In the last episode of the year of the SmartB Sports Update we discuss the ongoing saga that is Australian Cricket and Mitchell Johnson.
We go deep into the player signings in the Rugby League, talking about who and what has signed where and when, and how the Jarome Luai signing still sits front and centre.
Nick Kyrgios gives us a lot to talk about with his tweet storm targeting Boris Becker and in our Honestly Guys, It’s Just Our Opinion segment we name our “Donald Trumps of our favourite sports”.
Watch now!
#smartb #sport #sportsnews #bbl #cricket #nrl #rugbyleague #afl #ufc #mma #tennis #basketball #podcast #sportpodcast #news #aussierules #nickkyrgios #donaldtrump #australia #pakistan
For all your sports new and updates head to https://smartb.com.au
For Cricket – https://smartb.com.au/teamsports/cricket/odds/0/false
For Australian Rules – https://smartb.com.au/teamsports/australianrules/odds/0/false
For Rugby League – https://smartb.com.au/teamsports/rugbyleague/odds/0/false
For news and updates – https://smartb.com.au/news/0
Sign up to SmartB now to gain access to more features – https://smartb.com.au/sign-up
SmartB is your smartbet for all things sports. With odds comparisons on all racing and sports, news, updates, live scores, a blackbook to keep track of your favourites, forums to discuss different sports, and more. Make sure you sign up for SmartB now to be in the know.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC66Fk0_zHtEFPNUS-u-UfNA
The SmartB Sports Update Podcast – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJGv8nkG93WnR08ZVu_jMOLk332l8s4rB
SmartB Shorts and Snippets – https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJGv8nkG93Wkr0vVF707lKWm3mx3zy7nF&si=0SbBVA6OXscpoAs0
SmartB Ollie’s Updates – https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJGv8nkG93WmUcqoEctzKKpFBN1nF-EpO&si=z8M0jJQtYjMD3TC_
Follow us on Social Media
SmartB Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/smartbapp/
SmartB Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/smartbapp
SmartB TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@smartbapp
SmartB Twitter – https://twitter.com/SmartBapp
SmartB Snapchat – https://t.snapchat.com/m2Cu44hr
SmartB LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/smartbapp/
[Music] [Applause] how you going man good man last episode of the year before we all knock off for Christmas and holidays and new years and all that kind of stuff yeah it was just uh funny listening to your experience being on hold earlier today John 25 minutes of Toto Africa there you go on the AZ Bank hold so they got they got someone smart over there cuz I was heaps relaxed when I came off hold I swear to God I could have been you know those situations you’re on hold for an hour and you’re like oh was on hold for I would have been like here you go man bit of Toto looking forward to our uh our honesty segment later John it would be an interesting one oh for sure man your your sports version of Donald Trump is going to be our topic so that that’ll be there’s some obvious ones but there’s also some some not so obvious ones I think absolutely um but we always kick off with Cricket at the moment CU Cricket’s the game in the world and there’s some results in the big bash with some people winning and whatever but honestly nobody cares and there’s actually some news stories this week or this episode about that the big newsing Cricket this week was the IPL auction happened MH and Mitchell Stark has managed to earn himself 4.42 million yeah um that’s uh just hugee money John just an insane amount of money um Good Luck to Mitchell Stark um he’d taken a bit of a break from the IPL for a number of years to concentrate on his um on his commitments with Australia but I think Cricket Australia have encouraged their players to to go in the IPL next year um as a way of warming up for the 2020 World Cup so um Starks signed up for it and he’s cashed in John $ 4.42 million and Pat cumins also cashed in with 3.67 million dollars there John so beuge doar it’ be nice if Ked Australia encouraged all these guys to also jump into the big bash League yeah would would wouldn’t prepare for the T20 World Cup yeah it absolutely would because then we’d actually care about what the results were think the Thunder one for the first time this year I I don’t know I don’t care but um Travis head also also got a good deal yes he um he’s cashed in there John um just trying it was I think it was 1.22 Million for Travis head um but not so much not not so lucky for Josh Hazelwood and Steve Smith yeah both unable to land a contract there John so um yeah well done to Travis head um same with um as we said earlier Mitchell Stark and Pat comets yeah they’ve really cashed in at a big wage on um there are actually some people in the world who can afford Sydney property JN it so IPL cricketers yeah those three guys they can they can buy a one bedroom flat and penth now but they’ll be paying it off for 30 years because that’s just a deposit at this rate but um I you know Steve Smith stayed behind in India for that that who cares Cup series for a couple of games first and second game or something to try and prove that he would be of value for the IPL was the rumor and in the end he kind of went quite poorly and and this the fact that nobody wanted to pick him up kind of reflects on that yeah yeah it just um it just didn’t happen for Steve Smith at the auction yeah um disappointing um yeah he’s um he’s actually done pretty well for the Sixers in the BBL John um but um you I think he can still be I think they can still be picked up at a to dat these players yeah it’s not this is not the be all and end all but you’d have to think the big money signings have gone in the auction I think the ones who’ve missed out at the auction they’re not going to be taking the big money I wouldn’t have thought well it’s something like I don’t really know cuz I don’t follow IPL cuz it’s IPL um not big Australian not APL um but my my vague understanding of it is they they all have the they have the salary cap and then they have a whole bunch of money that they spend at auction to try and get the superstars and then whatever they have left they go on sign people for so it show that Steve Smith and Josh hawood aren’t consider no longer considered superstars in so they’re not going to be getting the 4.42 mil or 3.67 mil that Stark and Commons landed probably the few hundred thousands instead because it is a short tournament you know it’s only yeah I think I think it’s two months Max it’s somewhere between 6 weeks and two months I believe so um so it’s good that start getting paid a million dollars a is it a fortnite it’s not not bad is it not bad not bad at all with that yeah um but well done to them good luck to them there someone willing to pay them that money so we’re not like those um you know social media social justice Warriors John who think that um you know nobody should be paid over you know $100,000 a year um if if people are good enough to earn that money then you know good good luck to them we got some some of that in the social media blower Opera section uh later on in the podcast as well discussions on Rugby League players and what they should get paid um and some more still on the IPL so Dave Warner cap ex- captain of the Sunrisers hyper bad team has been blocked by the team on Instagram yeah um sunr I just started laughing yeah sunrises hyroad um so he actually was looking to just congratulate some of his teammates um David Warner that’s all he was doing on social media and then he discovered that they blocked him they blocked him on on Instagram um yeah so he Warner join the sunrises in 2014 went on to Captain the team for a number of years before he was controversially dumped as Captain in 20121 and then he was axed entirely at the end of the same season then he moved to the Delhi Capitals in 2022 um yeah he he he said he was disappointed that they didn’t explain to him why he was dropped as Captain um and yeah so there you go John that’s that’s a bit rough blocking somebody completely from um I mean isn’t that reserve for people who abuse people on social media it’s not really reserved for someone who used to play for the team you have to have uh block function when you publish an application on the Apple Store for the purpose of preventing abuse harassment and abuse uh blocking someone just because you can block them is like actually the all I I think it’s the ultimate in childish tantrum you know to block someone just cuz like you know what you can also do you can unfollow them yeah yeah if you don’t want to if you don’t want to like you block them so they can’t see you yeah like how how wrapped up in yourself do you have to be to think that it matters like I don’t know I could look it up how much how many people Dave Warner actually follow on Instagram seems very sportful doesn’t it yeah that’s what I mean it’s like the ultimate tantrum oh now I’m having big connetion on my uh Instagram so we’ll skip that um it’s like a tantrum childish childish you know take my ball and go home Chuck the toys out of the cot kind of thing to do like really it is like it’s such a spiteful little childish thing to do and it’s bizarre that a a cricket team would do it like surely the social media manager for the sunrises isn’t doing it someone’s gone to the social media and going [ __ ] David Warner he’s mean or something and especially if he hasn’t like I said if he hasn’t harassed or abused them there’s just no need to block like I don’t want to have anything to do with Dave War so I unfollow him you know it’s the Block it’s so so childish it’s such a such a childish tantrum chucking baby thing to do to block someone who’s who’s not harassing or like you have to have the block there’s no reason not to have block you have to be able to block people who are harassing or abusing you but just blocking Dave Warner because he’s your ex team Captain is bizarre he just David Warner he just seems to be one of those players who just seems to attract drama um if they’ve done it to him you’d have to wonder who else there’s no way of knowing who they’ve blocked only you can know who you’ve blocked on your account there you I can like I can go to Dave Warner I can see everyone that he follows everyone that follows him but I can’t see everyone he’s blocked so who else have they blocked they block all the players who used to play for them and just don’t anymore they they they like that much of like petty little children that they would do something like that like it’s just it’s just a bizarre thing and yeah you got to feel for Dave Warner like again he obviously doesn’t care he just thinks it’s bizarre which it is um it’s pretty ordinary John um incidentally Warner he wasn’t available for auction on Tuesday and yeah he’s going to be retiring from test Cricket at the end of this Pakistan series The scg New Year’s test will be his last test yeah I think I’m there on day three I think um one and so you I saw you put this down I moved it up a little bit you think Stark’s IPL deal is the beginning of the end for test Cricket yeah um John I just think um you know this 4.42 million for a 2mon 2020 event um the the problem here John is if this keeps up well we’re going to get a situation where well we’re already seeing it John really the there’s only three countries who are interested in test Cricket at the moment Australia England and India um the the other countries you’re starting to wonder what’s the incentive for them anymore to even play test Cricket when they play it there’s nobody in the crowd um they can make a lot more money playing 2020 Cricket these players you just feel as though the PL is just getting closer and closer to if not killing off test Cricket um making it more and more difficult for test cricket and really um just minimizing um any sort of foothold that test Cricket could have because John the issue for me it seems to be um you know um what what what incentive for those three those countries outside of those three what incentive is there now to even bother playing test Cricket um money that’s that’s so there’s just not there’s not as much though as in these 2020 leagues uh I’m just looking it up now so as of last year the average pay for an Australian test cricketer in the 24 player Squad is $951,000 right uh that’s for the year $951,000 so yeah like you know um that’s that’s for the Australian players so Mitchell Stark can get paid $951,000 for the year of test cricket and play around 10 to 12 tests over the course of the year or he can go and play in the IPL for eight weeks and get paid almost five times as much and that’s one of the countries we’re talking about who where test Cricket’s still a big deal there there’s only three left and that’s one of the country Australia is one of those countries where test cre is still a big big deal so you imagine that scenario for a South African player in New New Zealand player a Pakistani player um a Sri Lankan player just imagine they’re not going to be getting 951 th000 for 12 months to test Cricket those players onwards with that like just once again showing how the B why the BBL doesn’t work is the highest paid BBL player is on $420,000 so you’re going to get paid 420,000 to play in the BBL or you can get paid Mitchell Stark will get paid 10 times that to play so you can see why these players would be skipping the BBL given it’s over Christmas and New Year and given the money is one tenth of the money in the IPL yeah um so yes cuz that you know you use Mitchell Stark versus the 420,000 because as Mitchell Stark is now the highest paid player and the highest paid player in the BBL is is 1110th so you can use it on a sliding scale it’s obviously not a precise science but you can easily say that everyone in the BBL is getting paid one10 of their equivalent in the IPL based on that single statistic um the good news is Dave Warner after he’s retired he has said that he will be playing for um uh the Thunder that is some good news yeah so Dave W is going to go to the Thunder and finish out the BBL season after his retirement which is nice yeah it’s nice isn’t it yeah like at least he’s like willing to go play BBL um because on that uh Tim Payne had a big bit of a blow up actually um because some people in the media myself included and you as well we can say we’re on we’re in the media have discussed that these test players should play um in the BBL they should be encouraged more and they should want to play they shouldn’t be rested so much the bowlers are only going to bowl four hours uh four overs sorry they’re only going to be out there for like an hour you know realistically it was 15 minutes Bing MH and so there was no there’s no reason why they couldn’t play a BBL match and then go play in the test and come back five week five days later and play continue with the BBL so Tim pay’s had a big blow up and said they shouldn’t uh have to do that it’s a huge task huge ask for players playing a test match a five day then flying somewhere and playing the next day there’s so many variables in cricket compared to these player these other sports where it’s totally controlled he says I don’t know what that means okay so so he’s he’s talking about a player having to play a test and then flying somewhere and playing the next day well I mean we’re not specifically saying that right he he’s he’s sort of put this hypothetical together where it sounds very difficult we’re not we never said that they should be flying there playing the next day we’re talking about the games that are on four or five days before it where you got plenty of time to to fly into State fly to where you need to go to play a test you know it could even be two days before it it could even be two days after it so he’s talking about oh if there was a game on the next day how how often really is that scenario going to pop up John where the players in the test team just happen to have a BBL game the very next day where they have to fly into State not very often the example we used was um Steve Smith played for the Sixers and then he didn’t play in the second game on the Monday when the Test match was starting on the Thursday played on Monday and and there were other players um it might have been Nathan lion I think might have been yeah Nathan lion I think he was rested from a game that might have been on a Saturday I think with the Test match not starting until the Thursday Adam zamper was rested even though he wasn’t yeah and and he’s not even in the test side but even with Nathan Len all right Saturday to Thursday that’s a five day buffer plenty of time to play the game and get there for the test match then they have the schedule was to finish on 18th and yes the BBL games did start on the 19th restart on the 19th so you could have hypothetically had some players in the test whose teams in the BBL were playing the next day but that’s the ones that they should be resting right it’s like when the you know if there was a state of origin game on Wednesday they don’t want the players in state of origin going and playing on Thursday but some of them will back up three days later you know like and you can’t you cannot tell me that it’s harder to back up in rugby league than it is in cricket like there’s so many variables in cricket compared to these other sports where it’s totally controlled is is nonsense the the bowlers Bowl four overs John yeah in a 2020 game so and batsman I mean the most they could be out there is out there for his 20 overs the’re the absolute most that’s if they bat the whole Innings 1 hour and 15 minutes and and they never bat the whole Innings never been somebody I’m sure of it there’s never been somebody who batted the whole Innings and even if they did it’s an hour it’s 20 overs for a batsman so it’s it’s not even half of an ODI Innings I know that playing a lot of sport is hard no matter the sport nobody who doesn’t play the sport can understand the rigor and you know the toll it has on your body but I always have this thing with sport where you can analyze the um actually you can analyze the toll that has on your body and how hard it is by how many games or matches the players can participate in per year year right the extreme is Combat Sports the average is boxes and MMA um with striking MH is two per year that’s the average right and then the commissions have suspension periods if you get concuss and stuff like that the most um is five in professional in lower level kickboxing stuff they might have 79 flights a year but they’re crazy that’s professional right yeah rugby league is like 24 games a year and they have to have a week break in between man in cricket they play and then two days later they play again you know they have nine games in a six week period they can if Tim Payne wants to have this this tanty then the players shouldn’t have played so quickly in the one day world cup that just happened they had games two or three days after each other yeah John baseballers play 164 games in a season they play every day yes PES pitch every day um I know pitches might get rotated but the batter is they they play every day yeah so if Cricket wants to you know aim up and be more of a professional sport like baseball is well they they need to start that this this is a thing John what what do they want the BBL to be cuz if the test players don’t play in the BBL the BBL is just going to turn into the Sheffield shield in a couple that’s what it is where there’s five people in the crowd yeah that’s exactly right it has been for the past few years where they four 4,000 average crowd I mean I know there was Co and whatever you want to use as again like your outside statistic but like 4,000 crowd numbers you know they they they used to have 30,000 people a game and now they’re down to like I think this year it’s quite good it’s around 10,000 um not all crowd numbers are being released as quickly as you would like but it’s oh yeah I wonder why John yeah I’ve got some sort of Suspicion that so you know after the the first two rounds only about five of the crowd numbers have being released out of the yeah yeah no surprise games or something it’s amazing how when it’s not such a good crowd it seems to be a bit trickier for them to release the crowd figure yeah his whole assertion that after 5 days you can’t back up the next day is absolutely ridiculous because yeah they just played in a World Cup in which you back up after two days so two or three days there were no weekl long breaks you know in the World Cup they H they have to do something John because they’re not attracting these International Stars we were talking about ver Coy Joe Roots um Ben stokes’s these sorts of players are not coming so that means the onus is on our test side to you know really and I you know they have to bend over backwards here John to keep the BBL afloat if they bail if they just can’t be bothered playing John if it’s all too hard well the bbl’s going to collapse and that’s not great for Cricket Australia the top earners as I said were bumped up last year to 420,000 it’s not going to go up if no one plays and no one watches and no one attends it’s only going to go down and if you if you Mitchell s and you can get 4.2 million to play in the IPL why would you even bother with the big rush seriously unless somebody like major or there was some kind of investment in it so what makes it worse is Tim Payne is actually the assistant coach for the strikers and and so head an Alex carry are two of the strik as players so You’ think it’d be up to him to be doing everything possible to promote that competition and wanting the star players to front up for that competition apparently Travis head both Travis head and Alex KY won’t be available for the entire season you you would think that Tim pay would be calling them and saying dudes come on like let’s let’s pump us up let’s get crowd numbers let’s get memberships let’s get build up the the thing instead of saying no no no no they shouldn’t have to back up because they had a hard hard hard five days man like just yeah well if if it keep if Tim pay gets his wish John and um and these test players pull out of the big bash Al together the big bash is just going to continue to decline and it’ll be lucky to be alive in 5 years from now exactly and it was such a good thing when it came out um just finally on Cricket the Mitchell Johnson Dave Warner saga continues with Mitchell Johnson now being sucked by Cricket Australia from two speaking Arrangements uh they have they have now acknowledged that yes it was based on his uh original Dave Warner criticisms his column um and he’s been replaced um they feel that it they said something like they feel like it was um not a good uh look to the current players to let him to continue to do his speaking arrangements so they’ve sacked him from two speaking Arrangements essentially for doing his job as a newspaper columnist which is to entertain his audience um provide provoking discussion um for the readers um and and they’ve sacked him for that I mean how precious are Cricket Australia taking that step John if it was rugby league John they’d be lapping it up they’d be loving they’d be loving Mitchell Johnson going how good’s this column what about all the attention what about all the publicity that column’s giving and it’s been a flat summer this summer John the Mitchell Johnson column has been the spark that this Cricket summer needed 3 weeks into they should be they should be praising him they should be highing him and they should have invited David Warner yeah exactly but he should be you know he shouldn’t have to pay for beers or food anytime he goes into a cricket ground for the next five years because of all the publicity he’s given them with this call Ben he said they’ve sucked him because and I I would really wonder this is again one of those things where it makes the cricket player is less likable um sacked for doing his job John and John I mean so Cricket what they don’t want they don’t want their ex players to generate publicity for the sport by writing controversial columns they said there were 16,000 fans there on day one of that per test you reckon there really were joh look like more more like 1,600 to me so I think they fudge that they were fudging the crowd figures because people are just losing interest John and he’s an ex player who’s come forward and written a controversial column to get people in again and they’ve just gone not and sacked him from two speaking three weeks into it and we’re still talking about it you know and like like it’s nonsense to have sacked him but you know them sacking him gives us more ammunition to make fun of cricket Australia I guess oh let’s go read Justin Lang as colum John where he just Praises everyone all the time and says how good everybody is all the time that’ll make for great reading won’t it we won’t fall asleep halfway through reading that Callum see I don’t even know if he’s written another column but I know Mitchell Johnson since his original column has written another at least one more column so you know it’s somebody’s got to get into the marketing team at Cricket Australia and be like what are he’s doing man you need to jump on this I I I like you know it’s censorship you know um censor if this was uh uh the UFC you know the one of the most horrific things that’s ever happened in the UFC leading up to Conor McGregor kabib mcal fight when Conor McGregor and 40 of his boys ran down and attacked the bus threw a dolly through the window and you know um Rose D munes lost her her um championship in the card because of that cuz she was so rattled people were removed from the card cuz glass got cut their eyes stuff like that it’s got the famous um kabig met sound bite send location send location and Dana White came out like it was horrible should never happen police like it never happened Conor McGregor was charged all this kind of stuff when the kabib and Conor fight was actually coming up what did they use as the promotional they used the footage of throw the of course I did of course I did that’s all that was that’s all you saw for weeks leading up to a fight an house Conor will fight kib here is a a whole bunch of footage send location you that’s that’s good marketing this Mitchell Johnson getting sacked and being trying to be blackballed by the cricket Australia is beyond ridiculous so now that that means the next player who’s thinking about writing anything remotely controversial they won’t do it now cuz they’ll know they’ll get they’ll get get ostracized by Cricket Australia they’ll be they’ll be AED they’ll be outcasts um so you wouldn’t do it so what does that mean that means that um ex players are now not going to say what they really think and their media columns and and commentary is just going to be boring um yes anything that causes self censorship in the media is is bad y rugby league would be embracing it AB they’d be lapping it off they love it it’ll be in every single promotional material it’ll be that thing where it’s like bang and the headline would appear on the ads and everything tell you what John we’ve got three major sports in Australia at the moment the NRL the AFL and Cricket in 10 years time it’s looking like we’re probably only going to have two and you know which two I’m talking about it doesn’t take on just imagine this right scg test Dave Warner is returning to the scg for his retirement on the ads trying to sell tickets can he prove Mitchell Johnson wrong Mitchell Johnson will be commentating for Triple M it should be like his face should be everywhere you know like it should show e old footage of when Mitchell Johnson did stuff chirping at the opposing players and stuff like that them Kenny rattle Dave Warner buy tickets now to find out instead it’s Mitchell Johnson’s B we’re going to keep it quiet guys he should be running Cricket Australia’s PR for sure I’d use all the controversies that’s all I would use um but that’s pretty much all for Cricket this week um always the complete nonsense well done on all the guys who who got paid in the IPL seriously go get your get your bag boys yeah could on can’t give you any criticism for it Well Done onto rugby league and some so the Jerome law I think has triggered a Spate of all the major signings um so Aiden Aden F Blake’s going to the sharks that came out of left field did John uh that blindsided you a bit didn’t it but it sounds like from what you were saying John as a dragons man you feel like you might have dodged a bullet on that one you didn’t sound too keen on I didn’t think a 4year $4.5 million deal was a good idea uh any any team would be lucky to have F Blake is’s one of the best forwards in the comp but there was always the risk of compassionate grounds but they TBL that fouryear $4.5 million deal and the Sharks tabled a 4E 4.5 million deal report sorry reported reported reported um and the Sharks out of nowhere they came they they weren’t even in the conversation it was Bulldogs Tigers dragons Bulldogs Tigers dragons buls Tigers dragons sharks what um and unfortunately Deen is not the uh Bulldog’s answer to their halfback dilemma because he signed an 5year agreement with the cowboy to stay at the Cowboys which is apparently another he’s got taking a big up upgrade to stay there so that’s the second the second best half now off the market um so I wonder who this mystery man is that you’re talking about with the Bulldogs can’t wait till they get back from um holiday so I can poke that a little bit more if they haven’t signed have to be someone under contract for sure it must be maybe it’s been H I hope I hope not I hope it is get rid of him bet you do um and you know another half so the the week of the halves junior amone is said to be deregistered by the NRL which I think is fair he’s as I said when he’s uh uh what is it called uh his sentence came in I believe he should be deregistered have to serve out the sentence and then come and redeem himself just cuz he’s on a imprisonment in the community or whatever the Weir weirdness was um 2year intensive Corrections order yeah and 300 hours of community yeah just CU he’s under that doesn’t mean he’s um he should be playing the NRL in my opinion he should go and serve his time he’s done his crime he’s got to serve his time and then he can come back afterwards and uh redeem himself and I’m all happy to forgive after the punishment what it does do is it causes massive problems for the dragons which will get to I added yesterday a thing about this yeah so he’s found guilty um over a hammer attack on a Tradesman that occurred in November last year yeah so um and yeah so the dragons kept him uh stood him down when the when he was sentenced when he was found guilty pending sentencing the sentencing came in as the whatever the weird thing is that he’s got and then the dragons were seemed to be that they were going to let him play and the NRL has now stepped in and said no no no we’re going to be deregistering the contract they’ve sent the notice and the dragons have however many days to reply or whatever it is but looks like Junior moans out um and Contin on with the halves the Panthers are saying they won’t let Jerome lii go early however he has been skipping training yeah it’s a bit of a mysterious one isn’t it but yeah the chief executive Brian Fletcher he shut down any idea that L could go to the Tigers a year earli in 2024 John he he told nine news Sydney quote that under no circumstances would Loui be playing in any colors other than penr next season um so we’re just waiting on this confirmation from the Tigers and announcement which will happen after this 10day cooling off period um expires um yeah so I mean you never know with these things John um if if if Lou keeps skipping training and if it keeps becoming if something like this keeps becoming difficult then you you know it’s it’s funny how quickly things can I mean the same thing we’ve talked about before the same thing happened with Dez Hasler at the Bulldogs John um was signed to join the Bulldogs in 2013 but it got brought forward to 2012 because Manley had had enough of him trying to coers other players into joining him at the Bulldogs so if Loui kick stones for a little while doesn’t come to training if if they think it’s it’s too much of a distraction what he’s doing they might just go right stuff this yeah see a l apparently on Mond on Monday I’ll so last episode was Monday Monday right yep so Monday he didn’t turn up to training that was the news that came up he got somebody to call them and say he was too angry with the club to come to training dude you’re an adult okay first of all you you call your work and you tell them you’re not coming yeah you don’t you don’t get your friend or your mom or whatever whoever the hell it was to call your work and say you’re not coming cuz I’m too angry at you because of your treatment and then I saw yesterday and today I believe he hasn’t come to training either he’s a no show training today is their last training session of the year and he’s a no show um that’s the thing Johnny he goes to them and it seems like it’s it’s on the cards John if he goes to them and says I’m miserable here I don’t want to be here anymore what are what are they going to do John do you really want to keep somebody who doesn’t want to be there um it’s all about the salary cap right so if there’s nobody to replace him with they don’t need anybody to replace him they’ve got Jack Jack there Jack hog is gone so if they’ve got someone to slot in who can compliment Nathan clear perfectly me I I I supported I know it’s like bias but you know I was actually a Steelers fan at the time but I supported the dragons holding on to Gordon Talis and making him sit out the year so you you were a Steelers fan before and then the joint venture and you became yeah so I I think that if if I was the Panthers and I didn’t need the salary cap space and I had someone ready to go I would make him sit out there year I wouldn’t get him let him play in reserve grade even because the uh the behavior of like having tantrums and acting like a child and and not coming to work and and you know not participating in stuff like that it deserves a response and the response shouldn’t be okay tantrum you’re having a tantrum so I’ll let you go you know you can have candy you know you don’t you don’t give kids um Candy just cuz they’re having a tantrum they have to learn the lesson don’t have tantrums and yeah it’s terrible for Jerome Loui but right now he just seems like he’s having a big tanty he’s in the middle of the shopping mall kicking and screaming and laying on the floor screaming about how he wants some I don’t know what modern candies are some Smarties um and we were talking about how good a week it was for the tigers um um sorry producer John just started laughing made me laugh um we were um we were talking about how you know how great a week it was for the Tigers you know their best week since winning the Premiership in 2005 they got rid of that terrible CEO and terrible chairman and terrible board um and then they signed Jerome Lua the best available playmaker on the market but this is a bit of a warning to his future employer as well Johnny when things aren’t going his way this is how he acts this is how he responds and so the taret are got to be wary of that um but yeah I I would be super spiteful if I the Panthers in this regard not block him on social media spiteful but um like seriously making him sit out the year spiteful because I wouldn’t want him going to another team and playing against me earlier than what his contract was he’s contracted with me and as much as players want like I’m a little bit I I don’t really like it how clubs can let players go and players can’t leave I don’t really like it I know you sign a contract contract is contract contract is waited in the favor of club and that’s just how it is I don’t like it right but you don’t behave like this you know in a professional environment in a as an adult um you don’t you don’t act like an idiot and you know if I was the Panthers I would really be spiteful about it and be like all right man screw you don’t come to training don’t care sit at home cuz if they let him go early they’re probably going to have to pay some of salary anyway sit home we’re going to have to pay you anyway do nothing go and find your own but then then then do you think he’s being rewarded by being paid for doing nothing but he won’t be training he’ll have to go and pay like um I can’t remember who it was it might have been Paul gallon actually no he wasn’t susp it might have been Wendell I can’t remember who it was um when somebody was suspended they had to pay their own personal trainer and they were seen and taken photos of down in the park and stuff like that you know you don’t get access to the uh Panthers strength and Recovery coaching and I guess it’s not something that his future employer would um they wouldn’t be too happy about that their player sitting out for a year their star signing sitting out for 12 months before joining the club that they wouldn’t like that at all they want him playing this year so Jerome La can then be an adult approach the Panthers speak to them civil and say you know obviously it’s not working let’s work something out bring in the Tigers and then we can talk about like all right you can go early we’re not going to pay any of your salary cap and you go on fully onto the when’re not go any of sat you go fully onto the Tigers now and tigers might go all right but to have tantrums and get your mom I don’t know if it was your mom but somebody call up and say he’s grumpy he’s not coming to work today is like it’s just not good behavior man and yeah seriously like that kind of behavior needs yeah I think he’s 26 years old yeah like come on mate you’re not you’re not 10 years old here you know like it’s setting a precedent for he’s a senior player at Panthers at the Panthers as well he’ll be a senior player at the Tigers it’s setting an example and a precedent for those Junior players yeah um I think it’s a watch this space on this story John I I know um Brian Fletcher’s adamant that Loui will be at the Panthers in 2024 I’m not so sure about that one I think watch this space we could see movement on this in the new year for sure before round one yeah everyone’s on holidays now or going on holidays as of tomorrow so or today so I’m sure we won’t see anything for the next two weeks anyway um this constant NRL promotional issues in Vegas though is is it’s becoming Beyond a joke now yeah so John we had this situation where um so they’ve sent a bunch of players over there we talked about Aaron Woods being sent over there they’ve also sent um Billy w wter over there Campbell Graham and Spencer lenu who’s about to join the Sydney well he has now joined the Sydney roosters yeah um so John they’ve sent these players over there to promote this season opening double header in Las Vegas in early March but they’ve sent Lenny you um to a rugby union Club John yeah how how it’s not as if there were no run a clinic in Utah in Utah where there is four four count them four rugby leag it’s regarded as the most rugby league mad state in the US Utah so it’s not as if there were no rugby league clubs to send him to there’s four they sent in instead they sent him to a rugby union Club to run a clinic why would they not have done a a rugby league combined where they invited all four of the Utah rugby league clubs to one area and said here’s a big you know these are spency Len is a not a superstar but he’s a pretty good player he’s going to come and tell you about what it is like playing in the best compet rugby league competition in the world rugby league players it’s unbelievable John and the the Utah Rugby League Association took to social media to blast the nrl’s move writing on Instagram disappointed with the NRL coming to Salt Lake City and running a clinic with a rugby union Club interesting to know what he taught them that’s that’s a fair um fair question we have four youth teams here in SLC that are playing in our winter NS tournament as you said John the four teams y but NRL rather go to a rugby union club and not the youth rugby league teams wow none of our community will come and support your games in Vegas way to grow the game NRL yeah and so there you go so they went to Salt Lake City so it’s four in Salt Lake City I thought it was four in Utah but Salt Lake City alone they were in Salt Lake City and they didn’t go to the rugby league clubs there’s of which there are four you know there might be four in Utah as well um t i I don’t know a whole lot about I wouldn’t have a clue where Salt Lake City is in relation to Utah whether Utah is the state and Salt Lake City is the oh right okay so there’ll be four teams in in that one city of that state in salt like yeah yeah yeah um yeah Utah is the um Mormon state [Laughter] is that Trump territory uh I’m not sure yeah I think it is actually yeah right so the Utah Rugby League Association has I’m just looking them up 2.6k followers y they they’re really active they they um they they had games like last week on the 10th they’ve put up some footage of a match um honestly like just just just this is beyond ridiculous again who’s in charge of this and John this wasn’t the only Gaff um a week prior um woods and Graham appeared on an NFL halime show where both TV hosts and I said this a while back John that this would be an issue that would come up both TV hosts referred to the sport as rugby instead of rugby league social media erupted with complaints John as they always of course they do well about the host not doing their research but others took aim at the players for not correcting them I think I think you should correct them John I think you should if you’re a rugby league player on that show you just respectfully say look I know you’ve referred to it as rugby but rugby is rugby union our game is rugby league apparently um I’ve I’ve heard this before um it’s only in Australia are we really tribal about that though like in other countries they don’t they don’t get so like knocky about it but I would say that is because only in Australia out when you have rugby league and rugby in is rugby league the biggest sport you know that’s why we’re so NY about it because in Australia we don’t want to be compared to that crappy little Rugby Union so don’t call us rugby yeah where in other countries like you know New Zealand you call rugby league rugby it’s like yeah yeah we’re as good as them yeah so even the four get this right the rugby league uh Utah Rugby League Association teams that they could have visited are the Broncos the roosters the seagulls and the storm so they even have names of the they could have gone there they could you know the roosters are playing in spenc L from The Roosters they could have created like uh you know you have these Partnerships in international sports where it’s like you know this is our sister team and they could they could have like created a s a thing they could have really gone deep into this that’s what I said you know the NRL this is a marketing exercise to grow rugby league in America they could have gone there they could have sent roosters representatives to the The Roosters the Utah roosters and said you know let’s do a player swap every year in the offseasons you know let’s let’s send some of your guys over to train with us and we’ll send some over to train with you yeah um and you I think you said the Broncos are one of those teams so Billy Walters is there too could have gone to the Broncos see see gos see Eagles yeah close enough Aaron Woods could have gone there um yeah I couldn’t believe this when I saw it man I was like that is the fact that they cuz Vegas is like a 7h hour drive from Salt Lake City something like that 7 hours 20 minutes something or flight you know an hour flight these guys weren’t they’re not playing in Utah they’re playing in Vegas in Nevada so they went to a different state from where the game is and didn’t go to the r the place in America they went to a state where the rugby league is biggest out of everywhere in America and didn’t go to the rugby league things it is the craziest thing rugby league has ever done yeah it’s up there isn’t it it’s up there when you really think about it and when you just take a moment to process that it is like I just praised rugby league before and said they embrace the controversy whereas Cricket you know censor their ex players apparently but rugby league clearly have other problems yeah research research yeah research um incompetence is an issue for rugby league even though they do embrace the controversy better than Cricket um yeah I can’t I couldn’t believe this when I read it I was so disappointed because yeah like if they that it’s a perfect situation to go there and you’ve got four teams we’ve got four teams hell three of the teams that we brought over here I don’t know who the four teams are it’s a rabbit is it the rabbit over oh in the double header oh yeah yeah yeah I’ve got it written here John so um the game will be on March 3 in Las Vegas Manley will play s and then the roosters will play the bronos so sou could have joined with the storm you know we got four teams and you’ve got four teams we won’t do one Clinic we’ll do four clinics and then we’ll put on some different things and while we’re here we’ve got our you know Community pathway guy over there he’s going to organize for some some train you know this training swaps over the course of the year when you’re in your offseason you could send some of your kids down to Australia like a few of my friends kids are coming back now from from overseas soccer trips you know like they were they they play soccer as kids here and they’ve gone to England as part of their schooling or outside of whatever it is soccer to do some soccer um camps in Europe with the eepl teams yeah you know like it’s not actually it’s with like the third tier EPL teams or whatever but you know like it’s still the same thing they could have sent some of these arranged to send some of these kids as a a offseason trip to Australia to experience the NRL you know Tak them to games got them into training and they could have arranged to send some players from here or coaches over to Utah for the next 10 years and build the game over there I was going to I was going to call it an attention to detail issue but even that’s a bit of I mean it’s just common sense it’s not attention to detail it’s it’s just bizarre yeah and instead they went I will go hang out with the Rugby Union dudes to call it attention to detail employ that there’s some detail about there’s not it’s just it’s just basic common sense you send rugby league um players promoting Rugby League games to rugby league clubs not Rugby Union clubs very basic they they should make up for that and then invite there you know they sold 25,000 tickets or something to the game they give tickets to all the kids to all the kids who play for those clubs you know let them come backst what into the dressing room and stuff like that yeah that would be the only way to make up for this horrible blond absolutely um there is see there’s no Las Vegas rugby league teams right so they went out of the state for no reason to go to Rugby Union yeah um so yeah that ridiculous but I’ve got something for you right that I want to get your opinion on have the dragons become the new Dolphins because leading up to the first year of the Dolphins Wayne Bennett you know pursued a whole bunch of players and just couldn’t get any of them and that’s Wayne Bennett now Flanagan’s C in charge of the dragons and this is what they’ve missed out on Jerome Le going to targets Tom Deen who they were chasing ended up staying at the Cowboys ad F Blakes G to the Sharks Jack wsby was announced today who’s like the number one player you know of the future in the English Super League decided to stay at sent Helens Jai Manu hasn’t been announced yet going to be staying at the roosters missed out on dragons missed out on his signature can and that that’s the thing that the Dolphins are you know at Le at least they’ve got an excuse right they’re a new team I mean it’s always going to be um it’s going to be difficult for a new team to attract players because they’re establishing themselves and that’s they’ve got a they’ve got a good excuse right yeah they’ve got a good excuse whereas the dragons have missed out on some key targets there um it’s disappointing John and and and I guess the issue is when when you’re being overlooked for the Tigers given the state that they’re in that’s a real worry that’s why I was saying I’ve said it quite a few times John I really think they need to just back Flanigan in here because there’s no quick fixes here for where the dragons are so the last thing I want to see is them Panic after a couple of years of him and it may be the case John there’s a there’s a very real chance that they you know you’d have to say chances are they’re not going to make the eight in 24 or 25 John and then then they need to persist with him because he he’ll have a plan and and he did it with konala John he’s got form on the board he took konala from down the bottom that’s the thing there’s a big difference between winning a Premiership when you’ve actually had to take a team from down the bottom to the top as opposed to just coming into a team that’s a readymade Premiership team premierships bringing a team from the bottom to the top are much more difficult to win and flanigans got one of those to his name in 2016 won that one with konala and beat Melbourne who you know uh you know one one of clearly one of the best teams um of the last 25 years so the fact that Flanigan’s got that form on the board they really need to just stick solid with him John and and they need to just trust him they need to back him in he’ll have a plan he will have a that’s the thing there other teams other clubs don’t really like the tigers are a prime example they have not had a plan for a long time John flaningham will have one one um I’d imagine it’s going to be you know he’s just going to have to bite his time for a little while he he’ll know that um it’s going to be about you know um developing their Juniors blooding their young players hopefully a couple of really good ones come through the Juniors and and you know having a good solid base of development there but also making strategic player purchases on top of that to complement those um those local Juniors um but this is going to take time it’s going to be a long-term fix it’s going to take him four or five years um and it’s going to be a rocky rod on because they’re not they haven’t attracted these Marquee players so that means it’s going to take more time and they need to be patient so 2024 I think you’re right they they massive danger of getting the wooden sping actually in 2024 and if they sack Flanigan after that it’ be the biggest mistake if they get it well they’re just got to suck it up John because that’s that’s where they’re at so who they’ve lost isn’t that bad because they didn’t have very many people to begin with so they lost Billy Burns Jaden hunt Josh Kerr that was a big loss because he was one of the dragon’s best players but he’s not the best player just Dragon good player Alexander L Moses MBI Z Musgrove Jaden Sullivan Aaron Woods and now um Amon right they gained Cory Allen Tom Eisenhuth K Lanigan H C and Cyrus Stanley Trail so nobody mhm right nobody and they resigned a few players but 2024 or this is the thing where it’s important for the dragons I think is off contract they have Cory Allen talal Moon Josh corck Jack dellan Tom Eisen Matthew Figi Max F Francis moo Michael moo Connor M don’t know who that is Ben Murdoch Milla Cody Ramsey Jackson sherub Tyro s jadden Sil Moses suly Sav tamale Alec tuak and Paul Turner so they’ve got 19 players off contract in 2024 so no matter what happens in 2024 fenan has for 2025 a massive amount of money to spend on upgrades resigning and buying people um that’s what I that’s why I don’t like this salary cap ceiling rule John where you have to spend 95% of your salary cap every year I I don’t like that I think teams should be allowed to take a hit and go not we only want to spend 60 or 70% of it this year and we want to you know hold fire keep our gun loaded and then you know really pounce when some Marquee players come on the market but they got this Rule now John where you have to spend 95% of your salary cap every year and that that that’s going to make it harder for a club like the dragons who’ve got those 19 players coming off contract because no matter who’s available on the open market they’re going to have to spend 95% of their cut so that’s that’s the problem John because the players to become available in the next 12 months they might not be the right ones the dragons are looking for and that’s why it gets so hard for teams who are struggling to come good these days because of that salary cap ceiling rule they’re not they’re not allowed to go all right we only want to use half our salary cap this year and you know keep our gun loaded for when some better players come on the market it makes it harder for teams to to rebuild John there is a large number of players off contract next year like dragons could buy Luke kry h [Laughter] wouldn’t be he’s off contract I mean yeah he is I mean he is having those issues isn’t he with those concussions John but but that having been said the dragons would want Luke kir you look at some of the players that are have contract at the end of 2024 and it is people like Daniel tupu and Luke Kerry at the and Billy Smith Angus kryon just at the roosters alone you know if you want to look at the positive John I think you got the right man for the job the coaching job I think Shane Flanigan is the man so while you’re not hit these recruitment targets um I think you you’ve got the right man there in Shane Flanigan in that job and and he will I I I have faith in him John that he will he will have the dragons a dominant Club again but it’s Pro it’s probably going to take back it’s probably going to take him four or five years like they there’s there’s definitely like a team available in the players that are off contract like even Bradman best is off contract at the nights that’s a awesome pickup um yeah there’s a team there off contract at the end of 2024 and the dragons look like they’re losing the most amount of players so I I have a fear next year we’ll get the spoon which will be the first spoon in the history and that like it’s the dragons like dragons fans Panic dragons um management Panic they do but what what they’ve got to do John is they need to look at and I did have a look at their record you know um I think the previous Premiership before for um 2010 was in 1979 John so that’s one so that that that’s one Premiership in so 1979 that’s what 21 20 that’s 44 years ago yeah so one Premiership in 44 years so they need to look at that and go well maybe it’s not just the coach here maybe you know we a lot of things have Chang so it’s their West Tiger’s moment here isn’t it this is their West Tiger’s moment to go the coach is not the problem here we can’t Panic every time here we got to trust someone um because you know it’s one Premiership in 44 years that’s not um the coach is not to blame for that definitely not there’s a and I know I know they’ve only they’ve become the joint venture I think they became the joint venture in 1999 I believe I think the first year they were a joint venture they made the Grand Final right yeah so um so that’s the thing John I mean do do you do you say they’ve only W one in the last 44 years I mean there are new if we if if we if we disregard or if we just talk about the joint venture on it’s been in existence for 24 years and they won one Premiership if you want to stretch it back further it’s one in 44 I’ll tell you how it works yeah it works in a way whichever makes me look best yeah okay what are you talking about man they’ve only it’s it’s one in 24 years new it’s a new club that came in in 99 they made a Grand Final in their first year and they on a Premiership in 2010 but if you want to if you want to argue about something else 11 in a row baby yeah yeah exactly yeah yeah I don’t think anyone’s doing it I don’t think um even pen AR going to get you on that one it only um it just depends on whichever is the best suited for me whether we’re we a joint in whatever argument I’m having inout football so yeah the bottom line is trust Shane flig again he knows what he’s doing but you got to give it time and don’t panic I really hope they do I really really hope they do it’s I know it’s going to be a sucky year most likely next year you just got a cop on the tin there’s no there’s no quick fix I wish Flanigan hadn’t have talked about how he expects to make the finals next year he should be more realistic but I know he’s got to talk his players up and give him confidence um yep so on to the AFL and the Clayton Oliver saga continues as well he’s now being sent home from his training camp they way to deal with personal medical issues and won’t be returning in the foreseeable future actually okay right um yeah he’s got some health issues and um with uh undisclosed yeah personal issues we hope that he’s okay yeah 100% wish him well so yeah he um there was a whole thing about how he had issues with the club around his signing and his behavior and his attitude towards training and even playing talked about him last week getting done for driving without a license uh he did have a seizure due to his ADHD medication um and then now he’s yeah he’s just been sent home home and the club is supporting him in whatever he needs to get better which is good yeah yeah absolutely hopefully he gets the help that he he needs John hopefully he can address um these personal issues that um that he’s been presented with and um and and we wish him and his family well at a difficult time yeah definitely um so that’s all there is in the AFL Clayton Oliver um but there’s nothing in combat either because there’s no UFC till the 13th of January 1fc has a fight card this week which is mainly kickboxing then closes down over the holidays sometimes Combat Sports do awesome cards on New Year’s Eve and you know that’s the I wish the Ronda Rousey was on New Year’s Eve you know like that’s I wish there would be another one of them like a New Year’s Eve massive like Conor McGregor card or something like that that’s where um I know we’re about this is our last podcast before we have a couple of weeks off John um that’s the thing isn’t it like sometimes um I know on you talk about that New Year’s Eve they’d have a good fight card um sometimes on Christmas Day after have your Christmas lunch you sort of want something to watch afterwards yeah um and I know the NBL have been really good with that they’ve had a game on Christmas night the LA I think the last couple of years maybe I think the big bash have talked about having a game on that Christmas night but I don’t think they’ve done that yet yeah they’re on boxing no they’re not on on boxing day they’re over and then come back after the test I’m pretty sure right okay um so so yeah John it is that that thing where you know we all don’t mind a bit of a break a bit of a holiday but you do still need something to watch in your your festivities if you watch um weekly release American TV shows they have this habit that people in Australia don’t understand where they’ll stop for like a couple of weeks at a time and I was really like frustrated with it years ago like you know whatever I’m watching just say say it’s friends right I didn’t watch Friends when it was on but just say it was friends it was the first thing that popped into my head and then at the end of November suddenly it had stopped for 3 weeks and then a couple of weeks later stop over Christmas and what it is is because I had to ask some of my American friends what’s the go with this and they were like because at holiday period nobody watches television but we watch sport so you know you watch all these sitcoms and stuff like that and they’ll have the Thanksgiving episode and then the men will be watching the game they was talking about the game it’s a football game they have you know but there’s also basketball games and stuff like that and I yeah I really wish they would do this in Australia as well because they do have games like first grade professional games in America on Christmas Day on Thanksgiving Day on whatever other like uh July 4th what’s it called Independence Day I really wish they’d do that here as well you know we have the boxing day test but I’d love to like I finished the Christmas lunch we’ve unwrapped the presents the kids are playing with their toys all I do is sit around and talk to my family sometimes I don’t want to do that if there was a big b game on yeah with the games [Laughter] on yeah um yeah that’s the thing John um you do still want that you need that hit of sport don’t you even when even when we’re going into the holiday period it’s probably not as much of an issue these days where you got there’s just so many forms of entertainment out there John you know you got Netflix you got Stan you got Disney um I could go on on Amazon Prime all that I don’t want to watch a movie cuz drinks it’s exhausting exactly there’s only so many um you know reruns of um Seinfeld or the the office that you you you want to watch is a really cool thing like I can sit down um you know got my buzz on cuz I’ve been sitting with the family and talking I’m exhausted I’ve had good food all day and like I see kids are playing so you just chck on a cricket watch a big bash game or something it’ be really so yeah that New Year’s one is is awesome like if if they ever do I would love to have a New Year’s Eve UFC in Sydney because I would go to it probably be $1,000 for the worst tickets though um so yeah nothing much to report on Combat Sports um but uh on tennis Nick curios Keeps Us Alive yeah he does Nick curios never goes on a Christmas break that’s for sure um he um yeah so this um back and forth with Boris Beckers just continue John I had an update for you on Monday and now we’re at about you know day five of this curios Boris Becker back and forth so this is the latest John um Boris Becker um said that Kiros should thank former players for being in the position he’s in today Becca said it’s simple you have to respect the past of our sport in addition to publicly thanking the former players you must be grateful that they existed without them the tennis circus would not continue to exist there have never been so many monetary prizes and there has never been as much publicity as there is today why for the legends of the sport all these players make it possible for Nick curios not to play tennis all year round and that even so he can make a living with this sport curios as you can imagine saw the comments and hit back on his favorite platform of Twitter John he said bro what I’ve been one of the few players he put the few players in caps John uhuh that have brought Millions more fans to the sport and have made more money for everyone he posted Netflix in caps don’t remember seeing Boris on there that’s the show break point on Netflix he’s talking about John I’d recommend that too if you’re looking for something to watch over the Christmas break the guy is ridiculous I’ve made my career off the court without the help of others he said that so that was have you really Nick and then he he wasn’t done there John um he kept going he said said not once have I taken slams away from Becka or any of these Legends he wrote on uh on or X now or as as Elon calls it John Twitter um as we like to call it not once have I said I’ve impacted the game more I’ve simply said that I’ve built my own brand and done it my way and brought fans apparently a slam finalist has no credibility good night done with this convo is what he said John and then he disappeared and oh sorry I’ll let you go and so and then another twist in the tail John you have Genny COV the former top player himself he’s weighed in and giving it to curios on Twitter as well he said this is what he said about curios dude hasn’t won a slam in singles and comparing his impact to game of tennis to one of the best legend in our sport Boris Becker I don’t know if Afghan English is the best John so just bear with me on that what kind of weed is he smoking gnov said via his ex forly Twitter account curios then responded with a fiery set of tweets oh my God I thought he was done with it what happened inantly launched an onslaught against the Russian calling him a potato and then he said this is what curiosa said he said never ever said that he hasn’t impacted the game Champion we have another potato on board this is what curios said he said that if you haven’t want to slam there is no credibility rublev he puts in caps making a reference to Andre rublev there who’s a top player from um kafelnikov Native Russia who hasn’t want to slam but is a top player LOL you old heads are all the same curios said curios concluded his statements on gelov assuring him that he’d helped his tweet gain more traction curios says and I quote I’ll also make sure your sad ass tweet reaches more than 50,000 people sad guy curios concluded on his Twitter account so there you go John good God good God oh my God Nick curios seriously he is he is the epitome of the child uh you know the what do they call him um Donald Trump gen gen V or Millennial dudes or whatever I think it’s what’s the one I’m a millennial John I’m trying to work out what the younger generation Gen X or something J whatever he is J X something he fully has he fully has just exactly like um you know this kind of behavior where he believes like everything he does he does himself you know like I’ve I’ve done this and and he’s hasn’t had any help and stuff like that dude without all the people that came before you you wouldn’t you wouldn’t be where you are yeah you know um and he should go and look at things like exactly what we’re talking about with like cricket and stuff like that he continues what has been built which is good it’s a good thing Nick is is good for the popular tennis and he’s lucky that there’s no one there killing tennis in popularity you know tennis is a world game that could in Australia go the way of Rugby Union or cricket you know it doesn’t there’s no chance it will at this point in time but no sport is sacred from that and you can look at things like that like but then like so the guys like you know Becker and stuff also have to understand that they are maintaining popularity and relevance because of guys like Nick curios though because if you look at something like Rugby Union right I don’t know who the current famous rugby union players are I I fully don’t know there’s that guy that signed with the roosters um in Australia I mean I I don’t know there’s not many these days I think a batch of them have just retired like Michael Hooper Etc if they had have continued the work that those previous guys like you know Wendell sailor and L takiri and Matt Rogers and wit campes it was I can’t I can never remember which Camp David Camp the Rugby Union one yeah um nikar Jones like all those kind of things Tim horen John eels yeah Michael ler they built something and the current crop could have continued that and maintain and you know Matt Burke yeah back office as well could have maintained it but without those people to build it up to that they wouldn’t have had anything to maintain so Nick curios needs to understand that without those guys like Boris Becker he wouldn’t have what he has Boris Becker needs to realize without guy the continuation guys like Nick curios Boris Becker would be Irrelevant in Australia that’s true John um you make a good point there it does go both ways um I sort of got this viewe on that and you know we’re talking about Nick curios at the moment but but you sort of think anybody who’s on a platform like Twitter this often and just picking fights with other people all the time it sort of just looks pathetic to me John that you got nothing better to do than just sling mud at you know for former great of the game like does do does does Nick curios not have something better to do with his time he doesn’t play tennis he’s got a lot of money well he doesn’t that’s true he doesn’t play tennis he’s a tennis player who never plays tennis there’s no tennis on so he can’t commentate he literally has nothing to do right now yeah so it just it just there there’s a there’s a pathetic look about that John about behaving in that manner and that’s anyone on social media who’s on it that often and and and and and just you know taking po taking pot shots at people and I’m talking about anybody let alone you know two greats of the game it’s one of those things like actually talk about where you know the Tigers had to realize it wasn’t the coach and this is the same thing like Nick it’s I remember ages ago um Michael Crocker was on the Footy Show and Gus gold said to him like um you know he was talking about how like because Michael cook is very exciting to watch and there’s all these big hits and all this kind of stuff and he said but I just got to ask like why is it always when something bad happens it’s with someone and Michael Crocker exactly and that’s what Nick curios needs to look at why is it always someone and Nick Nick curios you know like it’s always there’s one common element you know and so that’s the thing that he needs to look at like both of them neither of them should fight with each other actually because it’s kind of sad like Boris Becka should I know we talked about like Mitchell Johnson and Dave Warner going at it right but Mitchell Johnson was using analysis of cricket to criticize Dave Warner like it was had the element of the cricket Nick curious is just talking crap about Boris Becka has no relevance on anything to do with modern tennis yeah and I will I will say this John um Boris doesn’t come out of it looking great either yeah that’s what I mean yeah you’re right he should just ignore curiosity just don’t respond to him why would you give him oxygen Boris should be old enough and wise enough by now to know to just ignore someone like Nick curios on Twitter be like okay man in real curios is like a a teenage school that’s that’s what we’re deal open open Twitter saw tweet from Nick cool back to real life not I’m going to get into this most people would have you know thick skin enough in boris’s position would have thick skin enough to to just go I don’t need to dignify Nick curios with a response and not get in this back cuz you’re dragging yourself down to his level Boris what’s the thing like it looks it does you’re right it looks bad for Boris too if you argue with with an idiot they never argue with a fool they’ll always drag you down to their level or something is a thing exactly Boris needs to realize that he he can’t win this argument because Nick curios will just keep coming back for more exactly and so the more he responds the more he’s just giving him oxygen and and Twitter is Nick curious’ playground he’s he’s 28 years old Boris Becker is in his 50s it’s not his playground I thought Nick cus was going to only fans I got cuz only fans operates exact yeah he’ be doing that as well he’s a fulltime social media the problem the only fans is no app so there’s no push notifications it’s only web based anyway um we got no other sports news cuz nothing else is happening it’s the end of the year we finished the year on honestly guys it’s just our opinion so the question this week is great it’s based on a conversation we had uh last AG after we came off on Monday so it’s who are the Donald Trumps of our favorite sports okay um so we picked a few Sports here we got cricket we both into rugby league which we both into MMA which is my Sport and Tennis which is Dan and then anyone else we can think of yeah I’ve got another one but yeah I got another one too so let’s kick off with Cricket do you want to go first yes I’m happy to go first SE my nomination for the Donald Trump of cricket Mitchel Johnson brilliant not Trump had Trump had a lot of the world holding their breath on edge on edge and anxious when he was elected president in 2016 after beating Hillary Clinton in the election in the same way that Johnson had the English batsman holding their breath on edge and anxious when he terrorized them in the 20134 ashes series taking 37 wickets and bowling so quickly that you could see fear in the eyes of the English as we have come to learn in recent times Johnson isn’t afraid to speak his bind in the media much like the 45th president of the United States oh that’s a good one it’s a good one there not one that I pick um I actually pick Johnny BTO yes Johnny BTO because Donald Trump isn’t famous for being a president and he’s not famous for being the head of The Apprentice he’s famous for having tantrums and blaming everything in on something else which Johnny bestto who was not a household name in world cricket really before the ashes is now famous for blaming everything on a stomping in one game in the ashes it’s a cool one both done well on to rugby league which is an obvious one but I’ll let you go first again okay so rival Republican candidate Ron DeSantis or As Trump calls him Ron Des sanctimonious attacked the former president over his quote daily drama Latrell Mitchell is the same John in 2023 there was daily drama around Latrell wasn’t chasing for players on the field was having disagreements with Captain C Murray and team video sessions called Sam Burgess to walk out on the club as well because he felt Latrell was receiving preferential treatment and he also pulled out of the kangaroo Squad with injury John only to then mysteriously play in the Cy knockout despite being injured of course it’s LR there was no one else that one was too obvious but I I just wanted to chuck in an honorable mention who goes to Ryan Madison who is um very similar to Donald Trump in that he’s the most selfish representative of a rugby league player Donald Trump is the most selfish representative of American president ever Ryan Madison famously walked out on the Tigers because he preferred to not be there and then took a suspension instead of a fine at the beginning of this year um which is something sounds like something Donald Trump would do yes it does um so onto MMA I’ll leave this one in your there’s only one there’s one and only and there only one to be it’s kobby Covington oh okay oh yeah right yeah mcre but it’s Kobe Covington because he is Donald Trump the guy built built his has now built his whole personality around being Donald Trump’s best friend favorite MMA fighter he uh constantly talks nonsense and promotes the conspiracy theories that Donald Trump does using Donald Trump lines constantly even so much as to in his postf fight press conference that his recent loss turned it into a rant about how the election was stolen and that was even after Trump had walked out of his yes so I was going to go McGregor because he’s Conor McGregor but I thought well kobby cumington actually is Donald Trump or would be if he could be Kobe cumington is the first MMA fighter to ever appear in the White House When Donald Trump was the president and so tennis tennis yes John so um I think uh it’s so obvious it’s a pretty obvious one Nick Nick curios and even that tweet I was reading out before from Nick curios John where he said sad at the end of his that’s that’s his Donald Trump reincarnated um so when Nick curios plays tennis whether you love him or hate him you can’t look away when Donald Trump speaks whether you love him or hate him you can’t look away they both love a feud which plays out on social media a lot of the time John not exactly telling you anything you don’t know there curios has found himself embroiled in feuds with everyone from Boris Becker to Bernard Tomic to Leon huitt to PE Morgan to rapper Drake while Trump has feuded with everyone from Merill Street to Arnold Schwarzenegger to Robert dairo to Brad Pit to Sasha Baron Cohen to Taylor Swift to Pope Francis to Kim Jun joh there you go there’s never going to be anyone else I just wish Nick curios would do all of his Tweets in capital letters like Donald Trump he’s getting there with the sad the he’s getting there so who was your additional okay an additional John given Trump’s love for golf I thought we needed to get a golfer into this discussion John Daly and and it’s because of his diet so over the course of 18 holes of golf daily would have 21 cigarettes 12 Diet Cokes six packs of Peanut M&M’s and no water John a typical Donald Trump dinner a full McDonald’s dinner of two Big Macs two fil fish burgers and a small chocolate shake a total of 2,430 calories oh God Trump reportedly loves Diet Coke like daily and drinks 12 cans a day the same number that daily drinks in a round of golf Trump also had the White House kitchen stocked with Lays potato chips and Doritos Nick is funny Donald Trump isn’t well he’s kind of like haha funny you laugh at his jokes cuz he might blow you up with a nuclear bomb so I have American women’s soccer player Megan rapo oh yes so if you don’t have Megan rapo you can go look look her up she’s attention seeking she’s selfish she’s completely ignorant she treats everyone like garbage everyone there are so many photos of her videos of her signing like people asking for signatures and her like paying no attention and not signing properly she doesn’t care about anything or anyone except herself oh that doesn’t sound like Donald Trump at all so much so when she arrives places she’ll carries a speaker with entrance music for herself no no way she has a Bluetooth speaker she in her last game of soccer ever which everyone celebrated finally she went down injured in the first six minutes and in the press conference afterwards she said there mustn’t be a God because I was injured six minutes into my final game oh well if you want to see someone who thinks the universe revolves around them look at Donald Trump and Megan rafo you know how you said everyone celebrated her final game was that because she was finally retiring andele get rid people wouldn’t have to put up with her anymore she’s one of the people that said she one of the things she said is from next year they should allow transgender athletes in professional soccer and um Riley Gaines is famously responded to her and said yeah that’s cuz you won’t be playing that’s why you don’t care that is selfish is yeah she’s yeah she’s like definitely the worst person to me honestly guys it’s just my opinion but the worst person in All Sport and perfectly suited okay you so that’s our honestly guys just our opinion bit of a fun one to end the Year yes um and now it’s time for the social media blower operas okay so on the smart B ad uh there’s some weird ones okay I just got to warn everyone fair warning uh Parental Guidance recommended for the weirdness that’s about to come out Steve Lee on the smart B ad promoting smart B said just saw the ads for Grant Dena why can’t you come up with something new instead of crap old shows I didn’t know that Brant Dena was on our podcast jom miss something thanks Steve we’ll try not to promote Grant daa maybe he was commenting on the wrong thing I don’t know yeah it was just bizarre then on the corporate box experience uh when when WI a corporate box experience for you in 17 minutes Christina luno replied thank you thank you thank you I told you strap yourself in it’s getting weird um most overread player Trey langy said where can I watch this full episode or show so in every post there is a link to the full episode or show so jump on and watch it Trey um so remember if you remember last week Dexter or um yeah he had a go strong yes um so him and Matthew Jacobs Matthew Jacobs was a guy who said Darren witin Lees the leg yeah that was good post that one yeah they got into it actually oh did they yes so I’m not going it was a very long conversation I’m not going to read it all Yes uh and I just give the basic gist of it but but also guys you need to to calm down we’re very happy with the arguments but you got to keep it civil which we had to continually remindful so uh the original comment last week was the one that was talking [ __ ] about BL to train hard all their lives and we’ve never played a game so whatever Matthew Jacobs replied immediately calling dexra Hoy a goose five hours of five hours a week training a 90minut game once a week yeah retire at 30 yep that’s working hard all your life you’re a wanker sorry how many do they save all for 20K a week what does a surgeon make bit less I think again you don’t need to insult each other um and then Dexter replied surely you don’t believe what you just wrote 5 hours a week of training to even get to that level there training when they’re teenagers more than that then to maintain a spot in a team you have no idea and their job isn’t to save lives stupid comparison by stupid man again that’s personal calm down guys you don’t need to insult each other subtle subtle subtle yeah um five hours a week is wrong I can tell you that yeah it’s not 5 hours a week they have full-time jobs the players have to arrive at so get there early in the morning yeah it varies each week depending on game time because they have video sessions they have weight training they have uh recovery sessions from the previous games stuff like that it is a full-time job and they are under very high pressure to perform yes they play the game only goes for 80 minutes but they are under huge scrutiny yeah under far more scrutiny than most people in the workforce yeah definitely 100% um like they can’t even Tweet stuff out um without sometimes getting suspended so again guys love the conversations just you don’t need to call each other’s wankers or stupid men like just have the conversations so then Sensei on the most overrated players player against since I did three comments right mhm uh with NRL and even NFL I don’t get why they can’t offer every player a base $120,000 yearly contract and maybe rep players get $180,000 a year base contract elite players get 240,000 a year base deal but then per NRL game win a player will get 10 to 15,000 per game and if you lose a game you don’t get paid extra these win bonuses can be paid by pool of money by the NRL and not by the team salary cap so it does not encourage teams to lose games on purpose to save money having to be paid out for wins he continued strong a player can easily live off 1201 180,000 240,000 a year even if they lose all 24 games a season hence why I said there has to be a minimal base salary in case some players don’t play in any games or they lose or they play in a lot of Los losses I think that’s a terrible we appreciate the effort he’s gone to and the feedback but it just sounds very complicated John um players get paid what they’re worth to the people that buy them you know and yes some players are over overpaid because teams have to pay them overs but to pay like they have a minimum wage you know I don’t I think the minimum wage is now $100,000 actually yeah it might even be 120 maybe I’m not I’m not 100% sure on that so for the top 30 there’s a minimum wage and then yeah like they have a salary cap I don’t think the issue again this is on the most overrated Player thing I don’t think there are any issues with the way people get paid M so I don’t think and I don’t think this is a solution no yeah there’s no there’s no problem with players getting big money they they they deserve that that someone’s willing to pay them that money that they deserve all the money they get exactly yeah um then not necess same guy not necessarily related to the overrated topic that you’re talking about but something that very that’s very interesting is there are 306 top players in the NRL which is 17 players plus one I think it means extra vest player in case of injury equals 18 * 17 ignoring players 19 to3 in each team comparing players 1 to 306 which is 207 players to the top 99 sum of that 207 might look much more less talented but if you take the next bestex players in Australia let’s say ranked 500 to 999 then the 27 players are light and day above players 599 it’s funny how individual talents decree quite a lot from 99 to the next best 207 and then to the 500th to 999th best rated players so I guess just saying there is a it goes kind of like top players daylight next lot of players daylight next lot of players which is true um there is a massive drop in quality of football from first grade to new Southwest cup massive drop um and that’s one of the reasons why they don’t expand as rapidly rapidly as some fans and and New South Wales Cup teams want them to because there just simply isn’t the quality of players there yeah yeah he talks about you know the top you know 306 top players um in the NRL um obviously is going to be a big difference in ability between number one and number 306 yeah and then you know what comes after that which is in these lower te competitions you know there’s going to be another jump again so yeah I guess I just I’m just not sure what the um what the solution is here I mean what’s the um there’s no suggestion or anything in it as well but anyway anyway thanks for the uh thanks for the feedback it’s good good thing maybe we’ll uh talk about different rugby league competitions in the future and honestly guys it’s just our opinion I’m sure if you look at the Quality between the new South Wes Cup and the Utah rugby league that’ll be a massive drop as well yeah but they still should have gone to the rug exactly so same Guy sensei big commenter uh responding remember if you remember last week crazy pray crazy praying mantis said Wayne Bennett did nothing at and George sense a responded to that and said didn’t wi Benny win the 2010 Grand Final against the roosters as the dragon head coach yeah yes yeah it’s a bit of a bit of an oversight that one yeah that’s why I said that crazy praying man’s comment was he was funny sensei again um on episode 36 asking us a question what do you think about in BBL and IPL T20 cricket them introducing a new rule baseball like where the coach can remove a struggling batsman who is not scoring much runs like the way a manager walks to the mound and removes a struggling pitcher in the MLB I I don’t think they need to do that I think they can get a message down to tell them to let themselves get out if they really needed to do that well they could just you know they could just retire hurt if if they really wanted them to to and then um you know yeah they could retire Hur come off and and go again um and go again with a new have a new batsman come with the the pitches in the MLB you’re allowed to rotate as many times as you like I believe you know like um cuz like my uncle used to pitch for Australia a um one of the things about baseball is it happens to cricketers but not as much baseball is actually way worse the lack of resistance when throwing the ball as they do um causes a lot of damage to your shoulder like a lot of damage to your shoulder and people like have dislocated shoulders and stuff throwing baseball pitches so that’s why if you’re struggling you have to take the picture off because it’s risk of injury um but I like that Sensei is is having a bit of a think about it and and thinking deeply about it I mean there are times where I watch cricket and I think sometimes I think that you know teams too often will just stick with their their batting order because you know they feel like that’s their batting order and that they won’t think outside the square a little bit like there’s times where you sort of think like that World Cup final John was an example I remember Australia lost three really quick wickets in their their run Chase and then it was um um it was rescued there by Travis head and um I think it was labber Shan was the other one who rescued Australia and I just thought to myself at that time I thought should have Str because the B at that time the bowlers were right on top the ball was moving around there was just a period of the game where the bowlers had the momentum in sport it just happens and I just thought should they put their tail Enders out there now to to see off this period yeah and then and then bring in their save their recognized Batman for later on when the bowlers are no longer on top and no longer have the M momentum so there are times where I think think like that about Cricket as well they need to think outside the square a bit more I think at times with changing up their batting order and yeah and and adapting it to the the situation of the game at the time yeah I think adaptation is a really high quality skill from coaches and players and you see it happen where um a plan a is not working and they just keep trying it you know like it happens in the state of origin this year in New South Wales plan a wasn’t working and nobody the coach the players The Playmakers the um Captain called an audible and and said we got to change something here to plan B Plan B and yeah I like the fact that Sensei is think putting some thought into how to make the BB and T20 even more exciting than it has the potential to be yeah and even in even in tes cre I know Sensei is talking about the BBL and T20 there but even in test Cricket I like a lot of people don’t like the idea of the Night Watch joh but I’d like the idea I think it’s smart I think don’t expose your good player late in the day when they’re vulnerable and and um you know the bowlers are moving the ball around in the dimming light they’ probably got a lot of the time Bowlers have a new ball at the end of the day cuz the 80 overs is done so it’s a vulnerable time for a b batsman to come in late in the day so I get why they send in a night Watchman and I get totally if one night Watchman gets out put another one in it continue to protect the batsman put two or three night Watchmen if you have to to save your batsman from being exposed late in the day yeah so tomor tomorrow they so tomorrow they come out a fresh day yeah fresh start and yeah I like the night Watchman yeah me too yeah um so one the best and worst Cricket commentators Sensei again he I think he must Sensei loves it John so first Kos is the first um comment he did cuz first comment uh then ask asking thoughts on females being main commentators in men’s test 50 over Internationals T20 International games that’s question one and then at 2 minutes and 12 into the the discussion Junior Mark Wall comes across very negative and mury and pessimistic when he commentates I’ve heard many viewers say this about Junior okay so first part of that John thoughts on females being main commentators in men’s test 50 over Internationals T20 and National games no problem with it John as long as what they’re saying um as long as they’re making commentary worth listening I got no problem with it John and Isa certainly does that um there are a couple of others John who maybe don’t but Isa I think he a really good commentator some of the um female commentators in rugby league are really good I don’t like when they put a female in there for Equal Opportunity Employment no no no they have to be I wouldn’t I wouldn’t put AA in that category I think Isa is really good I to be honest I don’t care who’s commentating if the commentating is good makes no difference like you could have an orc comment ating for all I care you know yeah as long as as long as they make sense um as a commentator and the commentary is good I got no problem with it EXA as for Mark War um so that’s sense say Mark pessimistic and Moody I I will I I look at him differently John maybe I’m a bit biased cuz he was my favorite player as a kid but I really like I love his refreshing honesty he just calls a spade a spade he calls it as he sees it I really enjoy his commentary but yeah I mean everybody’s going to have a different interpretation I think you need to jump on on Twitter SLX and get into it with Sensei yeah yeah I might need to I might talk to you about that John I might need to Crea an account I think just so you can bag Sensei and he can respond um that’s it for the social media blower ERS thanks a lot to everybody again please guys keep it civil um we don’t want to delete comments uh sometimes we do have to hide comments on Facebook which means they don’t get deleted um but only the original poster can see them but we don’t want to have to delete or ban people we want conversation and yeah um and thanks Sensei for all of your comments keep them coming and we’ll respond to them MH uh as for housekeeping don’t forget to sign up smart B for the tip of the day um yes it went out today I can’t remember what happened yesterday but yeah keep um sign up and get the tip of the day there’ll be rugby league tips and everything coming as well from January there’ll be a whole bunch of like tips of the day you can sign up and choose which sport you want tips from and you’ll get tips every day as well as news and stuff like that too but yeah awesome um copper box competition sign up win uh chance for you and 17 mates to go to a basketball Cricket or rugby league game in Sydney sign up um you get the chance to win two tickets to subversion the premier BR jj2 event in Australia uh the smart B Racing update which I mentioned last time that was going to start this week we realized we’re all on holidays is actually going away uh so we were like wait wait wait wait wait let’s start it next year so Racing update with Bryce and I know God damn it I should have written his name down so Bryce is doing it with someone else yeah Josh I think Josh so all racing all your racing news information tips stuff like that uh it will be released every Friday in time for the weekend racing um so you be able to listen looking forward to listening to that one you be a to listen smart B 3 days a week from now on next year and don’t forget to follow smart B app on all social media so you can get those kind of updates we usually post the tip of the day but I think we’ve forgotten to do it the last couple of days but that’s all right sign up and you can get it anyway so yeah absolutely John absolutely everyone Merry Christmas have a good New Year this is our last episode for the year we’ll be back in the week of the eth of January Merry Christmas Happy New Year to you John and to producer John as well thanks uh for all your help throughout the year it’s been great fun coming in here doing this so thanks thanks very much for having me and can’t wait for next year def going to be a big year of support well done Dan and goodbye producer John [Music] bye
