Roar Guru
Joined May 2010
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The last couple of weeks have seen a sudden rise in the use of the ‘s word' in Australian sport. No, Channel 9 microphones…
There currently exists a class system within the football codes in Australia that would have Karl Marx furiously trying to book himself onto a…
As the wheel of fortune turns in professional sport the average fan can expect their team to have a dud year every now and…
Unlike movies, books and mail-order brides, there is no real way to gauge the quality of a sporting contest before you plonk yourself down…
There have been some great rugby league teams that have graced Australia’s sporting landscape over the years. Teams whose skill and tenacity have wowed…
As the FM radio favourite of the band Blink 182 goes, life is about “all the small things", the little one percenters that make…
State of Origin is a unique rugby league event in that the enormous media coverage it receives ensures that on game night, weekly rugby…
It’s the latest craze sweeping Australian coaching sports psychology. Forget about patting your players on the back, tossing them some brightly-coloured electrolytes and mumbling…
Yes, it’s that time of year again. It’s cold, it’s wet and you don’t have a clue who half the blokes in your footy…
A new nemesis stalks rugby league, silently stealing its brightest stars from under the noses of player managers, prospective clubs and Nick Politis. It…
Sure, they may look perfect, but scratch just below the surface and you'll see the Queensland team has plenty of skeletons in their closet.…
[caption id="attachment_7334" caption="Queensland\'s Michael Crocker and Scott Prince (left) react with tryscorer Israel Folau during the NRL State of Origin match between Queensland and…
There is one man, and one man only, that both Geoff Carr and Ross Livermore should be calling for come Origin game one. That man…
[caption id="attachment_10163" caption="NSW Blues Coach Phil Gould celebrates a try. AAP Image/Action Photographics/Colin Whelan"][/caption] Blame greenhouse gases. Blame pay television. Blame Super League. Blame…
Whilst Osama Bin Laden may have been found by the CIA watching another replay of the royal wedding yesterday in his Pakistan penthouse, another…
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle dressed in a cheap suit. Such is the modern conundrum that is Matthew Elliot, the latest coach to…
You just can’t help but wonder what the big man upstairs (not talking about Darryl Brohman in the Clausens corporate box by the way)…
They wear your favourite colours, bleed for your cause, and are probably pretty nice blokes. But you just can’t help hating them anyway. Forget…
Recently the crack Kiwi creators at Keebra Park High school released their proposed rules for a hybrid rugby code that combined the rules of…
The fat man in the red (and blue) suit has come early for Knights fans and he hasn’t delivered lumps of coal. Not that…
Hi Janice
Interestingly enough the great Artie Beetson spent a fair bit of time laying bricks during his playing days-maybe there’s somehing to it, I hear it’s quite an intense workout!
Thanks for reading
Cheers
Vic
League’s local legends and its middle class
Hi Mark,
The Cronulla reference wasn’t a veiled joke at the Sharks expense ( no really I promise!) but rather an analogy between the many different names their home ground has undertaken (Endeavour, Ronson, Caltex, Shark park etc) and the number of name changes in the NRL second tier comps (first division, premier league, NSW cup etc )
Thanks for reading
Cheers,
Vic
League’s local legends and its middle class
Hi Sam
Apologies that was me being lazy trying to save words-what I meant to infer was that teams that now play in the Queensland Cup (Wynumm, Redcliffe, Easts etc) once played in the strong BRL comp pre Broncos and thus have a strong history with supporters.
I thought it would be more apt considering the relatively long association the traditional Q-CUp teams have with the BRL as oppossed to the relatively short history of the Winfield State league
thanks for reading,
Cheers
Vic
League’s local legends and its middle class
Daniel,
Yes that’s pretty awful as far as being a fan goes, however things seem to be back on track.
I also think back to the Storm’s 2001 season where they failed to make the finals and had dramas with coach Mark Murray as a bit of a stinker for the club.
Cheers,
Vic
Your team's annus horribilis season
M1tch,
The cavs may have lost the best player in the world, 22 games straight but bt least Cleveland have the Browns back…or maybe not
Cheers
Vic
Your team's annus horribilis season
TC,
Thanks for the kind words.
Interestingly enough the rugby league University team departed the top flight of rugby league after a similar losing record to Melbourne uni FC- 42 losses in a row and 10 Wooden Spoons!
This is quite a contrast when compared to the success University based sides have had in some of the higher rugby union competitions.
Cheers,
Vic
Your team's annus horribilis season
Mark,
Wow, the 2001 Tigers and Hopoate are right up there, no pun intended!
Im guessing it was the Wests side of the merger that pushed Lamb’s appointment eh
Cheers
Vic
Your team's annus horribilis season
Brett,
You’re not related to that Tampa Bay coach by any chance are you?
http://espn.go.com/page2/s/toomay/011227.html
Cheers,
Vic
Your team's annus horribilis season
Hi Ray,
Fitzroy 96-now we’re talking horrible!
Perhaps it’s something to do with the Bears nickname, hasn’t seemed to bring much luck for football clubs has it?
It’s hard not to feel sorry for Fitzroy but at least there’s a team running around with the Lions mascot and they didn’t end up being called the ‘Northern Phoenix’ as was mooted for the Nth Sydney/Manly merger.
Cheers,
Vic
Your team's annus horribilis season
Hi Wally,
I would like to blame the poor state of officialdom for my mistake.
But…I can’t really so I’ll put my hand up for the mistake, my bad.
Must have been thinking of the Hope Valley Hawks chairman http://www.midlandsrugbyleague.co.uk/article/hope-valley-off-the-mark.html
Thanks for reading,
Vic
Lion them up!
Hi Jaceman,
I feel your pain, with every media outlet trying to get an Origin ‘scoop’ more often than not the main themes don’t vary too much from year to year, but such is the nature of the beast.
As an example the local paper from a town I used to live in only ever had one of two headlines the day after origin;
If QLD won it would be ‘BLUES MAROONED!
If NSW won it would be “QLD’s GOT THE BLUES!”
Without fail every year these pun-tastic Headers would pop up, obviously someone came up with them a while ago and figured they more or less did the job!
Cheers,
Vic
State of Origin night: five people to avoid!
Hi Melanie,
It’s quite simple really, they just stick me out in the garage with a 34cm portable…
Cheers,
Vic
State of Origin night: five people to avoid!
BM,
Caught that one on Sports Sunday-it was a beauty. Ken Sutcliffe and Slats should really put together a proper spray Montage for the fans at home, would be great to see some sprays from the years gone by.
Cheers,
VIc
The coach's conundrum: to spray or not to spray?
Hi MLK,
Agree with you that watching the AFL coaches throw their 1980’s style corded phones (or more recently their helicopter pilot headsets) around the coaches box is something that I enjoy as much as the next man. Apart from those angry blokes I think soccer coaches love a good spray, particularly when they get down on the sideline, as do the basketball coaches who run up and down the side of the court like escaped mental patients trying to hail a taxi.
Agree with you about the cricket, maybe CA could hire Allan Border just for this role alone!
Cheers,
Vic
The coach's conundrum: to spray or not to spray?
Thanks everyone for your kind words but I’m definantly not the Twelth man Toa….I would need to spend a bit of time in the gym and some of Macdougall’s magic juice before I could pack into 2nd Row!
Cheers
Vic
Why Queensland won't win the State of Origin
Hi Mauzzie,
Last year when the whole racial furore about Tahu/Johns was swirling about it came about that Johns was in the process of giving Inglis a ‘wrap’ (talking him up to others) when he let fly with some outdated racial terms to NSW players.
Johns has been quick to wrap Uate as a great talent, I was just saying that when he’s given Uate a wrap I hope he’s chosen his words more carefully (lest we be all be dragged into another Tahu saga pre match) which I’m sure he has (“Its not his go” etc etc).
Cheers,
Vic
Why NSW Blues won't win State of Origin
Hi LG,
In the name of fairness I’ll be running a fine tooth comb over the QLD team when it gets announced today and telling all and sundry why THEY can’t win origin in Part 2 of this article tomorrow.
Thanks for reading,
Vic
Why NSW Blues won't win State of Origin
Hi JVGO.
Some great additions there!
The Baby faced Assassin was Les Boyd, former Wetsern Suburbs and Manly Hardman. I believe the late Peter Frillingos coined the term.
Cheers,
Vic
The great nickname drain in Australian sport
Brian,
Personally I believe that the Kiwis key to being competitive with Australia long term is to produce high quality players in the key positions i.e. halves and hooker, something they haven’t always done in the past. That and competent talent identification and administration from the NZRL
Also as mentioned players get paid more for an Origin match than a test match (due to the revenue that each currently create) therefore if a player is tossing up allegiances between Australia and NZ they are a lot better off financially to choose the origin and Kangaroo path. This has robbed the Kiwis of some players in recent years in particular K Hunt and Ben Teo.
Hopefully with the increased competition between the Kiwis and Kangaroos combined with a seperate TV deal for test matches will result in greater test payments for both nations players. Giving the Kiwis more home games and games against other international sides will also help to achieve this.
Cheers,
Vic
Why I'm an un-Australian supporter
Hi BF,
It’s interesting that in the last five years Aus v NZ games have been getting closer and closer whilst QLD v NSW have been going in the opposite direction.
The overiding appeal of Origin is its closeness over 30 years. I honestly believe that if in trans Tasman tests were on par with origin in regards to closeness over a sustained period of time (a decade at least) then yes, Australians would follow tests just as much as origin. The Bledisloe cup is enough to prove this to me.
As an aside it’s a great shame that the game could not be played in Christchurch, it would have been great to see another test in NZ in a quality stadium in front of a good crowd ala Eden park last year (err minus the bottles of course). Shame they couldn’t move it to Wellington or another NZ location but it seems like scheduling was the problem.
On a brighter note with the NZRL/ARL comitting to at least two tests a year between the teams, one being in NZ and one in Aus (after this year) I think we are in the early stages of a golden era for trans-tasman tests.
Now how about a lions tour downunder RFL?
Cheers
Vic
Why I'm an un-Australian supporter
Always great to hear experienced coaches lending a hand in developing international arenas-especially ones with as much potential as the AMNRL!
Five reasons to feel sorry for Matthew Elliot
Aidan,
Thanks for reading. I can confirm that the Ballina Seagulls have approached Elliot to work in a consultancy capacity next year and that the ‘Shawsy’ was in full swing on ANZAC day just gone.
Cheers
Vic
Five reasons to feel sorry for Matthew Elliot
Gareth,
Thanks for your reply and thanks for reminding me about Brett “Killer” Kelly, wasn’t he a fan favourite!
As for Purtell I monitor a few rugby league forums and it appears as though many Panther fans have a much dimmer view of him than yourself, however as you pointed out its unlikely the Panthers would be paying him a motza.
Thanks for your input,
Cheers
Vic
Unflushables: players that just won't go down
Hi Oikee
Yes it’s a bit sad, I remember reading in a BRW years ago how much money NRL clubs save by not having a full on reserve grade team and over time more and more NRL teams have simply taken up this option-a far cry from 95 when the ARL made the Western Reds field a full travelling reserve grade side (which slowly helped to send them broke).
This is not even mentioning the way the ARL has stuffed around Manly and Canberra (and by result Sths Logan and the Sunshine Coast Q Cup teams).
I love watching the Q-Cup but is it a good idea to use its teams as a surrogate reserve grade? The Titans have arrangments with Ipswich, Burleigh and Tweed heads-this means their fringe players are possibly belting each other a couple of times a year. Imagine if these blokes were in one reserve grade team building combinations each week, surely it would raise standards and help the blooding of players.
Cheers
Vic
League’s local legends and its middle class