The SmartB Sports Update Episode 39

It’s episode 39 of the SmartB Sports Update and we’ve got a lot to discuss.

The Australian Open is just a few days away and Alex de Minaur has been on fire in the warm ups. We’re still on the cricket with the West Indies tests starting soon. And of course there’s plenty to discuss in the NRL.

We preview how we think the Wests Tigers will go and what we think will happen in 2024.

And as always, we address the comments on social media.

Tune in now at all good Podcast platforms

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[Music] [Applause] he you go man good things join yourself man I’m really awesome yeah gearing up for the Australian Open that starts on Sunday can’t wait for it John yep and the drawer was dropped which is good you put in the notes that it should be dropped at 1 p.m. and it was dropped uh so we can go over what the Aussies are doing and the um uh some of the other exciting matchup y looks like Alex demon or has the hardest opening do so do we know who he’s playing in the first round he will be playing Milos Rik okay that’s not at all a good matchup for him um as a player I mean there’s never anything been wrong with Alex demon or’s fighting Spirit not at all but um I guess the issue for him has always been that he doesn’t have a big weapon in his game and Milos Ric is the opposite he’s got a weapon of a so Milos Ric made the Wimbledon Final in 2016 so that just shows um how good a server he is and to be honest John that’s um my my heart has sort of sunk as you’ve just revealed that to me 30 seconds ago that he’s got to play against RIT first up former world number three against current world number 10 it’s it’s not the wor well given that demon or is obviously seeded that’s just about as bad a first round match up as he could have to be honest with you yeah it’s um I would say it’s the uh worst uh seated matchup seated because you know once you’re seated you don’t get another seated person top 10 so he’s got actually out of that top 10 where did my sheet go oh God damn it um out of the top 10 he’s got the hardest match up it’s the problem is and I know Ric while he had that success back in 2016 at Wimbledon he hasn’t and I guess this is an UPS the upside for demon or going into that match is um Ric hasn’t had a lot of tennis recently um so if you’re going to get round you’re a lot more likely to get round it on an off day um now than you would have would have been back in about 2016 when he was I’d say at that point you’d have to say he was at his Peak he was making Wimbledon finals um but the problem for demon or is that the racket’s now been taken out of his hand now the mat is not on his racket it’s entirely on Ric’s Racket and there is every chance that Ric could have an off day with his surf John you would hope so um yeah absolutely um and and and demor is going to need that to happen now um I have did a fair bit of research on demon or before the draw came out John as as you said the draw was only um announced a matter of 90 minutes ago y um so yeah he had that really good lead up in the united cup beat Taylor Fritz Novak jovic and Alexander Zev um who you know are all top 10 players well Fritz was a top 10 player at that time demon or has now actually replaced him in the top 10 but Fritz was in the top 10 at that time um and Demon or becoming the first Australian to enter the top 10 the men’s top 10 since 2006 Leon P um Pat rafter actually even said that he thinks demon or could go all the way to the final um but I’m just I’m just not buying that where is I was just looking at so his run to the final would be R first then if he gets through that it becomes kind of easier uh so the likely path would be Mato and Aldi in round two Nicola Jerry round three then either Sebastian cord or Andre rublev and then the quarterfinal becomes we’re entering another realm in the quarterfinal we so that fourth round against cter or R yeah so I think if he can get past Ric um you’d have to think he’s he’s a strong chance of getting through to the fourth round given that path but yeah I wouldn’t be guaranteeing that he’d go further than cter or rublev um then after that he’s got CA uh T the quarters is yeah TFO or katov right okay and then the semi-final is is it’s either either jovic or cisz well this is the thing I’d put jovic alz cner meddev Zev and Runa all ahead of him straight straight off the bat straight off the bat those are the top six favorites with the bookmakers um I’d put all of them ahead of him to start off with and then we look at willich is first up um and then if even if he gets through that we’ve got Sebastian cter who again he’s another big server so he’s going to pose the same problem to deonar that Ric will and that he’ll take the ret out of his hand um or Andre rublev and that would be even worse rublev is probably one of the best players in the world not to have won a major at this point um so I I I I just don’t I just don’t get and I know obviously Pat rafter is going to be a better judge than me of course John but I I I just don’t get where he’s coming from was saying that he could be a chance of making a final I mean he’s only made one grand slam quarterfinal before in in his career until all of a sudden and I know he’s worked his way into the top 10 but he just lacks that big weapon that all of these players I’ve mentioned have in their game in in their Arsenal if he’s going to get through the quarterfinals uh against CF or katanov and then he’s going to be relying on Novak jovic getting knocked out earlier than the semifinals or having to play Novak jovic making making the finals there’s a lot of dominoes that would have to fall for him to make the final do you really think well he just beat Novak um he did but let’s be honovic wasn’t going full p and so yeah like that’s what I mean if he come if he was actually to get through say cner in the quarterfinals right he then have to undoubtedly play jovic um but it could be cisz yeah if you want to win it you’re going to have to beat jovic to win it yeah yeah and then the finals if he was to actually get through that semi-finals which would involve him beating Novak jovic or Stefano sisz it would then be aarz medev verev or hogar run for the finals that see that relies on Novak jovic not making the Australian Open final that’s the pro that is actually like the main thing that makes rafter statement that he could make a final not right because he has to get through Novak jovic it relies on jovic not making a final you know in the Australian Open does does anybody see Novak jovic not making a final in the Australian Open nobody sees that so and and I mean a lot of the time you compare demon or game style to Leon hu but I think the difference is that hu had that that speed where even if he played against someone who could hit him off the court he’d Chase everything down down he was like Speedy Gonzalez like the Road Runner I think that’s the difference between hu and Demon or hu it wouldn’t matter how hard the ball was coming over the net hu had the the speed in the legs to get to it whereas I I don’t think Demon’s as quick as I guarantee you hu when he was in high school or whatever he would have won like state titles 100 met 200 M sprad distance running whatever um but I don’t see demon all having quite I’m not saying that he’s slow by any means but hu was able to win majes on the back of his speed alone and and I I I don’t think you could put demor in that category like demor is only 24 so like yesterday yesterday yeah yesterday he um also beat Carlos alarz in his um lead-ups they had a charity exhibition match and he beat araras so now he’s beaten the world number one two six and 12 I mean he’s done he’s done he’s done everything he could do in preparation but I mean as I say he’s only made that one grand same quarterfinal that was at the US Open back in 2020 so you know um when it gets down to it when you look at everything we’ve just looked at all the players in front of him the obstacles that he now has on his draw path you just to be honest John I think he will as as much as I’m I’m nervous about this first round against RIT I think he’ll find a way through because RIT just doesn’t have the tennis in him at this point yeah I’m much more um I’m much less optimistic about that fourth round where he’s going to run into quarter or rublev most likely and then even if he gets through that then there’s obviously as the further you get the harder it’s going to get there’s more obstacles in his way after that John so yeah um and you know jovic especially doesn’t lose to the same person twice as well let alone whether it’s in a grand slam yeah and and especially I mean that’s what I mean it’s going to rely on someone else beating jovic before the quarterfinals yeah he’d need someone else to take jovic out yeah before the semis he need someone else to just play the match it can happen somebody plays the match of their life and and beats um Beats jovic at the Australian Open um Stan vinka did that um um many years ago shock jovic beat him at the Australian Open um I think that was the year vinka won it actually in 2014 yeah um there was someone else who I think it was Dennis isman as well when jovic went off the boil a bit beat jovic at the Australian Open but not many not many players can do it John he’s won it 10 times and he’s won it 10 times for a reason a apart from beating Raphael Nadal at the French Open it’s the second hardest assignment in tennis he’s beating jovic at the Australian Open um so I mean he he he’s the he’s the shortest price favorite with The Bookies John and it’s no surprise he’s he’s the overwhelming favorite to absolutely um so do you know what demon or is currently paying um so John I to be honest I got locked out of all the betting sites I only saw the first the top six favorites so if you want to just bring that up now we can see where he is look we’re actually checking an error with tennis right now there’s a big big issues with tennis actually all over the place right now because even the um Australian open website is down while they’re updating it so unfortunately on the smart B website we don’t have the Australian Open odds yeah and I checked one of the bedding sites and bedding was suspended John on the Australian Open so they still are yeah it’s while the draw is being done because even no jovic’s first round match isn’t announced you know yeah it’s uh he’s got a what is Noak jovic has got a um still waiting for a qualifier he’s he’s marked down as playing a qualifier cuz the qualifiers are still on right now yeah um so the draw is the draw is mostly drawn but not all the way drawn so that’s why betting is suspended uh at the moment and yeah australi open website is down while they update it obviously so yeah so I looked at the betting odds ear much earlier this morning John um and yeah the top six favorites are jovic alar sin Med Dev ver and Runa so I’m not sure exactly where de our sits but he sits outside the top six so yeah unfortunately we can’t check well by Monday we’ll we’ll have it yeah yeah yeah um and we still don’t we still so still don’t know what day they’ll play actually yeah yeah at this stage we don’t cuz the schedule usually gets announced the day before yeah and I’m and and we should also mention that this year for anyone interested it’s an earlier start normally it would start on the Monday this year it’s starting on the Sunday so there’s an extra day of the Australian Open this year so I’d imagine what’s going to happen is the first round will take place on Sunday Monday and Tuesday so as you say we don’t know what day the matches are on as yet and we won’t know until the day before matches Saturday we’ll know what the Sunday matches are and etc etc yep yep um so yeah there’s some other Australians yeah 13 men five women um yeah um so John my research was done before obviously the draw has only just been done so my research was done before um I’ve had a chance to have a look at the draw but John I believe John milman is still in the hunt um with qualifying I believe he’s still going through qualifying um this is his last the last tournament of his career um he’s 34 years of age going to going to retire at the end of the summer this’s the only Australian this Century to beat Roger feder at a grand slam so there you go that’s a nice feather in his cap that’s a nice story that he can tell the grandkids for sure John um yeah a few issues with Alexi poin and tenasi konakis I’m looking at a couple of the other men here John poin withdrew from the Adelaide International on Monday with a glute injury um that’s a concerning sign he’s at number 43 in the world John yep um he’ll be playing Mark palman who’s a wild a wild card okay yeah um and cochan arus will be playing Sebastian ofner in the opening round okay yeah so [ __ ] marus is going through a bit of a form slop slump and he’s blamed um some soft tennis balls if you can so it’s apparently a big thing about it now right okay okay um yeah Nick Nick curios and uh Novak jovic have um been pretty vocal about it for the past week um the changing of the balls every every year or every week or whatever it’s CA they’re talking about how it’s causing wrist injuries um and that’s what happened to Novak jovic’s wrist it was caused by uh different balls the balls they use at the Australian Open apparently um lose their bounce very quickly um so they start out good and then very quickly very quickly die so but you know konakis is one of the Curious crew crew so I don’t know how much I don’t put much faith in konak is having actually any real feedback just it just seems to me like he’s following the Nick curios the balls are bad uh news story yeah he lost at the Adelaide International on Monday night um lost in three sets to Duan lvic so his form’s not great going in John hopefully he can sort it out um um but yeah actually apparently he just announced today there’s going to be some something about the balls done for this Australian Open because of curios and jovic’s complaints yeah and konakis by the looks of it maybe coak just jumping on the [Music] c um yeah um Jordan Thompson’s another one John so he’s got Alexander V vuic V vukich okay opening round um so he um yeah he also had had a bit of an issue in the leadup John um lost to Italian Lorenzo MTI at the Adelaide International um and I think he well he and that was after he beat Rafael Nadal in Brisbane as well but suffered a leg injury in that loss to MTI so there’s a few issues for for the Aussie men John apart from from demon or there’s not really anyone else going in with any great confidence at this stage um so hopefully they can sort it out John but um it’s not looking too good at the moment um yeah it’s 13 men announced so far and five women there are still some wild cards I just said milman we’re waiting to see if milman gets in gets through qualifying y um so doesn’t yeah it doesn’t look like much else there’s your your 13 announced men so far and your five Connells there James Duckworth um anybody else there of not any max pels there he’s going to play against the qualifier rinky hijara against Jan Leonard stru um yeah that’s that’s probably about it for the men John yeah um yeah um well look there you go Chris Christopher conell just beat half an hour behind sorry uh Sebastian cter that was his qualifier that’s how he got in all right so so so what does that mean for quarter then does that mean oh oh sorry I thought cter was um I’m I’m not sure why cter would be going through qualified don’t know be him Christopher conell beat Sebastian cter in the Adelaide International oh sorry the ad I wasn’t qualifying sorry soter will very much be at the Australian Open and he is in Demon way there as you’ve said John yeah that’s right on on his path to the round of 16 going be a very interesting time but yeah hopefully demon or can do well he’s our he’s our great yeah he’s with ashy retired now he’s our great hope for the open for sure um and yeah there’s nothing very much in the women actually to be honest yeah well um interestingly John um the Australia number one female player um Arena Rod NOA was overlooked for a wild card into the tournament she’s ranked 105 Australia’s best ranked female player overlooked for Daria savil so Daria Saville’s got the nod but she’s rank 195 so 90 plac is worse than Rod uh it’s because Daria has more people following her on Instagram I’m sure of it so she’s on Instagram yeah that’s I’m sure of it um yeah yeah I mean she is showing form savil she beat sfia Kennan who I think won the Australian Open um previously yeah safia Kennan so yeah 2020 Australian Open Champion safia Kennan yeah so so Darius saal beat her on Wednesday night um in the to reach the quarter finals of the Hobart International I’m not sure where that’s at ONN but she did win that match on Wednesday night over C Kon so it’s a good form there for Dar sa that umia kennan’s going to be playing World number one e swch on opening round as well okay that’s not a good start for sfia Kennan then John but then again not a good start for eish fonk either she wouldn’t want to be playing a former Champion sfia Kennan in the first round um so that’s that John um IA tomanovich is another one to watch out for um she slipped in the rankings John cuz she down to 33 um in the rankings oh no I think she her rankings are much the 33 seed 33 CU she yeah oh I think I think what it is John is she’s not seated it it could be something to do with her protected ranking it could be something to do with that because she’s been out injured yeah um cuz she’s the only non wild card aie in the women’s main draw SU successful comeback from injury that knee injury she was out for 10 months due to knee surgery she’s best known for ending which I like John she ended Serena Williams’s career at the 2022 US Open I like that because I don’t I’m no fan of Serena Williams that’s for great to do it in the US as well yeah absolutely she’s going to be playing Petra Marik in the opening round um so yeah always worth keeping an eye on um on Isa tomanovich as well even though she’s been out for a while she’s one who um who could you know do some damage if if she’s given a favorable enough draw even though she hasn’t had much T she partnered demon or at the United cup which is just been completed um with Australia making the semifinals there so yeah not there’s not as many women in the you know women’s tennis in Australia seems to be losing Ash so early was um was disappointing but um these things happen right yeah unfortunately um but we’ll keep up we’ll be following it for the next couple of weeks the Australian opens for we’ll see how we go hopefully as I said Dan can make it through something some of the other guys can push for something and hopefully milman qualifies when are we going to know if milman qualifies um well I think I think John I think qualifying finishes up today being Thursday so I’m hopeful that we’ll know by the end of today whether milman got through yep so he will play I just m yeah uh world number 14 is he the world number 14 or is it oh he might be he might no he’d be the 4th seed in qualifying yeah um at 4:15 today he’ll play yeah okay so we’ll know by the end of today yeah if John milman got through hopefully he gets through John it would be great to see him get into the main draw and and it’ll be a fitting send off for he could be the one who has to fight fight play jovic in the opening round which yeah well I mean it was funny he had some he beat feder at that 2018 US Open and he there was another year where I can’t remember the exact year but he pushed Federer all the way at the Australian Open as well I think federa beat him in a super in a match tiebreaker in the fifth set might have been 108 or something in the fifth set in that match tiebreaker so it’s weird there’s just something about milman game that was awkward for feder he just matched up well against federo so um you know You’ never you’d never um it could be him off um from causing an upset could be like that movie the one with um Kirsten Dunst and um what’s his name Javis vision from I don’t know the guy actor’s name where he’s about to he’s the it’s about the tennis players and he’s about to retire and then he goes on to win Wimbledon um I can’t remember the name of the movie um it could be John milman thing you know he announced his retirement and then goes on to win the Australian Open hopefully but no highly unlikely movies aren’t real life um it’s the movie was called Wimbledon yeah um there is some news our our best friend Donald Trump the tennis player has been copying it on social media over in adult twet yes um so John I’m I’m actually I’m actually with um Nick curios on this one um the the social media morons have been added again all he did John was after Nadal pulled out of the Australian Open all he posted was feel for Rafa man get better soon that was the fear for me as well coming back a little too soon I didn’t think there was a lot wrong with that John and then so there’s people on social media giving it to him saying someone said no one is surprised that you made this tweet about you and someone else wrote is there anything you won’t be making about yourself I’ll tell you what by Nick curios standards that’s as good a TW as you’re going to get so if you’re going to bag him for what he wrote there you’re going to bag him for every I think that’s cling stws by social media trolls you know like but it is it is sad that Nadal got out we discussed it on Monday and it’s nice that Nick curios actually said something nice about another tennis player yes and given that he hasn’t had the best relationship with Nadal in the past but particularly Nadal well Nadal and jovic he he he had it in for them for a while and then when jovic got deported a couple of years ago and that whole fast that went on that was ridiculous um for some reason at that point curios warmed to jovic and now they’ve got a bit of a bromance going on but yeah he still had this prickly relationship with Nadal so to get this tweet out of him means that you know he might finally be moving on from these feuds that he created himself he might have gone through some media training where he’s been told ja have to like be friends with the tennis players to get better better um commentary and stuff with he can get better information so now he has to try and mend all the bridges that he’s he’s broken be a lot that he have to got got to work on it for a while um but that’ll be his life for the next however many years because he’s not going to well who knows if he’ll ever come back he may never play again there’s every chance that he won’t play but he he commentating at the Australian Open alongside Boris Becker yeah so it was interesting John so they’re both been signed up by Euro sport to commentate the Australian Open and there was some speculation that they might actually be together in commentary which would have made for some very interesting viewing but um Becka’s actually said that curios obviously is going to be based in Melbourne when he does the commentary but but Becka is going to be based in Munich in Germany so okay um so he’s going to be um part of their coverage from overseas so they’re not going to be together in the studio there might be a situation where Becka’s in one studio and they’re sort of Crossing to Melbourne in another Studio where curios is there but they’re not actually going to be in the same room together John so sorry to pour cold water on what might have been an interesting blow up very awkward situation there I really wonder what would happen you maybe they’ll just be throwing to each other I don’t know about the commentary is you know the modern world now where the commentary is done from remote locations um I don’t I don’t think the commentary I find the commentary is never as good if it’s done from a remote location yeah tennis is a little bit different cutting right yeah tennis is a little bit different cuz not like they do play-by-play um commentary that’ be kind of boring anyway he hit it he hit it back he hit it oh have you ever heard tennis on the radio it’s very interesting it’s not it’s not really a radio sport no not at all no um but yes like I would hope the cuos get some good good practice in this commentary and then in the next Australian Open he’s actually in the mainstream media which would be awesome yeah I think he’s a lot more likely to be doing that than he’s to be playing again anytime soon John he’s never going to play tennis again um Naomi Asaka um who is taking on number 16 SE Caroline Garcia first up M um has pulled out of a charity match prior to the event I don’t know how to say yeah so it’s against Emma RI car yeah that’s all right so um yeah so they were supposed to have a a charity match on Tuesday um at rodad L Arena um Osaka’s won um or she’s a four-time grand slam Champion um rajie CaRu won the US Open in 2021 I think she’s only 21 years of age so she was very young when she won the US Open so yeah they were they were meant to take part in this exhibition match John but um yeah Osaka pulled out um she came down sore after a Brisbane International return after more than a year out of competition and Donna veic was supposed to be a Sak’s replacement in the match but then rajik Carno withdrew as well she also felt some soreness after training the day before but the match was cancelled very late John so a lot of people had already made the journey and gone into the stadium and had found out the hard way that the match wasn’t actually taking place I got to be honest Sean I don’t think I think once you agree to sign up to a charity match you got to commit to it if if you’re not if you’re not sure if you’re going to be right for it then just don’t commit to it if if you think there’s a chance that you go oh look it might be a bit of a bridge too far for me you know I’m playing other leadup events um I I don’t really want to risk it well then all right just don’t commit to it in the first place but you can’t commit to it and then pull out at the last minute leaving fans left wanting that sucks cuz it’s not only for the fans but also the charity that they were raising money for now misses out on all that money because of the um the end of the the event not happening and you know because everybody’s been refunded so no money for the you know the Australian Open is like a we we refer to the Australian Open as that the competition that starts on Sunday um but all the qualifiers these charity matches and stuff like that it’s like a big Festival in Melbourne for almost a month really and these are the kind of things that people travel for I mean you you may have even had some people who have who were traveling into the city or from another state or something to go for that chance to go watch n Saka because they know they’re not going to be able to afford the Australian Open tickets which are ridiculously expensive by the way yeah that’s right and then you know you arrive there that’s yeah you’re 100% right they shouldn’t be committing if there’s any chance that they’ll pull out yeah only 20 bucks to get into that too so it’s unfortunate um that’s aity yeah um rajie CaRu also canceled her appearance at the kuong classic on Wednesday as well after pulling out of that charity match on on Tuesday night um yeah she’s she’s just coming back after she underwent surgery on a right ankle injury and her 2023 pre season was just wiped out by that John so she’s on the comeback Trail as well um she’s going to be playing roders oh there you go they’ve actually announced her in set of time so she’ll be her first um match will be 11:00 a.m. on Sunday ranu uh against Shelby Rogers some of the times are coming out now so yeah I’m not I’m still not sure if I don’t know maybe they’re doing the schedule for for Sunday early bit little bits will come out over the next two days apparent I just read like right now um over the next two days little we getting this information as we speak here um bit by bit it’ll come out um but the women’s will be done first and then the men’s um but that’s pretty much for tennis right now because the tennis hasn’t started but it will on Sunday Sunday yeah so on Monday we’ll we’ll have some day one results to look at and we can look at some of matches to come yep definitely um but you know Cricket uh Cricket’s still there we still got we got the West Indies coming up there’s it’s not just a test series two test series by the way there’s also an ODI series straight after the test series which I only found out yesterday I’ll tell you what John if that 2020 series between Australia and India was the who cares cup after the Cricket World Cup late last year what category does an ODI Series against the West Indies go into that’s after the test series yes cuz you know they need I mean the test series is hard enough to get interested in let alone an OD series afterward but you know they found Warner’s replacement there was much um uh discussion about it as soon as Dave Warner was born it’s been going on for years who’s going to replace and so they’ve decided that Steve Smith will now be the new opener for Australia um with Cameron green replacing Dave Warner in the squad and and he’ll B at four so weird one for me I can’t work it out because Steve Smith he’s never opened in Cricket he averages 61.5 batting at number four in test matches and he scored 1900s batting in that position he’s one of the best batsmen in the world and of all time and and he’s a proven performer at number four um so you’ve got a strength there in having a number four batsman who averages 61.5 you’re moving him to open so now you take away your strength at number four by moving him into the opening position further to that you’re putting in Cameron Green in the number four position he’s never batted at number four in test Cricket before he’s only battered at 6 or seven Cameron green averages 33.5 n from 24 tests with the butt as I said he’s never battered at number four before and I know he’s bow he’s you know he’s an allrounder so he’s a bowl obviously a bowler as well he’s taken 30 wickets from 24 tests with the ball averaging 36.0 3 those numbers aren’t great with the ball but I mean either way John you’re if you’re picking a batsman at number four in the test side you’re picking them as a batsman if they happen to be able to bowl as well well that’s great that’s a bonus but you’re not factoring in their bowling when you’re making the decision who bats it for you’re picking the best possible candidate at number four for batting and you’re disregarding their bowling when you’re making that decision so he averages 33.5 n with the bat that does not scream out at you at all John as someone to replace Steve Smith at number four seriously and if we’re going to go even further than that John um Cameron boft he is the leading run scorer in Sheffield Shield Cricket in the last two seasons of Sheffield sh Cricket as an opener so you have someone there to slot in for David Warner and not upset the rest of the order leaving Steve Smith at number four so that’s just it’s just strange to me yeah so that’s that’s triggered the rumors that Cameron benro has to have been black blacklisted in the Australian team he’d have to have been um what other reason could George Bailey who’s the chief selector uh he’s got a statement today where he insists that Cameron boft is not blacklisted from the Australian team and it’s good that he is uh pushing hard to be recalled and his justifications were things like yeah people forget that camon boft has played test Cricket since sand paper gate and since he served his suspension um but yeah as you said he’s the leading run scorer as an opener uh he was the obvious actual choice and instead they’ve done it is against the West Indies right like I could run out prob as the opener that’s the thing I mean and so it was a perfect opport to to blood him in the position yeah it’s it’s just such a I mean they could do anything they want right now against the West Indies and they’re definitely going to win but why would you not um especially like what did you say the other day India is coming at the end of this year right yeah ind’s coming next summer yeah yeah so you want your best opener to be blooded ready in the team throughout the year because of that because they’re going to come over here and they’re going to want to avenge themselves in the World Cup you know they’re going to want to prove they are the best Cricket nation in the world and instead they they’re experimenting I mean like they’ve got a year to experiment and put Steve Smith in number one and maybe he can become the world’s best number one and Cameron green can become the world’s best number four but and that’s another point isn’t it John there’s every indication that Steve Smith will do a good job as an opener right but I mean he’s not proven as an openo he is proven at number four you know he’s going to do a job for you at number four he averages 61.5 in test Cricket at number four so why take that strength away from yourself by moving him in as an opener and then not only that not having a suitable candidate to replace him at number four with Cameron green who only averages 33 in test Cricket with the bat all the while you’ve got the leading run scorer of the last two seasons in Sheffield Shield Cricket in Cameron bankr who happens to be an opening bman and you won’t pick him as an opener what is the purpose of Chef Sheffield Shield other than to do that’s why it’s there it’s the breeding ground for test cricketers that’s its sole purpose is that and so if you’re not going to if you’re not going to take him under these circumstances when are you going to take him when is Cameron boft going to get another opportunity like this well he’s not blacklisted oh yeah yeah he’s 31 years of age with we’d have as much as we don’t know how Smith’s going to go as an opener we’d have to assume that for at least the next two or three ye years or I mean I guess one thing that maybe Works in Bank cross favor if they are legit when they say that he’s not blacklisted which I’m skeptical about John I don’t believe that for a second kaja’s age may play into his favorite kaaja is I think off the top of my head John we can check 36 or 37 years of age so he doesn’t have long left either 37 yes so that the test will come then John when kaaja retires which you’d have to think it’ be within 12 to 18 months given his age not not many Batman play past 38 his form isn’t the best um you know is kages like he’s he’s average at best um so yeah I’d say he’s probably got another 12 12 months he might pull a day one and retire at the end of the next summer you know um but it’s a bizarre thing like it really is the fact that George Bailey had to come and do a statement say it was during a press conference and someone asked George Bailey has C benro been blacklisted and geores B insisted that he wasn’t and then gave all these justifications and apparently Pat cumins called and spoke to Cameron boft and told him you haven’t been picked and this is why and gave him all these reasons it look man the reason is is because he’s been blacklisted and you can say all you want he’s played since then it maybe he hasn’t been blacklisted because of the Sandpaper thing maybe he’s just being blacklisted because of something else they don’t like him he’s not whatever and of course they’re not going to come out and say that but they should at least tell Cameron bankof you think so wouldn’t you John I mean the thing about boft is and I know he’s played 10 tests John he averages just 26.2 three but he hasn’t played a test since 2019 John that’s a long time ago and since then as we’ve said a few times now he’s the leading run scorer in Sheffield Shield Cricket in the last two seasons so how much can you really read into those 10 tests he played the most recent of which was 5 years ago now surely you look beyond that and you look a lot more at his recent Sheffield Shield form which as we’ve said is very good because he’s the leading run scorer in the last two seasons um he doesn’t get picked for anything Australian you know nothing so you’d have to say he’s there’s nothing else you can say like he’s definitely blacklisted he he he’d have to be yeah he’d have to be I think there were rumors that he fell out with the bowlers because there was a real feeling that you know it was nice and convenient that the ball tampering the Sandpaper gate ball tampering Scandal got just blamed on three players Steve SM David Warner and Cameron Bank nice and convenient that only three players were a blame and nobody else including the bowlers first time ever anyone did it as well yeah yeah so there was a feeling that it was nice and convenient that and that that bangro that got his nose out of joint and he made those feelings public and that put him offside with the bowling group yeah that’s what I mean like yeah I don’t think he’s been blacklisted by Cricket Australia or anything like that I get the feeling cuz he he has played a test match he has played since um I get the feeling he’s blacklisted by the players like the players don’t want to play with him um it’s all conspiracy theory you got no idea that’s the thing if the senior players go to you know the coach or the board or whoever the CEO and say we don’t want to play with this blow they they’re not picking him they’re not going to upset the senior players are some instances of that kind of thing in all sports where you like that’s the one that never comes out because the players don’t want to sit there and say like we actually don’t like that guy but that was also like one of the big rumors about like Anthony mandine not getting picked a lot of the times and it was cuz the other players didn’t want to play with him you know so yeah um the 42 man tour that didn’t exist there was 42 people who said we don’t want to play with him um and so that’s I I think that’s it like I just I just get this feeling it seems like that kind of thing um but we’ll see how Steve Smith Goes that when is that West Indies match it’s I think it starts on Wednesday John they’re finishing both both uh tests before the end of January aren they I think yeah I’m pretty sure and then they start the um the one one day on the 2nd of February or something like that um so you know we’ll know we’ll know next week um well you know what we’ll know next Thursday because if it is starting on Wednesday yes yes um yep Wednesday so we’ll know next Thursday if Australia bats first we’ll know how Steve Smith’s going to go as an opener against the West Indies y um I’m sure he’ll do well against them John that I’d say from what you hear that that that West Indies I mean there’s a couple of standard individuals I think K Kar roach is one of those but beyond that that West Indies bowling attack that they’d be at they’d be lucky to be at sort of Sydney first grade level would thought so I don’t I don’t think I don’t think Steve Smith’s going to have any trouble with them the test for Steve Smith will come you know when they go New Zealand are no easy beats in New Zealand on those on those green pitches in New Zealand and obviously when India come out next summer India have won their last two test Series in Australia so India will you know pose him a lot more difficulty than the West Indies it’s going to come if they continue with the thing it’s going to be 29th of February that Australia will playing New Zealand in New Zealand and that is after a thre match T20 series and there is oh so I’ve just found just found out right now we’ve got Australia versus West Indies test series two test series then a three ODI series and then straight after that a three T20 series I didn’t know the T20 series ex if they’re I mean the West Indies series is pointless but if you’re going to have the two test against the West Indies wouldn’t you much rather just play the two tests against the West Indies then go straight to New Zealand play your test in New Zealand forget about these OD I and t20s that mean nothing they’re going to play a T20 Series against New Zealand first on the 21st of February and then straight after that they’re going to play John who cares about that Ser a two test series as well the two test series thing has to end yeah this is nonsense so we have a a world T20 well what should have happened John was they should have just gone forget the the the West Indies two test series just go straight to New Zealand and play three tests over there against them um is there a T20 World Cup this year I’m just looking at Australia’s getting totally sidetracked looking at austral um I think excuse me I think um I think I see men’s T20 World Series think there might be yeah yep it’s okay but I think from memory John I think that’s later in the year this year it’s in June right okay okay it’s at yeah I’m I’m seriously just finding this stuff out um and it will be in America oh that’s right yeah it’s going to be in America USA is in it yeah so that’ll be in June um so that um Pitch the two-day pitch uh it’s been deemed unsatisfactory by the ICC uh after that after that two-day match uh it was it was in South Africa um they said it wasn’t a test match pitch um and South Africa May face sanctions so we were talking about this the other day I did a bit of research on it John so that test match you’re talking about lasted just 642 legal balls and that’s the shortest test match of all time among completed test matches obviously there were some that were you know called off for weather and everything but of completed of the completed test this is the short this was the shortest test of all time so I wonder if South Africa docked that pitch but to be fair John I said it at the time I got to be consistent I’d watch that I’d watch two days of that over five days of nothing happening on a road of a pitch where there’s nothing in it for the ball those five day draws is the bane of test that’s the thing I keep give me that over a 5day draw where the ball does nothing for the bowlers any day of theek I think the perfect test matches are actually between 3 and 4 days you know like that’s the perfect ones yeah you wi one that you want about four days don’t you where there’s something in it for the bowlers and the B it’s got to be late into the third day or into the fourth day but once it gets Beyond there once it gets Beyond there like the halfway through the fourth day or something like that where the match is still going it just becomes a draw because whoever whichever team is in Bat if you’re at that halfway through the fourth day they’re just going to go crap we can’t win let’s just just bat out a draw and that’s one of the beans of test Cricket they batting out the draw so yeah that 3 to four days late you know finishing up on the third getting through the whole third day and then getting through finishing up on the fourth I think is the perfect test crickets two days is too short man it is but I mean that’s the thing not every pitch has to be the same either John and and look you never hear of say if there was that scenario where had a 5day road of a pitch that did nothing for the bowlers um would the IC come out and say that that pitch was unsatisfactory I can’t remember them saying that defitely not so that that’s the thing so I I I get it John there there’s there’s some um they’ve issued a demerit point to the ground yeah there’s some there are obviously reasons why a two-day test match doesn’t work um but yeah as I say give me that over a boring 5-day test any day of the week and not not every pitch has to be you know perfect as well you know um sometimes you’re going to get a you know a Minefield pitch like that where the match is over in two days you know that that’s the beauty of test Cricket not not every test Cricket pitch has to be the same not every test Cricket pitch has to play the same way but still it shouldn’t be two days two days it’s not the most ideal scenar iio but yeah it is it is it’s 100% better than a 5day SL boring draw that’s played on the Pacific Highway yeah exactly but so yeah there’s like more and more coming out um the referees said that the ball bounc quickly sometimes alarmingly throughout the match making it difficult to play Shots several batsmen were hit on the gloves and many wickets fell because of the awkward bounce so the um um grounders has been given a demerit point if it’s given three points then the the gr is declared unfit needs to fix itself within 12 months if they accumulate six de Merit points over a 5year period uh then it gets a 12 month suspension from hosting international cricket oh well South Africa probably don’t care too much about that they’re a lot more they’re a lot more focused on their 2020 League evidently that’s why they were happy to send their their C team to play against New Zealand uh I think they’re a lot more focused on their their 2020 domestic League I don’t think they care um okay and um so that’s pretty much all for Cricket there’ll be West Indies next week and we’ll see how Steve Smith goes I think that’ll be the talking point how SMI at least it creates a point of Interest so again David Warner creates a point of interest on this time in how they’re going to link those news articles to him this time indirectly but he’s provided a talking point here cuz he’s caused an interesting change in the batting order yeah um so onto rugby league our favorite topic of the week and um for honestly guys it’s just our opinion we’re going to be doing a preview uh each episode for the 17 rugby league teams starting from the bottom all the way up to the top so we’ll start from everyone’s favorite wooden spoon is the Tigers uh preview for 2024 and how you think they’re going to go MH um do you want to kick off yeah um yeah there’s um there’s obviously some issues here John I think the main one is that um that Jerome L doesn’t arrive for another 12 months um that that that’s their main problem so they’ve lost Luke Brooks I don’t think that’s a big deal joh I think they had to part ways with him he he he he he just wasn’t at his best anywhere near enough um in his time at the club um never made the finals he was at the club for 10 years and never made the finals so and he was the chief playmaker so Luke Brooks goes they don’t lose anything there obviously Lui is their effectively is their replacement for Luke Brooks but they don’t get him for 12 more months so we’ve got Aiden Caesar yeah um coming into the frame um hasn’t played in the NRL um for a while Johnny’s been in England since 2020 yeah he went there from he was at Cambra and the Titans before that um he was meant to be like the next big thing and just another one of those guys that after the rookie year collapsed basically um so it seems like and I’m not sure obviously Lui is going to need a a partner in the halves when he when he gets there uh so they’ve also bought I guess so Aden C is 32 years old I think he’s he’s on a oneyear agreement he probably won’t be renewed he’s just stop up until they get they’ve also bought Jaden Sullivan who’s a six uh over from the dragons so what do you make of him what what what do you the thing with Sullivan him and who was the one that did the hammer attack Amon um Sullivan and amone were me that one who did the hammer attack they were meant to be the um future halves of the Dragons both of them wanted to leave they’re like you know Young Guns amazing in lower grades came up to first grade perhaps a little bit too early in a crappy dragons team and both wanted to leave because Ben Hunt was in their way basically um he’s very good um he’s very still very young I think he’s 21 years old that whole spine at the tigers with um Jim bullah uh in one he’s he’s the X Factor that they’ll have um so he was he was a kick kick ass this year actually like you know he orchestrated that win over the Panthers that they had uh the but that was his rookie year so one of the issues with rookies is one of the one of the reasons rookies work so well sometimes is cuz there’s no video of them and then they they play for a year and other teams get the video of them and that’s where they get their second year syndrome yeah exactly um so with their halves of of Aiden Caesar Jaden Sullivan um then jarene Buller at the back I don’t know who the Hawker is even Caesar is obviously going to be the chief playmaker oh yeah Chief playmaker senior in that t that group um yeah so that’s so that’s I mean again I’m looking a bit forward here but Buller at fullback Loui in the hars corus S at Hooker and Sullivan is a 5’8 there’s there’s a good nucleus that 25 is is good I I I think in so 2024 you got new coaching Benji Marshall who’s the youngest coach in the NRL he’s 38 years old my God he’s only five years younger than me um he’s older than me but only um so he had some matches last year in charge I use the quotes but they’re not even on his official record you know after Tim Sheen got the sack but we talked about it last year Tim Sheen was still in the um the room and that was totally a protection racket to not adversely affect um Benji so during that after that period where Tim Sheen was given like the sack again quotes and Benji was in charge um he only won one game now there I can only in history actually think of one coach who took over like in recent history Midway through a year and actually did anything and it was Brad fitler after he took over from Chris Anderson you know so you nothing that Benji has shown this year is anything um yeah um and he’s going to have so he finished playing with the Tigers in 2020 John that’s not that long ago so he’s he could potentially and I I haven’t gone through their squad I’m not sure how many players they still have left from 2020 who Benji would have played with there but that’s potentially an issue John that he could be too um friendly with some of the players that he played with himself but I think the main issue for Benji is we just don’t know if he can coach I mean I mean he he was a great player no no question about it but he’s only had one year as an assistant coach under Tim Sheen he was meant to have two and they just basically decided it was all too hard for Tim machines so they FASTT tracked him for no real good reason John and I think I think that’s that’s not like it’s not like he’s been fast trck because Benji did such a great job as an assistant coach that we couldn’t bear to have him as assistant coach for another year we had to have him as the head coach after only 12 months being an assistant it’s Tim it was too hard for Tim Chen so you’re in a year early mate and um one thing he has shown is he is his ability to get players to sign but I think that’ll change well that that’ll change depending on the outcome of this year so he’s been able to he’s been able to sign some really good players for 2025 yeah he’s got that to his credit L he’s got some Young Guns um a lot of them are uh Pacific Islanders or New Zealand players which Benji has that you know um link with them and all um so they’ve lost uh latu finer samua finer no sorry that’s who they gained they gained fin new both the fin the four new brothers yeah yeah um Jaden Sullivan Aden Caesar Solon Alo from Super Rugby and solomona fapi from the Brisbane Tigers who was like he was one of those Young Guns that Benji was able to like snare um and as you said they’ve lost Luke Brooks they’ve lost Tommy T Dane Lorry atasi James Ruan nagura natora tukki Simkins brandan wakeen Tristan Riley and Brandon Webster Mansfield thing with their gains and losses is they don’t they cancel each other out because the majority of players they lost were West tiger well every player they lost was a West tiger so who cares you know and the players they’ve gained are now west Tigers so who cares yeah there’s nothing really that sort of jumps out I mean those those Fu Brothers I mean there’s a bit of potential there I mean Lau faru he’s a young playmaker On The Rise he’s only 18 he signed a 4-year deal um that gives him another option other than Caesar and Sullivan so if that if those two aren’t working out then you never know he might get his debut before the season they’ve also got um Adam dwey to come back because he was out injured with a knee I think that’s how jire bull got his start right um so bully Can bull sorry Dy can play one six and seven so so they they have no shortage of young exciting halves as well as semi cuz dy’s pretty senior now I don’t know how old he is but he’s been around for a while um Sami senior halves and then ABY carusel who was did he play An Origin car want need to look that one up um I know he was in origin mix if I can work there we go um so he’s 30 31 yeah um he’s been around forever well he played Four okay so you know they’ve got some they got a they’ve got a pretty good spine actually and they didn’t have that good of a spine last year or for many previous years but they’ve got a pretty good they don’t have you know dily Cherry Evans uh Adam Reynolds um James Tedesco you know this kind of name in their spine but you know when you look at it bullah Caesar Sullivan and Abby carusel or perhaps dwey or perhaps um Fu it’s not that bad um the other thing about them is this year they’re going to be playing 10 games at their home grounds which they haven’t done a lot for the past few years because they’ve been chasing the money so like this year they played three at each sorry last year they played three at each this year they’re playing Five at Campbell toown and five at lart and and they have I think one of their home games is the magic round they’re closing out magic round um and then they’ve got another one of those you know everyone does a regional one to get a bit of money yeah um which is which is a big like look those grants both suck I think they’d rather be playing there it’s a big get you know it’s a big it’s a big bump I think it will help Benji a lot um their draw is actually one of the Le um most lenient or or least hard drawers um they’re starting out round one with the buy that we everybody knows so that means they’ll at least be ninth after the first round guaranteed ninth after the first round yeah that’s something to look forward to um opening of the round technically they’re first yeah exactly they’re on top of the L um they’re going to play none of the powerhouses from 2023 twice okay that’s good uh the teams I’ll play twice uh the ones from the finals are the knights uh sharks and Raiders uh and then they play Ian dolphin eels Dolphins dragons rabitos and cowboys twice so there’s some like you know eels and rabbos playing them twice can be quite a thing maybe the Cowboys might be an issue but you know Dolphins dragons even Raiders something like the Raiders is not a if they get the knights early they they could do very well um they got a buy for origin one when the players are actually out and then the back up after the match is against the dragons two days later so even with players back back up dragons are more likely to have players out for origin than the Tigers as well mhm um like they’ll have benan out for origin he’ll have to back up two days later and things like that yeah Origins a time that would suit a club like the tigers not having many representes the they’ll play the Raiders and the Sharks where all the teams are missing the origin players um and again like the Tigers aren’t going to have a stack of guys out for origin man so they’re going to have I can’t think of anyone in their squad that they’re going to actually play going to play origin to be honest so they’re probably going to have a full strength Squad maybe the Sharks might have somebody out like maybe niik hind um so they they get that but then they do have to back up on those weeks against the roosters and the rabbitors so it could be an ups and downsy over the origin 2 and three origin one they’ve got the best absolute best and or look origin periods in those teams that are you know fighting for those those middle of the round things they’re the periods that win it for them they’re the periods that win the battle so they’ve got a kind of good origin period that could get them keep them off the bottom of the ladder yeah um for me it’s it’s it’s a lot is going to hinge on this season for them A lot’s going to hinge on bull being able to take their attack to the next level and corale I think those are the two if you had to sort of narrow it down to two players who it’s going to H on whether they can get off the bottom of the ladder I think that their goal this season is just not don’t come last basically don’t fight for the spoon yeah yeah fight to avoid this so if they’re going to get off the bottom of the ladder it’s going to come from bullah and and corus out primarily as far as I can see um so last year they won four games the dragons came second last winning five Bulldogs came third last winning seven if we’re looking at where the Tigers are going to finish this year I’m sorry I just can’t see anything changing I I just can’t see enough there to suggest that they’re going to finish above anybody this season and and that they’re going to finish I know they’ve won the last two Wooden Spoons it’s just it’s hard to see them not winning a third in a ro on there is light at the end of the tunnel with L coming in 2025 but as for 2024 I think it’s going to be a hard SLO John and I I can’t see them finishing off the bottom of the ladder I’m sorry to say I um think they’ve we’ll get to the other teams the dragons on Monday and Bulldogs next Thursday I think out of the th those three teams that fought to avoid The Wooden Spoon this year the tigers are probably actually in a better position than the other two certainly than the dragons um and I think there are some other teams that are going to sharply drop next year mhm um none more so than the Raiders um so I I I kind of see the Tigers in that how 17 teams now right 15th or 14th position okay so you don’t think so I’m I I’ve got them 78 John I’m I I hope it doesn’t happen but I think it will happen so you’ve got them at 14 or 15 15th yeah I got to pick one you’re going to pick one so you’re going to go 15 so you’ve got them finishing off the bottom of the ladder yeah yeah okay um I think the dragons will come last by the way just a preview for next week you’re setting your expectations low John so hopefully they surprise you um yeah so look I I just think that spine is is what does it for them uh they’ve got they’ve got like I said they’ve got a they’ve got a pretty good spine it’s not the bad spine it’s not a superstar spine it’s a very middle of the road spine that can help keep them off the ladder it is going to come down exactly to what you said ABY carel jarine bull if those two if Carousel can feed Sullivan and Cesar well from the um from the The Ruck and Bullock can can kick in that X Factor I think they can score a lot of points um there’s definitely a lot of points in them and it’s there’s going to be some issues with their defense yeah I I just can’t I just don’t think that they should be expecting much out of Caesar or or or suvan and I’m not you know um it’s all relative John but just in comparison to other halves combinations I mean um like Sullivan was supposed to be that young gun come up and be the best but he was stuck at the dragons and he’s gone to the one team in the NRL that’s worse than the dragons you know like that was always the blame why isn’t Sullivan as good as he should be well he is at the dragons but you know he’s gone to the one team that’s worse so he could potentially go worse or you know with Cesar there to to lead him around the park and because as I said aicar South 31 so he’s a very senior player as well he’s been around for a long time he’s played with some of the best teams and players in the comp and he’s played Origins so he can he can get them to that next he can get those young players to that next level of actually concentrating on winning so yeah I’m going 15th um you’re going 17th we got to keep track of this to the end of the year we yeah think we might sort of um make bit of a note of that so we don’t double off yeah yeah yeah we’ll do it we’ll add it to each um each rundown um further on so that’s it for the Tigers preview for 2024 honestly guys it’s just our opinion on Monday we’ll be doing the dragons um so I’ll have a lot to say about how terrible they are yes you will um continuing on with the Rugby League news um Scott Fulton and the Tigers Scott F’s been sacked as the Tigers recruitment boss now if you remember there was a lot of stuff about when he was there that he was hired without Benji Marshall Tim Sheen say so he had a lot of uh you know rumored um uh issues well Benji had a lot of issues with him um and Shane Richardson’s come in as the interim CEO chairman whatever the hell it is and sucked him to me it just it seems like um it’s Shane Richardson keeping Benji Marshall happy I think I think so I absolutely think so I think they’ll go hire someone else cuz Scott Fon um you know he’s not not a bad recruitment boss actually so he’s been at a few other clubs and stuff like that yeah he was at Manley yeah um I guess that’s the thing John you they’ve invested so much in in Benji Marshall as their their next head coach so if if he’s not seeing eye to ey with the recruitment manager for whatever reason well what what what choice would Shane Richardson have is the incoming CEO he has to he has to make sure everybody’s on the same page and I believe that fton was signed by Pasco anyway so so now that pasco’s gone well that’s a lot of protection gone for Fulton there and it’s no real surprised that he he’s been shown the door now that Pasco is not there anymore I can speak from personal Fan Experience they had that same kind of issue at the dragons uh with Steve price not having any control over his recruitment and no one thinks that’s a good idea you hire a good recruitment manager all right you always should hire a good recruitment manager because the recruitment manager and his team has to go out and find people that and keep track of everyone who’s off contract and Stu so when the coach can come and go I need a front row forward who does 20 hit-ups a game you know and this is what I need forward leader or I need a Young Gun Center uh who we can put as a development player the recruitment team then goes and looks at their list and goes all right this is the guy so we chase that guy when they don’t see eye to eye about who they should recruit then you have massive problems in your team so it’s good if the Benji Marshall and Scott Fon aren’t on the same page to get rid of Scott Fon um and then I kind of like it because it mean it kind of shows me that yes they are investing a lot in Benji Marshall but they’re also backing him to do a good job yeah yeah the the head coach and the recruitment manager have to be on the same page and and and if they’re not and if you’re going to back the head coach well you have to get rid of the recruitment manager and that’s what they’ve done get Robbie Farah to do it Robbie Farrah is still floating around there somewhere I think he’s general manager of football or possibly an assistant coach or maybe the recruitment boss or God knows what now at the Tigers I think him and him and Benji had a bit of bad blood didn’t they for a while but I think they’ve sorted it out since yeah it was all over like them leaving you know and things like that like not being yeah so he might have a gig there I’m not sure he does he works yeah so he was brought in as it’s very weird though because some news articles said he was brought in as the general manager of football some said he was brought in as an assistant coach some say he was brought in to be like one of those um mentors so I don’t know what he’s doing there I just know that Robbie far is over there he he might yeah a recruitment boss man yeah why not they got an opening if he’s just sitting out the back on a table doing whatever he wants and getting paid give him a job but I think actually he like might be the general manager of football I think I don’t know um and she’d probably have a lot to do with recruitment in that role 100% well look at the Bulldogs who’s the general manager of football is the only one that seems to do the recruitment over there yes according to Daily Telegraph secret worse secret photos yes um onto the Broncos um there’s a couple of things around the Broncos that actually um they’ve announced a partnership with Tom Brady yeah retired now yeah the NFL legend yeah I just threw this one in at the last minute John so yeah obviously the Broncos are going to be part of that Las Vegas double header in round one John and so I guess it’s appropriate that they’ve announced on Wednesday that um Tom Brady um that they’ve struck up a promotional partnership with him um he’s going to be in town or in Brisbane later this month um they’re going to meet for an exclusive event I think it’s called an evening with Tom Brady um on January 28th um yeah and obviously then the Broncos will be heading to the US not long after for a training camp heading into that round one Clash against the roosters at Allegiance Stadium Tom Brady is um for those who don’t know is like the Andrew Johns of uh NFL yes uh I think he’s won seven seven rings across two teams as well um and uh he he’s basically Untouchable um he’s got some weird there’s some weird controversies that come out around how much he loves his family and stuff like that um but he’s like he’s the All American kind of like full like you know white blue blond hair chiseled Jaw everything so he’s like a god amongst Americans so having him as a partnership for that promotional just keep saying that n IR in Las Vegas is a promotional tool and having Tom Brady along is can’t Can Do no harm it’s it’s a great get actually smart marketing move from the Broncos John you got to remember I wonder how much it cost though because you got to remember these NFL players get paid like $20 million a year oh yeah and I think I think I saw something about Tom Brady being paid an absolutely ridiculous amount to be a commentator it’s I can’t even remember the figures John but it’s just Aaron roders who uh another NFL great he’s uh was doing was up until yesterday when there’s some controversy he was doing a weekly appearance on a podcast for a million dollars a week come on Smart B where’s my million dollars a week so they get paid a lot I’m really wondering how much that Tom pray um thing cost um continuing on with the Broncos yeah um well they lost the Grand Final and they have to watch the match and so Kevin Walters has forced them to watch it yeah I mean I guess ordinarily if it was a sort of regular season game it would be the norm John to look back at the tape that they’d all do that they’d all have video on the Monday after the the the round just gone but yeah usually with a grand final if you lose a lot of the time teams just pretend it never happened and never touch the tape again and especially not in a if you lose a Grand Final in the way again with brisbane’s Grand Final loss it wasn’t just just that they lost it was the way it happened happened in the worst possible circumstances as I said John I’d rather my team lose the Grand Final by 30 than lose it the way that the Broncos lost it you’d much rather just get beaten up and never be a chance of winning than have it one and lose in the dying stages so yeah Walters made them sit through it John um and they were forced to relive that horror 25 minutes where they gave away that 248 lead and lost 2624 um so yeah he’s made them watch it again John obviously he thinks there’s going to be some benefit in that otherwise he wouldn’t have made them do it well he should make him watch it the if they make it to the Grand Final again he should make him watch it again again maybe that’s the better time to do of it maybe You’ just do it again at that time could just be that they’re all still demotivated so he’s ripped the Band-Aid off to go all right now you’ve watched it get over it let’s get back to work now um yeah because it is now time for all rugby league teams to be back like the back office the coaching and stuff is off you know addressing the elephant in the room yeah that’s what I mean like they’re all still not over it so it’s like all right guys let’s rip the bandaid off just watch it get out of the way get it out of your done let’s go train now we’re going to win next year let’s forget about it you’ve seen it it’s done well I think I’ve mentioned before I’ve never watched the 99 Grand Final I’m a fan I wasn’t in it you know I’ve never watched the 99 Grand Final again since 99 I can imagine how hard it is but I’ve made Brazilian jiujitsu who lost gold medal matches watch the fight again you know the recording to go over what they did wrong what the Broncos did wrong in that Grand Final though is Nathan clear like Nathan clear Nathan cleared them you know like it’s hard to I haven’t watched the match again I can’t really 100% remember everything but you know my recollection of it at this point is that Nathan clear Nathan cleared them you know like the Broncos should have shut down shut them down more but I like the what happened 20 minutes to go with Nathan clear just it just seemed like nobody was ever going to shut that down yeah yeah I I’ve seen the the Bulldogs lose four grand finals John and thankfully all four of them they were never in the game and they never looked like winning and I’m much happier with that than to lose one like you lost in 1999 or one like the Broncos lost like I’ve said before man the 991 dragons fans will say like try and blame Jamie anco and say like say there was a controversial try or whatever was a try Jamie did the complete wrong thing without that penalty it was going to be a try anyway hence that’s why it was that’s the thing is it really I mean the circumstances were eventful but was it really controversial there was no controversy it was a penalty try cuz it would have been a try dragons lost the game it sucks so much I I remember it at Burns um and I’ve never watch I’ve never watched any of it again you like nothing some people will send me you know Clips to to rub it in when we’re making fun of each other and I’ll see the preview and just like no I’m not watching that one like it’s it hurts so I can’t imagine what it’s like for players at all uh maybe one day when I go completing the world championship in Jiu-Jitsu when I lose in the gold medal match then I’ll know um continuing on with the Broncos though San Cobo Walter kev’s um announced some stuff about s Cobo s Cobo is a state of origin Winger um yes state of origin Winger and he’s been moved to the centers yeah it’s with um Herby farnworth going to the Dolphins that’s opened up that spot in the centers so Cobo is going to slot in there John so that’ll be interesting to see how there’s only only two directions the Winger goes you know like to the center or to the fullback that’s the only way they’re going to increase their pay basically so uh W Wing is kind of more historically and less so now but you know the specialist Wingers but Wing is Wing is kind of considered the you know the you only pay a wing of like $300,000 the only way s Cobo is going to increase his pay and his uh value is by moving either to centers or fullback that’s the two directions Wing is going yeah and I mean he’s just he’s strong defensively as well so that he he’ll suit the centers for that reason it’s the center like the it’s just the angles that you got to adjust your defense for so I’m sure he can do it he’s very he’s very very good he’s An Origin player like he’s he’s good so that I guess that leaves um Jesse Arthur Dean Mariner and Cory oats going for the two Wing positions 18th B Cory oats he the 18th man for those bunch of games last year yeah that was him yeah yeah yeah yeah he couldn’t get in the team so surely it’s going to be 18th man cor I mean I I haven’t seen a lot of straight off the bat I probably would have looked at that and gone will you go with Arthurs and oats but I haven’t seen a whole lot of Mariner to be honest so but surely it’s oats because he sat there being 18th man for all the important games yeah yeah I would have thought You’ go Arthurs and oats on the wings and and you you’d probably leave Mariner out there but I haven’t seen a whole lot of mar to be honest so we’ll see what happens um it’ll be interesting I think the Broncos when we get to the Broncos uh so just keep getting notifications um there’s a lot going on with them because they’re going to try and do everything to overcome that final hurdle which could be a mistake making a whole bunch of changes doing all this stuff like trying to make when all they really need to do is adjust that adjust that small 20 minutes you know uh but we’ll see what happens yeah I think they yeah you’re right they they they need to be careful of trying to reinvent things too much they they need to just really just do it a lot like they did it in 2023 well they almost came first they almost won a mining Premiership as well yeah so the whole year was good um it’s just there there was 20 minutes of their year that wasn’t good yeah that was the most important 20 minutes of of the season but you know yeah you’re right um yeah I mean the grand finals are long way away isn’t it um that you start all over again and the the worst thing they could do is is let that the nature of that grand final defeat get in their heads um it’s it’s a long season they should just you know start it as best they can hopefully get some early wins on the board and and hope and hopefully like everyone is aim for that top four finish at the end of the regular season there’s two separate competitions there’s a regular season and then a final series you focus on the regular season first there’s every indication to think that they will finish in the top four again and if they do they’ll give themselves a good shot at the title again this year John surely it won’t be Panthers again um that’s it for the NRL this week um there is an AFL news so if you remember way back in round 23 Joel Smith from Melbourne tested positive for cocaine we had a long discussion about it and um whether cocaine is a performance-enhancing drug and so on um so he’s now facing a 2-year ban from professional sport for testing positive for cocaine unfortunate for him uh you yeah I don’t I don’t I don’t get it it’s got nothing to do with his perform performance um you have all those n players eating bags on the internet and white powder issues and none of them are getting even tested let alone getting banned for two years sorry was that I haven’t um I haven’t had a read about this story John was that a 2-year Banning that would have obviously been enforced by the AFL wouldn’t it or was it the AF AFL policy based on the drug bodies thing you know like so I think I’ve explained it before um the organization pays a body and then follows the body’s rules sometimes they can adjust them if they want but yeah it’s like basically whatever the body they use says cocaine is a baned substance with a 2ye ban it happened to wend sailor you know he got banned for two years for cocaine um but still it’s it’s it’s time to modernize these kind of things mhm um they know now that cocaine is definitely not a performance enhancing truck ain’t no one going out on the nose beers like going to the you know what was the guy’s name the p p the gazelle and go mate I don’t need the Peds I need the nose beers to improve my performance um yeah I I I I don’t agree with it it’s got nothing to do with his performance it’s not a performance-enhancing drug it’s got nothing to do with the AFL once again it’s probably the AFL trying to play moral police um which they do on all of these matters um that they’re quick to play moral police out in public the AFL and yet behind closed doors um with that Clayton Oliver story they’re doing everything they can to to bury that story so they yeah they they play the the good guys and the nice guys out in public and um yeah you’d be amazed what goes on with them behind I think it’s disgraceful come over to the NRL Joel Smith or go play in the um NFL as a punter um yeah there’s not much else in AFL as usual there’s we can always dig up one story at least which is good um once the season starts in six weeks there be more on the AFL every week um on Combat Sports UFC is returning from their holiday this Sunday with ankle versus Walker 2 nobody cares uh but next week is the first ppv of the year with Shan Strickland versus dup C if you remember last year they had the brawl before the match yeah Clinton’s an interesting character he crazy um I saw a video the other day that says he’s uh real life GTA character he’s a bizarre guy um and it’s been officially announced Francis sanu’s next fight will be against Anthony Joshua on March the 8th um it’s an eight figure payday Francis Sanu is going to be paid rumored $20 million before P pay-per-view points and sponsor sh not a bad pay yeah so he’s gone and got in his bag apparently Anthony Joshua is getting 50 million um cuz he’s the boxer andano is not and so that in that Francis inano versus Tyson Fury fight the figures have been leaked or whatever but you never know if they’re real it was in ganu got 10 million and Tyson Fury got 50 million so sorry in ganu is getting 20 and Joshua is getting yeah oh well they’re two of the very few people of the world who can afford to buy Sydney property put a deposit on a penth one-bedroom house apartment absolutely crazy money that’s the Saudis you know the Saudis just throw so much money at boxing yeah ridiculous amounts of money look at what they’re doing with golf now billion watch next with the sa are they going to come for tennis next anyway maybe and then like you know the thing I like about these though is at least the sis are putting on boxing and they’re not interested in having guys like Jake Paul um and those those boxing circuses in Saudi Arabia they want actual boxing which is good because you know I’ve discussed before boxing is good fight circuses are different um so it’s good like I I’m I might watch that F Well I’ll definitely watch that fight because I want to see Anthony Joshua is a legit he’s former World Champ in one of the 48 different titles Francis Z was ranked 10th after putting Tyson Fury down even though he’s only got one boxing record so this be a good fight um onto other sports news speaking of golf this shocked me the other day the Tiger Woods story um yeah yeah him and no have ended their 27e partnership John um the woods was with him since he turned professional way back in 1996 so there you go John um yeah never thought I’d see the day where him and Nik with part weights maybe could it be to do with the fact John that they’re more about shoes I think n and and shoes are not really what you’d associate with golf so much it’s more with that with shoes you more think about you know NBA basketball or tennis or as opposed to golf I I don’t I don’t know it’s very weird actually because Nike have all sports clothes you know and they they manufacture taker Wood’s clothes and he has to wear them but what I read is is he stopped wearing Nike a couple of weeks ago and he’s now wearing a different brand it’s the same brand that Roger federo changed to I can’t remember what what it was what it was and so actually the suspicion is someone’s coming along and giving him more money uh cuz golfers will play till they’re 60 you know so he’s what is he 50 48 years old 52 years yeah I don’t think he’s 50 at John but I think he’s getting close yeah 48 years old he going to be for another 12 years um so um you know he was the first ever first ever billionaire that made became a billionaire solely on Sports sponsorships and prize monies so Michael Jordan is a billionaire but he went and bought like teams and stuff like he went and bought a team and and invested and all this kind of thing whereas Tiger Woods was the first billionaire to solely make the money purely from sport with no investment um so I guess the question is now who and who would n be looking at would they be looking at somebody to really you know big up as their replacement for Tiger Woods or it doesn’t you don’t know because with the way Nike works I I’ve actually like been to a talk with a Nike branding guy um and you can watch that great movie air actually uh with Ben affle and M which is of course a dramatized version of the Michaels Jordan thing cuz um of like all sporting clothes used to um sponsor teams and um uh organizations actually so you know like the NBL everyone would wear adad Des all teams and stuff like that uh or uh you know they would sponsor like the Charlotte Hornets and then Nike in one of the Olympics um the Olympics that was in America I can’t can’t remember which one it was um in the’80s uh would have been La Maybe something like that I can’t yeah whatever one it was that was the first real real big marketing push where a sports organ sporting clothing or parel organization specifically sponsored athletes cuz Nike couldn’t get into the Olympics actually like in any sponsorship form I think it was Adidas was the sponsor but from what I understood you would drive around it was La drive around La and see all the American athletes on billboards come to the Olympics sponsored by adad us but the athlete would be wearing night clothes um so it was like a really brilliant marketing thing and then they started to do that so they everyone allocated budget to just and it’s not just they don’t go like all right we’re going to do this much on golf this much on basketball they just have a big budget where they find all the sports stars they want to sponsor and Michael Jordan was the first one to demand a percentage um and yeah there’s in that air movie spoiler alert everyone they have this discussion Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Ben Affleck is the owner of Nik or the founder of Nike Matt Damon is a marketing guy and Michael Jordan’s mom says to Matt Damon you know we want a percentage which is never going to happen it never been heard of before and he goes to Ben AFF say sorry man it’s not going to happen wasted all this whole movie um because they want a percentage and Ben Affleck goes you know what screw it let’s just do it cuz what are we going to be paying him like $50,000 a year and it ends up that Michael Jordan makes like $400 million a year for his shits so yeah they they’ll SP they’ll find someone to sponsor it doesn’t matter they have a set budget and when they it comes down to when they start making you know like Roger federa shoes that Roger federa starts getting more money um and I I like I said I know he’s he’s now with somebody I’m 100% sure he’s now is someone else and’ll come out next week cuz he started wearing their clothes already I just can’t remember the brand um it sounds interesting it is really interesting if you’re into marketing actually the way all that stuff went down and that movie is awesome you should watch it I think it was a Ben Affleck director movie directed movie as well um I get the feeling their eyes will be focused on an NBA player yeah that’ll be their next uh their next Target um and so we’ve got some updates on Michael Schumaker tra it was always a tragic thing yeah unfortunately um oh yeah it’s it’s it’s terrible what’s happened to him John um the state that he’s been in since that horror skiing accident back in 2013 we just haven’t had a lot of information about his health his family have been really closely guarded about it kept it secret not many people are allowed to visit him and the ones who are are told to to keep quiet about his condition um but yeah apparently um there are reports that have come out that he he does sit at the dinner table with ah with his family so that’s good I mean that’s something um so yeah that that’s been reported um in recent days John so um yeah we hope that you know I think from what I’ve read you know his family you know they wanted to to keep him alive and functioning in case you know science yeah um you know um get gets better and and and hopefully he can he can get back into some sort of State similar to what he was in Pre that accident 11 years ago John but yeah it’s it’s a sad it’s a very sad and um and unfortunate story isn’t it um and we wish him well we hope that that his health can can improve John but if that’s true and and I’m not sure how true those reports are but if that is true that he does sit at the dinner table and he has that ability well that’s yeah that that’s that’s better than what we tragic um and it always will be um on a lighter note though yes um we finish with a li not Tay Tay update um yeah did you catch what happened John at the I did um I actually did an Instagram post about it y last night oh about how little I cared I put it on not about the Taylor thing just about I think people are being really hypocritical about it so yeah Joe Joe Koy uh I’ve actually seen him live um years and years and years ago he opened for Russell Peters um at the hen Pavilion and it was hilarious thought it was hilarious and we the people I was with like my friends that went with me we still make references to that from like it’s like 20 years ago man um but he apparently took the the gig on 10 days notice uh he didn’t write all of his Jokes which is very common in the so the thing about Golden Globes hosts that I from what I understand what people have said is you don’t get to write a lot of your own jokes and they vet all of your jokes and they cancel a b and edit a bunch of your jokes so he made a joke about Tay Tay which I don’t know what the actual joke was yeah I’ve got it here he said this is his quote he said the big difference between the Golden Globes and the NF on the golden cloes we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift I swear look John I I I don’t think there’s a lot wrong with that I mean Taylor Swift they put the camera on her and she you talk about a death stare and someone who’s upset she really didn’t look happy I don’t know Jo I think she’s just got to lighten up a bit and not not take herself so seriously this was the biggest one and they used it they highlighted it but like there was a bunch of jokes that they just they just fell flat and it’s because Hollywood can no longer that Hollywood now takes themselves way too seriously you know they don’t let if you’ve ever gone back and watch the Ricky Javas monologue on I think the second time it’s hilarious and they laughing but there was so much offense afterwards and comments after it from Hollywood stars and of course they people blindly will follow whatever Taylor Swift says young girls right so if she’s not happy with Joe Koy then the internet will not be happy with Joe Koy and that’s the way that Hollywood is now gone they all take themselves too seriously you’re not allowed to make fun of them it’s you have to think looking at that reaction John all all the fame and success it’s all gone to her head she just can’t laugh at herself anymore and like it’s everyone in that table now in that room now all of them are like that nobody liked being made fun of and Taylor Swift is just the most famous one it’s it’s you know like so one of the things that I like the thing that I actually posted last night on Instagram was um all the outrage I see around Joe Koy jokes and how they’re bullying that’s the thing it’s they’re all bullying now he’s a bully he’s bullying Taylor Swift bullying bullying the outrage that I’m seeing is from the same people who think that Celeste Bara is funny and Celeste Bara became famous by imitating famous Instagram posts you know like she would make fun of Kim Kardashian and stuff like take a Kim Kardashian post and then like imitate it and like make fun of it and say to point out how stupid it is and yeah the people who are so outraged by Joe Koy bullying Taylor Swift are the same people on my feed that thought Celeste barar is really hilarious and so there’s like you know there’s a lot of hypocrisy in it and like I said they blindly follow it’s just because they love Taylor Swift and they hate Kim Kardashian so it’s okay for Celeste Bara to make fun of Kim Kardashian but it’s not okay for anyone to make fun of Taylor Swift I think she would have come out of it a lot better John if she had to just laughed at the joke so so I had a chuckle just now yeah Taylor Swift doesn’t take a take herself too seriously she’s laughing along with the joke um yeah she seems like she’s really down to earth that that’s how you would have looked at it if she had a laughed at it but I’ve come out of that thinking well Taylor Swifts full herself it’s worth watching the whole monologue to so you can see what I mean like none of them so cuz I only looked at that John I only looked at the Taylor everything he says about any individual it flashes that individual and they’re all so offended MH I like man go back it’s not long ago that Ricky Javas hosted the um was it the Oscars I don’t know golden GL was it the golden glov did that that that one was yeah um whatever he hosted where he made fun of them all and they all accepted it and laughed and everyone thought it was funny and now Ricky J’s universally hated and stuff as well so cuz he’s a bully and you you’re not allowed to make jokes about Hollywood celebrities anymore John no no no not at all um yeah that’s our Taytay update that’ll go up and now we’re going to probably cop a lot of fluck from Tay fans brace yourself um onto our social media blower operas um we had a lot of uh so um actually I’ve got a mix I’ve got whoops sorry repeated the same thing so K on kids sports are expensive the couple of Clips went up about the kids sports being expensive based on a social media comment last week um I like Bob down 5520 his comment running is not expensive he’s right but if you get your kid into competitive running it will become expensive all right but it’s it’s good joke he’s right um yeah and then just jumping a forward a bit because I actually split this on the same kind the same video um ck15 said w wrot a ridiculous suggestion that was in reference to me saying that the NL should unify and do more funding for juniors um and it’s been clarified actually to seill who then a apologized and said sorry that’s the problem with shorts which is true you don’t get the whole context yeah also he’s just commented on a short and and not seen that’s the thing you shorts are only short you got to watch the whole the whole um section yeah that’s what the shorts are for to encourage you to go watch the whole section yeah um we can’t it’s just impossible to get everything all so to get all the context in of that is very difficult so it’s just not possible um yeah and then um Brody Griffin 1711 agrees it does cost a lot to play sports rugby league has been expensive for a long time it’s the first one I heard of being expensive 25 years ago when I played AFL and basketball as a kid it was $5 a game and juniors only had to buy shorts and stocks the club supplied the jumper singlet and like 50 bucks a season for medical cost in case of ambulance being called in Insurance nowadays it varies Club to Club but 250 to 400 is average for membership plus your shorts and socks and then it’s $10 to $20 per game the game fee goes to the league umpires SL referees that’s look so this is the thing it’s about it R averages out to about between 250 to 400 per term for most kids sports which is pretty expensive in today’s day and age you know with cost of living crisis yeah um but I I don’t like I don’t know about this $10 to $20 per game does actually is that how it works you have to pay every game to get your kid to go cuz I wouldn’t well well I mean I I coach um tennis and the the parents pay a fee for the whole the whole term that’s what I for my kids yeah yeah so so it’s a term fee so um yeah per lesson to be honest I’m not sure what it is but per lesson it’s a small amount like that but then you add it up over 10 weeks and it seems like a huge number but you’re getting you know 10 weeks of sport yeah and it’s like then there’s the equipment right so like it comes down it’s very different like you go back to running like running is spending an extra 300 bucks on shoes um if you want professional shoes um you know tennis you need a racket yeah Balls stuff like that and it depends on how much you want to spend yeah um like my daughter can get cheap tennis roets get a Kmart and get it for 18 bucks um my daughter I mentioned does Acro so for Christmas she got an airat and a I don’t know what the thing is called it’s a thing to make her able to do flips right she doesn’t need them she got them for Christmas that’s what she wanted um but her Acro is like you know exactly what he’s saying around between 250 and I don’t know exactly what it is 400 a term it’s about 10 not 20 bucks a lesson um and then yeah we pay it every time but it’s still expensive under cost of because of the cost of living but actually Chris Burns 9639 this one is funny CU I have a friend who I asked about try swimming one season when my kids reach state level We Must Have Spent close to $10,000 and they’re not even Elite swim is just good it’s $50 per week for training then at weekend weekend carnivals it’s anywhere from $6 per event you can swim 10 events per Carnival if you make state level they charge you $35 per race you make it in so some good swimmers could fck out a couple hundred dollars just to race at state that’s yeah um so one of my friends also her kids are in swimming and she constantly has to travel that’s her she said the biggest cost is the travel to participate $10,000 yeah that’s uh that money doesn’t come easy for anyone John no so swimming sounds ridiculous a lot of money um and then Kuan D Robin 1439 has the AL alternate Point our local leads Club subsidizes our junior junior Rego fees so it’s a lot cheaper to play for our club than others in the same competition this increases participation helps parents with financial burden which goes back to that c k comment that’s exactly what we were kind of talking about the other day you want the leagues clubs and the organizations to subsidize these Junior things so kids more kids can play sport yeah um we more has to be done to make it you know as affordable as possible for parents to get their kids into sport um across the board across all sports including rugby league including everything else um I while I was doing some research on it as well like I came across to remember the this was the reason like uh one of the reasons there was an issue with uh was it gladus Barry Jan like she the they funded Junior sporting associations through government grants in areas where they could get more votes um and that caused a massive issue with all sports funding so there is funding there from government um it’s just how they spend it uh but yeah something definitely needs to be done to make it more accessible to everyone no matter the sport actually yeah I mean it’s it’s it’s a health issue we don’t we don’t want we don’t want the kids to just be sitting around playing Xbox all day not getting outside exercise that’s why my son has to do ninja and he has to do Jiu-Jitsu cuz otherwise he would just play you as a parent you got to make him do it yeah absolutely that’s fair enough you got to create good habits and that they got to be exercising yeah 100% cuz it’s easy if you’re not in a structured sporting competition and it works well because I’m a tennis coach it forces me to exercise just as it does with the kids who I coach forces that they got tennis at whatever time each week so that’s sort of forced exercise on them just like your Jiu-Jitsu it’s forced exercise or if people were playing in a touch football team cricket team whatever where they play once or twice a week it forces them to exercise that that that team sport that that’s the beauty of it if you take that away from people or kids anybody it’s very hard to self motivate with exercise and just go out and do it on your own accord exactly it’s it’s a huge about running as well right yeah exactly I mean who that’s the thing he’s right running is not expensive Bob down but I mean who who Who’s going to not very few people could just go on their own at call go right I’m going to go out for a run that’s the thing with Runners I know a few who do marathons and stuff like that and it’s it’s it’s very few it’s a it’s a very specific personality and they all fall like raw Dogg it you know they no no iPod nothing they just run I always I don’t understand how you do it they like no man I just do it okay it’s not expensive but you have to be a weirdo so onto our favorite video the overrated players now I don’t like this comment I’m just going to preempt it with this yes uh Philip Taylor whatever happened to Great to Champion X league players talking footy on these shows TV and all every tgv channel has to have women interviewing and hosting League shows I don’t care how good they look or can talk I’d rather see Brett Kenny or Gary lson croaking on about about the game Mick Cronin special guest commentator etc etc Champions who didn’t get paid the massive dollars they get these days but turn the game into the spectal kill it is today reward these guys instead of BLS who probably played third grade marbles for randwick or these women okay so is he he he I’m guessing he’s having a shot at us again I don’t know yeah so I I I just don’t understand the premise of what he’s saying because there’s plenty of EX players who the issue is there’s not enough nonex players in the media that there’s too many X players and the problem with X players in the media I’ve said it before John yes they have their CV where they can say they’ve played in some cases two or 300 NRL first grade games they can say that John but with that comes the problem of they have too many friends in the game and they will never say what they or they they don’t say what they think often enough or in some cases never a a lot of them never say what they really think and that makes for boring television the advantage of having people from sort of more outside the game looking into it commenting on it you don’t have to worry about you know I’m offending people upsetting people you can give an honest view like we can do John so I’m not sure what he what he’s saying there and it’s you know in all we got to be fair about this John it’s it’s sexist what he’s saying there I mean if women if women are you know if they’re making a a a good contribution well they should be part of the coverage as well John and he’s just basically said at the end there these women as if to say that women should have no part in the game sex you you know what this kind of comment is and it’s it’s just stupidity and ignorance because just because you’re even good at something right just because you’re a good rugby league player doesn’t mean you can speak well articulate well or have good thoughts it’s I go through it a lot in Jiu-Jitsu where I know people who are like exceptional athletes like near the best like world class who are absolutely terrible teachers and can’t explain what is happening and I know other guys who are not the best and always get wiped and you know get beat up on the on the mats and get beat up in the gym but when someone asks them a question they can talk about a specific move with like a lot of knowledge for 3 hours um and and I like I don’t care who the person is on the television to be honest I have never in my life gone well this should be a player that person doesn’t know what they’re talking about cuz they don’t play or they’ve never played I have while watching um uh commentary and stuff like that gone man that ex player is so annoying and it’s so obvious he’s just there because he’s a friend of everybody like to be honest I hate Aaron Woods as a commentator I think he’s terrible and he’s only there because everybody all the boys love him you know yeah and if you John I don’t know how much of NRL 360 you’ve watched but that that Monday night panel that they have where they had and I know Paul Kent’s not there anymore and left but if we think about it before he left and everything John so you had Brath and Aster you had Paul Kent you had Phil Rothfield and you had James Hooper Paul Kent did play first grade but he only played one first grade game and a lot of people wouldn’t be aware of that John so he’s not really there as an ex player he’s more there just as a Juno Rothfield and James super are there as Jos on that panel John I’d much rather listen to Rothfield James Super and Paul Kent than I would to listen to anything brathan Aster says yeah exactly brathan Aster he’s he’s not worth listening to as as a commentator John he has trouble stringing a sentence together yeah and so that’s why I mean like it’s just a stupid that’s what I mean it’s stupid and it’s ignorant to think like that it really is um yeah so go ahead man go find your like I like BR Kenny I like Gary last I like MC Cronin go ahead and find your boys at the pub and have your discussions but I all I care about is listening to things about rugby league or any sport that I watch from people who know what they’re talking about you know it doesn’t matter what their background is to be honest as long as their background is they watch a lot of rug rugby league and understand rugby league and that’s the thing whether you’ve played or not like what you say is either accurate or it’s not accurate whether you played or not is irrelevant you could have someone who’s played 300 NRL games who makes a comment about the game that’s inaccurate you could also have someone who’s played zero NRL games who makes a comment about the game that’s accurate yeah and actually there’s a funny thing in the UFC right now belal Muhammad who one of the contenders um in in Kobe Covington Leon Edwards division he was talking about some previous fights and he said his uh understanding of them like he it was recent like yesterday where he said um uh he thinks in Leon Edwards versus kamaru Usman number three the third time they fought he thought kamaru wasman onean he’s the only person in the world who thinks that seriously in the world if you watch that fight Leon Edwards beats the crap out of kamaru Usman and it’s exactly just because Bal Muhammad is a UFC fighter doesn’t mean he knows what he’s talking about when he’s analyzing fights one of the best um uh UFC analysts um John anck never never had a fight in his life not a fight and he’s one of the best analysts there is so you know this it’s again it’s just a joke it’s stupid and it’s ignorant yeah Robert kraic is one of the best Cricket analysts there is he he never played a test for Australia and you know like actually you know the best coach ever Wayne Bennett he only played like 12 games in the Queensland cup so you know it’s it’s it’s irrelevant it’s irrelevant the amount of game time you have as to how much you can analyze any judge us on what we say that’s fine but don’t don’t judge us on the fact that we haven’t played first grade I’ve play I play like I said before I play rugby union in school played a lot of sport when I was young um like spe spear Don uh said on most over players Latrell and Shaq the brother who’s Latrell Mitchell’s brother yeah I’m that that one’s uh that one’s gone over my heard John uh oh shaky Mitchell yeah right okay so he but if we don’t know who he is I don’t know how he’s he played in 2022 um played 11 games in the 2023 season H 11 so he played three games in 2022 and 11 games in 2023 and he’s played twice for the indigenous All Stars well how could he someone who’s played 14 games in two seasons yeah I don’t think he’s overrated How could somebody with that playing record be overrated I don’t think he’s overrated he’s rated as a guy that I don’t know who he is in in defense of us John on that one um we’ve only started doing this in August last year towards the end of August so we haven’t had a good crack at an NRL season yet doing this yeah so forgive us if there might be the odd player we might not have seen much of especially a guy who’s only played 14 games when we’re new to the and most of the podcasts we’ve done have been in the offseason so um onto the overrated coaches um talking about Trent Robinson in the previous comments somebody said Trent Robinson then daylight then Ricky Stewart Luke ms4 RP replied I’d like to see how he goes next year talking about Trent Robinson but it’s looking that way if they hadn’t assigned KRON or sbw they probably wouldn’t have won one Premiership and he probably should have won another one in 1415 with the roster he had but Pierce was made the scapegoat and it looks like they’re doing the same thing to the current half who’s the current half Luke Ki yeah Luke k um look we we’ve gone over this a lot yeah i’ I’ve said it before John he’s been he’s Trent Robinson’s coached 11 seasons in the NRL and he’s won three premierships at 100% strike rate in Prem ship in Grand finals yeah I I can’t say that a coach who’s won three premierships in 11 season is overrated I can’t do it no me too there’s no other coach I’m not doing what’s another coach that’s won three Premiership in 11 Seasons without cheating the salary cap I can say that a coach who hasn’t won one in 21 years is overrated in Ricky Stewart’s case but I can’t say that one who’s won three in 11 news is over roaded can’t do it um so yeah I I can’t I can’t say it as well but I think everybody just is jealous of the tall poppy syndrome of Trent robon um strangely someone commented on the latron Mitchell video on Reddit weird um is that so is that the one that’s getting a lot of comments done or is that it’s old really old one was that was that the one you said where was it something where we just said um all the trolls we praised him or something it was when we were talking about the um the time that he was at um uh at that event and someone caught up the radio and then winged about him saying Go away and we defended him video yeah that’s but this person’s a bit of a I I didn’t write down the person’s name anyway um See’s had probably come up 50 times now while scrolling and honestly here’s some feedback it’s bizarre here’s some feedback for you firstly it’s an ad for a podcast but the audio sounds like it was recorded using a potato from across the room why is the quality so awful well I think we can address each point one by one um then secondly why does why overlay loud music over what is already a terrible audio quality thirdly is this the best snippet you could find from your podcast I have no idea who they’re talking about but it sounds banal and frankly irrelevant is it meant to be funny and then who exactly are they podcasts you say John and Dan like their household names why should we listen to them on the upside side however I give you kudos for allowing comments on your ad so first of all it is actually a video that was shot when we use that old boom shotgun microphone I think it’s the second or third episode so we’ve upgraded our equipment so that’s so that’s that explained that was why we um upgraded the equipment yeah um why overlay loud music the music isn’t loud it’s overlay because it’s an ad like it’s meant to be engaging and catchy um this this the best in from the podcast bro you’re commenting on 100-year-old ad that was at the time the best snippet from the podcast no idea who you’re talking about the video opens with um something like um I know that we talk a lot about Latrell Mitchell right so who you talking about uh latr Mitchell um yeah yeah that would be about right would it where you mention LOL Mitchell at the start LR Mitchell um who exactly are these two podcasters John and Dan they John and Dan from smart be you know that’s it it actually there’s a big block of text before it that says why you should listen to them the highlights are because we give previews and reviews of games we’re unfiltered we’re not linked to anyone and we give our honest opinions that’s why you should listen to John and Dan from Smart B yeah um John I sort of don’t want to sort of have to go over my my background every time one of these comments comes up but I’ll just say quickly um Dan who works here um obviously works he’s lead of develop works with you he knew me he put me in touch with you John I met with you and amjad our managing director um we talked about it we did a trial and then we decided to have a go it I’ve got 18 years experience in the sports media we were happy enough after our trial to go ahead with it so that’s that’s why we’ve we’ve done it dude you can look me up I’m at the half guard Prince I’m Instagram famous I’ve literally been recognized in the street um because of my hair um but it’s in the 2 Community but yeah and on the upside I give you kudos for allowing comments on your ad thanks for that bro we will allow comments on everything because it’s pretty funny to address silly people who don’t know who LOL Mitchell is a lot I mean yeah there’s people are commenting you’d rather them comment than not comment joh uh last comment for the week is around it’s actually an older Tik Tok video um there when it’s from December um and we were talking about Pakistan having meaning the Pakistan tour being meaningless and it’s stupid that they don’t play leadup games so fantastic 16009 said it’s the same for every touring team excluding the huge series like the ashes exactly that’s one of the things we discussed the teams come over here yeah and we talked about it on Monday well that’s the whole problem that’s that’s the whole point we were trying to make there like they need to fix that because if you don’t fix that you’re just going to keep getting Australia rolling over teams that come out here and teams that come out here are just going to be punching bags for Australia it’s not healthy for for test Cricket John there’s there are a lot of as I said the other day there are a lot of Australian cricket fans who enjoy seeing us beat up on whoever comes out I’m not in that camp John I want to see a I want to see Australia tested out out here I want to see a contest it doesn’t matter what the sport is I don’t like it when it’s a smash I always want it to be a contest yeah well the last four test series out here Australia has just rolled the opposition you went through the other day it was Neil nil nil nil yeah it was it was 3-0 against Pakistan 2- n against South Africa 2- nil against the West Indies and 4-0 against England and before that India won or India won their last two series out here so thankfully John thankfully they are coming back next summer that’s something to look forward to and we’ve got every confidence that they will give us the competitive hit out that we very much want because they’ve beaten us out here the last unless steeve Smith moving to opener proves to be the master strke we can’t rely on England giving us a proper hit out out here anymore John so we need India to do it by by the way just I forgot to I didn’t want to put down I didn’t put it down because it was just a funny thing you know what I saw this morning England is saying um if Nathan lion had have played those last two matches in the ashes then they would have won the ashes oh sorry or England saying that about about the ashes you know Nathan lion didn’t play the last two two games yeah yeah I mean thean played the first two and Australia won the first two and so England is saying that it’s so weird they’re sorry they’re saying that that England would have w wew we drew one of the matches yeah didn’t we draw yeah yeah yeah so we won the first two another one was a draw and England won two they reckon if um uh Nathan lion had have played all the matches then would have won the ashes yeah that sort of defies logic that comment given Australia up 2-0 with him in the team in the first two test there still going on about it this bunch of weirdos what is it January they still haven’t moved on from something that happened half a year ago Johny best though bro um just finishing up the housekeeping don’t forget to sign up for smart B uh to get the tip of the day uh there’s a corporate box competition for you and seven team mates to win a corporate box to the cricket NRL or uh basketball uh and you can also win two tickets to subversion in April which is a premier jit2 event in Australia um I’m confirming this smart B Racing update start date tomorrow so it won’t be tomorrow but I’m confirming it tomorrow and don’t forget to follow us the smart B app on all social medias looking forward to Monday where we can get some Australia Open uh discussion going yep should be good John can’t wait for the open that starts on Sunday looking for forward to it hopefully the Aussies go well yep definitely come on Alex demon all have a good weekend and bye producer [Music] pile