Now everyone gather around and join me in prayer. Dear God, we thank you for the wonderful game of rugby league and the way it gets better to watch with every beer. We thank you for the fact that those isolationist in the Shire not having won a premiership and for the vaugeries of the game like how it is that the dragons can’t beat the raiders in Canberra no matter how far apart they are on the ladder. But most of all god we pray that channel nine doesn’t get the rights to show rugby league anymore
amen.
Hopefully God's listening because I am well and truly sick of channel nine and their so called sports coverage. Its not just the live to air camera angle that select the worst possible camera angle, the replays of the bird landing in back play while a line break is being made it’s the fact that they just don’t respect the game.
So its time for a message for the Federal Communications minister – you granted the free to air tv channels free access to additional channels including a significant chunk of bandwidth for high definition tv under the assumption that they were going to use it for high definition broadcasts – ie sport where you need clarity to see the fast moving ball, if the channels are not going to respect your original grant then take back the license. Its not like the Packers are going to generate any more bad publicity than they currently do.
So why now, well here we are going for the next rights contract and channel nine are not only baulking at paying a fair cost but they are also start suggesting even more conditions which will impact on the running of the game. (boys if you want some unobtrusive suggestions on revenue generation check out http://therollingmaul.blogspot.com/)
Take channel 10 for example – they buy a share in the rights to AFL and they will not only put it on live TV around Australia (despite it rating less than a 2am repeat of the love boat – in Sydney and Brisbane) but they also put it only three channels at once and replay it again later that night and later in the week. Channel 7 also put it on the main and high definition channels at once and put so many repeats on free to air tv that people in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia all don’t see the need to subscribe to pay tv.
What do we get on channel nine, do they put it on 3D TV - No, do they put it on high definition TV – No, do they replay the game in the middle of the night - No. Do we get to watch the highest quality games of the round like 1st Storm Vs 4th Broncos – or do they pick two sydney teams despite it being the worst conceivable game of the round ie Parramatta Vs Bulldogs.
Instead what does channel nine do – sit back and enjoy the highest rating programs of the year while dictating terms to the NRL , we want more advertising opportunities, we don’t want you to kick off until we are ready, we want more more more. David Gallopp time to stand up to channel nine and tell them to f..k off.
Why for instance can’t I sit back on Saturday afternoon and watch the Jim beam cup on ABC 2 while the club rugby is on ABC 1. I would prefer to watch the Jim beam cup to Titans and Eels. In fact the Wenty magpies have more big names than their first grade side so why can’t I watch them play a game that no one else is paying to broadcast. (wouldn't extra coverage generate more interest particularly for local clubs). Well that's because channel nine wont let the league broadcast it as it has the rights.
Well its time you took that license back of channel nine for failing to broadcast cricket football or in fact any other sport on their channel – and instead putting diagnosis murder and murder she wrote on it wall to wall neither of which was produced in high def. Why channel nine did you feel compelled to create a tv channel for women when you had the rights to so much sport and having done so why the hell did you use your high definition channel. That’s it you had your chance so pack up your girly channel and f..k off back to Melbourne where you belong.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Welcome to Planet Mal – There no intelligent life down here Captain
Well its finally happened – fitting all of Australia’s GST sucking, uninformed rednecks into one state was always going to be a challenge. So we have finally had to create ‘Planet Mal’ a sort of sheltered workshop for Queensland state of origin coaches and failed political aspirants (Of course Mal qualifies for entry for all three reasons). Imagine hundreds of rednecks - all in the one place gathering around whats left of their houses and all describing the sound the cyclone made as it took the caravan and grandma out to sea. Other than origin games their favourite form of entertainment is sitting on the veranda with a six pack watching the bug zapper.
Where did this come from and why do we finally need our own planet to house these losers. Well after a generation of Queensland having every conceivable advantage conceded to them by NSW in order to make the State of Origin concept a viable entity (including the current series) Queensland coach Mal Meninga has declared the NSW attempts to promote the game and get a competitive game as the “Rats and Filth” of NSW getting what they deserve.
Mal … What the f..k are you talking about?
1) NSW requested that at least one of these games be played interstate to promote the Game – Queensland refused to give up its competitive advantage of a home game. Queensland have a long history of doing things to only benefit Queensland rather than the game. It is in fact the QLD rugby league that wont sign off on the rugby league commission as they are clinging to their lucrative QRL positions like leeches.
2) In game one and three – Queensland were given the referees of choice who duelly refed the game to suit Queensland with slow play the balls and no penalties to advantage the old and larger Queensland pack. For at least a decade NSW allowed Queensland to pick the blatantly biased Barry Gomosell despite him never having never ref ed a first grade match. When NSW ask for the game to be reffed in a way consistent with a weekly NRL standard – they are filth attempting to manipulate the game.
3) NSW has always allowed Queensland to register international and interstate players as Queenslanders in order to make the game competitive. Around half the current Queensland team were born in NSW or in places other than Queensland. (Get a map Inglis and you will find that Kempsey is and always has been in NSW). Will Queensland return the favour – absolutely not despite most of the Queensland and NZ teams having played junior rep football for NSW.
4) Mal has accused NSW of trying to manipulate the referees in the press before the game. Mal are you serious – don’t you read your own comments in the press – are you blind, don’t you seen what Thurston does as soon as he takes to the field. He goes to the ref and starts abusing him.
5) It’s a conspiracy says Mal – as soon as a Queensland player gets sited by the judiciary – Mal are you blind didn’t you see him push the ref – an absolutely no no in the modern game. A crime which he was “exonerated” from due to pressure on the judiciary. Thurston is no clean skin – have you not seen the fact that he has a long record and takes advantage of the Judiciary’s reluctance to site origin players before the series by committing a serious offence virtually on que for the two weeks leading up to the first game every year.
6) Sure we all had a good laugh when we read that Mitchell Pearce was “the best halfback in the game” And yes we all skimmed the article to the end to try and find out which member of the Pearce family wrote it. Turned out that this was Ricky Stewart simply promoting the game by supplying a controversial quote that we could all have a good laugh about. (It was pretty obvious that any club team with the best half back in the game would be averaging more than on try a game so Mal it was obviously just a gee up designed for you to talk up Lockyer and Thurston.)
Promoting the game Mal means supplying these quotes before the games not bad mouthing the concept after the series has been played.
Still Mal’s not all bad – when he is not coaching he walks his kids to school every day – still that’s not a big effort as they are in the same grade together. In fact Mal’s kids are destined by be State maths champions due to their extra fingers. Mal I think I can beginning to see why your political career last less than an hour, Big concepts like indexed taxation and global warming are beyond your ability, better of in Queensland where you and Bob Katter can say that the cyclone was a one off freak of nature so you will need some government money to replant the Bananas in the same spot.
In Other News
Banana’s, fruit and groceries prices are at an all time high due to the summer floods. So good old Woollies has chosen this moment to freeze fresh food prices for the next 2 years. Thanks boys, that should kill off what’s left of the local farmers, I’m really looking forward to those homebrand apples from Long Dong Provence.
Where did this come from and why do we finally need our own planet to house these losers. Well after a generation of Queensland having every conceivable advantage conceded to them by NSW in order to make the State of Origin concept a viable entity (including the current series) Queensland coach Mal Meninga has declared the NSW attempts to promote the game and get a competitive game as the “Rats and Filth” of NSW getting what they deserve.
Mal … What the f..k are you talking about?
1) NSW requested that at least one of these games be played interstate to promote the Game – Queensland refused to give up its competitive advantage of a home game. Queensland have a long history of doing things to only benefit Queensland rather than the game. It is in fact the QLD rugby league that wont sign off on the rugby league commission as they are clinging to their lucrative QRL positions like leeches.
2) In game one and three – Queensland were given the referees of choice who duelly refed the game to suit Queensland with slow play the balls and no penalties to advantage the old and larger Queensland pack. For at least a decade NSW allowed Queensland to pick the blatantly biased Barry Gomosell despite him never having never ref ed a first grade match. When NSW ask for the game to be reffed in a way consistent with a weekly NRL standard – they are filth attempting to manipulate the game.
3) NSW has always allowed Queensland to register international and interstate players as Queenslanders in order to make the game competitive. Around half the current Queensland team were born in NSW or in places other than Queensland. (Get a map Inglis and you will find that Kempsey is and always has been in NSW). Will Queensland return the favour – absolutely not despite most of the Queensland and NZ teams having played junior rep football for NSW.
4) Mal has accused NSW of trying to manipulate the referees in the press before the game. Mal are you serious – don’t you read your own comments in the press – are you blind, don’t you seen what Thurston does as soon as he takes to the field. He goes to the ref and starts abusing him.
5) It’s a conspiracy says Mal – as soon as a Queensland player gets sited by the judiciary – Mal are you blind didn’t you see him push the ref – an absolutely no no in the modern game. A crime which he was “exonerated” from due to pressure on the judiciary. Thurston is no clean skin – have you not seen the fact that he has a long record and takes advantage of the Judiciary’s reluctance to site origin players before the series by committing a serious offence virtually on que for the two weeks leading up to the first game every year.
6) Sure we all had a good laugh when we read that Mitchell Pearce was “the best halfback in the game” And yes we all skimmed the article to the end to try and find out which member of the Pearce family wrote it. Turned out that this was Ricky Stewart simply promoting the game by supplying a controversial quote that we could all have a good laugh about. (It was pretty obvious that any club team with the best half back in the game would be averaging more than on try a game so Mal it was obviously just a gee up designed for you to talk up Lockyer and Thurston.)
Promoting the game Mal means supplying these quotes before the games not bad mouthing the concept after the series has been played.
Still Mal’s not all bad – when he is not coaching he walks his kids to school every day – still that’s not a big effort as they are in the same grade together. In fact Mal’s kids are destined by be State maths champions due to their extra fingers. Mal I think I can beginning to see why your political career last less than an hour, Big concepts like indexed taxation and global warming are beyond your ability, better of in Queensland where you and Bob Katter can say that the cyclone was a one off freak of nature so you will need some government money to replant the Bananas in the same spot.
In Other News
Banana’s, fruit and groceries prices are at an all time high due to the summer floods. So good old Woollies has chosen this moment to freeze fresh food prices for the next 2 years. Thanks boys, that should kill off what’s left of the local farmers, I’m really looking forward to those homebrand apples from Long Dong Provence.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Finally NSW cracks a win
Its been a while but NSW has finally cracked it for a win. Not through sustained pressure and professional organisation but for once - we had the refs on side. Its no co-incidence that Queenslands rise to prominence came along with the Billy Harrigon mantra of talking to the players not penalising them. Trouble is the refs after Billy didn't talk to the players - they just didn't penalise them.
This allowed Queensland to pick a big pack who just lay all over the NSW forwards(like Kok Diesel on a Thai Lady boy). For years NSW persisted with the tatic of numbers in the tackle and fast play the balls, all to no avail as the referees would just allow queensland to reset their line have a rest, two quick schooners then finally get off the NSW players. After 6 years an average amount of penalties were blown in the match and suddenly Petro, and co are looking very old and tired.
Now if we can just stop Cameron Smith from throwing forward passes from dummy half we might acctually win a game. Still good to see that despite years of Queensland dominance they are still not stupid enough to give away their home games, only NSW would even out the ledger by sending a game to mebourne.
As far as the rest of the comp goes, the Dragons are on top but are suffering from the all to familar origin related lack of motivation. Just remember sporticus that this often happens with Wayne Bennett coached teams - and if they co-incide with a high injury toll then - THE DRAGONS ARE GONE for 2011.
Manly on the other hand are starting to look good. Rarely do their forwards get beaten despite having a pack of mostly no names (And I count King and Kite in this group having both peaked in 2008.)
This allowed Queensland to pick a big pack who just lay all over the NSW forwards(like Kok Diesel on a Thai Lady boy). For years NSW persisted with the tatic of numbers in the tackle and fast play the balls, all to no avail as the referees would just allow queensland to reset their line have a rest, two quick schooners then finally get off the NSW players. After 6 years an average amount of penalties were blown in the match and suddenly Petro, and co are looking very old and tired.
Now if we can just stop Cameron Smith from throwing forward passes from dummy half we might acctually win a game. Still good to see that despite years of Queensland dominance they are still not stupid enough to give away their home games, only NSW would even out the ledger by sending a game to mebourne.
As far as the rest of the comp goes, the Dragons are on top but are suffering from the all to familar origin related lack of motivation. Just remember sporticus that this often happens with Wayne Bennett coached teams - and if they co-incide with a high injury toll then - THE DRAGONS ARE GONE for 2011.
Manly on the other hand are starting to look good. Rarely do their forwards get beaten despite having a pack of mostly no names (And I count King and Kite in this group having both peaked in 2008.)
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
I wanna know who is responsible
Well seven weeks into the league season and it seems that the first six positions in the top 8 have already been decided. Clearly the Dragons and the Storm are the teams to beat this year, with the other top 8 certainties being Brisbane, Bulldogs and Manly. So why is it that this year that the top 8 is so cut and dried so far out.
Well its the scheduling.
Last year (and in fact the 100 or so years before that) the stronger teams played each other twice while the weaker teams only played them once. This year for some absolutely unfathomable reason the teams that have won grand finals in the last decade (which are co-incidentally this years likely top 8 as well) only play each other once. The Dragons and the Storm for instance play once all year and that is about a week out from the finals by which time their respective final places will have been decided so both teams will probably rest all their first grade squads.
What idiot scheduled that? How hard can it possibly be to schedule the 8 teams to play each other once in the first 7 weeks of the comp, then schedule them to play the dud teams during the eight weeks of State of Origin.
Instead this year we have a series of match ups where some dud teams have already managed to play each other twice. Its often said if you put 1000 monkeys in a room with 1000 typewriters one of them will eventually type the complete works of Shakespeare, despite having no understanding of what they are actually doing. Well clearly the NRL have commissioned one of these monkey's to produce the 2011 draw.
How hard can it be to schedule a couple of landmark games like; heritage games, local derbies and grudge matched. Come test time give the storm and the warriors a bye for the ANZAC day test, and then program the other top eight teams for a bye or two during the origin series. Instead of that the NRL has given bye to all the teams not likely to supply rep players to the ANZAC day test.
Its not just the piss poor range of match ups, its the fact that they don't publish them more than a few weeks out from the actual games. If your trying to work out when you can take a young child to one of the few remaining afternoon games being played in Sydney you have no chance of planning around it as the NRL only put out the schedule a few weeks prior to the round.
In Other News
Every channel on TV is falling over itself to pander to the royal family. In typical channel 9 fashion you can expect them to pull the plug on the league on their main free to air channel 20 minutes in to the game while continuing to run repeats of Murder She Wrote on their high definition channel. Why when League is the highest rating program on TV is it not allocated total priority by the channel 9 programers. And why do the NRL not insist on the winner bidder putting the coverage on live HD in every state like the AFL do (Even if it is out rated in NSW by Graingers World on Community Access TV).
Its time for the government to take back channel 9's high def channel as they have abused the privilege. Instead of showing all sport in its entirety they cut out the final and most exciting last 5 overs of the cricket to run a current affair. Whats so important about dodgy builders and fictitious arthritis remedies made from Paw Paw that they have to miss the first 5 overs of one day finals. And even if they have managed to scoop the current affairs slot by naming every dole bludger in Penrith why can't they swap the first five overs on their high definition channel. Can't someone just walk over to the GEM control pannel and press pause on the tape of Antiques Roadshow repeats.
But I'm not bitter about Channel 9 or their likely royal wedding coverage despite the bloody royals denying me of 3 hours of comedy gold (they forced ABC to cancel their royal wedding chaser special) - in fact I am calling on all league fans to help me contribute toward a gift for the married couple. I know that with 800 guests they must have just about everything they will ever need from the Harrods bridal registry, but I am suggesting something more unique that will show how we really appreciate them. So I am putting together a Parisian style motor pass complete with replica steel columns to be constructed between now and Friday night so they can use it on the way to the cathedral. I'm even prepared to go up to the fence on the parade route and wear my Osama Beard, Pakistani one day shirt and fitness first backpack in case they feel compelled to go slow at any stage. Bon Voyage Will and Kate
Well its the scheduling.
Last year (and in fact the 100 or so years before that) the stronger teams played each other twice while the weaker teams only played them once. This year for some absolutely unfathomable reason the teams that have won grand finals in the last decade (which are co-incidentally this years likely top 8 as well) only play each other once. The Dragons and the Storm for instance play once all year and that is about a week out from the finals by which time their respective final places will have been decided so both teams will probably rest all their first grade squads.
What idiot scheduled that? How hard can it possibly be to schedule the 8 teams to play each other once in the first 7 weeks of the comp, then schedule them to play the dud teams during the eight weeks of State of Origin.
Instead this year we have a series of match ups where some dud teams have already managed to play each other twice. Its often said if you put 1000 monkeys in a room with 1000 typewriters one of them will eventually type the complete works of Shakespeare, despite having no understanding of what they are actually doing. Well clearly the NRL have commissioned one of these monkey's to produce the 2011 draw.
How hard can it be to schedule a couple of landmark games like; heritage games, local derbies and grudge matched. Come test time give the storm and the warriors a bye for the ANZAC day test, and then program the other top eight teams for a bye or two during the origin series. Instead of that the NRL has given bye to all the teams not likely to supply rep players to the ANZAC day test.
Its not just the piss poor range of match ups, its the fact that they don't publish them more than a few weeks out from the actual games. If your trying to work out when you can take a young child to one of the few remaining afternoon games being played in Sydney you have no chance of planning around it as the NRL only put out the schedule a few weeks prior to the round.
In Other News
Every channel on TV is falling over itself to pander to the royal family. In typical channel 9 fashion you can expect them to pull the plug on the league on their main free to air channel 20 minutes in to the game while continuing to run repeats of Murder She Wrote on their high definition channel. Why when League is the highest rating program on TV is it not allocated total priority by the channel 9 programers. And why do the NRL not insist on the winner bidder putting the coverage on live HD in every state like the AFL do (Even if it is out rated in NSW by Graingers World on Community Access TV).
Its time for the government to take back channel 9's high def channel as they have abused the privilege. Instead of showing all sport in its entirety they cut out the final and most exciting last 5 overs of the cricket to run a current affair. Whats so important about dodgy builders and fictitious arthritis remedies made from Paw Paw that they have to miss the first 5 overs of one day finals. And even if they have managed to scoop the current affairs slot by naming every dole bludger in Penrith why can't they swap the first five overs on their high definition channel. Can't someone just walk over to the GEM control pannel and press pause on the tape of Antiques Roadshow repeats.
But I'm not bitter about Channel 9 or their likely royal wedding coverage despite the bloody royals denying me of 3 hours of comedy gold (they forced ABC to cancel their royal wedding chaser special) - in fact I am calling on all league fans to help me contribute toward a gift for the married couple. I know that with 800 guests they must have just about everything they will ever need from the Harrods bridal registry, but I am suggesting something more unique that will show how we really appreciate them. So I am putting together a Parisian style motor pass complete with replica steel columns to be constructed between now and Friday night so they can use it on the way to the cathedral. I'm even prepared to go up to the fence on the parade route and wear my Osama Beard, Pakistani one day shirt and fitness first backpack in case they feel compelled to go slow at any stage. Bon Voyage Will and Kate
Friday, March 18, 2011
Its the Chinese Year of the Rabbit, but will it be the Australian year of the Dragon?
Is this the year of the Dragons? While loyal dragons fans are hoping for another year of domination under Wayne Bennett they have a fat chance of premiership really. In fact under the NRL's premiership rotation policy they will just scrape into the top eight. Their defence will continue to be solid under Wayne Bennett but you can be assured that the referees will be more vigilant when looking at Dragon's play the balls this year.
In fact the NRL is usually more than happy to step in to influence a result - just like last Friday when the ref ran into the defensive line to impede the Titans defenders. Unfortunately for the Dragons this generosity isn't likely to extend into the finals.
Still no matter how generous the NRL is for teams with no recent premiership none of this will help Souths. Another pre season of significant promise, and another injury prone late capitulation start to the season proper. Souths have lashed out and bought Greg Inglis to supposedly give them more point scoring ability. Why is a bit of mystery considering they scored points than any other team in 2010 - it was their defence that lost them the games.
Time to lash out on a coach with some defensive credibility - what's Ricky Stewart up to these days.
In Other News
Ricky Ponting's transformation from talented young piss head to Allan Border clone is nearly complete. 15 years ago Ricky was just a young kid from Tasmania, scoring lots of runs and strays from the burbon and beefsteak. Now after 5 years of fronting the media and attempting to explain what the hell the selectors were thinking, Ricky has finally lost the plot.
Ricky is actively trying to be a Allan Border clone. Unfortunately for Ricky when Allan Border was Captain grumpy he was still grafting out 50 runs each innings despite the team collapsing around him. (With the possible exception of David Boon who generally tried to score his runs as fast as possible so he didn't have to bat with Allan.) Allan was grumpy as he had to score all the runs, manage the team and control Craig McDermonts ego. Ricky on the other hand has plenty of time in the dressing rooms thanks to his world cup average of under 10.
Ricky - since your not scoring any runs, have no active say in field placements and your in incapable of showing any originality in nominating bowling changes - you might as well go back to being team Grog Monster. Give up the captaincy and the Valvoline adds and go back to what you do best drinking like a fish, picking up the odd burbon and beefsteak beast and sledging the poms.
Of course that brings in the rather scary prospect of who you would replace Ricky with. Michael Clarke - he's lucky to be in the team. Brad Haddin - possible but its likely that he might actually say what he thinks about the selectors so that's not going to happen.
Its at this point the head slumps in your hands as you realise the only reliable member of the Australian team who is aged under 30 is Shane Watson. Can you imagine the product endorsements if he was Captain. No longer would the Australian team be sponsored by a brewery, every male grooming product in production would be queuing to sign on. Instead of the Sheffield shield it would be the Niva for men Q10 revitalising bath gel and body lotion State Cup. When that happens - I'll be the first one saying "Please god take me now, I've lost the will to live"
In fact the NRL is usually more than happy to step in to influence a result - just like last Friday when the ref ran into the defensive line to impede the Titans defenders. Unfortunately for the Dragons this generosity isn't likely to extend into the finals.
Still no matter how generous the NRL is for teams with no recent premiership none of this will help Souths. Another pre season of significant promise, and another injury prone late capitulation start to the season proper. Souths have lashed out and bought Greg Inglis to supposedly give them more point scoring ability. Why is a bit of mystery considering they scored points than any other team in 2010 - it was their defence that lost them the games.
Time to lash out on a coach with some defensive credibility - what's Ricky Stewart up to these days.
In Other News
Ricky Ponting's transformation from talented young piss head to Allan Border clone is nearly complete. 15 years ago Ricky was just a young kid from Tasmania, scoring lots of runs and strays from the burbon and beefsteak. Now after 5 years of fronting the media and attempting to explain what the hell the selectors were thinking, Ricky has finally lost the plot.
Ricky is actively trying to be a Allan Border clone. Unfortunately for Ricky when Allan Border was Captain grumpy he was still grafting out 50 runs each innings despite the team collapsing around him. (With the possible exception of David Boon who generally tried to score his runs as fast as possible so he didn't have to bat with Allan.) Allan was grumpy as he had to score all the runs, manage the team and control Craig McDermonts ego. Ricky on the other hand has plenty of time in the dressing rooms thanks to his world cup average of under 10.
Ricky - since your not scoring any runs, have no active say in field placements and your in incapable of showing any originality in nominating bowling changes - you might as well go back to being team Grog Monster. Give up the captaincy and the Valvoline adds and go back to what you do best drinking like a fish, picking up the odd burbon and beefsteak beast and sledging the poms.
Of course that brings in the rather scary prospect of who you would replace Ricky with. Michael Clarke - he's lucky to be in the team. Brad Haddin - possible but its likely that he might actually say what he thinks about the selectors so that's not going to happen.
Its at this point the head slumps in your hands as you realise the only reliable member of the Australian team who is aged under 30 is Shane Watson. Can you imagine the product endorsements if he was Captain. No longer would the Australian team be sponsored by a brewery, every male grooming product in production would be queuing to sign on. Instead of the Sheffield shield it would be the Niva for men Q10 revitalising bath gel and body lotion State Cup. When that happens - I'll be the first one saying "Please god take me now, I've lost the will to live"
Monday, March 7, 2011
Only the NRL can Launch a Season like the NRL
Its back......
And not a moment to soon as its been a sporting desert out there since october 2010. Sure you might point out that there has been a cricket season in between but what a fizzer that was. Australia picked its best team for the one day series and got smacked in the tests as a result. Still at least the Poms have some recent achievement to talk about now, I'm sick of them banging on about World War II.
Sure there has been the rugby to keep us occupied for the last few weeks, but once your start following it closely it starts to hurt your head as you wonder - so what was that for? I was watching on Saturday and the Brumbies thoroughly dominated the Reds scoring four try's to one but still lost.
Anyway enough of the inferior sports and back to the main game, and god bless the NRL for reminding us all that the season was about to start with the traditional season launch.
AFL is desperate to consolidate some public interest in its expensive loss making gamble into Western Sydney by having a NRL style season launch. If you recall, thats where you call on the press together to view the upcoming advertising campaign and the main star of the add gets drunk on the day of the launch and ends up in jail. This effectively means the NRL is on the front and the back page of the paper at the same time. Brilliant.
This year the AFL has the same approach but it decided to sacrifice a player manager to the wolves by assigning him Nick Reinwalt's cast off. While he might now be so embarrsed that he will never work in Melbourne again, I am sure he will be welcome at the Sharks. Who knows, they might find a spot for him next to the trophy cabinet.
This solid gold publicity doesn't happen by accident this is a deliberate approach by the NRL. But lets face it if they didn't want their players disgracing themselves in order to generate pre season publicity they wouldn't force feed them copious amounts of alcohol in the same room as all the media hungry for the inevitable story.
If they wanted to keep the actions of the players quite they would hire Charlie Sheen for the season launch, load him up with cheap booze and then let him lose on Sydneys adult entertainment sector. There wouldn't be a photographer in Sydney not assigned to the case of stalking out Sydneys strip clubs - thereby leaving Benji in peace.
Still I have to have some sympathy for NRL players. Its all well and good when some 20 year old groupy is following yuo everywhere. But when your stalker is a bloke its not as much fun especially if its Madi Gras week.
And not a moment to soon as its been a sporting desert out there since october 2010. Sure you might point out that there has been a cricket season in between but what a fizzer that was. Australia picked its best team for the one day series and got smacked in the tests as a result. Still at least the Poms have some recent achievement to talk about now, I'm sick of them banging on about World War II.
Sure there has been the rugby to keep us occupied for the last few weeks, but once your start following it closely it starts to hurt your head as you wonder - so what was that for? I was watching on Saturday and the Brumbies thoroughly dominated the Reds scoring four try's to one but still lost.
Anyway enough of the inferior sports and back to the main game, and god bless the NRL for reminding us all that the season was about to start with the traditional season launch.
AFL is desperate to consolidate some public interest in its expensive loss making gamble into Western Sydney by having a NRL style season launch. If you recall, thats where you call on the press together to view the upcoming advertising campaign and the main star of the add gets drunk on the day of the launch and ends up in jail. This effectively means the NRL is on the front and the back page of the paper at the same time. Brilliant.
This year the AFL has the same approach but it decided to sacrifice a player manager to the wolves by assigning him Nick Reinwalt's cast off. While he might now be so embarrsed that he will never work in Melbourne again, I am sure he will be welcome at the Sharks. Who knows, they might find a spot for him next to the trophy cabinet.
This solid gold publicity doesn't happen by accident this is a deliberate approach by the NRL. But lets face it if they didn't want their players disgracing themselves in order to generate pre season publicity they wouldn't force feed them copious amounts of alcohol in the same room as all the media hungry for the inevitable story.
If they wanted to keep the actions of the players quite they would hire Charlie Sheen for the season launch, load him up with cheap booze and then let him lose on Sydneys adult entertainment sector. There wouldn't be a photographer in Sydney not assigned to the case of stalking out Sydneys strip clubs - thereby leaving Benji in peace.
Still I have to have some sympathy for NRL players. Its all well and good when some 20 year old groupy is following yuo everywhere. But when your stalker is a bloke its not as much fun especially if its Madi Gras week.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
The No issues guide to finals refereeing
Well if your a Dragons fans its the two weeks that you have waited all year for. Due to the unpredictability of the season there is a whole host of unfamiliar faces in this years finals series. Teams like the Tigers, Raiders and Penrith haven't been playing football this late in September for years. Whats even more shocking is that they have all survived the first round. Of all the teams in this years finals only the Tigers have a good albeit small winning record in finals. Teams like the Dragons have barely won a finals game in the last decade while other teams like the Raiders and Titans have never won a finals game.
It will be hard to know who to support in the grand final, usually I go for the team that hasn't won a final before or not for a long time. This year that could be both teams qualifying. It could be like a few years ago where two teams played in the grand final who had a lot in common, Melbourne and Brisbane. Both had never lost a grand final... and of course the other thing they share in common is that they are both salary cap cheats.
So once again it will be up to the referees to decide who gets to win. Is it just me or did anyone else notice the change in refereeing in the finals. It seems to follow a predictable pattern;
No Penalties for the first 10 minutes. At this stage of the game teams are just trying to hold onto the ball for a full set before a long kick. If both teams are adept at holding onto the ball this can prove to be a fairly dull spectacle. Luckily for us there are referees who can tip the balance of the game by awarding the....
No Tries for 15 minutes - deadline breaker penalty. This is usually awarded to the home team and is for either failing to get back on side or incorrect play the ball.
One team gets two tries in front - score balancing penalty. This is usually awarded for the team who is behind on the score board and is often given on the fourth tackle.
Balance the ledger penalty - Otherwise called the square up penalty - this is where one team has received all the penalties but is still behind. The ref needs to give some penalties to the other team to appear impartial, but they dont want these penalties to have a material affect on the game. So these penalties are given on the first or second tackle and are often given twice in the same set. These are always given when to the attacking team when they are close to the side line so they can't kick the ball very far when finding touch.
The Bills made another error in the box penalty - these are always given in the second half when the referee is compelled to deem a try with a ludicrously forward pass as acceptable to make up for another one of Bill Harrigon's, Britney Spears moments..... Öops I did it again.....
The No penalty penalty - this is anytime after the 65 minute mark if the scores are close or tied. The referees don't wont to be seen as deciding the game. (Even though of course they have probably disallowed 5 tries and manipulated the play throughout. This is where you can rip an opposing players head off, play the ball with your arse or stand five meters offside in the defence and suddenly the game might as well be reffed by Sargent Schultz... I zaw nothzing....
Still the predictability of the refereeing is what we love about the game and its all designed to give teams a 50% share of possession. So instead of players coming to the ref saying what was that for they just need to ask what type of penalty was it or whens our turn. If you don't like it and would like to see a return to the days where refs blew the whistle every time they hadn't been heard on sports ears for 5 minutes then the next All blacks test is in two weeks.
In Other News
Boxing fans in Western Australia would be pleased to hear that Danny Green has announced that his next fight will be in Perth. Usually Danny schedules his fights in Sydney, unless of course the Government refuses to allow him to fight some washed up has been (Although how Anthony Mundine is allowed to get away with it is beyond me. If you recall Danny's last fight lasted mere seconds as his opponent Paul Briggs was bought down by a devastating combination of intense stage lighting and a flury of Green's air swings. Still at least Paul Briggs and Manly's finals campaign have something in common - neither survived the first round.
It will be hard to know who to support in the grand final, usually I go for the team that hasn't won a final before or not for a long time. This year that could be both teams qualifying. It could be like a few years ago where two teams played in the grand final who had a lot in common, Melbourne and Brisbane. Both had never lost a grand final... and of course the other thing they share in common is that they are both salary cap cheats.
So once again it will be up to the referees to decide who gets to win. Is it just me or did anyone else notice the change in refereeing in the finals. It seems to follow a predictable pattern;
No Penalties for the first 10 minutes. At this stage of the game teams are just trying to hold onto the ball for a full set before a long kick. If both teams are adept at holding onto the ball this can prove to be a fairly dull spectacle. Luckily for us there are referees who can tip the balance of the game by awarding the....
No Tries for 15 minutes - deadline breaker penalty. This is usually awarded to the home team and is for either failing to get back on side or incorrect play the ball.
One team gets two tries in front - score balancing penalty. This is usually awarded for the team who is behind on the score board and is often given on the fourth tackle.
Balance the ledger penalty - Otherwise called the square up penalty - this is where one team has received all the penalties but is still behind. The ref needs to give some penalties to the other team to appear impartial, but they dont want these penalties to have a material affect on the game. So these penalties are given on the first or second tackle and are often given twice in the same set. These are always given when to the attacking team when they are close to the side line so they can't kick the ball very far when finding touch.
The Bills made another error in the box penalty - these are always given in the second half when the referee is compelled to deem a try with a ludicrously forward pass as acceptable to make up for another one of Bill Harrigon's, Britney Spears moments..... Öops I did it again.....
The No penalty penalty - this is anytime after the 65 minute mark if the scores are close or tied. The referees don't wont to be seen as deciding the game. (Even though of course they have probably disallowed 5 tries and manipulated the play throughout. This is where you can rip an opposing players head off, play the ball with your arse or stand five meters offside in the defence and suddenly the game might as well be reffed by Sargent Schultz... I zaw nothzing....
Still the predictability of the refereeing is what we love about the game and its all designed to give teams a 50% share of possession. So instead of players coming to the ref saying what was that for they just need to ask what type of penalty was it or whens our turn. If you don't like it and would like to see a return to the days where refs blew the whistle every time they hadn't been heard on sports ears for 5 minutes then the next All blacks test is in two weeks.
In Other News
Boxing fans in Western Australia would be pleased to hear that Danny Green has announced that his next fight will be in Perth. Usually Danny schedules his fights in Sydney, unless of course the Government refuses to allow him to fight some washed up has been (Although how Anthony Mundine is allowed to get away with it is beyond me. If you recall Danny's last fight lasted mere seconds as his opponent Paul Briggs was bought down by a devastating combination of intense stage lighting and a flury of Green's air swings. Still at least Paul Briggs and Manly's finals campaign have something in common - neither survived the first round.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Its official the Illawarra Steelers have dissapeared
Well with the retirement of Trent barrett and Luke Patton we have finally seen the end of an era. Trent and Luke are the last players to have played first grade for the Illawarra Steelers. It was a sad demise as you don't see any signs of the Steelers these days except for their socks every now and then at WIN games.
The NRL keen to cellebrate these great servants of the game and also recognise the 300 game veteran Brett Kimorley recognised the achievement by......... putting a link to a story on the website.
Still I can see why Brett retired - to start with he couldn't read the clock at the ground on Monday night. Instead of calling for the ball and having a shot at field goal he let Michael Ennis roll the ball into the in goal with less than a minute remaining. I was listening to the coverage and heard the crowd do the count down 10, 9, 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 ... I thought either they are pointing out what happen to Bo Dereck as she got older of Kimorley has made a huge mistake in his timing. In the end it turned out to be both.
In Other News
Pakistan has been caught betting on games with player managers confessing that they fixed the unlosable Sydney test.....what a surprise not. What is a shock is the fact that bookmakers acctually take bets on anything to do with Pakistan Cricket. How obvious was it that they were throwing the Sydney test. Having the entire team sitting on the boundry for a couple of tail enders and bowling wide of teh wicket
Thanks fully this incident will be fully investigated by a retired judge. I'm sure justice will be done after having seen the transcript of the investigation into ... Captain Salman Butt (fielded the team on the fence for tail enders0 and wicket keeper Kamran Akmal (dropped four simple catches) in the Sydney Test.
Mahomed Amir (the judge) faced the players both making accusations “So,” he said, “I have been presented, by both of you, with a bribe.” Both Kamran Akmal and Salman Butt squirmed uncomfortably. “You, Salman, gave me $15,000. And you, Kamran, gave me $10,000.”
Mahomed reached into his pocket and pulled out a check. He handed it to Butt … “Now then, I’m returning $5,000, and we’re going to decide this case solely on its merits.”
The NRL keen to cellebrate these great servants of the game and also recognise the 300 game veteran Brett Kimorley recognised the achievement by......... putting a link to a story on the website.
Still I can see why Brett retired - to start with he couldn't read the clock at the ground on Monday night. Instead of calling for the ball and having a shot at field goal he let Michael Ennis roll the ball into the in goal with less than a minute remaining. I was listening to the coverage and heard the crowd do the count down 10, 9, 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 ... I thought either they are pointing out what happen to Bo Dereck as she got older of Kimorley has made a huge mistake in his timing. In the end it turned out to be both.
In Other News
Pakistan has been caught betting on games with player managers confessing that they fixed the unlosable Sydney test.....what a surprise not. What is a shock is the fact that bookmakers acctually take bets on anything to do with Pakistan Cricket. How obvious was it that they were throwing the Sydney test. Having the entire team sitting on the boundry for a couple of tail enders and bowling wide of teh wicket
Thanks fully this incident will be fully investigated by a retired judge. I'm sure justice will be done after having seen the transcript of the investigation into ... Captain Salman Butt (fielded the team on the fence for tail enders0 and wicket keeper Kamran Akmal (dropped four simple catches) in the Sydney Test.
Mahomed Amir (the judge) faced the players both making accusations “So,” he said, “I have been presented, by both of you, with a bribe.” Both Kamran Akmal and Salman Butt squirmed uncomfortably. “You, Salman, gave me $15,000. And you, Kamran, gave me $10,000.”
Mahomed reached into his pocket and pulled out a check. He handed it to Butt … “Now then, I’m returning $5,000, and we’re going to decide this case solely on its merits.”
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
When the going gets tough the tough can sometimes need help to get going
Well it looks like the Eels have missed the bus to this years finals. Parramatta can beat any team on their day but and typically have left their run to the last minute. They always just plod around for 50 minutes before having a crack at winning with only 20 minutes left from full time. This has been happening for a few years now so who is to blame.
Jarrod
He missed the NSW team bus to the second state of origin by leaving it till the last minute. Or maybe coach Bellamy gave the driver the Ok to go as he couldn't count to 17 (it makes sense considering belamy couldn't quite count to thirteen - hey where did that queensland winger come from).
Jarrod stands back and lets the team try and win it on their own before having a crack at it himself in the last quarter. Jarrod its not going to work. To start with most of your team mates are only average players and lets face it, that's all the Eels could afford after they pay your wage.
So what can we do to fix it - well nothing this year, but next year, drum a bit of urgency into Parramatta. Tell them they start from 10 wins behind due to salaray cap breaches. How about start the Eels on a 20 point handicap each game, or rush them to the game just in time to take the field. We need some sort of Parramatta Eels emergency vehicle for such an important occasion. Its a necessity if the Eels should be able to respond to these incidents. (We have had the Hayne train and the Hayne plane so next years "Hayne multi purpose emergency vehicle" isn't so far fetched)
Why is it that only certain emergency vehicles are able to break road rules on the way to something urgent. Not all emergency vehicles can break rules. The SES for instance only carry flashing lights not sirens. What can't other vehicles with an equally urgent need also use lights and sirens, like for instance Bill Harrigon's security detail leaving games.
In life there is an endless series of seemingly urgent vehicles with flashing lights and or those double parking blood delivery vans. Why not let other equally important vans\cars turn into emergency vehicles. Like, the CBD cellars delivery van or the Mens Gallery customer courtesy bus or more importantly when your desperate to get home from the pub before the family so you can pretend you've been there all along. Who wouldn't be happy to give way there.
The Dragons are confident that they have this one in the bag once Bills 'Match payment' arrives at WIN.
Jarrod
He missed the NSW team bus to the second state of origin by leaving it till the last minute. Or maybe coach Bellamy gave the driver the Ok to go as he couldn't count to 17 (it makes sense considering belamy couldn't quite count to thirteen - hey where did that queensland winger come from).
Jarrod stands back and lets the team try and win it on their own before having a crack at it himself in the last quarter. Jarrod its not going to work. To start with most of your team mates are only average players and lets face it, that's all the Eels could afford after they pay your wage.
So what can we do to fix it - well nothing this year, but next year, drum a bit of urgency into Parramatta. Tell them they start from 10 wins behind due to salaray cap breaches. How about start the Eels on a 20 point handicap each game, or rush them to the game just in time to take the field. We need some sort of Parramatta Eels emergency vehicle for such an important occasion. Its a necessity if the Eels should be able to respond to these incidents. (We have had the Hayne train and the Hayne plane so next years "Hayne multi purpose emergency vehicle" isn't so far fetched)
Why is it that only certain emergency vehicles are able to break road rules on the way to something urgent. Not all emergency vehicles can break rules. The SES for instance only carry flashing lights not sirens. What can't other vehicles with an equally urgent need also use lights and sirens, like for instance Bill Harrigon's security detail leaving games.
In life there is an endless series of seemingly urgent vehicles with flashing lights and or those double parking blood delivery vans. Why not let other equally important vans\cars turn into emergency vehicles. Like, the CBD cellars delivery van or the Mens Gallery customer courtesy bus or more importantly when your desperate to get home from the pub before the family so you can pretend you've been there all along. Who wouldn't be happy to give way there.
The Dragons are confident that they have this one in the bag once Bills 'Match payment' arrives at WIN.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Farewell Matt Rogers - thanks for Cronulla nearly winning a grand final (Again)
This next few weeks we say farewell to Matt Rogers. Matt is of course currently a utility back being able to fill in as 5/8, centre winger or fullback. Unfortunately for Matt the titans "were not able to find room under the salary cap" for his $200,000pa year. Strange really since they were offering $600,000pa for Greg Inglis last week, who is also a centre but is no where near as versatile.
Matt had a long career, born and bred in Sydney, with all his junior league for in the Shire before eventually settling into and making the under 20s grade for Cronulla. Eventually going onto play rep football for teh first time in Rugby for the NSW Warratahs. After such a long history based in Sydney, and with a family heritage firmly based in the Shire, naturally Matt was selected for Queensland 'Origin'. Pretty much the same as Greg Inglis really, so maybe the Titans thought they were bidding for Matt's love child?
Who knows, but one thing is for certain something smells about the Inglis deal. How can any club legitimately afford to pay $600,000 for a centre when the going rate is around $200,000 for a rep centre. It smells worse than the bins at the fish markets.
This is yet another case of where News Limited and the Queensland Rugby League are joining forces to ensure that their own self interests are served rather than the interests of the game. Did for instance the QLD Former origin greats (Who stumped up $30grand to keep Inglis in the game and in queensland) offer their top up cash to the Titans or the Cowboys, nope. Will there be an investigative journalist from the Terrograph sitting down to work out have the 5 grand bag system works in Brisbane - another negative.
If on the other hand you were playing with the Broncos you would be cashed up and you could be licking windows, interfering with farm animals and occasionally shitting yourself at the Casino all without a mention in the papers or on fox. Theodore Roosevelt is famous for having said "its better to be faithful than famous" of course Homer Simpson said "Dad, you've done a lot of great things, but you're a very old man, and old people are useless." Which one of those famous peoples quotes did you follow I wonder Matt?
So farewell Matt - sorry you had to leave us but its your own fault for not staying loyal to your employer.
Matt had a long career, born and bred in Sydney, with all his junior league for in the Shire before eventually settling into and making the under 20s grade for Cronulla. Eventually going onto play rep football for teh first time in Rugby for the NSW Warratahs. After such a long history based in Sydney, and with a family heritage firmly based in the Shire, naturally Matt was selected for Queensland 'Origin'. Pretty much the same as Greg Inglis really, so maybe the Titans thought they were bidding for Matt's love child?
Who knows, but one thing is for certain something smells about the Inglis deal. How can any club legitimately afford to pay $600,000 for a centre when the going rate is around $200,000 for a rep centre. It smells worse than the bins at the fish markets.
This is yet another case of where News Limited and the Queensland Rugby League are joining forces to ensure that their own self interests are served rather than the interests of the game. Did for instance the QLD Former origin greats (Who stumped up $30grand to keep Inglis in the game and in queensland) offer their top up cash to the Titans or the Cowboys, nope. Will there be an investigative journalist from the Terrograph sitting down to work out have the 5 grand bag system works in Brisbane - another negative.
If on the other hand you were playing with the Broncos you would be cashed up and you could be licking windows, interfering with farm animals and occasionally shitting yourself at the Casino all without a mention in the papers or on fox. Theodore Roosevelt is famous for having said "its better to be faithful than famous" of course Homer Simpson said "Dad, you've done a lot of great things, but you're a very old man, and old people are useless." Which one of those famous peoples quotes did you follow I wonder Matt?
So farewell Matt - sorry you had to leave us but its your own fault for not staying loyal to your employer.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Is a shellless turtle homeless or just naked?
Well its another year and the Dragons are once again looking like the snow in Thredbo - all gone by the end of September. But could the dragons just be like the September snow ie seasonal. could this just be a coaching tactic to bring forward their usual slump so that it doesn't happen on the October long weekend.
Their defence is still rock solid but the dragons attack has faded away from four trys a game to a mere two these days.
Maybe its time for the Dragons to have a long hard look at themselves and start to swallow some painful medicine - but what sort. Personally I would recommend Viagra as I hear that it will can get you past a semi.
But if the Dragons are no longer favourites who is, Panthers, Easts and Tigers both can't string together 3 good games in a row so how will they survive the fours weeks of the finals. Parra - well we all know whats happening there, they spent all their salary cap on Jarrod but he only fires every second game. Its not all bad for the the Eels but, apparently the new board of the Eels have opened a new special phone line for their many international fans to talk about their teams successes since the league went to the 10 meter rule - and that's 9861 0101. So if you are ringing from overseas dont forget to add the international code, so thats 1986 -then one nothing, one nothing, one nothing.....
Manly well they might be alright if it doesn't rain - so far this year they have lost every match they have played in the wet - never a good sign in a la Nina year. Still they should be a reasonable chance to win but provided they can finish 8th as so far this year they only seem to be able to beat teams higher on the ladder than themselves.
Titans - they are pretty much there by default and some good field goal shooters.
The Panthers may be a chance but they better hope that its not a windy day that will affect their kicking game as all their points come from high kicks, but it will be interesting if they win the comp as matt Elliott can shout the bar, then since he is so fond of high kicks he can tell the story about the Giraffe who liked long Island ice teas the Giraffe walked into the bar and shouts hey everybody the high balls are on me.
Anyway as you can tell I have no idea where this series will end, although I can certainly see a pattern forming in some clubs. So thus I end this rave with two of the more complex questions of our generation, why can't the Dragons win Semi finals? and do they give discounts to burns victims at the crematorium. basically no one knows we will just have to wait which teams have the least injuries leading into September.
Their defence is still rock solid but the dragons attack has faded away from four trys a game to a mere two these days.
Maybe its time for the Dragons to have a long hard look at themselves and start to swallow some painful medicine - but what sort. Personally I would recommend Viagra as I hear that it will can get you past a semi.
But if the Dragons are no longer favourites who is, Panthers, Easts and Tigers both can't string together 3 good games in a row so how will they survive the fours weeks of the finals. Parra - well we all know whats happening there, they spent all their salary cap on Jarrod but he only fires every second game. Its not all bad for the the Eels but, apparently the new board of the Eels have opened a new special phone line for their many international fans to talk about their teams successes since the league went to the 10 meter rule - and that's 9861 0101. So if you are ringing from overseas dont forget to add the international code, so thats 1986 -then one nothing, one nothing, one nothing.....
Manly well they might be alright if it doesn't rain - so far this year they have lost every match they have played in the wet - never a good sign in a la Nina year. Still they should be a reasonable chance to win but provided they can finish 8th as so far this year they only seem to be able to beat teams higher on the ladder than themselves.
Titans - they are pretty much there by default and some good field goal shooters.
The Panthers may be a chance but they better hope that its not a windy day that will affect their kicking game as all their points come from high kicks, but it will be interesting if they win the comp as matt Elliott can shout the bar, then since he is so fond of high kicks he can tell the story about the Giraffe who liked long Island ice teas the Giraffe walked into the bar and shouts hey everybody the high balls are on me.
Anyway as you can tell I have no idea where this series will end, although I can certainly see a pattern forming in some clubs. So thus I end this rave with two of the more complex questions of our generation, why can't the Dragons win Semi finals? and do they give discounts to burns victims at the crematorium. basically no one knows we will just have to wait which teams have the least injuries leading into September.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
What do you call a cow with two legs?
I don't know if this has happened to anyone else but, on Sunday I was watching the Manly Vs Tigers game while doing the ironing and I was left wondering how the hell did the Tigers make it into the top eight. Each time Manly got the ball within range of the Tigers line they scored, only once did they sucessfully manage to defend their own line. Is that the defence of a top eight side - clearly not. So how is it that the Tigers and the roosters have both managed to get top four ladder spots with for and against records that barely break even (or zero in fact for the tigers).
The answer to this mystery resolved itself when I heard about the Roosters playing Brisbane. You might think that with the draw the way it has two sides where strong sides play each otehr twice during the year once at home once away then they play the weak sides once. So in theory the maximum amount of time it should take to play teams in the stronger\weaker side of the draw at their home ground is two year... Makes sense doesn't it.
But thats not the case at all - thanks to the roosters game I managed to find out that not only do the weaker teams get an advantage of not having to play the stronger sides twice that the draw is structured to allow those weaker sides to play the stronger sides at their home grounds. This week the roosters played the broncos at Brisbane, when was the last time they played there - 2005 - five years ago.
So basically its no wonder teams like the roosters and the tigers are in the eight without having outscored their oppostion, while souths struggle to make headway.
A : Lean Beef
The answer to this mystery resolved itself when I heard about the Roosters playing Brisbane. You might think that with the draw the way it has two sides where strong sides play each otehr twice during the year once at home once away then they play the weak sides once. So in theory the maximum amount of time it should take to play teams in the stronger\weaker side of the draw at their home ground is two year... Makes sense doesn't it.
But thats not the case at all - thanks to the roosters game I managed to find out that not only do the weaker teams get an advantage of not having to play the stronger sides twice that the draw is structured to allow those weaker sides to play the stronger sides at their home grounds. This week the roosters played the broncos at Brisbane, when was the last time they played there - 2005 - five years ago.
So basically its no wonder teams like the roosters and the tigers are in the eight without having outscored their oppostion, while souths struggle to make headway.
A : Lean Beef
Monday, July 19, 2010
Is everything is suddenly coming your Way? Then chances are your in the wrong lane.
While it was a good week in League the results were marred yet again by some dodgy refereeing decisions that cost at least south's one win. But of course they weren't the only ones as this week the Roosters were on the back of some very bad forward pass decisions, one which wasn't to deny them a try and one which was that allowed the Bulldogs to score.
How is it that these days there are more Ref's and assistants than every before and yet the decisions seem to get worse. Back in the old days it was one referee and two touch judges. Sure they didn't know what they were doing but no one could go back to a slow mo replay and prove that they were wrong.
These days its not enough that the refs are making bad calls they seem to be out to do everything in their power to ensure a close game where the home team is the eventual winner.
And don't think it doesn't influence the result. What about the State of Origin, the last few years has seen every questionable decision was given to Queensland on top of the fact that they had an impressive array of talented footballers (who mostly came from NSW). But in the third game of the series the refs were giving clear instructions to do everything in their power to support NSW as a series of embarrassing penalties were blown for holding onto the tackle player when the NSW player clearly had hold of their opponents jumpers.
The other games were just as bad. I'm betting Manly was shafted again but you tend not to remember those bad decisions when you play the sharks these days as you generally win by 30.
One team lucky to win despite the dodgy decisions was the Roosters. Two very bad forward pass decisions cost them 12 points and nearly the game. IN the end a series of dropped balls by the Bulldogs let the Roosters back in the game meaning that the commentators could go on and on about the "Gutsy" performance and of course the "Courageous" leadership of Braith Anaster..... oh please.
Phil Gould spoke at length on TV and in the paper how Braith Anaster had come of age as a player leading his player to victory through adversity. What ??Would this be the Braith Anaster that starting mouthing off at the decisions costing his team a penalty for dissent.
Braith the only time the world will beat path to your door is when your in the bathroom.
It was Phil of course who recommended Braith to the Roosters all those many years ago and has been waiting for him to do something every since. Phil talked about how gifted he is and how he was born under a lucky sign. 'Well if thats the case I'm betting that it was 2 hours free parking.
How is it that these days there are more Ref's and assistants than every before and yet the decisions seem to get worse. Back in the old days it was one referee and two touch judges. Sure they didn't know what they were doing but no one could go back to a slow mo replay and prove that they were wrong.
These days its not enough that the refs are making bad calls they seem to be out to do everything in their power to ensure a close game where the home team is the eventual winner.
And don't think it doesn't influence the result. What about the State of Origin, the last few years has seen every questionable decision was given to Queensland on top of the fact that they had an impressive array of talented footballers (who mostly came from NSW). But in the third game of the series the refs were giving clear instructions to do everything in their power to support NSW as a series of embarrassing penalties were blown for holding onto the tackle player when the NSW player clearly had hold of their opponents jumpers.
The other games were just as bad. I'm betting Manly was shafted again but you tend not to remember those bad decisions when you play the sharks these days as you generally win by 30.
One team lucky to win despite the dodgy decisions was the Roosters. Two very bad forward pass decisions cost them 12 points and nearly the game. IN the end a series of dropped balls by the Bulldogs let the Roosters back in the game meaning that the commentators could go on and on about the "Gutsy" performance and of course the "Courageous" leadership of Braith Anaster..... oh please.
Phil Gould spoke at length on TV and in the paper how Braith Anaster had come of age as a player leading his player to victory through adversity. What ??Would this be the Braith Anaster that starting mouthing off at the decisions costing his team a penalty for dissent.
Braith the only time the world will beat path to your door is when your in the bathroom.
It was Phil of course who recommended Braith to the Roosters all those many years ago and has been waiting for him to do something every since. Phil talked about how gifted he is and how he was born under a lucky sign. 'Well if thats the case I'm betting that it was 2 hours free parking.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Gaz is back - but do we also have to take Sonny Bill
Well the Terrograph says it all on page 1. "Stop the boats" we don't want the undesirables entering the country, and underneath is a photo of Mark Gaznier. This pretty much sums up my mood about the rugby casts offs as well. Basically since the big money of international rugby dried up when the TV ratings did we have been forced to repatriate Rugby refugees are looking to return in the prospect of an vastly increased salary cap.
Forget the refugee's escaping from a war zone what about the English super league migrants escaping Euorzone tax havens. After a year of sunning himself on French Riviera the Gaz is back trying to impress the selectors, but with match stats of no line breaks, seven tackles and one missed tackle he has a long way to go to force his way into a starting spot in Dragons first grade - although a bench spot for NSW origin this year is not out of the question.
With the return of many league players from union the average height and weight of the wallabies backline has fallen from 191cm when Lotte and where's wendle where in there to 187cm today.
Why do we have to take them back, why can't we just keep developing and exporting talent, its our second biggest export after coal. If you abandon ship that's it pal your gone for good.
Even teams in a ultimate competitive advantage are still happy to pick casts offs. Remember these quotes;
"The team and I endorse the action of the QRL in dropping Israle for the good of the game" Darren Lockyer Sunday 2.30pm before the selected the Queensland team for game 2
"Welcome back mate" Darren, Tuesday 8am.
All the chickens are coming home to roost, flying in from their tax havens trying to escape the nuclear winter that is the inevitable collapse of the Eurozone curency. Hopefully it wont get to the stage where we not only get the expats back but we start getting all the European players escaping to play in NSW. We dont want to get to the situation that they are in with the Engish premier League Soccer, where only a third of players in the league are acctually English and they are generally the bottom third of players. So when it comes to the world cup they get thrashed.
No for the good of the game we need to stick to the system home grown talent and lets start by putting any player returning from overseas on Christmas island.
Forget the refugee's escaping from a war zone what about the English super league migrants escaping Euorzone tax havens. After a year of sunning himself on French Riviera the Gaz is back trying to impress the selectors, but with match stats of no line breaks, seven tackles and one missed tackle he has a long way to go to force his way into a starting spot in Dragons first grade - although a bench spot for NSW origin this year is not out of the question.
With the return of many league players from union the average height and weight of the wallabies backline has fallen from 191cm when Lotte and where's wendle where in there to 187cm today.
Why do we have to take them back, why can't we just keep developing and exporting talent, its our second biggest export after coal. If you abandon ship that's it pal your gone for good.
Even teams in a ultimate competitive advantage are still happy to pick casts offs. Remember these quotes;
"The team and I endorse the action of the QRL in dropping Israle for the good of the game" Darren Lockyer Sunday 2.30pm before the selected the Queensland team for game 2
"Welcome back mate" Darren, Tuesday 8am.
All the chickens are coming home to roost, flying in from their tax havens trying to escape the nuclear winter that is the inevitable collapse of the Eurozone curency. Hopefully it wont get to the stage where we not only get the expats back but we start getting all the European players escaping to play in NSW. We dont want to get to the situation that they are in with the Engish premier League Soccer, where only a third of players in the league are acctually English and they are generally the bottom third of players. So when it comes to the world cup they get thrashed.
No for the good of the game we need to stick to the system home grown talent and lets start by putting any player returning from overseas on Christmas island.
Monday, June 28, 2010
There is no Future in Time Travel.
For those of you waiting to hear who is in the origin team, well as you all remember that traditionally game 3 in origin is where the selectors give up on their stupid theory and pick the best team we have. Great news - they have done at least one of those things - they have given up.
New South Wales selectors have gone for the approach "If you can't convince them confuse them". Yet again they are doing what Corduroy Pillows do - they make headlines. To show how they are planning for the future they made a player in his last 10 games of NRL captain and then selected virtually an entirely new team for game three. In game two, NSW wingers positional play meant most of them were closer to the bar than their opponents. So we have decided to teach them a lesson for their consistently bad reads in defence....................... by dropping all the forwards.
Into game three come Jason King, Snowden, Gallen and Greg Bird, Watmough. Would you believe that Greg Bird has the record of having played only 4 games but been man of the match twice in those games - well great news he has been selected for game three - that will stuff his average, he should have made a controversial withdrawal - Timana style.
In Other News
Its been a very depressing few weeks in sport - its not just the Origin, its the soccer, the rugby and the cricket. It seems that everywhere we go the news is depressing especially if you have a pommy mate within easy reach of his email. The one glimmer of hope came today when Jana Rawlinson announced that there was to much pressure on her to win in Australia and to much media scrutiny, so she was going to represent England in the next Olympics - Huzzah.
May I say Jana that it wasn't me putting pressure on you to win. I always thought you were a loser and still do. And just because the Poms have won their first one dayer against us in ten years does not make them a nation of sporting achievers.
Jana did of course say that the crushing weight of media scrutiny was to much in Australia - which of course is why she chose to issue a press release to say she was leaving instead of fading into the background like we had all hoped.
That's not to say that Jana leaves the sporting stage empty handed after winning a world title presumably held in North Korea or somewhere similar and of course she narrowly beat Tamsin Lewis in for the title of most committed drama queen in the 2008 Australian Olympic team.
So its pack your bags Jana - but if you can convince lay down Sally to go with you we will waive the invoice for your time at the institute of sport.
New South Wales selectors have gone for the approach "If you can't convince them confuse them". Yet again they are doing what Corduroy Pillows do - they make headlines. To show how they are planning for the future they made a player in his last 10 games of NRL captain and then selected virtually an entirely new team for game three. In game two, NSW wingers positional play meant most of them were closer to the bar than their opponents. So we have decided to teach them a lesson for their consistently bad reads in defence....................... by dropping all the forwards.
Into game three come Jason King, Snowden, Gallen and Greg Bird, Watmough. Would you believe that Greg Bird has the record of having played only 4 games but been man of the match twice in those games - well great news he has been selected for game three - that will stuff his average, he should have made a controversial withdrawal - Timana style.
In Other News
Its been a very depressing few weeks in sport - its not just the Origin, its the soccer, the rugby and the cricket. It seems that everywhere we go the news is depressing especially if you have a pommy mate within easy reach of his email. The one glimmer of hope came today when Jana Rawlinson announced that there was to much pressure on her to win in Australia and to much media scrutiny, so she was going to represent England in the next Olympics - Huzzah.
May I say Jana that it wasn't me putting pressure on you to win. I always thought you were a loser and still do. And just because the Poms have won their first one dayer against us in ten years does not make them a nation of sporting achievers.
Jana did of course say that the crushing weight of media scrutiny was to much in Australia - which of course is why she chose to issue a press release to say she was leaving instead of fading into the background like we had all hoped.
That's not to say that Jana leaves the sporting stage empty handed after winning a world title presumably held in North Korea or somewhere similar and of course she narrowly beat Tamsin Lewis in for the title of most committed drama queen in the 2008 Australian Olympic team.
So its pack your bags Jana - but if you can convince lay down Sally to go with you we will waive the invoice for your time at the institute of sport.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Boycott Shampoo - Demand Real Poo!
As predicted in Origin - another humiliating loss - plus an unexpected and entertaining fight.
In origin our injuries forced us to pick a few second string losers while Queenland were bolstered by Cameron Smith. Predictably enough we were not just beaten but thrashed. But to be honest I don't know exactly what happened as it was so depressing early that after the first two tries that I turned it off. I had basically seen what I needed to see, ie Paul gallen give away three penalties that lead to two tries, and the inexplicable defence of the wingers. Exactly how many tries did the Queensland team score where the winger scored unopposed. ( I don't actually know the answer to this as I was watching the soccer as soon as it came on.)
Was it that the NSW wingers were star struck by Bowraville Boy, Greg Inglis so everyone wanted to tackle him, or was this a deliberately coached technique of compressed defence?
How is it that we can NSW can allow Queensland to have the first second and third choice of all the quality players. How exactly does this origin concept work - I thought it was where you were born in which case, Sam Thiday, Greg Inglis, Israle Falou, Willie Tonga would all be playing for NSW while Neville Costigan would be playing for Papua New Guinea.
Is it where you first developed into a graded player in which case Jonathan Thurston and the entire Queensland team would be playing for NSW. Now after hearing what Andrew John has been busted for I have finally realised why the best players go north. Its Joey and his no black .... policy.
Back in the old days of origin when Queensland struggled to field a competitive team, the ARL used to undertake a super league style system of selections where origin can and did mean you played for which ever state was weakest. This talent reallocation included any league player from overseas not having previously played for NSW eg Adrian Lam and Matt Rogers.
Now its our turn lets annex New Zealand as a developing nation (lets face it thats not to far from the truth) and lets get rid of our coach and assistant coach. Í heard Timana say that the NSW players are self motivated - I have heard that before. Its work speak for management wont answer questions. As far the assistant coach goes, well Joey Johns is so dense that light bends around him.
Still despite the weak performance this third game is our best chance in years to actually in a game. Not through brilliant coaching or returning players but because Queensland just wont care and will spend the night on the turps just like last time. That was where all their players tried to hallucinate new winning techniques by drink red bull and sudafed. While they lost I wouldn't say it was a complete failure as Johonthan Thurston had that industrial strength hangover breath that could knock a buzzard of a shit truck at 100 yards and does that come in handy when having a quite word with refs these days. They don't care what he says just as long as he goes away.
In origin our injuries forced us to pick a few second string losers while Queenland were bolstered by Cameron Smith. Predictably enough we were not just beaten but thrashed. But to be honest I don't know exactly what happened as it was so depressing early that after the first two tries that I turned it off. I had basically seen what I needed to see, ie Paul gallen give away three penalties that lead to two tries, and the inexplicable defence of the wingers. Exactly how many tries did the Queensland team score where the winger scored unopposed. ( I don't actually know the answer to this as I was watching the soccer as soon as it came on.)
Was it that the NSW wingers were star struck by Bowraville Boy, Greg Inglis so everyone wanted to tackle him, or was this a deliberately coached technique of compressed defence?
How is it that we can NSW can allow Queensland to have the first second and third choice of all the quality players. How exactly does this origin concept work - I thought it was where you were born in which case, Sam Thiday, Greg Inglis, Israle Falou, Willie Tonga would all be playing for NSW while Neville Costigan would be playing for Papua New Guinea.
Is it where you first developed into a graded player in which case Jonathan Thurston and the entire Queensland team would be playing for NSW. Now after hearing what Andrew John has been busted for I have finally realised why the best players go north. Its Joey and his no black .... policy.
Back in the old days of origin when Queensland struggled to field a competitive team, the ARL used to undertake a super league style system of selections where origin can and did mean you played for which ever state was weakest. This talent reallocation included any league player from overseas not having previously played for NSW eg Adrian Lam and Matt Rogers.
Now its our turn lets annex New Zealand as a developing nation (lets face it thats not to far from the truth) and lets get rid of our coach and assistant coach. Í heard Timana say that the NSW players are self motivated - I have heard that before. Its work speak for management wont answer questions. As far the assistant coach goes, well Joey Johns is so dense that light bends around him.
Still despite the weak performance this third game is our best chance in years to actually in a game. Not through brilliant coaching or returning players but because Queensland just wont care and will spend the night on the turps just like last time. That was where all their players tried to hallucinate new winning techniques by drink red bull and sudafed. While they lost I wouldn't say it was a complete failure as Johonthan Thurston had that industrial strength hangover breath that could knock a buzzard of a shit truck at 100 yards and does that come in handy when having a quite word with refs these days. They don't care what he says just as long as he goes away.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Origin II - same mistakes different players
Well here we go with another State of Origin and Queensland have yet again picked a strong side involving a lot of NSW born and bred players and a number of people who should be suspended. What is it with origin if you are likely to be selected you can't be suspended. Clearly Hayne and Slater knew this thats why they spent the game throwing punches, head butts, grapple tackles and biting each other.
Of course not only did Queensland select their full quota of Ref abusers and geographically challenged backs they also quickly went back on their word by picking Israle Falou. Queensland failed to live up to their hype in the most embarassing backdown of all time since Julie Bishop had to confess that Australia forges passports as well...Ah no I'm not suppose to talk about that.
New South Wales on the other hand well what can I say. Same mistakes different players. Jimal was dropped after one game, supposedly for his bad read in defence but I suspect it was because of his uncanny resembelance to the cast of fraggle rock (look carefully at these two shots and see if you can pick 5 differences.)
New South wales is still playing halfback roulette with Mitchell Pearce back into the team, mainly to cover for the fact that Trent Barrett can't kick.
The one constant with all these losses is of course Craig Bellamy. Sure Queensland has a good team (although not for much longer) but we should have won more purely by chance over the last 4 years. Let NSW hire Des Hasler at least his forwards would be worried enough about being injurred by a flying door that they might put in one decent half.
Craig is suppose to be a good coach as he has a well "drilled" team. They control everything from when they sleep to what they eat. And Remember you are what you eat. If thats true (its probably not as the staff at the storm probably do that) then he has been feeding the NSW backs chicken livers. Acctually we had better hope that its not true that you are what you eat, if it is then Ben would be a takeaway ie "Fast, Cheap and Easy"
But back to coaches, And for the benefit of Ricky Stewart who is being touted as next years Origin coach - no we wont be picking Paul Gallen for every game - yes he is a reliable defender and has an offload but he gives away two penalties a game.
Anyway I live in hope but I know what the result will be.
In Other News
The NSW state budget was released with the news that we are back in surprise surplus. The original budget deficit came as something of a surprise as it was originally caused by a young graduate working hard into the night when he failed to carry the one when adding up the revenue column.
This year the problem was solved by a disillusioned 20 year veteran public servant whose solar power calculator ran out of charge halfway through adding up the City Metro Bills.
So what the point well it probably means that there is now more money available for the government to spend on making a third ground for the western Sydney AFL franchise. Why is that good news because it means more maintenance which means it will go broke faster so we can use it for league sooner.
Of course not only did Queensland select their full quota of Ref abusers and geographically challenged backs they also quickly went back on their word by picking Israle Falou. Queensland failed to live up to their hype in the most embarassing backdown of all time since Julie Bishop had to confess that Australia forges passports as well...Ah no I'm not suppose to talk about that.
New South Wales on the other hand well what can I say. Same mistakes different players. Jimal was dropped after one game, supposedly for his bad read in defence but I suspect it was because of his uncanny resembelance to the cast of fraggle rock (look carefully at these two shots and see if you can pick 5 differences.)
New South wales is still playing halfback roulette with Mitchell Pearce back into the team, mainly to cover for the fact that Trent Barrett can't kick.
The one constant with all these losses is of course Craig Bellamy. Sure Queensland has a good team (although not for much longer) but we should have won more purely by chance over the last 4 years. Let NSW hire Des Hasler at least his forwards would be worried enough about being injurred by a flying door that they might put in one decent half.
Craig is suppose to be a good coach as he has a well "drilled" team. They control everything from when they sleep to what they eat. And Remember you are what you eat. If thats true (its probably not as the staff at the storm probably do that) then he has been feeding the NSW backs chicken livers. Acctually we had better hope that its not true that you are what you eat, if it is then Ben would be a takeaway ie "Fast, Cheap and Easy"
But back to coaches, And for the benefit of Ricky Stewart who is being touted as next years Origin coach - no we wont be picking Paul Gallen for every game - yes he is a reliable defender and has an offload but he gives away two penalties a game.
Anyway I live in hope but I know what the result will be.
In Other News
The NSW state budget was released with the news that we are back in surprise surplus. The original budget deficit came as something of a surprise as it was originally caused by a young graduate working hard into the night when he failed to carry the one when adding up the revenue column.
This year the problem was solved by a disillusioned 20 year veteran public servant whose solar power calculator ran out of charge halfway through adding up the City Metro Bills.
So what the point well it probably means that there is now more money available for the government to spend on making a third ground for the western Sydney AFL franchise. Why is that good news because it means more maintenance which means it will go broke faster so we can use it for league sooner.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Take the money and run
News out today is that the Greater western Sydney Franchise has signed up Israle Falou for $1.1 Million a year. Please god why. Here at work we all contribute $10 a week towards a loto, syndicate so we can try and win $1m quit work and play and watch sport for the rest of our lives.
How exactly does this work, the Greater Western Sydney team are expecting to recoup this from what exactly. Their own figures say that they are only expecting a maximum of 17,000 people per game even at the relatively cheap entry price of $10 a ticket. The Western Sydney team is only contracted to play 6 games at their new State Government bought blacktown venue, so based on my calculations Israle's salary will exceed the revenue of ticket sales.
And all this for a guy who has never played the game before. I think its about time that the AFL talent scouts had a look for some other players.........like me. I would be perfect, if they want profile and controversy I can fill the blog site with stories on touchy subjects like gay players.
Like Israle I can't kick and have never played the game before.
Like Israle I would prefer to watch repeats of old Japanese cooking shows to live AFL, and of course
Like Israle I was born and bred in Sydney and have only ever been to Queensland on Holidays (Thus making me eligible for the QLD state of Origin team).
Still all in all its a great idea for this geographically confused Mormon man to take the money and run.The faster he does the faster the franchise can go broke, and we can all have a good laugh in the mean time at the struggling Melbourne AFL clubs arching up about the inconsistency of their salary cap.
The only question is - will we see the return of Brett Tate to the Queensland side or are the Queensland selectors staking out the transit lounge of Brisbane airport in a bid to find their next 'Home grown' backline sensation.
Who knows but as Homer would say "Son, if you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now quiet! They're about to announce the lottery numbers"
How exactly does this work, the Greater Western Sydney team are expecting to recoup this from what exactly. Their own figures say that they are only expecting a maximum of 17,000 people per game even at the relatively cheap entry price of $10 a ticket. The Western Sydney team is only contracted to play 6 games at their new State Government bought blacktown venue, so based on my calculations Israle's salary will exceed the revenue of ticket sales.
And all this for a guy who has never played the game before. I think its about time that the AFL talent scouts had a look for some other players.........like me. I would be perfect, if they want profile and controversy I can fill the blog site with stories on touchy subjects like gay players.
Like Israle I can't kick and have never played the game before.
Like Israle I would prefer to watch repeats of old Japanese cooking shows to live AFL, and of course
Like Israle I was born and bred in Sydney and have only ever been to Queensland on Holidays (Thus making me eligible for the QLD state of Origin team).
Still all in all its a great idea for this geographically confused Mormon man to take the money and run.The faster he does the faster the franchise can go broke, and we can all have a good laugh in the mean time at the struggling Melbourne AFL clubs arching up about the inconsistency of their salary cap.
The only question is - will we see the return of Brett Tate to the Queensland side or are the Queensland selectors staking out the transit lounge of Brisbane airport in a bid to find their next 'Home grown' backline sensation.
Who knows but as Homer would say "Son, if you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now quiet! They're about to announce the lottery numbers"
Monday, May 24, 2010
A Tribute to the Fallen
Well the news from Rugby league this week is State of origin and the resignation of Ricky Stewart from the Sharks. It wasn't a surprise really four years at the Sharks and only a handful of trys to show for it. Still despite be barely able to average 12 points a game he will end up with a better record than Craig Bellamy.
The Sharks Board has been trying to get rid of Ricky for the best part of a year but they don't want to sack him and be forced to pay out his contract. It was decisions like that, that lead them into the big debt problem that they are currently in. Of course the other stupid decision was renovating the foyer of the Sharks leagues clubs and the installation of some expensive and totally unnecessary furniture (a trophy cabinet).
The good news for Ricky is that he is still being paid and has plenty of time to line up another job confident in the knowledge that no matter how badly his team performs they won't win the wooden spoon.
In Other News
David Campbell has been forced to resign when Peter Meakin of Channel 7 decided to fictitiously claim he had abused his use of his government car. (Peter if you recall has multiple convictions for high range DUI, is famous for having been sacked after 3 months as the media advisor to Morris Immea and claiming a two year settlement on the way out. While that was going on he managed to get a Minister pregnant and ruined her career by insisting that she get her driver to drive him home pissed. So in other words doing exactly what he falsely accused David of doing and then some.)
If I was David I would have gone for the case of mistaken identity excuse, I was shopping for an anniversary present and went to the wrong end of the street.
It turns out that Ken's of Kensington (KKK) is only down the road from Peters of Kensington, so you can get a rub and a tug and a lovely set of plates all within walking distance.
Unfortunately for David, the Premier practices Moscrimination so was also keen to punt him.......then feigned outrage at the invasion of privacy (of course if she wanted to keep him she could have simply refused to accept his resignation).
So in a tribute to the fallen we say goodbye to these fallen hero's. One was politically astute and rose to the most senior levels of his position and one managed to coach his way into scoring three times a week.
The Sharks Board has been trying to get rid of Ricky for the best part of a year but they don't want to sack him and be forced to pay out his contract. It was decisions like that, that lead them into the big debt problem that they are currently in. Of course the other stupid decision was renovating the foyer of the Sharks leagues clubs and the installation of some expensive and totally unnecessary furniture (a trophy cabinet).
The good news for Ricky is that he is still being paid and has plenty of time to line up another job confident in the knowledge that no matter how badly his team performs they won't win the wooden spoon.
In Other News
David Campbell has been forced to resign when Peter Meakin of Channel 7 decided to fictitiously claim he had abused his use of his government car. (Peter if you recall has multiple convictions for high range DUI, is famous for having been sacked after 3 months as the media advisor to Morris Immea and claiming a two year settlement on the way out. While that was going on he managed to get a Minister pregnant and ruined her career by insisting that she get her driver to drive him home pissed. So in other words doing exactly what he falsely accused David of doing and then some.)
If I was David I would have gone for the case of mistaken identity excuse, I was shopping for an anniversary present and went to the wrong end of the street.
It turns out that Ken's of Kensington (KKK) is only down the road from Peters of Kensington, so you can get a rub and a tug and a lovely set of plates all within walking distance.
Unfortunately for David, the Premier practices Moscrimination so was also keen to punt him.......then feigned outrage at the invasion of privacy (of course if she wanted to keep him she could have simply refused to accept his resignation).
So in a tribute to the fallen we say goodbye to these fallen hero's. One was politically astute and rose to the most senior levels of his position and one managed to coach his way into scoring three times a week.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
State of origin selections stuff up - here we go go again
Top news of the week is the state of origin selections for NSW, and as in previous years we are trying yet another theory. If you can remember last year when we said we were going for youth and we were going to stick with them through the series. So we picked Peter Wallace at halfback, Terry Campese 5/8 and Robbie Farrah at hooker. By game 3 it was Brett Kimorley, Trent Barrett and Michael Ennis.
Well this years official theory is that we want size out wide to combat Hodges, Inglis and Folau. So we picked an untried rookie in Jimal Idris who is suppose to stop the queensland centres from the NSW bench. How is he suppose to stop them, through sustained sledging? (Actually that might work if someone we gave Jimal speech training so string together a sentence - and put Rodney Rude on the NSW staff to write put downs.)
Now stop me if I'm wrong but wasn't it Idris who failed to stop Matt Cooper on Friday night not once but twice as he ambled casually onto score for the Dragons - lucky Idris will start and hopefully finish on the bench.
This has the look of last years campaign to it where we threw a bunch of youngsters to the wolves and then promptly sacked them after only one average performance. (If only Australian cricket used the same policy, Michael Clarke would be out of the 20 / 20 team and we would could have unleased David Warner on the poms, instead of having Clarke run out the entire top order just to get off strike.)
So what is the answer to the revolving door of NSW selection - the Melbourne Rebels.
Here let me explain - most of Queenslands top players come from the Melbourne Storm. The Storm have made big dollar 3 year contracts to their players which they are obliged to meet or better - then they back ended the contracts. What that means is that they have yet to pay most of the money they promised the big name players.
So their options are to do what Canterbury did - which is to not sign any big name players for 3 - 4 years. They eventually only managed to get their head above water when their only big name signing (sonny Bill) left the club.
The Storms problem however is that their salary cap for next year is entirely committed to 6 marquee players once you take into account contract back ending. So to field a team next year they will have to get some other team to promise to take most of their stars at their current salary, and that's where the Melbourne rebels come in with the trusty old News Limited cheque book.
This is already starting to happen with Folau the first to go announcing that he is going to Rugby Union on Monday 12 July of thereabouts. By the end of the year we can add Billy Slater and Greg Inglis and possibly Cooper Cronk.
Its either that or they can go to AFL, who are offering a million dollars a year to NRL players who have never even played the game before. (This gives you a bit of an indication of exactly how easy the game must be if you can pick it up and make the first grade team after only 3 months of pre season training.)
Now if we can only get rid of Thurston and Prince we could be in with a chance next year.
ln other news
The media is fawning over Jessica Watson on mass after she managed to do what every 16 year old can only dream about - ie spending 200 days with nothing else to do but spend every waking moment on face book. Why this was news is anyones guess really, perhaps it was because she did it without running into anything - something that looked long odds back when she started.
The 200 days of boredom did come in handy though as the first thing she did when she got of the boat was have to listen to a speech by Kevin Rudd.
Damm boat people - still coming in at the rate of a boat a day. Still this one would have actually managed an around the world record if she didn't go so far out of her way to avoid Christmas island
Well this years official theory is that we want size out wide to combat Hodges, Inglis and Folau. So we picked an untried rookie in Jimal Idris who is suppose to stop the queensland centres from the NSW bench. How is he suppose to stop them, through sustained sledging? (Actually that might work if someone we gave Jimal speech training so string together a sentence - and put Rodney Rude on the NSW staff to write put downs.)
Now stop me if I'm wrong but wasn't it Idris who failed to stop Matt Cooper on Friday night not once but twice as he ambled casually onto score for the Dragons - lucky Idris will start and hopefully finish on the bench.
This has the look of last years campaign to it where we threw a bunch of youngsters to the wolves and then promptly sacked them after only one average performance. (If only Australian cricket used the same policy, Michael Clarke would be out of the 20 / 20 team and we would could have unleased David Warner on the poms, instead of having Clarke run out the entire top order just to get off strike.)
So what is the answer to the revolving door of NSW selection - the Melbourne Rebels.
Here let me explain - most of Queenslands top players come from the Melbourne Storm. The Storm have made big dollar 3 year contracts to their players which they are obliged to meet or better - then they back ended the contracts. What that means is that they have yet to pay most of the money they promised the big name players.
So their options are to do what Canterbury did - which is to not sign any big name players for 3 - 4 years. They eventually only managed to get their head above water when their only big name signing (sonny Bill) left the club.
The Storms problem however is that their salary cap for next year is entirely committed to 6 marquee players once you take into account contract back ending. So to field a team next year they will have to get some other team to promise to take most of their stars at their current salary, and that's where the Melbourne rebels come in with the trusty old News Limited cheque book.
This is already starting to happen with Folau the first to go announcing that he is going to Rugby Union on Monday 12 July of thereabouts. By the end of the year we can add Billy Slater and Greg Inglis and possibly Cooper Cronk.
Its either that or they can go to AFL, who are offering a million dollars a year to NRL players who have never even played the game before. (This gives you a bit of an indication of exactly how easy the game must be if you can pick it up and make the first grade team after only 3 months of pre season training.)
Now if we can only get rid of Thurston and Prince we could be in with a chance next year.
ln other news
The media is fawning over Jessica Watson on mass after she managed to do what every 16 year old can only dream about - ie spending 200 days with nothing else to do but spend every waking moment on face book. Why this was news is anyones guess really, perhaps it was because she did it without running into anything - something that looked long odds back when she started.
The 200 days of boredom did come in handy though as the first thing she did when she got of the boat was have to listen to a speech by Kevin Rudd.
Damm boat people - still coming in at the rate of a boat a day. Still this one would have actually managed an around the world record if she didn't go so far out of her way to avoid Christmas island
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