Roar Guru
Joined March 2015
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The author is a member of the Greyhound Breeders Owners and Trainers Association (GBOTA) and has a family member that is a Director of the GBOTA. These opinions are his own. I am a loyal Souths supporter and have played a lot of cricket, bowling an almost infinite number of full tosses in my life.
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Over the Easter weekend former champion galloper and one of my all-time favourite horses, Might and Power, passed away. Perhaps fittingly it was the…
Every year around Melbourne Cup time there are seems to be a series of articles heavily critical of horse racing, most are easily dismissed…
Last week the NSW Auditor-General published a scathing report into the ill-fated advertising campaign to ban greyhound racing. In the criticisms of the campaign,…
Some people have earned the right to be listened to, while others deserve to be ignored. It would be simplistic, and almost certainly wrong,…
Appeals for increased money to grassroots cricket, now where have I heard that before? Now, it's not as though juniors, park and grade cricket…
A few months ago, I received a phone call from a betting agency that gave me pause for thought. “I'm just setting up an…
The long, drawn out political process for greyhound racing in NSW is nearing completion. Last week the government passed legislation that almost entirely mirrors…
The thing about manipulative people is not that they lie, but they insist on others repeating those lies on their behalf. Not long ago,…
We've witnessed premature claims of the fall of greyhound racing in NSW, but now are we to see the rise? The events of the…
Explosive government documents released to the public reveal that the NSW Government has been spending over a million dollars of taxpayer money advertising a…
Greyhound racing needs reform. It's needed reform for years. But before people cheer on the decision, and before I have a proper read of…
Is there a group more maligned in Australian thoroughbred racing than the breeders? Constant accusations of too much power and too little responsibility are…
Finally, after more than 12 months of mind-boggling and depressing nonsense, someone outlined the very real problems that racing in Australia has left alone…
On Thursday a sensational night of racing awaits at Sandown greyhounds with the heats of the Sandown Cup over the 715m for the stayers.…
So apparently Sydney Racing has a problem, not enough people are coming to the track. It's even acknowledged by the powers that be. The…
There's plenty of sport in Sydney over the Easter weekend to keep you occupied, and the annual Golden Easter Egg at Wentworth Park on…
This year the ads for the Sydney Carnival tell us that "the tradition continues". And there's nothing quite like Slipper Day. Born and bred…
Sometime in 2017, racing will awake from its collective slumber and make changes to the lazy business model that has served it post-privatisation. This…
Sandown Greys has announced that the out-and-out champion that lit up greyhound racing in 2015, the mighty Fernando Bale, has been retired. A genuine…
I've often felt that the NSW parliament is the best argument one could give against democracy. It is an institution with a long history…
At the game for the first time in a while, and can offer a few observations.
Taane Milne may look like a reserve grader on tv, but live he is considerably worse than that. Even a once in a generation talent could not make up for his positional play and someone with his ability is born in Blacktown hospital on the hour.
What, pray tell, is the point of the referee telling a seasoned professional that they are breaking the rules all the time, as opposed to blowing the penalty and sending him on his way? If you think a player is deliberately fouling, send him for ten, if not, why talk to him and request they stop? Not that it mattered a jot for the results, of course, but I’ll be the first to defend refs if they grow a spine.
The left side of South’s played as a team in defence and attack. Walker and Wighton led Gray and Gagai well and that attitude of the senior players bringing youngsters through is critical for where South’s are, and long overdue. On the right, I’d rather cop a pair like Tallis Duncan and Braidon Burns out of position and making mistakes than what we have there. Ilias was good in defence, and without him we see how terrible they are on that side of the field.
The coach erred when South’s had scored a few quick tries. That was the time to get Burgess and Cook out there. But obviously that was not in the pre-game plans so he waited until Melbourne scored and paid the price. I suppose there were centimetres from another try, but other coaches would seize the opportunity.
South’s aren’t that far from a competitive team, much closer than the press they receive, but as I’ve said before, there are too many journeymen that have held up promising youngsters for too long. They are paying the price for that now, but they need to cop losses and mistakes from the youngsters, play with a little more risk and look to recruit in middle forwards to improve next year. No quick fix, but a short sharp recession is favourable over trying to arrest the decline only to make it longer.
Storm slaughter second-rate Souths as 'a myriad of errors' hammer the final nail into Demetriou's coaching coffin
Peers across the NRL, as there’s a player’s rep to negotiate. I think….
NRL News: 'Happens every day' - Anasta defends Dogs as $4M lawsuit looms over former player's training punishment
I’d say it’s not just professional sporting clubs where the rules don’t apply. I’d expand but let’s just park that one there.
I think that it really comes down to a judgement of reasonable treatment of staff in the job they are being asked to do. I would argue greater weight, but not sole weight, should be given to the opinion of peers.
NRL News: 'Happens every day' - Anasta defends Dogs as $4M lawsuit looms over former player's training punishment
They do have one bloke out for eight weeks and another for two at the moment, so I’d say it’s just the natural variation of rugby league.
NRL Round 7 judiciary: Knight gets ban for tunnel brawl, Tigers star facing ban, Roosters duo charged
Agree with all of this. They kept playing journeymen instead of blooding the youth because they thought they were in a “premiership window”. Many of those rookies are already better than the journeymen as we saw on Saturday night.
From the outside it looks like the club is split into groups , the first team and the reserves. I would suggest more time training as a club to bring through the young talent, and the coach needs to focus as much on bringing the best out of the young players coming up as on results. They’ve been too scared of some short term pain for long term gain.
And buy the best super league prop or two for next year.
Too old, too slow: Do these two stats explain why Souths have fallen off a cliff in 2024?
It works both ways. Is Meninga the right person for the position that South’s find themselves in? They aren’t premiership contenders this season and aren’t the place for a coach who thinks they should be. Instead, this is a club who has delayed bringing through quality players and consistently made short term decisions to play journeymen when blokes in the reserves have been knocking down the door. The responsibility of the coach this year is not so much where they finish on the ladder this year, but ensure that the time spent in the lower rungs of the ladder is as short as possible.
'It's a big fat no from me': Mal would pick Roos if made to choose as 'red flags' raised on any Souths deal
Not sure that I’d describe a bloke that was chosen as 1st grade skip at the age of 20 as a plodder that had to bust his backside just to get a game, but each to their own.
I’m not a fan of his opinions, but if you watch the old replay of the Manly vs Newtown dust up/finals match, you’ll notice a pretty decent ball playing forward out there.
NRL News: Wighton says 'sorry' Latrell has burning desire after Gus raises retirement call, Annesley refutes hip-drop critics
It reads like a wish list of people they know they won’t sign. I read that as there is a successor in mind that can’t be named for one reason or another, or they’ve got absolutely no idea.
Surprising that the coach of the reserves, who won the comp last year, isn’t in the conversation even for the interim appointment. Not the career path these days I suppose. Or maybe he is and he doesn’t have anyone in the press to push his name forward.
Demetriou facing sack after Souths' disastrous start with Bennett, Bellamy, Burgess possible replacement options
Agree completely, although to be fair to the MRC, the prior incidents make the two incidents not comparable.
Latrell cops lengthy ban for high elbow hit on Johnson as Souths coach laments 'stupid' acts
Oops, didn’t see your comment but agree completely. By AFL standards it’s a monster ban, but the NRL has never really seen 3 to 4 matches as that lengthy.
Latrell cops lengthy ban for high elbow hit on Johnson as Souths coach laments 'stupid' acts
Is 3 matches really a “lengthy” ban? I mean, it’s not trivial but it’s not the AFL where you’re unlucky to get four matches for attempted murder.
Whatever the case with Latrell, have South’s worked out they are in a rebuild yet, or does the club still think they’re contenders?
Latrell cops lengthy ban for high elbow hit on Johnson as Souths coach laments 'stupid' acts
Good spot! I was on Carey’s thing at 40/1 that ran a nice fourth, there were certainly a few horses in the market that race that looked unders to me.
'I don't know what goes through Latrell's mind': Mitchell on report twice as Wahs dominate sorry Souths
About square in the end. A few seconds at big prices hurt me. Took 2 hours to get from Marrickville to Randwick, still at Central now on the way back.
'I don't know what goes through Latrell's mind': Mitchell on report twice as Wahs dominate sorry Souths
So, it was a good decision to go to the races and miss the game then? Although, I did make the mistake of attempting to take the train in….
'I don't know what goes through Latrell's mind': Mitchell on report twice as Wahs dominate sorry Souths
I disagree, it’s time as a playing unit that was the problem last night. They haven’t been together quite long enough to know what to do when they are under pressure. It’s matches like that where you look at them and think that their fans need to show a bit of patience and then two or three recruits next year to be a finals team.
Young send-off 'over the top', Radley sin-bin 'ridiculous' says Robbo as Roosters reduced to 11 on nightmare night
I expect it wouldn’t be that easy to follow.
NRL News: Annesley denies obstruction rule is broken, Burgess delivers Souths sermon, Sharks face fine over trainer
Oh, ok can accept all that. At my end I just criticised the ref when I didn’t know the rule myself, and I’m just trying to get in the habit of checking that I’ve got the rules right myself when I do that.
Foxx off AGAIN, Wighton grabs double and Latrell booed as Souths ease Demetriou pressure
Well, one part of the problem is that the law assumes that the defensive structure is a line. As someone who first started watching footy in the 80’s where the halfback swept behind the line to make covering tackles, I think it’s inadequate and defenders, including fullbacks, have the right to sweep behind the line without being obstructed. In the cases of recent obstruction decisions, the dummy runners have been guilty of nothing more than ball watching, but guilty nevertheless.
'Every time we do black and white, it doesn't work': Does anyone actually understand the obstruction rule?
I, and others, alluded to a decision to uphold a challenge by Milne for losing the ball in a tackle while a Canterbury player was denied a try for a similar “bobble”. On reading the rules this morning, it appears the video ref was correct. There is an obscure note that refers to the relevant situation where a player loses the ball due to the impact of the ball touching the ground, or the arm carrying the ball touching the ground. In the Canterbury no-try the ball went forward in the bobble and is a knock on under the rules, but in Milne’s case it went backward and is play on. Any time after this in the tackle and it is lost in posession regardless of whether the ball went forward or not. But, long story short, the ref knew the rules and I didn’t.
There were quite a few other calls but they were a bit all over the place advantaging either side, sometimes in the same play.
Foxx off AGAIN, Wighton grabs double and Latrell booed as Souths ease Demetriou pressure
Agree, but also would say that the referees have to also apply the laws to the markers. In their haste to apply the new interpretations, they have at times allowed markers to be ridiculously offside. If only we had, I dunno, two referees with one to police the offside and one in the pocket to enforce the ruck…
NRL's kick-blocker crackdown changes the game - but the question is do we want that?
I mostly agree, but not entirely. I think that when I compare Souths to Melbourne, a striking thing is how much faster players are when they play for the Storm. Without any inside information, I would hazard a guess they have a very good sprint coach who works on their running techniques, so fast players run fast and slow players run efficiently.
I’d hire a sprint coach first and hope that as a placebo it works better than the psychologist.
'We're carrying the burden of last season': What sports psychology can teach Souths about making mistakes
He saved more than his fair share of tries in the first two games, probably as many as he did in the second half of last season put together. The problem was his teammates porous defence which meant he had to just to keep them in the game. And until that changes, Latrell’s performances are neither here nor there.
Latrell's not walking the walk after talking the talk: Souths should be worried after star goes missing against Roosters
Mitchell was excellent the first two matches and quiet last night. The difference appears to be getting beat by 14 or beaten by 40. In contrast, South’s previously made a grand final with him out of the team.
Hoping he has a blinder of a season to paper over the cracks, that are getting ever more deep and widespread, of the rest of the team seems a bit short sighted.
Latrell's not walking the walk after talking the talk: Souths should be worried after star goes missing against Roosters
Totally, and the main reason he didn’t insert himself is that everyone else kept dropping the ball. But for some people their reputation precedes them I guess.
Drop it: Ilias and Hastings weren't selected, but saying they were dropped might miss the point entirely
This is true, although some players have not aged quite so gracefully over the past year. But in the intervening time, when the players were injured, they were replaced by short term journeymen rather than long term prospects who possibly are already better players, and definitely will be. And that is the cause of the current malaise, and the return of these players will provide only temporary relief.
Storm slaughter second-rate Souths as 'a myriad of errors' hammer the final nail into Demetriou's coaching coffin