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Well, I never!
One of the most likeable, and talented, figures in the Australian entertainment industry is Sam Pang. I never know quite what it is that he does, only that every time you see him, he is smart and funny. On Mick Molloy and Mark Geyer’s Triple M’s Morning Show this week, Pang was a guest and during the chat let slip that, for an upcoming movie he had been asked to play . . . Eddie Jones!
“I don’t know much about rugby union,” Pang says he told the director, only for Geyer to break in, “Neither do the Wallabies!”
Charmed, we are sure.
In any case, while the movie might go ahead – the mind boggles – it will be without Pang.
“Have you ever seen me act?” Pang told the director. “Do you want a version of Eddie Jones who shouldn’t be on TV?”
Ousted RA boss Hamish McLennan on 2GB radio.Credit: Kate Geraghty
Rugby needs a V’landys? They just had one
Here’s the thing about Hamish McLennan’s resignation as chair of Rugby Australia. He has been replaced by one-time Wallaby Dan Herbert, and we wish him well. But there remains a lot of discussion about who should take over as chair in the long term.
A couple of my rugby mates have been very strong on the view rugby should look for “a figure like Peter V’landys.” That is they want a well-connected poobah with the game in his bones, to crack heads, crash through or crash, and not be too fussy, meantime, about the protocols just so long as he gets things done.
Slippery slope: Hamish McLennan and Eddie Jones.Credit: John Shakespeare
My point to them is, that description fits . . . Hamish McLennan!
No, he obviously won’t be coming back. But the point remains. The move to sack Dave Rennie and appoint Eddie Jones move was classic crash-through-or-crash move and everything at the time pointed to the likelihood that it would work. The tragedy is that it didn’t – hence Hamish crashed. It’s as simple as that.
In his departure, he has been, for the most part, gracious, noting that he had fought the good fight, and had no regrets. True, the graciousness slipped on Thursday when, in the wake of the Harvey Norman sponsorship ending he opened up on those who had forced him out – “Look at what the boneheads have done. They are arrogant and dopey” – but under the circumstances, surely one outburst is acceptable.
By Georgia, she’s done it
Bravo Georgia Godwin, the young Australian gymnast who this week had the supreme honour of having a sporting manoeuvre named after her.
It is unclear to me quite what the Godwin upon the uneven bars consists of, but we may presume it is some extraordinary twirly-gig in the pike position before landing on sixpence and throwing your hands in the air just before you get the gold.
As previously discussed, it is rarefied air in which she finds herself. She joins the likes of Dick Fosbury, the originator of the “Fosbury Flop” in the high jump; and Muhammad Ali’s “Ali shuffle” named for his signature dancing moves in the boxing ring. (Cue Muhammad to Howard Cosell, before the “Thrilla in Manila”: “You tell him, I’ll be dancin’ . . . I’ll be DANCIN’!“)
There is also Johan’s Cruyff’s Cruyff turn, a mesmerising dummy move in soccer where, just before you bend it like Beckham, you control the ball with your back to your opponent, and make it look like you’re about to pass, only to drag the ball behind you and go the other way into space!
Rugby’s answer to that kind of mesmerising move was the “Campese goosestep”, whereby, just as the defence was closing on him, Campo would kick one foot in the air which changed his speed, and left the tacklers more often than not clutching at thin air as the crowd roared.
Everyone’s favourite though, and it has gone so much wider than mere sport, is to do a “a Bradbury.” (Cue my favourite tweet in January 2020, when @ballparkmusic posted: “Just heard the airline page Steven Bradbury. He’s late to board his flight, but we all know he’s gonna f—in’ make it.“)
Steven does a Bradbury to win Australia’s first Winter Olympics gold medal.Credit: Stephen Munday
You get the drift. And you’ll correct me if I am wrong, but it seems one of the few times an Australia woman has had such an honour bestowed? Outside gymnastics, are there other signature women’s moves that enter the lexicon like the above? Discuss.
Cummins proves to be a man for all seasons
TFF did a substantive interview with Pat Cummins this week, upon his return from Australia’s triumph against India, in India, for the final of the Cricket World Cup. It was destined for my The Sun-Herald Q&A column and you’ll see it there tomorrow. I found him to be a great bloke, immensely likable, and very upfront.
And what an interesting career, he’s had!
As if you didn’t know, after claiming man of the match honours against South Africa on his debut as an eighteen-year-old in Jo’burg – courtesy of his 6/79 in the second innings – he had the world at his feet, only to get so many injuries it would be another five years before he got back in the Test side.
“You must have despaired,” I asked him, “that your body wasn’t strong enough?”
“Yeah, absolutely,” he replied. “I felt, skill-wise I was competent enough to play Test cricket, but my body was just nowhere near strong enough. I played some one-day cricket, but Test cricket was my love and that’s where I wanted to get back to, and I felt a million miles away from that for most of those five years.”
Happily, he persisted and got back to the Test side in 2017, his belief now being that “it is not until you’re 23 or 24 that your bones are strong enough to basically withstand the forces of fast bowling.”
A great force was now unleashed on the international cricket stage, which saw him rise in the ranks to the point that after Steve Smith and Tim Paine imploded as captains, he was Australia’s choice to take over. As you will see in The Sun-Herald, he felt the weight, early, of his new position. But he persisted.
Was Australia’s World Cup win behind enemy lines the finest ODI performance of them all?Credit: Getty
And despite Australia losing two early matches in this World Cup against South Africa and India, they came back to make it all the way to the final, last Sunday against India once more.
Fitz: In the bowels of the stadium in India, before the final in Ahmedabad, did you give a speech to the dressing room like Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday? You know, “Gentlemen, three minutes ’til the biggest battle of our professional lives all comes down to today. Now either we heal as a team or we’re gonna crumble, inch by inch, play by play, ’til we’re finished. We’re in hell right now, gentlemen, believe me. And, we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb outta hell one inch at a time!”
PC: (Laughs.) “Well, we had a bit of a mantra this time, of ‘if not me, then who?’ which is like Pacino’s speech. But there’s already enough pressure in the cauldron of international sport, that you don’t need a speech like that. So, for us, it was more trying to strip away the fear of failure.
“The big theme was: ‘Be brave and positive. Don’t be worried about ‘what if it doesn’t come off?’ Play! Be that man. There’s got to be a match-winner, and it could be you. If it doesn’t work out, that’s fine. But go for it. No regrets. Focus on the job. And savour this opportunity. You’re probably never gonna have this opportunity again in your life. Win or lose, this will be a day to remember for the rest of our lives. So we might as well give it a red-hot crack!’”
Fitz: “Do you think the myth of bowlers not being able to skipper has been laid to rest, or will batsmen, being batsmen, always argue they’re the best captains?”
PC: “I hope it’s been laid to rest. I think most of the captaincy is done during a bowling innings, and so when it comes to how to get wickets and get the best out of the bowlers, I always think that showed a pretty big benefit of having a bowling captain”.
I hope you enjoy the full interview with all the other stuff, including what Steve Smith said that entranced the team, just after Cummins took Virat Kohli’s wicket with a pearler to turn the match!
This bloke will go far.
What they said
Henry Blofeld tweets – yes, I was surprised, too, on the victory of Pat Cummins’ men: “I couldn’t be more thrilled that the Aussies won the World Cup. Talk about going into the lions’ den and coming out first. Well done all of them. It won’t do India any harm. They’re getting a bit too big for their boots.”
Salty former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif: “Congratulations to Australia but I am not ready to accept that the best team won the World Cup. This Indian team has been the best side. They are the best team on paper. They would win so many times playing against the same Australian team, even though they lost today. It was one of those bad days, this happens sometimes.”
Mitch Marsh on Travis Head living up to the “play hard, party hard,” mantra, leading into the opening T-20 match: “I’m no selector or coach, but if he plays that game it’ll be a miracle.”
Injured Minnesota Viking Justin Jefferson doesn’t care about fantasy football: “My health is wayyyy more important than you winning your fantasy games. It doesn’t matter how many times y’all flood my dms talking about me selling your team. I DON’T CARE.”
Gymnast Georgia Godwin has become just the fifth Australian to have an original move named in her honour: “An absolute dream come true to be able to say I have created a skill and was the first person in the world and in the history of gymnastics to [complete] it. I worked my butt off for it to be ready, and I’m so happy. Thank you to everyone who believed in me and ‘the Godwin’.” Yes, third person, but after the judges consulted, they decided not just to let it pass, but also offer their warmest congratulations.
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich – after Spurs fans started booing Los Angeles Clippers star and former Spur Kawhi Leonard while he took a free throw – grabbed the announcer’s microphone and gave his own fans what-for: “Excuse me for a second. Can we stop all the booing and let these guys play? It’s got no class, and it’s not who we are. Knock off the booing.” Give that man a cigar!
Outgoing chair of Rugby Australia, Hamish McLennan: “I lost the chair vote. They asked me to stay on the board but I resigned immediately.”
Max Verstappen on the Las Vegas Grand Prix circuit: “I feel like a show element is important, but I lack emotion. I love Vegas, but not to drive a F1 car; to go out, throw everything on red, whatever. But the emotion and passion is not there compared to some old-school tracks.”
No.1 AFL draft pick Harley Reid on his new West Coast Eagles jumper:“Yeah I did [sleep in the jumper], woke up and it’s still on. Painted on.”
His father Mark Reid was asked if things had changed at home: “Not too much different. He still fights with his older sister and torments his younger one. He’ll be out of the house [soon] so it’s one less to feed.”
Olympic statement on the contentious surfing tower for next year’s Olympics: “The new tower, more sober and reduced in size and weight, installed on new perennial foundations, is the solution to ensure the durability of the tower over time and to guarantee the holding of future sporting events in Teahupo’o.”
Marnus Labuschagne on being dropped from the Australian one-day team in August, only – after injuries to team-mates – playing the last nineteen straight, including the victorious World Cup final: “It’s hard for me not to believe in miracles. There’s someone above putting the pieces of the puzzle together.” Marnus? Does it seem likely to you that God dropped a puzzle piece to injure the hand of Travis Head, to initially get you back in? Sounds a bit mean?
Team of the Week.
Travis Head. The Australian opening batsman nailed 137 runs off 120 balls, allowing him to put his injured hand of God on one handle of the World Cup – and the rest did the rest without rest.
Pat Cummins. Has proved to be an exceptional leader of an exceptional team. TFF did a long interview with him this week and found him to be a terrific bloke.
Australia. Won the World Cup for the sixth time, against India, in a stadium boasting a little over 92,000 Indians.
Novak Djokovic. Won the ATP Finals for a record seventh time. Good for him, but tennis needs more challengers to his crown.
Davis Cup. Did anyone know? The finals are on right now, and Australia is in it. It’s being held in Spain – which didn’t make the cut. Talk about botching an institution. They should go back to the old format, but make it quadrennial.
Ted Hopkins. Renowned for his legendary performance in the most famous AFL/VFL Grand Final of all time, passed away this week, aged 74.
X/Twitter: @Peter_Fitz
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