By Adam Cooper
September 6th 2009 @ 5:12am
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Cats won’t be caught napping
Geelong will be out to avoid idle hours over the next fortnight as they prepare to one step better this AFL finals series.
The Cats insisted the break between now and their preliminary final would be no time for napping, as they planned to train hard and review the lapses in Saturday’s win over the Western [...]
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![Melbourne’s dominance of the Australian sporting landscape was almost complete in 2009. Victorian clubs claimed the AFL, NRL, A-League, Sheffield Shield, Netball ANZ championship, and NBL premierships.
It is an impressive feat, and one that seems to have been overlooked by pundits and fans alike. But how do we account for it?
Melbourne is undoubtedly [...] Adrian Musolino: Why do Melbourne teams dominate Aussie sports?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/why-do-melbourne-teams-storm-th.jpg)
![With a number of second-year players, including Nick Naitanui, retaining their eligibility, the race for this year’s Rising Star award is already looking like it will be the one of the most hotly-contested since the award began.
Contesting the award alongside the second-year players will be a number of 2009 draftees that look set to make [...] Michael DiFabrizio: The rising stars set to shine in 2010](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/eagles-nick-naitanui-th.jpg)
![Many long time fans of the European game will remember Ruud Hesp as the Barcelona custodian during the Louis van Gaal era in the late 1990s, when the Dutchmen teamed-up to win back-to-back La Liga titles and a Copa del Rey.
Hesp also featured in the Dutch national squad in a couple of major championships, at [...] Tony Tannous: Ruud reality: Verbeek needs to scatter his square lines](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/ruud-reality-pim-verbook-th.jpg)
![February has proved to be a fabulous month for cricket in all forms. We had a spine-tingling Test in Kolkata, followed by a nail-biting One-day International at Jaipur, and a landmark double century by the evergreen Sachin Tendulkar in the second ODI in Gwalior on Wednesday.
On 21 February, New Zealand defeated Australia by 2 runs [...] Kersi Meher-Homji: Tendulkar stakes his claim as best batsman in all forms](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/ipl-dog-sachin-tendulkar-th.jpg)
![Are the Australian selectors expressing the growing concerns of the greater national cricket punditry by giving Brad Haddin a match in charge of the international team?
Haddin had shown for a number of years at New South Wales that he had the tactical and leadership nous to be a skipper at the elite level. In [...] Geoff Lawson: ACB have had enough of blonde tips and sports cars](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/why-clarke-haddin-th.jpg)
![Let’s make one thing clear. Robbie Deans knows rugby. 10 years of provincial rugby and five test matches proves he is capable of understanding the game at the highest level. He can coach – that surely isn’t in dispute.
He led the Crusaders to five Super 12/14 championships. No other team has even won the [...] David Wiseman: It’s time to go Wallabies](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/its-time-to-go-wallabies-th.jpg)
![Much has been written about the amazing, topsy-turvy Sydney Test, with a twist in its tail. Talking of tail, the man who saved Australia from defeat, and skipper Ricky Ponting from carping criticism, was the tail-ender, Peter Siddle.
The Test was exclusively Pakistan’s when Siddle, the wood-chopper, joined Mike Hussey, Mr Test cricket.
The score was then [...] Kersi Meher-Homji: How Test matches, ODIs and Twenty20s relate to love](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/australian-cricket-lumbers-james-hopes-th.jpg)
![So the ACT Brumbies have won six and lost four this season, while the Blues have won five and lost five. That means the Brumbies are sitting one win ahead of the Blues on the Super 14 ladder, right? Actually, the Blues are essentially one win worth of points ahead. Huh? Welcome to the weird [...] Greg Russell: Should bonus points be booted from Super Rugby?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/western-force-highlanders-th.jpg)
![Has FIFA President Sepp Blatter confirmed what we all should have expected? In a press conference in Madrid, Blatter has given his strongest hint yet that the World Cup is destined for a return to Europe in 2018, which would leave Australia with only 2022 as a possibility.
“From what I’ve discussed with the president of [...] Adrian Musolino: Europe set for 2018 World Cup, Australia eyes 2022](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/players-no-benefit-doubt-sepp-blatter-th.jpg)
![Whoever wins the Champions Trophy in Centurion today will become the first country to win it twice. New Zealand had won it in Kenya in 2000-01, and Australia in India in 2006-07.
Australia, the likely winners today, will become the first nation in the ten year history of Champions Trophy to win it twice in succession.
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![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)
![The prognosis about the death of Test cricket is exaggerated and premature. But the passion for a five-day game is losing its spectator appeal in competition with the shorter three or eight hour versions.
Still, The Ashes draws big crowds and so do Test series’ involving Australia, India and South Africa. It’s the way tours [...] Kersi Meher-Homji: From can’t wait to ho-hum: is Test cricket dying?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/from-cant-wait-test-cricket-dying-th.jpg)



