Tall Poppy?

I hate the phrase choker... unless of course you are talking about the All Blacks in the World Cup and then it is of course completely apt.

Some members of the British press have apparently savaged Cadel Evens for his inability to win this year's Tour de France.

Instead he had the audacity to fail completely and come second... for the second year in a row, in a race he rode without the team support Sastre had from CSC.

If there were to be a criticism of Cadel and his team it could be that he took the yellow jersey too early. Especially given that his team lacked depth and proved unable to provide the support he needed to maintain the lead all the way through the Alpine stages and into the time trial (oh yeah, he did ride faster than Sastre on that occasion too).

I am not sure that Cadel will ever win the tour. I am not sure that the pressure didn't get to him. I am not sure that it matters. The Tour is nothing if not unpredictable, some teams ride in breakaways to get themselves on tv and make good their sponsors investment, they simply have no hopes of winning a stage let alone the whole thing. It is an endurance race that requires extraordinary mental and physical strength and stamina. Anyone who makes it to the end (and many who don't) if they do it drug free deserves some respect. If you come second... well that is certainly no small achievement.

While the Australian press has not explicitly bought into the "Cadel's a choker" line something about this is more than a little off. I find myself wondering if their reporting of the British media story is a way of having your caking and eating it too. I mean the 'story' is all over the front pages of the Aussie papers online and faithfully and extensively reported. The quotes seem to be from one newspaper article in the UK paper the Times which again reinforces the sense that the Australian media is lopping off a tall poppy by stealth.

Get a grip journos. Most of us watch because we know we can't do, and you can bet your bottom dollar there is no one more disappointed than Cadel to have been the bridesmaid for a second year running.

It's theory... game theory

This just goes to show that there is more to sport than a bunch of buff meatheads (or skinny meatheads depending on which event we are actually watching) being paid heaps of cash to entertain us and avoid being caught out as a dopers, excessively violent, booze/drug addicts or skipping out on contracts to play rugby in France.

Indeed philosophy professors no less can find a justification beyond nailbiting and adrenaline...

I almost feel smart.

Black and Blues

What a game!

The first Bledisloe more than lived up to expectations, both sides played out of their skins and the intensity was incredible. I certainly did not expect a 10-0 margin in the first 10 minutes to either side.

All Black Brad Thorne showed the indelible print of the NRL by being sent of in the first 6 minutes for a tackle so high he was lucky he didn't take Matt Giteau's head off.

In the second half a penalty try should have been awarded for a try saving professional foul committed when Sitiveni Sivivatu was tackled without the ball trying to score. I am not saying it would necessarily have changed the result but it would have shored the ABs lead.

I thought early on that the hungriest team with the best leadership would win. I wondered what the impact of both Ritchie McCaw and Stirling Mortlock being unable to play would have. The answer is that the lack of leadership in the ABs has been exposed, the Wallabies have it all over the ABs in depth in that area.

Soiolo is the only choice to replace McCaw as captain, none of the other experienced players have the skills. Ali Williams and Ma'a Nonu, while they have enthusiasm and talent, both need to be controlled by a strong leader and I am not sure Millsy has the head for it either. To expect Rodney to step into McCaw's shoes as captain and Collins' shoes on the flank with a debutant at number 7 was too much I think.

On the other hand the Wallabies have Smith to replace Mortlock, Waugh to have impact from the bench, Giteau in the back line to balance out a young but committed side.

The Wallabies defended well and the managed to slow the linebreaks and force the ABs into some passing that didn't look solid it looked desperate.

Well I bet the NZRFU is just so pleased that they let Deans slip through their fingers. While I accept that Henry is one of NZ's most successful coaches he has been in the job for a long time. Robbie and his Wallabies have everything to play for and they showed it last night.

Roll on Auckland. Let's hope that game is as good as this one was.

Hills and Spills

I had a bit of a late one last night (in a very undergrad way I operate on the theory that cheap booze kills lingering bugs) so I only caught the end of stage 16.

I saw enough to see that poor guy John-Lee Augustyn, who made it over the top first of the Tour's highest climb, stack it and lose both his lead and his bike.

Tough day at the office huh?

Apparently descending is a skill all of its own and Denis Menchov a Russian rider touted as the dark horse of this years tour.... well he is not so good on the downhill bits. He lost time to Cadel and to the other leaders last night as did the American Christian Vandevelde also reputed to be a chance to wear the yellow in Paris. Carlos Sastre on the other hand made up some ground but is still 41 secs behind Evans.

It seems too that losing the yellow has had a positive effect on team Silence Lotto with Yaroslav Popovych in the breakaway to the end. Nice to see that should Cadel need some help he may be able to get it...

Cadel did well not losing any ground to the two leaders, he is still trailing Kohl by 1 second and Frank Shleck by 8 seconds and according to those in the know, i.e. the SBS commentators, Cadel can still take it in the time trial. In fact they suggest that should he stay within a minute he should be able to take back the yellow jersey.

Well I don't know about that but even I can see that those numbers are small and the climbs are high and sportsfans that means it is game on...

Guess it's going to be another late night tonight.

And another thing...

My newest obsession is the Tour de France. I have never really watched cycle racing before but I must confess it is fascinating. Possibly one of the strangest sports ever with its combination of team work and individual glory, the way riders from competing teams work together and a strange sense of honour coupled with a massive reputation for harbouring serious drug cheats.

Of course I am now going to pontificate on a sport I know very little about. I think Cadel needed to lose the maillot jaune since his team appears not to have the requisite depth for success in the big mountain stages. At least not depth like team CSC who were incredible in stage 15.

I wonder what'll happen tonight...

Winter Wonderland

I have been sick for the last week and you know what that means... no excuses not to spend hours in front of the tv watching sport.

First a confession... I didn't watch the Tri Nations. I do like the current Channel 7 advertisement for this weekend's first Bledisloe Clash though. Calling Robbie Deans a losing world cup coach is a bit of a stretch though since he was in fact John Mitchell's assistant but hey who's splitting hairs here? This weekend will be very exciting with the highly anticipated inaugural meeting of Deans' Wallabies and Henry's ABs... tough to pick a winner but for once I think the focus will be on the coaches and less on the players. It'll be interesting to see what they've got.

The AFL was an interesting weekend. Need to rethink my tipping strategy though, I got 3 from 8 this week. Saints looked awesome against Hawthorne who had some questions asked they just couldn't answer. Could be good news for the Swans who are only 2 and a half games behind them on the ladder. Mind you the form the Swannies showed against Carlton is a bit concerning. Darren Jolly and Jarred McVeigh have proved themselves real assets for the Swans. McVeigh has come into his own with the Barry brouhaha getting an opportunity to show his class up forward. I also like LRT on the forward line, his hands are good and he doesn't have to make too many decisions and let's face it the ones he does make are usually not very good. Ryan O'Keefe was great and so was Paul Bevan and they had to be as Goodes was not firing on all cylinders and Kirk had the almighty responsibility of attempting to contain Chris Judd. O'Dwyer, on debut, laid some good tackles and looks promising for the future.

I was very pleased (as always) to see Collingwood go down with North Melbourne showing what happens when Dale Thomas and Travis Cloke are rendered ineffective.

Geelong are simply terrifying. If they were going to be taken it should have been this week. Admittedly the Cattery is a tough place to win but the Ling and Ablett out and with David Wojcinski a late withdrawal the time was right. As we gathered round the water cooler on Monday however, it was pointed out that Geelong are not a two man team... and wasn't that made abundantly clear on Saturday. Having said that the Bulldogs should be disappointed in their senior players. Johnson only managed a single goal and so did Scotty Welsh. Robert Murphy got none. Now I am not saying that they are a two man side but when you are behind the 8 ball you need your big guns to fire and this weekend they didn't. In the end 10 goals separated the Doggies and the Cats and if that is a grand final preview I am not sure I'd be trying for tickets.


God I love Winter!

ABs in World Cup form?

Well the All Blacks certainly do not look like they are in the kind of form that will win them the tri-nations this year.

In fact, my concern is that they are in the kind of form that loses them world cups.

After a win against the Boks last week they went down this evening and at the House of Pain no less.

Lets just say it wasn't unexpected.

The Boks defence was awesome... It was virtually impenetrable and the ABs struggled to find a hole anywhere. Some great tryline vigilance from the Saffers in the second half saved an almost certain try. The same could not be said of the ABs who had a defensive line with holes so big you could drive a truck through them.

It was an moment of individual brilliance that put the game away. A wonderful chip and chase resulted in the South Africa's second try. The Boks were a man down and the ABs had no answer... they were left wanting.

There were some seriously questionable refereeing decisions... for example the interpretation of the off side rule left a little to be desired and he called the Boks out twice for interfering with men off the ball and didn't card the worst offenders once.

Burger fulfilled his role as an enforcer well and on the borderline of legality which was to be expected... In the end the ABs had to rely on DC who missed only once but at the most crucial moment... guffing a field goal attempt in the final minutes.

It will be interesting to see the Boks against Robbie Deans' Wallabies next week in Perth.

I reckon the tri-nations crown is up for grabs and will be a hard ask for the ABs to beat the Boks in SA... stranger things have happened though so I'll live in eternal hope.

Pollyanna?!

So the new coach of the ACT Brumbies reckons they can win the Super 14 in 2009.

That's right sportsfans... next year!

Now I love a challenge and I love a bit of confidence but seriously this is a huge call especially since the team hasn't made the final since they won the thing in 2004. You could be forgiven for thinking this is setting them up to fail.

Having said that there are big boots to fill in Canterbury and other NZ sides have lost some key players to retirement and lucrative overseas contracts so perhaps he is not so crazy after all.

Still I think it'll take more than a year to get the Brumbies into finals contention.

But Andy Friend is not completely naive. in the SMH article, he acknowledges that "he [is] taking over at a low point in the club's history."

I am not sure whether it is a relief that he is candid with the press or that he only has his rose-tinted glasses on half the time.

Bustling Barry Barred

Barry Hall has been placed on indefinite suspension by the Sydney Swans so he can work with the club's psychologist.

This follows a new charge for attempting to strike Pies player Scott Wakelin on Saturday.

That's right... attempting.

Even the review panel concede Bazza didn't make contact but apparently the thought is enough for a visit to the tribunal.

Nevertheless Barry does seem to have returned to his bad old ways and perhaps some time off the list would be good for him. Needless to say he is not scoring enough goals for the Swans to really miss him up forward and in the seven weeks he was out following the brain-snap that resulted in his laying out of Brent Staker, plenty of players have stepped up to fill the gap left by the big forward. I would go so far as to say, in the weeks he wasn't playing, I barely noticed his absence.

Regardless of the tribunal decision the Swans won't have him for their big match against Hawthorn nor will he be there for the Carlton clash.

The question is, do they need him? Unfortunately for Bazza, I suspect not.

conversions

Timana Tahu is getting his first run at being a Wallaby since converting from league this year.

He is a member of the 30 man squad but whether that will translate to selection is a different story.

Personally I remain unconvinced by conversions from league. It seems to me that the biggest problem league players have is working in a game that has unlimited phases of play. Admittedly Lote Tuquiri has done well but then he plays on the wing and generally speaking is required to do little more than catch the ball and run.

Tahu on the other hand has been playing in the centres for Australia A a position that asks a lot more of a player. Centres need both strong defensive and attacking skills, they need a brain for the game to create opportunity and to link with the forwards and the backline. While Tahu may have "starred" for Australia A, we are tlaking about a side who's most serious competition was NZ Maori, and who lost that game.

It remains to be seen whether Tahu can fulfil his apparent promise in the 15 a side game.

I would like to see Australian Rugby commit to spending more time developing the talent they have then recruiting converts from league. It is an indictment of the code that a player can spend less than a year in the game and be selected in the Wallabies squad, elite sportsman or no. It seems that there should be more competition for selection and players should have to earn their stripes to play at that level, certainly by doing more than competing in pastings of Tonga and Fiji.

The Wallabies themselves have hardly been tested and the impact of Kiwi Robbie Deans will not be truly felt or seen until the Wallabies play their first tri-nations match. A win against a mediocre French side is not an accurate test of a rugby team, even if it does set a record.

Even Barry O'Farrell could've kicked that!*

Last night I watched possibly the worst three quarters of AFL I have ever seen. I say three quarters because I left before the end (totally out of character might I add) but I had things to do and people to see and sitting freezing my backside off watching the Swans not score goals, not hit targets, not handball, seemed a little counterproductive. I am assured that we acquited ourselves better in the final quarter but seeing as the Swans had scored 2 majors in 3 quarters and only 1 in the entire first half, quite frankly it would have been hard not to have improved.

While the Pies were better than the Swans on the night they certainly weren't good either, fortunately for Mick and the boys, the Swans were dismal. Both teams were extraordinarily inaccurate in front of goal, the Swans had 14 behinds and the Pies had 13.

Ridiculous.

Possibly the defining moment of the game was when Leaping Leo Barry under intense pressure in the Pies forward pocket decided to handball instead of putting the ball over for a rush behind and delivered the ball right into the hands of Travis Cloke directly in front of the sticks. it was a bad decision, poorly executed and it was the story of the night.

The Magpies successfully closed down Sydney's run, particularly from defense, and removed options for the Swans when they did get the ball. The pace of the game was glacial and the Swans seemed flustered and utterly lacking in composure.

So what does this mean for the rest of the season?

Well the Swans have a tough run to the finals, they have the Hawks next week in Melbourne, followed up by a dangerous looking Carlton (who are at the very least unpredictable) also in Melbourne then Adelaide at home and the Doggies at Manuka. In the final four weeks they'll face Collingwood again and also undisputed favourites and top of the table Geelong.

If the Swans play like they did against Collingwood they have't got a hope. They will need to pick up their basic skills and work at dominating the clearances and making sure that they can play their brand of fast moving running football. They will also need to imporve in front of goal. They will not beat top teams if they squander that many opportunities. Not only is it wasteful it is demoralising and exhausting.

Perhaps the one good sign for the swans is that the 6 majors were scored by 6 different players. perhaps that seems a little paradoxical but the Swan's strength it seems to me lies in their capacity for teamwork and in the ability of mulitple players to finish off. It makes defense difficult and it means there are always options.

To even look like contenders for September the Swannies will need to be more consistent. They certainly cannot afford another night like last night.


*Screamed by a Pies supporter when Magic missed a goal. It is possibly the strangest heckle I have ever heard at a footy match- I think the Pies fan must have been a Liberal seeing as no-one else knows who Barry is!