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Roll up, roll up!<\/p>\n
As if you didn\u2019t know, on Sunday morning Sydney time the Wallabies take on Georgia to get their World Cup campaign under way in France. They should win, probably in scratchy fashion.<\/p>\n
In his remarks at a reception at the Australian embassy on Wednesday evening, coach Eddie Jones put out his view that in the early rounds of a World Cup, you ideally only want to do just enough to win, keeping your best stuff for when it counts.<\/p>\n
And while everybody else was exulting the Boks thumping of the All Blacks a fortnight ago, he made it sound like this was his stuff of nightmares \u2013 playing out of their trees before the tournament itself and perhaps peaking early.<\/p>\n
I know, I know, whatever else they say about the Wallabies form leading into this World Cup \u2013 with five straight losses to begin Eddie\u2019s reign \u2013 they are unlikely to be accused of peaking early. Unless that 20-point loss to France was as good as we\u2019ve got? I think not. Stand by, sports fans. Scratchy win over Georgia. Second gear over Fiji. Third gear over Wales. Fourth gear over Portugal. Quarter-finals, overdrive, cruising together!<\/p>\n
In a little light palling around afterwards, well away from microphones and the public gaze, Eddie genuinely seems confident that the bloody surgery we have seen on the team to date will produce results and the patient is recovering and in good shape. We will see.<\/p>\n
Onwards!<\/p>\n
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Ben Donaldson runs the ball during a Wallabies training session.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n Listen, in terms of people trying to help others get out of a jam by providing public support, I have long thought it could never get worse than Keef Richards coming out to help his mate, the late, great Shane Warne after he failed his drug test.<\/p>\n (Keef? I know you\u2019re trying to help but, look, could you maybe sit this one out?<\/em>)<\/p>\n Well, I was wrong.<\/p>\n Jorge Vilda with Luis Rubiales in Sydney.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n The sporting issue du jour, globally, is the forced kiss by Spanish soccer chief Luis Rubiales on star striker Jenni Hermoso, on the victory podium of the World Cup \u2013 now likely to be the subject of legal action. Just about no one \u2013 with only his mum as the notable exception \u2013 has publicly supported Rubiales, for how could you? Until this week.<\/p>\n Enter . . . Woody Allen, famed for his film work, and infamous for marrying a woman nearly four decades his junior who was . . . his step-daughter.<\/p>\n This week, Allen spoke out.<\/p>\n \u201cHe didn\u2019t even kiss her in a dark alley. He wasn\u2019t raping her. It was only a kiss, and it was a friend. What\u2019s wrong with that? It\u2019s not like he murdered someone.\u201d<\/p>\n Woody? When seeking moral guidance on the rights and wrongs of this, the best bet might be to start with the feelings of the woman concerned, then move to the feelings of other women who have been themselves the victims of unwanted intimacy, and then . . . you get the drift.<\/p>\n It might be some time getting to you. In the meantime, I am reminded of the words of David Letterman in his opening monologue, on the evening of the news of your affair with your step-daugther broke.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd here\u2019s a little cheerio to Woody Allen\u2019s counsellor . . . Nice work.\u201d<\/p>\n The evolution of James Graham from a down-player of the gravity of repeated concussions to footballers, to a leading advocate that proper care be taken, continues \u2013 and bravo.<\/p>\n You will recall that as recently as 2019, TFF and the former rugby league star got into a public donnybrook on what I saw as his reckless disregard for looking after himself and the effect that risked having on others who might also take a cavalier approach.<\/p>\n He saw it as me being a preening prat publicly telling him what was good for him and others, and how dare I, so get nicked until further notice. But in the \u201cConcussions and repeated head trauma in contact sports\u201d report that the Senate released this week it is noted of the Englishman:<\/p>\n \u201cGraham stated that, although rugby league gave him a \u2018great life\u2019 and many opportunities, he believes that it is likely that it will come at cost to his health and life span: \u2018Some of this is due to the nature of my sport, due to the environment that I was put into, the attitudes that existed around concussion and my own choices, at times, to carry on and take advantage of a system that allowed me to play six days after being knocked unconscious\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018I … received the information that I\u2019m in the bottom three per cent for a certain area of the volume of my brain. I\u2019m glad I know that information because I can look to do something about it. Unfortunately, that resource isn\u2019t there for a number of the people I used to play with and play against. I think it should be. During that time of my own ill health, I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety, and I\u2019m now looking at possible bipolar disorder as well. It\u2019s an ongoing process, and it\u2019s something that I will likely deal with for the rest of my life\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018You can\u2019t cease the decline, but you can put the brakes on things. You can certainly hit that accelerator. Unfortunately, people don\u2019t know where to turn to, they don\u2019t know what resources are available to them, and that self-medication aspect is far too common, in my opinion, from what I\u2019ve seen in the community\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Again, as sobering as that medical news is about him, bravo for speaking out.<\/p>\n Back in the day: Trevor, Ian and Greg Chappell.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Archive<\/cite><\/p>\n Back in the day, the \u201cHoly Trinity\u201d of Australian rugby was Farr-Jones, Lynagh and Campese. Cricket\u2019s rough equivalent was the Chappell brothers: Ian, Greg and Trevor. Only rarely do the latter appear on stage at the same time discussing their careers, but it will happen this Wednesday, at the 6th Annual Dinner of The Chappell Foundation at the sublime SCG, with drinks on the sacred soil from 5.30pm.<\/p>\n They will be interviewed by Adam Spencer, and all money raised \u2013 every dollar, without seepage \u2013 will go to charities that help to alleviate youth homelessness charities, the likes of Stepping Stone House, Taldumande, and the Burdekin Association. There are just a handful of seats left of the 500 available. Google and go-go.<\/p>\n Stop Press. After a Kiwi woman overheard me telling a friend at breakfast in a Parisian hotel on Thursday morning to forget about going to the opening match of the World Cup because they were selling for thousands of dollars, she politely interrupted.<\/p>\n \u201cCan I tell you, that we just tried,\u201d she said, \u201cand were told we could get two tickets for 8,000 Euro each.\u201d<\/p>\n In Australian dollars, that\u2019s $13,500.<\/p>\n In Kiwi dollars, you could probably buy Invercargill, and have change left over for Timaru <\/strong>and a night out. <\/strong><\/p>\n All Blacks great Dan Carter promoting the Rugby World Cup in Paris.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n Dutch golfer Anne Van Dam headed off to the Irish Open last week, only to find when she landed in Dublin that her main driver had been broken in transit. Not to worry, she had a backup and used it to get to 16 under after the final hole on Sunday, and into a three-way playoff.<\/p>\n But then on a golf cart with an official, heading to the first playoff hole, Ms Van Dam casually lifted a boundary rope, so the cart could get under. Alas, she dropped the rope a moment early, meaning it caught the top of her golf bag, and destroyed a club.<\/p>\n It was her backup driver. She lost the play-off.<\/p>\n Dam!<\/p>\n Fullback for the Chilean rugby team, who are making their debut appearance at this World Cup, Inaki Ayarza: \u201cWe know the teams we\u2019re going to play. We\u2019ve watched them on the television for a long time. For me, it\u2019s the stuff of dreams. But we haven\u2019t come to France just to take photos.\u201d<\/em> Chile kicks off against Japan.<\/p>\n Sonny Bill Williams, in Paris as a Stan commentator for the World Cup, tells the SMH\u2019s Tom Decent, of the Wallabies: \u201cThey can win the World Cup. They\u2019re so close. People forget how good this Australian team is. All you have to do is look at the history. Australia is the third-ranked team in the history of rugby. They\u2019ve won two World Cups.\u201d <\/em>I know. Tell him he\u2019s dreaming, but, why not?<\/p>\n Deion Sanders on his successful start in college coaching, with his Colorado Buffaloes beating the heralded Texas Christian University team: \u201cAin\u2019t none of [the media] thought we were going to end up sitting here . . . Everybody\u2019s quiet now.<\/em> We told you we coming. You thought we was joking. And guess what? We keep receipts.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Sanders: \u201cI don\u2019t have captains. I don\u2019t believe in captains. I believe in leaders and dogs. Every dog ain\u2019t a leader and every leader ain\u2019t a dog.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Colorado coach Deion Sanders gets a point across.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n Nicole Livingstone on the AFLW support being boosted by the Matildas: \u201cAustralia has been awoken that they love women\u2019s sport and the green and gold tsunami that was the Matildas has helped us with that. We\u2019re happy to grab that as a platform and keep running with it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Alex de Minaur on his US Open match against Daniil Medvedev: \u201cWhenever you play him, you have got to be ready for an absolute chess battle from start to finish.\u201d <\/em>Sadly, in the end, it was check-mate to Medvedev.<\/p>\n Sergio Scariolo, Spain basketball coach, with a collective Michael Clarke: \u201cTonight, we were Spain until the very end.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Coco Gauff says she drew inspiration from Justin Bieber during her third-round comeback victory at the US Open: \u201cI definitely saw who was there. I thought, \u2018I cannot lose in front of Justin Bieber.\u2019 I didn\u2019t lose a game after I saw that.\u201d <\/em>Justin, a word? The Wallabies are playing Fiji next Sunday at St Etienne, if you could drop by, and I\u2019ll tell the guys you\u2019re there?<\/p>\n Shark Wade Graham: \u201cI think the government should throw some funding at the Sharks to update that facility because the infrastructure there now with the new development needs a new stadium to sit side-by-side with it. That\u2019s a government issue, not ours.\u201d <\/em>And schools and hospitals, Wade? Whose issue is that? Why should the Sharks be further forward in the queue than them?<\/p>\n Eddie Jones on being dragged into Danny Cipriani\u2019s book, with the former English fly-half claiming when Eddie was coaching England he asked Cipriani about his relationships: \u201cIt\u2019s just f—ing nonsense. If anyone is stupid enough to pay attention to it then good luck to them.<\/em> I get criticised for being too hard – now someone is trying to make out that I\u2019m too familiar with the players. Work out what you want me to be!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Unseeded American, Ben Shelton, 20, on making it all the way to the US Open semi-finals: \u201cSometimes, you\u2019ve got to shut off your brain, close your eyes, and just swing.\u201d <\/em>There\u2019s a Djoker in the pack, but it\u2019d be great to see him make the final, with an attitude like that!<\/p>\n Boomers coach Brian Goorjian after their scratchy World Cup: \u201cI\u2019ve read a lot and respect everyone\u2019s opinion, but what I said to the group inside is that I\u2019m not embarrassed and I\u2019ll go back to Melbourne with my head high.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n Wallabies<\/em>. Play Georgia in Paris to get their World Cup Campaign under way.<\/p>\n South Sudan.<\/em> Their men\u2019s basketball team qualified for next year\u2019s Olympics.<\/p>\n Rinky Hijikata.<\/em> The Australian did remarkably well at the US Open.<\/p>\n Sydney Roosters.<\/em> After not winning two games in a row all year, won their last five to get into the finals.<\/p>\n Swans.<\/em> Their AFLW side was winless last year but they won their opener this year in a thriller against GWS Giants.<\/p>\nWoody Allen\u2019s in your corner, what can go wrong?<\/h3>\n
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Graham\u2019s admirable work in important space<\/h3>\n
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Chappell brothers unite for great causes<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Two tickets, please. That\u2019ll be $25,000<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Anne damned by bad luck with drivers<\/strong><\/h3>\n
What They Said<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Team of the Week<\/strong><\/h3>\n