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Third man down in Australian sport's year from hell

Roar Rookie
12th October, 2013
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Roar Rookie
12th October, 2013
9

Let’s face it – 2013 has been a terrible year for our nation’s sporting teams.

The sackings of Mickey Arthur, Robbie Deans and Holger Osieck reflect the year from hell that we have undeniably experienced.

For the national cricket team, the Wallabies and the Socceroos, it’s been the same problem – a case of performance not living up to potential.

Arthur’s dismissal was a necessary, if ill-timed, one. The problems with him at the helm went far deeper than on-field results.

While the 4-0 series loss obviously had a lot to do with his sacking, it could be argued that the ridiculously-named “homework-gate” scandal was what ultimately brought him his demise.

Respect from players is only given if it is delivered by those giving orders. In the case of Arthur, it clearly wasn’t.

It wasn’t that writing the homework task was difficult – it was the ridiculousness of it that raised the ire of Shane Watson and Usman Khawaja.

Michael Clarke and his teammates had had enough of Arthur’s methods and Cricket Australia responded by saying “see ya later” to the only ever non-Australian cricket coach.

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The Australian public were frustrated with Arthur because he had a team full of world-class players that were not performing anywhere near their full potential.

Clarke is the best batsman in the world , Shane Watson (on his day) is unstoppable, Steve Smith is a young dynamo and Peter Siddle is one of the most dependable quicks going around.

Australia’s best XI should never lose 4-0 to India. It’s that simple.

A similar trend occurred with the Wallabies this year.

Before this year, Robbie Deans’ career as Wallabies coach had come under fire, mainly due to an inability to beat the All Blacks or perform at the Tri-Nations or World Cup.

This was Deans’ year to shine. Three Tests against the British and Irish Lions were the perfect opportunity to show that Australia had the right stuff.

The first two Tests went a long way in proving that. Despite the loss in Brisbane, the general feeling was that the tough, resilient Wallabies of old were back.

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Then came the Sydney Test.

Though the scoreline showed a 25-point loss, it felt worse.

The scoreline wasn’t the problem though. With all due respect to the Lions, this Test, unlike the previous two, produced a feeling that the Wallabies could have performed much better.

There is nothing worse in sport than producing far less than your best.

It’s not that the Wallabies weren’t trying – it’s knowing that they, like the Australian cricket team, have great players capable of producing performances of a far higher quality.

Finally, we come to Holger Osieck and the Socceroos.

It would be easy to make excuses for the consecutive 6-0 losses.

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“Brazil and France had good days.”

“What do you expect? Football’s their most popular sport.”

However, as Ned Zelic and Craig Foster pointed out on SBS yesterday, no one is expecting the Socceroos to beat these nations.

What we do expect is that we put in a respectable performance.

Take the 2-0 loss to Brazil in ’06 for example. That was a performance that all Australians can be proud of.

While we didn’t come close to winning, we played the absolute best that we could against a better opponent.

It’s a cliché, but it’s also true – there is no shame in losing to a better team. It’s the way that you lose that counts.

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Unfortunately, the current Socceroos, and Osieck, don’t seem to have this mentality.

The underlying theme tying the three aforementioned teams together is that none of them have performed to their full potential in a very long time.

When that happens, we can be happy regardless of the results.

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