A 5 man scrum rather than a 3 would work and keep some backline space. It will be pretty cluttered with 11 blokes in the backline otherwise. It should also be safe enough to do quickly.

I’m not sure what you mean by avoidance? Do you mean football players should avoid also playing those sports?

I agree that that football seems to have a lot of chancers trying to make a living off the parents of talented (or those under the illusion they are) kids, and that seems to be your main gripe. That isn’t limited to Football (I’ll bet the parents of some young golfers spend many thousands), but maybe its more prevalent there.

Basketball is in a similar situation to Football in Australia. Both are huge participation sports. Both have national leagues that started in the late 70s. And both leagues have struggled through existential crises, lack of or a poor TV deal, teams going broke, and poor crowds. The key thing is the differences.

The mens, womens, and youth teams in Basketball are always contending for trophies in international tournaments. Youth development in Australia is technically excellent, and looked upon with envy in the US. Our young players are recruited into their College system in great numbers, leading to NBA careers, inspiring the next generation to play and perform and the side benefit of encouraging investment from the US back into the NBL.

It seems to me that interest in any sport from Australians relates to how famous its Australian players are and how they rank against the best in the world in that sport. Our cricketers, AFL and Rugby League players are among the best and most famous in the relatively small world of those sports, and hence the strong following. This then attracts the media companies which in turn promote the sports and players enhancing their fame and attractiveness. While the public follow, this self-perpetuates.

Our best footballers play in the big sport but not in the big leagues so are more obscure. By luck or intent (or a mix of both), the basketball development system here produced players good enough to become pros in the NBA, and that fame feedback loop is benefiting the whole sport. Football had something like this going with Harry, Timmy and Dukes in the Premier League, but as our players have left that stage, the feedback loop has gone in reverse.

Assuming that Football only gets one Frank Lowy and that a billionaire is not going to bankroll all sorts of strategies, I’d focus the resources on getting our players into the big leagues. For example, why not enter an Australian team of kids in a lower division of the J or K Leagues? It would be cheaper than a national second division, and the amount of high level game time would hurry along their progress and their familiarity with Asian footballers and conditions would help with qualification.

Better young players > More players in big Euro leagues > More famous footballers > More interest in football.

If the scrum is anywhere besides 5m out, what does it matter that the weaker scrum collapses? I guess if they fed the scrum and it becomes trapped under collapsed players you could penalise, but if the dominant scrum feeds it they’ll still have access to the ball. Play on.

I’m not sure of where your confidence in the Knights comes from. They are right in the mix for the wooden spoon, and I think the Raiders could be down with them. Cowboys the big improvers through the return of Taumololo, Chad setting the direction and Dearden growing into his schoolboy reputation.

Manly
Penrith
Storm
Eels
Roosters
Cowboys
Souths
Sharks
Titans
Brisbane
Raiders
St George
Tigers
Warriors
Bulldogs
Knights

There is a difference between ‘massive’ and ‘liveable’ money. None of the female cricketers get Pat Cummin’s pay packet, but they are paid enough to do it fulltime. The minimum wage for a top 30 squad player in the NRL is around $120k (need a fact check on that), so perhaps this is the number to anchor comparisons to.

YouTube should be front and centre of any marketing strategy. My kids (15 and 13) play basketball and rugby, and nearly all of their TV watching is YouTube. The NBA have effectively outsourced this by allowing all (or ignored stopping) and sundry to use their TV footage to create clips. Within hours of matches highlights packages are up, and independent YouTubers have sliced them up to build ‘dunk of the week’ etc videos. The amount of content is incredible, and it costs them little, and it builds aspiration to play the sport and to be a spectator for matches. Rugby’s strategy would have to be different, but it comes down to making content widely available (even if it means loosening the reins on copyright).

Rubes at 13 makes a great difference to the Cows. His foot speed and intent means he still makes lots of metres even though he isn’t big, but that agility and ticker means he can cover on the inside in a way that Jase, Hessie or Macca sometimes couldn’t. I thought Peta Hiku was very good too, and he’ll give us some offloads in attack which has been sorely missing from our play. Second phase play should be a priority if you have one of the fastest players in the game hanging around behind the ruck.

There were some ‘green shoots’ at the end of last year in the young blokes coming through. Heilum Luke, Jeremiah Nanai, and of course Hamiso look the goods. I also like Holmes and Hiku in the centres. Chad should help a lot in running the game and kicking which was sorely lacking last year. Some of our poor defence was actually a consequence of poorly organised attack, kicking short, dead or straight down the throat of the fullback.

I’d be interested in your suggestions for what to change.

For mine firstly its tackle height. Kids are now told its armpits or below, so that could be the standard. Next would be stopping cleaning out by flying into rucks. I’m no expert but keeping everyone on their feet and winning the ball through pushing over rather than a jackal would reward the team with numbers at the ruck rather than just one player who has to brave being smashed off it. Again this is mostly how turnovers happen in kids footy. You may need to penalise not releasing some more to ensure the ball is available to the defenders but the law is there for that.

The third area is pick and drive plays which are always below waist height and where the attacker is leading with the head. Not sure what you can do about this, especially near the try line.

I think we’ll find the ‘shared leadership’ model means a different coach for the T20 and ODI side to the Test side, just like we have a different captain. Once Finch moves I don’t think Cummins will replace him and run all three teams. More likely someone like Marsh who is full time in that set up and not in the test team will run it.

We rarely tour anywhere between September and March. T20 World Cups might get in the way in September or October, and we may go to NZ in late Feb, but usually CA gets its way on tours within our season. If the IPL gets back to being playing in April and May there is more clear air.

Bang on. Make the season 32 games (each team with 4 home games – full round plus an extra game) plus finals. Start on December 30 (5th day of Melbourne test) with the GF on Australia Day. Test players available from about the 10th of January (depending on Sydney finish).

The whole season would be:

> Shield games and state 50 over games from September to mid-December. First round in northern Australia (Townsville, Cairns, Mackay and Darwin all have 1st class grounds) in early September. Should get 6 games in, with test players available for at least 3 of them.
> Three tests pre-Christmas as usual.
> WBBL October to mid-December.
> Melbourne and Sydney tests – Boxing Day to Jan 8
> Big Bash – Dec 30 to Jan 26
> Women’s state One Day matches commence early January
> Women’s internationals Jan 26 to mid-Feb. (Blokes have a fortnight off)
> Shield resumes mid-February
> ODIs and T20Is mid-February to early March

It will be tough to halve the length of the Big Bash. The broadcast contracts and the collective bargaining agreement are both for the long tournament. Surely though, everyone can see it just isn’t working anymore as it is, even prior to COVID.

It seems to me we need a 10-12 comp, but don’t have or can’t afford to have 300 Australians to play in it. We could be better off sticking with Super Rugby TT with 5 teams, but both strengthening them through hiring the best players we can from any country, and also letting our best play anywhere but still be available for the Wallabies. I’d still cheer for the Reds if they had an Argentinian front rower, a Kiwi no 7 or a Fijian (full international) winger. We may end swapping out expensive Australians for affordable Pasifika players, but still have a strong national team.

You don’t rate his 9 hour 141 against spin against Pakistan in the UAE to save the match?

What is the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal? Ah yes, I see that you know your judo sir.

England’s key problem is batting, but their spare resource is bowling. I’d be tempted to bring in Anderson OR Broad for Leach, and Bairstow for Woakes. Four bowlers including Stokes (Five with Root) using a pink ball should be able to get 20 wickets to win the game. They need to be able to get 400 runs in at least one innings to not lose the game.

An all rounder matters when you go into a game with only three other bowlers (which we don’t at home) or if one breaks down. Lets not worry about whether Green can get us any wickets at all this series. If he gets any overs, just worry that Hazlewood is in a shady spot on ground getting a decent rest while it happens.

Green’s influence on this series should be with the bat. Can he turn that promise into 100s at 6? He looks like he could bat 4 or 5, and a big series could see him there for the Pakistan trip where he may need to bowl some overs to allow us to play Swepson and Lyon.

I agree he was very hard done by, especially to be supposedly done in because he wasn’t aggressive with his talk. The whole ‘metal disintegration’ crap led directly to the sandpaper in SA.

Any idea of the Moneyball of runs saved versus runs scored for wicketkeepers? For anyone interested in the data analysis of cricket, “Hitting against the spin” is a great book, but it doesn’t cover wicket keeping. My feeling is a Gilchrist/Haddin/Dhoni/Pant wicketkeeper who will average 30+ but also be able to score 100s, is worth more than a Saha/Nevill/Paine who would rarely change a game with the bat, but may drop fewer or miss fewer wicket taking opportunities. No data on that though.

Rugby is a great game, but penalties play too big a part in the proceedings and tactics. I think the deliberate knock down rule is too ambiguous, and not that useful. If the centre is jumping out of the line legally (not offside) then the attacking team probably haven’t earned the right to spread it without risk with flat passing. Be consistent with offside first.

And for a very unpopular opinion, the main purpose of a scrum seems to be as a penalty factory, with a secondary purpose of a drinks time out. I’d be quite happy to see fewer scrums, taking less time, and less impact on the game.

Hazlewood has to play if form is any guide. He was class in the IPL, and can bowl at either end of the game and on any surface. Zampa and Maxwell give you the spin overs, so Agar misses out. If we are relying on our number 8 or 9 for runs then we are up against it anyway.

Its the newest stadium in Australia, the track will be dry and the beer will be cold. Look for the positives!

It will be the answer to a trivia question one day. And if you are able to get here, book some accommodation on Magnetic Island and then catch the ferry to the match. It will be a great day.

One more little thing is it will no longer be necessary for broadcasters to actually be at the game. This was forced on them by travel bans, but I can’t really tell where Rabs or Vossy is sitting when they call, so that centralisation will continue. The flip side of that is I can watch, for example, a very cheaply produced California RL match online now. The NRL was the only league I could watch, but not anymore. This could really help the international growth of the game, and maybe help scouts see some talent to bring to the professional leagues.