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.

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

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.

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

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!

GET THE ULTIMATE MATCH COMPANION, FEATURING VIDEO OF EVERY WICKET AND BOUNDARY, BALL-BY-BALL COMMENTARY AND HAWKEYE, IN OUR ASHES MATCH CENTRE!

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

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."

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Time NRL calls in the reserves

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THREE weeks ago Manly beat us 40-6. Melbourne beat Canberra 68-4 that same weekend.

The Roosters beat Penrith 42-6 and the Titans beat Wests Tigers 36-6. The Bulldogs beat St George Illawarra 39-20.

There was a time when we used to ridicule rugby union for putting up scores like that.

Yet this is first grade football today.

You'll notice I called it first grade football, and not NRL, which is sort of my point.

It's time we brought reserve grade back to our clubs and got back to educating our young players how to play rugby league, the way it should be played.

We need reserve grade more than we have ever needed it in the past.

The under-20s is a very, very good idea and its competition is one of the best promotions of rugby league we have.

But it's not a stepping stone to NRL football. The experiment of NYC, under-20s, as our primary feeder to NRL football has not worked.

There are numerous reasons.

One area often overlooked is the welfare of players. I'm sure I'm no different from other coaches, having kids no older than 20 coming to me stressed and concerned about what they're going to do with their futures, and often feeling like their entire futures depend on what is happening now.

It's a delicate age for these boys.

Unfortunately, it's an age where they're on the cusp of maturing from boys to men, and when the pressure of what their future holds is thrown on them as well it's fair to say they are not all quite mature enough to handle it.

Another reason NYC has to go as the primary feeder for the NRL teams is that, as we see time and again, they're yet to be seasoned as footballers.

Except for the rare few, most young men haven't yet matured enough to maintain the intensity of first grade football against grown men week to week.

We have seen that this year at Parramatta.

Injuries have forced us to blood a lot of young players this season and it has been tough for a lot of them to maintain the intensity necessary.

They're not used to playing against men, and the physical toll it takes.

If they were only a little older - 22 or 23 instead of 19 and 20 - they would be far more seasoned to play against older men.

We would also be better placed to judge them as footballers, which is another bonus. Some players develop a little later than others, particularly forwards.

Too many bad habits have crept into NRL football because players have been forced to graduate from NYC to NRL too quickly, often driven by injury at the top, without proper grounding.

NYC just doesn't have the maturity to be an adequate second tier feeder for NRL. That's why we have to bring back reserve grade.

One problem hard to combat is that many NYC coaches are coaching strategies and techniques primarily to win the game - and there's nothing wrong with that, they're ambitious too - but sometimes it comes at the cost of the overall development of the player.

And an attitude to defence is the usually the first casualty.

You only need to look at the scores in most NYC games to see there is not a big influence on defence yet at that level.

And it's understandable because many of them are still learning the game as it is played at a professional level, the way it needs to be played in the NRL.

But it is damaging us at NRL level.

By introducing reserve grade it would give another level of development that would provide another level of polish to players, highlighted by the fact their football would be against men, before they come into NRL sides.

It will make for a better product.

The NRL needs to address its salary cap structures so we can properly stock our NSW Cup teams as the second tier feeder to the NRL, with NYC to drop back a level and become the third tier feeder.

I'm so certain this is the way to go that next season Parramatta will be using our NSW Cup team as our first grade feeder.

In most cases players from NYC will have to come through our NSW Cup team, Wentworthville, before they play first grade.

I reckon there is even a case to have the teams branded the same as the NRL team when they play. While I know Wentworthville, for example, has its own proud history, the first thing casual fans look at when they turn on a game on television is the jersey.

It needs to be instantly recognisable.

Whether that can happen is up to the league, but the sooner they decide to introduce a proper second grade competition again the better.

They'll experience playing against older players with an emphasis on the grind that succeeds at NRL level.

Or first grade, as we call it, and the game will benefit as a whole.

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Is there anything left to celebrate?

Only the diehards remain as the Ashes series winds down in England. Source: AP

HE was walking slowly away from the stadium. His 'Smash 'Em Warner' banner dragged on the ground, his rubber kangaroo was deflated and the Cronulla Cape drooped limply from his shoulders.

Half-heartedly, he raised his chin and let out a muffled chant: "Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!"

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Around him, people looked up and asked: "Where?"

The answers, of course, was nowhere. Not in the big game or winning the big prize. Not on the top of the podium of lifting the urn. Not any more.

Instead, it was another week, and another Aussie sporting disaster. So I walked up an introduced myself.

He put out a giant yellow hand, emblazoned with the words 'Cmon Aussie Cmon'.

"Agnatic," he said. "Frank Anatic. What do you want?"

Just a quick chat.

"When do you want it?"

Now.

"Yeah, ha, good one. We used to do that one a lot for Lleyton. Back in the day."

We? I asked. Where are the rest of you?

"Some of them decided to get jobs. A few looked up their addresses and went home to see their families. Lot of yellow shirts, Aussie flag hats and green and gold sunscreen going cheap on eBay if you're interested."

Despite the dwindling numbers, Frank had decided to follow the Ashes tour to the bitter end.

"Well, you've got to support the team," he said. "Besides, I checked the fine print. There was a no cancellation policy with our tour group except in the event of 'natural disaster'. And, believe it or not, the Aussie batting didn't qualify."

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I asked Frank what it was like watching the Australians lose so miserably to a country they used to dominate.

"What do you think it's like being wedged into a tiny bucket seat next to a 135 kilogram plumber from Mudgee listening to the Barmy Army bellow 'Stand up if you're 3-nil up, stand up if you're 3-nil up' over and over while washing down something from a greasy van that takes extraordinary liberties with the definition of 'food' with expensive warm beer?"

So, ummm, not good?

"No, terrific fun!" he said looking down at the 'We Luv Ya Warney' t-shirt stretched across his beer belly.

"Just the results suck. When Merv Hughes' 28th recitation of the story of Booney's Australia to England can drinking record is the highlight of the tour, you know we're having a shocker."

But you must have had some good times. Drank in some good English pubs?

"Yeah," said Frank. "Found one showing the British Lions match. Can you imagine what it's like watching that with a bunch of stockbroking types called Jeremy and Sebastian dressed like they're modelling for the September cover of Horse and Hound magazine snorting Pimms out of their nostrils every time another Welshman scores? Give me seven hours beside a flatulent Barmy any day."

So you didn't go back to that pub for the Bledisloe Cup game?

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"Naah, thought we'd find a different one. Turned out it was full of Kiwis. You know how hard it is to land a decent sheep joke when the Wallabies are lambs to the slaughter? Can't even blame it on a Kiwi coach any more. All Blacks are the best baaaaaaa none. Ha ha ha."

But there has been a few things to celebrate, I ventured. Ummm, James Magnusson winning the world championship?

"Mate, they might have won a few Olympic medals. But you'd have to put most Poms on a sinking ship to get them half-interested in swimming."

Sally Pearson's terrific silver medal in Moscow?

"Ha," said Frank. "I love Super Sally. But they've got Mo Farah. For the Brits these days, second is the first loser."

So has there been anything to keep the spirits up over here?

"Yeah. At least we won the fight."

Didn't Daniel Geale lose?

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"Naah, not that fight. That one was a bigger stitch-up than the English pitches. The 'Real Steal', they should call that Pom. I'm talking about David Warner and Joe Root. Mind you, compared to what usually happens at the Walkabout, that was as savage as a nightclub jellywrestle."

So where do you think it's all gone wrong?

"Kids don't want it any more. No motivation. Soft. Not up for the fight."

The athletes?

"No. They're just no good. I'm talking about the fans. They just want to sit there and watch. Don't have the passion. Don't have the lungs. Way things are going, you'll soon be able to go to an Australian sporting event without hearing any of us. Imagine what that would be like."

Yes, imagine.

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Time NRL introduced transfer window

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THE recent contract sagas involving Ben Barba, Blake Ferguson and Anthony Milford - three of the code's brightest young talents - underlines why it is time for the NRL to introduce a transfer window.

Should the NRL introduce a transfer window?

In an ideal, more simplistic world, elite athletes wouldn't break contracts. It is a concept largely foreign to me. Like many former players, I was reared in a sporting environment where your word was your bond.

You could look an official in the eye, and a firm handshake would be enough to guarantee the commitment of both parties.

But times have changed. Like many overseas sporting competitions, the NRL has become a cut-throat, professional world. The by-product is that market movement is greater, and more rapid, and if we can't stem the tide of players swapping clubs then we must at least have mechanisms that help regulate how the transactions occur.

At present, an NRL player can ask for a release at any given moment, regardless of how long is left on their contracts.

Last month, it was Milford who suddenly wanted out. Then it was Barba. Now Ferguson is a free agent following the sacking of David Furner at Canberra.

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The constant contractual speculation is not only disruptive to clubs, but a let down for supporters and bad look for the code with the finals series looming on the horizon.

Major sports, such as English Premier League football, provide a transfer period where clubs have the ability to sign players or negotiate releases for those who wish to go elsewhere.

No system is ever inch perfect, but the time has come for the NRL to implement a transfer system that provides a framework around player movement and enables clubs to be compensated in the process.

The NRL could allow two trade periods during the year, a two-week window before the State of Origin series, around mid-May, and another fortnight's trading after the grand final in October.

That system would enable players and clubs to broker legitimate moves either during the season, or after it as teams look to bolster their rosters ahead of pre-season training for the upcoming campaign.

At the end of the day, as a club you don't want a player who isn't happy because you then don't get the most out of them. There needs to be a structured way where a player is permitted to leave, as long as the club who loses him is entitled to compensation in the form of a transfer fee.

For example, take Corey Norman at the Broncos. In March, he signed with Parramatta for the 2014 season, but has since been dropped to reserve grade for form reasons and is unlikely to wear the Broncos jumper again.

Had there been a trade window in place, Norman would have the option of seeing out the year in Brisbane, or asking the Broncos to consider a transfer fee from the Eels for an early release.

I have no problem with players looking to get out of contracts if the reasons are genuine - such as Barba and Milford's family issues. As a rule, player movement is more palatable now than it was five or 10 years ago, but a transfer window would assist in that process.

***

THE announcement during the week of plans to build a high-performance training facility is a great coup for the Broncos.

When you look at facilities at other clubs, particularly in the AFL, it has been long overdue for a flagship club like Brisbane. Your club culture is the most important part to success, but in today's game the better your facilities are, the better opportunity you give the players of success.

When I started in the mid-1990s at the Broncos, we accepted what we were given and we made it work. I was never one to whinge about needing more, but a high-performance centre will add to the motivation for young athletes to want to be a part of the Broncos.

As a recruiting tool, I think a facility like this will be of huge appeal to a potential Broncos player and it will take the club to a new level of professionalism. 

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Game won't miss arrogant Benji

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BENJI Marshall's wife, Zoe, has a column in The Sunday Telegraph which I am reliably informed is one of the most read in the newspaper.

She, like Marshall himself, has made the very best use of her new last name to catapult her to a status that the pair of them could only have dared to imagine three or four years ago.

Her husband, Benji, probably thought this time last year, or even last February, that his name was bigger than rugby league itself. He had the league world in his hands — fat club contract, Kiwi megastar and all signs that it would go on and on for years.

Today, Marshall is a shadow of his former self, a fading star who believes he should be handed special treatment because he is, simply, Benji.

He has spent the season playing badly, behaving poorly and shopping himself around, through dubious management, to suitors from league and union.

Placing himself above the game that made him famous, Marshall even concocted a genius plan to have himself photographed in his new Auckland Blues rugby jersey, just to rub those league people's noses in it.

The Wests Tigers story this year is a woeful one. Under a new coach, it is apparent that the player group is split in tiny pieces.

The much-trumpeted pre-season purchase of Braith Anasta has backfired and the team is playing like they have absolutely no respect for Michael Potter (who, by the way, seems a thoroughly decent bloke).

Marshall is front and centre of the team's troubles. He was benched earlier in the year for ill discipline but we didn't know for weeks that he had behaved badly.

Poor form was the reason given to the media — a thoroughly believable excuse at the time because Benji was playing terrible footy.

The saga of his future has stretched on for months, creating dissent in the team and over-riding any attempt by Potter to create a sense of harmony in his new charges.

As his 200th game approaches, fans and supporters bellowed loudly that Benji deserved his day in the sun. Let him have his day of glory, they said, even though he has done absolutely nothing to earn it in recent months.

Marshall obviously has no respect for the game that made him famous. Unlike the heroes who have gone before him, Marshall (in a similar vein to Sonny Bill Williams last year) has tried to turn rugby league into a game that revolves solely around him.

The problem for Benji is that, unlike SBW, he has no form on the board to back up the ego.

He appears to be unfit and apparently has no respect for the Tigers jersey. Even worse, he looks and talks like a rapper when asked about his future.

Essendon legend and now discredited coach, James Hird, is similar to Marshall. The star players of the so-called modern era are told they are bullet proof, they are more important than their lesser paid teammates and that they deserve superstar status.

Time and time again, these guys (Anthony Mundine, the AFL's Brendan Fevola, Hird, Todd Carney, Marshall, SBW) allow the managers and the apologists to lull them into a sense of superiority. Those on the team bus pad them with cotton wool and excuse their poor manners.

Invariably they come a huge cropper, but that doesn't stop the next one trying it all on again.

So far this season, the media has put Marshall on the back page at least a dozen more times than he deserved. While really good, honest players like John Sutton and Josh Reynolds play their hearts out every week for their mates, players like Marshall grab headlines and blame others for their plight.

Frankly, I will be glad to see the back of Marshall. His rapid demise in league ranks may flag to others of the same bent that nobody is going to put themselves above the game and get away with it.

Rugby union is welcome to him, where he will struggle to come to grips with the extremely complicated positional play required of a rugby half. He is no Israel Folau, but that is for the Auckland Blues to find out.

As for the poor old Wests Tigers, they don't know it yet but they are better off, too. Potter may take a season to rebuild this lot, but he deserves a chance without the badness that has pervaded the joint for more than a season.

Not many of you will remember the great Ron Coote, but even now when I see the former great, his upright posture, his pride and his downright decency fill me with a great sense of happiness.

Perhaps Benji might like to spend a few hours with a man who is a genuine legend.  

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More