By Daniel Brettig
July 11th 2008 @ 2:40am
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![Finally, the real stuff is next up. The NAB Cup undoubtedly provides important preparation for AFL teams and allows the chance for the game to reach community centres, but it deprives us of a better and fairer season.
Without a NAB Cup, and with the expansion of the season on the horizon as the competition expands [...] Adrian Musolino: Get rid of NAB Cup, and give us a longer, fairer draw](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/barry-hall-bulldogs-th.jpg)
![It’s a hard life being a die-hard fan. The disappointments far outweigh the triumphs, even though any fan will tell you on the day of victory that it was all worth it. Still, it all got too much for one Hawthorn fan on Saturday night.
Perhaps with the final hopes of a Hawk dynasty disappearing [...] Paddy Higgs: Despite fan’s frustration, Mitchell’s attitude refreshing](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/despite-fan-frustration-sam-mitchell-th.jpg)
![Casting an eye over the A-League over the past month or two, what is becoming abundantly clear is that the teams that are using technique and mobility in the front third are the ones playing the most fluid and effective football.
You only have to look at the top of the table to see how [...] Tony Tannous: Technique and mobility up front are all the rage](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/technique-mobility-up-frontrudan-ognenovski-reinaldo-th.jpg)
![As the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games are consigned to history, the Australian public’s brief fascination with winter sports comes to an end, relieving us of yet another free-to-air sports coverage disaster.
Just like Channel 7 managed during the Beijing Summer Olympics and recent Australian Opens, Channel 9’s Winter Olympic coverage became a major talking point [...] Adrian Musolino: Winter Olympics brings out our sporting ignorance](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/winter-olympics-th.jpg)
![In my first week back on the training track, things such as DNA testing, Ice Baths, and special computer software programs, as well as rehabilitation tools, have all been handed out to the girls to provide players with an insight into their genetic makeup, as well as aid them in the process of becoming the [...] Natalie Medhurst: Does sports science really produce better athletes?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/swim-suits.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)
![That was one of the most disappointing Socceroos performances in recent memory. Far from being a result we can take some comfort from (in that it’s getting Australia a step closer to South Africa 2010), it’s actually highlighted how dangerous the gambit of what I would call containment is becoming for our national team looking [...] Jesse Fink: Is South Africa 2010 a road to nowhere?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/mark-bresciano-soccaroos-th.jpg)
![The old saying goes that when NSW is strong, Australia is strong. There is some truth in it even today, with both NSW and Australia struggling.
However, in the current Ashes squad, NSW has the best representation: seven out of 16 (44 per cent) are from NSW. That includes both the openers, Simon Katich and [...] Kersi Meher-Homji: A Blues side from the past decade would blitz them all](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/blues-side-blitz-michael-clarke-th.jpg)
![Mick Malthouse managed to take his young Magpies side further than many expected in 2009. Indeed, Collingwood over-achieved this year. But in the end they lacked the quality required to go further. So you wonder, can Collingwood do any better in 2010?
The finals defeats to St Kilda and Geelong and the Round 22 loss to [...] Ben Somerford: Can Collingwood go one step further in 2010?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/st-kilda-geelong-audience-th.jpg)
![He lay prone on the ground. All 189cms of him was still, except for what looked like spasms as his legs lashed out in pain and alone, except for the suspicious looks from the 40,000 people who surrounded him.
“We’ve seen this before” they all thought. “He better get up before he gets substituted off like [...] Davidde Corran: The hypocrisy of referee criticism](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/respect-for-officials-missing-chelsea-drogba-th.jpg)
![In the end the Wallabies defeated England quite comfortably 18 – 9 to win the first Test of this Grand Slam tour. This was a Test the Wallabies had to win. And they won it playing inventive, attractive and skilful rugby with a confidence that grew as the Test developed.
The Grand Slam dream remains alive, although [...] Spiro Zavos: The Wallabies slam England in a terrific Test](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/how-wallabies-look-th.jpg)
![At the end of their first season as an A-League club, we cannot say with any great certainty that Gold Coast United is a sustainable franchise. It was a tumultuous debut season of off-field debacles that blighted on-field achievement, culminating in penalty shootout heartache and another deplorable crowd figure.
On the park, Gold Coast were exactly [...] Adrian Musolino: Gold Coast United: from the sublime to the ridiculous](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/a-league-may-hit-rock-bottom-coast-crowds-th.jpg)



