Tuesday 26 August 2008

Round 24: A special Roast from Bruce McAvaney live in Bay-jing

Hello and welcome to all participants of the Tuesday Roast NRL tipping competition. The Olympic Games may have come to a close, but I’ve been given the honour of presenting this week’s Tuesday Roast and let me tell you I couldn’t be any prouder right now.

We’ve seen many an Australian hero in Bay-jing over the last two weeks, but the NRL provides gold medal performances each and every week: just witness Darren Lockyer’s effort on Friday night in Brisbane. Aww gee, what a special effort that was, getting up out of his sickbed to lead his team to an incredible win in Golden Point. It reminded me so much of the great Michael Jordan, who put his Chicago Bulls on his flu-ridden shoulders.......

.....in the 1997 NBA Finals. I remember the first time I saw the great man play: it was the Los Angeles Olympics of 1984 and even back then you could tell he was special. This was before the Dream Team concept mind you, but aww gee what an athlete. The ’84 American team was renowned as one of the all-time great pre-Dream Team lineups, with Jordan, the behemoth Patrick Ewing and the sharpshooter Chris Mullin, all of whom featured on the original Dream Team in Barcelona in 1992.

So anyway I’ll take you through some of the gold medal efforts in the NRL from Round 24, but the similarities between the NRL and the Olympics don’t end there. Both seem to enjoy scandals and drama and both have elements many want to see removed: I’ll get to both of those a bit later. We also can’t forget that many Australians who watch both have a healthy amount of xenophobia and both currently have a strong dislike of their British counterparts (and both are trying to use Britain as an excuse to get more funding).

But enough of the bad news about the NRL and the Olympics: why dwell when there’s so many good news stories in the NRL’s Centenary season. That reminds me…the Centenary Olympics in Atlanta. Aww gee it was hot, but you forgot all about the heat when Michael Johnson was racing…..

Where was I? The good news stories of the NRL and Brisbane Gold Coast on Friday night. Suncorp Stadium – the old Lang Park – what an amazing ground it is, but more importantly for NRL followers, almost every game played there is top-shelf. This is only the Titans’ second season in the NRL but they have a wonderful rivalry with their older brothers up the road in Brisbane. Brisbane started strongly when Joel Clinton barged over, but Gold Coast dominated the rest of the first half. Can I just say I love Preston Campbell? Sure, he’s no Cathy, but he’s not far off. Preston had a wonderful first half, but he backed up in the second with a broken jaw. Aww gee, what courage, what toughness!

But Brisbane have become experts over the years and holding out the best an opponent has to offer and then coming back with their best and this game was no different. Lockyer guided the ship around but he had important help from Admirals Wallace and Ennis and Gold Coast was sinking fast. Somehow they found a life raft in the form of a surprise try and the game was tied at 20-all.

With under 10 minutes left, the field goal shootout began and gee three of the game’s best battled it out. Lockyer, who won the corresponding match last season, Prince and Rogers (with his surprisingly long boot): with a top-4 spot on the line for Brisbane and death staring Gold Coast in the face if they lose this game, a battle for the ages loomed!! Up stepped Lockyer, who gave Brisbane the lead, but a strip by Rogers gave Gold Coast one more chance and Prince took it to golden point!

Unfortunately for the plucky Titans and heroic little Preston, Lockyer won the game for Brisbane by stepping past the rushing defence and setting up the try for Eastwood. Two years running for Brisbane and Lockyer winning this fixture, but I couldn’t help shedding a tear for Preston and the Gold Coast, so gutsy and just falling short.

The other Friday night game didn’t have the dramatic quota as seen in Brisbane, but aww gee, if you wanted two teams skilled in the much-maligned arts of overly physical play and cross-kicking (a new event to the NRL), then you came to the right place.

The Roosters have one of the biggest packs in the NRL but they were no match for Cronulla’s size plus enthusiasm. Their cross-kicking attack and defence was also no match for Cronulla, so the Roosters were lucky to reach zero.

Cronulla is also world class at killing the game and taking penalty goals. Luke Covell, he’s no Olympic sprinter (if anything he’s more of a shot putter), but he fits Cronulla’s game plan to a tee.

The Saturday night games saw a double-header at the Olympic Stadium in Sydney. Aww gee, so many memories. And I’m sure that’s what Wests Tigers supporters are thinking now, because they wouldn’t really want to remember too much about their embarrassing display in this game. Manly took a while to get going though so the scoreboard remained close for most of the first half, but Beaver Menzies and Brett Stewart led Manly on a point-scoring blitz. Such a tragedy that Beaver has been forced to ply his trade in England next season, but Stewart could very well overtake him at the top of the try-scoring list by the time his career is over. He may not have a classic running style, but they said that about Michael Johnson too didn’t they? Gee I love watching Stewart and Menzies play…and Glenn Stewart and who could forget the Barry Dawson look-a-like himself in Luke Williamson? David Williams too (who’s keeping Michael Bani out of the team)… I love them all actually.

Next up it was Parramatta and the Bulldogs. Now I know the Eels cop a lot from their own supporters (and other supporters) for not playing at their best all the time, but to the critics I ask this? Do you perform your best at your job all the time? I thought not. You cruise and lift when needed. I’d go so far as to call this the Australian way. You may think I’m an exception to this rule, but covering every Olympics since 1980, it’s even been tough for me to get excited at some events in Bay-jing (I really do miss Heike Dreschler and Sergei Bubka you know). And when the AFL’s ludicrous scheduling gives me a Friday night game between teams 10 and 13 to call, who could blame me for sounding less than…special?

So I can relate to Parramatta and their lackadaisical attitude for most of the time. Some said Parramatta should have thrashed the Bulldogs, but they didn’t need to, did they? They stayed close enough, lifted when needed and won by more than enough. There are plenty of other teams who can’t peak at the right time: I wouldn’t like to be them right now.

The final Saturday night game was a tragedy. Sure, Newcastle blew North Queensland off the park in the first half to do enough for a solid win, but Danny Buderus’ bicep injury…what a tragic way for such a wonderful player to end his career. At his peak, he was the Scottie Pippen to Andrew Johns’ Michael Jordan, but his contribution after Johns’ retirement to Newcastle was even more important. When Brian Smith was tearing down the Knights to rebuild them, Buderus led the team and kept them solid amidst growing criticism, even from local Novocastrians. Now Newcastle is on the road to contending for a premiership in the next few years and Buderus played a vital bridging role.

Sunday’s first game was at the Olympic Stadium again, but there were fewer people at this game than lining up for food on Cathy’s special night in 2000. That said, both teams enjoyed boisterous support from a small band of loyal supporters and an interesting game ensued. Canberra started quite strongly (as they have during their recent amazing run) but Souths dominated the final 25 minutes of the first half and threatened to score their second straight high-scoring win over a top-8 opponent.

But after half-time, the Canberra juggernaut re-emerged and their crusade to bring long-range tries back into rugby league continued. As Colin Best strode out like a gazelle and ran over the top of defenders, I couldn’t help but see him in the green and gold on the track: what an athlete he is. Souths’ defence held him in the first half, but when Simpson showed Best the sideline early in the second half, Best took it and scored. David Milne is another amazing athlete (in the mould of Billy Slater) for Canberra; incredibly he’s only getting regular action because of Canberra’s injury crisis, but when Campese put him into a gap later in the second half, Milne sprinted away for an easy try.

Speaking of Canberra and the Olympics, you wouldn’t be surprised if the drug testers were keen to have a word with Campese and Best, would you? Both had shown signs of class in their careers so far, but they have been at (or very near) the best in the NRL since mid-season in their positions. Gee aren’t the Raiders a wonderful story though? Unfortunately they suffered two more season-ending injuries on Sunday, but they will be everyone’s second-favourite team for the remainder of the season (they’ll be my equal-favourite team – with every other team – though).

Sunday afternoon got even better when we thrashed New Zealand! The Warriors, with one or two exceptions, looked flat against a surprisingly sharp St George Illawarra at Wollongong on Sunday afternoon. If it wasn’t for Wade McKinnon, Brent Tate and maybe Steve Price, the Warriors would have been blown away. The Warriors are one of my favourite teams, but they’re crying out for a halfback. Someone like Lockyer, Preston or Campese maybe. They had the effort but their execution let them down terribly. Only McKinnon’s nose for offloads kept them in the game in the first half.

Unfortunately for the Warriors, the Dragons built upon the promising signs they showed against Brisbane last week. Their attack was crisp, their use of the inside ball confused the Warriors’ defence, but most importantly, the Dragons’ big 3 of Gasnier, Cooper and Ryles (ably facilitated by the very underrated Dean Young) were all at their best: a key point approaching the business end of the season. Aww gee, the match-up between these Dragons and Parramatta in Round 25 – two of the best at not playing to their potential, but lifting for big games – could be a beauty!

Finally, last night’s game saw Melbourne barely get out of first gear but still destroy Penrith. Craig Bellamy – what an incredibly driven coach he is. Even this late in the season and facing a potentially dangerous team such as Penrith, Bellamy’s team took care of business in an efficient, disciplined manner. Bellamy’s authority, control, discipline and motivation remind me of coaches from the former Communist countries, such as gymnastics coaches of the Soviet Union and East Germany. Their subjects give a rigid, robot-like impression and are not very popular but both are extremely effective at dominating their sport.

That’s all from Bay-jing and from Round 24 of the NRL. A big thanks to Bruce (but more so Rob Sitch and the Champagne Comedy of the Late Show circa 1992): see you next week.

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