It’s a European final, already a feather in his cap even if he loses.

But immensely – IMMENSELY – better if Spurs pull off the final.

I’d say it’s for sure going to be one of the most watched ever Europa finals.

Ange himself is part of the attraction. For some reason he’s become a media magnet, and a great Aussie sports ambassador.

Instinctively, knee-jerk reaction only, I’m shuddering that someone serious might even be considering this schlitt.

It would be awesome if they got through to the final.

Go Spurs. Theoretically, they are not really my team, but in truth I’ve never given a flying monkey’s ash about English football and I’ve never been so interested in any EPL team as since the Aussie took over Spurs.

Go Ange!

Brilliant highlights from that Raiders-Storm game. These two will figure big in the end of season games, along with the dogs and I believe (/kind of hope) the sleeper Wahs.

Bellamy was verbally incensed with poor Loiero afterwards at the press conference. But if you slomo

1) that first crucial (field goal -nullifying) penalty Loiero gave away, Hudson Young (particularly) and his Maitland homie Starling & Tapine absolutely pinball Loiero in the tackle. Jersey grabbing fists to the chin are still illegal fists to the chin & Canberra were the instigators

2) the second Loiero penalty giveaway (the head high for the game deciding goal) Young was the target. Was Loiero still angry at Young & stupidly seeking payback?

Did Canberra deliberately milk this situation?

I think they might have. Note that Starling was also the (underfoot) niggler when Utoikamanu got binned.

It stands to reason that if a level game is on or near golden point, milking anger-error from the team in possession in goal range is a dirty but brilliant tactic and it worked like a dream in that game.

If it was a thing. Take a bow, RS?

The wins against Indonesia and China were quite impressive, I thought.

Irvine was great in these games though; losing him is a blow. On the other hand, Metcalf & Circati both look like exciting addition possibilities. I think Irankunda is going to happen from the bench in the Japan game.

Whatever you think of his style, you can’t dismiss Popovic’s record since becoming coach. Hasn’t lost a game, has wins at home & away, & the team is in an infinitely better qualifying position than when he took over.

Unless they beat Japan at home, the Saudi away game is likely to be an effective final. Both will be huge. If Poppa succeeds to get us through, system be damned, he’ll be a hero. If not he’ll suck for eternity. That’s football.

Early days, but I’m pretty happy with the Kiss outcome at the moment. He’s no novice, & he’s doing well with the Reds.

Spearheaded by the Reds, this is shaping up as the best Aussie Super Rugby showing in years.

And I agree about the talent. It’s astonishing how many good players there are when you look under the hood.

Hoping to leverage that is an Aussie currently coaching amongst the Australian players. On that score it’s more promising than bringing in a last minute overseas-based coach.

“There’s some conjecture over the No.1 jersey and whether Dylan Edwards deserves to keep his spot over the evergreen James Tedesco”

Can someone pls explain to me why Cronulla’s consistent & brilliant Will Kennedy, even at 28, never seems to figure in these kinds of conversations?

It’s a legitimate approach.

But this guy, from what I read, was a star of Saints’ SG Ball winning side (the first Saints side to win in ages, apparently). He’s a little younger than Egan & the Couchmans, and played/ came thru w/them.

My point is, that if he’s ready and can make a difference, as mixed as my feelings are, I’d hate to see the best side deliberately not selected for political rather than merit reasons.

You can imagine knock-on effects, as well, especially if he starts ghosting some buyer’s remorse & a few good performances inspire him to try to get more from those sons of dogs.

Yeah, I don’t know how Flanno will handle it. On the one hand, he made great use of Lomax knowing he wanted out, but on the other Rawalawa & now Molo went notably AWOL

For sure he wanted to ease Latu in. Latu came thru the ranks w/Stewart & Egan and would probably have been on deck within a few weeks.

You just knew the Dragons were going to miss out on Finau Latu.

He sounded like an awesome prospect. Sucks that he went to those silvertail Sons of Dogs.

But predictable.

“St George Illawarra’s decision to let Hunt walk early after he agitated for a lucrative extension into next season is looking like a wise move indeed.”

Yep.

Wow, imagine having such a choice of great wingers that you can drop Dom Young!

That’s what the Roosters have done and it’s legit: their starters are Nawaqanitawase & Daniel Tupou. Who can argue with that? I think it’s also a good idea moving Markey Mark out of the centres. His positional play & general defence is exploitable & wing is where he ought to be at this stage of his league career (noting that Tedesco is a wrap at FB).

Neither Hunt nor Lomax wanted to be there, so their departure was a win: win.

As for the replacements, blimey, Val Holmes & Clint Gutherson are top shelf. I don’t think there can be any argument atm as to who got the better of that (effective) Lomax – Gutho swap.

Cooke & Ilias hv also markedly improved.

Flanagan is cannily building a hand here.

Dylan Edwards is a fantastic performer, has been great for the Blues, & is rightly here called a walk-up.

Having said that, I was reminded again last round that Will Kennedy is probably one of the most underrated players in the NRL and is often close to the Sharks’ best.

4 tries. It stood out.

I guess Flanno is thinking he’s only 23yo, w/only 2 NRL games. Plenty of time.

Feagai is 24, w/Dargons since ’21, 60+ NRL games, 20+ tries. I’m still a subscriber to Trust In Flanno so I’ll let it go for now. Go Mat.

I’ll be stunned if they bring in Feagai instead of Finau to replace Tuipolotu on the St George wing this week. Surely not?! Is Finau injured?

Yes, you’re right: ’80s was really the era of their HK dominance (starting ’79):

1979 Australia 39–3 Western Samoa
1980 Fiji 12–8 Scotland
1981 United Kingdom Barbarian F.C. 12–10 Australia
1982 Australia 18–14 Scotland
1983 Australia 14–4 Fiji
1984 Fiji 26–0 New Zealand
1985 Australia 24–10 United Kingdom Public School Wanderers
1986 New Zealand 32–12 France
1987 New Zealand 12–6 Fiji
1988 Australia 13–12 New Zealand
1989 New Zealand 22-10 Australia

What jumps out at me from this article is that:

a) rugby loses money; &
b) sevens loses money.

Seeing as world rugby underwrites both currently, it certainly makes sense that world rugby would lose LESS money by cutting off sevens.

But it’s not, logically, going to translate into proper rugby suddenly being profitable.

Obviously, w/better management sevens – like anything – could be a financial winner. Rationalising the sport’s obvious advantages:

It can be played in short-term tournament format, unlike rugby.

And has thus become a ticket into the Olympics, which has great value both in terms of involvement in a supremely prestigious tournament as well as facilitating the international spread of the game, and the attraction to the game of superior athletes, who may naturally want the chance to appear at the Olympics during their career.

It more emphasizes pure athleticism than traditional rugby.

It appears to be less dangerous than traditional rugby (and probably thus more appealing to parents).

I know this is an unpopular and probably quite impractical viewpoint, but I’d like to see more integration of the game’s best players into sevens. When cricket makes its Olympics debut, there will be T20 specialists, but also others and general appreciation that the game’s very best are participating.

There was several reasons why 60+ thousand came to see a DuPont-led France take the gold in Paris, buy one of them was certainly DuPont himself.

& there was a reason he took the risk of participating, like Nawaqanitawase and others like Kerevi and Hooper and Honey Badger.

Can you imagine how powerfully attractive – both to potential audience and potential participants – an “Olympic trial” sevens tournament in Australia involving Super Rugby teams and even NRL teams would be?

Does any old codger like me vividly remember (like me) how awesome it was when Australia dominated HK with the Ellas, Campo & co back in the ’70s?

Agree with your comments about Wahs Wabbits and Waiders. And the Knights.

Can’t argue with the 15th for the Dragons. They would hv wrecked my weekend if I hadn’t learned years ago to simply file them in my unconditional love box w/Waratahs. No joke, when they got 12 in front I thought uh-oh and lo and behold it was like an action replay of the Rabbitohs farce.

But I seriously think they can be a contender. Halves are the issue. Probably Finau back to wing too. Hopefully the Spoon of Damocles will motivate them now.

Good enough is old enough. I wish someone bigger and older was playing better than babyface Tom, but noone is, and he will probably DESERVE a start.

If Lolesio (or someone else) is playing better at selection time, then they should start.

But if not, I’m pretty happy w/this guy. He’s not shy of a tackle, puts go-ahead goals over from 50m, and he’s the backline lynchpin of the current (& rare Aussie) Superugby ladder lead.

Yeah: he’s 84kg & 5’10 and he’s going to get PHUQEN HAMMERED by monstrous Lions backrowers (& others). But guess what? The Aussies will be forced to counter it. If the Aussies let the Lions put the bully on them, they are going to lose the series anyway! First unwritten law of rugby is that if you’re scared of your opponent, there’s a better than even chance that you’re going to lose. There’s a reason why the Boks are the best in the world (well probably a number, but there’s a strong underlying reason numero uno). I’m sure Ray Price, Steve Finnane & the late great Moose Mossop would heartily agree w/this post.

Plus imo Tom has a great attitude. Check this excerpt from a Rugbypass interview a couple months back (he’s talking about advice from his legendary Dad):

“In the Irish quarter-final in ’91, he sort of said to the boys in the huddle after that Irish try, ‘We are going to get up there, we are going to do this, we are going to run this play, just keep it real simple, it has worked for us and just go through with that’.

“That is something I have taken into my game, just try to keep things simple, sticking to what works for us and not going outside the box in high-pressure moments. That is one of the main stories I have taken from him, from that sort of game.”

That Hangzhou stadium holds 80,000. China is effectively out of the picture now, having played well to only go down 1-0 to the Saudis away. They’ll be fighting for pride and a mathematical chance of qualification. Ain’t going to be easy for the ‘roos.

In this round, Saudi plays Japan away, so if Australia wins there’s a big chance of opening daylight on the Saudis on the table (we’re 1 point ahead of them now, & well clear in for & against)

It’s a huge game. SaudiA & Australia are the real contenders for the last qualifying spot. Our last game is against them AWAY, & the only other game for us is against Japan (they’ve got, I think, Bahrain).

Yuuuuge freaking game this one.

How could he leave out Irankunda?

Irankunda “won (Swiss Grasshoppers’) player of the month award for February.”

He’s pithed too. Put “They will ignore you until they can’t” on his social media account.

Luv ya Poppa but ‘tf?

I really hope Mam gets past this. He’s a great player. The energy and style he brings to a game reminds me a lot of Brett Kenny.

Re Saints:

“There is indeed a venue halfway in between those two grounds (Kogarah & the ‘Gong) known as Shark Park.”

Maybe I’m being a bit precious, but that’s a very liberal definition of “halfway” my dude.

I’m looking forward to Saints’ ’25 hitouts.

Flanagan had a solid first season. Keep in mind that he was the guy who FORCED Lomax to stay on the wing, resulting in (by far) the best season in that man’s career.

If Holmes, Gutho, White & Ilyas are motivated – and I think at least 2/4 will be – that will end up being a solid exchange for (long unmotivated) Hunt & Lomax. These “new” guys are plugging into a stabilized platform.