Some Sporting Observations

8. The Sydney Kings and the Melbourne Tigers will play off in the NBL finals this week after the Tigers swept the Brisbane Bullets and the Kings hammered Perth in game three of their series. The Kings enter the series as marginal favourites but will be forced to deal with the pressure of possibly winning the championship and shutting down in the same season. The NBL and the Sydney Kings both vehemently deny any possibility of the Kings shutting down but the team is in real financial trouble with the ownership looking to sell an interest in the team. The Kings match-up well against the Tigers but will have to overcome their off-court worries if they are to defeat the well-drilled Melbourne outfit.

7. Jockey Corey Brown was hit with a bombshell after the last at Caulfield on Saturday with trainer Lee Freedman telling the hoop that he would no longer be the stable jockey and nor would he be getting any of the rides on the promising group of Freedman youngsters Brown has worked with since relocating to the Mornington Peninsula. The split has been described as amicable but it certainly does not appear that way. Brown was shocked while Freedman seemed stubborn. There have been no eruptions between the pair but Freedman has reportedly been unhappy with Brown’s recent performances. Brown will now ride freelance while Freedman will look for a number one stable rider.

6. It does not matter how much money the AFL throws at their pre-season cup competition, there will always be a differentiation in importance between teams. Some teams will play hard and play their best side in order to win money, boost membership numbers and build some momentum. Others will treat the game simply as a trial match with no desire to win and a keenness only for a hit-out. The Sydney Swans have a season plan and that does not include playing much in the NAB Cup. They are now being investigated by the AFL for reportedly “throwing” a match. Trial games, and that is all NAB Cup matches are, are not played to win and the AFL is foolish for making an issue out of this. If the AFL wants to see more games with teams at their best, they should lengthen the season.

5. The 2008 NRL season has yet to kick-off but there is plenty of discussion about player movement in 2009. This week Israel Folau, Carl Webb and Matt Cooper were all linked with the Bulldogs while Todd Carney and Anthony Tupou have been reported as targets of Manly. Todd Carney has also been offered big money by Penrith. The seismic coaching shift that will occur over the next few months will also have a major bearing on player movement with the possibility of Storm coach Craig Bellamy going to Brisbane meaning Captain Cameron Smith could follow. The NRL opened up the market but it is doubtful they foresaw the ridiculousness of players signing contracts so distant in the future. The NRL should have a window for deals and allow the focus to return back to the field.

4. The South Sydney Rabbitohs won the Charity Shield on Saturday night with a fairly impressive 24-20 win over the St.George-Illawarra Dragons. Led around the park by new half Craig Wing, the Rabbits were dominant in the first-half but only went into half-time with a 12-.6 lead. The Dragons looked much better in the second half when hitting the front but a late Craig Wing try got the Bunnies home. If Souths can maintain the Wing-Rogers halves combination, the Rabbits will again be playing finals football. They have a good mix of youth and experience, speed and strength, guile and brutality. Souths are set for a big season.

3. One of Australia’s great fast bowler’s, Jason Gillespie, has retired from cricket in Australia after signing a three-year deal with the rebel Indian Cricket League. Gillespie will join fellow Australian’s Damien Martyn, Ian Harvey, Stuart Law and Matthew Elliott in the ICL. Gillespie was a wonderful servant of Australian cricket, taking 259 Test wickets at 26.13, forming a wonderful partnership with Glenn McGrath that history will remember fondly. Gillespie’s Test career ended, for all intents and purposes, when Gillespie was dropped on the basis of poor form during the fabled 2005 Ashes series. He did, however, receive a fitting encore, coming through for Australia once more when our bowling stocks were down, leading Australia to victory over Bangladesh. In his last ever Test, Gillespie scored an unbeaten double century. The man known as “Dizzy” still had plenty to offer Australian cricket and it is one of the great shame’s that he was cast to the scrap heap so early.

2. Australian cricket lost another character throughout the week when incumbent Australian spinner Brad Hogg announced his retirement. Hogg has been a tremendous ODI bowler for Australia and revived his Test career this summer, playing three Tests. Captain Ricky Ponting, however, appeared to have little faith in Hogg as a Test player and it seemed an inevitability that he would be dropped for the Pakistan trip. Victorian leg spinner Bryce McGain is the most deserving of the next shot, having had a brilliant summer in all forms of the game.

1. Australia has been rattled this summer and the days of holding a domineering mental edge over opponents are well over. Australia has looked a shadow of the side they were in years gone by, involving themselves in public slanging matches and then failing to back it up on the field. Australia’s batting in the first Commonwealth Bank Series final was ordinary at best. Matthew Hayden dominated early but as has been the case for much of the summer, nobody else has put together a score. Partnerships have been rare and sensibility has gone out the window. All the while, Australia finds it necessary to rile up the Indians, who are behaving just as immaturely as their counterparts. Australia will need to buckle down if they are to come back and win the final series.

Upper of the Week: Sachin Tendulkar’s dashing century in the first final of the Commonwealth Bank Series. It was Tendulkar’s first ODI century on Australian soil. It was another wonderful achievement for the most brilliant batsman of a generation.

Downer of the Week: The further disintegration of relations between India and Australia. Once again the cricket headlines were dominated by petulant name-calling, accusations and bitter counterclaims or denials. Both teams need to be bought into line.