Rugby Union - Robbie Deans

Now I know I'm only just learning to speak rugby but I do live with a kiwi so i think i'm on pretty safe footing when I say I like Robbie Deans and what he's been doing with the Wallabies and I like the track we're on with him at the helm.
I don't get why there's talk that he's going to get dumped, if it's true they're pretty stupid arse rumours, coz like all our previous coaches have been that great...
I like the fact that he's rebuilt this team and I have to say they're doing ok.
Rebuilding in any sport is really hard and I guess the guys who usually do it usually cop a lot of flack while they do but I think Robbie Deans is right on the money, even if i do sound a little bias because i support the reds and he's picked a lot of reds, but they've been going through their own rebuilding phase so I guess they were ripe for the picking.
There's a world cup next year and there was no way we could be competitive with the team we had last year or the year before that.
Do we want the Wallabies to end up like the Socceroos? A team of guys who should have retired a while ago but can't because there's no talent coming through? No I didn't think so.
So all of Robbie Deans' critics back off! While we may not be seeing results at the minute I suspect when the time is right, and when we most want results, that because of Robbie Deans' planning and foresight we might just be getting them.
And yes I know it goes against the grain as Aussies to actually like a Kiwi, but at least he's a kiwi who sings our national anthem and has the nickname "Dingo" and let me tell you there aren't a lot of Dingos running around in New Zealand...
Good luck Robbie, regardless of what happens you've been great for our boys and for Australian rugby in general and we'd love for you to take us all the way and see Bill sitting in our trophy cabinet once more!!

AFL issues.

Several issues arose from Friday night's draw at Eithad Stadium, between St Kilda and Hawthorn, least of all was the shocking amount of free kicks that went against the Saints for no reason other than the ref's thought it was a good idea, anyway moving on...

First of all: the interchange rule.
Having being the recipient of freee kicks for breaches of this rule and giving away free kicks because of breaches, I can safely say that as a Saints fan I don't have a problem with the punishment. All the clubs agreeed to it and it is much better, and a lot less harsh, than the ofending team's score resorting to 0. I could imagine if that was the case, especially at that stage of the game, that Alistair Clarkson would have even more to say about it.
Regardless, Hawthorn got so many free kicks that night that they shouldn't have that I think it maybe evens things up a little bit. And having seen Cyril Rioli turn his head during his run up for the goal you can't tell me that he wasn't aware that something was happening. He chose to keep going and therefore was lucky he wasn't penalised 50 metres for not returning the ball.

Second: The result.
Yes, as a fan it left a little hollow feeling, but at least we walked away with some points, which at the end of the day is better than nothing. I'm sure the players felt the same thing.
Honestly, I don't see anything wrong with a draw. Yes it would add a little more excitement for an extra 5 or 10 either way but I'm not sure the players would have felt that. AFL is a very taxing game and goes for a long time, a lot longer than NRL, Rugby or football.
No, the draw is a fine result, afterall, if at the end of normal time the teams can't be split then maybe they don't deserve to be.

Third and final: Eithad Stadium.
That surface is downright dangerous. Seeing all those player slip was ridiculous. And we've seen it throughout the season. Sure it may not have been the cause of Nick Riewoldt or Josh Gibson's hamstring injuries (both who played on Friday night after extensive lay offs) but it was certainly was a factor in Chris Judd's ankle injury and I'm sure numerous others.
The Western Bulldogs should be thanking the surface however for helping get rid of Aker though...
I'm very interested to see how the surface will go this weekend, given Eithad is hosting a Bledisloe match on Saturday night. Rugby scrums will rip up any normal surface, and I've seen the damage done to Suncorp, a perfect surface I've heard it called, and I think that Eithad has no chance of surviving. It'll be interesting what happens with the Western Bulldogs match on Sunday, whether the stadium will be given the OK.
Either way something has to be or I do reckon one day someone will sue, I just hope that the injury doesn't happen to one of our players...

Tour de France - wrap

What an exciting Tour! Sure it wasn't the closest one that's ever been but it was close.
Props to Andy Shleck for taking it to Alberto Contador on the time trial, i think he got as close as 2 seconds which is impressive.
Taking back said props is Andy Shleck's comments about always being able to rely on Cadel Evans to fall off, not cool Andy, pull your head in and remember that you fell off as well. I'd like to see you ride for 2 weeks seriously hampered by an injury of that magnitude.
Farewell to Lance Armstrong, finally. I applaude him for what he's done for the sport of road cycling and in his cancer research but i just don't like the guy...
Farewell also to Aussie Mick Rodgers who won't be riding the tour anymore preferring to focus on week long stage races. Other cyclists would ride the tour just because it's the tour but you have realised your limitations and are bowing to those so congrats for admitting you're different to a lot of the other riders.
A big wow on Mark Cavendish. We saw him last year and he swept the sprints then but i don't think until this year we truly saw how incredibly fast he is.
I think a lot of people may have questioned him without Mark Renshaw, and let's face it HTC were a little at sea without him but Cavendish showed he can win without them and is the first guy in the history of the Tour to go back-to-back with wins on the Champs Elysees.
There was talk he could go on to win 40 stages throughout his career and seeing him through this tour I have no doubt that he could and maybe more, I'm sure there are many green jerseys in his future.
Overall it was a great tour, very competitive, very even and with a great number of riders finishing, up to 30 or 40 more than in the last 5 or 6 years which is incredible, and only a handful of those were eliminated because they finished outside the allowed time.
Can't wait for next year!!

Red Bull X Fighters - Madrid

Awesome watching Red Bull X Fighters, Madrid the other day.
Pretty awesome that Furl TV decided to show it live, not so awesome that they cut to ads for the judging decision for the Semi final between Dany Torres and Mat Rebuad. Good thing I have common sense otherwise I'd still be wondering who won that one...
Also very big congrats to Aussie Robbie Madison who pulled off the Body Burial 3 times in competition. Pity he wasn't the first to do it, but 3 times was pretty awesome, I'd love to see that trick more *hint, hint Crusty Demons touring here in November*.
Also big congrats to Maddo who finally married his beautiful girlfriend Amy about 6 months ago and who I'm told is about to pop with their son!! How exciting, a little Maddo running around!!
Also, I know there's a lot and a few more to come still but stick with me, congrats to Cam Sinclair who returned to Madrid after his horrible, horrible crash last year. It's so good to see you up and back doing what you love Cam, you will always be the first guy, and at the moment the only, guy I have successfully seen do a double backflip live.
And finally congrats to Levi Sherwood for taking the Moscow round of the X Fighters, I have yet to see any of that because I didn't realise it was on and Fuel TV could prefer to show Ed the Sock (what the?) instead of the X Fighters. Apparently Fuel TV are against showing X Fighters except for the day the competition is actually held, yeah nice one guys, coz there aren't Aussies and Kiwi's competing...
Anyway I remember seeing Levi on a Crusty Demon's tour when he was 15 or 16 and he was amazing then, he could only do right side up tricks but he has gone onto bigger and much better things since then, with 2 X Fighters wins in 2 years, pretty impressive.
Also, it's nice to see the Crusty's taking 15/16 year olds on tour with them, it's a good bredding ground for them and Levi has shown what they can go on to do.

A League

There's talk that Harry Kewell might be coming to the A League once his contract with Galatasaray is up. As much as I love Harry and what he's done for Australian football I don't think he should come. I think the A League should be a breeding ground for young up and comers and those who aren't quite good enough for an overseas contract, not a league where the old who can't get a contract anywhere else come back to retire gracefully.

I think Jason Cullina is starting to realise this, and we saw how his year in the A League has dulled his skills.
While I don't doubt it would be a major coup for the clubs it's not great for the fans really when you think of it and most of all it's not good for the future of Australian football.
The theory that these players can come back and help raise the skill level of the players around them is rubbish.
What we need to do is focus on churning out the talent, make this a great development league so in 2012, 2018 and even 2022 we have a great new squad of talent for the world cup.

Glenn McGrath

While this isn't typically sports related, although it does fall within the sports category I thought I would share my thoughts on Glenn McGrath's engagement.

I'm happy with this and I think anybody who isn't should go to hell.
He went through hell and back supporting Jane and nobody has the right to question how much he loved her, we all saw it and we all can remember when he pulled out of a test series against South Africa to support her.
I remember that, when it was announced he was out because of personal reasons everyone knew it was because there was something up with Jane.
And despite the fact I don't know either of them, Jane or Pidge, I'd like to think Jane would be happy for him. From what I've heard about when she died she wanted him to be happy and I think the rest of the country, and the cricketing world at large, should be too.

Congrats Pidge!! We love you and wish you all the best!
Sara, welcome to the family!

Jason Akermanis

Oh dear! Well the sad sorry saga that is Jason Akermanis is finally at an end, we hope.
How funny is it that Aker has been sacked by 2 clubs yet keeps insisting that he's not the problem, that he's the innocent victim? Seriously Aker wake up!
Both times you tested the clubs patience one too many times and it's not as if you weren't warned. Frankly if you were leaking stuff to the media about your teammates it's a wonder they didn't sake you sooner.
And what you had to say about gay players was just out of line, seriously, we can't help it if you're homophobic.
And as for your "dribbler" comments about Alistair Smith, pull the other one, he's a St Kilda listed player with a future in the AFL which is a hell of a lot more than you've got at the moment. In re: to that by the way, wouldn't you have been upset if Sandy hadn't tagged you when you played them? Guess you're happy to get the headlines anyway you can...
One thing I did particularly want to make note of was Andrew Hamilton's comments in the Courier Mail this morning which seemed to insinuate that people would be writing off Aker's achievements on the field.
Make no mistake, every club out there, and most fans, know what a great player Aker was and is. He's a triple premiership player and Brownlow medalist, not something to be taken lightly and something any player would give his right arm for but Aker has never been happy to settle for these titles.
He's gone out of his way to be as outspoken and loud as possible, overshadowing his achievements.
He did that, not the media and commentators can understanably be forgiven for focusing on that probably more than they should.
Let's be frank here, Aker is no Simon Black, a player with the same credits, 3 premiership and a Brownlow, who goes about his work quietly and without fuss.
I guess it's not in Aker's nature to do that, but seriously if all he's remembered for is being a loudmouth, an idiot who did the dirty on some of his teammates because he loved the media spotlight and attention so much then he's only got himself to blame...
And if the Gold Coast do want to sign him they've been more than warned, although why you would want to is beyond me, go for youth and build from there.

AFL fan survey

People of AFL Land I ask you how can you vote Ben Cousins sexiest player? Eh, even disregarding my liking for Nick Riewoldt, which i think has more to do with who he is rather than what he looks like, at least vote for Sam Fisher or at the very least, under a great amount of pain here, Simon Black or Dane Swan, not Ben Cousins.
And Milney for most hated? Are you kidding me? Actually I guess I'd hate him too if we had to play him because he does have a lot of confidence for a little bloke and a great amount of skill and more often than not nowadays he pulls it off.
Finally, Jonathan Brown as bravest player? With Lenny Hayes not even on the leaderboard, pull the other one. There is not a tougher guy in the AFL than Lenny Hayes, with maybe Luke Hodge giving him a run for his money.
Come on people are you punishing the frontrunners, coz that's the only thing i can think of because people obviously weren't voting with their heads...

Tour de France - battle for yellow

Just a quick word on last night's stage and some commentators calls that Alberto Contador should have sat up and not attacked whilst Andy Shleck was in difficulty.
I can understand why on the stage into Spa, stage 3 or something like that, that the race was neutralised as a protest against the slippery conditions on the road which resulted in quite a few riders hitting the tarmac, among them Andy Shleck. It was a man made disaster that one, something that was out of the riders control.
But what happened to Andy Shleck last night, his chain coming off his bike, wasn't something that could have been prevented. It's just something that happens and I'm sure it's happened to everyone at one stage or another.
Yes it was a shame because it looked as if he had Alberto Contador on the ropes and if he had opened up a gap it would have made the race more interesting, but I don't think that's a reason to neutralise a race.
And I think if you watch it closely, Contador never really actively took advantage, he stayed with the group and followed them and took his turn at the front, as he should. It's not his fault he was with Sammy Sanchez who happens to be a fantastic desender.
You could also see that at the finish he didn't sprint for the line, and at that stage the time gaps were close even if he were getting information on that.

Cricket Australia - Ashes ticketing

Just a quick thumbs up to Cricket Australia for sorting out the ticketing for this year's Ashes.
It was mighty good not to have to sit on the computer all day to try and compete with every man and his dog for Ashes tickets.
I could even log out then log back in without having to wait, very impressed.
Of course the demand for tickets for this Ashes series obviously isn't at the same levels as a few years ago but they learned, and having spoken to Cricket Australia about the ticketing problems last time around they knew they had a problem and have fixed it.
Now only if htey could get the cricketers to do the same we might have another whitewash on our hands...
Also a big thumbs up for letting Billy the Trumpeter in at all grounds. Having been to 2 Ashes series, this one makes the third, the Barmy Army are one of the best aspects of the cricket, besides Mitchell Johnson and Tim Paine, and I'm sure Billy more than adds to that.

What's wrong with the A League

I'm not the A League's biggest fan, in fact I relish watching them when they put in horrid performances because the level of skill is so much lower than the English Premier League - the best league in the world, let's be frank - but the belief of the players and managers that they can cut it with the best is simply delusional.
Along with 19,000 other people I made the treck to Suncorp last night to see Everton FC take on the Brisbane Roar.
The difference in the 2 teams was very early evident, in the warm up in fact.
The level of skill in the Everton players ball handling and control was so superior that the Roar can only hope to one day emulate that.
But they won't unless their managers decide to get back to basics and drill their players in the simple things. Such as trapping the ball without it going 2 metres away from them. Passing the ball to their players feet without them moving, simple things like that. But they won't because they belive as professional players that they no longer need to do the simple things.

The other thing wrong with the A league is players that make up their squads. Not many of the teams have a lot of talent. It's out there because they're all over in England trialling for their clubs, apprenticing at their clubs and finding European nations with whom they have some connection and playing for them.
Luring back former stars to come back here is never going to improve the standard of the A league.
These are guys who can no longer cut it in Europe so they come back here in the hopes of an easy pay cheque and they get it.

I know our clubs are handicapped by the fact that we have salary caps in Australia, this isn't the problem, it's the size of the cap that is limiting the club's ability to put in competitive offers to overseas stars.
But then where are the clubs going to get this money?
Being a member of an opposition sport, the afl, I know how members should be treated. Like they're worth their weight in gold and they are because they love their club, love the players and would do a hell of a lot to make sure the club is successful and the players have what they need. From what i've seen of A league clubs and their relationships with their members and in public in general the difference really couldn't be greater.
The clubs need to make the members feel wanted, because they are the lifeblood of the club.

What the A league needs to do is go back to basics, bring up players when they're young, not only for the good of the club but the good of the Socceroos too.

AFL Grand Final

Don't get me wrong, I love the afl and I know how big the grand final is having lived in Melbourne during September and having gone to a Grand Final. It's seriously massive.
And I know money plays a big part in sport, in fact it's second to pretty much everything. But I think the ticketing system is ridiculous...
25,000 tickets for the competing clubs, out of 100,000. That's a 1/4.
1,000 tickets for the clubs = 16,000, soon to be 17 then 18,000. Together that's 42,000, less than 1/2.
The MCC would take up maybe 30,000.
That's 72,000 less than 3/4. So what happens to the other 28,000 I hear you say? Well they go to the afl and their croneys.
28,000 less than the competing clubs.
Take if you will Collingwood who have 60,000 members. St Kilda have 40,000.
These are the people who are the reason that the clubs are able to survive, surely we should be rewarded by being able to watch our clubs play in the greatest day in the afl calendar.
It's what the players strive for and what the supporters hope for for 5 months, in the case of many St Kilda members and fans, their whole lives for.

I understand that the AFL need some tickets to keep their sponsors happy, but more than the competing clubs allowance?
It's downright robbery.

Tour de France - Mark Renshaw

Now, in the hope fo not sounding too much like a conspiracy freak, which i definately am not, that's another blog, haha jokes, it's really not... i think the tour organisers have got something against either him, or Mark Cavendish or HTC Columbia or they just wanted to have some fun by kicking someone out who just happens to be an Aussie, actually that may be a happy coincidence.

But seriously, i think the tour has something major to answer for. I don't understand how two guys can go at it, throwing punches and wheeling tyres to about to the other guy's head and get a 300 Euro fine, and that's it.

But Mark Renshaw, in the course of a fairly typical sprint head butted a guy, well a Kiwi anyway, a few times to avoid a massive crash and copped an elbow as well and gets expelled!
What damages cycling more, fisticuffs off the bike with nothing to do with the sport, or a normal sprint?
Yes granted Mark Renshaw shouldn't have done that to Julian Dean, and he shouldn't have blocked Tyler Farrah but get expelled? No I don't think so.

I also think it's a croc that the team couldn't appeal. Yes I know this is Europe and old habits die hard but seriously dictatorship is so 1940's...

The tour organisers should put Mark Renshaw back in, but give him the last time...

Melbourne Storm

It would be remiss of me not to mention something about the Melbourne Storm today, especially with the results of their audit widely available.

I don't understand people's reaction with the storm. They cheated. There is no excuse for that. And it's not as if it was a couple of thousand dollars over, they were 3.2 million over. That's a big amount especially considering the cap this year is 4.1.

Yes the penalties were harsh but they fit the crime. They should never have had the team they had together on the field.
The salary cap is there for a reason, it's to ensure that there's a level playing field and each club is equal, otherwise you get a situation like English Premier League football where you have 4 big clubs, 5 now with the inclusion of Manchester City who have a lot of money and power and resources to attract big names to their clubs.

Everytime the Storm go out onto the field they are cheating so it's only right they play for no points. Yes I realise it's hard on the players but as they failed to cooperate with the audit we can't really be sure as to what they did and didn't know.
Even for rugby league players they must have known signing 3 contracts was a little dodgy...

Aussies in sport

Having stayed up to watch the last hour of each of the Tour de France's stages and especially stage 9 I found it extremely disappointing to hear how Phil Ligett and Paul Sherwin were talking about Cadel Evans. Yes in terms of the tour and how competitve Cadel was is was very disappointing and yes they didn't have all the information about Cadel's condition, none of us did, but please don't talk about the wearer of the yellow jersey, a two time tour runner up and current road race world champion as someone who is weak. As seasoned tour commentators they should know Cadel better and know that he is made of tougher stuff than that...
All Aussies are. When our backs are against the wall we fight. And we saw Cadel do that the other night.
A good decender he tried to haul back the time gap between him and the leaders and what was predicted to be a 10 minute loss was only 8. Surely that's got to count for something.
I do have to give Phil and Paul their due here by saying last night they were very good towards Cadel with Phil telling Aussie journos he thought Cadel could still make the podium.

But more to the point, Aussies and I guess Kiwis here although I'm not really sure, they're just a necessity because AAC sounds stupid where ANZAC has some many connotations, will always fight and have the drive to succeed.
That's why there was so much uproar with Pim Verbeek's lineup against Germany in the World cup. We read it as him trying to limit his losses and make it difficult for Germany to score, he was going for the draw rather than the win which is something we're not used to. Guus Hiddink understood the Aussie mentality and formed a game plan around it accordingly and it obviously worked wonders. Guus anytime you want to come back name your price and if Frank Lowy can't match it, all Australians will contrubute $1, so that's $22 million, not bad huh?

A coach in Turkey's Super Liga thought he was the luckiest coach in the world because he thought he had signed the world's hardest working player, an Aussie. It was only when he was talking to other Super Liga coaches who also had Aussies on their squads that he realised he wasn't lucky, because he quickly learned all Aussies are hard workers, he was just smart and has since said that if any coach has the opportunity to sign an Aussie to do it because we work harder than anyone else on the planet.

If you look at the Socceroos, or even Tim Cahill to be more specific, he's not the world's greatest player, Linel Messi he is not, but he works hard and it shows.

So our message to the world is don't write us off, if something's not right then there's probably a reason as to why, so do what we do, work a little harder and find out why...

Intro

So this is now my sports blog in the hopes of at the very least keeping myself in the habit of
a) watching sport
b) forming opinnions about the sport I am watching
c) keeping myself in the habit of writing about said sport and
d) possibly garnering some attention for my drivelling about sport.

In this blog I will be talking about a lot of the sports I watch and like which are, in no particular order:

• AFL - with my team being the legendary St Kilda Saints,
• EPL - with my team being the Champions, Chelsea Blues,
• A League - with my team being the very good looking Central Coast Mariners,
• Super 14 - with my team being the Queensland Reds, I'm still learning to speak Rugby so please forgive me!,
• Cycling - I support all Aussies and pseudo Aussies and anyone who isn't Lance Armstrong, I know I know so sue me,
• Moto GP - supporting anyone who is Jorge Lorenzo and isn't Casey Stoner or Valentino Rossi, again sue me,
• Cricket - supporting the mighty Aussies who better pull their fingers out,
• Red Bull X-Fighters - supporting Maddo and just everyone in general

I can appreciate other sports including tennis, swimming, golf and rugby league but they don't really do it for me so I like to ignore their existence as much as possible, especially rugby league because I'm an afl girl and I live in QLD, yes my life is difficult.

My aim here is not to analyse because I'm not so crash hot on that, I do know some stuff but for fear of making an arse out of myself I might leave that to the pros, then again if something really pisses me off I might just break that promise.

My aim is to comment on all the happenings of these sports, not every little thing because newspapers and sports sites employ armies of people in order to do that well and I'm just one person but I do hope, just like my other blog (http://theviewfrommywindow-insidelookingout.blogspot.com) to give you an opinion that you can only get from me.

So sit back and enjoy!