By Tom Wald
November 2nd 2009 @ 6:29am
View The Roar's top rugby union writers.
New podcast from RuggaMatrix, with Munster Assistant Coach Laurie Fisher as guest. Listen now.
Love new art, fashion, music? Check out Aussie site which unearths all things cool and creative.
Related coverage
Barnes still eyeing battle with Reds
Injured Wallabies playmaker Berrick Barnes is still holding hope of a much-anticipated Super 14 homecoming in the NSW Waratahs’ season opener against Queensland at Suncorp Stadium.
Barnes’s return to the Sunshine State after leaving the struggling Reds in the off-season was expected to be one of the major talking points of the competition’s opening round.
But an [...]
This article is over 2000 days old and has been trimmed.
Going to the Waratahs v Brumbies blockbuster at ANZ Stadium, Saturday 24 April? If you're keen to meet up with other Roarers, register you interest and we'll keep you informed on the place to meet. Register now.
Get Australia's best Rugby opinion emailed daily.
Like this content? Buzz it up!
Free Email updates:
Our daily emails are only sent if there is content for the sport or that author. You can subscribe to multiple daily emails; or get the daily Roar email with all our content in it. We value privacy. More...


![Like him or loathe him, as I presume Lote Tuqiri now does, it’s clear John O’Neill rules Australian rugby with a firm hand. (I was going to say “he casts a long shadow”, but that is true only very late in the day!)
I was even going to put O’Neill in my list of “Top [...] Andrew Jones: The Next 5 things on John O’Neill’s To Do list](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/next-five-things-john-oneill-th.jpg)
![The irony wasn’t lost on me. Less than a week after writing about some immediate points for resolution in the world of Test Cricket, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) made an announcement that will undoubtedly have a major impact on the future of … one-day cricket.
Did I say Test cricket last week? Surely [...] Brett McKay: ECB forces One-Day cricket rethink](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/ecb-forces-one-day-cricket-james-hopes-th.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)
![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)
![There is an odd peace about the final day before the season begins. Your team is undefeated, you’re buoyed by the talk of the toughest preseason ever and heartened by that young player you’ve admired for a while getting a start while the big new signing claims he is loving it and is raring to [...] Steve Kaless: New season is here, with the same complaints](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/bulldogs-eels-th.jpg)
![There seems to be a consensus amongst many long time league fans that the eighties were a golden period for the game. The game expanded beyond Sydney and the seeds were sown for the national competition that we have today. Good times.
There’s probably still many who wouldn’t mind if the game was the same [...] Gabriel Knowles: Memo NRL: bring back the five minute sin bin](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/memo-nrl-ben-cummins-th.jpg)
![As we draw closer to the start of season 2010, we look at the big questions being asked in the AFL, including the most important of them all.
Does Geelong need to win this year’s premiership to be rated with the best sides of all time?
They do. Three in four years will put the Cats right [...] Luke D'Anello: The big questions this season, Part Two](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/premiership-geelong-cats-paul-chapman-th.jpg)
![Oh what a fickle bunch we are! Three months ago the Sharks were everyone’s sneaky tip for the Grand Final now you are hard pressed to find anyone who reckons they deserve a place in the comp.
They become a punching bag for the press and if there is one thing that everyone seems to [...] Steve Kaless: The Sharks are worth fighting for](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/sharks-out-of-depth-quinn-th.jpg)
![If we assume the 2018 World Cup is destined for Europe, as FIFA have all but confirmed, then 2022 is shaping up as a battle between Australia and the USA – a David and Goliath battle, according to Goliath.
US Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati, representing Goliath, laid out a list of reasons why [...] Adrian Musolino: Australia faces a colossus in its bid for 2022 World Cup](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/despite-indifference-soccer-beckham-th.jpg)
![The Melbourne Storm will enter the NRL season as world champions after out muscling the Leeds Rhinos 18-10 at Elland Rd on Sunday, but like nearly every other winning NRL club this weekend, they will be seeing it more as good result in their build up to the 2010 season.
Don’t get me wrong, NRL clubs [...] Steve Kaless: Pre-season wins provide few clues about season proper](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/why-do-melbourne-teams-storm-th.jpg)
![When Australia walked onto the ‘GABBA against Sri Lanka in November 2007, it was the start of a new era. No Warne and no McGrath. All the talk was how this team was going to regularly take 10 wickets. Immediately the critics were hushed as Australia won the match by an innings and 40 runs.
Brett [...] Benjamin Conkey: The best rebuilding cricket team ever](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/test-cricket-struggling-fifty50-india-ponting-th.jpg)



