old — a fella working as City Origin assistant in Dubbo this week because "Freddy never forgot me" — refuses to whack a game that so badly betrayed him.

Indeed, who has time?

What with the daily physiotherapy, the massages and weights. Bloke even bought his own acupuncture kit.

Which makes him the kind of bloke who doesn't covet interviews.

MCKINNON OFFERED JOB FOR LIFE BY NRL

But when cornered at City training on Thursday — still wearing the same sling he vowed two years ago would not stop his NRL return — he somewhat reluctantly agreed to open up.

Explaining not only his own battle, but the happiness at seeing Alex McKinnon — a footballer three years his junior — being so well supported by the NRL, the Newcastle Knights, indeed the entire rugby league community.

Dwyer has been wearing a sling since his injury two years ago. Source: News Corp Australia

"What Alex has suffered — terrible,'' Dwyer says almost in a whisper. "And I hope he gets all the support possible because not only does he deserve it, it's the right thing to do.

"I mean, we keep hearing how rugby league is business, so why isn't it run like one? Why aren't footballers insured?

"Cars and houses get insured, but not us. It's tough but, while you hope things change, you've just gotta get on with it."

Which is how Dwyer has been every day since that attempted tackle.

When colliding awkwardly into the hip of Canterbury prop Michael Hodgson — "my shoulder went one way, my head the other" — he ripped from his spinal cord the C5, C6, C7, C8 and T1.

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"Initially I felt frozen," Dwyer recalls. "I couldn't talk, couldn't move, couldn't feel anything from the neck down.

"There was only a weird sensation, like my legs and arms were in the air. But looking back at video since, I was just flat."

Eventually, a Wests Tigers trainer sat Dwyer up and, after relevant checks, tried to walk him from the field.

"But I was like, 'shit, I can't feel my legs','' he continues. "Eventually, all the feeling came back. Well, everywhere but my right arm."

And so in the weeks following, this tough Sydney westie underwent surgery that saw nerves taken from different parts of his body — including his left arm and diaphragm — and then redirected into his motionless limb.

Dwyer. in his playing days with Wests Tigers. Source: News Limited

Yet two years on, and living at home with his parents, he still has no movement in his fingers. Can manage just one arm curl "against gravity".

Holding a cup of water, or phone, impossible.

Still, Dwyer refuses to quit.

Right now, driving on a disabled permit, learning to write as a leftie and battling on without those pain killers that caused him "little side effects".

Like what?

"Seizures,'' he shrugs.

So what is being done?

For while the Knights may have honoured McKinnon's contract upgrade, Dwyer had his deal terminated by the Tigers — who couldn't fit him under the salary cap — and, instead, was appointed to staff on a smaller three-year agreement.

Dwyer's staff appointment with Wests Tigers runs out this year. Source: News Limited

It is a deal for which the disabled footballer has always been grateful. An agreement which, we also note, runs out this year, right?

"I'm not sure what's happening yet,'' he says. "I would love to stay in the game and really enjoy my work at Wests Tigers, doing video for the boys and statistics for (coach) Mick Potter on game day.

"The club has said they're yet to finalise things for next year so who knows?"

Dwyer is also grateful to Freddy.

The NSW Origin great who not only called him into camp in 2012, but has made this former City forward his first staffing appointment in the two years since.

"Which is incredible because some guys, they don't even have that,'' Dwyer says. "Only last week I got a call from another footballer in a similar situation.

"He's struggling and, given the extent of my injuries, wanted to know what the NRL had done. But, you know ... what could I say?"

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cordner’s reasons for thanking Alex

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FOR most people in rugby league, Alex McKinnon's dose of inspiration has barely started to take effect.

But for Australia's greenest Test cap, it started midway through last season.

Without McKinnon's care and advice, Roosters star Boyd Cordner knows he might not have been part of last year's grand final victory.

Locked in a race against time to overcome a severe ankle syndesmosis, Cordner relied on McKinnon for guidance and advice during his frantic rehabilitation.

MCKINNON OFFERED NRL JOB FOR LIFE

Roosters backrower Boyd Cordner in action. Source: News Corp Australia

"When I first did my ankle injury, Alex was one of the first people to text me," Cordner recalled.

"He had the same injury and came back a few weeks early. I was in constant contact him, comparing how he felt at certain stages.

"It helped me heaps with my confidence. It helped me come back in time and win a comp with the Roosters."

The 21-year-old was eventually cleared to return for the decider, and went on to make two appearances for the Kangaroos at last year's World Cup.

But Cordner's fairytale run was shattered when he learned of McKinnon's career-ending fate in March.

Knight Alex McKinnon in action. Source: News Corp Australia

Despite never playing for the same club, the pair forged a tight bond as backrow team mates in a collection of junior representative sides.

"When I saw it happen, I couldn't watch it again," Cordner said. "It was pretty scary to see how he ended up.

"I was rattled myself. You don't want to see that happen to anyone, but when it's one of your best mates, it hurts a bit more."

The oblique days following McKinnon's injury were torture for Cordner, who did not want to disturb his mate's family with multiple inquiries.

He was able to visit Mckinnon until the patient was well enough to move from Melbourne to Sydney earlier this month.

Newcastle Knight Alex McKinnon in action. Source: News Limited

"I had a day off and went up (to hospital) to see how he was going," Cordner said.

"I thought I was going to have to be careful with what I said, but he was so positive, and we were cracking jokes about the old times straightaway."

With McKinnon making his first public statement and appearance last weekend, Cordner is about to resume his heady ascent.

Sam Thaiday's calf injury has opened the way for a spot in the Kangaroos starting pack on Friday night.

Kangaroos stars James Tamou, Boyd Cordner, Greg Bird and Paul Gallen. Source: News Corp Australia

When he pulls on the green and gold jersey for the first time on home soil, there's no doubt Cordner will spare a thought for his stricken friend who was there for him last year.

"It's hard to say why you take a liking to a particular person," Cordner said.

"We never played for the same club team, but I suppose we shared the same qualities and outlook on life.

"If anyone can get through this, it's Alex. He's extremely tough."

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

The Buzz: Gil gets the green light

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WHEN Gillon McLachlan is announced as the new AFL chief executive as early as today, he must conduct a listening tour of the league as he takes over from Andrew Demetriou.

Demetriou's departure is now only weeks away, as first revealed in the Herald Sun.

McLachlan has seen off challenges from AFL club bosses Brian Cook and Brendon Gale, but in truth was never anything other than the unbackable favourite.

His huge leverage was his certain departure if overlooked, with the AFL Commission aware it could not lose both Demetriou and McLachlan, no matter the quality of the replacement.

Demetriou will happily go early despite denials on Saturday, which means McLachlan will claim equalisation and the CBA deal as the first items to be ticked off under his new regime.

WHAT ISSUES SHOULD GILLON MCLACHLAN MAKE TOP PRIORITY? CHAT LIVE WITH RALPHY AT 1PM ON WEDNESDAY ...

As AFL boss, Demetriou took a decade to discover what Joe Punter is shocked to find when he enters the MCG.

Demetriou recently took his kids into the MCG outer away the fine dining of the official AFL lunch and was stunned to cough up $32 for three buckets of chips, a sports drink and two waters.

The Pascoe Vale-raised, former AFLPA boss has shown himself to be a man of the people, but he sounded like a suit-wearing toff venturing into the cheap seats for the first time.

Like a politician out of touch with the concerns of the voting public.

Gillon McLachlan is expected to take over from Andrew Demetriou as early as Wednesday. Source: News Limited

Especially given he continues to say the AFL is not responsible for food prices, when of course the AFL deigns to play at the stadiums that put catering rights up for tender.

That kind of comment makes it clear why Gillon McLachlan — set to be announced as the new AFL chief executive as early as today — must conduct a listening tour of the AFL this year as he takes over from Demetriou.

Spending the rest of the year in the outer listening to Joe Punter wouldn't be the worst start.

So what are the key issues for McLachlan and how best should he go about tackling them as the AFL attempts to reinvent its public profile?

TICKETING

Don't tinkle down the public's back and tell them it's raining.

If the AFL needs to ramp up ticket prices to support the game, don't disguise it as "variable" or "dynamic" pricing, just fess up.

If that money goes to the clubs or the AFL or the expansion clubs or equalisation, then tell us exactly what the breakdown is too.

And don't drop big-ticket items like variable in a sneaky press release on a Friday arvo then apologise for lack of communication because it insults the intelligence of the fan.

North Melbourne and Western Bulldogs have signalled their intentions to play on Good Friday. Picture: Michael Klein Source: News Corp Australia

GOOD FRIDAY

Build it and they will come

Ignore power clubs like Essendon and give it to Dogs and North Melbourne and give them five years to build something special.

If they can't sell it out and make extra millions for the Good Friday Appeal, strip them and give someone else a crack.

MAKE 2015 THE YEAR OF THE FAN

Every club holds one open training session a week, the fans get into NAB Challenge games free if they buy a club membership.

Urge clubs to open up their clubs to allow inner sanctum experiences, and make them speak regularly through the media to their stakeholders — the fans.

They are the game's heroes and we rarely hear them speak but for paid TV show appearances.

Make 2015 the Year of the Fan, says Jon Ralph. Source: News Limited

CONGESTION AND MAULING

Tug the coat of those on the AFL Commission and footy boss Mark Evans and convince them rotations are hurting the game. Not killing it, but hurting it. And then hasten slowly.

Reduce interchange to 90 or 100 next year, and then take another look. Don't waste another year with the meaningless 120 cap.

IMPROVE THE AFL'S BRAND THROUGH PLAIN SPEAKING AND TRANSPARENCY

Less spin, more consistency and less trickery.

The AFL should be there to serve the fans, not take them for granted. The fans still flocked through the turnstiles through the global financial crisis and the Essendon saga yet the AFL put up ticket prices again both in general admission and blockbuster games.

DON'T KILL THE GOLDEN GOOSE

People love footy, but for 29 weeks of the year including finals, plus 18 pre-season games in 18 days?

Demetriou said this weekend that every year we debated the game's aesthetics before crowds and the game itself bounced back, and he may prove right.

But McLachlan would do well to tap into what on face value seems a more long-lasting discontent and ask the fans themselves about the issues at the heart of this great game.

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Nine stars injured, are Blues cursed?

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THEY say you make your own luck in life. Well, try telling that to NSW coach Laurie Daley.

With just three weeks until he names his side to tackle Queensland in the opening State of Origin game on May 28, the Blues are facing an injury crisis.

There are an incredible nine Blues stars currently sidelined through injury, putting NSW straight behind the eight ball in what is already a mammoth task to try and end Queensland's eight-year Origin reign.

MORE BIG CASUALTIES FOR COUNTRY

Manly's Glenn Stewart will be out for six weeks with an ankle injury. Source: News Corp Australia

You could just about name an entire side from NSW players laid-up in the injury ward.

Trent Merrin (thumb), Josh Dugan (ankle), Glenn Stewart (ankle), James Maloney (shoulder), Jarryd Hayne (shoulder), Todd Carney (hamstring), Luke Lewis (shoulder), Robbie Farah (dislocated elbow) and Michael Jennings (ankle) are all in doubt for the Suncorp Stadium clash.

The positions that are worst hit are fullback, five-eighth, prop, second-row, hooker and centre.

Merrin and Dugan withdrew from the Country side while Manly revealed Stewart will undergo surgery and miss the next six weeks of football.

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Nearly all those players — worth a combined total of about $6m — competed in last year's Origin series.

The injuries have left Daley wondering where the luck is when he needs it.

Queensland seem to be sailing along smoothly as always and don't have any injury concerns although Sam Thaiday (calf) did withdraw from Friday night's Test. He will be fine for Origin I.

Stewart sustained the injury early in Manly's 54-18 win over Canberra last Sunday at Brookvale. He left the field but returned in the second half and finished the game.

Manly officials are hopeful Stewart may return early but he will certainly miss Origin I. Daley has always been a huge fan of Stewart.

LYON, STEWART JOIN FORAN ON SIDELINE

Dragon's Trent Merrin will miss the City-Country clash with a thumb injury. Source: News Corp Australia

Dugan and Merrin now miss a golden chance to push for Origin selection through the City-Country game this Sunday in Dubbo.

"These things can happen," Daley told The Daily Telegraph. "It's not ideal but whoever pulls on the Blues jumper will wear it with pride and passion.

"They know it is an honour to play for NSW.

"We will give it our best shot, no matter who is in the side.

"It is disappointing for the players in contention who have collected injuries at this time of year."

Daley said the injured players won't be forgotten.

Tigers Robbie Farah is in doubt with an elbow injury. Source: Supplied

"It is a long series and anything can happen," he said.

"The injured players have to get back fit and get back on the paddock as quickly as they can."

CASUALTY WARD: STARS FALL ON REP ROUND

Daley had a rough idea of his team for the opening game but it continues to change with each injury.

Despite the setbacks, Daley remains upbeat about his team's chances.

Meanwhile, in another blow for Manly, skipper Jamie Lyon has a knee injury and will miss the club's next match against Melbourne at AAMP Park.

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Lyon injured himself just after half-time against the Raiders. Officials claim the injury is "minor" but he could miss two games.

"It's not ideal but we'll just have to deal with it," Manly coach Geoff Toovey.

"It's probably fortunate we've got the (representative) break this week, even though we've got a few players in action."

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Kent: Kiwi’s side a debutants bore

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IF New Zealand do not care enough about Friday's Test to name their strongest team available then why should the rest of us?

Kiwi coach Steve Kearney might have legitimate reasons for leaving out the likes of Sonny Bill Williams, Shaun Kenny-Dowell and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.

Maybe he dislikes triple barrelled names.

Or maybe there are reasons we are not being told, which might be completely legitimate but means fans are being short changed again, even while asked to pay at the gate.

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Or could it be as simple as Kearney insists, that Waerea-Hargreaves' performances could not justify selection ahead of Jesse Bromwich, Martin Taupau, Sam Moa and Greg Eastwood?

But that would be to ignore Waerea-Hargreaves' influence, a man who is more than just a prop.

He is who the Kiwis look toward to bring a little iron to their game. He is the first player the Australians look for.

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Steve Roach and Gorden Tallis join Paul Kent and Ben Ikin to look at all the big issues having an impact on the game. Watch NRL360 on Wednesday, 7.30pm on Fox Sports 1HD

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Yet on the twin criteria of form and future Kearney could find no place for him for Friday's Test.

Williams made it easy for Kearney when he withdrew earlier this month, in apparent protest at being implicated in the Kiwis' Stilnox scandal at last year's World Cup.

Kearney dismissed Williams' omission by saying he would not have been picked anyway. He was picking players for the future, and given Williams was returning to Super 15 he had no future.

Which brings it back to Waerea-Hargreaves, just 25 and expected to be in his prime come the next World Cup.

He is the Kiwis' future.

Just not their present apparently.

The sniff that won't go away is last year's Stilnox scandal.

L to R: Martin Taupau, Siliva Havili, Kenny Bromwich, Ben henry, Isaac John and Peta Hiku are the debutants in the New Zealand Rugby team. Picture: John Appleyard Source: News Corp Australia

The Kiwis players, Williams and the injured Kieran Foran, several others, are upset at Kearney and the New Zealand Rugby League at first being implicated in the scandal, and secondly at their failure to defend them.

The investigation had no transparency, and in a bid smother it by refusing to discuss it the NZRU sullied a dozen reputations. Here were dull minds at work.

Now Kearney adds to it by steadfastly refusing to discuss anything about the Kiwis' selection process. So the whiff of Stilnox hangs over this Test like a dirty cloud.

The failure of the Kiwis to keep faith with the fans, hindered by a misguided management and a high rate of injured players (Foran, Issac Luke and Jeremy Smith) reinforces calls the annual mid-season representative round needs to go.

The Kiwis can't compete and the NRL competition suffers for it.

The NRL receives $200 million a season to put on a competition which, this year, got off to a poor start.

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Poor crowds and disappointing television ratings in the opening rounds had many questioning the brains trust at NRL headquarters, who allowed poor scheduling and a lack of foresight to shadow the season start.

The League responded by saying don't worry, give the competition time and the crowds will return.

And it finally looked to be true when brilliant Easter weekend crowds rolled straight into Anzac Day games that had the competition humming.

And then the handbrake went on for representative round.

Instead of rolling forward again this weekend the NRL teams all get the week off and viewers get a chance to break the habit they had just found themselves in because half the main event this weekend can't be bothered to pick a full-strength team.

It's not like they can afford it, either. The Kiwis haven't won this Test, played annually, since 1998.

L to R: Siliva Havili, Martin Taupau, Kenny Bromwich, Isaac John, Ben Henry, and Peta Hiku are the debutants in the New Zealand team. Picture: John Appleyard Source: News Corp Australia

Then on Saturday it's the Fiji-Samoa Test, where anybody who cares about that will be getting in for free, their names on the list at the gate that contains friends and family.

Sunday's City-Country game should remain, but should be played on a Thursday before a normal home-and-away round.

It is about time fans are treated as the most important commodity, and not just another income source.

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THE WARRIORS NEED HENRY, NOT TITANS

JOHN Cartwright walked into the post-match press conference last Sunday wearing his usual costume: a Titans shirt and a slight frown.

Gold Coast remain at the top of the ladder, for anyone who cares to look, and yet Cartwright has been through too much in recent years to get ahead of himself.

After an initial burst of optimism some years back that resulted in then club boss Michael Searle declaring Cartwright would be Titans coach for life, failures to reach the finals in the past few years have seen some question whether Cartwright is the man for the job.

Now competing with a healthy roster, Cartwright is proving his worth as a coach.

Yet while assistant Neil Henry has been a terrific addition to the coaching staff, he isn't the man to take Cartwright's job.

No, Cartwright is the man for the Titans.

Henry is the man for New Zealand Warriors, and the sooner they act on that, the more confidence everybody can have that the club isn't completely rudderless.

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How Benji blew his one-club chance

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1 IT TOOK an advertising billboard on Milton Road to underline for me on the weekend the extent of Benji Marshall's folly in walking away from the chance to be the first legend of the Wests Tigers joint venture.

There was Shane Webcke, larger than life (really), advocated a product, a couple of weeks after we had talked about how he was convinced he did the right thing by electing to become a one-club player.

Webcke could have earned hundreds of thousands more as a player by joining another club but stuck solid because it was he wanted to be a Bronco for life and he also thought there might be some advantages in retirement by sticking solid.

Eight years after his retirement, Webcke is still in a long-running television advertising pitchperson for the Broncos' main sponsor because they evidently feel he best represents what the company is trying to portray.

Marshall convinced himself that he was such a good chance of transforming himself into a Super Rugby flyhalf at age 29 that he even gave up the chance to play domestic games in New Zealand to build his knowledge.

Football fans are famously forgiving of their club's players, especially ones who win a premiership.

But Tigers fans will take some getting over his admission that in his last year with their team he was "lazy, out of shape and lacking desire''. And pocketing, we read, $20,000 a year from the Tigers for two seasons he will not play for the club he held under the terms of his Tigers contract.

Still Benji — as his Sydney media fans refer to him, like he is Madonna or something _ is in no doubt about the overriding issue when he joins the Sharks, Storm, Cowboys or whichever NRL club thinks he will be good for their football and their club culture.

"I have made a lot of decisions in the past about what is best for everyone. This time it's about what is best for me,'' he said.

2 The Broncos' two-point loss to South Sydney confirmed there is more commitment and far more attacking variety in the side than there was last year.

But there were a woeful lack of direction and a willingness to put in one more big hitup in Brisbane's efforts to set up for a field goal when the scores were 26-all.

It was, admittedly, the 77th minute, but Ben Hunt had to kick from too far out. Kicking before the last tackle would have also made it less likely a semi-trailer like Sam Burgess would charge the attempt down.

It was a pity for the Broncos, as they did so much right on the night in overhauling a 14-0 deficit but are 4-4 going into the first bye weekend.

3 It took only a few lazy minutes watching a 21-year-old Fox Sports replay of a rugby league game on the weekend to underline why the video review is a very good thing, regardless of the regular blow-ups from coaches, players and fans.

There were two tries disallowed in a trans-Tasman Test in 1993 which would have been awarded correctly by a video referee and were called as such by the commentators.

Would we really be better off by going back to one referee, with no video assistance out of a belief that a fast game is a good game?

4 Rafael Nadal has lost his grip on opposition throats on his claycourt domain this month.

Rival players will smell blood after Nadal was beaten in a quarter-final at claycourt tournaments in Monte Carlo and Barcelon in consecutive weeks.

It is the first time that has happened to the Spaniard by that stage of two clay events since 2004. His loss to Nicolas Almagro in Barcelona was his first there since 2003, when he was a 15-year-old.

The best-of-five-set format next month at the French Open, where Nadal has won eight finals, will require even more of opponents, but some will not be quite as glum about their chances as they would have been in past years. The ATP events were best-of-three.

5 Jed Adcock's appointment as sole Brisbane Lions captain in the summer did not send the AFL club's merchandise department into hyperdrive.

Adocck's standing among teammates and supporters as a man who will give everything on the field to his side has been advanced, though, during the difficult start to the season.

Adcock produced two smothers in the last quarter which were essential to Brisbane's icebreaking win over St Kilda last Friday. These are the sort of desperate efforts fans remember.

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

A tragic end for Ryan Tandy

Former NRL star Ryan Tandy has been found dead in an apartment on the NSW Central Coast.

POLICE believe the most likely cause for the death of former NRL footballer Ryan Tandy was an overdose of prescription drugs.

While Tandy was a known drug user, sources have claimed only prescription drugs were found near his body when he was discovered by his mother shortly before 2pm yesterday at her Saratoga home.

Police are not treating the death as suspicious.

RYAN TANDY - A LIFE LIVED IN THE HEADLINES

TANDY WAS THE LEAGUE'S ROUGH DIAMOND

FROM YESTERDAY: RYAN TANDY FOUND DEAD

Ryan Tandy playing for the Bulldogs. Source: News Limited

It marked a tragic end to a wasted life. Tandy, 32, was never able to ­regain control of his life after he was banned from the NRL for match ­fixing in 2012.

Police at the scene at Saratoga where Ryan Tandy was found dead. Source: News Corp Australia

Last year he was arrested for driving an unregistered car and possession of drugs and in January he faced court charged with kidnapping a man and holding him for several days over an alleged unpaid drug debt. It is believed Tandy was acting on orders from a bikie gang, for which he was working as a debt collector and standover man.

Ryan Tandy outside court. Source: News Limited

Ryan Tandy in action on the field. Source: News Limited

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A police media spokesman issued a holding statement last night: "About 2pm today police from Brisbane Water Local Area Command were called to a home at Saratoga after reports a man had died. His death was not being treated as ­suspicious and a report will be prepared for the coroner.''

Ryan Tandy outside court. Source: News Limited

Ryan Tandy in the Rugby League World Cup. Source: News Limited

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Tandy's mother was the woman who called police. Tandy was a part-time NRL player who played 36 games for five clubs, thrust into the headlines when he fixed a game ­involving Canterbury and North Queensland in August 2010.

He was arrested in February the following year. Despite pleading not guilty, Tandy was found guilty of match fixing and banned for life from the NRL in 2012.

Evidence heard during his trial ­revealed that of the bets placed on the game's first-scoring option with the TAB, 95 per cent were on the ­unusual, but more lucrative, choice of a penalty goal.

Minutes into the game Tandy failed to get off a ballrunner and was penalised

But rather than take the easy penalty goal, Cowboys dummy-half ­Anthony Watts tapped the ball and the Cowboys later scored a try. The penalty goal bets had lost.

Tandy was found to have placed several bets himself on a penalty goal being the first scoring option.

Ryan Tandy playing for the Bulldogs. Source: News Limited

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hinds: FFA denied its dream decider

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MELBOURNE Victory captain Mark Milligan is chopped down in the penalty area like a rotting elm in a bushfire zone.

Arms flap, the crowd holds its breath and ... nothing. It was a moment for the referee bashers but not the conspiracy theorists.

If the fans in tin hats were right and sports authorities really did direct officials to facilitate certain results, not only would Victory have gotten the penalty, the referee would have tied the Brisbane Roar goalkeeper's gloves together. A Melbourne victory — meaning a Western Sydney Wanderers home grand final — was the FFA's dream result.

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Instead, Victory were denied the obvious spot kick that could have tied the scores late in their semi-final, which was a pity.

Not because the dominant Roar don't deserve to win. But because a Wanderers-Victory grand final at ANZ Stadium might have been the greatest occasion in Australian domestic soccer history.

The doubters didn't bother to conceal their mirth when FFA chief executive David Gallop declared the idea his game could become "the biggest and most powerful is no longer just a dream''. More than 60,000 at The House That Cathy Built cheering the Wanderers would have proven football was fighting in the heavyweight division in Sydney's western suburbs.

Instead? We have a compelling decider between the two standout teams. And, for the ecumenical sports fan, an early reminder of the type of parochial mob NSW will encounter twice in State of Origin this year.

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For a number of reasons this is a big moment for the Wanderers. As Oscar Wilde might have said during an afternoon with the Red and Black Brigade, "to lose one grand final may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose both looks like carelessness.''

The reputation — even the psychology — of clubs is often formed on the biggest occasions. Lose on Sunday and the pressure on the Wanderers will begin to grow. Just reaching a third grand final in three years might prove difficult for a team in transition after the departure of Shinji Ono and, possibly, the loss of electrifying winger Youssouf Hersi. The Wanderers' time is now.

At home, Brisbane and their killer bees Besart Berisha and Thomas Broich should be slight favourite.

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Berisha's winner against his future club Victory showed the sometimes controversial striker intends to leave Brisbane in a blaze of glory. Even if his muted celebration was a reminder of how unedifying the idea of players signing for a new club while still playing out time in their old colours can be for fans.

Inevitably this A-League season has not been as eye-catching as the last when the Wanderers made their tumultuous debut and Alessandro Del Piero turned heads. Other than a few predictable crowd troubles the only major problem has been the disappointing ratings for Friday night games on SBS.

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Whether that reflected a modest appetite for the A-League, or the relatively downbeat exposure (on digital affiliate SBS2), promotion and production of the SBS coverage is a matter for debate. Privately, FFA officials are hoping for a more dynamic free-to-air coverage next season. The A-League grand final — on a weekend with no NRL games — is the start of an extended period when the window of opportunity opens for Australian football.

The Wanderers will barely have time to lick champagne from the A-League's toilet seat trophy, or down a couple of consoling beers, before they board the flight to Japan for their Asian Champions League match against Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

The Wanderers and Victory do battle earlier this season. Source: News Limited

The Socceroos go into camp on the Central Coast in mid-May to prepare for the World Cup. The send-off game at ANZ Stadium against South Africa on May 26 should attract a full house.

Then to the World Cup, where even competitive performances against Chile, the Netherlands and Spain will exceed modest expectations. As its promoters have been quick to emphasise, the Asian Cup lead-up begins the moment the Socceroos take the flight back from Brazil.

After that we will have some idea whether the game can capture more imaginations. Or if the talk of one day exceeding the reach of the AFL and NRL is a figment of the imagination.

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More