The Roar
The Roar

The Roar

Geoff Parkes

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Joined October 2012

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Geoff is a Melbourne based sports fanatic and writer, who started contributing to The Roar in 2012, originally under the pen name Allanthus. His first book, A World in Conflict; the Global Battle For Rugby Supremacy was released in Dec 2017 to critical acclaim. For details on the book visit www.geoffparkes.com Meanwhile, his twin goals of achieving a single figure golf handicap and owning a fast racehorse remain tantalisingly out of reach.

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All that, plus… how many tinnies had this bloke had before taking his catch?

Tell him to come back and line up alongside Boonie after he’s got his own doll.

David Boon's best ever Test Match catch on a hat-trick has just been beaten!

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Cricket
 
1d

I think what happens is that while all refs appreciate the support from their team, some are more confident about trusting their own eyes and intuition – Owens and Barnes the two obvious ones.

Fraser almost did this; as you say, he accepted the initial TMO advice but then made his own judgement. But what’s he supposed to do when the TMO says for a second time, words to the effect of ‘but you really do need to look again and take xyz into account’. Straight away he’s going to go jelly-legged and think that there must be something else he’s not picking up, and go the safe route and walk it back to what the TMO says.

In cases like this, the team concept for match officials actually serves to undermine the referees confidence and authority. In the last few weeks we’ve seen increasing numbers of instances of TMO’s butting in for various things, many of them not or barely justified. I’d like to see this re-clarified, otherwise it feels a little like we’re slipping back to the bad old days of too many unwarranted TMO intrusions.

What the Australian teams can learn from the Blues and Highlanders

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Rugby
 
Today

You’d be unlikely to have other side-effects, mate.
The medicine wasn’t able to penetrate that ripping, deltoid of steel!

What the Australian teams can learn from the Blues and Highlanders

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Rugby
 
Today

😂 Yes mate, muddy waters indeed…

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

Cheers John. At the risk of us sounding like old-timer cloud shouters, yes that era was magical for music because everything was uncharted, and the talented songwriters and musicians really had an open canvas to work with.

Nowadays, some of the biggest acts stand at turntables playing other people’s music. Which of course is fine for what it is, but it kind of reinforces the notion that the realms of possibility are finite, and what can be done has mostly already been done.

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

Good point about the clock ticking, Carlin.
No good those sides coming in if they’re going to be cannon fodder.

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

Did you see that ‘kick’ ahead in the final, can’t remember which player it was, which was really an attempted kick on the run with the ball bouncing up off the thigh?

Ref pulled it up for lost forward, but it was exactly like one of the tricks Carlos used to pull, deliberately. 😂

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

RT is a fair, honest but hard man, Ken.
No fools suffered, especially when it comes to the Blues.

I’ve sent Leon McDonald a note, told him to sober up quickly and watch his back!

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

It’s not the worst idea, Ken.

I’m sure the first preference is to maintain continuity and integrity around the five existing franchises, keep the units together, same coaching teams, better develop franchise identity and culture and so on – which would be tricky if the sides were mixed and matched.

But it would def be a way to get around scheduling difficulties, while being a solution of sorts to the ‘gap’ issue.

Thanks for that.

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

What happened to your boy Bryson De Chookbeau, this morning, mate?

Dropped his bundle completely. Bet he wishes he was the one who had his clubs stolen…

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

I thought both of them had really strong matches, Fox.

Obviously Rieko had that bad moment against Australia last year in Wellington, but I’m not one of the haters for him at centre. It took Nonu a long time to improve his ball security and option taking, then after that, everybody loved him. Rieko still has time on his hands.

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

Barnes is the business, Nick!

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

😂 Welcome to the club, mz!

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

“If the Aus sides play a lower quality of enjoyable rugby in a tight competition isn’t that good enough.”

It’s good enough Val if, at the same time, you don’t expect Australia to perform well in Test rugby and at World Cups. You need way more than 23 elite level players to have a competitive Wallabies side. To create competition for places, cover for injuries, retirement, loss of form and so on.

Those players don’t appear by magic, ready to beat the best international teams. They need to come out of regular, intense playing and training environments. Ditto for the coaches.

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

Understand that sentiment, JDK.

On the other hand, Reds and Tahs fans who were also at the finals when their side beat the Crusaders will also never forget those nights. And they will know that the value of those wins was higher than beating themselves.

Domestic focus works better if there were more teams. Even rugby league only has three SOO matches per year.

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

I love finding new stuff CPM, old and new.
I never thought I’d be a fan, but Spotify is brilliant for that.

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

I’m with you mz, couldn’t understand that one.

After Naisarani last year, you’d have to say that Swinton is covered in teflon.

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

I think that’s a fair point. You’d have to think that things must have been missed in a match and later cited – actually Trevor Hosea on Nic White is one, now I think about it.

But yeah, everyone gets 6 weeks, reduced to three. That implies that they’re all equally culpable, which is nonsense. Those French props that dumped Vermeulen on his head at the WC got three weeks. Same as DMac. In that area, we can definitely do much better.

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

Very good way of looking at it, Fin!

And Benetton are the best team in South Africa! 😂

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

I have a couple of concerns with all of this wider topic, nroko.

The main one is to reduce incidences of concussion, that’s a no brainer for the game and rugby needs to continue with the good progress made.

But in doing so, laws and interpretations need to keep being shaped by evidence, and care must be taken not to dramatically alter the fabric of rugby. We can’t jump at shadows and be sending blokes off willy-nilly. Overall, I think it’s working quite well.

Except… there is a growing tendency for some referees, (yes, more so in Aus), commentators and fans to look at something, once or twice, in one dimension, and be judge, jury and executioner. The truth is, what looks like, from one angle, direct contact to the head, often isn’t that at all. In other words, I think we are being too absolute and certain about some events that aren’t absolute or certain at all. And we’ve seen blokes sent off who shouldn’t have been, and we’ve now seen decisions reversed, when the judiciary has had time and more ability to assess all factors (eg Swinton)

What I liked about this Dixon one was that referee Fraser didn’t assume that contact was direct to the head. Don’t get me wrong, Dixon was lucky and a red card would have been no surprise, but I think Fraser was right not to be absolute about where the contact was made.

Remember that it’s still possible for the citing commissioner to disagree and cite Dixon, so if he is guilty of a RC offence he can still be suspended.

All of that said, I agree that it felt like Fraser was doing everything to keep him on because he’s a good guy and it was a final. That shouldn’t come into it – every incidence should be dealt with on its merits.

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

There are other factors at play though jcm. Some guys benefit from getting away from their social circle, others mature later or at certain times. Some just need an opportunity in a new environment.

But there are also plenty of examples of players who go overseas who don’t get great coaching, and who don’t become better players.

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

That’s fantastic news Bourkos (aside from you missing out of course!)

Looks like a great stadium, look forward to getting there one day. And understand your point about France. They’ll still be strong of course, but even if detractors will jump in with an asterix, if the Wallabies can get a couple of wins up, that will be very important for Rennie and his team, otherwise the negative narrative will take over again and start to spiral.

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

Never saw that match Perthstayer, but obviously stunned at the result like most people.

Not sure it has much, if any, relevance for the Lions series though.

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

Yes. As good as Parkinson is, he’s definitely behind all 5 of those guys.

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d

He is indeed very good. And the way the game is being played and refereed in England currently, really suits him.

The Wrap: A celebration of Blue, 50 and 18 years on

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Rugby
 
2d
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