I will get the negative out of the way first. Do I even need to tell you who I am talking about? There was a feeling of inevitability as the Penrith Panthers scored their second try with twenty minutes to go and get to within 4 points of the Warriors. Deep down I just knew that the Warriors would blow it again, and sadly, they did.
There are so many ways to approach this issue so I write this without much thought. You cannot blame Warriors coach Brian "Bluey" McClennan for his players' inability to catch a ball and get off the tackled player in time, but you can blame him for picking the same culprits. Yet again, if these guys were given professional contracts in the first place then surely they can catch, pass and tackle, regardless of if they are first team material.
The Warriors are not fit. I cannot remember a game this season where they have played the 80 minutes! Again, how can you be given a professional contract without being fit? Right from the first game against Manly where they conceded a few tries in the first 20 minutes, the same old problems have continued and are getting worse. Getting off to slow starts, getting off to fast starts then falling asleep, not closing the game out, and so on.
Do the players have faith in their coach? In themselves? Their team mates? Are the Warriors players proud of their team? Stupid question, of course they are, but they do not seem to be showing it. Maybe if they stuck to two strips - home and away - instead of switching from pink paint splatters, green, red, white, black, and grey.
Bluey has been unlucky with injuries but so too have other teams. Being without a fully fit Michael Luck for most of the season, Jerome Ropati was lost early on, Kevin Locke has been in and out and so have Simon Mannering and Nathan Friend. It is hard for a coach to put together a plan when players are coming in and out and dropping like flies.
The Warriors' former coach Ivan Cleary has been struggling with his Panthers just like Bluey is with his new team. I genuinely feel sorry for Bluey as it wasn't more than a year ago that many people wanted him brought in to the Warriors. I am prepared to give Bluey next year to write his wrongs, but if no improvement is evident after several games into 2013, then panic stations it is!
On the All Blacks 27-19 victory over the Wallabies in Sydney, I heard a statistic that there was only 14-15 minutes of open play in the second half. Alain Rolland could not keep the whistle out of his mouth and made the game, in my opinion, the most boring, stop-start, discontinuous game of rugby I have ever watched!
However, the two tries the All Blacks scored were spectacular, with Carter linking up with Israel Dagg who went on to beat Kurtley Beale one on one down the sideline. Then there was twinkle toes Cory Jane doing what he does best. Sonny Bill Williams and Ma'a Nonu had a quiet night but their presence was certainly felt in providing a distraction for the Australian opposition.
The All Blacks were far from their best and the Australians could not say much either. Even though Robbie Deans had an extra two weeks to solidify his team after no Australian Super Rugby Franchise made the top-four, they looked out of sorts and the embarrassing case of the ‘dropsies’ from Beale and Scott Higginbotham was quite entertaining. Predictably, the All Blacks will be even better at Eden Park this week in securing the Bledisloe Cup for the tenth consecutive year.
The pressure continues to mount on Robbie Deans who, in his first Bledisloe Cup match back in 2008 was labelled a hero in Australia, has made very little progress with this his side. They won the Tri Nations last year, so what? Graham Henry had other priorities in 2011. For Robbie, losing home matches to Scotland and Samoa over the last two years does not help his cause.
What a shame it will be when Rafael Nadal does not take the court at Flushing Meadows next week for the last tennis major of the year, the US Open. The amount of power Rafa has in his game is obviously putting pressure on his knees, much like Tiger Woods and golf, and I just hope that it is not too serious in the long term. Roger Federer convincingly bet Novak Djokovic 6-0, 7-6(7) in the final of the Cincinnati Masters in the lead up and, being the huge Federer fan that I am, would love nothing more than to see the Fed Express lift his 18th major trophy.
Talk about consistency, here is an incredible statistic - from Wimbledon 2005 to the Australian Open in 2010 (19 major appearances), Federer made all but one final, the 2008 Australian Open, after losing to Djokovic in the semis. Must of been my fault, cause I was there!
Until next time, ciao.
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