Tag Archives: nrl

Sportzfan Radio #166.2

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!8 August 2010 166.2 –The Panel say it’s all very well to have a baseball league but where will Melbourne Aces play their home games.  No decision made on that as yet as we understand it, but hopefully not Altona as both Daniel and Trav say they won’t go to that venue.  Nick Tedeschi talks NRL and believes Canterbury Bulldogs are the bet of the weekend v Newcastle.  We catch him before he heads out to the SCG to watch the Roosters play St George and felt it would be nostalgic to see League played at the SCG again.  He says Israel Folau will defintely come back to rugby league after his flirtation with the AFL.  We get Dr Leslie’s CSA in earlier this week so we can do more stool gazing before the end of the show.  Daniel says Brett Favre can’t be @packers4 on twitter as the Professor already has that handle.  Daniel reviews the Melbourne Tigers tour of ‘the world’ and notes that they beat England but lost to the University of Pittsburgh.  Stan wonders whether the Tigers should be investing more in players than spending it on a bonding tour.  Sean Callanan joins the discussion and says Stan’s point is fair enough, but he guesses the Tigers are looking at getting advantage from sharing knowledge with other teams aound the world.  The Professor finds it funny that the Tigers are playing the “Irish All Stars”.  The Panel discusses whether there should be a Hall of Fame for the players who actually help the stars into the Hall of Fame by doing the blocks or opening the running lanes.  Sean thinks that a Brett Favre reality show on his “Decision” to comeback (or not) would be a weekly program not a one off.  The Panel gets a tweet from @BrisbaneNBL announcing an attempt to revive the Brisbane Bullets franchise.  Sean thinks sports fans would struggle to name five NBL players.  He doesn’t know when the Tigers will appear on twitter and fires in a record number of sports cliches on Collingwood’s run to the finals.

Sportzfan Radio Show #164.2

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!25 July 2010 164.2 – Mark Fiorenti is quizzed whether Jon Bon Jovi is a realistic number 1 ticket holder for Melbourne Heart.  The Panel has some fun with some of Bon Jovi’s songs and Gambo worries that the show is moving away from its sporting roots with the music discussion.  Mark also previews the A League season thinking Sydney, Melbourne Victory and Heart will be the teams to watch with Perth Glory being the dark horse after the signing of Robbie Fowler.  Mark talks about the aborted transfer involving Shane Smeltz due to Smeltz not liking the surroundings in China and thinks it is a bad thing for the League as Aussie players look unreliable.  The Panel talk about the proposed 15,000 seat upgrade to Eureka stadium at Ballarat and wonder whether the AFL will fixture games at the venue.  Is this an endeavour for North Ballarat to be a 19th team in the AFL?… which would then open the door for a 20th team from Tasmania.  Gambo and Daniel ponder whether South Africa and New Zealand may also field teams in the AFL in the future or be preferred to Ballarat and Tasmania.  Nick Tedeschi covers the NRL scene in Paul Dalligan’s absence.  He thinks Melbourne Storm will need to let Greg Inglis go to keep other stars and some of their second tier players.  The level of support for the Storm will depend on their on field performances.  He also discusses the Danny Green/Paul Briggs “fight” and believes it is a disgrace that it went on.  In Tour de Farce news, did Contador break race etiquette in passing Schleck when Schleck had a mechanical failure with his chain?  The Panel thinks so.  We sneak a different Dr Leslie CSA in just before the end of the show.

Coming up on Sportzfan Radio #163

On Sunday’s show the Professor is back behind the Panel and will have NRL commentator Nick Tedeschi and basketball expert Daniel Eade as guests.  Aside from the normal disection of the week in sports they will be talking with US reporter Dan Butterly about Major League Baseball and the National League finally winning an All Star game, NBA free agency and an interesting video from the Mountain West women’s soccer championships of 2009.

We’ll cross to a restaurant in Chinatown to talk racing with The Gelding, who’ll discuss the winners and losers at Caulfield.  Also on the show “F” Word’s Mark Fiorenti will wrap up the recently completed World Cup and talk about whether soccer needs the introduction of a match review panel.  Paul Dalligan will discuss the revelations about the Melbourne Storm higher salary cap breaches and give his assessment of the likely finalists as the NRL season nears its conclusion.

Tweet us a topic to discuss on twitter @sportzfanradio

Sportzfan Radio 161.2

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!4 July 2010 161.2 -Dr Leslie’s CSA gets a run with the approval of listeners.  The Sydney Colt texts that the estimated first prize in the Sports World Series of Poker is $9 million.  The ‘F’ word talks World Cup quarter finals and Daniel says the Socceroos would win a “make believe” World Cup 4-0.  The Panel query who will welcome the Socceroos back into Australia seeing Kevin Rudd has been sacked, but then decide hardly any of them live here anyway.  The ‘F’ word also ponders the semi finals and thinks it will be a Germany v Netherlands final,  He wants Marcelo Bielsa as the next Socceroos coach.  Dalligan talks State of Origin 3 and thinks the NSW team can win 16-14 and hopes they can take inspiration from the example of the Socceroos bouncing back after their defeat by Germany.  He also calls the Karmichael Hunt experiment a debacle.  The Sports Geek explains his NRL Sports Social Media Index and says the NRL are about 7 to 8 months behind the AFL in social media as 3 teams aren’t even on twitter or facebook.  He is currently advising the Southern Football League on social media policy.

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Sportzfan Radio 159.2

Magers League Rugby Ball21 June 2010 159.2 – Fiorenti continues discussing the fortunes of the Socceroos and gives his opinion on some underachieving countries at the World Cup, Paul Dalligan highlights the AFL leading the NRL 2 to 1 in the racism stakes, is disappointed at the state of NSW rugby and believes the Cockroaches will make changes and go for youth in State of Origin 3.  He also suggests the Professor’s Canterbury Bulldogs have picked up a likely player in Trent Hodkinson (now with Manly) who kicked two field goals late in the game to help Manly down the Rabbitohs.  The Panel looks at the AFL’s suggestion of the 2012 18 team league being broken up into Conferences and Sean wonders whether that may prevent Collingwood from ever playing Carlton in a Grand Final again.

State of Origin II – I guess that's why they call them The Blues….

I spent the first 30 years of my life in Sydney before moving to Melbourne.

Every year in my adopted state I would don my NSW jersey with pride and try to roar NSW home.

Tonight Queensland has won Game 2 and becomes the first team to win five series in a row.

All that this once proud New South Welshman can say is congratulations – and respect.

The reason I say once proud is that this NSW “team” has left me embarrassed and disgusted.

Not because of the magnitude of the scoreboard, as Queensland was clearly the best team. They are a true wonder of the world who play with passion, commitment and a sense of teamwork that would inspire even the great teams of this World Cup.

I am instead embarrassed about NSW due to the racist comments from a player who I used to think was the best thing the game had produced – and I am even more embarassed about people who say his comments weren’t wrong as they were never meant for a wider audience.

Racism is racism whether it is heard by one person or the world.

I am disgusted about players like Luke O’Donnell whose headbutt and cheap shot on a player who was being held would be called barbaric even by UFC standards, yet more cowardly than anything seen in those cages.

Many NSW fans hoped that our “enforcer” Paul Gallen who was missing in Game  1 would make a difference. Gallen has made a living from playing close to the edges of the game – tonight he went right over the edge, and hopefully out of State of Origin forever.  NSW needs cold steel right now, not loose cannons.

And our “Captain” Kurt Gidley was named tonight to start on the bench. Please lead our State Mr Gidley – but don’t think you will be out on the field doing it.  All it would have taken is for Gidley to have chased a few cheerleaders around the bench during the game to a zany musical backdrop, and we would have a skit that Benny Hill would be proud of.

At least it would be comical if it wasn’t my State sliding into oblivion…

I will of course watch Game 3 but it will take plenty for NSW to win this once proud fan back.

Is it too much to ask for a new coach, new selectors, a team that plays hard but fair, and a captain that actually plays with the team….

A team that a whole State can be proud of. Not just Benny Hill…

Dalligan on League

Aussie soccer officials finally see the writing on the wall!

As US comedian RonWhite says “You can’t fix stupid, because stupid is forever”.

Stupid is exactly what the Aussie bid for the 2018 World Cup was!!

As we discussed with Mark Fiorenti on Sportzfan Radio several months ago – Australia had NO chance of success with the bid.  The Aussie camp was still trying to convince us that we were a realistic bidder, notwithstanding Sepp Blatter (FIFA President) telling anyone who cared to listen that Europe would be the preferred venue (for that read will be the venue) in 2018 and FIFA also reinforcing that with Australian representatives at every turn.

It took our own Asian Football Confederation to jolt us back to reality when its President came out in support of the European bid this week.

One wonders at the capacity/capability of those running Aussie soccer not to be able to see the forest for the trees.

The AFL/NRL must be laughing out loud at the time and money wasted on that part of the bid.

What does that say for the 2022 bid?……more on that one later.

Sportzfan Radio 157.2

6 June 2010 – Part 2 – Hear Nicole query the honesty of Melbourne Storm players over signing multiple contracts.  She says Dalligan is mistaken if he thinks they didn’t know something was wrong.  Fiorenti talks about the World Cup and the Socceroo’s 3-1 defeat at the hands of the US. The Panel discuss Jason Akermanis’ newspaper article and query whether the Bulldogs penalty is too harsh.  The Panel also muse on their favourite movie coaches of sporting teams and discuss listeners tweets with Hoosier’s coach, Norman Dale getting the most support.