Tag Archives: chris-froome

Weekend musing – Tour de France, British Open, Arsene Wenger and England

Chris Barwin HillsI commented last week on a number of topics including the Tour de France, the England soccer team’s poor display in the European Championships and the British Open.

It looks like I was on the money picking Chris Froome as the winner of the race. With 19 stages complete and only a couple to go Froome froome
seems to have the field covered. Great display by Aussie Richie Porte in the tough mountain section but looks like he will just fall short of a podium finish. Certainly looks like a rider to watch for the 2017 Tour.

As much as I was on the money with the Tour de France, I was way off in my assessment of the British Open. I didn’t see Swede, Henrik 1363998228672Stenson winning. Stenson and Phil Mickelson showed a mastery of the Royal Troon course that the rest of the field struggled with. Mickelson at 17 under had an 11 shot buffer between he and the third placed golfer. The leading Australian was world number 1, Jason Day at one over par tied for equal 22nd. My selection of Adam Scott was poor as he finished at 5 over par. Our golfers need to improve their performances in major tournaments!

My suggestion for the English soccer team is to go all out for Arsene Wenger. They could do a lot worse. He is the shot in the arm that thealexis-sanchez-arsenal-burnley_3223813 English need and his time at Arsenal is limited. It would be a good move for England, Arsenal and Wenger.

Have a great weekend!

Weekend musing – AFL bye rounds, European Cup, Tour de France, British Open….

Chris Barwin HillsRound 17 of the AFL season started on Thursday night and these Thursday night games have been aptly called ‘Pie night’ games by Fox Footy. The games are largely only possible due to the bye rounds where only six games are played each round across three weekends. Many people do not like the 6 x 6 x 6 way of having a bye, but in my opinion, I think it is fine. Igunston would rather that method than a complete break in the mid-season. It affords every side a break, there is still a good number of games for each weekend and it allows for the introduction of these Thursday night games which appear to have attracted good crowds and TV ratings. I have heard some in the media saying the bye rounds mean the AFL season loses momentum. I do not agree or see it as a problem. After all, if you think about it, the old VFL competition only had six games a week and we thought that was plenty back then.

The round also started with another Hawthorn escape and I think the Swans would be ruing the three 50 metre penalties which resulted in two goals in a game that was decided by five points. The HANNEBERY50 metre penalties were there, but it is massive penalty for innocuous incidents that had little to no impact on the play. There was also a big disparity in the free kick count, especially up to 3/4 time. The Hawthorn free kicks were probably there, but there were a lot of free kicks not paid to Sydney that should have been paid. Again, in a tight game it makes a difference.

In the Euro Cup, Portugal continued the run of outsiders winning big competitions this year and without a meaningful contribution fromronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo. The highlight of the tournament though still has to be Iceland’s defeat of England. One wonders how such a result could occur when one considers the disparity between the two nations in population and football history. Clearly England need to re-invent themselves if they wish to seriously challenge for major silverware in the future.

froomeThe Tour de France continues on and I must say even with the halfway mark just reached, it looks like Chris Froome will again be in front at the end. He seems a cut above the rest and barring some unfortunate accident he is over the line.

The British Open continues to be a major Championship that eludes Australian golfers even now that we have some of the top golfers inscott the world. Greg Norman ‘was our last winner and that was a very long time ago. I see our best chance with Adam Scott, but I am far from confident that any Aussie will be lifting the claret mug this year.

Have a great weekend!

Friday musing – World Cup, Tour de France………

Chris Barwin HillsWell the biggest sporting event in the world, the World Cup has now concluded and I got it wrong with Argentina and Messi failing to ignite. Germany deserved to win in my opinion and the goal from Gotze was an absolute ripper.

We then move towards one of the more low key events being the Commonwealth Games. To me the Commonwealth Games can be equated to the old AFL pre-season competition. It is relevant, but not the main game.

With the impending retirement of Lenny Hayes, the question becomes who will now be a lot of people’s favourite player from an opposition team. Well I have always admired Hayes for the same reasons I admire Jimmy Bartel. They are both extremely skilful players who do not seek out the accolades for themselves and do not try and help the umpires umpire the game. My nomination therefore is Bartel, but I probably had him as my favourite player from another team anyway.

The final comment for the week would be the potential for Richie Porte to “do a Bradbury”. With all the retirements due to injury it would appear that Porte has a very good chance of taking out the Tour de France if he can get over Vincenzo Nibali. For someone who was supposed to be the second man to Chris Froome he has been given the chance and I will be keeping my fingers crossed for him.

Have a great weekend!