The Gelding’s attention returns to Flemington tomorrow and after a handy day on the punt last Saturday, he is looking to pick more winners than placed horses tomorrow.
As usual, the bets are on an each way and all up basis.
Flemington
Race 2 Horse 2 – Every Faith (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 4 Horse 7 – Relaunch
Race 7 Horse 8 – Aeratus (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 8 Horse 15 – Orujo
Race 9 Horse 7 – Samartested
Good luck and good punting!
The Gelding
As an avid fan of the NFL, I am having difficulty following the Jarryd Hayne efforts to sign with an NFL club. Reports today have the former Eels NRL star returning to Australia due to visa problems. Those ‘problems’ meant he could not sign a contract with an undisclosed NFL team.
First thing I would say to that is ‘what a mistake to make’! Next thing I would say is just how would the NFL team sign Hayne? The NFL has eligibility rules and I can’t find any one that would have allowed him to sign now.
I read with interest on the Sportsbet site that the ‘rumour’ is that he has signed a ‘futures contract’ with Detroit Lions. On the basis of that, Sportsbet has wound in the odds on Hayne participating in the NFL. However, signing that contract wouldn’t let Hayne play this season as such a contract doesn’t take effect until March 2015 and, by the way, that type of contract cannot be signed until AFTER the end of the NFL season. So then what has Hayne signed, if anything?
I discussed the subject of Hayne playing in the NFL with a senior Seattle Seahawks official in November this year and his response was decidedly underwhelming. Almost a Jarryd who?
I wish Hayne all the best in his endeavours to crack the NFL, but, there appears to be a lot of spin and not much substance to this story at the moment.
I figure he is closer to playing in the NRL in 2015 than the NFL!
The thing that really piqued my interest in the sporting arena this week was the story about Phil Mickelson calling 16 year old US born Australian Ryan Rufflels (the son of former tennis player Ray Ruffels) to try and get him to Arizona State University on a golfing scholarship. Apparently Ryan plays off plus 6 and in a recent monthly medal at the Victoria Club shot rounds of 10, 9, 7 & 9 under. Wow! Golf seems to be producing some real prodigies at the moment and hopefully Ryan can go on and create a name for himself. Which country would have the bragging rights? I think that while he was born in the US, he grew up in Australia and took up golf in Australia, I consider that to be enough to claim him as an Aussie.
It was interesting to see that less than 25,000 people for the International T20 match against South Africa last Friday at the MCG. That is a disappointing crowd and casts a bit of doubt about the overall interest in the cricket coming into a summer where Australia will be hosting the One Day World Cup. Apart from the Ashes that is always well patronised, the cricket does seem to be losing its mojo. I have mentioned this in the past and in my opinion, it has a lot to do with the year round coverage of cricket throughout the world. The football is played over a period of six-seven months and then there is the build up and anticipation for the following season which is all very well staged managed by the AFL. The international cricket season has started with very little sense of anticipation and not helped by the recent test flogging at the hands of the Pakistanis. Time will tell if they can build some momentum into the World Cup.
The major races of the spring have now been completed and there was a number of notable performances, however, I do not think that any horse stamped its authority on the spring. There was not a dominant sprinter, there was not a dominant weight for age performer and there was not a dominant stayer. Having said that the “one off” performances of Terravista, Adelaide and Protectionist (you could also add in Admire Rakti in the Caulfield Cup) where truly great performances.
Have a great weekend!
One wonders what NRL Clubs thought when confronted with the fact that one of the wisest and most successful coaches going around in Wayne Bennett decides to release Ben Barba from the remaining two years of his contract with the Brisbane Broncos.
Like me, smart clubs would have ignored the fact that Barba was on the market.
Not the Cronulla Sharks though, or a number of other clubs for that matter who all showed an interest in the full back once Bennett gave Barba his marching orders.
Forget for the moment that the club from the Shire will be his third team in three years or that Barba had a really ordinary season for the Broncos in 2014 or that the Broncos were so eager to rid 
themselves of Barba that they were prepared to pay half his salary with his new team or that the player has self confessed gambling and alcohol problems or that he failed to complete a rehabilitation course ordered by Canterbury in 2013.
But return if you will to season 2013, when Barba was in a Canterbury jersey. For those with short memories, he was released on compassionate grounds from the balance of his contract at the end of that season and was headed to the Broncos because of their well regarded welfare program. The catalyst for the release on that occasion was an alleged incident where Barba struck a female companion.
One would have thought the lessons of history would have taught Cronulla well given the union with the troubled Todd Carney that ended in tears.
And all this for $800,000.00 per season – As I said ….. some clubs never learn.
The much vaunted ‘international’ cricket season has commenced and if Friday night’s crowd of around 21,000 at the MCG is anything to go by, the bells are tolling for the health of the game as a spectator sport. The bash and crash form of the game usually draws big crowds, especially at Melbourne’s sports Mecca, but not this time!
I have read a number of excuses including that Melbourne sports mad public are tired of the non-stop grind of the annual sports calendar. This may be part of the cause but fails to acknowledge the gradual fall off in interest in the grass roots form of the game. I include Sheffield Shield in this.
Showing my age here, I can recollect watching a Sheffield Shield final involving Victoria at the MCG against Western Australia in 1980 where there were at least 50,000 people in attendance. What would the cricketing hierarchy give for crowds like that in today’s four day domestic fixtures? Regrettably, the last time I was at the MCG to see a shield game circa 2007, there were 15 people present on a Saturday afternoon.
The fortunes of the Australian side haven’t assisted as their recent history in Test matches and the limited form of the game haven’t set the world on fire. Spectators like winners and they fall off very quickly when the form line heads south.
By failing to capture the imagination of the sporting public in the domestic form of the game, Cricket Australia hasn’t generated sufficient interest in the game itself and it would appear only a matter of time until cricket becomes even more marginalised and follows the NBL onto the sporting scrap heap!
The Gelding’s attention is at Flemington this Saturday for the last day of the Cup Carnival. After three winners last Saturday, the Gelding is looking at building on his good form.
As always, the bets are on an each way and all up basis.
Flemington
Race 2 Horse 14 – Cadillac Mountain
Race 5 Horse 3 – Le Roe
Race 6 Horse 10 – Chautauqua (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 7 Horse 1 – Hooked (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 9 Horse 4 – Fast ‘n’ Rocking
Good luck and good punting!
The Gelding
Adrian Peterson pleaded ‘no contest’ yesterday to a misdemeanour charge of reckless assault which arose out of him ‘punishing’ his child. He was fined $4,000.00 and ordered to perform 80 hours of community service.
With the legal proceedings out of the way, the question now is whether or not the NFL, through Commissioner Goodell, will re-instate Peterson and allow him to play the balance of the NFL season. Since playing the first game, Peterson has missed seven games.
The NFL has said it will review the Court documents and other material prior to making a decision. Given the recent backlash over the handling of the Ray Rice affair, you can bet that the NFL will proceed with extreme caution in an effort to avoid a similar public outcry over lenient penalties.
Peterson must at least serve the minimum six match suspension for being involved in a ‘domestic violence’ situation. Given that he has been on full pay whilst on the Commissioner’s Permission List (by the way, the only player that is on that list), the suspension would see him penalised around $5.4 million of salary.
A decision by the NFL could still be some weeks away, so I would think that the six games plus games missed while a decision is being made, is sufficient penalty, bearing in mind that any second offence brings a lifetime ban.
The NFL is only the first hurdle for Peterson to get over though as the Minnesota Vikings have yet to indicate whether they will play him even if he becomes eligible. That may be a tougher sell for Peterson than the NFL.
I was disappointed to hear how Australia had fared in the cricket in Abu Dhabi overnight and it rekindled a gripe I have about Test cricket, particularly games against India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka. A test wicket should offer assistance to the quicks in the first session at least and provide a good contest between bat and ball. Australia has the most dangerous fast bowler in the world at the moment in Mitchell Johnson and he gets his first and only wicket in the second session with the only wicket in the first session going to Lyon the spinner. If the ICC wants to promote Test cricket as the pinnacle of the game they have to have the fortitude to demand pitches which provide a proper contest. Having said that Younis Khan has to be congratulated for his three successive centuries which is a formidable feat no matter how good the wickets have been for batsmen. Speaking of batsmen, Australia’s performance in the 1st test was quite lamentable with only Warner & Johnson able to hold their heads up.
It was an amazing performance by Adelaide in the Cox plate last week, languishing at the back of the filed he made one of the longest sustained runs I have ever seen in the time honoured race. He was helped by the banked turns at the Valley and at the turn into the straight looked like he was going to win running away, but the length of his run told in the final stages and Fawkner and the others on his inside pushed him all the way to the line. It was an even more memorable performance when you consider that he is only a 3yo and because of the difference in breeding schedules in Europe he had to carry the weight of a 4yo in the Plate. However, I do wonder why they gave a colt a female name, what next a filly named Sydney?
Moving on to the AFL fixture I note that Essendon are again playing the Demons in a home game at the MCG. The Bombers have hosted Melbourne in at least the last 4 games at the MCG and have lost 3 of them in circumstances where they have started warm favourites each time. Everyone knows Melbourne perform poorly at Etihad, but we keep playing them at the G. Why? I was also perplexed to note that the Bombers only play 2 Friday night games, both against North Melbourne. While the Bombers didn’t win too many of their Friday night fixtures this year, they put on some pretty good games against Hawthorn, Geelong & Sydney. Speaking from the perspective of my own team, not a great draw in my opinion.
In passing I think Paul Gallen is obviously pretty stupid for his Tweet insulting the NRL chiefs, but a $50,000 fine!! That is hefty and I question if it really fits the crime. $5-10,000 would have sent the same message.
Have a great weekend.
There comes a time when even the most talented of players need to be cast adrift when their behaviour continually creates problems off the field. Kurtley Beale certainly falls into that category given his indiscretions of the last eighteen months culminating with a $45,000.00 fine for sending an offensive text message to a female staffer.
Beale has had a ‘colourful’ career with a number of brushes with the law since 2010. I don’t intend to look back at earlier incidents, but if we simply look at the recent past since early 2013, there is plenty to be troubled about. Starting with a fight with teammates in March 2013, when Beale was part of the Melbourne Rebels squad playing in South Africa, he was sent home in disgrace, put on an alcohol ban, fined and suspended indefinitely by Rebels management. Regrettably, the Rebel’s indefinite suspension did not last all that long.
After returning to the Rebels side, within two months, Beale admitted to breaking the alcohol ban and was stood down for breaching behavioural guidelines. Less than a month after, in June 2013, Beale was photographed at a fast food outlet at 3.50am several days before the second test against the British and Irish Lions. The Rebels found that Beale had not been drinking. I don’t see that as the point though. No player, who is serious about representing his country, would (or should) be out at that hour of the morning before a very important game.
Fast forward to the most recent indiscretion. Beale still has not learned anything as far as I am concerned. His statement that he has been ‘vindicated’ misses the point completely. The reason for vindication? Beale was found guilty of only sending one offensive text to a female staffer….and not two.
Along with the fine, there should have been a lengthy suspension. Nowhere in Beale’s history do I see genuine contrition or remorse. His apology to the staffer seems to have been motivated purely on the grounds of self preservation evidenced by the request to ‘not tell anyone’ that accompanied the apology.
The Wallabies will never be a power in world rugby while they tolerate any player behaving in this manner. What example are the ARU setting to young players? Do they realise off field behaviour and on field performance are very much related? With the World Cup looming, I doubt Australia’s performance will improve very much from where we are at the moment…..maybe fourth in the World.
I have said many times before, that if I was in a position to influence an AFL club, the first person I would hire would be Chris Pelchen.
Why? He has a very good pedigree having had stints at Hawthorn (x2) Port Adelaide and St Kilda, he wants to be successful and he has a blue print for putting together a list of players that can take the ultimate step.
I have read quite a few comments on social media from St Kilda supporters saying they are glad he is gone. I would imagine that those supporters felt badly about players that were traded over the last few seasons and about the performance of their Club during that time.
I would suggest that those supporters consider that when Chris took over he was presented with an aging list that, through lack of vision had not been rejuvenated. He also had to deal with a diabolical total player payments problem and ensure that the up and coming young guns were re-contracted before they slipped into free agency. Needless to say he accomplished that and also had time to foster a new market in New Zealand and establish the Saints player academy. By the way, I have relied on the St Kilda CEO’s summary of what Chris had done for St Kilda in putting that list together.
But, clearly that was not enough and to quote Matt Finnis, the Saints wanted to ‘drive further development in their high performance programs’.
Good luck is all I can say as rebuilding properly is all about timing and careful planning. Areas I think the Saints aren’t good at. I say this as parting company with the Head of Football who has control over the player list several weeks before the AFL draft seems a very strange decision indeed.