Sometimes it doesn’t pay to get out of bed. I had had one of those weeks. In between supervising burial duty for my favourite pet and negotiating several familial and automotive calamities I had the chance to talk to the bloke who might end up Australia’s next Prime Minister (about his love of sport) and, of course, something just had to go wrong. Coming from a lecturing … [Read more...]
Small town Rugby League star gives birth to brilliant strategy!
Like many big bloke athletes, a mate of mine (who, incidentally, was the hard man power forward for my high school basketball team), considered himself a tactical mastermind. Not too many years ago, Big David was still playing in the back row for the Warialda Wombats regional Rugby League footy team. As a student of the game and a serious thinker to boot, David used to look for … [Read more...]
Match the famous with their sporting secrets – sports-quizz answers revealed!
Who said that they would give up their career to be awarded just one cap playing rugby for their country? Richard Harris, of course. While many might think that “Dumbledore” would have been more interested in Quiddich, it seems that the Irish master of both stage and screen’s first love was for rugby and he would have given his last dollar to have played for the shamrock … [Read more...]
Should Cooper Cronk have played?
I heard Cooper Cronk’s appearance in the 2018 NRL Grand Final (despite breaking a scapula only one week earlier) described as disgraceful... and as a piece of alpha male stupidity. More generous critics suggested that he should have prioritized his health above what was just a football match. The most intelligent of Cronk’s critics made the point that, of course Cronk would … [Read more...]
What great sports writing does.
“I hope you enjoy this, John! Fond regards, Judith.” I’d been living in Connecticut for three months. New England, forested by trees of red, gold and amber foliage, was wrapped in Autumn’s melancholy. Back in Oz, the semi-finals of the footy season would be kicking off. I was homesick. ‘Hooked on League,’ the autobiography of Penrith hooker Royce Simmons (co-written … [Read more...]