The Rugby League news cycle never stops, but this week it has slowed down to some degree. Seven teams have Byes, meaning only five games. Origin 2 is on the horizon, but news out of the Origin camps tends to be mundane or repetitive. Ten days is a long time when everyone is playing their cards close to their chest and there is nothing much to say anyway.
We know that “Alfie” is up to mischief in the QLD camp. Exactly what this entails, nobody knows. The players just smile and shake their heads when they are asked. The fans are left to draw their own conclusions. “Has Munster been annoying everyone?” More head shaking and conspiritorial smiles. Again, the fans need to use their imagination. Soon enough, the poor old media will be scraping the bottom of the barrel. “Who is the biggest pest?”, “Who is the most annoying?”, “Who is the messiest roommate?” No wonder there always seems to be a mystery virus in the camp. The journos must write about something.
The Blues at least, must spend a day or two justifying their selections and omissions. Liam Martin is an omission, so they at least will have to anoint a new “Pest” in the ranks. I am disappointed in myself that I even know that. Standard fare out of the Blues camp is “the boys have all bought in”, “this is probably the best camp I have been involved in to be honest” and club rivalries have been put aside, “ We have had some battles on the field, but he is actually a really good bloke.” I try to avoid as much of it as I can. As I said, it can be tedious. Honestly readers, you are better off reading the offerings from the learned men of Rugby League on the Footy Almanac, than reading some of the Origin lead up reports.
Speaking of tedious, the Football (Soccer) World Cup is about to begin. Prepare yourself for a few weeks of drama, controversy, comical theatrics, robberies, contentious VAR (bunker) decisions, rushing the referee and some brilliant goals. The Poms are heavily favoured, and for once are not in the “group of death”. Any group can be a group of death for the Poms. They face the same sort of suffocating scrutiny that NSW face in Origin, often with the same results. It usually ends in tears for them; chances are it will again. Their supporters used to sing “two world wars and one World Cup” at the German supporters back in the day. Unfortunately for them, they have not added to that tally since 1966. FIFA have their snouts firmly in the trough, charging around $US 1000 per ticket. Throw in the fact that it is being held across Mexico, Canada, and the USA, and in the current political climate around the world, it should be an interesting time.
Our boys, the “Socceroos”, are going around again. You can get 500 to 1 if you fancy them to lift the trophy. They are 10 to 1 to win their group against hosts USA, Türkiye, and Paraguay. If we are to score some goals to help our cause, the Bookies say Mohamed Toure, Nestor Irankunda and Christian Volpato are our best hopes. I am not familiar with their work, but they sound like a trio of likely Aussie lads. $3.25 is the current price for them to qualify from their group. This would appear to be their objective. Of course, I will be on board with the lads and wishing them all the best. I would expect all the usual Australiana commentary, “Punching above their weight”, “Did the Nation proud”, “with an ounce of luck they could have qualified.” Of course, there will be the mandatory, savage attacks on the administrators of the game in Australia as soon as they are eliminated. It seems to be part of the game in this country.
It has been another hellish year for the Australian “Rah Rah” lads in the “game they play in Heaven.” Their seasons are over prematurely. If you looked hard on the weekend, you would have discovered that the 6th placed Brumbies were towelled up, 66 to 12 by the Hurricanes, and the fifth placed QLD Reds were given a 46 to 24 hiding by the Crusaders. Things just don’t seem to be getting any better in Wallaby land. The Western Force and the NSW Waratahs did not make it to the qualifying finals, finishing 7th and 8th respectively out of 11 teams. They beat home the Highlanders, the Fijian Drua and “Moana Pasifika”. A win in the FOXTEL series “Rivals” seems to be the best result in recent times for the fifteen A-side code.
Anyway readers, I have digressed this week into the other footy codes but have not entered into the AFL realm. I will leave that to the Almanac experts. I do have great respect for how the AFL manage their big occasions and of course, Neale Daniher was a genuinely great man and an inspiration to everyone. I will try and get back on track next week.
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Prospector, the PR machines of all codes certainly push out a lot of guff. We haven’t had an illness scare coming out of either SOO2 camp yet – but it’s only Thursday, I suppose.
I’m a bit more upbeat about the World Cup. Obviously it’s a cash cow for certain vested interests but I’ll stick to the action on the pitch. I find it ironic that the head of FIFA has the name Infantino.