By Adam Cooper
November 27th 2009 @ 12:54am
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
Wallabies give Roff deja vu
Wallabies great Joe Roff has likened Australia’s current plight to that of the woes he and his teammates experienced in 1997 before they turned it around in time to win the World Cup.
Roff, who played 86 Tests from 1996 to 2004, said the Wallabies’ shock loss to Scotland last weekend reminded him of the difficult [...]
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...


![With his team 14-6 up after 65 minutes at an ANZ Stadium that was resembling the adjacent Aquatic Centre more and more as the game wore on, it looked for all money that Michael Ennis had secured victory for the Bulldogs.
Four Rabbitohs tried in vain to keep a firm grip on the rain soaked [...] Gabriel Knowles: Rugby league is doing away with the push and shove](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/league-doing-away-ennis-th.jpg)
![NRL fans need to be remember the virtue of patience before they anoint the next superstars of the game. The exposure of the Toyota Cup has given every club a glimpse of their future and plenty of young players are making the jump into first grade.
But the gulf in class between the Under 20s [...] Steve Kaless: Don’t expect too much too soon from young NRL stars](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dont-expect-much-nrl-folau-th.jpg)
![AFL stars and fans are declaring war on Channel 7. And for good reason. The network has confirmed it won’t be showing Friday night AFL matches live, as it’s committed instead to Better Homes and Gardens.
The continuation of delayed coverage has the AFL world fuming and has already sparked discussion over the AFL’s [...] Adrian Musolino: Battlelines drawn over live Friday night footy](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/grant-birchall-hawthorn-th.jpg)
![At the beginning of October, Cricket Australia announced that the old state second XI competition would be replaced by a new Under-23 competition focussing on the development of spin bowlers. What was formerly known as the CA Cup would henceforth be known as the Futures League.
The Futures League will promote aggressive cricket by default, [...] Brett McKay: Australia’s spin future in a league of its own](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/australias-spin-future-hauritz-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)
![The voting outcome of the 2009 John Eales Medal, voted for by the players, and for the Australia’s Choice Wallaby of the Year award, voted for by the public online, provides an insight into the mentality and playing strength of the Wallabies as they begin their Spring Tour.
Matt Giteau was the winner of the John [...] Spiro Zavos: 1984 Grand Slam will be hard for Wallabies to match](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/1984-grand-slam-wallabies-th.jpg)
![There’s been much debate on David Gallop’s handling of the Sonny Bill Williams affair. And we hear loud rumblings that rugby league is in poor shape in Australia and that change is needed. So I invited Roar editor, Zolton Zavos, to put his thoughts forward on why he thinks Gus Gould might provide the solution, [...] Steve Kaless: Should Gus Gould replace David Gallop?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/gus-gould-th.jpg)
![Football fans in Australia shouldn’t be alarmed by the absence of Australians from the first round of nominations for the AFC player of the year award.
It’s not a case of Australian football being shunned by its confederation. Nor is it due to some mysterious lack of top-class Australian football players.
Instead, it’s because the [...] Davidde Corran: Asian Player of the Year award is a farce](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/asian-champions-league-masato-yamakazi-th.jpg)
![I was up in the early hours of Monday morning eagerly anticipating a big football match, but it wasn’t Arsenal-Manchester United but instead the African Cup of Nations final in Angola where Australia’s World Cup group opponents Ghana fell short 1-0 against Egypt.
Despite the Black Stars’ final loss, they were arguably the footballing story of [...] Ben Somerford: Five lessons about WC opponent Ghana from ACN](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/ghana-th.jpg)
![There was jubilation this week as I flipped over the newspaper to find the words “troubled footballer”, “nightclub” and “urinate” co-located in a sentence! It was the perfect opportunity to bust out a team that a couple of mates and myself have selected and re-selected many times over the years.
With its genesis in some [...] Andrew Jones: The Nitespots XI, part one](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/craig_gower-photo-th.jpg)
![While the Australia 2018-2022 bid might have taken some succour from the withdrawal of Mexico from the race for hosting the World Cup, there looms a significant event on the horizon that will pose a whole new challenge: the official launch of the Russia 2018-2022 bid by the Russian Football Union before the October 10 [...] Jesse Fink: The Russian bear roars](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/the-russian-bear-roars-th.jpg)



