By Robert Grant
October 6th 2008 @ 7:39am
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Rossi dazzles but Stoner claims second straight home win
A last-minute technical breakthrough by Ducati today boosted Casey Stoner to his second straight Australian Grand Prix victory.
But the highlight of the race was the dazzling ride by MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi after a heavy dose of painkillers.
Stoner led the 27-lap race all the way from pole position, untroubled by his wrist injury, to [...]
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![Pick one of the egg-shaped ball sports. A player has a kick for goal after the siren. If he makes it, they win, if he misses they lose. He misses and all and sundry do their best to say that the loss had nothing to do with this one kick.
There were plenty of opportunities [...] David Wiseman: Crunch plays separate the great from the good](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/crunchplays-tiger-woods-th.jpg)
![The most important consideration in selecting a rugby side, and this is the view of Alan Jones, who was an excellent selector, is to get the shape of the side right.
Rugby is a team game and the good selector tries to mix and match the talents of his players so that the entity of the [...] Spiro Zavos: Selecting the ‘real’ World Rugby XV of the decade](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Why-Stirling-Mortlock-lost-Wallaby-captaincy-th.jpg)
![It’s been a bit of a gloomy start to the new A-League campaign. Crowds have stagnated. Certain pitches are a disgrace. And now the mainstream media has a new show reel of ‘crowd violence’ to dredge up every time football threatens the status quo.
The so-called ‘clashes’ between Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory supporters last [...] Mike Tuckerman: A-League boneheads need a new hobby](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/a-league-boneheads-th.jpg)
![The Sports Minister, Kate Ellis, who famously did not know the difference between rugby league and rugby union, is floating the proposition that successful athletes should pay back part of their expenses incurred training at the Austalian Institute of Sports and other similar institutions.
The Minister, in the great tradition of the Rudd Government’s penchant for [...] Spiro Zavos: Should successful athletes pay back their AIS costs?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/should-successful-athlete-pay-back-th.jpg)
![So Melbourne Heart wants a piece of Mark Viduka and Josip Skoko? They’ve also expressed passing interest in Michael Petkovic and Ljubo Milicevic.
Can Football Federation Australia check the licence again and make sure “heart” wasn’t a typo? It wasn’t Melbourne Hajduk, was it?
In all seriousness, though, the FFA would be well served getting as [...] Jesse Fink: Melbourne’s new rivalry will revive the A-League](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/how-important-names-colours-schip-a-league-th.jpg)
![Finally, a tennis great has said what everyone who has suffered through those awful grunting matches between women tennis players thinks: it’s cheating.
Martina Navratilova, arguably the greatest woman tennis player of all with eighteen grand slam singles titles, has told the ITF’s Philippe Chatrier Award dinner that “the grunting has reached an unacceptable level. It [...] Spiro Zavos: Sharapova shut up! Tennis grunting is cheating](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/maria-sharapova-grunts-th.jpg)
![Last week, Cricket Australia issued a brief statement confirming that the chairman of the selection panel for Australia’s national cricket teams, Andrew Hilditch, has been re-appointed for two more years.
This means that Hilditch will preside over the selection policies and processes involved in trying to regain the Ashes in 2010/2011 after a series this year [...] Spiro Zavos: Two more years for chairman Hilditch? Amazing!](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Two-more-years-for-Hilditch.jpg)
![A few weeks ago, I wrote about the sudden collapse of Womens Pro Soccer side, the Los Angelas Sol, after just one season. The inaugural regular season champions paid the price for taking a “big spender” approach.
The WPS’ administrators had the option to fund the Sol out of their own pocket for another season, but [...] Davidde Corran: Should FFA cut the North Queensland Fury loose?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/jets-fury-daal-th.jpg)
![To a mixed response, FFA Chairman Frank Lowy revealed this week he wants to introduce an A2-League in the “not too distant future” allowing for promotion and relegation in our top flight. And while the idea shows ambition, it’s totally premature in the Australian market.
In Wednesday’s address, Lowy outlined several plans for the game, including [...] Ben Somerford: Lowy’s A2-League proposal is premature](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/lowys-A2-league-minniecon-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)
![There have been some exceptionally good pieces written over the last few days from members of the football media. Even more exciting is that they’ve all come from the next generation of local football journalists.
Vitor Sobral and Tony Tannous have both written great analysis of the Socceroos friendly with the Netherlands.
Here at The [...] Davidde Corran: Crowds aren’t just FFA’s responsibility](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/forget-second-division-create-ffa-cup-th.jpg)
![Finally, having a passport is becoming worthwhile for rugby league fans with English Super League side Catalans Dragons taking their match against Warrington to the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona this weekend in the hope of drawing a few interested onlookers.
It’s probably about time some of rugby league’s much maligned administrators got a few pats [...] Steve Kaless: Going global in rugby league’s brave new world](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/going-global-rugby-th.jpg)



