Rabbitz – You’re right in what you say. Really the main point I was trying to make was that what Jelena Dokic just experienced could have so easily happened to Scud.

I thought I was a footy nut – Thank you very much 🙂 Welcome to the site.

Jen – I agree with everything you’ve written. Well said.

Rabbitz – What you write is good and well for today. But 15….20…30 years down the track, I think Scud will feel a tinge of regret that he didn’t play to his potential. He will look at a trophy cabinet that while full should have been bulging. As Terry Malloy says in On the Waterfront, “You don’t understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it.” If you think I’m being harsh on him, the pages of history will even be harsher.

The Cougar – Fair enough, I suppose.

Scrum Importance – Why couldn’t he have both? Plenty of other players seemed to have combined the two.

sheek – This is a sports site thus we’re assessing his sporting abilities not his partying one. As a partier, he is world-class.

Brett McKay – Yes, we’re all right. Guess it depends if you see the glass half-full or half empty…

Who Needs Melon – Well said.

Spanner – I never said he owed us anything, just himself.

Vincent – Very much so but that’s the bitter-sweet nature of the playoffs. In a one-off game, anything can happen.

True Tah – 1000% I’d forgotten about the hapless Bears! The Sydney Swans would have been the poster child for Australian sporting basket cases but the Bears would have been a close second. I’ll never forget the 1994 semi-final against Canberra.
The Raiders’ John Lomax was sent off and Gary Larson must have thought he was lonely because he got himself sent off just 4 minutes later! The Bears were steamrolled and missed the chance of playing in their first Grand Final since 1943.

Who Needs Melon – You make a good point and the All Blacks are up their with the best in maintaining their dynasty. Their assembly line of world-class players never seems to stop while Australia can only produce one John Eales or Mark Ella every couple of generations.

Scotty – Its one of sports mysteries why New Zealand have won only one world cup. Mind you Brazil have only won two World Cups without Pele…

Mattay – I don’t think the spinner will ever be obsolete. Shield cricket is an interesting beast though. Guys at Test level don’t seem to perform as well at Shield level and that can be for a number of reasons – they aren’t as motivated, the opposition is extra motivated, etc. What’s odd is the differences in selection policy. Krejza and Hauritz weren’t going to be picked by their states for recent games but yet wanted by Australia. Warne was a once in a lifetime bowler in that he had the perfect action combined with the right personality/make-up. If either isn’t up to scratch the spinner, particularly the leg spinner will struggle.

LK – SBW may have had a bad year on field but he’s laughing all the way to the bank.

Paul D – Don’t be surprised if does the next World Cup final.

Spiro – Some would say that Stuart was in a no-win situation which he himself alluded to during the tournament. He also had a decent year with the Sharks.

Adrian – Good point.

Phil – Re Brady obviously he played well while he was on the field but I was making the point that he started the year trying to take his team to 19-0 and finished the year on crutches. Re the European Ryder Cup side – they typically don’t do that well away from home – maybe Nick Faldo is a more apt nominee?

These comments nicely reflect the cross section of views. JohnB hits it on the head though when he says there needs to be room for someone like Peter. NEWS only has 3-4 writers to cover cricket across their vast expanse and Fairfax has three or more of their own. That isn’t that many nor is it providing much variety.

Sheek – Good point.

Daryl/ ohtani’s jacket – Thank you 🙂

David Sygall – Thanks for reading David – I enjoy reading your stuff as well. For mind, its about having an X-Factor. Tiger Woods has it and even though he is so dominant, you can’t help but like him. Same as Michael Jordan. Shane Warne had it. Simon Katich – definitely not!

Skull – You think?

cosmos forever – Interesting comments.

Worlds Biggest – I don’t think Hussey is next in line, isn’t Clarke?

Club football is a different creature from international football. The Japanese club sides have the advantage of having significantly bigger payrolls, squads and ACL experience. It’s a bit harsh to judge them as you have on the basis of one bad performance. What about their defeat of Kashima in the quarters?

Kazama – Yes that is possibly the biggest sporting upset of all time. And the poor Magyars have never been the same since.

Alan – They weren’t bad but what about The Village, Lady in the Water and The Happening. I don’t walk out of movies but the Happening was too much to take!

Kazama I – You make a very good point but its just when you feel that you’re ok that you get dragged back in.

Millster – What about 1997? That didn’t affect you much?

Kazama II – Even if the Cats win in 2009, it won’t make up for this year. 2008 was a perfect season for them but for winning the flag. Melbourne Storm now have 1 title from 3 straight Grand Finals. Its very difficult not to see that glass as anything but half or two thirds empty.

Forgetmenot – I feel you pain. The Eagles of 1991 were the last team to be in a similar situation and Im guessing that while many Eagles fans dont feel that pain, they still remember what it was like.

Worlds Biggest – Yes and the Eagles were lucky that they got to win a close one of their own against the same opponent in 2006 which was similar to Hawthorn/Essendon and Hawthorn/Carlton of the 1980s.

da Silva – I guess it’s hard to split them because they spent most of their career playing together. He has more wickets than any other quick in the history of the game. But on a dying pitch when nothing much is doing – Warne is the guy you want.

LK – Sorry about that – I indeed meant Craig White.

Greg – Until people’s expectations change, you need to keep referring back to Warney. Australia is going to play in far more draws than they did. They are not going to bowl out sides on the final day like they used to and because the first innings is going to last longer than it used to, they will have less time on the final day. Shane Warne was a spinner – all these other guys simply bowl slow – big difference. It shows a certain arrogance by the selectors that they are prepared to play in India against India without a specialist spinner.

Spiro – I simply assume that any currently competing athlete has their stuff ghost written. Even if it wasn’t it would be vetted by their agent and their respective sports body before it went to print. That was part of the kerfuffle with Andrew Symonds earlier in the year. CA told him what he couldn’t write about which didn’t go down well. But the whole thing is crazy – you put someone’s byline and head-shot next to an article and suddenly its sounds authoritative. People want to hear the voice of Willie and it works even though it clearly isn’t him.

JonnyP – It works something like this.
Let’s say its Willie Mason – the writer would ask Willie. “What should I write about this week – grapple tackles?”
“Sounds great,” answers Willie.
Discussion over.

Rolling Maul – Sounds like a great idea 🙂

True Tah – That helps but what helps more is that they are competitive and win things.

El Capitan – Sounds like you’ve already skipped to the last page!

Michael C – Spank or spike?

Mr Mac – You are correct. That was a technical error. Apologies to Nikki Hudson and her gals.

Rowdy – I didn’t use the words ‘level playing field’ – they were in the headline which I didn’t write. Notwithstanding, I fail to see your point. There is no reason for us to be playing South American countries – this is only due to politics so CONMEBOL gets an extra half place. One which they don’t deserve or need.

Joe – Thus far we have 6 points. I’m confident we will have the points we need by those last two games, especially if the other results continue to go our way.

Etat – I agree with what you say. Because of the new qualifying campaign, the players are responding and want to be a part of it. That creates cohesion in the side.

dasilva – good point. Our first chance shouldn’t be someone else’s second chance.

Billo – Id be happy to watch a football game of Mexico against Germany or Nigeria against Japan. You could say the same about Rugby League? There are only about 6 decent countries international league teams.

Midfielder – Thanks for that. Impressive research 🙂

Thus far India is 1/111 and Australia needs a great second session otherwise they will be right up against it.

Spiro – Of course the irony of that is Warne’s debut 😉

Ben – Bracken has seemingly been pigeon-holed as a one-day bowler.

JohnB – Yes Noffke is unlucky and was disillusioned enough to be considering going to the ICL.

Greg – I agree with you about Hilditch. How could the ‘Happy Hooker’ become the chairman of selectors? The interesting thing I found while researching the piece was that only 33 players debuted under Allan Border. I thought it would have been closer to 50. And under Mark Taylor 22 were handed their Baggy Green. This is more than Ponting but seems as less because while all these guys were making their debut you still had Taylor, Waugh, Waugh, Warne, Healy, McGrath making up the nucleus of the side. Now the nucleus is just Ponting, Hussey, Clarke and Clark.

Spiro – Rugby League World Cup? It’s more of a carnival than a World Cup! Very liberal use of the term…

Dave – Of course soccer never stop but for the leagues which have a Winter break. But Britain turns in on in style with a packed Xmas/New Year’s program.

Phil – That will get you through to November but then there’s quite a break until pitchers and catchers report in.

Day 1 has passed and was mostly uneventful. Some players were put on the table but looks like it will be a quiet trade week.

Redb – Of course you can’t compare a Judd to a Caracella, Pickett or Playfair. The only reason a player of his calibre is involved in trade week is due to the absence of free agency in the AFL. Free agency would open up a Pandora’s Box of its own.

I agree with both you guys.
Geelong Hawthorn is the dream Grand Final but its a year early. Had it been next year would have meshed nicely with the 20th anniversary!

I’ve never understood why so much credence is placed in TV ratings for sporting events..
Do the ratings factor in all the people watching at clubs and pubs?
Do the ratings factor in all the people who are watching together at one place? ie bbqs, get togethers, etc
You would think the Melbourne Cup would be the highest rating TV program year after year after year? After all, how many people are not watching the race?

It’s good we can win where there are crazy results elsewhere – Denmark over Portugal, Luxembourg over Switzerland, Austria over France and England over Croatia.
To have this match out of the way already is a huge bonus.
I wonder what Graham Arnold felt about Bruce’s performance.

And if you think back a few years, the awards were actually cancelled and no-one seem too bothered by that.
The Rothmans medal was directly equivalent to the Brownlow but they never showed it on TV. If they had and there was a tradition of watching it, things may be different. That kids, is the power of TV.

Nice piece Alan. If the Saints do infact get up could make the Raiders vulnerable.

The debate seems to have died down as the news cycle has moved onto to the issues d’Jour.

No NRL finals will be played at Homebush this week. Would have made an interesting comparison..
The attendances at Toyota Park this year have been appalling and so wonder what type of crowd they will get.
Roosters are averaging just under 14000 to their home games – will they get more for the Broncos?

Not sure if anyone saw Patrick Smith’s piece in the Australian (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24321826-12270,00.html) but I liked it.

Spiro – I think that Voss comes from the Paul Roos/Teddy Roosevelt school where he speaks quietly but carries a big stick. My major concern about him is that he hasn’t observed enough matches from the coaching box where he could experience what works and what doesn’t work. Then again Kevin Sheedy took Essendon to a Grand Final in his third year and won flags in his fourth and fifth years.

Justin – I think what he was worried into falling in the same boat as Sheedy and Richmond in that the stars never realigned for them again. Too many what ifs to worry about so he took the chance while he could. There are more qualified coaches out there but his profile and identity is/was a major factor that you can’t overlook.

Michael C – You make good points and often the end result of performance is completely random. Take a look at the last two European Championships in soccer….
If a player has a shot for goal after the siren to win/lose the game that affects the coach but has nothing to do with him or his ability. What about if a star player goes down in the pre-season. Injuries are something else you can’t control.

Terry Kidd – I agree with what you say but again whatever happens in most like random…

Justin Part II – True, but then again Brisbane is not St Kilda…

Terry Part II – Good point but at times he will find it frustrating because for him the game came so easily. It’s like trying to maths to an eight year old. Yes it is completlely logical but no matter how many times you explain it they still not might get it.