Remembering Phillip Hughes
November 25, 2014: New South Wales are playing South Australia at the SCG. South Australia is 2/136, with Phillip Hughes (63 not out) closing…
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Freelance sportswriter for 10 years. Interests include rugby league and cricket. Favourite teams are Canberra Raiders, ACT Brumbies, Canberra Vikings, NSW Origin Blues and Sydney Sixers
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November 25, 2014: New South Wales are playing South Australia at the SCG. South Australia is 2/136, with Phillip Hughes (63 not out) closing…
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If any team reaches 350 this summer, Mark Taylor’s head will probably explode! (P.S. the “300” movies are pretty good; silly and campy as hell, but still good turn-your-brain-off entertainment).
The Liebke Ratings: Australia vs England second ODI
Freddy is like an overgrown jock who peaked in high school and coasted on his footy talent.
Fair play, he was a great footballer, but his Easts bias in commentary is ridiculous! He’d be better off concentrating on his coaching gigs full-time, where he can actually do some good and his blatant biases aren’t a factor.
It’s time for Channel Nine to get serious about the NRL
Even three years later, Nine’s NRL coverage is a joke!
The Broncos are spoonfed Thursday and Friday night games because they rate like crazy, creating an uneven competition.
“unsexy” teams like Canberra or the Warriors are lucky to get a handful of FTA games.
The NRL Footy Show is an overhyped joke.
Their commentators are biased (you could hear Gus Gould cheering as Jennings scored the winning try for NSW in Origin III), and “matey” commentators like Freddy and Joey are more interested in one-upping each other than talking footy. Ray Hadley is just woeful.
To be fair, they do have live Sunday footy, abolished the awful Friday night double-header and Yvonne Sampson is wonderful.
The biggest problem is Origin. Yes it rates through the roof on Wednesday nights, but Origin-heavy teams are punished by having to field substandard teams in the pre-Origin rounds. If you moved Origin back to Sunday nights (with a few lead up rep games to pad the weekend out), that problem would be fixed.
The only time Nine puts in any effort aside from Origin is the finals, with all games live.
FOX is much better; Vossy is back and is a brilliant, unbiased commentator. The ex-player brigade actually calls footy rather than reminiscing about the old days and making stupid jokes. It’s wonderful to see Matty Johns back on Fox after Nine dumped him. The friendly sledging between JT and Hindy after a Cowboys Monday night game is marvellous. Two good mates taking the piss out of each other.
It’s time for Channel Nine to get serious about the NRL
Great article from a fellow Raiders fan! I used to love Origin, but it’s so hyped up and Nine milks it to breaking point. I’ll watch the series this year, but I’m expecting QLD to win again comfortably. As a long-suffering NSW fan, I’ve gotten used to seeing NSW fall over themselves.
The problem is the eligbility rules have gotten fuzzier and it no longer seems to be purely NSW v QLD anymore.
You’re right about the shunting of international games. International footy is just about dead: the May Test is a near non-event, the end-of-season Four Nations is little better and the ‘World Cup” is basically Australia, NZ and England/Great Britain.
Origin is alive because a) it makes a crap load of money for everyone and b) QLD LOVES beating NSW. In anything. If NSW strung eight in a row, would Origin survive?
Queensland will win Origin again and I couldn't care less
Agreed Ronan, Hauritz was harshly treated. He gave some stability during the horrifying spinners merry-go-round, did a serviceable job with the ball and could bat too. Maybe it was a personality problem? Warnie was loud, brash, one of the boys and won games with his presence. Hauritz didn’t have that aura: he just wheeled away and did his job.
I have a feeling Hauritz’s fate was sealed in Cardiff in 2009 when he couldn’t bowl out Anderson and Panesar. If you wanted to be really harsh, you could argue it cost Australia to Ashes, as it would have been 2-2 and Ashes retained. Sadly, his match-winning efforts against Pakistan at the SCG was swallowed by the match-fixing drama.
From memory Doherty was selected – for the Ashes – off strong ODI performances against Sri Lanka. No wonder KP and co got stuck into him at Adelaide!
At least the selectors have learnt from their mistakes with Hauritz by sticking with Nathan Lyon. Surprise, surprise, Lyon has improved as a bowler and is winning Tests for Australia.
Retiring Hauritz was dudded by Australian selectors
Dear Tim, as a long-suffering Raiders fan, I thank you for the article. Last year was wonderful and I REALLY hope we can build on it. Too many losses at Bruce and numerous close calls really hurt us. The pleasing thing was we were competitive in all but 3-4 games.
I love Sticky as a coach. I remember in 2014, when we were down the bottom, his passion for the club during another losing press conference was obvious. We won our last three and kicked on from there.
I think realistically we’re a 5-8th placed team. 2016 is a bridging year – finish in the eight and get some respect back – then push for a premiership from 2017 onwards.
Ricky is repairing the Raiders rot that started with his sacking
That’s wonderful news for Chadd. Cricket Australia’s obsession with “sexy” express bowlers is unhealthy. Our greatest pace bowler – Glenn McGrath – bowled 130-odd and took over 500 Test wickets. Express pace is all well and good, but too much of it is predictable. Class batsmen will get used to the pace and use it to their advantage. Hopefully Chadd gets a decent go in NZ,
Meet Chadd Sayers, Australia's unlikely new Test paceman
From memory, the West Indies played as their separate islands in the 1998 Comm Games.
Jamaica finished third in Group A, Antigua second in Group B and Barbados second in Group C. Not bad.
The sad tale of West Indies cricket
Australia v Ireland Test series. Now that would be a fun series! Australia would win comfortably, but at least the Irish would have a go. They’ve done pretty well in the past few World Cups. Great to see.
To what woefully whacky depths will this Windies series plummet?
Brilliant! I love the humourous yet cynical tone. Why does anyone who can’t bowl serious “heat” – eg 140KM or above- even bother bowing anymore? 🙂 Extreme pace is sexy, which equals precious ratings for Channel Nine and more money. It’s a flawless system!
A friendly message to all sub-130km/h Aussie quicks: Just give up
Thanks for the feedback JohnB. I was going for an overarching view of all the series’, so it’s easy to miss stuff I guess.
Frank Worrell Trophy: Terrifying and Terrific West Indies (Part 2)
Great points Ronan. Drop is so important to offies. What I like about Lyon is his reliability. He can hold up an end, take wickets and allows the fast bowlers to be more aggressive
The hard life of a spinner Down Under
It’s great to see Nannes have the ability to five balanced commentary. The Nine commentators are glorified Aussie cheerleaders, so it’s important that Nannes is given a platform to give informed, bias commentators.
Maybe the reason Nine didn’t dig deeper into why Clarke retired is they’re too close. Remember Clarke was a guest commentator for them last summer. So get Warney out to interview his mate and be done with it.
Sport radio's quiet revolution
I smell a conspiracy. With Australia’s big Gabba win, Channel Nine ordered a tame WACA pitch so a) the Adelaide Test wouldn’t be a dead rubber and b) a bore draw would give Nine commentators more time to hype up the D/N Test as the greatest thing ever.
I’m joking of course. The great thing about Aussie pitches is their character. The WACA losing its legendary pace and bounce is sad. With the two Mitch’s and Hazlewood, it would make sense to give them some help.
WACA pitch is a sad joke
Good stuff! Nice reference to the big Kim-Jong-Un knock too.
Exclusive: New Zealand undergo villainous overhaul to save series
In the early 2000s, KFC gave away free 12th Man “highlights” with meals.
For me it was “Marvellous” in 1992, especially with Barnsey and Farnsey on backing vocals. Super effort that!
The 12th Man: A rite of passage
Thanks for the comments Chump.
My original idea was a more overarching statement about players being able to bounce from code to code and that loyalty is all but dead.
The more I wrote, the more it made sense to focus on Burgess.
You’re right, DCE’s backflip was awful. I feel sorry for GC Titans fans.
Burgess should not be criticised for putting himself first
Getting a Canberra team in the BBL would be a good start. Manuka Oval regularly hosts BBL games, so the facilities are fine, and it’d be a good way to test the waters.
Is it time to revive the Canberra Comets?