Backs key to success

Alex Rance clears from Jeremy Cameron. Source: Mark Metcalfe / Getty Images

YOU need look no further than defence to find part of the reason behind the 2013 success of Geelong and Richmond.

Both are represented by two defensive players in this week's Team of the Round, the Tiger duo of Alex Rance and Troy Chaplin being two of competition's better key backmen.

Geelong's Harry Taylor already occupies such standing while his teammate Jimmy Bartel has produced a very solid season off half-back.

Brendon Goddard and Leigh Montagna, friends and former teammates at St Kilda, may both be in line for their first club best and fairest awards.

And while Will Minson mightn't win a B&F at the Bulldogs due to the presence of Ryan Griffin and Tom Liberatore,  he deserves All-Australian selection given the consistency of his year.

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B: Kade Simpson (Carlton): Just another ripper game in a cracker of a season.
Troy Chaplin (Richmond): A really clever piece of selective recruiting.
Alex Rance (Richmond): With Chaplin brings much-needed defensive solidarity.

HB: Jimmy Bartel (Geelong): Can't believe his name was absent from Geelong's best players.
Harry Taylor (Geelong): Showed Tippett what it's like against the best.
Brendon Goddard (Essendon): Has never won a club B&F which should soon change.

C: Nathan Fyfe (Fremantle): The former cox-wain who grew.
Tom Rockliff (Brisbane): Integral part of what is looking like a bright future.
Leigh Montagna (St Kilda): This is surely the season he adds a B&F to his CV.

Bomber Brendon Goddard in action against Carlton. Picture: Getty Source: HeraldSun

HF: Josh Thomas (Collingwood): Becoming a handy pick-up at 75 in the 2009 draft.
Jarryd Roughead (Hawthorn): Deserves to win the Coleman in career-best season
Steve Johnson (Geelong): There was a bit of everything from the talented one.

F: Hayden Ballantyne (Fremantle): Overcame a dodgy shoulder to play a blinder.
Nick Riewoldt (St Kilda): There is life in the ageing champion.
Stephen Milne (St Kilda): Has kicked more goals than anyone standing 176cm or under.

Magpie Dane Swan in action against West Coast. Picture: Getty Source: HeraldSun

R: Will Minson (Western Bulldogs): Might be the game that cements his AA selection.
Dane Swan (Collingwood): Going to be interesting Brownlow night between he and Pendles.
Tom Liberatore (Western Bulldogs): Has any player in the game made more improvement?

Richmond star Dustin Martin in action against Greater Western Sydney. Picture: Phil Hillyard Source: HeraldSun

I: Scott Thompson (Adelaide): Finishing the year hard after a so-so start.
Dustin Martin (Richmond): Feasted on the hapless Giants.
Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn): Another sublime display from the clearance master.
Substitute: Paul Chapman (Geelong): When the game was hot early we saw a happy Chappy.
Coach: Chris Scott (Geelong): Masterminded a decimation of a quality opponent.

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NRL to fix scheduling blunder

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THE NRL is desperately trying to fix their most embarrassing scheduling blunder of the year.

On Monday night the struggling Parramatta Eels are to play the equally bad St George Illawarra Dragons at ANZ Stadium.

That's right, ANZ Stadium, an 83,000-seat venue, 16th against 15th.

Officials are concerned the match will be played in front of 75,000 empty seats and look terrible on Fox Sports.

What an embarrassment – a week after asking fans to watch the Eels get annihilated 64-4 by Melbourne Storm in the Sunday afternoon free-to-air match of the day.

Monday night's game was scheduled more than 12 months ago when Parramatta chose three "blockbusters" to be played at the Homebush venue as part of their stadium deal.

This match last year attracted more than 40,000 because it was legend Nathan Hindmarsh's farewell game in the NRL.

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This year it means absolutely nothing, not even a battle for the wooden spoon because the Dragons are four points clear with a much better for-and-against.

The NRL, Parramatta and the Dragons are at least working on moving the game back to Parramatta Stadium where it belongs.

Expect an announcement on a venue switch on Tuesday.

It will still be flat out attracting 10,000 fans at Parramatta but the atmosphere won't be as bad as an empty Olympic venue.

Recent form for the two sides couldn't be any worse.

Parramatta lost by 60 and the Dragons got pumped by the Wests Tigers.

Monday night is proving a major problem for the NRL.

The ratings on Fox Sports are excellent but last Monday night only 8000 turned up to watch the Tigers play the Roosters at Allianz Stadium, a ground they share.  

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Toomua hopes to keep 10 jersey

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MATT Toomua knew the moment he was subbed off in his Wallabies debut that he was ready for Test football, and now hopes to be given a long-term run wearing the most problematic jersey in Australian rugby.

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With Toomua, Quade Cooper, James O'Connor, Kurtley Beale and Berrick Barnes all having worn the Wallabies No.10 jersey in recent times, there is little certainty around who the solution is.

The only certainties under new coach Ewen McKenzie is that O'Connor won't be considered for it, because he is now seen as an outside back, and eventually an inside centre, and Barnes won't have a chance to wear it until he returns from a stint in Japan in 2015.

Toomua made a slow debut in the first Bledisloe Cup Test in Sydney, but showed better signs in Wellington last weekend when he reverted to a more natural running game.

That improvement would ordinarily be enough for a two-Test five-eighth to be given another chance but already there is speculation McKenzie could start with Cooper in a fortnight at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium.

"Truth be told I was a little bit disappointed with the first game, but I wasn't overly concerned - it was my first Test match," Toomua said.

"I knew when I came off the field; I said to myself, `You can play at this level'.

"I felt I improved over the two games.

"In the first game we played a lot differently at the Wallabies than we do at the Brumbies, so a lot of that was adapting to a new style.

"I realised after the game that the strengths that got me in the team is something I've got to show as well, running, taking on the line.

"I felt it would be an easier transition, because it is a natural part of my game, taking it into contact.

"It's a process, you don't play two games and say it's there.

'I would like to say the combination (with halfback Will Genia) is building, hopefully I will get more chances."

Given McKenzie's history with Cooper at Queensland, doubts will remain about Toomua's place in these early days.

"I never feel my place is certain, and that is the same in Super Rugby," Toomua said.

"You do think things, but you can only worry about your performance.

"It is natural to think, 'Will I be picked, or will I not?'

"Obviously I want to start, and continue starting. That goes without saying.

"I am more thinking from the first game to the second game, I improved a lot.

"What Ewen has in mind, we will find out next week.

"There are two schools of thought; consistency in selection can help in building momentum and improvement, but it can in a sense bring complacency.

"I have always preferred to have competition for spots, it keeps you on your toes.

"I know that it has benefited my game, being selected at the Brumbies and Jake showing faith in me.

"I don't want to shoot myself in the foot to say that shouldn't happen for the Wallabies as well.

"Most guys will argue it helps being selected week in, week out.

"But it is what's best for the team."

The shock selection McKenzie's first Test team, Toomua now reflects on his opening two international games - both defeats to the All Blacks - with confidence.

"It has been a whirlwind few weeks, add the Super Rugby final as well, making my debut and then Saturday night," he said.

"It is a different kettle of fish.

"I felt I could definitely compete after that first Test. Everything is high quality.

"The first game was a little bit of the unknown, not knowing if I was up to it.

"Getting out of that, I realised I could offer a lot more than I did.

"I felt a lot more confident on Saturday, I made good improvement, I learned a lot from the first week.

"In saying that, we wanted to win and we didn't, so that disappointment is gelled with my personal development."

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Wanderers sitting pretty

The Wanderers are hopeful of increased seating. Source: Gregg Porteous / News Limited

THE WANDERERS are hopeful of playing in front of an increased capacity next season, with the club increasingly optimistic that extra seating will be installed at Parramatta Stadium in time for next season.

Chairman Lyall Gorman last night said an increase of up to 3500 new seats was "more likely than not" which would lift the stadium's capacity to more than 24,000.

Under the advanced plans, a structure would be constructed at the end currently used as a family area to house the extra seating, with a more permanent solution still to be sought in the longer term.

Venues NSW, which has ultimate control of the stadium, has appointed a project manager to oversee the hoped-for installation and Gorman said the prospect of it happening "is a lot further forward than it was a week ago".

"We had another meeting today and there's a hugely can-do attitude from all parties, and it's about trying to find the best solution for all of us," Gorman said.

"We'll have another meeting in a fortnight, but as things stand there's a determination to try to do this if we possibly can."

Gorman said no decision will be made on when to implement a cap on memberships until then, with the final figure dependent on what the stadium's capacity will be.

Already the club has sold more than 15,000 memberships for next season, with a further spurt expected as the start of the season on October 11 gets closer.

"Either way though it [the cap] will be around 80% of capacity, as we want to leave enough tickets available for new supporters to experience the atmosphere, plus meet our obligations in terms of away fans and corporate partners," he said.

Meanwhile Gorman insisted there remains a possibility that the club could be sold by Football Federation Australia before the start of next season.

Reports yesterday suggested that Manchester City had made an initial approach to investment bank UBS, handling the sale for FFA, but well-placed sources have told The Daily Telegraph that no such conversations took place.

Gorman declined to comment on individual potential bidders, but said an appropriate bidder could emerge at any time.

"It could happen in a day or it could take months," he said of the sale. "We won't move until we find the right ownership group with the right fit and the appropriate financial considerations.

"Such a group could come forward tomorrow, so there's no definitive timetable in that respect."

In other A-League news, Brisbane have welcomed back former winger Kofi Danning to aid his recovery from major surgery to repair a snapped cruciate ligament.

Dannig tore his anterior cruciate ligament five months ago while playing for the Roar's sister club CS Vise in Belgium, and will complete his rehabilitation with Roar.

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Armstrong, Sunday Times reach settlement

BRITISH newspaper The Sunday Times has reached a settlement with Lance Armstrong after suing the disgraced cyclist to recover damages from a libel settlement.

The paper paid Armstrong STG300,000 ($A520,000) in 2006 to settle a case after printing claims that he took performance-enhancing drugs.

But confirmation that Armstrong led a massive doping program on his teams came last year from a US Anti-Doping Agency report, prompting a confession by the American, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.

The Sunday Times announced it was suing Armstrong for around STG1 million ($A1.7 million) to reclaim the 2006 settlement payment plus interest and legal costs.

In Sunday's editions, the paper said it and the article's authors had reached a "mutually acceptable final resolution" with Armstrong, but said the terms are confidential.

It was The Sunday Times chief sports writer David Walsh's co-authored book, LA Confidential, that detailed Armstrong's role in cycling's doping culture and was serialised by his paper in 2004.

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Ten things we learned from the Ashes

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LUCKILY for England they have won the Ashes. You'd hate to think what people would be saying about them had they lost.

Australian players have been lining up to bag England's negative batting tactics and it's true any Australian fan who could watch Alastair Cook bat after midnight without nodding off has serious sleep issues.

But the bottom line is this . . . if the final Ashes Test at The Oval finished in a draw this morning then England have been unbeaten in their past 13 Tests.

Australia, by contrast, would not have not won any of their past nine. Which team would you rather be?

Australia never likes playing for draws because we see ourselves as a nation of sabre-rattlers . . . better to loose in a sword-fight, we say, than raise the drawbridge and hide behind it.

It sounds great in theory but England's fight when they are cornered actually shows more about their team spirit than when they win games.

There is a certain old-fashioned charm about a grubby, bare-knuckled draw which cricket fans have always appreciated right back to the 1960-61 series between Australia and the West Indies when Queensland's Ken Mackay added an unbeaten 66 for the last wicket with Lindsay Kline to save the Adelaide Test.

The Courier-Mail sports writers of that era were so moved by the performance they started a campaign called A Bob In For Slasher that invited readers to make a donation which they would pass on to bruised and battered Slasher Mackay who gratefully accepted a pool of several hundred pounds.

Listening to Australian players constantly sniping at the Poms for their negative batting raises the question over whether these have fully grasped the nuances of Test cricket.

This England team is not a great side. It belong in the realms of the very goods. But what it has consistently displayed is an ability to stay composed and read, ride and shape the rhythms of a Test match.

Enland have all four gears and don't even mind sitting patiently in neutral with the handbrake on when they are caught in a hail storm.

Australia, by contrast, can roar into fourth gear when the planets are aligned and they get stuck in reverse when the ball is swinging or spinning and their feet aren't moving. Here are 10 things we learnt from an Ashes series that has made for a mouth-watering showdown when the two sides meet in Australia this summer.

● That the pundits do occasionally get it right. The widespread feeling before the series was that Australia's bowlers would present the side with an opportunity to win Tests and the batsmen would probably not be good enough to take it. And so it proved.

●  That funky selections can work. Chris Rogers was chosen as the left-hander from left-field and did an entirely respectable job. He deserves to be retained for the Australian summer but must find a way to handle off-spinner Graeme Swann who nabbed him six times.

The selection of Chris Rogers was a gamble that paid off. Source: AFP

● That funky selections can create issues. All of Australia luxuriated in the miracle that was Ashton Agar's first Test 98 but the fairytale has turned sour since. He was dropped a Test later, sent home early because of illness and it will be interesting to see how he copes with such a bizarre hump in his learning curve.

● That veteran paceman Ryan Harris is truly world class. If only he was 23 not 33.

Ryan Harris is a world-class operator. Source: AFP

● That England's top order is vulnerable when exposed to clever planning. Only Ian Bell regularly got away this series and will head to Australia feeling he has Australia's measure. Alistair Cook was muzzled after being starved of the cut and pull. Jon Trott was unsettled by two fieldsmen placed to stop the ball he tucks off his hip towards midwicket.
 
● That Phil Hughes, Usman Khawaja have an uncertain future and Ed Cowan may have played his last Test. As promising as young James Faulkner is, he is a bowling allrounder who had never scored a first-class century before his Test selection. For him to be chosen ahead of three specialist batsmen was as much a sign of the selectors frustration levels with that trio as it was a vote of confidence in the youngster.

The DRS was a blight on the Ashes series. Source: AP

● That the Decision Review System is barely worth the trouble. It brings out some of the worst attributes of human nature – cheating, arrogance and insecurity were all on display in a series of madcapped reviews which embarrassed players and umpires alike.

With teams averaging about one successful appeal in five we were left to wonder whether the game would be better served if the entire system was dumped in the Thames.

● That the confidence levels of modern umpires has fallen through the floor. You can see the tension levels rising within umpires like Aleem Dar when players send a decision he had made to the video umpire. New Zealand's Tony Hill was ground down by the system and was bereft of confidence well before his role in the series had ended.

Nathan Lyon is not a world beater but needs to be picked. Source: AFP

● That Nathan Lyon is no world beater but in a team with more moving parts than a drunken go-go dancer he should play every Test. He was dropped for Agar despite taking nine wickets in his previous Test. Unfair.

● That England have probably peaked as a cricket side and Australia have plenty of potential to improve.

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Vettel extends championship lead

Vettel extends his championship lead. Source: John Thys / AAP

THREE-time world champion Sebastian Vettel edged towards a fourth successive Formula One world crown on Sunday winning the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps.

The 26-year-old German Red Bull driver came home clear of Ferrari's Spanish two-time world champion Fernando Alonso to record his fifth win of the season and second in this race.

Vettel's Australian teammate Mark Webber finished fifth.

Alonso's second placing was the first podium finish in the Belgian race for Ferrari since Kimi Raikkonen won in 2009.

Lewis Hamilton, driving a Mercedes, finished third having started on pole for the fourth successive race.

Vettel extended his lead in the championship to 46 points over Alonso as Raikkonen, who was second going into the race, failed to finish in his Lotus for the first time in 39 races.
 

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Live: fifth Ashes Test, day five

James Anderson celebrates the wicket of David Warner. Source: Getty Images

THE final day of the final Ashes Test is upon us.

The English weather is once again refusing to do Australia any favours, delaying the start of play, but the action is set to get underway at 8.30pm (EST).

Join the conversation by leaving a comment in the blog below, or let us know what you think by getting in touch on Twitter, @FoxCricketLive.

If using the comment box in the blog, you can just enter a name where it says 'Display Name', or you can log in using one of your social media accounts. Get involved now!

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Sharks have Blake on speed dial

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THE Cronulla Sharks have been reaching out to sacked NSW Origin star Blake Ferguson, with captain Paul Gallen and five-eighth Todd Carney personally telephoning the Raiders centre about joining the club next season.

Agitating for a release from the Raiders prior to coach David Furner being sacked midweek, Ferguson is a free agent as of October due to a get-out clause in his contract.

Ferguson had two years to run on his Canberra deal but is free to leave after Furner was axed, opening the door for the Sharks to push hard for his signature alongside Canterbury.

The ironic element of Cronulla's pursuit of Ferguson is the way the Blues centre quit the club after two seasons at the end of 2010, when he exercised a get-out clause when Ricky Stuart was sacked as coach.

At the time, Ferguson said: "I want to win a premiership, and also with the things going on in the club - the uncertainty - I just want to be in a stable place where I can concentrate on winning a title, that is what is in my heart.

"It is nothing personal, I do have an emotional attachment to the club. I just want to win."

Sharks fans remained furious about the way Ferguson departed long after he had quit the club to join the Raiders.

But in the swings and roundabouts world of rugby league, Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan is currently angling to lure Ferguson back to the Shire to complement new recruit Blake Ayshford in the centres.

The other clubs linked to Ferguson, the Sydney Roosters and South Sydney, on Saturday ruled themselves out of contention.

"No, I certainly haven't had any conversations in relation to Blake Ferguson and I'm not anticipating any," Roosters chief of football Brian Canavan said.

Rabbitohs chief executive Shane Richardson also ruled out a move to Redfern, irrespective of the club's strong ties with Anthony Mundine and the Aboriginal community.

"We won't be making an offer to Blake Ferguson," Richardson said.

Ferguson, who was sacked from the NSW Origin team prior to game II this season, is due to appear in court on indecent assault charges on September 3. Ferguson has pleaded not guilty.

The Raiders centre is understood to be looking at a return to Sydney so his cousin Mundine can act as a role model and mentor.

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V8's silent honour to Winton boss

Ronke built Winton to what it is today. Source: Cameron Tandy / News Limited

THERE are few places where a minute's silence would be more noticeable than a V8 Supercars meeting.

And even fewer that will be as poignant as that for Mick Ronke on Sunday at Winton.

The V8 grid will unite for a minute before the race, with drivers to stand beside their cars before they take to a track that would not exist if not for the efforts of Ronke, who died in April aged 65 after complications from heart surgery.

So integral was Ronke to the Winton Motor Raceway that in his stead, three fulltime employees - his son Adam (operations), Heather Wallace (administration) and Don Bartlett (engineering) - now fill the role he once commanded alone.

Ronke put his hand up in the 1960s to fill the volunteer's competition secretary role when Winton was confronted with closure for the first time.

His son Matthew said today that "from there he eventually found a winning formula" that only became a paid role 25 years ago, but endures at the small regional circuit that thrives despite its remote location in north-eastern Victoria.

"He'd be here seven days a week -- it was his passion," said Matthew, who himself runs Wakefield Park near Goulburn.

"He spent every moment of every day here working to make the facility better and grow motorsport in the area."

That love was fully tested in 1996 when the then Touring Car Championship didn't come to Winton because the facility didn't meet changing requirements.

"The edict to get V8 Supercars back here meant the circuit needed to be extended and new facilities put in," Matthew said.

"The club took that on and it cost them a couple of million dollars, but they lost their major income source (the round) in the interim.

"We only just found out a couple of weeks ago that Dad actually went without a wage for two years so the club could pay back the loan.

"As long as there was a meal on the table at night, you don't know the details of that as a younger guy."

Ronke, who helped found the Australian Auto Sport Alliance that has become a saviour of sorts to many grassroots motor racing groups around the country, used to field calls from many fledgling superstars who would ask if they could turn a few laps at Winton.

In the early 1970s, he would occasionally skip away from his fulltime job with Telecom to unlock the gates for Peter Brock to test the Torana that would later propel him to superstardom.

Another of those he helped along was Garry Rogers, now the owner and principal of the powerhouse Fujitsu Racing GRM team.

Rogers, who first raced at Winton in 1963, would be part of a group that camped around the track's dam just to get the most out of the circuit that is now test track for the Victorian-based V8 Supercar teams.

"It will be an emotional day. Other than Mick's family being involved here, the whole motor sport community was his family," Rogers said today.

"They've done an enormous amount of work here over the years, bit by bit, with a lot of volunteers and unpaid help - and Mick was the driver of that.

"We were here testing 10 days ago and they were putting slabs down in a new area to be ready for this weekend - it was pouring rain and they were just doing it. That's what Mick was about.

"He wasn't someone who got up and screamed and yelled, he just went about encouarging everybody and making people involved in what was going on.

"That is the thing Mick would do. His whole life was not just the circuit, but the people around him who were involved with it."

Matthew spoke today about times when his father would sacrifice his wage to build a new toilet block for the club's biggest weekend and be repaid months later when the cheques cleared.

That commitment was repaid in part earlier this month when the club opened entries to the newly minted Mick Ronke Memorial Trophy race in November at its main club meeting and filled it within three hours.

"I think a lot of people just want to come here and show their respect to Dad," Matthew said.

"It's been quite staggering how many people have told us he's touched them to help them go racing.

"We have Queensland off-road clubs through to West Australian motorkhanas come to us and say we would have stopped if it wasn't for what he put in place."

Sadly, instructions for the track's future were among the last few words Mick spoke to his sons.

As he was wheeled into surgery, Mick gave Matthew directions as to what needed to happen for this weekend's racing.

"He just seemed to know what to do and when to do it," Matthew said.

"It's gonna be a sad day. But he left my brother and I a legacy that we know what he wants so we can keep working towards it."

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