Rugby League & the World of Entertainment

Sorry folks for the delay in transmission but the dual time constraints of the finance world and Children's television(i am talking to you DJ Lance Rock) has left Daltsworldofsport out of action.

After 4 rounds what have we learnt, Storm are still cheating merkins but very good ones, Parra are crap, The Titans have even less cash than the Sharks & everyone else is somewhere in between.

I have a curious mind & while i was in the work lift today, the chinese cleaner got in and he was wearing shorts. Looking at his legs i got to thinking, why aren't chinese people that hairy but meditarannean people are?  But that thought quickly left me(nup gone) and had me wondering, if Rugby League Clubs were Entertainment, who would they be?

Now the Storm as the Imperial Forces from Star Wars are a good fit, a pack of evil bastards trying to take over the Galaxy through illegal tactics. I just hope that a young Jason " Luke Skywalker" Nightingale can blow up there Death Star before the seasons out.

Cameron Smith & the boys

Just on the Storm, Daltsworldofsport has a little semi all day with news that Cooper Cronk could be heading our way. The Dragons have had some good recent seasons with a very ordinary half back, imagine what they will do with Cronk? But im sure my semi will shrink at 10.30am tomorrow when he announces he is going somewhere else.

With the Dragons, its been 1983 since the club has signed a genuine star in Steve Rogers, who was just a battling first grader with some other club at the time. How has a club that used to attract all the best players hasnt got a big name in 30 years???ill tell you why Peter Bloody Doust thats who. But im ranting.

God he looks good in these colours

I went out west once, i had never seen so many 30 year old grandmothers in my life. They say chicks from Parra & Penrith only wear undies to keep there ankles warm. I have seen some of the blokes from out West who get regular sex and i can only think one thing, how many roots must Hindmarsh & Luke Lewis get???

Parra, Parra,Parra,Parra

While Hindmarsh regularly makes 50 tackles in 80 minutes, i reckon he could match that many birds in one night at PJ Gallaghers. Just on Hindmarsh i think he should quit, he is legless and so are his mates. But if the Golden West was entertainment what would it be, i believe the picture above tells a thousand words.

Moving a little bit further east we have the Canterbury- Bankstown - Homebush Bulldogs. There fans strut around in shirts that say "Bred not bought" yet they haven't got a local junior amongst them. If they were entertainment, their fans would have to be Australia's Most Wanted but for the team they would be the French Foreign Legion.

"Hooray Habib got day release" 

Next we have the Campbelltown - Leichardt - Homebush - Concord - Paddington - Tigers.

When I think of Benji and his good mate Timmy, i can only think of one aussie movie, The Sum of Us.

In Benji's column sunday, he said Saints fans were very vocal and a bit to hard on poor timmy, What did you expect Benji? me to rock up with a thermos and a picnic rug and sing Koombiaremylord? Get stuffed.

But i shouldn't be bitter, The Dragons have dodged a big bullet with Moltzen cos he has been crap.

Friday night at Tigers team meetings

A co tenant with the Dogs & Tigers are the South Sydney Homebush Rabbitohs. Now its easy to put the boot into Souths as there are worse teams than them out there, much much worse. But if they were in the world of music they would be Milli Vanilli.

One is all glitz, glammer, style over substance & the ability to talk themselves up with no obvious talent, the other is Milli Vanilli.

Nathan Merritt and GI just before a game 

Speaking of style over substance i was going to mention the Roosters, but they have no style & no substance. In fact they are legless & i dont think its fair to kick a team when they are down, unless that team is coached by Brian Smith.

Ever since he walked out on the Dragons and said "the place has a smell of Newtown about it" i have had the voodoo doll working overtime on him. Its working.

The Roosters have a shitload of money and influential people in the back ground but poor performance, a lot like the Spice Girls.



As for the Qld team's you can put them all together and say they are "Deliverance". I reckon thats what happens in Origin camp, Big Mal makes them squeal like piggies & they love him for it. Queenslanders are different like that.

Scrum practice Qld Style

If Cronulla were entertainment who would they be, as much as i hate to say it but Paul Gallen is John McLean in Die Hard. He beats teams on his own these days. I wonder how he would go building a new development?

"Let Todd in you Northies bastards"

As for Manly, they remind me of the Frankie Valli song "Big Girls dont cry". They are always whingeing, from Fulton right through now to Toovey the circus midget they have always gone the sook.

Even when dumb Des was coach and they could be beaten 40 - 0, he would say "errr, ummm, er, um the umm second ummm, errrrr try to them, errrr ummmm errr wasnt a try".

While we are on dumb fucks, Next we have the NZ Warriors. i reckon kiwis have the biggest identity crisis of all countries as there wardrobe only consists of clobber that has the NZ emblem on it. A typical wardrobe consists of:

1/ All Blacks Jumper
2/ NZ Warriors Jumper
3/ Super 15 Jumper

The problem with kiwis is that they always whine about how good NZ is, but they wont fucking go back there. If they were entertainment????Never met a kiwi that was good entertainment.

the bus stop on Campbell Parade, Bondi 

 
When Nathan Tinkler said he was going to rebuild the club around local juniors, i didnt realise he meant St Georges local juniors. Hope the fat prick fails.

I have left Canberra out, most people leave Canberra out of there thinking dont they?

Till next week.

The Top 8

Hi folks, Here is my top 8 for season 2012, top 8 journo's that is that i think are dribblers who feed the public lies and rubbish analysis all in the name of selling papers or TV ratings.

These are of course my opinion only & happy to hear your thoughts:

8/ Steve "Blocker" Roach (2GB & The Game Plan)


While undoubtedly one of the great front rowers of all time, when it comes to analysis Blocker is left well behind. I can never forget his call after St George were beaten in round 24 of the 2010 season by Canberra & left 4 points on top of the table, "I think the Saints are gone and i don't think they can make top 4". Besides being able to count how many pies are left in the oven, i don't think Blocker could comprehend that mathematically St George couldn't finish lower than 2nd.

Add to this the following preview on the Matthew Johns show( http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/relax-its-the-roosters-to-win/story-e6frexnr-1225932010635) before the 2010 GF and you will see why Blocker made the list.  Plus the dribble that 2GB trot out every weekend is a disgrace.

7/ Josh Massoud - Daily Telegraph


For a St George supporter, Josh Massoud sunk new lows of journalism the week leading into the 2009 semi final between St George & Parramatta. Desperate for the Dragons to capitulate(which they duly did) the Telegraph ran a smear campaign all week to have the game moved from Kogarah Oval to the SFS or ANZ & give up home ground advantage.

The pitch of the story was that fans will be locked out and school children would be unable to use their free pass into the ground. This had previously had happened through the season at other grounds such as Leichardt but no mention had been made in the press. Massoud then got the Mason family involved(see picture below). The story went that the Masons were dirt poor and couldnt afford a ticket to get in. Upon investigation of the picture, the Mason family were all decked out in brand new jumpers, the rational was that if the whole family can afford $160 jumpers they can afford $20 to sit on the hill.

But digging a bit deeper and it was ALLEGED that the Mason family were not Saints fans after all but News Ltd paid them to be in the story. Massoud was allegedly even spotted in the Dragons gift shop before the story was done, purchasing them new jumpers. This might explain why the oldest son is actually in a ladies jumper. All this is heresay but a picture tells a thousand words. Here is the link to the story:
ttp://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/dragons-fans-face-a-lockout/story-e6frexnr-1225768550602

6/ James Phelps - Daily Telegraph


To be fair to James, he was spun a line by Brian "chief rat" Waldron in August of 2009 that the Dragons had gone out and bought premiers T- Shirts already, ahead of the upcoming finals(http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/peter-doust-plans-production-of-premiership-shirts/story-e6frexnr-1225761139968)

As James hates the Dragons with a passion and his beloved Bulldogs were on top of the table that year, he was happy to derail the Dragons anyway he could. After Waldron was found to be the architect of the Storm debacle, he admitted the T shirt story was a load of shite.

5/ Laurie Daley - Fox Sports

One of the best players ive ever seen, one of the worst commentators ive heard. Just dribbles on and on and on, examples are in the previous post. Signed to a big deal with Channel 9, they realised he was rubbish and only lasted a year.

4/ Mark Geyer - Triple M


While i dont mind Mark "arksed" Geyer in some doses as he at least gives an opinion, those opinions are usually well of the mark. In both 2009 & 2010 he said after round 2, that the respective teams that would go onto win that year "were gone and wont make the 8".

If MG tips your team to miss the 8, load up on them to win the comp.

3/ Gary "Wiz" Freeman - 2ky & Fox Sports


The monday water cooler conversation every monday morning at Humbleton was always "did you hear what the Wiz said this morning, how the fuck does he get a job talking league". Wiz would come across every monday morning  as clueless & that was confirmed after Monday Night Football that evening.

Wiz's insights were always fascinating for how wrong he got them, i can always remember his stat for the week was "every team that played the Storm the week before has been beaten the following week". He said this after round 9, the team the Storm played the week before had won 6 times. He just makes it up.

2/ Ray Hadley - 2GB - soon to be Channel 9


It could be a train wreck on 9 this year if Ray calls with Fatty or Sterlo, they LOATHE each other. Hadley has made a career catering to the moron section of the general public who lap up his radio show each weekend. Get in the car after a match to find out who got man of the match or an interview with a coach but you will only hear songs about Rays teeth or Big Maaaarns flatulence. If you want good radio journalism, switch to the ABC.

1/ Danny Weidler 


The media mouthpiece for Khoder Nasser & his entourage, Weidler has made a career out of a sunday column that centres on the following people; SBW, The Man Mundine, Lote Tiquiri, Willie Mason, Candice Falzon & Quade Cooper.

His television "exclusive"with Khoder Nasser "to find out exactly where SBW had gone" only to be a promo for the Mans upcoming fight was pure rubbish. You know Weidler is bad when Mike Monroe described that as "the lowpoint of Australian journalism".

  

Honourable Mentions: Phil Rothfield, Wayne Pearce, Gordon Tallis, Mark Braybrook 

Its nearly here

Thank you loyal followers for the requests for more from Dalts World of Sport, i feel like Rodney Rude in between sets circa the Suss Club 1990. After a brief sabbatical to the Gold Coast, i am back into it.


Just on the Gold Coast, i've never seen such a mixed bag of humans. Obese family's from Rockhampton on holidays, Inked up locals( they put Todd Carney to shame) & retirees doing there best to prove that a tan isn't skin cells in trauma.

Before we move on to football, i have to take a look back at this summer of sport just gone.

First the cricket, what a piss weak lot the Indians are, they looked about as interested in cricket as Nathan Tinkler would be in the salad bar of Sizzler. The talking point of the summer was wether Ricky Ponting would hold his place in the side. While he has been dropped from One Dayers, his form in the Test arena was outstanding.


The public should never write off a bloke who is willing to drink piss at Scruffy Murphy's on NYE with your scribe, or get belted by a bloke dressed up as a sheila.

Now onto the footy, last week we saw Saints beat Souffs in the Charity Shield, Jack De Bellin & Nathan Green showed a bit for the Dragons and Sam Burgess had a strong second half after being woeful early.


We also got to hear Laurie Daley talk for 80 minutes, some of it very insightful. Lozz trotted out one of his usual gems when saints were leading 18 - 12, "Now if Souffs can hold St George to 18 and score twice they will win". I don't know how he comes up with it, genius. As shown by the picture below some Souff's fans still looked like they had a good night.

The NRL kicked off the year with its official season launch on thursday night and Dale Cherry-Evans(rugby yawnion name if i ever saw one) & Kieran Foran were the "face of the launch".  Unfortunately, unlike previous years candidates, these two didn't disgrace themselves.

I was looking forward to headlines of "Dale loses his cherry" with a front page photo of him doing his best on stage at 5am at the Love Machine with Candice. Or "Foran Twenty", this time foran caught giving a hooker a $20 tip at Porky's. If only Todd Carney could of been the designated driver for the night, Rugby League would of been back were it belonged, on the front page.

I will be back again soon, with my round 1 match previews & my top 8. Instead of picking top 8 teams for this year i will pick my top 8 gibberer's from the media. How do i make 30 go into 8?

South Sydney

You have all heard the saying, usually by supposed respected league media identitys, "when Souths are going well, leagues going well". Is it really true?

As i was born in November of 1971, i  have never really known Souths to be going well. Since 1972, Souths have made the semi finals 8 times while "winning" the wooden spoon 5 times. From their readmission into the comp in 2002 they have won 3 wooden spoons and made the finals once, hardly a club that is going well.

We are now entering the phase of the season South Sydney fans boastingly declare that "the premiership is ours" & they get worse if they happen to win there grand final, the Charity Shield. The club feeds off this success, what other club in professional sport sells posters(see below) after winning a trial game?

So what will change in 2012 to make South Sydney a force, already the coach is hedging his bets by selecting 5 captains. But by breaking it down i can see method in his madness, Burgess, Crocker & Asotasi are always injured. John Sutton goes missing usually for 80 minutes at a time and that just leaves Matt King, a bloke selected only for his stupid haircut. Not since the Wolfman Williams has a player been so revered by selectors because of abnormal hair growth.

But and this is the big but, that Souths fans are pinning their faith on. Maguire is a modern coach from the Bellamy regime of hard work, discipline and inidan death locks. While Johnny Lang was an old fashioned coach in a modern era, Maquire has got Souths up to speed with what is required in this technological age of GPS monitors & ice baths.

Looking at Greg Inglis(before he got injured) this is obviously having a positive effect on the playing group, he was in great shape & if he can have a big year Souths might do well. They definately have a very good forward pack if they stay on deck but the query is on the halves. Adam Reynolds is a rookie half and i think Sutton is better in the back row.

They have the most amount of upside of any team & im sure if they win a few on the trot the fans from Homebush will be very vocal.

So is league going well when Souths are going well?If thats the case league has been shithouse for 40 years but you never know, this could be the year.

Tell me how you think Souths will go in the poll at the bottom of the page.

Todays Sporting Headlines

The lead item on Fox Sports News this morning,  as it was on most news services, is that Alberto Contador has been stripped of his 2010 by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and been suspended for two years.  Contador tested positive for Clenbuterol during the second rest day of the 2010 tour race.

What suprises me is that it has taken this long for a governing body not to believe his "it was the steroids in my steak" excuse. I have a very good friend Pooba,who loves a steak and probably eats it 5 times a week and he would be lucky to cycle up Beverly Hills let alone the Alps. Why Contador didnt come up with a bullshit Lindsay Lohan  like story of "i was drugged" is beyond me. I would love to know what steak he ate that helped him win the tour as i would be chowing down every night.

Speaking of fanciful storys, the back page of todays Telegraph is how Timana Tahu wants to play Origin again this year. He should be hoping to get picked for Newcastle first grade before contemplating Origin.

The bloke last played a good game in 2003 & is a total liability. Why the Telegraph gave him air time is beyond me, its like the old days of Lance Thompson every year saying "id love to be picked for Origin", so would any player. Doesnt mean your up to it. While Wayne Bennett is a miracle worker, he even has his limitations.

Considering what happened in camp before Game 2 of 2010 i think Tahu would be considered a "never to be picked again" candidate.  Tahu would be as trustworthy as Kevin Rudd at a Julia Gillard bbq.

A guy who can really play is Josh Dugan , who by todays press looks like staying in Canberra for $750,000 a year. The offers by the Roosters and Dogs must fall way short of that mark, as why else would anyone stay in that shithole. Surely the Roosters offer of a beachside house, cash filled brown paper bags and a Home & Away star should of been enough to see him go there. The Dogs offer of free kebabs in belmore & a hotted up Subary WRX doesnt really measure up.

In AFL news, Melbourne has gone into meltdown because Alan Didak has a torn aductor muscle and is out for a month. The Herald Sun has devoted 19 pages to the story, complete with human body charts. Heaven forbid anything actually does happen in Melbourne, it would have to be pushed back to the middle pages.

The other main headline is Kevin Sheedy's biggest challenge has been getting Israel Folau up to speed for teh season opener against the Swans. I would of thought getting people to games and trying to win at least 2 would be Sheedys biggest challenge. Team GWS have recruited the best young kids and blended them with old blokes who should have retired a few seasons back. They seem like an episode of Marry my boy.

This preseason for both footy codes has been very tame, no Kim Duthies with Ricky Nixon in his reg grundies, no Julian Oneill shitting in Schlossy's shoe & a sober Todd Carney have made it very boring. What happened to the good old days were a trip to the brasco at the Clovelly meant you might interrupt SBW  potting Candice Falzon.

Watching Footy, were to next?

Last weeks court verdict,Optus vs Telstra, with regards to new media rights had me reminiscing of how lucky as a fan we are that we have so many avenues to watch our favourite sports.
My first memories as a kid were rushing home on a saturday from my brothers and i footy games & listening to Frank Hyde describe what had a happened in that afternoons NSW rugby league match.
 If we were lucky we would catch the last 20 minutes on ABC tv with Warren Boland at Lidcombe Oval or Redfern. Then it would be the legendary "the winners" with Drew Morphett with all the highlights of the VFL matches all played that saturday afternoon.
On to Sunday now & if you couldnt wait for Rex Mossop to say "its a high high Garry Owen" at 6.30pm on channel 7's match of the day replay, you would be huddled around the radio with your mates or brothers waiting to hear for the 'around the grounds".
The anticipation when Frank Hyde would say "there has been a try at Brookvale Oval" was enornmous. In that split second when they did the cross, I was praying to hear Tony Megahey say "Saints have run 80m to score with a brilliant try"
But in our house, as i am sure was the case across the country, we as a family decided before sunday night wether to get the score before the replay was on & the golden rule was "dont tell me the score". You would have the shits with your brother if he knew & would give out hints before the coverage.
Speaking of Rex & the coverage on 7,  when i hear Isaac Hayes "theme from shaft" i still think of Rugby League, as a kid that theme song was magic.
The footy codes were very simple to follow then, VFL was on saturday afternoon as was one Rugby League match. Sunday afternoon 3pm was the time slot for all the rest of the league games.
Channel 7 used 3 cameras to cover league, a side on shot and one each behind the goals.While the VFL had a side on shot only.
There was no thought by the various adminstrations back then on how to maximise revenue the tv medium brought in. But back then leagues clubs were swimming in rivers of gold and clubs didnt rely on media money like they do now. 
Fast forward to now and how we watch the games is totally different & technology has changed all that. I remember thinking my dads car was posh because we could listen to Rod Stewarts greatest hits in his tape deck in the car. I travelled through europe in the mid 90's with a discman & thought i was the shit. Now we can watch matches on our smartphones.
Pay tv enables us to watch nearly all sports live and if we cant, there are plenty of free websites that let us do so. Social media sites, such as twitter is brilliant in giving us running updates on whatever sport we want.
But is the romance of watching or listening to sport now gone, because everything is so accesable? I fondly remember living in London in the mid 90's and the only way i could get the footy scores there was get mondays TNT magazine. Now i just have to click the app on my phone. If i was a kid now & wanted to see Rex Mossop get hit in the head with an apple, i can instantly go to youtube, in days gone by i would have to wait till after the coverage.

I think even though the mystery is gone i would rather see it all happen live. What i am looking forward to next though is were technology can take us with sport.

Welcome

Thankyou for entering Dalts world of Sport, its where i will give my opinions and my opinions only on all the sports i love. From Rugby league, Australian Rules Football, Cricket, Tennis, Golf, Triathlon, Athletics & Swimming you will read all the goings on from around the world.
I started the blog because i believe a lot of sports media in Australia are limited by the old mates act or because they are worried they will never get an interview from the subject again if they are to critical.
The days of journos out drinking or travelling with teams and forming friendships with athletes/players is long gone in this professional age. Press conferences after matches are very sterile environments compared to the "good old days" of Barry Ross interviewing the man of the match in the shower with a can of KB in his hand & the camera fogging up. Now the captains & coaches have the obligatory sponsors cap on & give the usual grunts and groans saying "full credit to the opposition", "yeah definately" or "we were a bit lucky to get there in the end", usually after a 40 - 0 or 20 goal thumping.

I have to laugh when hearing of a Sydney Sports radio show, who asked for one player of the Australian Cricket team to give them 5 minutes after a recent T20, only to be told "noone in the squad has any time to give sorry". Not even in this ultra competitive sporting environment could even the 12th man come on and give his thoughts on the previous night's match. Christ, Robbie Maddison only seconds before he jumps over the Harbour Bridge will have a few words with a broadcaster, even if it is only to say "im shitting myself".
Through social media such as Facebook & Twitter it would seem the fan has greater access to the athlete but is that really the case. In previous era's the athlete had to work and had that social interaction with his colleagues who were probably the first ones of a monday to tell him/her is they went well or badly the previous weekend. In the previous era you would see the Carlton captain on the dancefloor of the Tunnel nightclub of a saturday night or the Dragons second rower downing schooners in the back corner of the Cool Room with his opponent from only hours earlier. The athletes i believe were more "visible" back then, than now when its either reading to kids in a school or visiting sick kids in hospital. Very noble and im sure heavily appreciated by the community but it seems stage managed. Unlike waiting for a pizza at 1am outside Gillies Pizza in Cronulla with the Sharks gun half back still with sticthes in his head from being belted that night.
The media, apart from say Phil Goulds SMH or Martin Blake's Age column on a monday,dont really tell us why a team won, they tell us who won yes, but its not broken down to a level a fan now wants. There are media darlings, who underperform but for what ever reason are let off the hook while if a certain player misses one tackle is pillared and labeled for his career.
My blog will highlight this when it happens and the aim of the blog is to separate media myth to what actually happens.
SO i hope you enjoy it, and the guarantee i will give is you will never read "its not his go".