By Jim Morton
February 29th 2008 @ 1:41am
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Shirvo ready to run “super-fast”
A decade after running a personal best 10.03 seconds as Australian athletics’ boy wonder, Matt Shirvington has declared he’s set to become world-class again.
Shirvington enters this weekend’s Olympic selection trials in Brisbane as favourite to take out the 100m six years after winning the last of his six national titles.
But the 29-year-old sprinter, who buckled [...]
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![Troy Taylor was one of the feel-good stories of the draft. Nabbed by Richmond at pick 51, the 188cm teen from the Northern Territory had made it to the AFL despite his troubled past. At the beginning of last year, it would have looked like an impossible dream.
As The Age reported prior to the draft: [...] Michael DiFabrizio: Troy Taylor a work in progress, on and off field](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/troy-taylor-th.jpg)
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This discussion has encouraged me to write this article, setting out my thoughts on what should be the proper [...] Spiro Zavos: When is a first five-eighths actually a number 10?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/dan-carter-video-foul-play-th.jpg)
![Since the Wallaby winger Ian Williams moved to Japan to work and play rugby for Kobe Steel in 1991, there has been an influx of players and coaches who have followed to ply their trade and experience the intricate and ancient culture of Japan.
The national team, the Cherry Blossoms, are without doubt the rugby Asian [...] Todd Louden: Japanese rugby: it’s just different!](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/japanese-rugby.jpg)
![How ironic that on the day Australia formally lodged its bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups proverbial knives were being sharpened in Kuala Lumpur for the head (Neck? Back? Damn, it’s gonna be messy, whatever happens) of the president of the Asian Football Confederation, Mohammed bin Hammam.
As we saw with Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysians [...] Jesse Fink: The Malaysian fly in Australia 2018’s ointment](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/malaysian-fly-ointment-rudd-salisbury-mccallum-th.jpg)
![The rugby media around the world have had several days now to digest the news that Danny Cipriani will be one of the star signings for the Melbourne Rebels in their first year in the 2011 Super 15 tournament. But in that time, they have failed to see the real news behind the signing.
To give [...] Spiro Zavos: The curious case of Rebels fullback Danny Cipriani](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/danny-cipriani-th.jpg)
![Despite having qualified for the World Cup yesterday, England lost twice overnight. First to Portugal at Milan’s Arena Civica, then to Germany at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki. You’re most likely wondering what I’m talking about, but two significant international tournaments, which haven’t made much of an impression in the Australian media, have been taking [...] Davidde Corran: Football thrives with women and the homeless](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/football-thrives-Rachel-Corsie-th.jpg)
![The chief executive of the ARU, John O’Neill, went out of his way to praise the efforts of Phil Coles, Kevan Gosper and John Coates in getting the IOC’s executive board to select Sevens Rugby as a new Olympic Sport, along with golf.
The implication in the praise is that Sevens Rugby will offer an opportunity [...] Spiro Zavos: Gold, gold for Australia with the new Olympic Sports](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/gold-australia-olympics-beijing-th.jpg)
![It’s Oscar time and The Roar’s Oscar for the pass of the rugby season is Quade Cooper’s no-look/pop-up pass to Will Chambers to put him under the Chiefs posts without a defender laying a hand on him.
The pass was pure magic. It was done so cleverly that one second Cooper had the ball in his [...] Spiro Zavos: Quade Cooper is the Paganini of the Pass](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/reds-quade-cooper-th.jpg)
![I attended the A-League clash between Brisbane Roar and Sydney FC last weekend, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. It wasn’t the result that bothered me, but rather the heavy-handed antics of the Suncorp Stadium security personnel.
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have to deal with security staff up in “prawn sandwich land,” but after deciding to drag [...] Mike Tuckerman: Must A-League fans be treated like criminals?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/sergio-van-dijk-th.jpg)
![More than two million viewers tuned in to see Jelena Dokic lose to Dinara Safina in her quarter-final. Two million! That’s more than any cricket match could attract. Actually, make that most male sports.
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The fact that women’s Grand Slam tennis rates so well is the main [...] Benjamin Conkey: Women tennis stars need to play best of five-sets](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/maria-sharapova-grunts-th.jpg)
![There is a strange symmetry between environmentalists and rugby league fans at the moment with both groups pinning their hopes and dreams for the future on some meetings being held by their respective world leaders.
Leeds hasn’t seen a makeshift tent city spring up filled with rugby league fans demanding action and binding agreements, but [...] Steve Kaless: Countdown to league’s Copenhagen](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/financial-meltdown-gallop-th.jpg)
![It’s about time someone told the AFL’s field umpires to concentrate on their jobs and stop trying to be coaches. With clubs employing as many as 17 coaches, fitness and development people on their staffs, the last thing the players need is to be lectured by another three on game day.
There are far too many [...] Bruce Walkley: Tell the umpires to shut up!](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/umpires-shut-up-shane-crawford-th.jpg)



